#62 - Joséphine Bournonville @ Omie

Episode Recap:

ReGen Brands Recap #62 - France's Radically Transparent Regenerative Leader - (RECAP LINK)

Episode Transcript:

Disclaimer: This transcript was generated with AI and is not 100% accurate.

Kyle Krull - 00:00:15
Welcome to The ReGen Brands Podcast. This is a place for consumers, operators and investors to learn about the consumer brands, supporting regenerative agriculture, and how they're changing the world. This is your host, Kyle. Joined about my co-host, AC, who is going to take us into the episode.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:00:33
On this episode, we have Josephine Bornonville, who is a co founder and the COO at Omie. Omie is supporting regenerative agriculture with its lineup of more than 200 French pantry staples that are sourced from regenerative farmers. Omie's agri engineers work with over 40 manufacturers and 200 farmers to bring this vast assortment to life. Farming operations are audited with a regenerative index score. Then Omie works with the operators to create a road map for improvement and further regenerative practice adoption. And all of their products are given a planet score with more than 90% of the portfolio scoring in a or b and nothing being offered that isn't at least a grade c. In this episode, we learn about Josephine's journey from CleanTech Investing to agribusiness m and a to a regenerative food startup Plus, we hear how Omie has scaled from a direct to consumer e commerce platform into France's leading regenerative CPG brand.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:01:15
Josephine was an amazing end cap to our first international series. Y'all. Omie is doing incredible work, and it was inspiring and informative to hear about their efforts and compare them to all the other brands we've had on the show. Excited to share it with you. What's up, everybody? Welcome back to another episode of The ReGen Brands Podcast. Very excited today to have our friend Josephine from Omie.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:01:43
Come up calling in from Paris, France with us today. So welcome, Josephine.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:02:00
Hi, Anthony. I'm very glad to be here.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:02:02
Thank you for joining us. We appreciate it. And thank god for Google Translate so I could prep for this for this interview. Josephine was nice enough to to schedule with us kinda last minute, and we ate we spent sOmie time together via zoom, but I also spent sOmie time scouring the website and excited to, to share a lot about Omie with everyone. Josephine, for those that aren't familiar, give us to lay the land. What does Omie produce and where can people find your products today?

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:02:30
Sure. So Omie is a regenerative food brand based here in France, as you mentioned. We have about 200 products today. It's all staple food, anything from, really prep meal to, or to biscuits, and so on. And we started as a DTC company online was more than 15,000 customers so far. And now we're also being distributed, by, retailers here in France and everywhere.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:02:58
Yeah. Super cool. And I really enjoyed learning more about it, this week already. And we know there's there's a fun origin story specifically with your your journey and you've actually spent some time here in the states as well, Josephine, but share a little bit about your background and kinda how Omie came to be.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:03:13
Yeah. Sure. So as for me, I started, as a clean tech investor, in a private equity fund, doing a cross border investments in, India, Europe as well. So anything from renewable energy recycling a bit as well in agriculture, but that was the early stage of it. And then I joined Rulea, which is a Microsoft play company. And this is where I started, going to the US. I was working as a business developer and M and A manager for the company. So, basically, working as a a country manager to help them grow their business, and in particular in the United States, which, as I mentioned, led me to, travel a lot in the US, going all the agricultural states and, and we did some acquisition there in the field of fertilizer. And animal nutrition.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:03:56
And after that, I was, I continued a bit in M and A, like for another industrial company, but this is when I started to really, go back to my first passion, which was environmental transition. And like, I went into a old process of, you know, reading and getting to know more about, what should I do for a to be more involved into this film. This is when I came to know about a region ag, and it was really the moment for me. You know, like, I discovered, my god. There's, like, big solution, like, a very concrete to, to do something about, a Bosc Carbon, but also biodiversity and you could actually produce by repairing as well. So I was like, okay, I want to work in that field. And I started exploring, meeting a lot of people here. In the view of, you know, starting something.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:04:40
I didn't really know what. And on that journey, I met one of my co founder, Chris, was a previous entrepreneur. And he has an idea of creating something in the food, like, a sustainable food, you know, and together, we started to discuss about, okay, what is missing and and what can we do as a in the in that food sector? And we come up with this idea of, okay, we we're gonna build that brand, they're gonna be the bridge between, production and consumer, and it's gonna be fostering, regenerated, food, which was really starting. I mean, even today that there's There's no one really claiming regenerative here in France, like, and and like the US, but I know it's it's very more developed. And so that's how we started Omie really. Mhmm.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:05:33
Super cool. And I the not to give it away, but the initial strategy that y'all took kinda going direct to consumer and creating the online marketplace I know was was done purposely for a couple of reasons, and I think has served as a really cool beachhead market, really, for y'all, which is just amazing to see the vast product assortment. There's really no one over here that is making, I think, the type of regenerative claims that y'all are making that sells many products. And so definitely wanna make sure we talk about that. But, take us take us into the early days, you know, when y'all started really online and bringing this stuff to the consumer for the first time. What what was the strategy and and what was going on with that?

