In Hank’s 20’s his parents were diagnosed with cancer 18 months apart. Going through that taught him that if you don’t have your health, you don’t have a lot to look forward to. Hank knew it was time for him to make a change. At 250 lbs and a size 40+, he was tired of making excuses for himself. Hank turned to his friend Juliano, who owned Planet Raw, a healthy food restaurant, for help. If anyone was going to help Hank, it’d be Juliano. Juliano ordered these red berries that Hank never ate before that promised to turn sour and tarty food sweet. After ingesting a berry, Hank took a sip from a healthy juice and couldn’t believe it - it was so sweet! Hank then started drinking this juice everyday and eventually lost 60 lbs in 8 months. Today, Juliano and Hank decided to take that special berry and turn it into a business! Their goal is to now raise awareness about the non-gmo organic ledidi berry that they now call Nature’s Wild Berry. They aim to help people cut sugar and processed foods and increase their love of vegetables and whole foods using ledidi berries.
In Hank’s 20’s his parents were diagnosed with cancer 18 months apart. Going through that taught him that if you don’t have your health, you don’t have a lot to look forward to. Hank knew it was time for him to make a change. At 250 lbs and a size 40+, he was tired of making excuses for himself. Hank turned to his friend Juliano, who owned Planet Raw, a healthy food restaurant, for help. If anyone was going to help Hank, it’d be Juliano. Juliano ordered these red berries that Hank never ate before that promised to turn sour and tarty food sweet. After ingesting a berry, Hank took a sip from a healthy juice and couldn’t believe it - it was so sweet! Hank then started drinking this juice everyday and eventually lost 60 lbs in 8 months. Today, Juliano and Hank decided to take that special berry and turn it into a business! Their goal is to now raise awareness about the non-gmo organic ledidi berry that they now call Nature’s Wild Berry. They aim to help people cut sugar and processed foods and increase their love of vegetables and whole foods using ledidi berries.
DTC growth Show. Welcome to DTC growth presented by banknotes minted by hashtag paid where we talk all things ecommerce and DTC. My name is Sophia and today we're gonna be talking to Frank was co founder of nature's Wildberry. For those who don't know, majors Wildberry helps turn sour foods sweeter than sugar in 30 seconds. Yes, you heard me right. It makes healthy food tastes like candy. It gives you sweetness without the sweetener. And essentially one sentence that helps people cut sugar and processed foods and increase their love of vegetables and whole foods using a special berry called Le DD berries. On that note, let's dive right in and chat with Hank. For those who are unfamiliar, who can you introduce what nature's wild berry is? And what was the inspiration behind it? You kind of touched into it more. But if you can kind of tell that comprehensive story for those who
don't I probably just confused the heck out of so many people like what is he talking about the sweetener and a berry. Yes, it's it's different than any other sweetener. And it's different than any other berry lucidity. Berries are Red Delicious berries. We grow in Florida, in Miami. So we have the largest sustainable farm in the Western Hemisphere in the country. And they are unique because they contain miraculous and it's a protein naturally occurring. So the berries are non GMO, they're grown organically. And we preserve them at peak potency. And what miraculous does is it binds to your taste buds as you chew the berry. And it's a 30 minute a 30 minute experience. And all you have to do is let the pulp of the berry coat your tastebuds for 30 seconds. And for that 30 minutes, anything that's tart, fermented, sour, or pickled, will create sweetness that just is mind blowing. And it's on a molar basis is about 400,000 times sweeter than sugar. So when you're talking about kids, and you remember the kid inside you, and you think about how much you loved sweetness as a kid, and how much you enjoyed magic, that's kind of the experience that you get when you have a nature's wild berry because it really goes from being a doubter to being a believer instantly, during that 30 seconds, you're kind of completely thinking that this is not going to work even after you've done it for 10 years like me, you still get surprised every single time. You know, I had it with my coffee this morning. I'm talking a little fast because of all the caffeine, but 66% of Americans add sugar to their coffee. And this allows you to have coffee that's completely smooth, like removes all the bitterness from it. And you can taste the actual beans and the flavor of the coffee in a way that you can enjoy. And that's just one example out of a think of off think of if Candy had the nutritional benefit of fruit. Okay, you're a kid, you're a kid, right? And you all you want is candy. And your parents give you this berry because they love it. It's natural, and it's sugar free. So they're all into it, they give, but it's 400,000 times sweeter than sugar. So it blows your mind. It really tastes like you can't buy something sweeter than this in the store in the convenience store in any shelf. So that's why we're really connecting with kids on Tik Tok. That's one of our biggest channels. And that's why parents are fine with understanding the value. Because like I was saying before in the UK, it's same thing in the US. Lots of parents are looking for ways to cut down on the intake of sweets, specifically sugars. And this has zero sugar, zero carbs, zero calories and zeros down the board. I'm always asked what's the nutritional benefit of the fruit? Like what does it do for you? And, and, you know, for the last five years, I've wanted to be like Neo in the Matrix and avoid making claims like you know, duck and dive out of this. Because we don't need claims. We really don't. The claims we're doing science, it's never been done before. We're finding out ways that we can measure miraculous in ways that we've never done before. And claims will come obviously, but if you think of this as like a blueberry, what do blueberries have? They have a ton of antioxidants, but you eat them by the handful, right? And so you're getting all that benefit because it's like blueberries, lots of them all at once. Well, this serving size is half of a berry. And so it is you know it's gonna have nothing but it works for everybody whether you're keto, your Mediterranean, whatever, whatever is your thing. This actually can support that. And you can win on both fronts. You could win on the taste front which you have to do if it's going to be Long term if you're gonna stick with it, and then you can win on the, on the health front also.
