Britteny Bryan

Britteny Bryan is a New Zealand entrepreneur and co-founder and chief executive of Berkano Foods, New Zealand’s largest plant-based ready meal manufacturer.

Bryan dropped out of a mechanical engineering degree at the age of 20 to start Berkano alongside co-founder Nicholas Harlow. The pair had tried a plant-based diet and found the convenient options lacking. With roughly $20,000 in savings, five bank rejections and eight months living in a storage unit, they built a food business from nothing, starting by sweeping factory floors themselves.

Founded in Christchurch in 2017, Berkano became the first company in New Zealand to launch plant-based ready meals into major retail, eventually reaching more than 80 supermarkets nationwide through Foodstuffs and Woolworths NZ. The company also created the Harmless Food Co brand exclusively for Countdown and later launched New Zealand’s first plant-based beef, lamb and pork range. Nearly 90% of ingredients are sourced locally and the factory is entirely plant-based, eliminating cross-contamination concerns.

The business achieved two consecutive years of 100% growth, earning Bryan a place on the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia-Pacific list in 2020 and a Westpac Champion Business Award for manufacturing in 2019.

Bryan’s profile is noteworthy because she built a category-defining food company in her early twenties, with minimal capital, no safety net and no prior food industry experience. Her story is a Christchurch bootstrapping tale that demonstrates how conviction about a gap in the market can outweigh the absence of almost everything else.

Sources: NZ Herald · Vegconomist · NZ Entrepreneur