Working with a contract manufacturer can be a win-win for alt-meat startups. But companies need to avoid falling into a — potentially costly — pattern of trial and error.

VP of Marketing Steve Shreve and Chef Rob Hodge from Future Foods Enterprises show off their PAOW!-branded products during Plant-Based World Expo.
When Brett Christoffel, CEO of All Y’all Foods, finally perfected his plant-based jerky, he was excited to bring the product to market. He also knew that there was no way he could make tens of thousands of bags of jerky in his home oven.
Faced with the challenge of getting a plant-based shrimp product into the marketplace in less than a year, one of the first actions Kelli Wilson took in her…