Vega

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Vega | Fortune

Vega Company Profile, Stock Price, News, Rankings | Fortune

At the Fortune  Brainstorm Tech Dinner in Las Vegas, Fortune's Andrew Nusca interviews Mark Cuban about his work with Cost Plus Drugs. Cuban discusses disrupting the pharmaceutical industry, tackling healthcare inefficiencies, and the role of AI in business innovation, while also sharing insights on NBA viewership trends.

From $160K to $19K: Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drugs Saves Millions for Employers

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At the Fortune Brainstorm Tech Dinner in Las Vegas, Fortune's Andrew Nusca interviews Mark Cuban about his work with Cost Plus Drugs. Cuban discusses disrupting the pharmaceutical industry, tackling healthcare inefficiencies, and the role of AI in business innovation, while also sharing insights on NBA viewership trends.

At Fortune Brainstorm Tech Dinner Mark Cuban discusses his efforts to disrupt the pharmaceutical industry through Cost Plus Drugs, focusing on transparency in pricing and lowering drug costs.

At the Fortune Brainstorm Tech Dinner Mark Cuban discusses his efforts to disrupt the pharmaceutical industry through Cost Plus Drugs, focusing on transparency in pricing and lowering drug costs.

Pinky Cole, Founder and CEO, Slutty Vegan, Brice Klein, Co-founder and COO, Choppy, Brent Young, The Meat Hook Moderator: Indrani Sen, Fortune

