The “Better-For-You” Food Lie No One Talks About ft. Tyler Mayoras

Food can be “better for you.” But that doesn’t always mean it actually is. In this episode, Mike chats with Tyler Mayoras, Managing Partner at Manna Tree, a growth equity firm focused on investing in food, beverage, and wellness brands that genuinely improve human health. Tyler has spent decades investing across food and agriculture, from early plant-based pioneers like Boca Burger to modern brands navigating today’s tougher retail and M&A landscape. Tyler breaks down how “better-for-you” food has evolved, why many plant-based brands lost consumer trust, and what investors really look for when evaluating health claims, ingredient labels, and unit economics. He also shares hard-earned lessons from scaling brands too fast, why frozen is one of the most brutal categories in retail, and what founders misunderstand about profitability, category creation, and selling to big CPG. You’ll learn: ✅ Why many plant-based brands lost their way ✅ What “better-for-you” actually means to serious investors ✅ How ingredient labels matter more than marketing claims ✅ Why frozen is one of the hardest categories in grocery ✅ When brands should (and shouldn’t) expand into mass retail ✅ Why profitability now matters more than growth at all costs ✅ How strategic buyers really think about M&A today ✅ The biggest mistakes founders make when scaling too early ✅ Where Tyler sees the next opportunities in food and wellness 👉 If you’re building or investing in food, beverage, or wellness, this episode is a grounded look at what actually matters beneath the hype. Timestamps 00:00 Intro 01:00 Tyler’s path from private equity to food & agriculture 03:00 Early lessons from investing in Boca Burger 05:30 The rise and fall of plant-based burgers 09:00 What “better-for-you” really means 12:00 Ingredients, labels, and investor red flags 15:00 Sugar alternatives, sweeteners, and health tradeoffs 18:30 Why sustainability messaging often comes second 21:00 The realities of launching food brands in retail 24:00 Why frozen is such a difficult category 27:00 When brands should expand into mass retail 31:00 Natural vs conventional grocery shoppers 35:00 Why M&A expectations have changed 38:00 What strategic buyers want today 41:00 Growth equity vs venture investing 45:00 Revenue and profitability benchmarks 49:00 Category creation vs smart trade-ups 53:00 Oversaturated categories and the protein boom 57:00 Where Tyler sees future opportunity 01:00:00 Lessons learned and advice for founders 01:05:00 Breaking into food & beverage investing 01:08:30 Book recommendations 📬 Subscribe for more founder stories & scaling insights: 👉 The Consumer VC Newsletter – https://www.theconsumervc.com/ 🎧 Listen on: Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/episode/7jEp... Follow Mike Gelb: Twitter / IG / TikTok → @mikegelb / @consumervc