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By Agroempresario.com
NotCo, the Chilean food technology company known for its innovative plant-based products powered by artificial intelligence, is positioning itself for profitability by 2027. However, cofounder and CEO Matias Muchnick is eyeing a more immediate milestone, targeting profitability by the second quarter of 2025 in its most mature operations in Chile, Argentina, Colombia, and Peru.
In an interview at the Future Food-Tech summit in San Francisco, Muchnick shared insights into the company's journey, highlighting strategic decisions made in late 2023 and early 2024. These included restructuring efforts such as staff layoffs, delisting underperforming products, and the closure of the New York office, which transferred responsibility for sales and marketing in North America to its joint venture partner, Kraft Heinz.
Despite these changes, NotCo’s B2B (business-to-business) sector, which leverages its AI platform Giuseppe to assist other companies in developing plant-based products, is growing faster than anticipated. This expansion has led the company to pivot, aligning its operations more with technology-driven outcomes than with traditional consumer packaged goods (CPG) businesses. Muchnick explained that this shift could enable NotCo to reach profitability sooner, potentially by the end of 2026.
NotCo's brand presence in North America is now largely managed through its joint venture with Kraft Heinz, which distributes NotCo’s well-known products such as NotMayo, NotChicken, and NotBurger, as well as co-developed items like Kraft Not Cheese and Oscar Mayer Not Hot Dog. Muchnick emphasized that while the company’s focus is shifting towards B2B partnerships, maintaining a CPG business remains a priority due to the synergies it offers, particularly in testing the technology in its own products.
“We need to preserve a CPG business, as there are obvious synergies. It also allows us to test our technology in our own products. For example, 20% of our business in Chile and Argentina now comes from NotCo-branded snacks, a category that didn’t exist just a year ago,” Muchnick explained.
Regarding the joint venture with Kraft Heinz, Muchnick stated, “We are on budget. For Kraft Heinz, NotBurger and NotChicken are incremental to their business, and they are not as strong in the natural channel, where we are very strong. Meanwhile, Kraft Heinz has excellent distribution in conventional accounts like Walmart and Kroger, which has helped get co-developed products like Not Mac & Cheese in front of more consumers. The JV is operating really well, and we will continue innovating.”
NotMilk, which NotCo introduced in U.S. retailers’ chilled sections in 2020, transitioned to shelf-stable sets in early 2023. Although the product remains available in some retail outlets and on Amazon, NotCo’s focus has shifted to direct-to-consumer (D2C) sales, as it no longer aligns with Kraft Heinz's core strategy.
Muchnick highlighted that a significant portion of NotCo’s revenue in the coming years will be generated through partnerships with CPG companies eager to improve product development using Giuseppe, the company’s proprietary AI platform. These partnerships may involve creating entirely new products or reformulating existing products to meet evolving consumer preferences, reduce costs, or comply with new regulations.
“A lot of big companies are skeptical about sharing their data, but the good news is that we have enough data, and our data is different from what they have. That allows us to generate the value they’re seeking,” Muchnick said. He explained that while many companies claim to possess valuable data, it can often be inconsistent or incompatible, making it challenging to extract useful insights.
What sets NotCo apart is its ability to leverage AI to rapidly produce results. "We never claim that we can do something better than R&D teams with decades of experience could do in-house. What we offer is speed and efficiency. We help companies get to the same goal, but faster and with different methods," Muchnick explained.
He elaborated on how NotCo’s AI, Giuseppe, can help improve products in ways that human R&D teams might not consider. “For example, if a company wants to improve the HFSS (High in Fat, Sugar, and Salt) score of a product in the UK, we might not just remove sugar; we might re-imagine what that product is. AI is brilliant at finding new ways to achieve the same goals without any preconceived notions,” Muchnick noted.
Although some reformulation projects may involve novel ingredient pairings—such as cocoa in plant-based burgers or pineapple and cabbage in alt-milk—Muchnick pointed out that it’s not always about innovation for the sake of novelty. Instead, many projects are about fine-tuning the ratios of existing ingredients or optimizing production processes to improve efficiency and cost-effectiveness, with gross margin being the ultimate constraint.
One of NotCo's most recent developments is a powdered "GLP-1 booster," which can be added to various foods to help people regulate appetite, preserve muscle mass, and support metabolic function. The product is designed as an alternative for those who either cannot access GLP-1 drugs or wish to avoid weight rebound after discontinuing these medications.
“We’re not trying to replace GLP-1 drugs,” Muchnick clarified. “Our product is for those who want a natural alternative that provides meaningful benefits without the same effect as a pharmaceutical drug.” He explained that Giuseppe has been analyzing data on ingredients that may stimulate the production of GLP-1 for the past decade, using peer-reviewed papers and data from a range of sources to create an optimal blend of ingredients.
Muchnick emphasized that the approach is not just about identifying a single ingredient to boost GLP-1 levels but about developing a combination of ingredients that support GLP-1 production through different mechanisms. “Our algorithms care less about the name of an ingredient and more about the underlying patterns that can generate desired outcomes, like functionality, taste, texture, and bioavailability,” he said.
NotCo has also been exploring the creation of new ingredients that could be more effective at boosting GLP-1 than existing ones. This dual approach of combining existing ingredients with innovative, engineered ones aims to deliver a product that provides greater benefits than any current solutions.
“We have already conducted some tests, but these are not clinical trials, so we can’t make definitive claims yet. We are moving ahead with human clinical trials to verify the product’s effectiveness,” Muchnick revealed, although he did not specify the timeline or scope of the trials.
The company is considering various paths for the GLP-1 booster, including working with its CPG partners to incorporate it into their products or launching it under NotCo’s own food brand. The product is designed to be versatile and can be applied to various food matrices, from chocolate to beverages.
Looking at the bigger picture, Muchnick reflected on NotCo's growth and technological advancements over the last decade. “We’ve built a massive database, with more than 10,000 formulations and sensory feedback from humans. We’ve been testing digital twins since the beginning, and now it’s a buzzword in AI,” he said.
Muchnick emphasized that NotCo’s success lies not just in its data and AI capabilities but in its deep understanding of the human side of food innovation. "We’re not just a concept generator. We take our concepts all the way through to formulation. If you test a concept and like it, we already have the formulation ready," he said.
NotCo started as a technology company, long before AI became mainstream, with the vision of becoming an R&D powerhouse for other companies. However, as Muchnick noted, the company needed to prove its capabilities through its own products, which led to the creation of its plant-based portfolio. The company’s collaboration with Kraft Heinz in 2022 was a turning point, helping NotCo scale its products in North America and expand into new categories.
Today, NotCo works with seven of the top 10 CPG companies globally, bringing cutting-edge AI-driven innovations to the food industry.
Muchnick’s vision for the future is clear: NotCo will continue to evolve, not just as a food company, but as a full-service innovation partner for CPG companies. Whether through reformulations or new ingredient development, NotCo is setting the stage for a new era of food technology.