Impact Initiative 2024: Green Cuisine: The Future Of Sustainable Meat

Photography by Rebecca Greenfield/Fortune

Great to see everyone again. Um So we're gonna start uh with a few questions that I have, but as always, I would love to have some questions from the audience. So please think about your uh what you would like to ask our um our our guests here. Um You know, I think everybody knows the companies that you're that you're from, but there you're doing such innovative and interesting work each of you and so different from each other. I'd love to start by just asking you for kind of the 32nd elevator pitch to explain the idea behind your company. Um Pinky, could I start with you? Um You've built an empire slutty vegan based on making delicious vegan food accessible. It's a movement as much as a chain as Brent found out on his way in because he was hearing about it from all the cab drivers. Um And I wonder if you could tell us about the idea that started it for you. Um Great question. First of all, everybody, hello, I got married in this room last year. So this is my first time back here. OK. Um So it feels good. I'm still married. God is good back there. So, um I started this concept in 2018 and at the time I had my dream job. I was a casting director and a former producer for the Maury Show over three years wild. Um But I did a lot of production work. Um And in my two bedroom apartment in 2018 is when I came up with this wild crazy idea. That was so good that I didn't want to share it with the world. And it was creating a concept that would merge sex and food. And I'm like, oh damn, this is a good idea. And from that moment, not even knowing what I was doing, I came up with Flo and in six years, we've graced the covers of almost every magazine. I have 12 plus locations. We've had great partnerships. We built a concept that was just bigger than burgers and fries, but something that rallies the community together and I'm proud of the work that I get to do every single day and it gets ghetto sometimes. Um But the beautiful part of entrepreneurship is we get to do it and inspire people every day. So that's lady loves that. Um I'm gonna go to Brent um The Meat Hook which is a butcher shop in Brooklyn and in the Hudson Valley champions ethical and sustainable meat production. Can you elaborate on your approach to butchering whole animals um rather than buying parts and how that contributes to a more sustainable meat industry. Yeah, absolutely. So, um, Meat Hook is now 15 years old and we are a whole animal butcher shop, which means that we buy whole animals from local farms, butcher them on site and sell them to customers. It's a retail business and it's as simple as that with the simplicity being, you know, the foundation of the business, we wanna know our farmer, we wanna know our customer and we want there to be transparency along the way. Um utilization is the foundation of our business. So we work with regenerative farms. So the product is very expensive. Um It's very sustainable, very ethical. Um But we got to use all of it. It's very expensive. So, um you know, from an entire cow, maybe only 20% of that cow is actual steaks, 50% of it is bones, the other 25% 25 to 30% is ground beef. So with that, OK, what do you do? You make cheeseburgers? So therefore I started a restaurant pork. Same thing. Our specialty is sausages. So what is like the, you know, the through line with all, all of us, we make a whole variety of sausages. If you have an idea, like we probably made it into a sausage. We make a Banh Mi sausage, we make a Philly Cheesesteak sausage. We make a beaten onion sausage and, and uh like all of these things are to infuse different flavors, you know, into the product that we have so that we can sell all of it because we don't make any money unless we sell the entire animal. Um The mission of our company is rebuilding agriculture one cheeseburger at a time. And Bryce, uh Chappy offers hybrid protein options. Could you explain that? And, and then also tell us a little bit about what problem that solves for people who are looking to eat more plant based foods in their diet. Yeah. So we're making products that are like 90% plant proteins, 10% beef fat, bone broth and collagen. And in particular, focusing on kind of the processed meat category and what you get there is you get a product that tastes like it should is high in protein most importantly, pre seasoned and you just have to throw it in a pan to heat it up. And so with that, you're then no longer focusing on appealing to a consumer on sustainability reasons, but you're then able to treat or excuse me, Trojan Horse sustainability by appealing to consumers for actual consumer problems. Things like I've got hangry kids at home. I wanna make a quick case you got a car, I thought I can throw into it. And so trying to again, Trojan Horse, the sustainability problem of food, right? So it might look like we're about to have like a brawl on stage between all these different ways of eating, but there's actually so much in common um between your three businesses, high quality, healthy, ethically sourced food comes at a premium. Um At the same time, customers are experiencing sticker shock in this high inflation era. What are your thoughts on balancing sustainability and affordability for your consumers while also trying to run profitable businesses? Um I can go first. Um Can I be honest? Absolutely, because that's the only thing I can have it any other way. Um The the the plant based world is at a consistent decline just holistically, if you pay attention to the tickers, right? Plant based companies, it's just not in a good space right now. Um And I don't know if it's specifically because the trend a trending like how it used to be, right? Or if you know the the beef companies are like putting out