Big Idea Ventures has launched our very own podcast “The Big Idea Podcast: Food”. Each week Big Idea Ventures Founder Andrew D. Ive will speak with some of the most innovative minds in the food space and talk about the exciting projects they are a part of.
To listen to the episode click the links below!
Podcasts
Sticher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-big-idea-food-podcast
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/57TBllxq5CjpdVzzhNGjBp?si=u0hbKJqVQqqpkmyAv28ETg&dl_branch=1&nd=1
Google Podcast: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkLnBvZC5jby90aGUtYmlnLWlkZWEtcG9kY2FzdC1mb29k
Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-big-idea-podcast-food/id1564457496
To learn more about Lilo Desserts, check out the links below!
Lilo Desserts: https://lilodesserts.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lilo-desserts/?originalSubdomain=nz
Episode Transcript:
ndrew D Ive
Welcome to the Big Idea podcast where we focus on food. I’m your host, Andrew, I’ve the founder of Big Idea ventures. Today we’re going to be talking to Cleo Gilmour, the Co-Founder and CEO of Lilo Desserts, really interesting company doing two pretty incredible things. They’re taking natural, delicious, fresh fruit, some of the best fruit in the world from New Zealand. And they’re creating a plant based cheesecake product. So 100%, plant based zero dairy, and they’re bringing that to market. Going to be an interesting conversation. By all means, add, like, subscribe, and give us your comments. Look forward to the conversation and let’s get into it. Okay, clear. Welcome to the Big Idea podcast where we focus on food. How are you today?
Cleo Gilmour
Yatta Andrew, I’m great. It’s great to be here. Thank you for having me on.
Andrew D Ive
Absolutely. How are you today?
Cleo Gilmour
Yeah, good. It’s been a big week for us at Lilo. And we launched our first product online just over a week ago. And it’s been epic. We’ve had great support a great response from Yeah, everyone in our community people around New Zealand buying it up. So it’s been really exciting to see a product out there and people loving it.
Andrew D Ive
Amazing. Before we before we talk about this week’s craziness and sort of good news, why don’t we get people up to speed on who Lilo is first? Because otherwise that that announcement meant absolutely nothing. So Cleo, tell us you’re you’re a co founder of a company. Tell us what you guys do.
Cleo Gilmour
cura Yeah, well, I am clear one of the co founders of Lilo Desserts, and Lil. We’re all about rethinking our food systems and building snacks that our future forward and offer permissible indulgence. So when we talk about permissible indulgence, what we mean is food that gives you that feeling of a treat, but also as a little bit better for you. So for Lilo that means creating these guys, and these are our first range of ready to eat plant based cheesecakes. And what we do at Leila was we work with orchardists to upcycle fruit that is maybe a little bit small, a little bit overripe or a little bit ugly, and we use it in our products. So this is what the outer packaging looks like. And this is the product itself. So we’ve got not sure how well you can see it here. But we’ve got three layers. We’ve got a gorgeous New Zealand fruity layer, which is full of New Zealand’s rich antioxidants and vitamins. That’s an at fruit. We’ve got a plant based cream cheese layer in here, and then a gluten free biscuit base. So three layers of amazing texture, and poppy fruity flavor.
Andrew D Ive
Amazing. How long does it take to develop that?
Cleo Gilmour
close to two years? Because we really wanted to focus on getting that dairy like mouthfeel. So you know, it’s not just for vegans, it’s something that anyone can go and grab off the shelf, grab and go have a moment of indulgence and really enjoy.
Andrew D Ive
And you also mentioned working with orchardists in New Zealand. What’s that about?