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:06:12
Yeah. It was really like we we were like, okay, let's take whatever are the French people eating today, like, what are the main bestseller in terms of food And let's make the regenerative version of it. You know, it was really Yeah. How we will look at, the range of products. And initially, we started with immediately, like, a lots of product, like 80 products. So we took it took us 1 year to, develop the 1st range of products, to we and also the co founder team, we have a person coming from, the food industry. So already with some connections with, producers, And that's how we build our first range of products.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:06:43
And it was really, like, initially, we started on LinkedIn, you know, like, sort of friends and family. Okay. We're starting this new a brand, and it's gonna be this kind of products and who is interested. And we sold, like, small baskets of there was, like, presale of 10 of our future products that were not already there. And and at work, you know, like, we sold, like, maybe 300 basket of this product. And couple of months later, we started shipping them directly to to our 1st groups of consumers.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:07:19
Super cool. And I can only imagine the and and you walk me through a little bit just the amount of, coordination right, with the manufacturers and then also getting all the way down to the farm level because we hear a lot about, people doing direct to consumer returner products that are meat or fresh produce or things that really aren't processed at all. So there's still a aggregation and a perishable thing you have to solve for, but y'all are manufacturing all of this as well. So it's not only the raw ingredients, the manufacturing, but also tracing it back to the farmers and trying to improve those systems as well. I mean, I just can't imagine the complexity and all that.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:07:57
Yeah. It's a lot of work. Like, today, we have, more than 40, different manufacturers we work with. And beyond those manufacturers, it represents more than 200 farmers or group of farmers that we work with. And the the reason we're able to go fast as well is because we we worked with, manufacturers, and we're like, okay. We want to develop this product. So let's say serals, for example, and this is how we want it to be, you know, like, we're seeing a bit of the recipe. And usually, they already have some sort of a recipient themselves. And so we test it. We try it. We improve it.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:08:23
Like, we also have a big health, you know, aspects. So we we want to reduce salt level. We want to have different sort of sugar, less, to be more more healthy. And they already have their range of supplier. And so we're like, okay. We're gonna check who you're working with, what are doing, what are the practice. And on the way, we sometimes switch the supplier for our suppliers.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:08:44
So we're gonna tell them, okay, we have this wonderful, like, regain maids, agroecology nuts, for example, that we want to use, you know, cookies. So can you switch to that? Yeah. They love cookies and, of of nuts, and and they do it, you know, and and it's it's it's a process. So it won't be immediately that the product's 100% perfect, and we have a full, like, 100% traceability, but over a couple of months, like, we managed to switch and also because we we we we can provide the volume over time. So it's a good incentive for them also to work with us. And so it both ways, you know, sometimes we bring the the farmers.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:09:23
Sometimes they have their own farmers that we go visit. We check that they they respect what we wanna do, and then they enter our program, because we we we accompany them, like, we have it's it's very, something unique to to us as a as a brand here. It's like we have our own internal team of agro engineers. So I have a four person dedicated really to source the suppliers and to Yeah. Accompany them on their way to more regenerative practice. And our our first employee was a agro engineer because it was very clear that for us, the value was in building that connection with the farmer network.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:10:08
Yeah. I love that title and term agri engineer. I'm gonna steal that one from y'all. That's that's amazing. I think we have many agro engineers over here that just don't call themselves that.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:10:20
See.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:10:21
But the the product development ethos that y'all have taken really, I think, makes so much sense for trying to have regenerative aims because could be some products where we can only do one ingredient, but it's the most important ingredient, or there could be products where we could do all twelve ingredients. And if we had a super dogmatic outlook on it. The thing has to be a 100% regen right from the get go. The pricing might not work or the manufacturing might not work or the volumes of ingredient sourcing might not work. And so I love that y'all are being really deliberate in taking that approach, but it's very clear from, you know, our previous conversation that you're really tracking also continue to improve. And it's not just enough to do whatever that phase 1 looks like. You know, you gotta get to phase 2, 3. Yeah.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:11:04
Yeah. But but it's a good point you're making because it happens that sometime we wanted to develop, some product, but we've not been able to because we are not able to identify the right sourcing at the right price.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:11:15
Mhmm.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:11:15
And, you know, checking all the criteria that we want in terms of environmental impact. So I know, like, for example, peanuts butter, we still haven't, that because it was impossible to find something that was really checking all the boxes. And and it's fine, you know, because at the end of the day, like, we we also do with what we have here, and it's a process. So it's a process of building the value with the farmer, building the connection. And we know that, like, the the latest products that we release, which is a serials, serials meant for kids, very, like, healthy, like, taking all, the good ingredients, like, 30% less sugar than the usual. And that took us, like, 10 months to develop because, we had to find the alternative. Like, there was no manufacturer that was doing specifically the type we wanted.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:11:52
So it was a it was a zone, you know, but at the end, product is is exactly how we we wanted it to be and it has a good success. So it's it's all good.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:12:11
Mhmm. And I I know you shared with me also that the serials have millet in them, right, or the may Yeah.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:12:15
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's an example. And millet, you know, initially, we we were also commercializing millets as such. But at the end, like, because it's very new serials and, like, it's ancient cereal, like, it's it's very old, but in France, it's not very popular. Very popular in Africa because it's very healthy. But in France, it's it was not there for a long time, but the they're very strong environmental benefits of millet it it's good for the soil. It provide a nourishment on the soil, and it's good as a rotation crop. Right? But commercially, like, just millet for for consumer in France, like, there was nothing.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:12:39
You know, they don't know how to use it. It's long to cook. Like, it's a very, so we're like, okay. So maybe we should not just sell me that, you know, but we managed to actually put it in one of our products and actually create more value out of it and make people to actually like it because it's it's transformed and and it's, it it brings a good compliment to nursing.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:13:08
Yeah. And that's that's when food processing, and I'll put processing an air quote is actually a good thing. I mean, we have a woman over here named Joanie, at Snacktivists who's fighting for these ancient grains and these these different grain crops like millet, but it's the same over here. There's not really they're not heavily commercialized either as an ingredient in products or just sold by themselves. And so if we could put them in a form factor that the eater is used to like a serial, that's huge. And that's how we can start unlocking demand, you know, for for these crops if they can be subbed out kind of as an ingredient where doing a little bit of processing or manufacturing to do that is still a win.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:13:44
Yeah. Exactly. And we have another, example in in that case is, sugar beet syrup, which is, a very healthy alternative because there's, if you put that instead of a processed sugar, like the, you know, the the the sugar level, like the glissimo index that you get is very lower, and so it's way better. Right? But there's a slight caramel tests to it. And and people also don't know how to use use it direct because it's a share rep, and we don't really use that here. But it's a very good ingredient And in fact, you we we we had a whole project where we help, farmers in the north of France to, build a factory because usually, like, organic sugar, it goes to Germany because we don't have a processing facility in France for that. So the we help the project of farmers, a cooperative to invest into a new factory, to to be able to process that.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:14:30
And one of the, important aspect for them was to have an offtake for their products and for the syrup, which was, a secondary, you know, items from the production. So we, we, we put it in different of our product. This this syrup. And and it's a great way, as you said, to to actually bring a market to it and, and and and and have a very virtuous circle of using product, the Turkish are actually good also for the, crop area and the rotations. So it's all ecosystem that you need to think of when you you build the new product is, okay, what am I gonna put in those product that makes sense and can be useful for the farmers I work with as well?

