Big Mountain Foods: Award-Winning Plant-Based Foods

Kimberly Chamberland is the Founder and CEO of Big Mountain Foods, an award-winning plant-based food company established in 1987. Going back to her vegetarian roots, she has established herself as a true culinary expert and pioneer in her own right. Today, Big Mountain Foods remains a family-owned business with distribution across North America. They are committed to sourcing local, cruelty-free, sustainable, plant-based ingredients and developing food that not only tastes great but is good for you.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

• Kimberly Chamberland tells Big Mountain Foods’ origin story
• Notable shifts in consumer attitudes toward plant-based and vegetarian diets
• Big Mountain Foods’ commitment to producing allergen-free foods
• Kimberly shares the challenges Big Mountain Foods faced when scaling
• How Big Mountain Foods cultivates transparency with its products

In this episode…

With increased consumer awareness of animal cruelty, environmental sustainability, and the impact of food choices on our health, consumers are increasingly seeking alternatives to traditional meat products. Brands large and small are leveraging this trend, bringing thousands of new plant-based products to market each year. But many meat-alternative products are heavily processed and contain common allergens such as soy – and, they are often considered overpriced. How can you develop meat alternatives that satisfy consumer tastes, with healthy whole-food ingredients and minimal processing?

Kimberly Chamberland of Big Mountain Foods has been making healthy vegan food since 1987. After her daughter was diagnosed with Celiac disease, Kimberly re-examined the plant-based food market and discovered that many plant-based foods contained gluten, and over 90% of plant-based products contained cellulose, gums, or starches. Today, Big Mountain Foods’ products remain true to Kimberly’s mission to produce delicious, clean, whole food products – but they are also gluten free, nut free, soy free, additive free, and non-GMO verified. Big Mountain Foods is also actively working to reduce food production waste by developing ways to use okara, a tofu production by-product, as a protein binder (there is 65% waste in tofu production). The company’s manufacturing facility is Upcycled Certified and relies on renewable energy.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Kimberly Chamberland on LinkedIn
• Big Mountain Foods