Cleo Gilmour
Yeah, that’s really where Lilo started. So myself and the team we all have a background working in New Zealand exports or around APEC. So for myself, it’s helping New Zealand brands into the China market. So doing market edit patient of your products, branding and marketing. My co founder Alex worker, he worked a lot with Fonterra and Starbucks, and also fruit watchlists exporting into China. Another co founder works at Zespri New Zealand’s largest kiwi fruit conglomerate, and another co founder Russell Haynes is a product designer, previously designer for Lenovo, China. And so we saw with orchardists this amazing produce that they can grow exporting all around the world. New Zealand is famous for it, we do it really well. But we also saw the amount of waste and the pressure that orchards are on to produce this perfect fruit, particularly cherries, which is where it started for us. A single rainfall or weather event can mean that you’re losing 40 to 60% of your crop, which is devastating when you’re growing these premium cherries and then your income for that season is just slashed. And we thought Hold on. New Zealand fruit is some of the most nutrient dense in the world right that’s why it tastes so good. That’s why your New Zealand cherry is so sweet and so delicious. As it has higher levels of anthocyanins and antioxidants in it. So instead of focusing on this perfect fruit, which is gonna get harder and harder to produce is climate change roles, and why don’t we focus on what is good about the fruit, and how we can eat that and more delicious format. And that’s part of how we came to a delicious cherry cheesecake.
Andrew D Ive
Now you could have just taken that cherry and created a regular cheesecake. You know, you could have taken that ugly, ugly, cheesecake, sorry, ugly cherry and created any kind of cheesecake. So why why a plant based cheesecake. And now I’m glad you did, because that’s kind of what we’re the business we’re in. But why.
Cleo Gilmour
So Lilo is about creating food for the next generation and my generation. We come from New Zealand, we are the land of dairy. And we’re very famous for that. We do it very well. But we’re looking at food security and the way our food is going around the world. And we’re over indexed on animal based proteins right now. If we’re going to be feeding growing populations throughout the world, then we need to be looking at alternative protein sources. And I saw this working in China with the rise of plant base with Oatly spreading around every single coffee shop. Russel saw it and also living up in China. With this these trends in a bunch of different food areas. Alex saw it, you know, working with Impossible Foods. And we knew it just had to be plant based because New Zealand needs to step up that innovation in alternative proteins.
Andrew D Ive
Okay, how are the consumer you said you launched this week? That’s been what two years in the making. Tell us tell us a little bit about this week. Let’s kind of celebrate with you.
Cleo Gilmour
Yeah, so the product we’ve launched this week is actually our second product. So this is a party mix of dried fruit and it’s not coming up too well on the camera there. But because we’re all about using upcycle produce at Lilo we’re like okay, why stop at cheesecakes. And this is a product that is full of New Zealand. Apples new zealand dried apricot, New Zealand dried blueberries and New Zealand dried Golden Kiwi fruits. So it’s a lot of the orchardists that we work with for the cheesecake using their fruit in a another format. And this was a way for Lilo to you know, expand product NPD and get to market with something delicious really quickly. And we’re helping sort of educate New Zealanders on different ways that we can use our fruit because I’m not sure how much dried fruit you eat Andrew?
Andrew D Ive
Not not not a lot.
Cleo Gilmour
Yeah. Is there kind of a perception that it’s like, full of sugar full of oils a bit too over sweetened?
Andrew D Ive
Yeah, I kind of get that feedback from people sometimes. Yeah, for sure.
Cleo Gilmour
Yeah. So because we’re all about imagining food systems and imagining reimagining our fruit. We’re like, why does it have to be like this? Why can’t we produce dried fruit snacks that are natural sugar and oil free and just full of amazing flavors. And that’s what we’ve done with the party mix and people are loving it. Honestly, the drag kiwi fruit is like eating a salad lolly. There’s so much flavor and fruit and our goodness, we kind of have this line. But we think nature knows best. But technology can make it better. So taking what is already so good about nature, and just enhancing it with food technology, whether that’s drying processes or plant based food technology.
Andrew D Ive
So in terms of the plant based product, and congratulations on getting that sort of fruit fried dried fruit mix out, when when is that product available? Or is it already?
Cleo Gilmour
Yeah, so this one will be available and nationwide in New Zealand supermarkets from September. So we had a really awesome year last year we went to food competition called foods data, which is run by New Zealand’s largest retailer foodstuffs. And we beat out about 240 other food startups to win that and secured nationwide distribution in New World and it was really cool, Andrew because there are a lot of you know, supermarket names. They’re the people who kind of guard the gates to what’s in the supermarkets. And I think there’s a bit of skepticism around a lot of plant based foods still. And all of the little puddles of these cheesecakes came back looked clean. People absolutely love them and they’re excited to see them on shelves.