Okay, question for you because this is like a berry. What's I guess stopping someone else like, let's what's stopping like me from, you know, growing these and selling these as well just branding it differently?
Well actually that's kind of the thought process that we had when we first started because, you know, when going back six years ago, when we first launched, we thought, well, if we make this popular, then we're gonna get knocked off for sure. And then we might not have business, that perspectives completely changed. The first time we got knocked off, I kind of felt that way. The second time we got knocked off, it kind of felt that way too. But by the fourth and fifth time we got knocked off. I was like, you know, what? Does this mean that we're making a difference? Does this mean that we're actually having the impact that we want that more people are learning about this, and they're getting excited about the opportunities to? And so it actually has completely changed my perspective on God, I can't stand when people talk about legacy, but the thought that pops into my head a little bit like, what am I gonna be remembered for it? Well, I might be remembered for kind of like popularizing it. You know, that's cool. To me. That's, that's kind of cool. I'll live with that. Yeah, oh, I
love I actually love that. It's because I feel like I kind of came to a similar realization the other day, us being in like creator marketing and stuff and wanting to connect brands with really wonderful creators, and to be able to support both sides, creators getting paid and them to get their work shown to the world and brands being being given a really great supply of talent and stuff that helps them build and connect with as many people as possible for us and stuff. Like we feel like we're innovators and navigators in like, in the wild west. And so I'm very much where you are as well. And I feel like with, with people like us in the position that we're in as of trying to make ourselves category leaders and teach the industry a better way of operating, it is actually so easy for us to kind of see the other emerging peoples be like, these are my competitors, these are my enemies. But I find that to be such a refreshing like point of view and recognizing that actually, we are all allies at this stage here. Exactly. Because you
imagine if you had to supply everybody, you couldn't, you couldn't. You'd be so actually, it's funny, too, because I take that little way of thinking that you that little hack that you just thought of too. And I use it when people tell me no, like when buyers tell me, you know, they don't get it because, you know, it takes effort. It takes time. You know, it's not something that they were looking for already. They didn't even know it existed until like, so when they say no, it's kind of like a little weight off my shoulders. Because I don't hear no, I don't hear I just hear not right now. And I you know, I know that later on, they're going to be like, Why didn't I say yes, you know, thank you for making this like not giving up on me. I know that that's coming later on. But part of me it feels a little bit of relief, like, oh, I don't have to produce for that store right now. Okay, I can produce the production that I do and go to the stores that really want us right now that will you know that see it. But But anyway, very cool, like, mental health hack, ya know, for rejection and all that stuff. It actually works to your benefit if you think about it.
Okay, yeah, cuz I think like it's from like, the moment I met you, I feel like, you've had a very interesting perspective on a very unique and interesting problem. Because when you have a product like this that has so many wide applications, and so many users and stuff, who can be deeply impacted not just as a temporary, like I just said, like people can experience the barrier and stuff of just like a temporary moments that that improves their life. But this can be like a sustainable, affordable, accessible, life changing product and stuff that people incorporate into your routine and stuff like you have, you have this really difficult job of being a category leader and like a teaching, but as well as like, kind of navigating Uncharted, uncharted waters, and like how do you build and so kind of? I've been, I've been thinking a lot about our very first conversation in which you you shared with me that you took a different route in launching than many food and beverage companies, students of which often starts with that we have like community focus, but like in farmers markets in Sephora, like trade shows, and you decided to go with the meditation camps. Could you share a little bit more with our listeners and stuff? Like what that thought process was? And even like, what that experience was for you seeing that come to life?
