ERP System Helps Startup TMRW Foods Grow in the Right Direction

Icicle Technologies’ enterprise resource planning system is helping the plant-based protein producer make sure it has the data it needs—for traceability, HACCP, costing, and more—to optimize its growth.

TMRW is a plant-based innovation company working to reimagine how plant protein can feed people.
TMRW is a plant-based innovation company working to reimagine how plant protein can feed people.
Photo courtesy of TMRW Foods

Though it might appear that the plant-based craze has caught hold of just about everyone lately, the fact is that a very small percentage of people live a fully vegan or even vegetarian way of life. The overwhelming majority of plant-curious eaters fall more within the flexitarian realm—understanding the benefits that a plant-based diet could bring to their health or to the environment, but still enjoying meat.

TMRW is a plant-based innovation company working to reimagine how plant protein can feed people.TMRW is a plant-based innovation company working to reimagine how plant protein can feed people.Photo courtesy of TMRW FoodsIt’s a big reason that well-known companies like Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods have launched a range of plant-based burgers, chicken nuggets, and other alternative meats that look and taste like—well—burgers, chicken nuggets, and other meats. A company in Port Coquitlam, B.C., Canada, is taking a different approach—focused on creating a compelling and more sustainable food experience without necessarily replicating meat, according to Dean Blignaut, co-founder and president of TMRW Foods.

TMRW aims to “create what we like to call a satisfying protein addition that’s suitable to any person’s diet by extracting the essence of what it is that people enjoy about animal protein,” Blignaut says. “We’re trying to make sure that we tick all of those boxes, especially when it comes to the kind of organoleptic properties of what it is that people enjoy about meat, but, at the same time, create a happily plant-forward protein experience that meets and exceeds the expectations of people who are used to eating meat—in terms of things like texture, aroma, cooking experience, nutritional values, etc.”


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The idea, he adds, is that somebody still eating meat could have a TMRW product—whether a burger or sausage or breakfast patties—and feel like it’s a cool product but not the exact same thing.

Data-driven growth

From its launch in 2018, TMRW Foods began working on ticking all those boxes, but it quickly got to a point where it needed to tick some other boxes as well. From his previous experience at other companies, Blignaut had worked with a range of enterprise resource planning (ERP) and other management software systems and understood their importance. He also understood how difficult it would be to implement an ERP system if he waited too long and let employees settle into other habits. It was important to Blignaut, even with a small company like TMRW, to implement the system early to foster the right culture.

As a business, the plant-based food maker had started very small—with a competition at the office to create a burger—and then picked up steam quickly, testing recipes with chefs, food scientists, and more. “In 2019, we had our first prototype of the TMRW Burger,” Blignaut says. “We opened our 5,000-sq-ft production facility in Port Coquitlam in April [2020], and now we have national distribution through UNFI Horizon, and we sell it to chains like Whole Foods and Nesters and so forth.”

As TMRW sought out the right ERP system, one of the most important requirements for operation was an easy-to-use traceability system, Blignaut says. “Inventory management was another box that we wanted to tick. Also productivity tracking, dynamic costing abilities, being able to ensure consistency of execution with our team throughout different facets of the business—not just in production, but QA, QC, purchasing, anything along those lines,” he explains. “Inspections and data logging was an important part of it for us as well, because we understand that it can become quite tedious and cumbersome to have to do too much manually on paper, and it’s also a waste from a sustainability element.” Other factors to consider were facility and equipment maintenance, and in-production QA and QC checks, he adds.


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