Anthony Corsaro - 00:15:21
And I love it's a beautiful example that we're now seeing kind of a lot of the lessons we see with the brands over here are translating to the international episodes we've had. And this idea of it's not just the end product that you see at the grocery store shelf. It's the infrastructure that's created because the enterprise is creating that market demand and that market access. So you talk about that facility that y'all helps for or even just the virtual infrastructure of you know, the farmers can get to enough volume that they can plan around making the changes or doing whatever. That's that's such a huge piece that I don't think these brands, you know, get enough credit for being a huge part of developing that is essential.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:16:00
Yep. No. Absolutely. It's key to really sync your product developments in terms of that. You know, like, what ingredients that I already have in my network farmers, I'm able to use and so bring them more more volume so that they can also, you know, secure their their their work and be able to invest and and build that whole thing. You know?

Anthony Corsaro - 00:16:21
Agreed. So take us back to the launch. Were were y'all just it's it sounds like y'all were selling to friends and family Were you just selling to people in Paris? Were you selling across the whole country? You know, what was that initial startup phase like? And, yeah, take us through that.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:16:35
Yeah. It was it was, initially sold to a Parisian friends and family mostly, just because we wanted also to be able to deliver in by like, there was old thing, like, building, initially, we had this idea of of building, you know, the ancient milk man. Like, he would do tour and And we were also, so, like, I'm not mentioned that our initial project, we were also a distribution company. You know, like, we were doing all the way to the distribution and having a direct linguist consumers. And, so, you know, well

Anthony Corsaro - 00:17:07
Was that during the big e commerce boom, like the the grocery delivery boom? Also,

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:17:11
the Yeah. Actually, it was it was it was, we're starting during COVID. So, like, if you're old emotes, and we're trying to build a business, you know, being remote. And it was a bit bizarre. So we kind of missed, like, the big jump in the cover, you know, because it was right at that time, but we're not ready because we're just building the product. So we came a bit right after, but but it it still helped us because, of course, people got used to buying online and and getting their food delivered. So it really help us to make that a thing. You know? And for us, starting, like, digital, it it was very helpful to build the the 1st community of of consumers would give us feedback on the product, on the brand, on the on the messages we were sending.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:17:43
So it help us really be, have this clothing that usually as a brand when you sell in through retails, you don't have because you don't know your end customer. You can't talk to them. You can ask them questions. So today, we we still have very strong community and offers of of this first consumer who will follow us over over this last 3 years, and they're still there, and they're still we we even have a WhatsApp group where we are, like, do, you know, like, very informal exchanges like, hey, guys. We're launching this product. We do think, hey. Can you relay this message that we're posting on LinkedIn? Because it's important for us.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:18:23
And they they actually do it, and and they send us even ideas, okay, like, the thing about us, like, they they're like, somewhere in a per market and they're like, hey. I like this product, but it would be so great that it's oh, me was doing it. So is it the pants? I was like, yeah, why not? You know, like, some other people on it, so we might have a look into it. So it's very, like, close relationship, and, it's great interaction. Yeah.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:18:53
Yeah. It seems like that was, like, an amazing tool and still is on the research and development from a product innovation and product development perspective. And also a proof of concept. Right? Can you create, some actual economics that make sense? And then can you show that there's a demand in the consumer that wants these products? How how long was it strictly e commerce? And then when did y'all start going into retail? And what was that path like?

Anthony Corsaro - 00:19:14
Because I'd love to hear that and compare it to what I think would be the equivalent in the in the states.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:19:23
Yeah. I think if I We we were for full digital, maybe not even a year, I think. Like, very quickly, we were contacted by, another company that was actually it was an old startup, like, but they had, fruits and vegetable baskets. And they wanted us, you know, stapled as well to compliment the basket. And they also have physical, like, warehouse where they do dates on selling, but it was mostly online. So there were offers like, you know, B2B2B client, B2B2C clients, because they bought our product and they were selling them to, final clients. And so that was the, yeah, after a year maybe, but then it's really over the last year and a half that's yeah, maybe last year, even, like, 2023, we're starting going massively into, retail being distributed, because it was it was natural pest. Like, we were being contacted. Like, the the first, I mean, the first deal were really inbounds, like, a company being, like, okay, your product cool.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:20:19
Like, maybe we can do something together. So we had, company you might know, which is called Decathlon, which is a sports company. It's just really not related to what we do. But the it's a company doing a big shift in sustainability, like, in the clothing and sports industry. And they also had the range of, food, you know, like, cereal bars, like, stuff you do usually eat with sports and Yeah. Energy bars and this kind of thing.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:20:43
And they were like, okay. Maybe you can double some single concept together around regenerative food, because it makes sense for us. We we we're selling the healthy, more healthy for you, but a household healthy for your planet, with sports. So It was all concept. Was it really more, like, through branding that we we went into this, but it was a a a good kicker, you know, like, to show that we can work with all the brands that are not even related to food and bring something like a credibility for them, to to make more sustainable products And then, today, we have a different, other, like, distributors that are, oftentimes specialize in organic or sustainable food. And it's it's more logical for us, of course, because they already understand what we do and understand the value that we're bringing.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:21:34
And especially over the last 2 years, you know, like the organic markets in France has been a bit in trouble because with inflation, like, they they saw their cells decreasing over the last 2 years. And so for us, we represent, like, a an interesting, you know, alternative that is more dynamic, like, the that's bringing something new to the organic market, who's been a bit relying on on a whatever it was over the last years. So we also saw something like, a good opportunity to build something new with them. And, and that's what they see in us. You know, like, we're modern. Like, we can talk direct with consumers. We have this region.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:22:19
Like, a thing that they don't they don't have, but but they understand they have to go to that, you know, because they understand that organic's not enough, and so they they re questioning their own model as well.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:22:33
There's so many things I wanna unpack out of there. And if anyone's watching the video, they just saw me scribble down some notes as you were as you were finishing up chatting there. Tons of stuff to unpack. The the inbound outreach from the sports company is really interesting because I think it shows that how much further y'all are ahead over there in Europe. I think on some of these topics than than we are, and there's there's some of that B2B interest over here, but it it that stuck out as, like, it it seemed further along than that than us. And I was gonna ask about distributors and getting into retail because the typical path over here is you lock down Whole Foods and you go through UNFI to get into Whole Foods and then you use that distribution to get into independence and it's the same thing for Sprouts, but it's Katie instead of UNFI. Is it similar to where y'all had a couple key retail, you know, relationships then wet their distributors, and then you're just bridging from there?

Anthony Corsaro - 00:23:18
How does how does that work over there?

