Guilhereme Maia Sliva – Força Foods
Guilherme Maia Silva grew up all around the world due to his dad working in the agriculture industry, so he saw many methods of crop production firsthand. He decided to follow in his father’s footsteps and pursue a degree in plant science and crop production at the University of California Davis. While he was there, he noticed that all his snacks required a tremendous amount of water to produce, so he decided that he wanted to “snack smarter”. He first tackled the protein bar. Protein bars require lots of water in the growth of the nuts included in the bar. This is when he discovered the beauty of watermelon seeds.
Watermelon seeds have a much lower water footprint than almonds, and Silva discovered that he could save 3 gallons of water for each pouch of protein bites he made. He combined these watermelon seeds with dates, oats, strawberries, and maple syrup to create a delicious and sustainable energy bite. This was the start of Força Foods. But Silva didn’t stop there. The only reason he started with energy bites was because it was cheaper than starting in the plant-based milk industry. He decided that he wanted to create a milk that was more sustainable with less calories. Almond milk has a huge water print, and oat milk is full of calories, so Silva saw the opportunity, and he took it.
In September of 2024 Silva launched his new product, MILKish. He made the milk out of watermelon seeds and added pea protein powder for both health benefits and flavor profiles. Each cup only contains 50 calories and has a full 2 grams of protein, and it is full of healthy fats and antioxidants from the seeds. Right now, he has both an original and vanilla flavor selling for $4.99 per 32 oz container. This is a significant discount compared to other plant bases milks, because Silva believes health should be affordable. Yes, they milked a watermelon seed, and the entirely of Força Food has a bright future full of delicious sustainable products.
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This is a super interesting idea to make milk out of watermelon seeds and other flavorings. Although I’m not sure if I would ever buy such a thing personally, I think him identifying the fact that a lot of products require a lot of water in the production process and coming up with a way to solve that is impressive. It’ll be interesting to see how well this product takes off or not as time goes by.
I love his take on using other natural ingredients to make milk substitutes for those who can’t drink milk products. However, I agree with the other comment made; there are already so many different substitutes, as well as the whole idea of “would I buy this?” The answer to that id agree with as well is probably not. I do drink products like almond milk, so I enjoy the alternative idea. I just don’t see a big market for this product, in my opinion.
This is a very innovative and interesting idea! I like how he found a specific market and stuck with it; it is a great way to better the environment and not use as much water in milk alternatives. I would be willing to try this, however, I do consume dairy products, so it wouldn’t be as necessary for me as other people with intolerance to dairy. For those people, though, I think this would be a great alternative!
This is a really cool idea I’ve never heard of, or really even knew was possible. I like hearing about answers to problems I didn’t realize had so much impact. I would be open to trying it and would love to compare it to other types of milk alternatives.
I have never heard of this, but its application is super relevant to me! My brother is lactose intolerant, and he is always looking for milk substitutes. It’s a sustainable alternative to milk but the other alternatives already have such dominant mindshare today! It will be difficult to gain a large foothold in today’s market with MILKish.