Here comes the food futurist
Dan Pathomvanich is not just a CEO. He’s also a climate change activist and a plant-based advocate committed to enabling the world to transition to a lower-carbon future through food system transformation.
That explains why his company, NR Instant Produce Public Company Limited (NRF), is focusing on the global production of low-carbon foods and on transforming into the world’s leading co-manufacturer of alternative protein ingredients and foods.
His business journey started when he established Hatton Capital in 2009.
Since then he has completed more than US$1 billion (33.5 billion baht) in acquisitions primarily focused on the consumer and food industry.
He went on to co-found Hatton Equity Partners (Thailand) in 2015, a fund with over $40 million in assets under management.
A new and more challenging chapter of life began when Hatton acquired NRF in April 2017.
A leading specialty food exporter based in Thailand, NRF was established in 1991 and with over two decades of experience developed into a leading food co-packer for supermarkets around the world with beloved brands such as Por Kwan that dominate ethnic supermarkets in North America.
In 2017, Mr Dan laid out a roadmap for the company over the next three years to become a global platform for the future of food in seeking to find solutions on how to feed 10 billion people by 2050 and decarbonise the world in doing so.
Central to this mission was to transform NRF’s small plant-based business into a global co-manufacturer for alternative protein ingredients and foods which would enable the global economy to shift to a lower-carbon system.
The goal is by 2024 to have key production facilities around the world to co-manufacture plant-based foods, alternative protein ingredients and retail outlets selling plant-based products.
In order to achieve such a goal, Mr Dan in 2017 committed to the United Nations Global Compact by integrating the UN sustainable development goals into NRF core operations.
As a pro-active partner of the Global Compact Network Thailand, he was named to the committee on environment. NRF today is the first and only carbon neutral certified food factory in Thailand.
Within three years, Mr Dan led NRF to an initial public offering in October 2020 and had the second-best IPO opening of the year that was more than nine times oversubscribed by institutions.
Today NRF is the only public company to commit to the 1.5C climate pledge and the race to net zero.
Mr Dan was recognised by Time magazine, Bloomberg, Forbes, CNN and many international media publications for NRF’s global vision to transform the world through food system transformation.
Besides serving as CEO of NR Instant Produce, Mr Dan also wears many different hats as chairman of Nove Foods, chairman of the Path Foundation, executive adviser to Proterra Partners, adviser to Foodshot Global while he is on the environmental sub-committee of Global Compact Network Thailand for the United Nations.