Share this article! Last year we profiled a few startups aiming to market crickets as the next big food trend. A few are still chirping. Others have gone silent. RELATED STORY: Are Insects the New Quinoa? Marching boldly into the insect market, Cricket Flour falls into the former category. CEO Charles Wilson says revenue doubled in … Read more
Last year we profiled a few startups aiming to market crickets as the next big food trend. A few are still chirping. Others have gone silent.
RELATED STORY: Are Insects the New Quinoa?
Marching boldly into the insect market, Cricket Flour falls into the former category.
CEO Charles Wilson says revenue doubled in the past year. The company recently launched “Cricket Bites,” a line of roasted and flavored crickets, and is now targeting education-oriented retailers — museum and science toy stores — as outlets for their unique insect treats.
Cricket farm Poda Foods has not fared so well. The company has shut down.
“We really were not the right team,” CEO Yesenia Gallardo said in an email.
“We were heavily focused on the financial side, but didn’t know how to approach building a 2,500 square-food climate-controlled space. We didn’t have the right combination of skills. We weren’t very good at farming.”
Gallardo said she still believes in insects as a solid business model, not to mention a sustainable source of protein.
What, pray tell, did Poda Foods do with all those crickets?
“The crickets we processed, froze, and had a lot of cricket tastings and cookoff with,” Gallardo said. “Some were also composted.”
