For years, the food industry has relied on protein from soy, pea and other common crops to develop dairy alternatives, plant-based meat, and other protein-enriched foods and beverages.
Despite the downsides of these choices — like sensory and functionality problems that food manufacturers have to fix with additives — the industry continues to use them because they’re proven, widely available, and familiar.
As a pioneering company aspiring to disrupt the status quo with higher performing but less familiar chickpea protein, we understand how important it is for us to earn trust in the food industry and especially among food manufacturers. Their willingness to incorporate our 90% chickpea protein isolate — the industry’s highest concentration of chickpea protein — in their recipes is the surest way for more people to learn about the benefits of this impressive legume.
To do this, we’ve developed a recipe of our own to foster trust in the newest plant-based protein on the block. Here are our three key ingredients:
1. Educate: We love to teach potential customers about chickpea protein benefits
The good news is that while many people are not familiar with chickpea protein isolates, everybody is familiar with chickpeas. They have been cultivated since ancient times and remain a protein-rich staple in global diets as the world’s third most-produced pulse.
“The perception of chickpeas is excellent,” says our key account and sales manager, Karina Simonsen. “They are well known as a healthy grain.”
Still, many food manufacturers are surprised to learn about the benefits chickpeas have that make them an especially logical and attractive choice as a source of plant-based protein solutions.
For example: The chickpea is one of the highest-protein legumes, with nearly 40% of its weight attributed to the life-sustaining macronutrient. It contains all 10 essential amino acids and, compared to soy, boasts a higher concentration of seven of them. Unlike tree nuts, wheat and soy, chickpeas do not appear on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s list of major food allergens.
Both our account manager and our head of applications and development, Maor Dahan, say that most companies are willing to try it not only for these reasons, but also because our chickpea solutions have a cleaner and more neutral sensory profile compared to soy and pea, excellent functionality, and a white, milk-like color, desirable for dairy alternatives.
2. Listen: We strive to understand customer concerns so we can address them
Simonsen also explains that food manufacturers don’t need much convincing about the promise and potential of ChickP’s 90% chickpea protein isolate. What they tend to have more questions and concerns about revolve around the perceptions they may have about working with a younger company.
“It’s not because of the product, but because they know that most startups don’t have enough production capacity, or because they think younger companies may still be testing their products,” she explains.
To assure them, we provide details about our very large production capacity that is already supporting the integration of our ingredients in products across Asia, Africa, the U.S. and Europe. We also explain the quality assurance and quality control processes we use to ensure our ingredients meet rigorous safety and quality standards.
“They’re usually impressed with what a small company has succeeded in doing in such a short period of time, and that makes them trust us more.”
3. Help them succeed: We share our research and experience with customers to support their use of chickpea protein
Once manufacturers agree to try our chickpea ingredient solutions in their labs, our focus turns to doing everything we can to help them succeed. If they have questions about functionality and how they can use our protein isolate in a particular recipe, our experts travel to our customer’s labs and roll up their sleeves alongside them to share best practices and apply our years of research and testing to show them how to make their visions come to life.
“We have a lot of knowledge that we’ve accumulated in the years since we were founded and I’m always happy to share with customers everything that we know,” says Dahan, ChickP's head of applications and development. “Because my colleagues and I at ChickP want our customers to succeed using our protein, just as much, if not more than they do. And that kind of support and partnership has been the way we have been building trust.”
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