By leveraging SAP ERP cloud software, plant-based startup LIVEKINDLY Collective was able to drive business growth and scale its operations globally. SAP S/4HANA Cloud was critical in realising the company’s vision of making plant-based living “the new norm.”
The LIVEKINDLY Collective is dedicated to changing the global food system by collaborating with forward-thinking poultry producers who want to embrace and contribute to plant-based alternatives. The company provides customers with sustainable food options through its umbrella brands including LikeMeat, No Meat, Oumph!, and The Fry Family Food Co.
Plant-based food products are becoming increasingly popular as production technologies improve to significantly enhance taste and texture and with consumer demand for cleaner, more sustainable options growing as well. By 2040, the plant-based protein market could account for 9{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} of the estimated $2.7 trillion global meat industry, putting the LIVEKINDLY Collective in a position for strong future growth.
In China particularly, the plant-based market generated roughly $1 billion in 2018 and is expected to increase at a rate of 20{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} to 25{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} per year. Just recently, the LIVEKINDLY Collective debuted two new flagship brands in the country — covering a portfolio of seven plant-based goods based on traditional Chinese dishes.
Roger Lienhard, Founder and Executive Chairman of Blue Horizon Group and Founder of the LIVEKINDLY Collective, said:
“Our portfolio and model are global, and with the launch of our China office and new products, we are closer than ever to achieving our mission of making plant-based living the new norm.”
Founded in March 2020 by Lienhard, the LIVEKINDLY Collective had to create a total IT infrastructure with the ability to grow through different stages. The company implemented SAP S/4HANA Cloud, as part of the RISE with SAP offering, in a bid to develop a digital organisation from the ground up and solve core business processes. This ranges from global procurement to local support of its retail partners.
Kees Kruythoff, Chairman and CEO at LIVEKINDLY Collective, shared in a video chat with SAP CEO Christian Klein:
“We will always look at IT not to own it, not to have the platform ourselves, but to leverage the IT and use our strategic partners to be able to really have the ability to scale it.”
Driving Business Growth Through SAP ERP Cloud Software
Rogan Moore, Chief Digital and Information Officer at LIVEKINDLY Collective, expounded on the company’s implementation journey during a SAPPHIRE NOW 2021 session titled Learn from Your Peers’ Success in Achieving Business Goals. He stated that they needed a system that could scale and provide efficiency in their supply chain around the world, as well as to measure things at micro efficiency levels.
Moore added that they also required a system that could be “relevant and applicable” in every geography around the globe, given that the nature of their work is to create a massive impact on the world. He stressed that with the SAP ERP cloud software, the company was able to tick all of the boxes that they needed to change.
“We went for a system that could give us very rapid implementation timelines. And that by nature of cloud-based software, we could get the system implemented very quickly and had a very quick cycle of implementation in the US, business first,” he explained.
The key with this cloud-based approach is that it allows the company to be in the business of leveraging technology, instead of operating and owning it, according to Moore.
“For LIVEKINDLY Collective, this SAP S/4HANA infrastructure or platform really sets us up for the scale that we need. It allows us to really plug in businesses quickly and really grow the efficiency of the supply chain as we rapidly scale.”
Meanwhile, in terms of future collaboration with SAP, he said the company has a “very tight partnership” with the German software giant. Noting that SAP has been supportive from the start, he added that it continues to be invested in their current success. The LIVEKINDLY Collective is looking at co-innovation projects with SAP around carbon measurement and carbon accounting, Moore further disclosed.
“We are also going to be implementing SAP SuccessFactors. They are very much a brain heavy people-centric organisation. We want the best talent in our organisation and attract the best people and manage them,” he concluded.
