Mohammed Ashour, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) And Co-Founder Of Aspire Food Group (Aspire), Was In Boston To Attend The 2017: Marketing Strategy Case Study, TCD, Ireland

ASPIRE FOOD GROUP: MARKETING A CRICKET PROTEIN BRAND

Mohammed Ashour, chief executive officer (CEO) and co-founder of Aspire Food Group (Aspire), was in Boston to attend the 2017 Forbes 30 Under 30 event and had a half-hour coffee meeting with a colleague on his calendar. He was meeting with Greg Sewitz, co-CEO, and co-founder of the protein bar company Exo, who had also made the Forbes list in 2016.

Aspire and Exo were in the same small but growing sector of the food industry: edible insects. Still, in its infancy in North America, the edible insect market involved players who were open and willing to share information. Because the idea of insects as food was not the easiest concept to sell to Western palates, those in the business knew that the category as a whole needed promotion and acceptance in order for their companies to succeed.

THE MARKET FOR INSECT PROTEIN

The global insect protein market was forecast to grow about 28 percent per year and to achieve estimated sales of $213 million by 2023 and $8 billion by 2030.2 The United Nations and other organizations were promoting entomophagy (eating insects) as a sustainable alternative to consuming traditional livestock protein and a way to feed the world’s growing population.

Among societal issues surrounding sustainability, food security posed a significant challenge as the world confronts the growing global population, inefficiencies in food production and consumption, and the influences of climate change. The consumption of edible insects offered one solution by providing a high-protein, nutritional, and safe food source with a low environmental impact. Insect protein had the advantages of aligning with consumer values that favored clean ingredients and minimal processing.