Meet the Founders - [MOCK]

A premium plant-based meat alternative.

[MOCK] is on a mission to make plant-based living more delicious and satisfying. Harpreet Gill, the founder, has been a long time advocate of plant-based diets, but struggled for years to find options that could match up to restaurant alternatives. So, he did what any great entrepreneur does - he made his own. [MOCK] has an amazing line-up of chef quality, plant-based meat alternatives, including a lamb option that the Conduit Connect team can’t get enough of. Read on for our founder interview with Harpreet.

Describe your start-up in two sentences

Our aim is to help reduce the negative impact animal farming is having on the planet. We do this by creating premium quality, plant-based meat alternatives that replace the need for conventional meat, without compromising on taste, texture, nutrition or satisfaction.

We believe that by making plant-based protein more enjoyable and easier to access we can help even more people transition away from meat.  

What gave you the inspiration?

Necessity! My late great grandmother lived her entire 94-year life on a strict non-meat diet. She passed in 1996 and on that very day something inside me switched and I never ate meat, fish or eggs again.

Unfortunately, I found eliminating animal protein from my diet incredibly difficult and I started craving for it. This led me to explore foods that could help mimic the sensation and satisfaction of eating meat, so I started experimenting with ingredients such as tinned gluten, TVP, soya etc which I’d read were used by Buddhist Monks to create meat analogues centuries earlier. Although these products helped, they weren’t quite good enough and I wanted them taste better and that’s where my journey began and was my inspiration to start [MOCK].

Harpreet Gill, Founder and CEO of [MOCK]

What has been your greatest success to date? And your greatest challenge?

Our greatest success has to be the feedback we’ve received for our product range, especially from respected chefs & professionals within the meat industry. Being an absolute perfectionist and challenging the product team at every level to produce something that stood out and delivered on taste, texture and versatility took 18 months and a lot of sleepless nights.

Ultimately this turned out to be our greatest challenge to date.

How has Covid-19 affected your business?

Our entire go to market strategy was based on selling into the foodservice sector, so when Covid restrictions were announce the business ground to a halt.

Initially it was hard to decide which direction to take, but we started getting interest from various corners of the industry, in particular, dark kitchen operators so I decided to spend some time getting to learn their operating models and explore alternative channels to market.

Covid forced a major re-think but we managed to adopt without too much disruption to our initial strategy. At the time we were deeply concerned about whether we’d survive but our products took off and kept the business going. We’re now better placed and have a much stronger product offering that can be sold into various channels.

What kind of impact is your business having and how do you measure it?

Every time someone spends money buying [MOCK] they’re voting for the kind of world they want to live in, they’re promoting change. We see that as positive impact, primarily on the environment and fewer animals being slaughtered etc.

We measure that impact through revenue but what’s even more encouraging is that when someone eating [MOCK] share’s their experience via social media, the message is amplified, and awareness grows through positive influence which we also measure.  

When you were little what did you want to be when you grew up?

I loved video games so wanted a job playing them.

If you weren’t doing this, what would be your plan B?

I’d probably seek out someone or a company doing something similar to [MOCK] and hound them into letting me work for them. I’m passionate about the space and I love food, so anything that involves those two will always interest me.

What would you save in a fire?

My family, I don’t really have any material possessions that I can’t live without. 

Who is your role model/ greatest influence? And why?

There are way too many to list, but I think what David Attenborough has done is truly incredible: raising people’s awareness about the damage being done to our planet and the beautifully eloquent way in which he’s educated so many of us to re-think how we eat and live.

What is your happy track?

Depends on how I’m feeling, I’ve got loads!

What are you most looking forward to in 2021?

Restrictions being lifted so we can finally set sail as we’d originally planned.