Page 27 - RetailWorld-May2021-Tobacco-Updated

A FOOD BRAND WITH A MISSION While only a freshly launched company, Alt Saints has big intentions with its growing offering. Alt Saints is promoted as “three companies in one”, incorporating a plant-based food offering, content and media, and collectibles and trading via NFTs (non-fungible tokens). The group launched in October 2020 after what was said to be a successful crowdfunding campaign that attracted almost 260 investors from around the world. According to founder and CEO Charbel Zeaiter, Alt Saints’ mission is to build a “unique progressive, creative, global food brand that engages people and their communities, leaving a positive and measurable environmental impact”. “We do this,” he said, “by pledging one per cent of revenue to support grassroots environmental organisations such as the Jane Goodall Institute of Australia.” An expansive roadmap Mr Zeaiter outlines to Retail World the three encompassing phases to Alt Saints’ development. Phase 1 The first phase of Alt Saints focused on brand and content development under its Saint Frankie brand. “We have hundreds of endangered animals featured on a global map and are in the process of creating content for rainforests and endangered insects,” Mr Zeaiter said. Phase 2 Alt Saints is further refining the brand, the content strategy and creating a range of food products for retail and foodservice. “We’re working with some fantastic national distributors and have lots of interest from a number of chains and groups around Australia,” Mr Zeaiter said. “We’re now officially working with Epik Brands as one of our distribution partners and \\\\\\\[have\\\\\\\] also been signed on by FoodWorks, with more chains and By Nicholas Rider. COMPANY PROFILE groups coming on board \\\\\\\[soon\\\\\\\].” Alt Saints has introduced cereals as its first product line. These are described by Mr Zeaiter as “beautifully designed” products. Most importantly, he says, the contents of the cereals are “premium” and “really tasty”. “They’re handmade in small batches and the process for baking the granolas is a four-stage process,” he said. “The layering of flavours and textures is sublime. “We’re also working on a range of children’s cereals that are really exciting and visually engaging. We expect to launch these by June.” At a later stage, Alt Saints hopes to launch a range of cold-pressed and bottled fresh juice and an offering of frozen smoothie cubes. Mr Zeaiter added: “\\\\\\\[We’ve\\\\\\\] set up a General Store in \\\\\\\[Sydney’s\\\\\\\] Botany as a concept for customers to experience and buy our product range at the door and to try some of our experiments. Phase 3 This upcoming phase will see Alt Saints going back to a crowdfunding campaign to raise a new round of investment to activate what Mr Zeaiter says is an important part of the company: content, media, collectibles, and emerging technology using NFTs as a way to engage customers. “As we approach this new chapter for the company, our engagement model is critical: linking the products that customers buy from our retail partners to our content, and with that, giving customers the opportunity to collect and trade their digital collections,” Mr Zeaiter said. “It’s a unique engagement model and one we’re excited to bring to life.” Once Alt Saints closes this new round of investment, the company hopes to invest more in traditional marketing as well as experiential marketing. “Our content lends itself to 3D and augmented reality experiences (which we’re already working on),” Mr Zeaiter said, “so we’d love to immerse people in our worlds: (a) to learn about our mission and (b) to engage more with the brand and ideally the retailers supporting our brand.” Working with retailers Alt Saints, according to Mr Zeaiter, must have great products that a retailer can sell – and sell quickly. “My background is in design, tech and customer experience design,” he said, “so as we grow and our budgets improve, our intention is to work closely with retailers to see how we can support them and drive more overall revenue to them via our CX \\\\\\\[customer experience\\\\\\\] process. “We must treat customers as our partners, not merely a channel for us to push products.” Mr Zeaiter added: “We’re hoping to get retail partners involved in the investment round. It’s a great way to get our retail partners owning part of a future- focused company.” MAY, 2021 RETAIL WORLD 25