messaging like who knows? Right. But the reality of it is, is as an entrepreneur in a plant based space. Obviously, it's affected us. The reason why I say that is, is because just quite naturally plant based foods are more expensive. So at the height of the business where, you know, pre and pro um right after COVID, we got lines down like every single day, people are willing to pay $18 for a burger. But then when you have all of these plant based companies and non plant based companies, now everybody got a burger and you go to Target and you look on the shelf. And if 10 companies are selling the same thing, there's so much saturation in the market. So now people aren't willing to pay $18 for a burger like they used to because they can get the same thing $3 over here. Or if they can go to Burger King, they can get it for four dollars. So there's been a challenge in trying to navigate through those things and what I've been focusing more on which I've always done. But I'm putting more of an effort on the experience because people pay for good experiences and if you can get people to pay for good experiences, it don't matter what the food costs, what we're gonna promise you is we're gonna give you a quality product, you're gonna be happy when you leave and you'll get the ultimate experience that'll make you wanna come back. Alright. Yeah. Can I um just a um piggyback on that? I feel like um everybody kind of wants to know your butcher and that is why we've started more retail locations because so much of what we do is built on trust. So we can tell the stories of the farms and we can look you in the eye whether you had a really good experience and you had like, you know, amazing short ribs. Ok. Those were fantastic or if your steak sucked, like there might be a reason for like, did it hang long? Did it hang long? Enough. Was there another issue in the animal itself? Like we're here for that? So, um the hospitality experience is very, very important to us. But to answer your question, like, I don't think the prices are going down. Like the beef industry, you know, the big three packers learned that they can control way that we eat meat in this country through COVID and it was maniacal and like really freaking messed up and the way and so those prices aren't going down and beef commodities in general, like you can't grass fed and commodity beef are like calves are the same price, finishing same price. Ok, so like why would you necessarily go grass fed well, because it's better for the environment, it tastes better and you know, it's better for the earth. Ok. The those are, those are great reasons to do it but like the New York Times did a great little article last week about the environmental costs of um lots of foods, but most specifically beef because if, and it's a really easy cool little infographic, please check it out that um the hidden environmental cost. The cheapest beef in Walmart across the United States right now is $5.38. You can't buy anything cheaper than that. The environmental cost is an extra $22. So that actually should be, you know, whatever. I'm not gonna be able to do math on stage. I'm sorry. Thank you so much. That's 20 $27 for ground beef. Like the meat hook, like ground beef is a loss leader for us. Like I keep the price low because I want to have something that everybody can afford. Sausage is the same way. Steaks aren't going anywhere. They're easy to sell, keep selling them. But like the hospitality aspect of making sure that people are met where, where they are at and understand the costs behind it and where their money is going is super important to me. And then my, my thoughts there are that the alternative, the beat industry has made a lot of, I think perhaps missteps in this realm and trying to sell products at a premium under the guise of being more sustainable, which when you have a worst tasting product that's nebulously healthier is a really hard pitch. And so we see there's white space. Then in that we think we need a strategy shift and see a lot of white space again in processed meats, ground beef, heavily subsidized, hard to get the cost on processed meats. There's an upcharge for them because they're more convenient for the end user. So it's easier for us to get to parity. And then also we are solving problems for the consumer and saying, hey, it's convenient, it's healthy and with that, you can have a bit more flexibility in terms of price as opposed to again, ground beef, which is more ubiquitous, ok. Um You know, that people often say you are what we eat, you are what you eat, right? Uh Increasingly food and the food choices that we make aren't just consumer choices. They're becoming kind of central parts of our identity, parts of the tribes that we belong to, whether you're a vegan or a carnivore or a flexitarian. How do you think about and speak to those identities and your customers? Or, you know, you may even, you may dispute the premise of my question also, I'll, I'll dispute it. Uh I like these guys but I, we have so many customers that come in that were, you know, vegan or vegetarian, say my doctor needs, you know, said that I need iron in my, in my diet. I need to introduce something and they're like sheepish to come in. So like we're, we're here for it. Come come talk to us like the all of these solutions need to exist in our food system. Like, you know, I am definitely not a 100% carnivore diet like that's crazy. No, no one caveman didn't eat like that. Like, you know, we've always had vegetables in our diet. So like how can we promote better farming practices to raise cleaner food, not mono crop it but you know, create more biodiversity and better farming practices to raise more high quality food for all of the things that we support. Yeah, I would agree that very much there aren't really these tribes like, you