Sure. Absolutely. So I wouldn't have done meditation camps if I didn't believe in it like that has for sure. Helped me lead this company in a much better direction, lead myself in a much better direction. So like that's first you know, it's kind of something that I believe in first of all, but Um, there's uh, absolutely no competition and meditation camps for CPG companies first of all, like they're, it's wide open. Secondly, you're meeting people at their highest self like it, there's never been a better chance to make an impression on somebody because they are open to pretty much any suggestion at that moment. They're completely, you know, in their best in their best mental space. And, also, there's this very interesting thing about like, the natural. And the nature part of meditation connects with the nature part of the fruit. So it's like, it's, it's very much of a human experience, because you're dealing with more of your senses, and, and you just have this mind blowing experience of enlightenment with meditating. And then you come out of that, and you have another mind blowing experience that you weren't expecting at all. And so and then coming back to the theme of blessings and disguises. In California, there's a law that says, farmers markets, foods have to be grown in California. So I didn't even have the option to do farmer's markets here. If we were going to do farmers markets, it would have had to been Florida. And since we're headquartered here in Southern California, to me, our biggest market is in this space in Southern California. And so it made sense to focus on kind of what I knew the aspects where I thought that we could reach the type of customers that we were looking for, to begin with. And also, you know, what made sense, legally, what I could do and what I couldn't do, and it just turned out that farmers markets is a ton of competition. And we couldn't do it, we tried, actually, there was a few farmers markets that took us on at the beginning. But I didn't want to push the law at all. And so we just decided, hey, it was something that I just enjoyed a lot more, I really could go to these meditation things and or the sound baths, get my kicks off, and, and then just get to experience the feedback on other people's faces. That's what makes this so fun is that that get never gets old, like our social media has just become user generated content. And seeing people's reactions, I believe is what sells the berry. It's not something that I say, it's not something that is messaging, or marketing from us, it's just letting other people see other people's reactions that have nothing to do or no incentive. Or don't represent the company. You know, I think it just stems from the sales background of, you know, if, if I, if I say it, it's, it's doubtful, but if others say it, then it's got to be true. And so I just kind of lead with influencers that other people already like and trust, and I lead with, you know, care doctors, you know, physicians that people like and trust. And then, you know, even you know, you go to your bartender, and they have nature's wild berry at the bar. And if you like and you trust your bartenders, so you ask them, you know, something where you can have other people do the do the selling for me instead of me.
So that, that takes like a lot of figuring out in terms of like, like your go to market strategy, or because you're saying like, did you originally think farmers markets and you're like, maybe this isn't working? Let's try the meditation camps. Like how was that?
So the farmers markets seemed like it was a challenge because a lot of farmers markets are small businesses in themselves, like they are very, very focused on their production. And so the farmers markets like the like I'm thinking of specifically to groups like in different farmers markets like the Brentwood one and the Palisades farmers market. Well, they had some people that liked us and actually started selling us for a few months, but they got approached, because they literally had lines at their booths. And this guy got approached by the guy who is in charge of the farmers markets and basically told them my story, and they figured out that we were growing in Florida and so he was like, you know, I don't want to have any more trouble. I was like, Hey, listen, no more trouble your way. I'm gonna go a different direction anyway. So
yeah, awesome. And then in terms of like a learning experience. Like what's the learning from I guess that experience that you would want to share with like first time entrepreneurs or marketers wanting to share their brand story because yours is so different than like, I feel like the typical launch stories that we hear. So is there any sort of like learnings that you can pass on to someone else? Who is an entrepreneur themselves or launching a business?
