Believer Meats, formerly known as Future Meat Technologies, recently promoted COO Gustavo Burger to CEO, Food Dive reported.
“In the last year and several months of working with Believer Meats, Burger led a crucial part of that pivot, building out an operations team with comprehensive CPG experience, the company said,” a recent Food Dive report states. “He also worked toward the new facility’s groundbreaking, which took place in December.”
The appointment is confirmed after former CEO Nicole Johnson-Hoffman confirmed her departure from the company to pursue other opportunities. Burger is the third executive to assume the role of CEO for the meat company. Burger’s former role as chief operations officer will now be assumed by Kash Muthuraman, who previously served as the company’s vice president of operations.
Burger began his tenure with the Israel-based company in January 2022. He brings in years of experience in the food industry after spending six years at Kraft Heinz, serving in multiple Europe-based positions. He also worked at Brazilian food processing company BRF as vice president of operations, and spent eight years at AB InBev in Europe.
The promotion is confirmed as the company works to build a large meat production facility in North Carolina. Scheduled to begin operating during the first quarter of 2024, the plant is expected to be “the world’s largest cultivated meat production facility,” according to the company.
“Being able to physically scale the company up, working through the path to regulatory approval and handling food CPG business functions — including marketing, packaging, distribution and product placement — are important skills that the leadership of a cultivated meat company needs to have,” the Food Dive report states. “Burger and Muthuraman both have that experience, which could put Believer in a better spot as it prepares to launch into the market.”
Founder in 2018, the cultivated meat company aims to produce meat grown from cells both quickly and inexpensively. The company uses fibroblasts, a fast-growing kind of connective tissue cell, to make its meat. It also has devised ways to clean and reuse the growth media for the cells, which increases efficiency and lowers costs.
“Believer is one of the most well-capitalized companies in the cultivated meat space, raising almost $388 million during its lifetime,” the report states. “Its investors include venture arms of food industry giants Archer Daniels Midland, Tyson Foods and Rich Products.”