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This is my take as well. I don't see an innate advantage to Soylent over existing meal replacements like SlimFast. While Soylent has struggled with quality cont

This is my take as well. I don't see an innate advantage to Soylent over existing meal replacements like SlimFast. While Soylent has struggled with quality control, their competitors have been producing high volumes of equivalent products for many years, at better prices, and better name recognition to the american population outside of SV.

johnfn 9y ago
I personally would never have slimfast because I'm not on a diet! This feels like a large distinction that you are missing here. If there are non-diet meal replacements, I don't know if any, which clearly seems like an opportunity for a product such as Soylent.
- macspoofing 9y ago
  >If there are non-diet meal replacements Millions.
  - johnfn 9y ago
    Im going to copy a response I made to someone else in this thread: The fact that at least 4 people in this thread have mentioned "meal replacements" but not a single one has named a specific product I would know by name (non dieting!) seems to me a pretty clear indictment that this category is not as established as you are suggesting.
    - axlprose 9y ago
      the meal replacement (or "MRP") is extremely well established. Just walk into any nutrition store like GNC or VitaminShoppe and they'll likely have a whole section devoted to MRPs right next to the protein shakes/bars. And as for specific products... - https://www.bodybuilding.com/store/vega/one.html https://www.bodybuilding.com/store/vega/one.html - https://www.bodybuilding.com/store/garden-of-life/raw-organic-meal.html https://www.bodybuilding.com/store/garden-of-life/raw-organi... - https://www.iherb.com/pr/Madre-Labs-Zenbu-Shake-Meal-Replacement-Powder-With-Prebiotics-Probiotics-and-Plant-Based-Protein-Chocolate-Flavor-16-4-oz-465-g/69283 https://www.iherb.com/pr/Madre-Labs-Zenbu-Shake-Meal-Replace... - https://www.iherb.com/pr/Now-Foods-Tru-Food-Vegan-Natural-Berry-Flavor-2-2-lbs-1-kg/16483 https://www.iherb.com/pr/Now-Foods-Tru-Food-Vegan-Natural-Be... - https://www.iherb.com/pr/Nature-s-Plus-Source-of-Life-Vitamin-Mineral-Protein-Energy-Shake-Creamy-Granola-Flavor-2-2-lbs-1014-g/7533 https://www.iherb.com/pr/Nature-s-Plus-Source-of-Life-Vitami... - https://www.iherb.com/pr/Orgain-Organic-Meal-All-In-One-Nutrition-Vanilla-Bean-2-01-lbs-912-g/69271 https://www.iherb.com/pr/Orgain-Organic-Meal-All-In-One-Nutr... - https://www.iherb.com/pr/PlantFusion-Phood-100-Whole-Food-Meal-Shake-Chocolate-Caramel-31-8-oz-900-g/55576 https://www.iherb.com/pr/PlantFusion-Phood-100-Whole-Food-Me... - https://www.iherb.com/pr/MRM-Veggie-Meal-Replacement-Chocolate-Mocha-3-lbs-1-361-g/62991 https://www.iherb.com/pr/MRM-Veggie-Meal-Replacement-Chocola... - https://www.iherb.com/pr/Pure-Advantage-MRP-Meal-Replacement-Shake-Chocolate-3-lbs-1380-g/45475 https://www.iherb.com/pr/Pure-Advantage-MRP-Meal-Replacement... - https://www.iherb.com/pr/Vibrant-Health-Maximum-Vibrance-Version-3-0-Vanilla-Bean-22-1-oz-626-4-g/47510 https://www.iherb.com/pr/Vibrant-Health-Maximum-Vibrance-Ver... - https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0038B1EOY/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0038B1EOY/ - https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00KS6WUUE/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00KS6WUUE/ - https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0184DGHHO/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0184DGHHO/ - https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004VRGS7W/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004VRGS7W/ - https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0088YQ8MO/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0088YQ8MO/ - https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01N2M3RK0/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01N2M3RK0/ - https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01N3Y7R1S/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01N3Y7R1S/ And those are just a few results from a quick search for "meal replacement" across 3 different stores. Now, I'm not against Soylent, and I'm definitely pro meal replacement products, but let's at least be honest here and call a spade a spade. Soylent's main differentiating factor is it's marketing pitch and that's ok, it doesn't have to be totally revolutionary to succeed.