Yeah, um, people are pretty standard when they are listening to you, and they're listening. They're judging you. And I think that one of the judgments people make Are you know, how much do you care because there's this whole saying that people don't care what you know, until they know how much you care, right. And so if you're, if you launch in with, you know, features and benefits, and all this stuff, you know, pretty much people are going to, like, Okay, here's a sales pitch, and I'm going to check out, but if you let people know, like, where you're coming from, and they can see that they're on a similar journey, and like the past aren't that different. And the struggles are, you know, the roadblocks are the same roadblocks and the bumps and the curves and same, then they can, they can, they can buy into you, you have to let them buy into you, like part of the case that you're making is not that you need, like, so much upselling is not telling, you know what I mean? So, so I think the lesson learned is get to the experience that you want to give them as fast as possible, as fast as possible, do not bore them with what your agenda is, before they get to experience your experience. Because food, movies, whatever it is, it's all an experience. And that's where everyone's going towards is not wanting necessarily material things. It's getting to experience, enrich your life experience, right. So I learned that people don't listen to me at all at the demo booth until they've actually had it. So as they as they're walking up, basically, I'm opening up and I put it in their palm and like 10 seconds, I say do this thing real quick. And then their mind blows and then they're into you. You're a god unlocked. They'll listen, they'll I mean, every so I think for any entrepreneur out there who has a strong message has a product that they really, absolutely believe in, you have to find your core audience by connecting with them early in your pitch with your product. And then once they once you have their attention once they say I want to listen to you please tell me more. How did this happen? Why is this happening to me? You know, like, is this up still is that black and white? You know, like, what's your reality? Once you get them to that point, then you can let them know what they what they're asking for, you know?
No, that's awesome. And Gab, do you want to ask first because I was gonna lean into more on the influencer side, but I feel like it'd probably be better to start with, like, the education piece before I lean into that time.
Yeah, yeah, no problem. I'm trying to think of how I'm gonna formulate this because I was going to make a comment. First of like, as I've gotten older, I feel like I've come to understand how ignorant and naive I was about how foods are brought to like the shelves or the tables. You know, I think that I read maybe too many bags of cereal boxes, or too many like, you know, descriptions of the pet packs of cookies that is seem to be always the stories of like, a home cook, who had a passion, you know, formulated a recipe in their kitchen, brought it to friends and family in that grooming communities and that's how they got to shelves. Whereas after going to, like expos like Expo West, and just more recently, like the Canadian Health Food associations Expo in Vancouver speaking to founders, I've come to realize like, the path to innovation appears to be a path just fraught with like political and economic barriers that like I could not have imagined I really thought the experience was like idea passion, food and resources packaging audience were really it is like all of these kind of mini milestones is really dictated by like, municipalities, states and countries and stuff. It's like I'm hearing innovation stories about how their people are battling with like, yeah, local agriculture and stuff or you know, like local business goals and stuff but just don't allow themselves to get in to the farmers markets, or get to source from the farmers that they need stuff to develop their product. You know, I find your story to be so like, enlightening and uplifting because it seems like you've been able to find a playing field in which you are able to reach people through other means, you know, like this kind of influence or play and stuff of like, as a step forward to education and community buildings of the kind of supersedes and stuff those bear yours first allows people to I feel like an essence of what innovators always want is to touch people in impact first, and then allow the rest of like the economy and society and stuff to find, like, how do we fit together? You know, like, it's such an innovative way of thinking, and it makes me really excited for the other kind of food brands are coming to a merge. But I feel like still, if I were to create something myself, like, how do I know? When it's an influencer? Player? How do I know that? I should start in the Test Kitchen for you? How did you know?
So for me, it was a necessity. To me I didn't to me, I was using this product as just a customer for years waiting, waiting for someone to do something that I knew needed to be done. I was waiting for the tablet companies to come out with the actual Berry. I was waiting for the the powder companies to preserve the fruit itself. And no one did it for two and a half or three years. And the I'm someone who lets movies changed my life. Our parents were doctors, me and my brother, and their parents were doctors. So everyone thought we'd be doctors and my brother actually dual majored in film and medicine, and asked me the question after he graduated, do I follow my dream, my passion? Or do I follow what the expectation is? And obviously, there's only one answer, like you love your sibling, you're going to tell them you follow your heart. And what followed. The reason why he fought as hard is because movies have, we've allowed movies to change our lives as brothers our entire life. And we really connected with some films that have been like major turning points for us. And for me, in this business, one of the ones that got me to want to improve my health was a doc called Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. And back in 2012, I had just seen it for the first time on Netflix. And if you want to watch it, now it's on prime, Amazon Prime, but everyone bought a juicer after they saw that. So I went out and bought a juicer and tried to start juicing the problem with juice and of course, is that if you want to be tasty, you're going to be adding