I’m super excited about this! Seems like there’s a lot of potential. Just a few half-thought observations and data points below in case helpful.
A potential worry about the restaurant-first approach—anecdotally it seems like hip restaurants in places like NYC/Boston/Philly may already doing quite a bit with tofu in different varieties. The mechanism by which food goes from “being used in chic restaurants” to “drastically changing the volume of tofu eaten” probably needs some proving.
It may be unrealistic to expect a modern American restaurant to devote more than a couple dishes to “non-Chinese” dishes. (maybe this is averted if the main channel is things like lasagnas and grilled “cheeses” like you’re trying).
Yum, thanks for sharing that link! Cool to hear that there’s exciting tofu happening in Kenya. And absolutely, I think you’re right—making tofu hip doesn’t necessarily mean it will spread. That said, it’s hard to imagine the tofu market growing without it becoming a more desirable food, and that seems easiest via restaurants for now. A lot of work to still be done!
I’m super excited about this! Seems like there’s a lot of potential. Just a few half-thought observations and data points below in case helpful.
A potential worry about the restaurant-first approach—anecdotally it seems like hip restaurants in places like NYC/Boston/Philly may already doing quite a bit with tofu in different varieties. The mechanism by which food goes from “being used in chic restaurants” to “drastically changing the volume of tofu eaten” probably needs some proving.
For example the first (non-random) restaurants I looked up has Mustard Seed Crusted Tofu with spaghetti squash. The second just has glass noodles with roasted tofu, which maybe supports your point that it’s limited varieties of tofu being used.
It may be unrealistic to expect a modern American restaurant to devote more than a couple dishes to “non-Chinese” dishes. (maybe this is averted if the main channel is things like lasagnas and grilled “cheeses” like you’re trying).
Potential inspiration: Mtofu is a newish company in Kenya that is markets flavored tofus, eg chorizo substitutes: https://m.facebook.com/mtofukenya/
Yum, thanks for sharing that link! Cool to hear that there’s exciting tofu happening in Kenya. And absolutely, I think you’re right—making tofu hip doesn’t necessarily mean it will spread. That said, it’s hard to imagine the tofu market growing without it becoming a more desirable food, and that seems easiest via restaurants for now. A lot of work to still be done!