How world-renowned chef Dan Barber is aiming to revolutionize our food, seed by seed

“To be successful in the chefing business, you better put something on the plate that makes people say, ‘wow.’ Because you're naked, there's not all these sauces and condiments and garnishes, what's there better be really good. Discipline and precision and the technique has a lot to do with that, sure, but so does product. Product has tons to do with it. So I became very obsessed with product. And that led me to farms.”

This episode of Building One is a real treat, and somewhat different. Chefs are arguably one of the best examples of craftspeople, and Michelin Star chef Dan Barber is considered one of the best chefs in the world and a pioneer in the field. 

But we’re not talking about building elite restaurants. Instead, we’ll go deep into Dan’s new venture, Row 7 Seed Company -- an innovative product that seeks to forge a new path focused on flavor. Dan is taking the farm-to table concept he pioneered one step further with a seed-to-table business — one that aims to do no less than revolutionize our food system. His new vebture is aligning plant breeding with the needs of not just farmers but chefs too. 

I loved this conversation with Dan. Here are some of my takeaways that are particularly useful for those of you who are thinking of building something new.

To achieve the best, look to the source

“It doesn't matter how great the farm is. I can say that over and over. If the seed isn't locked and loaded with the nutrition that we need and the flavor that we need, we are hampering our ability to really enjoy a future of democratized and delicious food.”

Dan’s first and most important design principle is flavor, and he realized that if he wanted to master that as his main value proposition, he had to start by improving the most foundational “product.” He did this by redesigning it at the source, using modern breeding techniques to create seeds that prioritize flavor, rather than size or water weight.

In a complex ecosystem, seek to align the value chain

“We send them to partner farmers with the chefs.  The farmers give us feedback. What was it like growing in the field? How was the yield? How was the disease resistance? Would they want to be growing this again? And we're getting that feedback while simultaneously getting the chefs’ feedback. How's the flavor? How would I work with this in the kitchen?”

Dan also understood that there has long been a disconnect between the fields where our food is grown and the people preparing and eating that food - the two ends of his value chain. Dan brings chefs and farmers together in trialing new seeds to get better yield, better disease resistance, and better flavor. Instead of writing recipes based on what’s available in the market, Dan is instead creating space for recipes to start at the seed level.

Think about distribution from the beginning

“We have doubled down on this regional, food system here, so that we're supplying all the Whole Foods, there's 340 stores and all of them are being supplied by a regional farm…A lot of the reason that vegetables taste very dumbed down today versus, you know, what your grandparents were eating has to do with growing long-distance, for sure, but also has to do with catering to long-distance with genetics.”

Dan needed a partner who could bring more than just funding. Whole Foods isn’t just investing in Row 7 Seeds, it also provides crucial regional retail infrastructure for Dan’s product. With that relationship established, Dan can go to regional farmers and show them that if they grow the product, they’ll have a ready distributor. This is key for Row 7, which is breeding seeds that will work within regional food systems.

Leverage influencers to create demand

“If I had to choose somebody [to prioritize marketing to], it would be chefs because we curate this stuff every day and we also influence.  And I am interested in influencing the culture, changing the culture from a squash that's filled with 80 percent water that's bland that everybody just knows to add brown sugar to at Thanksgiving to make it taste good to a squash that you don't have to add anything to make it sing.”

Dan freely admits that the marketplace he’s looking to sell in doesn’t exist yet. That means he has to be extremely thoughtful with how he works to get demand going. One way he is doing that is by looking to chefs from all different walks of life as influencers of taste. If enough chefs use the product — and it’s also affordable and accessible to all consumers, it may go a long way in helping change the culture and create a new market. 

Have you ever needed to index on one key constituent of your entire value chain to influence demand for your product?

Check out the full episode of #BuildingOne for more insights. Listen, follow and rate the show on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.