In an insightful conversation about brand building and food innovation, Elin Roberts shares her journey of bringing tempeh - an Indonesian fermented protein - to the UK market through Better Nature. As co-founder of the plant-based protein company, she offers valuable insights into educating consumers about unfamiliar foods and finding focused brand positioning.

Better Nature's journey began with a simple frustration. As Roberts explains: "The business came from a frustration really with sort of how we are consuming protein as a society, not doing it in a very healthy or sustainable way."

The discovery of tempeh came through one of Roberts' co-founder Driando, who is from Indonesia. "Driando has been eating tempeh since he was a baby. It is this all natural gut friendly protein from Indonesia. It's made using fermented soybeans."

Roberts describes the product in detail: "You basically dry the soybeans, put them at a starter culture, so like yeast for bread, ferment it for about 36 hours. And then it turns into this firm block that you can then use, just like you would use chicken." Tempeh offers similar protein content to chicken (22-24 grams per 100g) whilst also being high in fibre, gut-friendly due to fermentation, and easy to digest.

Roberts acknowledges the difficulties of bringing an unfamiliar product to market: "Bringing a food that people haven't heard of to market is definitely one of the more challenging business opportunities to go after. I think at the time we were relatively naive to just how challenging it would be."

The challenge extended beyond just product awareness. Roberts explains that with limited time to engage customers, the team couldn't share tempeh's full story with everyone individually. Instead, they needed to find quick, simple ways to communicate why it mattered - why someone should care enough to try it. The reality is that busy shoppers don't want lengthy explanations about unfamiliar products; they need to instantly understand how it solves a problem for them.

Better Nature's initial positioning attempted to highlight tempeh's multiple benefits. Roberts recalls: "Our line was like protein without compromise. And it was the fact that you can get this amazing protein content, but you can get all the other good stuff as well. But we just found that people just weren't really getting it."

But the problem was clear: They weren't targeting a specific audience. Some customers cared about sustainability, others about health, and others about animal rights. By trying to address all these concerns at once, the message simply wasn't resonating with anyone.

In 2022, they underwent a strategic repositioning to better understand their role in the chilled meat-free category. Their research revealed that whilst consumers came to the shelf for various reasons - a vegetarian child, reducing meat intake, intolerances, or sustainability - health was consistently the deciding factor when choosing between products.

Their research ultimately pointed to health as the key differentiator. When consumers were faced with choices at the shelf, health consistently emerged as the deciding factor. Better Nature stood out for its nutritional credentials - offering high protein, high fibre, and all-natural, gut-friendly ingredients - making it the healthiest option available.

As Roberts puts it, “Protein is what we are. It’s where we play, and ‘supercharged’ is how we win.” The brand’s mission became clearer: to deliver protein that’s supercharged with extra fibre, gut health benefits, and clean, natural ingredients - ultimately making consumers feel great.

In the early days, Better Nature positioned itself as a sustainability trailblazer - the first meat-free brand in the UK to be both carbon negative and plastic negative. "That was a big thing for us," Roberts reflects. "So to roll that back a bit and say we're not going to focus on that as much was quite scary."

The team faced a similar dilemma with their vegan positioning. Although all their products are entirely vegan - and always will be - they made a conscious decision not to lead with that in their branding. "We don't want to be pigeonholed as a vegan brand," she explains. "There's a lot of research that shows if you're strongly positioned in that way, people often assume it's only for vegans."

This shift reflects a broader learning: What matters personally to a brand doesn’t always resonate with consumers. “You can care about lots of things,” Roberts notes, “but if you try to communicate all of them at once, it’s likely to go over customers’ heads.”

A key breakthrough for Better Nature came from positioning tempeh as a direct alternative to chicken. As Roberts explains, "We've become much more focused, saying just swap out your chicken for it - you can cook it pretty much the same way. And that's been such an unlock for so many people, especially meat-eaters who'd say, 'I have no idea what to cook this with.'"

She goes on to highlight the practical benefits: "You can slice it up, tear it for a more inconsistent, chicken-like texture, roast it, pan-fry it, or even air-fry it. It absorbs flavours really well, so it becomes that blank canvas - just like a chicken breast or diced chicken."

