Food Innovation I Material Science I Venture Capital De-Risking

Start-Ups

Retain me as you scale for R&D management or Manufacturing Scale-Up Work

Venture Capital

Technical Due-Diligence for Food and Material Science deals

Product Strategy

Food Science I Product I Alternative Protein I Nutrition Beverages I Plant-Based

• Scale Up Strategy: scaling ingredient discovery from benchtop to manufacturing production (alt protein, fiber), finding a co-packer vs. manufacturing yourself.
• Product strategy:  powder drinks, non-dairy milk, medical food, vegan dairy offerings, microbiome health (fiber blends), shelf stable functional beverages, climate-friendly food offerings, ingredients with health benefits. 
• Venture Capital Technical Consulting: De-risking and providing feedback on food technology for venture. A lot in food science has been developed already and isn't novel. Let an expert help de-risk your investment! Sara is recipient of the Arrell Global Food Innovation Award, has raised millions from tier 1 investors in Silicon Valley, Canada and New York herself, so she will tell you how it is! This can include, but is not limited to:
  • Helping provide questions to de-risk science
  • Reviewing answers from technical teams and advising VC on level of risk.
  • Short Report that communicates scientific findings in a digestible format that you can provide to shareholders/LP's to make a decision.
  • Reviewing startup decks and advising on complexity of science/scalability
  • Conducting technical due-diligence for you and providing a report.
• Formulation Expert ($180-200/hr): Recognized as top food scientist globally by Arrell Institute in 2023. functional non-dairy beverages, low-acid aseptic (dairy, plant-milk), fiber inclusion / novelty health offerings with prebiotic blends, alternative protein, brain health, digestive health, plant-based protein, ingredient innovation, materials science, and nutrition. 
• Health Science Claims & Ingredient Claims: Digestive health, Brain Health, Microbiome, Joint Health.
• Consumer Work: Children's products, Plant-based Dairy, Senior Nutrition, Therapeutic Beverages, Meal Replacement, Nutrition Drinks, Powder hydration.
• Start- Up Advisory: I work on a monthly retainer or equity.
• Startup Ad-Hoc R&D Product Services (Monthly Retainer Only):
  • Go-to contact with R&D with Co-packer: Address and solve for product development & manufacturing challenges.
  • Technical Quality Guidance: Oversee quality is maintained in manufacturing and offer technical guidance, engineering insight as well as hands-on execution for process & product optimization with manufacturing.
  • Ingredient Optimization to Meet Internal Quality Standards: Sourcing better ingredients, being the contact for suppliers.
  • R&D Budget (Extra Cost): Helping you prepare an R&D budget for future financings. Taking the time to source and triple ensure your budget is accurate.
  • Label / Regulatory Compliance for Label: Ensuring new ingredients or any changes to product meet health claims on packaging (using ESHA ingredient Software) & coordinating with regulatory experts to ensure compliance at scale. This is always time consuming for startups!
  • Sensory Optimization with Scale: Helping fix manufacturing challenges with taste. Scale-up is never easy. I am a sensory wizard and been through it all!
  • Process Flow: Work with Co-Manufacturer during production to manage and ensure engineering process flow is maintained; ensure quality compliance and alignment with R&D initiatives.
  • Manage for Consistency & Quality: Interacts with a variety of internal & external departments including Marketing, Product Development, and QA to ensure all product initiatives and updates have been made by appropriate parties and reflect packaging/ quality with an extremely high level of precision.
• Manufacturing Advisory:
  • Tetra Pack: Low-acid aseptic experience (shelf stable non-dairy)
  • Powder Drinks etc.: Nutritional powders (i.e. fiber drink or blend for gut health) 
  • Manufacturing Partner Search for Novel Ingredients: Finding the right co-packer and manufacturing strategy from an ingredient discovered via bench-top. I've worked with top ingredient manufacturers / co-packers for novel ingredients all over North America.
  • Vegan/ Kosher Products
• Formulation Work (Project Basis):  
  • Final Formulation work: food product with health claims benefits (i.e. expert fortification blends & sensory know-how with all ingredient houses).

About me -Sara

Sara Bonham, MASc. Eng.

Seasoned innovation executive and leader with over 10 years of product development, leadership, and business experience for both a venture-backed startups and consumer goods business (CPG). My background in food science, biological engineering and health science has allowed me to have an exceptional ability to identify white spaces, take calculated risks, while pushing innovative boundaries. Indeed, my strategic mindset and ability to execute has attracted millions in investment to the brands I have worked on, as well as fill major product gaps in the marketplace; all while improving human health outcomes.

Having an ownership mentality (‘no task is impossible’) has allowed my innovations to flourish and resulted in renown media coverage over the years. This includes being mentioned and featured in the New York Times, Business Insider, Fast Company and the Wall Street Journal. Most recently, I won NASA’s largest global science hackathon in December 2022 for my work on climate change and agriculture technology.

For the past six years I worked as the Co-Founder and Chief Science Officer of Perennial. I led all product innovation, quality, manufacturing, and research efforts. Perennial was a progressive health science and food tech company that explored the endless potential of sustainable plant-based ingredients in supplemental nutrition for gut & brain health (i.e. nutrition beverage; liquid and powder) to build a better future for senior health & planetary health. Perennial focused on essential nutrition in an approachable consumer-friendly (liquid) format but was tailored to improving senior health span (key focus on gut / brain health).

Ingredient & product innovation within a health science ecosystem is a part of the fabric of who I am. When coupling this with my solutions oriented and positive mindset, I have been able to thrive by leading performance driven teams and attract/manage the best talent over the years, including partnering in business with the co-founder of Beyond Meat.

Innovating extensively with proteins, vitamins & minerals, and identifying novel ingredients for advancing human nutrition will give me an advantage in any future endeavor. While advising the company SP Nutraceuticals over the past 2 years, we scaled novel ingredients from avocado’s that promote metabolic wellness and healthy blood sugar. The product has now launched nationwide in Canada and CVS stores in the US. To add, while at Perennial, I worked closely with senior leadership and the board of directors to align on product strategies, lead University health studies, develop extensive partnerships with key external stakeholders to ensure quality ingredients, and built a science advisory board.

What makes me stand out is my experience in both product development, ingredient innovation, thought leadership and business. This entails venture capital exposure (raising, pitching), scaling a product/plan from an idea to nationwide launch, managing a P&L and scientific communications, to working with external and internal stakeholders to create a solid road map for future innovation and category expansion.

I enjoy working with mission-oriented businesses, with leadership who deeply care about their customers and improving pushing boundaries to bring health science and nutrition to a new frontier.  

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