Interview With Michelle Adelman Founder and CEO of Crossover Meats
Welcome to the latest Founder Spotlight edition, where we introduce Michelle Adelman, founder and CEO of Crossover Meats, a pioneering food technology company specializing in producing all-natural, sustainable ground meat products.
The natural, sustainable ground meat product market is experiencing significant growth, was valued at USD 1,165.84 million in 2023, and is projected to reach USD 3,826.29 million by 2032, growing at a CAGR of 14.1%. Crossover Meats are tapping into this market with innovative products that offer environmental benefits such as using up to 50% less land and 40% less water and producing up to 50% fewer greenhouse gas emissions than traditional beef production. Michelle’s mission with Crossover Meats is to make sustainable food choices more accessible and affordable for consumers. She believes sustainability should be a core part of business models, driving efficiency and cost savings while creating differentiation.
Are you ready to embark on an inspiring journey with Michelle Adelman as we uncover the story of Crossover Meats?
Hello Michelle, welcome to the founder spotlight interview! We’re curious to know what inspired you to create Crossover Meats and how your background in sustainability influences your approach to the meat industry?
My journey into food and sustainability started in an unexpected place. I spent over 20 years at Accenture, where I helped Fortune 500 companies drive large-scale transformation particularly in the CPG and healthcare industries. After leaving Accenture, I became CEO of a private equity-backed healthcare services start-up company, but after successfully launching that business, I wanted to do something more mission-driven. I took a sabbatical to build small businesses in Africa, supporting a foundation I started, Travel for Impact.
My investment thesis was simple: use sustainable technology as a catalyst to create new business concepts and create jobs for youth and women. That led me to found Go Fresh!, a hydroponic farming company in Botswana that cut food miles from 1,000 km to just 10 km, improved access to fresh, local produce and reduced food waste. I then launched Infinite Foods, which introduced leading plant-based brands across four African countries, expanding access to healthier and more sustainable protein options.
Through my work in alternative proteins, I saw firsthand the challenges of shifting consumer behavior. While plant-based foods were exciting, adoption was slow, and I started looking for practical solutions that could scale faster. That’s when I was introduced to a Stanford professor working on a new way to rethink meat itself. His research on the molecular composition of meat—lean muscle, fat, and hemoglobin—led to the patented blending technology behind Crossover Meats.
I immediately saw the potential: this recipe was brilliantly simple, highly scalable, and the perfect bridge between today’s heavily red meat-oriented diets and a future food system that is healthier and more sustainable. With Crossover Meats, we’re making delicious, affordable, blended ground meat products that fit seamlessly into everyday life, proving that sustainability doesn’t have to mean compromise.
Crossover Meats aims to reduce its environmental impact by 50%. How does it achieve this while maintaining taste and texture? And how does it maintain high quality while maintaining affordability?
Our patented process and recipe enables us to blend chicken with beef, pork or lamb to deliver the same texture, juiciness, and cooking experience as traditional ground meat—but with half carbon footprint and lower cost. Because we use chicken as the main protein, our products are high-protein, affordable, and familiar to consumers, making sustainability an easy everyday choice. The original patent was based on making ground beef – and we now have extended the R&D to create ground pork and ground lamb varieties.
Could you explain the patented process and recipe Crossover Meats uses to create its products? How does it differ from traditional ground meat production?
The research at Stanford University studied the molecular makeup of meat, which consists of three main components: lean muscle, fat, and hemoglobin (blood) – this was the same research, by the way, behind Impossible Foods. Traditional ground meat is made by taking lean cuts (think steak) and blending them with trim that is half beef and half fat to achieve the desired lean-to-fat ratio, such as 80% lean, 20% fat.
In our patented recipe, we follow the same process—but instead of lean beef, we create a “chicken steak” to replace it, then blend in trim as normal. This results in a product that is 60% chicken but still tastes, cooks, and performs just like 100% ground meat because it maintains the exact same ratio of lean muscle, fat, and hemoglobin. We use whole, natural ingredients and quality cuts of chicken and meat —no fillers, no artificial additives
Because the chicken protein is more tender, we can blend our products with less fat while still getting great texture and juiciness — resulting in a product that is better for you and better for the environment.
As a vegan founder in the meat industry, how do you address the challenges of people assuming Crossover Meats offers only plant-based alternatives?
Sometimes it’s a challenge, but I can promise you—our products are 100% real meat!