hear a lot of Liver King or Joe Rogan on one side of the spectrum. But in practice people, they just want things that taste good, meet the right nutritional profile and are sufficiently convenient. And if you can meet that, it's great. I was doing a demo at a grocery store in Omaha and sold a bunch of product to a guy wearing a backwards mega a F hat who, you know, ostensibly wouldn't be excited about this, but like was with his family, like our teriyaki steak because it was easy for his family. And so I think where you can provide the value would provide that experience, you can cross party lines. You know, it's interesting. I did a mckenzie brand equity study. Are y'all familiar with? Ok. Um I did a mckenzie brand equity study. Um, and what they said is 70% of the people who come to flooding vegan are not vegan. Right. And I knew that just with my simple math. Um, but, but what's interesting about why slutty vegan has been able to sustain so long is because I'm not attracting the vegan. Right. Right. I don't care if you eat vegan. I don't care if you are a meat eater, if you would like to eat pork. That's your prerogative. I married to somebody who got a chain of meat restaurants. I know it makes no sense. It would be a great TV show, by the way. But the reality of it is, is, uh, it's almost like we've been to the hospital before, right before you go into the back, before they admit you, you go into the triage, right? So everybody slutty vegan is like the triage. So you come as you are and however you come, we will meet you where you are. And I think that that is a part of the reason that has allowed us to just really navigate as a brand because our audience is not, we want the person that's just eating salad all day. That's not a person. We want the person who's eating vegan for the first time and wants to see what the hype is all about. And then when it tastes like the vegan, like, OK, I could do this right. And then tomorrow they can go to his restaurant and then they can go to grocery store and buy some teriyaki uh from him. And, and that is the person that is going to keep the business to continue to grow. And I like to keep it that way. Absolutely. We in our last couple of minutes. Um What do you see as the biggest challenges ahead for sustainable food? And, and also what makes you feel optimistic? I said one of the biggest challenges for us has been funding. Um and uh like we tried our hand at AC PG brand a couple years ago and it was actually a very disheartening um experience because everybody loved the product. We make all of these interesting sausages, like the green chorizo. Cool. My kids will eat this, like, it's bright green. But, um, the only funding available for these products was venture capital funding. And everybody wanted to know, you know, our pathway to 5 million in five years. It was like, we're the exact opposite of the type of agriculture that we're supporting here. So everybody loves the idea. But they just, you know, the finances just don't work like banks, like just don't want to take a big risk on that. And it's slow money and there's some slow money, angel investors out there. But, um, it, you know, when you need a million dollars and someone's willing to lend you 10,000, not particularly helpful, um which is, you know, why I just wanted to start more retail locations so that people know the brand, trust, the brand, know the butcher and hopefully we can see it grow from, from there. I think very much agreed on the funding side. And then that ties in. I think one of the biggest challenges right now is consumer trust. There has been a lot of venture capital or fill in the blank dollars thrown at various companies across the alternative meat landscape, many of whom have not met consumer expects stations. And it's hard to convince people to come back and try something that might be notably better when they've already had a slightly soured experience. And so overcoming that is a challenge. I think things I'm optimistic about are a lot of these kind of more regenerative approaches. There are now many more brands taking that strategy. And then also, you know, there are a lot of somewhat more upstream companies doing things like algae based feed to give the cows to reduce emissions. And so I think there are a lot of compelling solutions across the value chain there. I think the story line is that we all need money. Yeah. Ok. I see. Um very much so. Um I think that uh access to resources and financial resources especially is a lot different today than it was in 2020 21. Would you all agree? Right. People are clutching their money more than they did before. Back in 2021 everybody was throwing out cash, throwing out valuations. It was great like it was a party. But now people are unsure because the economy, there's so much instability that's happening. So for me in my industry here I am, I asked chat GP T by the way, I said, who's the most notable vegan restaurant? And they said slutty vegan. I'm like, ok, cool. I'm cool. But I see all of my peers closing their doors. Yeah. Every week there's a different vegan restaurant closing. So it's a blessing and a curse. The blessing is like, ok, I get to monopolize but the curse is that like, am I next. And it's, it's a hard reality that you have to ask yourself. But it's because people, especially private equity firms and investors. I don't honestly believe that they believe in the plant based movement like they did before because there's not many comps like I am the only cop left, right. So I'm creating a blueprint by, by also trying to make people feel comfortable and it's difficult, but it's worth every step of the way. And I wouldn't stop it for anything in the world. Love that. All right, we're gonna end on that note. Thank you so much to our team panelists and to our audience for engaging.