Andrew D Ive
That’s fantastic. Let’s talk about the plant based component of that product just for a second. You said it took you a year or two to create something that had the the kind of creaminess and Almost like the dairy nests, that I don’t think that’s even a word but let’s go with it the dairy Enos of the product, so that it would meet up to the high standards of what New Zealanders are looking for. And yes, this product kind of performed well enough for you to guys to get national distribution with a major retailer. How did you guys what was the process you went through to figure out what that plant based dairy component needed to be?
Cleo Gilmour
Yeah, so we did a lot of research around you know, current products that are already out there. Actually, through working with big idea ventures and being in the accelerator last year, which was an awesome milestone for us. We’ve connected with the likes of Javad on, which has been really great for research and development, a lot, a lot of consumer product testing, and testing on how this product performs. Not just taste wise, but how it can sit on a shelf. Because this is a product that we have built for export and for scale. And a big thing for us was not having palm oil in there or pumping it full of sugar. Because we found you know a lot of the plant based desserts out there compromise on taste and flavor by just being really, really sweet. And we’re about the miscible indulgence. So yes, it’s a delicious cheesecake. But we don’t want it just to be sugary trash, really. So Leila has about half the sugar of other plant based and dairy cheesecakes on the market. And more main ingredient that we’re using in here is coconut. And then some sort of special and most emotion and stabilization technology that we’ve developed with our food technologists.
Andrew D Ive
So how many ingredients does that plant based cheesecake have? Is it sort of eight to 10 ingredients? Or is it a little bit longer than that?
Cleo Gilmour
We’re a bit more than 10. But we’re not, you know, 100 ingredient list. And I think that is what plant based food is like when you’re labeling it plant based food is so transparent, right? Because you know exactly what is in it. It’s not just like, I don’t know, milk or cream. And people sort of push back on that the number of ingredients that are in our cheesecakes. But if you broke down what’s a milk or what hormones that your cow has been fed, I think that ingredient list would look a lot longer. I think knowing all the ingredients that is in this is really good for consumer transparency. And also its technology right like this plant based food and the plant based foods were eating they will constantly be upgrading and innovating and improving on the tastes and flavors and textures. So what’s in it now? It might have a shorter ingredient list in the future.
Andrew D Ive
So what do you see as the kind of growth for Lilo? Is it about bringing additional products to the New Zealand market? Is it about taking it to new countries outside of New Zealand once you’ve got kind of achieved a critical mass within your home country? How are you thinking about the future.
Cleo Gilmour
So two things with Lilo because New Zealand fruit is so high and these antioxidants and vitamins and nutrients. Were working with research institutions in New Zealand and food technologists on how we spec up the vitamins and antioxidants in this cheesecake. So right now it’s just the cheesecake but v2 Which we’re developing will be a cheery melatonin cheesecake. So enhancing the goodness that’s already entered in the fruit and speaking it up so you have a functional cheesecake. So Golden Kiwi fruit cheesecake that offers you your daily dose of vitamin C, and beneficial bacteria for your gut. So that is really where light law is heading. And we’re thinking about the future of food in terms of things that are delicious, but also things that are good for you looking at the trends we’re seeing in the functional beverage space and bringing them into the snacking category. And we think New Zealand fruit is the perfect place to start with that. Secondly, also um Secondly, Lilo has been designed for export from the get go. So and the transportability of this little bottle here. We’ve designed it so you know, cheery and Golden Kiwi fruit flavors to fruits that have a real Halo in markets around APEC. And so we’re working on a scale up plan at the moment that will have us start in Hong Kong and Singapore and then move city by city across APEC and potentially looking at some US distribution as well.
Andrew D Ive
That’s amazing. So so from a leveraging The kind of natural composition, nutrition benefits of some of the kind of raw ingredients that you’ve got access to in New Zealand, I see the idea of moving in towards products which correspond with your, you know, your daily vital, specific daily vitamin requirements or your needs for particular, you know, nutritional profiles. Is that is that aimed at any particular target audience? Do you think that the cheese cake is more, for example, towards kids or towards teenagers? Or like, Are there different age groups or demographics that you think might resonate with? Different, you know, different folks?
