Adam Weiss: Vegan 2.0

Species Unite

elizabeth novogratz

Philosophy, Society & Culture

5.0 • 911 Ratings

🗓️ 6 January 2022

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

"Vegan 1.0 Didn't get us where we needed to go. It didn't turn enough of the country on, it didn't turn enough young people on, didn't make it into… the mainstream in the way they wanted it to. …it was kind of pushed to the edge and marginalized and it was weird, the food was good, but not great and not accessible or kid-friendly.

… I didn't think that was the way to capture the 97% of the world or the country that doesn't identify as vegan who would otherwise, maybe try it once in a while, but not really make a change. Where Vegan 2.0 is specifically designed to expand the tent to the 97%.." – Adam Weiss

Adam Weiss is the CEO and director of Honeybee Burger, a plant-based fast-food restaurant with locations in Southern California, and more coming soon to other parts of the country, including New York City (hooray!).

Honeybee's mission is to promote the benefits of plant-based food on the environment, the planet, and the animals with the most delicious food and the best plant-based proteins on the market. And, it's working - they were just named the best vegan burger in Los Angeles by Veg News.

Before entering the plant-based space, Adam had a long career in finance, and I was very curious to know how he went from hedge fund guy to vegan restaurant guy.

"When people come in and they're going to get a cheeseburger, fries and a shake, which is our most common order, it's not so much that they don't care about their health, but they know, "okay I'm about to indulge here."

We just give them a tiny bit of good feeling, like, you know what, "you're indulging, you're going to pack on some calories, but no animals will die, you're making an impact on the future, and ultimately it's probably better for the environment than if you didn't do it…" And that resonates with consumers today unlike any time in history." – Adam Weiss

Links:

Honeybee Burger https://honeybeeburger.com/

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/honeybeeburger/

Transcript

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0:00.0	Species, unite, unite. UNIT- Species UNIT.
0:15.0	VININ 1.0 didn't get us where we needed to.
0:17.5	Didn't turn enough of the country on, didn't turn enough young people on, didn't make it into
0:22.0	like the common kind of mainstream in the way they wanted it to and
0:25.0	it still it was kind of pushed to the edge and marginalized and it was weird and the food was good
0:30.1	but not great and not accessible or kid-friendly where a vegan 2.0 is specifically in our
0:35.3	minds designed to expand the tent to the 97%. Hi, I'm Elizabeth Novigrats, this is Species Unite. We have a favor to ask if you like today's episode and you have a spare minute
0:56.5	could you please rate and review species unite on Apple Podcasts or wherever you
1:02.1	listen to podcasts It really helps people to find the show.
1:12.0	This conversation is with Adam Weiss.
1:14.0	Adam is the CEO and director of Honeybee Burger,
1:18.0	a plant-based restaurant with locations in Southern California
1:21.0	and more coming soon to other parts of the country, including New York City.
1:26.2	Adam started out in finance and I was very curious to know how he went from hedge Fun Guy to Vegan Restaurant Guy. Adam, thank you so much for coming on the show. I want to start. I kind of want to go
1:54.0	through this trajectory of how you go from a hedge fund guy to a plant-based food guy.
1:59.9	So growing up in LA, I did we were always pitched movie deals,
2:08.4	scripts and restaurants. That's kind of a thing and you know you never did them because they generally didn't make sense and they were all ego driven and so you know I grew up
2:21.6	Going to business school and then going to Wall Street like never having done one and always
2:26.0	being disinclined to do that. I started my first hedge fund. We did fairly well. I rolled into something a little bit bigger.
2:34.0	Actually put that deal together during the week of 9-11, which was weird and crazy.
2:40.0	New York-based, of course. And then really as I kind of built the business, I was getting the most enjoyment and reward from having hired all these analysts who would then do so well they could start families, have kids, buy
2:56.1	houses, and I was proud of that. Beyond the making money for wealthy investors and institutions.
	...

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