Try this delicious vegan recipe from the Olympic Village menu, designed by Jeff Leidy, senior executive chef at Sodexo Live!

Eat like an Olympic athlete: Try this cauli-fredo pasta with cashew cream

Health

Hello, I am chef Jeff. I am an Olympic chef heading to the Paris 2024 Olympics. I am going to give you a sneak peek at the dishes served in the athletes village at this year's Olympics in Paris. Today. I'm going to prepare for you. An amazing plant based pasta made with Cal Alfredo with cashew cream to prepare today's meal. We have tricolored cauliflower that has been roasted with a little olive oil and sea salt. We have the cashews that we made the cashew cream with. We have a vegan plant-based Parmesan cheese. We have oven roasted tomato chili threads to add a little spice of flavor. A bucatini pasta, which is one of my favorites, diced shallots and sliced garlic. As you can see, a lot of this has been prep prepared to make meal planning quicker and easier. Gonna start by using a high flame to that. We are gonna add olive oil, good mouth. Then to that we have our predic shallot slivered garlic. I really love this dish. It's very aromatic. OK? Let the flame come up. We'll let this cook for a few minutes. This dish has great carbohydrate. It's something that adds a lot of calories for the athlete and it's a great way to prepare for their event. So we will let this get some color to it. Ok. Then we're gonna get one of my favorite pastas bucatini. So we're gonna add a portion of Bucatini. Ok, while that's cooking. Ok. We're getting some good color. Now we've precooked the pasta for and then here is our cashew cream that we have pres soaked the cashews overnight and then you blend them in a blender until smooth. Mhm. So we have the cashew cream. Ok. You can hear that cooking well. Ok. Well, he pissed off. Nice and hot. Turn the flame off. You can see how beautiful and creamy that is. Ok. Then to that, we are gonna de some vegan parmesan to the dish. Is that nice portion of that? And then to that we have these vine ripe tomatoes that we've done. We've cooked slowly in the oven. Nice, slow cooked simmer, it sweetens the tomato. And then we are gonna add our cauliflower. This normally you would do roasted at home and serve warm or you can saute it in the pasta for today. We chose to do it separately. See the beautiful color on these, these again were roasted with a little olive oil, salt and pepper, add some beautiful color and then to that, we'll finish it with a little chili bread or give it a pop of flavor and add a little color and there you are. I personally love this dish just for the flavor. You don't miss that. It doesn't have cream or butter. This is an amazing dish that tastes just like the original. Now, the best part of preparing this meal is to actually get to try it. Incredible. Enjoy.

Jane Sun shares insights into her company’s COVID-19 response.

How Trip.com’s CEO navigates industry challenges through a customer-centric approach 

Leadership

Trip dot com is the largest travel company in China. Uh It has about 30,000 employees globally. We were established in 1999. And right now uh we have uh products uh covering hotel air tickets, train corporate travel group package, et cetera. Our goal is to uh provide excellent services to our global customers. Our mission is that while we are sending people far away, we are bringing the world closer. Uh Right now, there are lots of conflicts between different regions and we strongly believe that travel is something that we can bring people together. Uh as Confucius teaching uh told us that it is better to travel 10,000 miles than to read 10,000 books. So for us, travel is learning, travel is understanding and travel promotes global peace and global understanding. During the past three years, it was very difficult for the travel industry. However, uh we always adhere to our principle that customer first, our partner, second and trip dot com, the third uh by putting customer first uh when China uh locked down its border when the outbreak happened, uh millions of customers have already paid airlines and hotel money. Uh however, they couldn't travel outside of the country. So we work with more than 10 banks, uh get the loans from the banks and provide the refund to the customers even before. Uh we get the money from the airlines and hotels. And that is the responsibility and purpose for our company uh to react very responsibly during difficult time. At that time, we were out of cash, cash flow almost is to zero. So our chairman and myself are volunteer to our board that we will take zero salary until industry recovers. And our VP responded by telling our board that they will take 50% cut until the business recovers. And our employee responded that they will work four days and take one day off, work three days, take two days off. But in reality, that's the best way for them to support the business, support our customers and partners. Uh Although they are taking some discount on their salary success to me has a couple of uh measurement. Uh first of all, for our customers, uh we need to really provide the best product and best service. So uh when you call our call center within 20 seconds, a live person answer the phone within two minutes, uh we can finish a deal for you when there is a tsunami in Japan or Las Vegas shooting many years ago. Within a minute, we'll be able to identify where our customers are and make sure we reach out to them, uh provide hot tower, uh hot meal and bring them to the hotel. And the very next day, if they choose to uh come back to their home country, we will be able to rescue them back. Uh So that excellent service uh provide peace uh to our customers. And that is a success for me uh to to our customer.

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