Cleo Gilmour
Yeah, so we have very much designed Lilo for a Gen Z audience. And you can probably see this when you go on our website, and you see our pop and brand, a lot of the messaging, it’s really fun, it’s funky. I love it. I love the colors. But also because Gen Z is one of you know, and I’m GNC, one of the most health conscious consumer groups that we have seen, and health conscious, kind of this push and pull between you’re worried about your health, but you just want to live a good life, right? Like we’ve all been in lockdown. You know, you’re like, food is what brings you joy, and health conscious and facing these pressures around climate change and food security. So we’re going to be living net worth the future of food. So how are we getting enough nutrients from the foods that we’re eating? And then how do we still enjoy delicious food? So yeah, we’ve really designed this as a brand that speaks to the needs of Gen Z consumers, particularly as we entered the workforce, sitting there at 3pm, wanting a delicious snack. And so it caters to your nutrient needs and indulgent needs.
Andrew D Ive
Okay, perfect. I wonder if I was just as you were talking, I was wondering if every culture out there from a food perspective includes dessert? It’s kind of an interesting question. So for example, you know, UK does New Zealand does us, does they, you know, they do ice creams, and they do all sorts of other things as a sort of sweet ending to a meal. I wonder if that’s if that is true of all cultures. Whether the desert is a way to get people into nutrition in a new way.
Cleo Gilmour
Absolutely right. And one of the key insights myself and the team found which lead to Lilo was bubble tea, or milk tea, particularly across Greater China. So I would be sitting in the office with my colleagues 3pm would roll around, and we’d order up, you know, these delicious, Chewy, textured, milky drinks full of New Zealand, dairy, fat, and sugar. And it is that kind of sweet pick me up that people are craving in the afternoon. But the funny sort of juxtaposition I saw was, you’re drinking a mug of tea, and you have a line of supplements on your desk, you know, so there is that exact kind of health push and pull between I want to enjoy myself, I want something that feels good. And I’m worried about my health. And we actually take a lot of inspiration from things like Chinese medicine, because that’s kind of the original food as medicine. And I think in the West, we have this quite extreme view on it, like will kind of say like kale, it’s a superfood, it fixes everything, eat it all the time. Whereas I think, um, cultures like you know, China and Chinese medicine, it’s more about moderation. And you know, in Chinese medicine, you can have black sugar on your period and that is really good for women’s health. So this is understanding that it’s not just super health foods that are good for you and good for your wellness. And so we take a lot of those ideas putting it into a cheesecake. Why can’t a cheesecake be good for you? Good for your wellness good for your immunity?
Andrew D Ive
Yeah, I invest in a bit of feedback that I invest in the company some time ago called True made foods who create catch up and catch up is traditionally quite a sugary source condiment. And so they actually created something that tasted quite a lot like a regular catch up but was made from a lot of vegetables very, very vegetable intense. And as a as a parent with a daughter who and I hope she doesn’t listen to this because she’ll tell me off later, but she really didn’t do the whole vegetable thing. We had to sort of disguise it, hide it, be like put it under the you know, put it under the potato or something that she was growing up. I wonder if your approach around healthy nutrition as nutritious rather, desserts is a way of getting parents to get some of those nutritional aspects that we want our kids to have, in a way that’s more appealing and appetizing to them?
Cleo Gilmour
Absolutely, yeah, we’ve had a lot of lot of support, particularly from young mothers around the party mix as well, because it’s getting kids to eat fruit, and it will be get the same with the cheesecakes. Yeah, we do kind of have this idea that health is often yucky, or plant based, is yucky. And that’s kind of what really excites me about Lilo and the future of plant based technology is that we are kind of designing a new idea of what health and wellness can be with our food.
Andrew D Ive
Perfect. So how difficult was it? If there are entrepreneurs out there who are sort of listening to this? How difficult was it to sort of get started, get a team pulled together, get people excited about, you know, giving you some funds, to get the concept developed, ultimately getting a company that would work with you on production and scaling up the product, so that you even could bring it to market in September. Take us through some of the challenges you’ve had over the last couple of years. And, and even if you can give us some thoughts on how you now know what you know what what you would do differently, to kind of get to where you are today.
Cleo Gilmour
Yeah, I guess I’m I firstly, on the team element, I think we’ve been really lucky on the founding team we’ve put together or having a background working in and out of New Zealand. Because I think when you’ve lived in another culture you lived abroad, you bring in lots of kind of new perception, perspectives and new ideas, which kind of opens your mind to new things that you can do. So the founding team, I think really brings that well together.