This simple comparison transformed how people understood the product, removing the guesswork and making it immediately accessible to their everyday cooking routines.

The shift towards a more focused positioning proved pivotal in Better Nature’s retail conversations. “We were desperately trying to speak to all the retailers before we made the change - before we were much more focused on health and being that supercharged protein,” Roberts recalls. “It was very tricky the feedback we got time and time again was just, people don’t know this food.”

The challenge was clear: To succeed in securing listings with major UK supermarkets, the brand needed sharper messaging. Following the repositioning, the impact was immediate. “It has been huge for us,” she says. “By being much more focused, we’ve really widened our appeal and avoided making ourselves seem like just a vegan brand.”

Education has been central to Better Nature’s marketing approach, helping to overcome the barriers that often come with introducing a new food. “A real focus for us is that education piece - first it’s about getting people interested and excited,” explains Roberts. “To be honest, that’s the biggest challenge when it comes to a new food. It’s much easier for people to just think, ‘I don’t care, I’ll stick with my usual routine.’”

To address this, the team has implemented a multi-channel strategy, including cooking tips, videos, and partnerships. “We’ve worked a lot with influencers in the health space, and with nutritionists, to show people the kind of dishes they can create with tempeh,” she says.

Sampling has also played a key role in their efforts. “We’ve done a lot of sampling - at events like the Happy Place Festival run by Fearne Cotton - which is very targeted around health and wellbeing,” Roberts adds. “It’s all about finding the right moments to get people to try it and shift their perceptions.”

Communicating taste remains one of Better Nature’s most persistent challenges. As Roberts puts it, “Taste always has to be at the top - or very, very close to the top. You’re never going to have a successful food or drink business if people don’t enjoy the taste.”

At the same time, the team is mindful of not overselling. “If you want the single most indulgent product, tempeh probably isn’t it - just like chicken, unless it’s fried or roasted, is never going to be as indulgent as beef,” she explains.

Managing expectations is crucial. “If we sell it as this really indulgent, delicious thing and people try it expecting flavours to be going wild in their mouths, there could be a real disconnect,” says Roberts. “We want to avoid that - it’s about being honest while still getting people excited.”

Looking ahead, Roberts highlights that the primary challenge moving forward is encouraging more people to try Better Nature. While the brand enjoys a strong return customer rate, “it’s that initial trial that is harder.” They aim to adopt a bolder, more provocative approach in their messaging to spark greater curiosity and reflection around how people currently consume protein. “I want to be much bolder about that and really get people to question how they're eating protein - we want to agitate a little bit more and get them really questioning that.”

The brand’s name, Better Nature, embodies this philosophy perfectly. Roberts explains, “it came essentially from us being caught by nature, because literally what we're doing is taking something from nature, which is soybeans, and making it better. Like genuinely, that's what we're doing.”

Elin offers several key insights for entrepreneurs:

1. Be Focused: Finding focus takes enormous effort, and it's not about being lazy or limiting yourself to one easy task. In fact, it's the opposite - being truly focused is one of the hardest things to achieve because you need to work out exactly what matters most before you can commit to it.

2. Commit 100%: Once you've found your focus, commit to it completely. Roberts admits this is something Better Nature hasn't always done perfectly. You'll want to change direction a million times, especially when things get tough, but resist that urge and keep going. Often you need to push through the difficult periods before you see results.

3. Keep Speaking to Customers: Maintain a constant feedback loop with your customers and always put them at the centre of everything you do. Regular conversations help ensure you're building something people actually want and need.

4. Build a Network: Investing time in meeting people and learning from others has been one of the most valuable things for both Roberts personally and for Better Nature's success. She emphasises being generous with your time and collaborative in your approach. What you give often comes back to you many times over.

The Better Nature story demonstrates the challenges and rewards of bringing innovative food products to market, highlighting the importance of focused brand positioning, customer education, and persistence in building a meaningful brand that resonates with consumers' evolving needs for better protein sources.

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