Ofek Ron On Protein Production Technology Podcast

“I think we're not in a protein problem, and people are just buying things filled with protein like crazy. We should be more focused on whole meals. If you go to a conference, you see everything protein. Relax. It's good to have protein, but it's not the only issue. The issue is not that people are not having enough protein. The issue is people eating not healthy.”

Protein Production Technology Podcast · Alternative Proteins · November 2026

Context

Asked what he thinks the alternative-protein industry is focusing on too much. He says the sector's fixation on protein misses the point; the target should be whole meals.

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Transcript

Protein Production Technology Podcast Around 38:38 into the episode

Ofek Ron

…I think it has tremendous potential if it saves cost and give better nutrition and it gives better nutrition. The cost is a process and it will get there. Some of it already not found. So I think that should get more attention. I think it's a very good approach to reduce the use of animals in food.

Nick Bradley

And is there something everybody seems obsessed with that you think is actually a little bit overhyped?

Ofek Ron

Yeah, the protein in general. Okay, like I think that we're not in a protein problem and people are just buying things filled with protein like crazy. I think we should more be focused on holy meals. Okay. You need to have protein. You don't have to have that much protein, but also fibers and also some fats. And also you want the vitamins, you want amino acids. I think we should more be focused on eating right than eating more protein. Okay. It's like we need to have a shift. And if you go to a conference, you see everything protein. Okay. Relax. It's good to have protein, but it's not the only issue. The issue is not people are not having enough protein. The issue is people eating not healthy. And protein is one of many things that they need to make sure they're having in their diet.

Nick Bradley

Let's come on to that crown funding now because it was a pretty successful campaign, very successful campaign. Why did you decide crowdfunding was the right route for Oshi at this particular stage for the company?

Ofek Ron

In the end, 90%, about 87 point something percent of the money now goes to AI. Okay. If I'm going to VCs now, I am from the about 10% that are trying to get their money, which we're not an AI. And it's hard, you know? There are things that are more profitable than us. We're a food company. We have…

Nick Bradley

Yeah, there's something quite nice about turning your customers into shareholders, I guess, that share that mission and share that drive to help the company succeed. It's uh, yeah, maybe that's something we should look towards. Um, now, when you originally um started talking about this interview…

Speaker names come from our own diarization. The position is estimated from where the line sits in the episode.

More from Protein Production Technology Podcast

“We met the buyers of Whole Foods in March at Expo West. On the spot they said, let's launch it in a few months. Let's plan for August. August turned to December. Then: the certification of your factory is not a certification that Whole Foods is accepting. One of your ingredients is a new ingredient for Whole Foods, you're using mycoprotein, we need to approve it. It was very stressful along the way.” — Ofek Ron, Protein Production Technology Podcast

“The larger the chain gets, your ability to do things is limited, because they have thousands of products in hundreds of stores. Doing a demo is one of the most expensive things. You pay $200 for a one-time demo of three hours. Now you do it in 100 stores, it's 20K for one day. You won't be able to do it. So you try to be creative: you bring an influencer, you partner with the chain. And in the end, the product needs to sell.” — Ofek Ron, Protein Production Technology Podcast