Andrew D Ive
I think we you guys, we guys were friends before or, you know, you went on some magazine advertising for other fellow entrepreneurs, and you found each other? I mean, how how do you stumble across people that want to go and work together over the next five years building an amazing company.
Cleo Gilmour
Alex and Russell knew each other from working in China previously. So I guess that’s a great thing about expats for fraud, right. As you kind of find each other you connect, you find similar interests. And Alex and Hayden knew each other from x volunteer days. And I kind of love laughing at them about that, you know, they kind of like dairy guys turn good. So I always give them a few jabs. And Alex and I met through like a young China New Zealand associates thing. And it was really exciting for me early in my career to be like, Okay, I am so passionate about New Zealand food. And I’m passionate about innovating more in the plant based and sustainability realm. And so to meet up with Alex and Russell and Hayden, three people who were having the exact same thoughts and want to make delicious cheesecakes That was epic. So I think there’s growing growing groups and growing communities you can tap into. So for us, you know, being part of Big Idea ventures accelerator last year, was really awesome for connecting with an international group of founders who are working on, you know, cell based theory, plant based meats, all sorts of amazing things. The team have been great at introducing us to experts and awesome people in the field. Because we find, I think, you know, there’s still a lot of pushback around plant based, like, you can be in the plant based community and you think, oh, everyone’s doing it. And then you go talk to your neighbor, and they’re like, why aren’t they dairy cheesecakes? You know, even in New Zealand, like, yeah, it’s definitely something we find and talking to manufacturers, who have maybe been in the game quite a while. It can take them a while to cotton on what I’ve actually found Andrew is I get the best success with older men in the industry who have daughters, and their daughters or their wives may eat plant based. And they realize, oh, this is a real thing. So I guess I would say listen to your daughters, people. They are the future and they are living in the world that we’re creating. So that’s been a real thing. I guess, working with orchardists as well. So we’ve had a lot of learnings and we’ve continuing to have a lot of learnings there around one season ability of produce. So how we’re, you know, planning for supply and demand of the fruit and how much product we need. And we do have sort of mixed responses to be the one who we talked to around orchard us are so focused on this perfect fruit, they don’t have a lot of time to think about the ugly stuff and what they’re doing with it. And that’s kind of a key insight for us, right is like, you can’t leave it up to the orchardists. To do more work, we have to have collaboration from startups like ourselves from manufacturing partners, from universities and research institutions. And it’s working together and collaborating, that can bring out these new systems and make innovation happen.
Andrew D Ive
Fantastic. So it has very much been about pulling lots of different people from lots of different places together to make Lilo, you know, a reality. Obviously, that competition is going to move you forward pretty quickly, the fact that you won this competition, and now you guys are going to have national distribution that typically takes a year or two, to get that kind of acceptance and distribution that you know, this competition is going to give you a real fast boost.
Cleo Gilmour
Yeah, it’s really exciting, I think. And I think what’s been important with Lilo is we’re not sitting back and resting on that, you know, I’m out there hustling, and getting cheesecakes out to more partners and getting it in front of more people. So we’re always looking at the next step. And what’s on the horizon? Because we’ve got a plan Lilo for scale and plan for growth.
Andrew D Ive
Have you had to do much with the retailer? Yeah, now that you won the competition, are they sort of working on with you on finalizing packaging or pricing on and all those sorts of things that they’ve been useful in that regard?
Cleo Gilmour
Yeah, for the most part, I think, um, retail in New Zealand can be quite difficult. It’s a big sort of clunky beast. And there’s a lot of parts to the system. And so I’m getting on board really quickly, in working with that category manager, I’m trying to, you know, kind of foresee all of the pitfalls and all of the stumbling block blocks down the road. Because I know for a lot of brands in New Zealand, it’s kind of like walking through the mist.