      - ThrowawayR2 9y ago
        Skimming the ingredients and descriptions for those, they seem to be intended as protein powder mixes for bodybuilders, not general meal replacements.
        axlprose 9y ago
        Yes, because like I said: marketing. "Protein Shakes" are a bigger/more popular niche than "Meal Replacements", so naturally a lot of products are gonna double dip and try to claim belonging to both categories. But that's irrelevant because what matters is the actual nutritional composition of these products. Soylent has 20g of protein per serving, and most of the products listed above are also in that 15-30g of protein range and share most of the same micronutrients, so functionally they're about equivalent. The only real differences between all these products are marketing, price, taste, "recommended" serving sizes, and small tweaks in nutrient ratios. Other than that, they're all pretty interchangeable.
        Karunamon 9y ago
        The serving size is the whole freakin' point. If you were to consume 1 bag of the Soylent powder, or 5 bottles of the pre-mixed drink, you would have exactly 100% of your RDA for most macros and some micros (+/- some modest amount) for a 2000cal diet. This breaks down easily into per-meal replacements especially for the powder. Half a bag is half a day's needs, and so on. That is literally the whole reason Soylent exists. As far as I know, it's the only product that works that way at that price point.
      - wdmeldon 9y ago
        The only items in that list that require less than 10 servings to get to 2000 calories are the ones with serving sizes that are twice as large. Not even remotely comparable.
        axlprose 9y ago
        The "Recommended Serving Size" for these products can effectively be considered as just another part of the marketing. Comparing them based on their superficial face value is as useless as comparing apples and oranges, you have to actually calculate the amount of nutrients per quantity of mass if you want to compare them thoroughly. Right off the bat, it's worth noting that Soylent has an unusually large serving size of 106-142g [0], compared to the products listed above which have an average serving size of 30-40g, and therefore position themselves as being 'better deals' because they can claim to have more "servings". But otherwise the nutrient ratios are quite comparable and it's disingenuous to suggest otherwise. [0] https://faq.soylent.com/hc/en-us/articles/204409635-Preparing-Soylent-1-5-with-the-legacy-measuring-scoop https://faq.soylent.com/hc/en-us/articles/204409635-Preparin...
    - dreammakr 9y ago
      EAS Myoplex.
    - dragonwriter 9y ago
      Vega brand has decent penetration in mainstream retail, including grocery stores, as well as outlets that specialize in supplements and specialty nutrition items. I agree, though, that Soylent's unique strength is in marketing to middle-class to upper-middle class Millennials that arent seeking any particular goal other than replacing the bother of food; not through unique product features, just pure marketing focus.
  - greenshackle2 9y ago
    Name one. I've check the nutritional labels of every single thing that looks like a meal replacement shake around here looking for a cheaper alternative and didn't find one that came close.
- Dangeranger 9y ago
  Yes, I understand the diet centric focus that SlimFast has employed since their founding. My assumption is that the parent company could easily create a spin-off brand that is not focused on the dieter's market, with considerable resources, and a considerable advantage in their existing supply chain.
Karunamon 9y ago
>I don't see an innate advantage to Soylent over existing meal replacements like SlimFast. Aside from being an actual meal replacement, rather than a calorie-cut diet drink (140ish for a single slimfast shake) who's third ingredient is plain old sugar?
greenshackle2 9y ago
> I don't see an innate advantage to Soylent > equivalent Then you havn't looked very hard. Some of us have gone so far as to look at the nutritional label and list of ingredients.