apples, pineapples, pears, agave, honey, something like that. And that defeats the whole purpose of the juice. And the problem without adding it is that you're not going to like the taste. And we all know where that leads to nowhere, basically. So I'm not about torturing my taste buds. Absolutely not, can't do it. So my best friend owns the restaurant, Planet ra Giuliano. And he's, he's the one that it took me the longest to convince to start the business because we, um, when I say best friends, I mean that we're best friends. And anytime you add business to a relationship, it's going to change your business. It's going to change your friendship, for sure. And so this has kind of been the process of us becoming not best friends. But getting closer. Does that make sense? It's really interesting. Like, like we couldn't have, it's, it's so it's so great. But the reason why I told you that was the juice is what actually changed my life completely. And he, I wouldn't have gotten to this without him trying to use me as a guinea pig for his restaurant because he served honey. And they were vegan restaurant. They serve hunt, mostly vegan, but with honey. And so the vegans actually wanted something to they could have without honey. And so he said, I want you to try this little berry. Well, the serendipity part of that was that I was in Florida, on a on a trip with a family thing. After my dad passed away, we did a reunion. And so I had just found about this regulation that said that the berry the fruit itself was good for human consumption in the US. And I called him and had to leave a message on his cell phone in Tallahassee in 2012. Cell phone services, not like 5g, 4g, barely 3g, I had no internet. And at the time, Wi Fi wasn't working at the house. So I was on one computer learning about this. He actually leaves a message on my phone, saying, Hey, I learned how about I found out about this berry that I really want you to try. I just ordered it from Florida. And it'll be here when you get back. It was the same day that we learned about this fruit. And at the end, we were 3000 miles away. And I let it change my life. And for that two and a half year period. Everyone was like, Why isn't this a thing? And so I would go to Giuliano and say we have to do this. And he said I don't friends and in business don't mix. Like I really want to keep you as my best friend. And so I was like, flattered. But I was like no, this actually has to happen. Fast forward. I see the sequel to this movie Fat Sick and Nearly Dead, too. And I don't want to like this is a spoiler alert. I don't want to ruin it. I really want you to see it. But it connected with me on such an emotional deep level that like actually did the whole crime thing like I saw a guy who yo yoed Who lost basically all of the progress that he had made losing two 300 pounds, and went back to it after a bad divorce and horrible breakup, ripped his heart out with his wife, lost his job, went back to trucking and put on all this weight. And I thought the only reason that I haven't yo yoed is because I'm using this thing to make my tastebuds happy. And it's helping me with my health along the way. Like it's a, it's a total win win for me in the present, and me in the future. And I've used it in the past. And so I know what that feels like. And
it comes down to hope. Like, that's what this is about. It's like, it chokes me up right now. And so I told Julianos like, Listen, I'm not taking a no, like, if you have to fight me, we kind of fight. But you're gonna be my business partner. I can't do this without you. And he said, Okay, well, we can't do it with a raw fruit, we're gonna have to learn how to, to preserve it chemical free, we're gonna have to figure out how freeze dried are farmers said it's CAN'T BE DONE IT people have tried it for the last 30 years. And, you know, when you're up against a wall like that, it's like, okay, can't be done. Tell me, it can't be done. I'll see if I can do it. Like, give me a challenge. I want to rise to that occasion. And if you're that way, then you're an entrepreneur. And you just might not know that yet. But you can find a product that you feel the exact same way about the world has to know about, everyone's confirming it around you like why isn't this a thing, when you hear that you need to take note, like you need to, you need to figure out like, Okay, this is a necessity for me, it has to be done. So what are the ways that I can go about it, I don't have a huge bank account, I don't necessarily want to go out and raise a lot of money. Because the whole idea here is to not have to feel pressured to do things you don't want to do, like you want to run the company your way. But when when you get to that point, and you're kind of backs up against the wall, then you start like, you know, figuring out what's working for other people, I got lucky enough to sit down with VaynerMedia in our like, first couple of months of actually having a product. And Gary's company, Gary Vaynerchuk is company, and Steve who who was a CEO who has a very special person in our lives, because he just sat down with us had his mind blown and looked at us and said, This is an influencer play all day, every day, all day, every day, all you have to do is approach influencers, and they will help you shine. And we took that to heart. And thank you to Jennifer Garner, who was our first major celebrity always have a special place for her in my heart. And in SAS, ASMR, and countless tick talkers, you know, we feature a lot of them on our website, and a lot of them on our Instagram. But user generated content was how we decided to go about it. And the only reason was that we had that meeting with Steve and Gary shop and learned that it doesn't have to come from you your message and it doesn't have to come from your reach, you can utilize the people's reach that they already have, you can utilize the trust and respect that they've already gained. And you can provide them with a magical experience, that is your product, and they will talk about it if they love it. And so maintaining those relationships is something that is a beautiful thing. Because when you have a when you have a base that believes in your product, then you can come back to them with that same product or innovations that you come out with. And that's what we did recently. And, and, and we have a long ways to go but our strategy is always going to involve finding people that people already know already trust they already care about and having them do our proselytizing for us.