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:23:27
Yeah. Yeah. I think it's the same. Like, it it there's this divide, which And frankly, it it's it's bizarre. When when it'll come from the food sector, like, why does it so different, like, organic store? If if you go in non organic store, they'll be like, Oh, you're you're going in mainstream, so we don't want you anymore. You know? Like, so you really have to, know which one you're gonna target. And for us, of course, we're going for mostly specialized organic care stores. And, as you as you mentioned for for the state, you know, you have a couple of retailers that have, that are the big ones, you know, that you want to get in.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:23:53
And that's the guy we're starting to discuss with now because initially we build our credibility with smaller, like, you know, retailers or, yeah, the different, like, we also have this, what we call kind of market, like, live marketplace, It's it's more like fruits and vegetables area, like, very open with a, like, fresh product, but they also have, like, Staple Carners. And those guys are very open to testing new things and going into a new concept, and they like the brand that bring them this, you know, So this is where we started, and we're going now. And we have the middle, like, the middle retailers in organic, and now we're going for the bigger ones. So, yeah, I think it's pretty much the similar kind of thing.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:24:46
Mhmm. Yeah. Yeah. It sounds like there is a lot of similarities. Have have you gotten pushback from the the legacy organic retailers or just organic stakeholders that, hey, this is, you know, there there is some contention over here and I believe globally kind of organic versus region when they're they're really shouldn't be, but have you had pushback there and like, how do you see those playing together long term?

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:25:08
Yeah. Absolutely. Like, you you really have the 2, like, the 2 ways. Like, some of them will be like, oh, you, you're regen. Like, it's it's why you're talk even talk about retail. Let's just talk about organic. Like, what we do, we we've been doing for a long time. You're you're like, making it less clear for consumers. Like, they they don't understand, you know, that there is a pushback in that sand that they they feel a bit threatened by the concept of regenerative. And there are the other ones who are like, ah, okay. We understand what you're doing. You're going beyond that.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:25:34
It's it's it's needed, and we know as organic retails that we need to change as well because, we've seen it for the last 2, 3 years. There's a a pushback from consumers because consumer don't understand the value, behind the price. And, so we need to go into more traceability, more transparency, So they see that value that we're bringing, but it's really, it's it's there's a middle ground where, like, well, there's both sides that we've seen. But but it's interesting to see that the that even full organic retailers, like, now we we some of our products are in the chain that's in the south of France. And it's full organic, but they still took some, took our product. Like, I mean, 60, 70% of our product are organic. Right? Like most of them.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:26:12
But it's not something that we we we actually, like, present more, you know, like, we're we're more saying we regenerate it. We do this. We don't do that. It's not the organic fact that we really present as the most important thing. It's more the old process of and what is regenerative and all that. So but, yeah, we we we find boss boss situation. Yes.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:26:44
Yeah. It's a tricky topic, and I I I feel for, like, all opinions in it. And I try to keep, an intermediary, you know, like, space within it, but I do I do think if regenerative has to be organic or tied to organic, it really limits our ability to have impact and scale change. And that is really my big pushback is just, yes, that still needs to be the aspirational high borrower, regenerative organic. But what are we like everything before that still exists, and it's vast, vast majority. So how do we get people on the path? And then how do we give market validation along the way? And it it seems like to me, the people that are actually doing the best at that are just being super transparent with all the stakeholders in the supply chain and the consumer.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:27:21
So we'd love to hear Like, how are you guys telling this story? How are y'all communicating this to to customers? Do they even know what regenerative means? Like, how is that working?

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:27:40
Yes. It's it's it's a very good point. And from the beginning, we've we've been trying to avoid that, being categorized as either, you know, organic or nonorganic because, we know the situation on the ground is different. Like, there's there's a really different paths to to reach the region stage, organic plus regenerative. And that's, of course, the objectives, right, but We have to recognize that to go there. It can take a couple of years, and that doesn't mean me and why the foremen don't do something. Right? So we need to be able to show that so the the way we we build that with consumers is through transparency, as you mentioned.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:28:08
Like, we are 100% full transparent brand. That's really in our DNA to be transparent. So we, for every product, we'll, show who gets paid, what, like, Yeah. So you you pay something like €3 for your biscuits, how much get the farmer, how much gets, everyone. And that's one thing. And seconds being transparent, but the practice like, the the the agricultural practice that are being used, and we disclose everything like what's going on, what are the program that we implemented with the farmers, we show photos, like, we report on what we do.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:28:34
And by being this transparent, it's actually brings confidence, with consumers. And at the end of the day, consumer, they don't even, it doesn't even matter for them. At the end of the day, if it's organic or not, like, we we actually asked the question, you know, like, and we had, like, 1000 respondents. We ask, hey, oh, did you know, like, actually, 100, like, all only products are not full, all organic. Like, we have maybe, 60 persons. What do you feel about it? Like, what's your end? And most of them, reply like, oh, I don't care. You know, I trust Omie.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:29:17
And there was, like, the best answer, you know, like, because they actually trust us, and that's what we want to build because over the years, there has been a provision of, you know, labels, like, it's very different for for for, consumer in the markets, you know, what to choose, you know, because sometimes you have, like, okay. It's organic, but then it comes from super far away. Oh, it's organic, but it's plastic, and then you don't know why you're paying so much. And so it's all thing is just about telling exactly, like, full traceability, full transparency. And build back that trust. And, one of the thing we were putting, like, showing to to people when we're explaining the concept was, a survey, you know, saying that at least in France, it's like 70% of consumer.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:29:56
They don't trust the brand anymore. Like, they don't trust the brand, and they don't trust the retailer. Because there is really a lack of trust because of all this candle that has been going on over the last years as well. You know? And because the the the food sector is very known for being opaque. Like, you don't you don't tell the margin. You don't tell what's going on.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:30:19
You don't even know who is the manufacturer. You you don't, you know, who is the farmer. Nobody tells anything. You know? And so we decided to take to be very different in that sense, and we we say everything. And and it worked for us because, yeah, we build that trust.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:30:41
Yeah. I love that. And I I think long term, like, transparency is such a a great strategy because that consumer distrust is at an all time high. And I I I saw the same survey or study results that you're talking about. It was a few months back. And especially in the younger demos, you know, they are super they are super keen on transparency and and needing to trust kind of who they purchased from. So I think long term, no matter what we do from a b to b perspective of you have to be this certification, you don't have to do this. You have to boob blah blah blah. Like, it's gonna get clearer and clearer, especially with the continual rise of AI and social media and everything that people are gonna know what you're doing.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:31:13
I you you talked about this radical pricing, transparency really quickly, and I wanna make sure we really talk about it because this is, I mean, this is radical. Like, this is a big deal. Like, I'm on on the website right now and there's literally a pie chart of I think this is with the product here. This is pesto. It's a jar of pesto, and it shows me the exact amount of euros going to each person in the supply chain for this this jar pesto, which is just I mean, it's crazy. Like, why How are you doing that? And I'm super curious, like, how are you doing it at retail?

