Healthcare has gained significant momentum in recent years, with the importance of healthy living along with a balanced diet. The demand for organic food in the industry continues to rise as everyone wants to emphasize consuming quality food products enriched with proteins. Furthermore, plant-based food companies are expanding their plant-based food products and play a significant role in shaping the face of healthcare.
By embracing this growing sector and leveraging its potential, healthcare professionals have positioned their companies at the forefront of this transformative industry. Creating a positive impact on both the planet and people’s well-being, Chris Langwallner, Co-founded and is the CEO of WhatIF Foods. He has been working for more than 25 years in the agri-food industry in Austria. His heroics have changed the lives of many because of his significant contribution to the food industry.
We at Insights Care got an opportunity to interview Chris to understand his career story along with the innovation he has brought in the food industry. Below are the highlights of the interview:
Brief us about yourself and shed some light on your journey so far. What inspires you to serve the nutritional food industry?
It’s been a good twenty-five years since I have started working in the agri-food industry. After working for the family business in Austria, I was employed by SMEs and some of the world’s biggest multinationals. However, my DNA is wired for entrepreneurial adventure. In 2020, I cofounded WhatIF F&I Pte Ltd (formerly NamZ Ltd.) with world-renowned food and cosmetic ingredients innovator Dr. Peter S. J. Cheetham.
Can you describe the innovative products and services that your company offers? What role do you play in ensuring that they are aligned to the vision and objectives of the company?
WhatIF Foods is a planet-positive food and beverage company that is on a mission to regenerate the planet and its people. As a global champion of true regeneration, WhatIF Foods reinvents and innovates the entire food system and encourages consumers to always choose the better option. WhatIF Foods creates tasty, convenient food. Foods that replenishes with nutritious ingredients and restores soil health to increase its carbon capture potential. The WhatIF Way reconnects people with farming communities who are vital in our value chain. To date, WhatIF Foods has been a finalist at the 2020 Liveability Challenge as well as the 2020 MIT Solve Food Sustainability Challenge. Right now, we offer planet-based BAMnut Milk in 3 variants as well as BAMnut noodles in different flavors.
One of our hero ingredients is the regenerative crop called Bambara groundnut. Melissa Hooper says: “As a registered dietitian, it’s rare to find a food company that is committed from start to finish to be the “Better Better” with each step in the process, but that’s just what WhatIF Foods has done! The Founder and CEO of WhatIF has a background in food manufacturing and decided to take his thirty-plus years’ experience to not only create nutritious foods, but also foods that are healing the land in which they’re grown and are a source of provision for farmers in countries that lack opportunities to earn a living and provide for their families. You couldn’t possibly ask for anything BETTER!!!
Speaking of nutrition…the BAMnut’s nutritional profile is a total show-stopper! BAMnut is nutrient-dense and naturally contains fiber and some of that fiber is resistant starch, which helps to regulate blood glucose, is a source of prebiotics that is a food for the body to make probiotics, ultimately improving gut function, the immune system and reduces inflammation! BAMnuts contain fiber, protein, a high profile of essential amino acids and no cholesterol. The BAMnut also naturally contains calcium, iron, potassium, phosphorus and magnesium.”
In the US, WhatIF Food is currently among the very few, if not the only, company which utilizes these incredible properties of the Bambara groundnut and offers CPG goods to consumers.
In what way do you consider the company’s technological advances to be a pathway in developing nutritional supplements that best fit the patient’s needs?
BamNut’s noodles contain protein and would make for excellent entrees for residents in assisted living facilities, nursing homes and patients in hospitals as they usually have a low intake of food in general due to dental concerns and low appetite, resulting in the need for creative protein sources to help with skin integrity, healing from surgeries and overall good health and nutritional status. One serving of BamNut noodles contains 16g of protein, which is equivalent to the protein content of two jumbo eggs.
What endeavors are you currently pursuing to improve the company’s measures for success?
We have vast plans to scale and have a grand vision for the years to come; we call it “Project Daring Greatly”, as we need to think big in order to make a tangible impact in the world. Some of the highlights on our end are an optimized agri-system and a Bambara seeds program, an outreach program to approx. 9,000 partnering Bambara farmers whereby each farmer will receive the Bambara seeds and apply biochar, co-located factories, with operational BAMnut Ingredients processing lines as well as large scale Biochar pyrolysis, growing the BAMnut outside of Ghana and, of course, keep working on extending our product range in the process.
What are some of the testimonials or recognition that accurately highlight your position in the market?
Fable.works: “It’s hard to overstate the amazing, crucial things WhatIF Foods is doing to protect our planet and the people on it. So we got aliens, zombies and dinosaurs to help us. Grab a BamNut Milk, and set sail for “A Better Better.”
