Grant Gonzalez, Co-founder and CTO at Tender Food

Tender Food is a Boston-based food technology startup that creates realistic plant-based whole-cut meats, like pulled pork and chicken breast, using a proprietary fiber-spinning process. Its mission is to make alternative meats so delicious and affordable that eating animals becomes unnecessary.

Lab-to-Launch Lounge

Thursday, August 21, 2025

Grant Gonzalez is the Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Tender Food where he leads the reinvention of food production through a breakthrough manufacturing platform. Grant holds a PhD in Materials Science and Mechanical Engineering from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences where his research in the Parker Lab became the foundation for Tender's innovative approach. The agnostic fiber spinning technology (think an advanced cotton candy machine) can convert any input to transform plant protein into fibers that mimic real muscle fibers. Founded in 2020 and headquartered in Somerville, Tender Food has a variety of products available in local stores and restaurants such as Clover. The company most recently secured an $11M Series A round to continue building their platform across the food industry.

One piece of advice to Venturing@Harvard

Throughout Tender's pivots, Grant's north star has been consistent with his time at Harvard which is for the technology to get out of the lab and have impact.