Anthony Corsaro - 00:31:47
Because it's easy to do on the website, but if I go to the store and get that jar of pesto, what does it look like?

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:31:58
Yeah. It gets a bit more complicated, you're right. I mean, that's this is what you see on our website because, of course, we can be full transparency. But the retailer, what we do is a is a they usually have a a version where you see what get the farmers and what are the logistic costs, but you don't see the split of margin. Like, I mean, you if you're only customer, you you can actually rebuild it because, you know, Omid, like, what we get because we discussed. Yeah. But, of course, the retailer, you know, they they won't do it because they're still not at that level. Even though we're pushing, like, we're explaining and I think the AD might, you know, build its way for them. But, yeah, it's it's still remain, something a bit difficult for retailers to be transparent, of course.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:32:40
When when did y'all start doing that? Like, who who decided that was gonna work? Like, I'm so I wanna know everything about this transparent pricing model. So

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:32:49
Oh, yeah. It's, to be honest, I think really, like, the very 1st brainstorm day we had, I can I could even find out the first, drawing that we did on the on the board, you know, like, saying, yeah, this is gonna be the tomato sauce, and we're gonna say, like, who gets what? And with the split, you know, with the little drawing, and and tomato sauce. We really are are, like, our, to them product because, it's it's a product. We wish a lot of controversy, like tomato coming from China, and then there is a label saying it's made in France just because it's been, you know, put in parts in France or something like that. With a lots of bizarre thing in it. So it was really a flagship product, and the transfer thing thing was really from the beginning, we wanted to do it because yeah, with this idea of in in mind that people want that, actually.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:33:40
Super cool. And it it is so opaque in processed and packaged goods. And so I just think it's it's so amazing and excited to follow along and see how it continues to develop for y'all. Wanna chat a little bit of it, Josephine, about just the actual agronomic piece, the regen ag that's happening on farms. And This is a this is a more difficult conversation than some of the guests we have because they might have one hero product. Right? They do cattle and they sell beef, and so it's really simple story. Y'all have 200 items with all kinds of ingredients.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:34:04
So I think maybe the best way is to talk, the audience through kind of the regenerative and how y'all partner with farmers, and then maybe a case study of a specific item and some ingredients that y'all have done some work to improve, you know, practice adoption or what's happening on arms. Can you can you walk us through that?

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:34:28
Yeah. Sure. So from the beginning, we started partnering with, company here in Transacta in Gio. That has developed, what you call, region index. And it's all set of measures to actually add the farm level identify where does the farm stand in terms of its, regenerative path. So you'll look at, okay, what are the chemical usage, like the tractor, passage, like how many passage, this kind of thing, would you do in terms of cover crops, in terms of water management, in terms of a biodiversity management and all that. So there's really a lot of criteria. It's a longer, it's a long audit kind of process. Not not long, but a it's a whole list of

Anthony Corsaro - 00:35:08
Comprehensive.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:35:09
Criteria you need to to check. And, of course, it's done on the farm. Mhmm. And they do measurement, tech soy measurement, and all that. And then it gives you, like, the initial picture, okay, where do the farms stand today? And for us, usually, we we we have this minimal requirement that you should be at least in that level in terms of where you send today, which is not of course, 100 or over 100, but it's, like, 40 over 100 or something. And then the important thing for us is that actually, you're ready to engage in more and you're ready to, work with us, work with our engineers here. To, work on the road map. Like, it's usually 1 year and then 2 years, 3 years' road map, where you will be like, okay. I'm gonna start doing this, that, and all that. And we help them in into that journey.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:35:55
Of course, through the the the also association, like the partner that we have, we organize, like, training session. We organize a meetup between our farmers as well so that they can share practice. And we also dedicate one person of ourselves into So, we usually refinance the diagnostic, like the region index throughout this one person. So, yeah, it's also very useful for the former because they they have the starting point as well to know where to stand today.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:36:27
That's amazing. So just to recap that, there's an NGO that helps y'all provide this regenerative index score. Farmers have to be at a certain baseline for them to be in your supply chain, and they have to be willing to take this improvement journey. And then y'all leverage 1% of sales and actually have skin in the game and your, agri engineers, your team, to help them on that journey create a roadmap both from a farm practice adoption perspective and a product development perspective.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:36:54
Yeah. Exactly that. And to do, like, some out. So, yeah, it's it's a lot

Anthony Corsaro - 00:36:59
of work.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:37:00
Yeah. But, but it's great because we're starting to see, you know, over 5 last 3 years progress. But, yeah, to give, I think last year, so 2023, we've done, like, 42, visits, like, humans, like, being there

Anthony Corsaro - 00:37:13
on the

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:37:13
farm, testing going on, like, catching up on what they've they've been doing. There was 10, audits perform, like, region audits, 6 training, and 55 days of, meetups, you know, like, where we're organizing, like, such So, yeah, it's it's a old network, and we we we work with maybe, yeah, 50 groups of farmers like farmers or group of farmers. And so, yeah, it's kind of thing we do.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:37:46
What's been the hardest thing sauce besides peanut butter. You stole one of my questions when you answered that one, but I'm curious, like, what else has been challenging?

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:37:53
Oh, one of the thing was, sure. What's the name? The the the raspberry, like, you know, the purple thing? Yeah. Because it was very hard to find, like, sufficient volume and being done the right way. So we it took us a long time to have the jam because we wanted the jam. But now we really have it. But but we don't know whether we'd be able to to maintain it because the the volume is so low that we don't know. Like, each 1 year you have problems that I don't know what the next year. So, yeah, there are a couple of things like that.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:38:22
And then there's things that we still, like, you know, because of, these industrialization, like, we're missing some industry now. Like, for example, like, cutting vegetables, like, cutting industry. There's not much cutting happening anymore in France for some reason. So sometimes you have to source, you know, you cut onions from a bit far because it's not there yet. So, yeah, this kind of thing, you know, that that seems a bit crazy that you you don't have industry for cutting fruits and stuff, but it's it's it's really happening. So one of the thing we also look at is also long term, like, how can we get involved into helping maybe more industry come back and being able to process the thing we need to process here?

