Vladimir Mickovic, co-founder and Chief Brand Officer of Juicy Marbles, is a rarity among food tech startups.
He speaks via video from his secret hideout in Slovenia, where the company is based. His laugh is almost manic but infectious, and he often uses metaphors. “Right now, we’re the Halo of meat. But in 10 years, we’ll be Minecraft – with better graphics.”
He is also a bit dizzy. However, he admits that he has worked a lot and needs to rest. He often criticizes his statements as subjective, even though they constitute a broad and diverse argument.
It is not only creative. It also shakes up a sector that is still emerging, oversaturated with products and is suffering the consequences. The market fall was largely caused by an unfavorable financial climate and an excessive supply of products.
Juicy Marbles managed to grow from its initial financial position – $7 million, which is a pittance in the food industry – in just four years.
This is why Mickovic can be considered a kind of contradiction. He is funny, cheeky, courageous, intelligent, good at business, revolutionary… and a rational rebel.
If I were an outside observer, what would you say? [of Juicy Marbles]When asked about the company's progress, he would say, "I would say it's doing well." We've achieved our goals with varying degrees of success, and this challenge has been a gift in disguise.
What’s the challenge? Juicy Marbles was launched at the very moment that the market for this product category was starting to shrink. The huge investments that Juicy Marbles had made a few years earlier were also starting to disappear. Juicy Marbles didn’t have a large cash reserve. That was a good thing, because the company is now solid.
We will be back to balance by the end of the year. There are only two months left until the end of the year, but that is what it seems.
Juicy Marbles NPD
It wasn't an easy task. It's not easy to do it with a small team and very little money. You have to be responsible for every decision you make. [gives] A good return. "The margin for error is so small that you feel anxiety with almost every action."
The company became more accessible to consumers. Juicy Marbles launched its first product, Bone-in Ribs. It was created from prototypes and community feedback. The result is a product that has a "lively" quality, which "people have anecdotally said is the best."
He admits that "taste can be subjective, but I would say it's our best product."
The price is higher than the other two products sold by Juicy Marbles: the whole fillet and the thick fillet. This is because the production line has not yet been able to reach the required volume.
The Slovenian Juicy Marbles factory produces about 1.5 tons of marbles per day. The product is exported to warehouses in the USA, the UK and Austria.
The company has 60 employees and plans to expand its workforce, production and customer base to other countries. But wisely.
He says the main goal is to remain stable and maintain strong business fundamentals. We plan to start a Series A fundraising next year. “We believe we have proven that we are capable of running an effective business. Even when our category has shrunk, we have grown.”
Mickovic prefers the circumstances Juicy Marbles has had to face to get to where it is today. He says he'd rather have the stress and the hardship than be held accountable for the "crazy values" of some of his rivals.
Juicy Marbles was fortunate to have a company that had to out-compete others to convince consumers of its value. Before the pandemic, someone who liked the smell of a particular product could make $500 million — that’s an exaggeration. It was a crazy number.
I was afraid of this method because it seemed disconnected from reality. I was confused when I saw the valuations of companies without revenue. "At some point in the next five years, they will have to reach this value."
Juicy Marbles has a "realistic gauge" of its ability to scale, Mickovic said. "We'll grow two and a half times what we did last year, and twice as much next year."
The focus is on maintaining health, and that will continue to drive Juicy Marbles' growth curve, "without a focus on vanity revenue."
Juicy Marbles Business Strategy
In the near future, this company will be independent. He says: "It's still our baby."
It will expand to Germany, Spain, Italy and France next year – “nations that have a strong food culture,” as Mickovic, a true foodie, passionately puts it.
He reveals that Juicy Marbles' next NPD will be more affordable.
Tesla should make a cheaper Model Two. "We're trying to make a coupe that's not as expensive as the original."
He says Juicy Marbles has never made premium cuts of whole beef. The only reason our prices are so high is because of economies of scale. That’s not something I think is going to happen in the future. [alt meat] “It shouldn’t be cheap but it should still be accessible to the majority of
For Mickovic, the plant-based future is affordable and realistic. He criticizes the approach of 10 years ago, when people claimed we would have a plant-based world by now. “That was just wishful thinking.”
Mickovic says this caused an influx of products, which led to a contraction in the market. I attribute the disappearance of all these products to [recent market] “There was no indication that the category was not or is no longer viable,” he says. It’s not because I never saw anything that told me that this category was no longer viable.
What will be added to the list?
The price of meat is expected to increase in the coming years, and the data indicates that it will increase faster than the rate of inflation. I realize that I cannot be objective. It is not objective. [meat] It is subsidized and has a very low profit margin.
The price of plant-based meat will continue to fall. It should already be cheaper, but due to subsidies it is about the same as meat.
Mickovic’s vision for the future of plants is hard to argue with. It’s a reasonable assumption, based on the trends that have already been observed. Juicy Marbles is also certain to be part of the story if Juicy has anything to do with it.
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