From my time working in the plant-based food space, I realized that widespread consumer adoption of plant-based meat alternatives is progressing too slowly to drive meaningful environmental impact by 2050. Despite all the hype, plant-based meat has only captured 1.3% of the retail market—consumer behavior isn’t shifting fast enough.
When I was introduced to the technology behind Crossover Meats, it immediately made sense. Chicken is more sustainable, highly scalable, and widely accepted, making it the perfect foundation for a better way to eat meat without having to have behavior change. Crossover Meats serves as a “bridge” solution—helping transition our red meat-heavy diets toward a healthier, more sustainable future without requiring consumers to change their eating habits.
Can you discuss the potential impact of Crossover Meats on food security and sustainability in Africa, given your experience with Infinite Foods?
When I decided to start Crossover Meats, I did so very much with my “Africa hat” on. In fact, we first launched Crossover Meats products in South Africa in 2019, just before COVID. While we’re currently focused on the U.S. market, we fully intend to return to Africa when the time is right.
Changing people’s eating habits is incredibly difficult, no matter the country or continent—Africa is no different. My experience with Infinite Foods reinforced just how powerful brand recognition and international acceptance are in motivating people to try new things. My hope is that by building a strong U.S. and international brand around Crossover Meats, we can eventually reenter the African market with consumer trust and demand already established.
As Crossover Meats has grown, could you share how cap table management has helped structure its equity and foster investor alignment?
We’ve used a cap table management system from the start to streamline administration and improve shareholder transparency. As Crossover Meats prepares to launch a Reg-CF raise on StartEngine in Mach 2025, where individual consumers can invest in our company, having efficient cap table management will be even more critical. It will allow us to effectively manage shareholder communication and ensure smooth administration as our investor base expands.
We are excited to give everyday consumers the opportunity to become investors in Crossover Meats and participate in our success as we grow.
How does Crossover Meats address the challenges of food inflation and consumer demand for affordable, healthy options?
The “Power of Meat” study by the American Meat Institute shows that consumers are increasingly reading labels for lower fat and calories, high protein, and iron, but food inflation (ironically driven by climate change the meat industry is helping cause) are driving up the cost of traditional meat—with no end in sight.
Crossover Meats’ blended products allow us to keep costs lower while still delivering a high-quality, delicious, and satisfying experience. Because we use chicken as the main protein, we offer a better price point than traditional ground meat, without sacrificing taste, nutrition, or sustainability.
Each 5.3 oz serving of Crossover Chicken & Beef Blends provides 32g of protein and 20% of your daily iron needs, making it a nutrient-dense, affordable alternative to conventional ground beef.
Could you share insights into Crossover Meats’ valuation journey? How does Crossover Meats’ unique product positioning and sustainability impact influence its valuation?
As a food-tech company with a patented product, our valuation reflects our ability to capture market share in the ~$60B ground meat market, scale effectively, and differentiate through product performance, consumer alignment, and sustainability impact.
Investors see Crossover Meats as an innovative, first-mover in blended meat, uniquely positioned between traditional meat and plant-based brands. As we continue to grow and expand into retail and foodservice, our valuation will be driven by sales growth, retail velocity, and our ability to prove impact at scale.
What are your long-term goals for Crossover Meats, and how do you plan to expand its market presence?
Our goal is to make our patented method of making ground meat the industry norm. Right now, we’re focused on building the category and our brand by scaling in U.S. retail and foodservice, increasing awareness, and getting more consumers to experience the product firsthand.
We launched with frozen burger patties and will introduce ground meat bricks and fully-cooked products in 2025. We’ve also begun exploring industry partnerships and licensing opportunities—our vision is for our recipe to become pervasive in ground meat and sausage making. We look forward to partnering with other manufacturers and brands to use our patent.
Longer-term, we see opportunities to expand into international markets, additional protein blends (e.g., breakfast sausage, bacon, bison), and strategic foodservice partnerships that will drive widespread adoption.
How do you balance the need for innovation with maintaining simple, all-natural ingredients in your products?
We believe that real food shouldn’t need a long ingredient list. Our approach is to innovate with whole, natural ingredients, using our patented blending process to create taste and texture without artificial additives.
We have a lot of innovation ahead, including new protein blends, fully cooked and ready-to-eat products, and integrated flavors—all while staying true to our commitment to simple, high-quality ingredients.
