Andre MenezesCo Founder

United States - Chicago, Illinois

I’m the co-founder and CEO of Next Gen Foods, and challenging paradigms to create a better future is what drives me.
My passion for business began when I was 12 years old: I offered web design services to a car dealership in Brazil. It was during university, however, that I had the chance of building a real business - leading the growth of a business started by my father and his 2 brothers, which is still in operation.
I later went on to work for Siemens in Germany and although I enjoyed the vast opportunities offered by the corporate world, I began to realize that my calling lay elsewhere.
After graduating with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, I made the seemingly-unrelated decision to join an investment fund to learn about business from an investor’s perspective. From there, I transitioned to one of their portfolio companies (BRF), the largest poultry exporter in the world.
I had the opportunity to learn about the unsustainable system involved in poultry farming, and how it is marketed. I was only 29 when I was entrusted with the challenge to lead the largest meat distributor in Singapore, a joint venture between BRF and SATS.
As an engineer, and with my background in investment, I realized that animal farming is intrinsically inefficient considering the amount of grains, land, energy and water it takes to produce an affordable, delicious protein option for consumers. However, I was also aware that people won’t give up eating the dishes they love, with the taste and texture of products coming from animal farming.
And that’s when, with Timo Recker, Next Gen Foods was born.
Since then, we’ve created “Ridiculously Good” plant-based chicken called TiNDLE, which is taking the world by storm. In the past two years, we’ve started the company from scratch, raised $130 million and launched TiNDLE chicken in 8 different countries!
Keep an eye on my profile for updates, as we are busy exceeding even our wildest expectations!