Advice: start DTC not frozen retail

Food can be “better for you.”
But that doesn’t always mean it actually is.

In this episode, Mike chats with Tyler Mayoras, Managing Partner at MANNATREE, a growth equity firm focused on investing in food, beverage, and wellness brands that genuinely improve human health. Tyler has spent decades investing across food and agriculture, from early plant-based pioneers like Boca Burger to modern brands navigating today’s tougher retail and M&A landscape.

Tyler breaks down how “better-for-you” food has evolved, why many plant-based brands lost consumer trust, and what investors really look for when evaluating health claims, ingredient labels, and unit economics. He also shares hard-earned lessons from scaling brands too fast, why frozen is one of the most brutal categories in retail, and what founders misunderstand about profitability, category creation, and selling to big CPG.

You’ll learn:
✅ Why many plant-based brands lost their way
✅ What “better-for-you” actually means to serious investors
✅ How ingredient labels matter more than marketing claims
✅ Why frozen is one of the hardest categories in grocery
✅ When brands should (and shouldn’t) expand into mass retail✅ Why profitability now matters more than growth at all costs
✅ How strategic buyers really think about M&A today
✅ The biggest mistakes founders make when scaling too early
✅ Where Tyler sees the next opportunities in food and wellness

👉 If you’re building or investing in food, beverage, or wellness, this episode is a grounded look at what actually matters beneath the hype.

Timestamps
00:00 Intro
01:00 Tyler’s path from private equity to food & agriculture
03:00 Early lessons from investing in Boca Burger
05:30 The rise and fall of plant-based burgers
09:00 What “better-for-you” really means
12:00 Ingredients, labels, and investor red flags
15:00 Sugar alternatives, sweeteners, and health tradeoffs
18:30 Why sustainability messaging often comes second
21:00 The realities of launching food brands in retail
24:00 Why frozen is such a difficult category
27:00 When brands should expand into mass retail
31:00 Natural vs conventional grocery shoppers
35:00 Why M&A expectations have changed
38:00 What strategic buyers want today
41:00 Growth equity vs venture investing
45:00 Revenue and profitability benchmarks
49:00 Category creation vs smart trade-ups
53:00 Oversaturated categories and the protein boom
57:00 Where Tyler sees future opportunity
01:00:00 Lessons learned and advice for founders
01:05:00 Breaking into food & beverage investing
01:08:30 Book recommendations

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