Beyond Oil taps a Mars and McCain veteran to guide its North American expansion—a strategic move that signals serious ambitions in the plant-based oil space.

Beyond Oil, the plant-based cooking oil brand, has brought Shai Altman onto its advisory board as it positions itself for scaled growth in North America. Altman carries the kind of pedigree that matters in this space: three decades navigating the food and consumer goods landscape, including stints leading operations and strategy at McCain Foods and The Wrigley Company under Mars Inc. That’s not boutique experience—that’s Fortune 500 distribution muscle and supply chain literacy.

What’s telling here is the timing and the hire. Plant-based oils aren’t a novelty category anymore; they’re becoming a legitimate alternative in foodservice and retail, competing on functionality and sustainability rather than just ideology. Altman’s background at McCain—a business built on scaling frozen and processed food globally—and at Wrigley, where he’d have managed everything from ingredient sourcing to retail shelf strategy, suggests Beyond Oil is thinking operationally, not just philosophically. This is a brand preparing to move volume and navigate the brutal realities of mainstream distribution: retailer negotiations, foodservice partnerships, supply chain resilience, and competitive pricing.

The plant-based oil category has real tailwinds. Operators and buyers are looking for alternatives that perform like conventional oils—stability under heat, neutral flavor profiles, shelf-stable performance—while offering a sustainability or health story. Beyond Oil enters a space where the technical bar is high. You can’t fake it in the fryer or the kitchen. Altman’s advisory role likely means Beyond Oil is confident in its product and now needs guidance on the harder problems: channel strategy, go-to-market timing in regional markets, foodservice vs. retail prioritization, and how to compete against entrenched players without getting undercut on price or out-resourced on marketing.

For buyers and distributors watching the plant-based oil space, this move matters. Advisory board appointments like this typically precede aggressive market entry. Altman brings credibility with mainstream retailers and foodservice chains, relationships that open doors faster than venture capital alone ever could. Whether you’re stocking oils, specifying ingredients for a QSR, or building out a sustainable sourcing narrative, Beyond Oil just signaled it’s serious about becoming a fixture, not a footnote.