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:38:58
Like, onions, for example, like cutting onions, this kind of thing. So, yeah.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:39:14
Yeah. And I love that because it ties into what we've kind of already talked about, which is this whole need for the continued support of infrastructure that supports regenerative or building additional infrastructure that supports regenerative and the way you'll have designed this supply chain and the product development and then go to market really should be value add to those people as well instead of just They're just a manufacturer that you negotiate a price with, and that's it. Right? It seems very strategic and important.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:39:39
Yeah. Yeah. One of the thing we we also testing is 3 parties' contracts, you know, like, there's us. It's a farmer, and then there's the manufacturer, and we try to engages in each other in volumes and and and and what are we gonna do, why we work together, and so that we secure as well. The offtake for the farmers. And, and this is something we would like to generate to to expand more in the in the future. When we, you know, we launch product, we see that it works well. So then we start having more certainties on volume and all that. So we can then go back to farmers and say, okay. We can actually see that there's demand for this. So, maybe we can build something together.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:40:13
Like, you know, it's small. Like, it's it's, like, some business have been doing it for a long time. Like, in chocolate, you know, you have this, ethical, ways of contracting with a certain price, like, a range of price. And so this is something we we really believe in, and we would like to do more in the future.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:40:39
Yeah. I find it odd when people push back really hard on forward contracting because the the mainstream food system does it with everything. Like and so does it need to be shifted for a return of outcome and a return system? Absolutely. But people that kind of totally dismiss it as not an option when I think it's actually a really good option it's kinda shocking to me because I've been a part of those conversations of like, hey. We wanna pay this set price on lettuce. 52 years you know, 52 weeks of the year and we know the market will fluctuate and you can design that and people don't understand that all the major food service and retailers, especially in At least I can just speak for the US context. Like, that's the majority of that is contracted and the price is set or it's set on a pricing structure or something.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:41:17
I want I want you just being to to walk the audience also through the planet score because it kind of to me is the way the regenerative index shows up on the the product, but it's even more than the agronomy. It has to do with the human health implications and all these other things. So Can you talk people through that and and how that works?

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:41:43
Absolutely. Yeah. It's it's it's a very useful tool. And so Planet Score is, is a is a environmental score. That has been developed by Independent Institute here. It's actually the the main base is, is a carbon footprint of ingredients. Like the, the usual one and the 2 international database of, okay, which ingredient has what's sort of a carbon footprint, but then they go far beyond that by adding criteria around, chemical management, antibiotics, animal welfare, soy management. And so there's a lot more into, looking at just the carbon footprint of of our own ingredients. And then So you you you program them all the data on your product and give you, a rating, which is the Planet score, which is a, b, c, d, and taking into account all those things. And then you have at your product level, a a rating for environments and footprint. And it's very useful for us to improve our product over time.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:42:36
Like, say, some of our product, they started at C, And then over time, we managed to move them to b and then to a, by, you know, either shifting some ingredients or or working on some of the ingredients, like value chain, how they were being made and all that. So it's it's really like a a good tool for us to to work with.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:43:05
Do do products have to be at a certain level? Like, do they have to be at least a C to start, or how do y'all approach that?

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:43:10
Yeah. They have to be at least a C and today and and of course, we target b and a, and it's like, we have 90% of a product that are either b or a. So, you know, it's it's free for its importance.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:43:24
Is planet scores something that's ubiquitous in in France? Like, are there a lot of products at the grocery store with using this, or is this pretty you know, pretty new, and y'all are one of the few early adopters. Like, what

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:43:35
is that? It's it's it's fairly new. We were the 1st food brand to actually score all of our product risk plan and score. And but now it yeah. So we're really happy to do it, and we really work with them to also help them with them as low So we were really involved into, also helping to improve, the the tool over time. But now it's also the the big, organic a retailer called Yorkup in France, which is like, it's not so, I mean, it's like building more than 1,000,000,000, sells retailer, and they actually now also rated all of their product, like their own brand, with, Planet Corp. Yeah. And so but it we were really the 2, like, pioneers, and now they're more and more company getting, interested by it. So it's really cool to see that it's it's taking an edge now.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:44:21
So it seems like it's gaining a lot of B2B momentum. Do you think consumers are really paying attention to it? Like, have y'all seen sales decline or uplift based on the scores? Like, are you seeing how's the consumer reacting to it?

