Innovation

Ripple’s unique innovation is using yellow split peas as their main ingredient for their products. The yellow pea is low in fat and cholesterol-free. Ripple’s milk is nut-free, lactose-free, gluten-free, soy-free, and 100% vegan. It has the same amount of protein as dairy, but less than half the amount of sugar as dairy, and almost zero saturated fat. It also contains 45% of calcium and 30% vitamin D that is needed in people’s daily diets. One of Ripple’s main target markets is children with allergies. Tim says that Ripple is a great alternative for kids because it is an allergen-free product. Ripple is also beneficial for those who cannot have much sugar in their diet. Most are under the impression that non-dairy products taste bad; however, they may be pleasantly surprised when they taste Ripple and find it similarly enjoyable to milk. Sunflower oil is used to make the milk creamy. Ripple has innovated many dairy alternatives that not only are healthy but are also good for the environment.

Inspiration

In 2014, Neil Renninger had the initial idea to create plant-based dairy products. He called his friend Adam Lowry to collaborate and in 2015 Ripple was created. Before they started Ripple, both Neil and Adam were quite successful in their own careers. Neil, who graduated from MIT, is an educated chemical engineer with experience cleaning contaminated ground and wastewater among other environmental efforts. Neil also helped develop a production process for an antimalarial compound that is used to make over 100 million treatments a year. Adam used his Stanford education to become a climate scientist before putting that knowledge into action by starting many environmentally-friendly companies. His most popular is Method, a sustainable home cleaning product, that is now distributed nationally at Target. Now, six years after its creation, Ripple has 65 employees with two main office locations. First is their headquarters, where the science and development teams work, in Berkley, California. Their second main office is in Denver, Colorado, and that is where their sales and marketing teams are located.

Overall impact

Yellow peas, which Ripple intentionally chose in order to protect the climate, have a very small environmental footprint. According to Ripple’s website, “unlike almonds, which require irrigation, or cattle, which contribute to deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions, peas have a small environmental footprint. Yellow peas grow in areas that receive lots of rain, so they need little or no irrigation.” For contrast, almonds used for almond milk are grown almost exclusively in California, which often experiences drought. The California region has to import water to grow the almond plants. Yellow peas, however, require 100 times less water to grow than almonds do, according to Ripple’s website.

Business benefit

As Director of Supply Chain, Tim’s main goal is to take that “brilliant science work that our teams have done and bring it to life and bring it to the shelves.” He does this all by overseeing and working with their inventory, resources, buyers, packaging suppliers, and manufacturers. Tim also maintains strong working relationships with the farmers who work hard to farm the yellow peas. Together they make sure they are complying with the company’s environmental goals.

When talking with Tim, we also discussed Ripple’s competitors and how they have to constantly be aware of the competition in the dairy alternative industry. Ripple’s main competitors are Almond milk, Soy milk, and one that is gaining more attraction in the US, Oatmilk. Ripple hopes to have an advantage through its environmental sustainability and target market of children with allergies and others who cannot have dairy products.

Ripple is classified as a B-corporation where they have their products in more than 15,000 retail locations and is continuing to grow. The purpose of a B-corporation, according to bcorporation.net, is they are “a new kind of business that balances purpose and profit. They are legally required to consider the impact of their decisions on their workers, customers, suppliers, community, and the environment”. Ripple does all of this and more with the exceptional work they do to reduce their carbon footprint, save water, and use over 90% of Post Consumer Recycled plastic.

Social and environmental benefit

Ripples’ use of the yellow peas promotes responsible consumption and production and also leads to economic growth due to their affordable pricing. With a growth cycle of only ninety days, where the yellow peas are grown naturally in a form of dryland farming, Ripple is able to obtain the protein faster and at an affordable price. The yellow peas are grown in the northern US in Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, and also across the border in Canada. The remainder is grown on the east coast. To use these grown peas best, Ripple has developed its own protein extraction process. The yellow peas are ground into a flour from which the protein is extracted. This process requires far fewer resources than typical means for acquiring protein. For example, Ripple lowers its carbon footprint by reducing emissions as compared to dairy milk production, such as raising cattle, by 25%. This extraction process gives Ripple products a more sustainable and cleaner product.

Another way Ripple is helping the environment is with its use of Post Consumer Recycled Plastic (PCR). As stated on their website, “Ripple bottles are made from 100% post-consumer recycled PET plastic. That means our bottles used to be bottles. And they will be bottles again because PET plastic is one of the most widely recycled materials in America. 94% of American households have access to PET recycling”. According to Tim, 90% of the bottles used by Ripple are PCR, and they have saved over 3 million pounds of plastic by doing this. This use of recycled materials is just one more way Ripple is reducing its carbon footprint.

With the use of split yellow peas, Ripple has taken plant-based dairy alternatives to the next level by offering a much healthier dairy alternative as well as making huge strides to help the environment. Throughout the last six years that Ripple has been in business, they have offered thousands of people dairy alternatives that are not only healthy but in addition, great-tasting and environmentally friendly. We strongly believe that with their dedication to the science, environment, and their customers’ health, Ripple will continue to climb up the ladder in the dairy alternative industry.

Interview

Tim Conroy, Director of Supply Chain