Andrew D Ive
Okay. So in terms of how we can help you big, big idea ventures, people listening to today’s podcast. Right now you’re in New Zealand, it sounds like you’ve got ambitions over the next year or two to to look at other parts of the Asia Pacific. And it also sounds like you’ve got quite a unique and interesting approach to how you’re thinking about nutrition, how you’re thinking about how we consume our food, I love that you’re using orchardists, we should at some point get into how you sourcing these ugly fruit when orchardists are sort of doing everything they can to identify the perfect fruit. So maybe it’s as simple as anything that isn’t perfect. You guys get to buy at a discount. Maybe that’s maybe that’s it’s that simple. But let’s go there. Let’s go there before I start Wrapping this one up, because normally I do this, this is a 30 Minute 45 minute conversation. But orchardists how do you how do you convince them to give you their ugly fruit? Do you do just sort of say, Hey, give it to us, and we’ll pay you a little bit less or what how’s that working for you?
Cleo Gilmour
I mean, there are, of course, grades have fruit. And there’s different price for different grades of fruit. We’re finding with orchardist that they’re not even thinking about the lowest grades, you know, that stuff’s just being fed to the pigs or left to rot. We’re talking hundreds and hundreds of tons of produce every year. For the most part, they’re absolutely stoked because an Oculus is the last person who wants to see their high grown produce go to waste, right? For us, what we’re building out right now is how we bring more orchardists together and collaborate and communicate on you know, not just sourcing from one orchard us but sourcing from multiple times. So that’s a big piece of work that we’re doing without orchardists at the moment. So and it’s about, as we talked about before, allowing them to focus on what they do, which is growing, you know, the perfect produce, but building on a model that says, Okay, we need X amount of fruit this season. And this is how we’re going to go about collecting it. You know, it’s more work for the orchard pickers, and more money going into the economy. If they have they’re not picking over the smaller ugly stuff. And then yeah, it’s working at a fair price. So it’s still a good income stream for our orchardists but of course, isn’t that premium for the perfect fruit?
Andrew D Ive
Yeah, I was I was kind of aware that there are different rates of fruit and prices and that sort of thing. I was sort of more thinking, I’m also aware that there are farmers or to this, who if they who have people picking to achieve certain specifications, and those that don’t conform are just left on the field, to rot and to deteriorate. So somehow, you’ve got to say to them, Hey, we’ll buy that we’ll buy it, and maybe we’ll pay you 50% or 50%, of what the good stuff is being bought for. But, you know, you somehow need to convince them to change their, their approaches. And then maybe there needs to be some form of reverse supply chain where, you know, you’re going and collecting this produce from multiple orchardists. Or maybe there’s a distributor that will do it for you. I don’t I don’t know the answer to that question.
Cleo Gilmour
Yeah, we’re, um, it’s a really great question. And it’s a big piece of work that we’re working on with the Central Otago District Council at the moment and a number of our key orchardists is because right now, Lilo is fairly small. And there is enough, you know, low grade produce there that we can process and turn into cheesecakes, but the big impact for Lilo will be how we’re scaling that. And we’ve got some pretty exciting models and some pretty exciting partnerships that we’re building out now. And we can probably talk about that further down the line in the future when we’re rolling them out, Andrew. But it is, we kind of have this thing called last and last out, which is a really nice. Lilo, actually, sure, if you think about that fruit that is being left on the tree. That is that’s been picked over or left to the pigs. That’s more work, and more industry for the pickers to then go back through and pick it. And that’s the Lilo fruit. So,
Andrew D Ive
so there’s, so there’s the perfect wave of pickers. And then there are the following on there’s the line lo waves a picture,
Cleo Gilmour
maybe they get really cool pink buckets or something. And yeah, so we take that fruit, but there’s also it’s what’s left on the tree, but it’s also pack houses as well. So it’s the stuff that gets graded out in a pack house or, you know, lots of fruit is guest ripened or held in conditions that that prevent it from ripening until it exports, that’s going wrong all the time, you know, someone forgets to flick a switch, and then suddenly, you’ve got tons of fruit that all of a sudden has to be eaten. So it’s not just about what’s on the tree. It’s what’s happening right through that packing and production process as well.
Andrew D Ive
Got it. Now I started asking a question before which I sort of went off in a slightly different direction. Anyone listening? How can they help Lilo? Either now or in the near to medium term future? What kind of support are you looking for? Whether that’s in terms of developing the brand new recruits for the team? Fundraising production, you know, anything and everything? If anyone’s listening? How can we take part in the low low growth and success story?