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:44:34
I think it's a bit early to to know because, for us, you know, we've we were already so transparent, and people already know re reading all of this. I don't at the retail level, if it it's probably helping because people more and more, they they they want, to know if what they buy is actually good for the planets, not just for for them, for the health. So I'm sure it's helping, but then I don't know how to measure it, you know, but I think it's useful.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:45:03
Yes. I wanna switch gears to current events, and and maybe have y'all educate us on something that's happening in your neck of the woods, which is the farmer protest.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:45:13
Yeah.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:45:14
They're happening a lot in France and even I think across Europe, and I really don't know the whole story behind it. Why it's happening? My assumption is it has has something to do in relation to what y'all are doing. So we'd love to have you break that down for us and share, like, what your perspective is on what's going on there.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:45:31
Yeah. It's, it's, it's really it's been, like, 2 weeks now that the protest ongoing and still on, like, even though it has been some announcement, like, pharmacist still protesting. And it's all about, like, it started, like, the main initially thing was, oh, there's too much regulation Right? Like, there's too much regulation coming from Europe, and, it's unfair because, we apply it in France. But then some of the country don't, and then we import products coming from the country that only play it. So it's unfair competition, competitive advantage. To the detriments of farmers here in France and some of the country in Europe. So and and it's true as well, you know, because we also getting involved into, trade deals with other countries that don't don't have the same environmental, regulation.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:46:08
And so, of course, you have, like, cheaper products coming to France and people buying this product. And so farmers who actually should be able to, have a better price for their products become not competitive, so they're not able to sell. And so they're able to they they have to decrease the price. So it's all vicious circle. So really, like, the compensation that farmers get is the main, like, problems that there's a farmer don't get, and that's, like, there's there's a big like, poverty and and distress in farmers today, like, not all of them. Like, the situation can be very different from types of farmers It's worse in, like, milk industry, and, and meats like pork, especially because there's more competition as well.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:46:53
But it's funny to, to, to, I mean, it's not funny at all, but, you know, since that we actually now, we we're importing more and more, you know, like, we, as as a country, we I mean, France, the big agriculture countries is is, is is is stopped number 1 for lots of updating, like, serials and all that. But over over the years, we're importing more because, people are not able to pay for the price that's actually more ecological farming is. So, that's really the main issue. And then also the the farmers are actually asking for more transparency because they're they're like, okay. Your products in competition with, tomato sauce that the the consumer will sing comes from France with, French tomato, but actually no, and it's made from somewhere else with the bad condition and all that. So it's not fair for us, and you should tell the consumers, what's going on, and which is actually what we also promote.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:47:57
Because it's true, you know, like, if they had the choice and if they know, all if they had all in information, consumer would probably choose differently. Yeah. So, yeah.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:48:15
It it seems so crazy to think about that as an American thinking about France and just the rich history of food there and the fact that you know, the the amount of food that's now being imported instead of re short or ground locally. And we're we're having the same issues over here with the share food dollar going to the farmer and then I had to quit them out. And that's really I I actually think it's a horrible situation. You know, farmer suicide rates are sky high. I think, worse than any other profession. So obviously, don't wish any of that, but if we can use that pain or we can see that opportunity to change that for the better. Like, I think people that are building regenerative systems, there's such an opportunity to heal there and to to help bolster that.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:48:56
Absolutely. I mean, being more ecological as part of the solution, and the only thing is, as we know, is it takes time and it can take a couple of years. You we need to help the farmers And, of course, there has to be government involvement to support the farm the farmers during that time, like, like subsidy for training, for maybe the lack of, the initial gear you might lose some yield. There's also, a lot to do with insurance. Like, insurance has to evolve also to take that into account. Climate change, but also the risk of yield when you change practice. And this is also something we're actually, building We we we've been partnering with AXA Climate, with the AXA is a big insurance company, and AXA Climate is one of the branch dedicated to, environmental insurance, like a mental, problem insurance.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:49:29
And so we're doing a pilot with them in one of our farm. Where they're actually developing a new insurance product so that they could, get some, more adapted to what the farmers moving the practice to more environmental practice, have.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:50:03
Yeah. Yeah. There's so much overlap with I think things that we're fighting for on a federal and a state level over here, in terms of crop insurance programs, in terms of subsidies for practice adoption, in terms of kind of carrot versus stick to to incentivize farmers. And it's certainly a huge complex issue that I don't I don't ever think I'm an expert on, but know enough about to kind of inform the work that I do. I'm curious just being like, we we didn't really wrap the commercial story from the the direct to consumer offering to now the retail offering. So just give us an update where is the business at now from a commercial perspective? What is the future growth opportunity look like? What are y'all thinking on on growth strategy and kind of worse with everything out right now?

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:50:48
Yeah. So right now, we, we think for this year, like 2024 is really beating, building our, not already in, maybe for the different categories. Like, you know, we had this very big, large, range of products, but we actually in that range of starting to build our, strengths on couple of categories. One of them is, ready made, yeah, ready made meals, like, mills that you can just, you know, quickly heat up and eat, and healthy, of course, and with all the the environmental impact that we do. And so we have this, very interesting range of ready prep meal then sauce. That's the same thing, you know, like sauces you can use very quickly for your meal. And then we have snacks, like, salty snacks and then, sugary snacks. And those 4 categories are really what we are pushing now with retailers.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:51:32
And it's easier for us to enter with, this specific category that are actually already proven the that, consumer like them, like the They're really popular and they're our best products, instead of trying to push the old wrench in a look, which is sometimes challenging for retailers because they're like, okay. We already have this product. So how do put yourself in and all that. So this is our strategy for this year is really, go into the big, like, specialty retailers with those category of products, build a notoriety on that. And then then after, maybe we can put some more products, but this is really, what we're looking at for this year.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:52:18
Are the ready made meals shelf stable? Are they frozen? Are they, in refrigeration?

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:52:24
Yeah. It's a shelf. Like, it's in a, you know, like, in

Anthony Corsaro - 00:52:28
a Everything shall stable. The whole portfolio

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:52:30
that Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. And and this specific range of product. We've been developing, some of them with, very, chef, very popular chef here in France. So it's also there's the label of the chef, you know, like, because we've been working a lot on the recipe, like, the taste, and it's really amazing product. And it's it's like, alternative to very popular, like, meat. Like, there's a, a vegetarian in bolognese, like, basins, you know, veggie based. And, it's very yummy, like, it's very healthy. There's not too much salt, but it's compensated by herbs. So there's really, an identity into that product as well.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:53:01
So those very flagship product that we are pushing or helping also to build our notoriety as a healthy, you know, health

Anthony Corsaro - 00:53:21
You're making me hungry, Joseph. Is the it I I know you're really focused on France right now, and it sounds like even specific regions and specific types of retailers in France. Is this, you know, is the broader vision the EU? Is it really just this is gonna be an amazing French brand, and we're just always gonna be like, buy France for for France. Like, what what's the vision geographically?

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:53:42
Yeah. No. We're definitely looking at Europe, because, we within, like, Samsung, you know, some of the product could be actually stars and as a product because they represent a lot of also, you know, like, the the French chef, building the product. So we we really think there's a potential. So in those countries, we just we haven't started looking into it yet because we were first first things first. You know, we focused on France, but definitely at some point, we would like to expand because the old model and the the transparency play. We we think it could also appeal to some other consumers in other countries.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:54:18
Yeah. And I know it's it's more challenging to go into other countries in the EU than it is to, like, sell across state lines here in the US because you're printing different languages on packaging and different languages. Like, So Yeah.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:54:29
Yeah. I

Anthony Corsaro - 00:54:30
get this a little more complex.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:54:31
Yeah. Yeah. You could think that, oh, Europe is just one thing. You know, like, it's easy to go in there and there, but, no, like, country as its own language. And sometimes you have several language in one country, and your labels have to have that language. So, yeah, it makes it a bit But

