Behind The Shelf
What if Actual Vegetables Were the Whole Point? With Hailey Swartz
September 16, 2026
What if the plant-based revolution was missing the whole point? On this episode of Behind the Shelf, host Keren Novack sits down with Hailey Swartz, Co-founder and Co-CEO of Actual Veggies, to unpack a contrarian approach to the plant-based category: making vegetables the hero instead of trying to make them taste like meat. Hailey shares how Actual Veggies identified a gap between consumer motivations and what the market was offering, validated its concept ahead of the trend, and protected product quality by resisting feedback that compromised its core idea. The conversation also explores what really drives repeat purchases, how the brand expanded from burgers into new products without losing its identity, and the operational details that can make or break retail growth. From product innovation to shelf strategy, this episode offers a fresh perspective on building products consumers genuinely want.
What if the plant-based revolution was missing the whole point?


On this episode of Behind the Shelf, host Keren Novack sits down with Hailey Swartz, Co-founder and Co-CEO of Actual Veggies, to unpack a contrarian approach to the plant-based category: making vegetables the hero instead of trying to make them taste like meat. Hailey shares how Actual Veggies identified a gap between consumer motivations and what the market was offering, validated its concept ahead of the trend, and protected product quality by resisting feedback that compromised its core idea. 


The conversation also explores what really drives repeat purchases, how the brand expanded from burgers into new products without losing its identity, and the operational details that can make or break retail growth. From product innovation to shelf strategy, this episode offers a fresh perspective on building products consumers genuinely want. 


What you will learn:


Hailey Swartz is the Co-founder and co-CEO of Actual Veggies, a food brand reimagining the plant-based category by celebrating whole vegetables rather than mimicking meat. Drawing on her technology background, including roles at AOL and Alibaba, Hailey brings a consumer-centric, data-driven approach to food innovation. Since launching in 2020, Actual Veggies has expanded to more than 15,000 retail locations nationwide, including Whole Foods, Kroger, Sprouts, H-E-B, Albertsons, and Costco, while also reaching consumers through online retailers, restaurants, stadiums, and hotels.


Episode Resources:


Episode Highlights:

Hailey identified a major disconnect in plant-based food: consumers were choosing these products for health reasons, while much of the category focused on highly processed meat alternatives. Actual Veggies took the opposite approach, making recognizable vegetables the hero. The lesson for CPG leaders is simple: understand why consumers are entering a category before deciding what your product should look like. Aligning ingredients, positioning, and messaging with that motivation can create meaningful differentiation.


Hailey explains that distinctive appearance and taste helped Actual Veggies earn its first purchase, but clean ingredients, convenience, and the feeling customers experienced afterward drove repeat purchases. The distinction is crucial for brands that focus heavily on generating trial while overlooking loyalty. Marketing can attract attention, but functional benefits create habits. Understanding what happens after purchase can help leaders prioritize product improvements and customer experiences that turn initial curiosity into lasting demand.


Hailey used a straightforward filter when making product decisions: “Would I want to eat this?” That conviction helped her reject cheaper fillers, synthetic ingredients, and shortcuts that could have weakened Actual Veggies’ differentiation. For CPG leaders, the lesson is to establish clear principles before external pressures arrive. When retailer feedback, margins, or trends push toward compromise, a strong product standard can keep decisions grounded in the reason customers trusted the brand.


Actual Veggies expanded beyond burgers because Hailey recognized a broader consumer need: people wanted an easy, enjoyable way to eat more vegetables. That insight created a platform for products including fries and dinosaur nuggets without losing the brand’s identity. The lesson for senior marketing leaders is to expand around an underlying consumer problem rather than simply adding adjacent products. When every new SKU reinforces the same core promise, growth strengthens the brand instead of fragmenting it.


Hailey argues that product experience is the strongest predictor of long-term success. Branding can generate awareness and encourage a first purchase, but a product that delivers on its promise is what creates loyalty and repeat behavior. For CPG leaders, this means separating awareness metrics from retention metrics. If consumers know your product but do not return, more advertising may not solve the problem. Improving taste, convenience, quality, and satisfaction may be the real growth lever.


Hailey highlights the operational details consumers rarely notice but retailers care deeply about, including package dimensions, pricing, shelf fit, and logistics. A great product can still struggle if it does not work within a retailer’s physical and commercial constraints. Actual Veggies’ expansion into more than 15,000 locations demonstrates the importance of operational discipline alongside product innovation. For emerging CPG brands, understanding retailer requirements early can determine whether a product simply gets distribution or actually reaches consumers.


Quotes:
  1. "We did this consumer research, and we showed this mom a picture of the ingredients in an Impossible Burger. She didn't even read that how processed the product was. It was just like the fact that they are being told to feed their kids plant based, that was all that mattered."
  2. "It's a good product, and it's clean ingredients. There's something about the convenience aspect of it as well, and it's just a quick meal that's both filling, tastes good, healthy for you, and easy to make. The feeling good after eating it, I think, just keeps bringing people back to it."
  3. "We really stuck to only using whole and real ingredients. We got feedback that sometimes a certain filler would make our product taste better or cheaper, but it was really important to us to stick to ingredients that we would wanna eat."
  4. "Consumers were just excited about a way to get veggies in easily. Everything that we've built now is really about fun and delicious ways to do that. We just launched our new dino nuggets for kids, sweet potato, cauliflower, and broccoli, all about making kids excited about eating veggies."
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