johnfn 9y ago

I personally would never have slimfast because I'm not on a diet! This feels like a large distinction that you are missing here. If there are non-diet meal replacements, I don't know if any, which clearly seems like an opportunity for a product such as Soylent.

macspoofing 9y ago
>If there are non-diet meal replacements Millions.
- johnfn 9y ago
  Im going to copy a response I made to someone else in this thread: The fact that at least 4 people in this thread have mentioned "meal replacements" but not a single one has named a specific product I would know by name (non dieting!) seems to me a pretty clear indictment that this category is not as established as you are suggesting.
  - axlprose 9y ago
    the meal replacement (or "MRP") is extremely well established. Just walk into any nutrition store like GNC or VitaminShoppe and they'll likely have a whole section devoted to MRPs right next to the protein shakes/bars. And as for specific products... - https://www.bodybuilding.com/store/vega/one.html https://www.bodybuilding.com/store/vega/one.html - https://www.bodybuilding.com/store/garden-of-life/raw-organic-meal.html https://www.bodybuilding.com/store/garden-of-life/raw-organi... - https://www.iherb.com/pr/Madre-Labs-Zenbu-Shake-Meal-Replacement-Powder-With-Prebiotics-Probiotics-and-Plant-Based-Protein-Chocolate-Flavor-16-4-oz-465-g/69283 https://www.iherb.com/pr/Madre-Labs-Zenbu-Shake-Meal-Replace... - https://www.iherb.com/pr/Now-Foods-Tru-Food-Vegan-Natural-Berry-Flavor-2-2-lbs-1-kg/16483 https://www.iherb.com/pr/Now-Foods-Tru-Food-Vegan-Natural-Be... - https://www.iherb.com/pr/Nature-s-Plus-Source-of-Life-Vitamin-Mineral-Protein-Energy-Shake-Creamy-Granola-Flavor-2-2-lbs-1014-g/7533 https://www.iherb.com/pr/Nature-s-Plus-Source-of-Life-Vitami... - https://www.iherb.com/pr/Orgain-Organic-Meal-All-In-One-Nutrition-Vanilla-Bean-2-01-lbs-912-g/69271 https://www.iherb.com/pr/Orgain-Organic-Meal-All-In-One-Nutr... - https://www.iherb.com/pr/PlantFusion-Phood-100-Whole-Food-Meal-Shake-Chocolate-Caramel-31-8-oz-900-g/55576 https://www.iherb.com/pr/PlantFusion-Phood-100-Whole-Food-Me... - https://www.iherb.com/pr/MRM-Veggie-Meal-Replacement-Chocolate-Mocha-3-lbs-1-361-g/62991 https://www.iherb.com/pr/MRM-Veggie-Meal-Replacement-Chocola... - https://www.iherb.com/pr/Pure-Advantage-MRP-Meal-Replacement-Shake-Chocolate-3-lbs-1380-g/45475 https://www.iherb.com/pr/Pure-Advantage-MRP-Meal-Replacement... - https://www.iherb.com/pr/Vibrant-Health-Maximum-Vibrance-Version-3-0-Vanilla-Bean-22-1-oz-626-4-g/47510 https://www.iherb.com/pr/Vibrant-Health-Maximum-Vibrance-Ver... - https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0038B1EOY/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0038B1EOY/ - https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00KS6WUUE/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00KS6WUUE/ - https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0184DGHHO/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0184DGHHO/ - https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004VRGS7W/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004VRGS7W/ - https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0088YQ8MO/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0088YQ8MO/ - https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01N2M3RK0/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01N2M3RK0/ - https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01N3Y7R1S/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01N3Y7R1S/ And those are just a few results from a quick search for "meal replacement" across 3 different stores. Now, I'm not against Soylent, and I'm definitely pro meal replacement products, but let's at least be honest here and call a spade a spade. Soylent's main differentiating factor is it's marketing pitch and that's ok, it doesn't have to be totally revolutionary to succeed.
    - ThrowawayR2 9y ago
      Skimming the ingredients and descriptions for those, they seem to be intended as protein powder mixes for bodybuilders, not general meal replacements.
      - axlprose 9y ago
        Yes, because like I said: marketing. "Protein Shakes" are a bigger/more popular niche than "Meal Replacements", so naturally a lot of products are gonna double dip and try to claim belonging to both categories. But that's irrelevant because what matters is the actual nutritional composition of these products. Soylent has 20g of protein per serving, and most of the products listed above are also in that 15-30g of protein range and share most of the same micronutrients, so functionally they're about equivalent. The only real differences between all these products are marketing, price, taste, "recommended" serving sizes, and small tweaks in nutrient ratios. Other than that, they're all pretty interchangeable.
        Karunamon 9y ago
        The serving size is the whole freakin' point. If you were to consume 1 bag of the Soylent powder, or 5 bottles of the pre-mixed drink, you would have exactly 100% of your RDA for most macros and some micros (+/- some modest amount) for a 2000cal diet. This breaks down easily into per-meal replacements especially for the powder. Half a bag is half a day's needs, and so on. That is literally the whole reason Soylent exists. As far as I know, it's the only product that works that way at that price point.
    - wdmeldon 9y ago
      The only items in that list that require less than 10 servings to get to 2000 calories are the ones with serving sizes that are twice as large. Not even remotely comparable.
      - axlprose 9y ago
        The "Recommended Serving Size" for these products can effectively be considered as just another part of the marketing. Comparing them based on their superficial face value is as useless as comparing apples and oranges, you have to actually calculate the amount of nutrients per quantity of mass if you want to compare them thoroughly. Right off the bat, it's worth noting that Soylent has an unusually large serving size of 106-142g [0], compared to the products listed above which have an average serving size of 30-40g, and therefore position themselves as being 'better deals' because they can claim to have more "servings". But otherwise the nutrient ratios are quite comparable and it's disingenuous to suggest otherwise. [0] https://faq.soylent.com/hc/en-us/articles/204409635-Preparing-Soylent-1-5-with-the-legacy-measuring-scoop https://faq.soylent.com/hc/en-us/articles/204409635-Preparin...
  - dreammakr 9y ago
    EAS Myoplex.
  - dragonwriter 9y ago
    Vega brand has decent penetration in mainstream retail, including grocery stores, as well as outlets that specialize in supplements and specialty nutrition items. I agree, though, that Soylent's unique strength is in marketing to middle-class to upper-middle class Millennials that arent seeking any particular goal other than replacing the bother of food; not through unique product features, just pure marketing focus.
- greenshackle2 9y ago
  Name one. I've check the nutritional labels of every single thing that looks like a meal replacement shake around here looking for a cheaper alternative and didn't find one that came close.
Dangeranger 9y ago
Yes, I understand the diet centric focus that SlimFast has employed since their founding. My assumption is that the parent company could easily create a spin-off brand that is not focused on the dieter's market, with considerable resources, and a considerable advantage in their existing supply chain.

Karunamon 9y ago

>I don't see an innate advantage to Soylent over existing meal replacements like SlimFast. Aside from being an actual meal replacement, rather than a calorie-cut diet drink (140ish for a single slimfast shake) who's third ingredient is plain old sugar?

greenshackle2 9y ago

> I don't see an innate advantage to Soylent > equivalent Then you havn't looked very hard. Some of us have gone so far as to look at the nutritional label and list of ingredients.