Fans of “Shark Tank” will likely recall a 2022 episode with Umaro Foods, a Berkeley company that makes vegan bacon from seaweed. Investor Robert Heljabeck puts a slice of product in his mouth and spits it out right away – not on the napkin, but on his plate, spew loudly, “hmmmm.”
Umaro CEO Beth Zotter recalls that he died inside at that moment. “Ah yes – but I don’t think it showed up in my representation,” she says.
Zotter gave his final laugh with “Shark Tank.” Mark Cuban liked plant-based bacon and reduced his $1 million investment in horses in 2019, co-founded with plant biologist Amanda Styles. Today you can find that applewood bacon at Whole Foods store in California. Even Chris Paul, a vegan in the NBA, is an investor now.
Seaweed may not be the first to think about devouring on a plate with fried eggs and hash browns. However, it is one of the fastest growing plants on the planet and does not require land, freshwater or fertilizer. Global food supply chains are considered viable future food in cell cultured meat and cricket flour veins as they emphasize more, which is the result of climate change, population growth, and unpopular tariffs.
Umaro still produces bacon, but the large company is to refine kelp-like seaweed to proteins and high value ingredients through its own process. It could soon be moved to a biodegradable package. Zotter recently took me a few minutes to chat about what’s on the horizon.
Q: What is the best way to explain what Umaro is doing?
A: We are not a plant-based meat company. We are a repetitive seaweed company. For high value applications, we have found a way to unlock individual molecules of seaweed. Our process actually produces two products. One is protein and the other is alginate.
Q: What is protein used for?
A: It’s really popular right now, but there’s no sign of it fading, but it’s protein concentration. We see protein-rich pasta and crackers, so we’re excited to work with partners who want to use this ingredient to make dumplings, noodles, and more. Many people are trying to incorporate more protein into their diet as a result of their GLP-1 and keto diet. They say, “If you’re trying to eat pasta, at least take more protein there to make sure you’re balanced nutritionally.”
The global protein market is around $25 billion in protein components, isolates and concentrates.
Q: What is this alginic acid?
A: It’s a specialized chemical worth a lot of money, such as $20,000 per ton. Alginates are usually added as an ingredient to those that you don’t notice. It is also used in sausage casings, making it a great, clear film. I don’t know if we actually get this grant or (I don’t know if it’ll be cancelled by the current administration, but recently we won an award from the Department of Energy and used alginate to create biodegradable plastic films. Our partner in that award is the shaking (the San Leandro startup).
Q: Let’s talk about bacon. Baby bacon is served at around 500 restaurants nationwide, including Bay Area loam artisan burgers, and people seem to enjoy it. What’s popular?
A: Our innovation is using seaweed to encapsulate it and contain large amounts of fat. There are lots of really bad vegan bacon. Most of the other products are like soybean-based flaves that are flooded. However, we have found a way to use seaweed gels to essentially create solid, crispy, fat analogs that give a lot of flavor, as fat is the place where most flavor molecules hang out.
Q: Isn’t this a health food?
A: There are a lot of fats like bacon, but no cholesterol. We don’t say it’s healthy. It’s better than bacon… The shelf is stable because it has a low moisture content. Many chefs really appreciate that they don’t need to use cold storage for their products. You can also easily cook it in two minutes with an air fryer, so that’s another win in the convenient way.
Q: Where do you think seaweed will fit in the future of food?
A: As climate patterns change, climate change leads to major disruptions in water availability. There is an increase in drought and an increase in flooding, coupled with extreme heat, which puts more water stress on the crop. That will be an even more risk to the stability of our food supply. Drawing more proteins and macronutrients from the ocean is essentially a risk mitigation strategy.
Q: Is climate change a threat to seaweed agriculture?
A: Rising sea water temperatures are the biggest threat. But like all other crops, there are major breeding programs to create temperature-resistant strains of seaweed.
Q: Where can I get the raw ingredients? California coastline?
A: Seaweed is a very big industry in Asia and that’s what I’ve got for now. Ultimately, I would like to source it from North America. But for now, Asian supply chains are much more mature and can supply the volumes they need to scale.
What’s convincing about seaweed is that it’s already a product. It has already grown in commercial scale and in large quantities. It costs 20 million tons a year. What we’re doing is that what no one else has done is to refine it into ingredients so that it can be used in a much more diverse range of foods. Especially in the Western world, some people don’t think seaweed is very tasty, so by separating it into proteins and other ingredients, it can be easily integrated into food.
Q: At least it’s better than eating insects?
A: I hope I’m eating more cricket protein in the future. When it comes to consumer perceptions, seaweed is thought to have a “health halo,” so people become healthy when they eat it. So we have it for us.
Beth Zotter
Age: 47 Position: Co-Founder and CEO of Umaro Foodseducation: Ba Harvard University in Environmental Science/Public Policy; Berkeley, Energy and Resourceless California: Albany
Five Things About Beth
1. She grew up in Fairfax, Virginia. She loves soccer and snowboarding and surfs when she gets the chance 3. She is a vegetarian and doesn’t like cooking. “Trader Joe’s pre-cooked lentils are one of my goats.” 4. She helped build a seaweed farm off the coast of Maine. She likes to watch sci-fi shows like “Black Mirror.”
Original issue: April 23, 2025, 1:50pm