Anthony Corsaro - 00:54:46
How how has the fundraising environment been for y'all? Like, how how have y'all funded the business? What is that like over there in Europe? I mean, I'm super intrigued by that as an investor over here, but know nothing really about the the comparables there.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:54:59
Well, we we will look into to be able to to, raise, quite significant amount of money, like, almost 15,000,000 so far, in equipping.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:55:09
15 or 50.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:55:10
1515, 15,000,000 from, like, yeah, and from and from very, like, investor that actually understood what we're doing Well, like, one of our investor, is called 2050. That's the name. Nice. And and, actually, their their goal is to build business that already you know, gonna help to solve some of the big problems. And they really have this ecosystem view of trying to support businesses that that building an older ecosystem. And so they understand what regenerative ag is, you know, because at the beginning, like, the initial years, it was a bit difficult because none of the investor really in France were really acquainted with the regen, play. You know, it's not like in the US, I think in the US, you have, maybe 7 years events, but just in terms of the investments, seen, for region ag and region everything. So at the beginning, it was a bit hard to to explain that, yes, we're building a friend. It's gonna be about a region ag, and why it's important.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:56:05
So initially, it was a bit more difficult, but then, we had some, a business engine initially that were really helpful. And then quickly, a fun, that one of my partner was working with before invested as well. And it's it's more of a VC tactical fund, but they had impact section. So they they were looking to those kind of projects. And then we did this bigger friend race with, the also fun. So, yeah, it's it's interesting that now you can actually find investors that are here for the long term, you know, and this fund is actually, Evergreen fund.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:56:40
So they don't have this necessity of, you know, like, a short term mine sets, which is very important. It's when you in that sector, you know, it's not it's not like tech sector where everything is very quick and everything.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:57:04
Yeah. I think something that is discussed a lot, but maybe overlooked in our spaces. Not only do you have to have the right type of the capital and and time horizon for the enterprise. But for us, you know, in these businesses that are creating market demand, you have so many pieces stream that also need to play as the symphony and are those people capitalized correctly? And most of the time, you know, a lot of those capital pools aren't there or those financial models aren't there. Or they're not there at the right time or whatever. And so it's not only like a challenge to do that for yourself, but a challenge to do that for the ecosystem that supports you sounds like y'all have found a groove there at least to some degree, which is is great to hear.

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:57:42
Yeah. Yeah. You're right. I mean, the the old thing is is the ecosystem you need to have everyone working together the same direction, which is actually why on the side, we also we we're supporting, the creation of a a nonprofit organization that's supporting region ag in in general, and and the ideas to bring together all the different actors, like, co op, producer, retailers and we we were like, okay. Let's do it even outside of us so that it can the, independence and just serve the whole cause, you know, without the commercial aspect of it. So it's it's really part of the success is to be able to have the old ecosystem moving together at the same time.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:58:27
What's the name of that organization?

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:58:29
Slavy Urs. Lively Earth every lounge sheets, December last year. So yeah.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:58:36
Beautiful. Love it. And for those that are listening in Europe, because we're a couple weeks out, we will both be at the regenerative food systems investment forum in Brussels. In a couple weeks. So if you're interested in region food and ag investing or just commercial kind of enterprise ecosystem building, definitely check out that event. We'll share it in the show notes. The name of your investor, Josephine, is, is the perfect segue into our final question, which is how do we get regen brands that have 50% market share by 2050?

Joséphine Bournonville - 00:59:07
Oh, it's a good question. You know, I think we have to really build communities, like, be very good in terms of, I mean, use use the usual, play as well. You know, so be very good in terms of marketing, be very good in terms of operation, like, just be very focused, like, any normal other brands, and just use all the tool that we can use to get there. And that's one aspect, you know, like, very, very excellence in terms of operations and what we do. And then the second aspect is, probably have a play in, building public awareness around it. And for that, I think, leveraging you know, even political lobby, you know, like, being involved into the old discussion, like, being present in in the debates around the sustainable agriculture and what we want agriculture to look like in a couple of years. So have also key opinion leaders to, support our views and get involved into it.

Joséphine Bournonville - 01:00:05
And it's it's very important that, like, we're starting to have, like, key opinion leaders understanding what it is and why is it so important? And so I think that that's gonna be really key to to have the, regen becoming, in the public, like, very popular. Mhmm.

Anthony Corsaro - 01:00:29
Yeah. It's so true, and it resonates in, you know, I'm a firm believer that, yes, we need to build these you know, market driven enterprises that show proof of concept for this, but we have to do all the other stuff. We have to do the movement building. We have to do the the policy advocacy work. It's also important. And I know all of us are overworked and underpaid already, and so asking people to do even more is is a lot, but that's where strength in numbers comes in. And when you said Lively Earth the first time, I didn't remember that was Fannie. And so I love Fannie. She's amazing. Yeah.

Joséphine Bournonville - 01:01:01
So And she came, and she spent, like, 7 years in the US. So she Yeah. She saw the old scene there, and then she came back and friends were like, okay. I need to do the same So, yeah, we've been working with plenty over the last year or 2 to build live viewers. And we're a co founder, and we found all the co founder as a company. Nice. And it's exactly what you say, you know, like, having, you know, an organization that's also taking this role in the public scene to build awareness and do advocacy for that. Yeah.

Anthony Corsaro - 01:01:31
Yeah. And it's, I mean, it's what we're trying to do. Right? Regent brands is the media We have the new nonprofit, the region Coalition, and then outlaw Ventures is the investment company. And there's tons of other people. That's just my little world, but There's tons of other people that also do similar things or overlapping things in there, but we we need to do all of it. And we kinda need to all do it at now at the same time, which is difficult, but there's a lot of synergies and overlap there, and I believe we can. So just yeah, I really appreciate you joining us, Josephine. This was super educational. Love what y'all are doing.

Anthony Corsaro - 01:01:54
We will share in the show notes, but for anyone that's curious, just upon listening, the URL is just omie.fr, if I remember it correctly

Joséphine Bournonville - 01:02:07
or different?

Anthony Corsaro - 01:02:08
Yep. Okay. Perfect. Well, thank you so much for joining us. This was amazing.

Joséphine Bournonville - 01:02:11
So much. It was great. Thanks.

Anthony Corsaro - 01:02:16
For show notes, episode transcripts and more information on our guests and what we discuss on the show, check out our website regen-brands.com. That is regen-brands.com. You can also find our regen recaps on the website. Regen recaps take less than 5 minutes to read and cover all the key points of the full hour long conversations. You can check out our YouTube channel, Regen Brands podcast for all of our of with both video and audio. The best way to support our work is to give us a 5 star rating on your favorite podcast platform subscribe to future episodes and share the show with your friends. Thanks for tuning into The ReGen Brands Podcast brought to you by the Regen Coalition in Outlaw Ventures. We hope you learned something new in this episode and it empowers you to use your voice, your time, and your dollars to help us build a better and more regenerative food system.

Anthony Corsaro - 01:02:59
Love you guys.