Cleo Gilmour
So I guess we want to hear from anyone who is interested in lightload, right? Like this is all about collaboration, bringing cool brains together, and seeing you know, what you can add to the team where we can grow and go on the future. So definitely keen to have a chat if you like what we’re doing. And we are interested. In terms of fundraising, we are fundraising at the moment. So we’re going through a one mil precede round. And so this is to enable our New Zealand growth, to really pop our launch and to work on some more research and development into our nutraceutical skews. So that’s a big piece of work, we’d love to hear from anyone who would like to be involved in that. And then also in terms of, you know, if you are a distributor around Hong Kong and Singapore, and you like what Leila was you’re interested in? Yes, absolutely. We would love to talk to you.
Andrew D Ive
I wonder, and you guys have figured out a sort of recipe for your first product with this plant based cheesecake. If there was a team of people in North America, for example, who lived near to Cherry Farms and said you know, I love what Lilo were doing in New Zealand. Why don’t we talk to those guys about doing a US Lilo execution where we, you know, talk to our local cherry cherry orchardists and we get their fruit and we kind of do the Lilo recipe and execute it in the United States. Is that something you guys would be open to teams who sort of rolled the concept out in other places?
Cleo Gilmour
Totally. And I think Edward that is the ultimate idea for Lilo right is right now it’s a cheery acuity for a black currant to escape from New Zealand. But if we can scale models of you know how you work with orchard us how you collect the fruit and turn it into this cheesecake internationally, there is no reason why we this Can’t you know help impact growers in North America, girls and Thailand grows and Chile, like New Zealand is not the only country with awesome fruit that is being left to waste. So, and I think the ultimate model for Lilo will be in market manufacturing. Because if you think just on the carbon miles, if you think on how you can, you know, localize for flavor pellets. That is what’s so great about how we’ve designed lightload. So yes, absolutely.
Andrew D Ive
And that comes back to my question, which is I wonder if every culture has desserts, because there might be a fruit based dessert in Africa, which is not cheesecake but which is something else. But you could you know, use the approach that Lilo makes around fruit to create a an ugly fruit, dessert, nutritious dessert that’s relevant to the cultural norms and the tastes of each and every country each and every continent.
Cleo Gilmour
Yeah, totally. Andrew, you’re spot on. cheesecake is just the beginning.
Andrew D Ive
So Lilo is the future of food, food deserts.
Unknown Speaker
Oh, like that?
Andrew D Ive
I know. I don’t know where that came from. But I know that half the people listening if not more groaning right now it’s almost a dad joke. But you know what? You get no choice with me, unfortunately. So clear. I’ve enjoyed talking to you about Lilo. Thank you so much. Great company. Where do people find out about you? On the on the line? And in the digital formats and all those sorts of places? Where do we? How do we reach out to you? How do we find out about you?
Cleo Gilmour
You can check out our awesome website on www.lilodesserts.com. So that’s lilodesserts. Wear sunglasses. There’s some fun colors on there. Check us out on Instagram at lotto desserts or LinkedIn. You can also get in touch with me directly at Cleo. There’s cleo@lilodesserts.com.
Andrew D Ive
Wow, okay, this podcast is gonna go out and it may be listened to by more than 10 people. So you might start getting some weird, weird emails, you might need to change that email address at some point in the future. So I apologize in advance. Okay, Cleo, thank you so much. Keep doing what you’re doing at Lilo Desserts. I hope everyone who can help and wants to help you does reach out. I really appreciate your time today. Thank you so much. Enjoy the rest of your day in New Zealand.
Cleo Gilmour
Thanks so much, Andrew. It’s been a pleasure. Okay,
Andrew D Ive
I’m gonna press pause and then we are going to come back to let’s see.
So great conversation with Cleo from Lilo Deserts. Hope you can give us your comments and thoughts and suggestions. By all means, like and subscribe so that we can let you know when the next big idea podcast where we focus on food is dropped, and get you engaged. That’s it. If you have thoughts, suggestions, please do let me know reach out to me by a big idea ventures.com or via LinkedIn and by all means, reach out to Cleo from Lilo Deserts if you want to get involved. Many thanks. Until next week, goodbye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
© Big Idea Ventures LLC 2021