So how was that like, though, when you're reaching out to creators or influencers? Did you just like pick a roster of people and reach out? Like,
what was that process? Like to get the name out? Like, how did you get Jennifer Gardner? You know what I mean? Like, how was that strategy like?
So, you know, I think that Jennifer was a, another serendipity thing where I didn't really plan on having her make that she actually decided to put that out herself. And that's kind of how it's been with most of our influencers really, is that giving something with expectations kind of makes you a dick. Sorry. You don't want to do that. If you're giving give it like you know, don't expect anything in return. And and that's called seeding. If you're in the business you want to you want to seed for sure if you can afford it, but you also you You can't be losing money on your sampling. So if you're in the food business, you definitely want to make sure that you have a sample size that you're selling. Because you can, you can go out of business sampling the wrong way. So, Jennifer helped us with that. But I gave a ton of them to her and her food CPG company, and it actually came through Ari Raz, who is a very, very special guy for me, mentor to me. And he actually founded once upon a time with Jennifer Garner their company, and, and they're coming their office loved so much that she had to try it. And when she tried it, she filmed it. And she edited it. And it was it was, you know, I was walking through the park actually. And it popped, the notification popped up on my phone, and I thought, Well, this has got to be one of those deep fake accounts. And no, it was actually her and, and that changed our trajectory. From there, a lot of what you call a list, celebrities started buying from us. And then that kind of got the product rolling out into like, like the upper echelon of influencers, and then the major influencers online came on and, and kind of snowballed from there. But thankfully, I believe that it wasn't anything to do with me. And I can say that like very confidently. When you have a product that has a life of its own, then your marketing will have a life of its own. The first thing that people tell me after they they tried to bury is that you know who this would be great for, this would be great for so and so and so and so. And so that's where the magic of our marketing actually comes in, it's really word of mouth. And that's why we have the trust and respect that we do as a brand is because it's not coming from me, or as a spokesman for the company, it's coming from like a loved one, a family member, someone who really cares about you, and you feel that love when they give you this product. So it's kind of like in that same vein of that meditation camp where you feel like a bunch of feels a bunch of feelings at the same time where you're experiencing it. And that definitely has been the secret to the sauce of our success.
Yeah, I love what you said about you know, the problems with recommendations that lead to nothing, is because I think that that is a very important piece and stuff that I feel like a lot of the entrepreneurs I've spoken to recently, especially in CPG, and stuff often forget, it is this is a nice to have, and stuff, but they don't think of it as a what if, what does it mean, when this doesn't work? He's like, what does that mean to that, that customer and stuff because like, it's also a very frustrating experience and stuff if you give, if you give a product to somebody who who can't really benefit from it. So if we're like, it's being set up with expectations, right, I kind of let them let them down. And, you know, I grew up always being told that, like health is wealth, and you don't play around with that, it's offensive to be incredibly stringent about the type of advice or recommendations that you're given and stuff, which in many ways, I guess, like taught me to prioritize my health and like develop really good habits, but also kind of like closed off my mindset, a little bit of like, you know, what does my health look like? And if I like it, how am I taking control of that? And realistically, what can I let in let into my routines and stuff that will, you know, elevate is if my health or wellness like, overall. And I when I see like a product like yours that has such viral success. And so I feel like impacting so many people's experiences. I wonder if like, what are the challenges that have you faced and stuff to also share that experience and allow people say communities have real deep like medical need and stuff like become familiar with with your product and find those kinds of recommended voices?
Sure. Yeah. I grew up in doctors offices, and doctors lounges. And and I know firsthand how expensive the cost of medicine is in this country. And my parents, I saw them give away free medicine and free medical services my entire life. And so knowing that the cost has to come down and knowing that the product is something that's so rare, our mission going in was that we had to make this barrier more affordable and more available, because you can't effect any consequential change without those two things occurring. And so when we first started, you know the goal was to the goal is to be able to lower the cost. It's still to this day, the the fresh berry, the ROB area itself was $3.33 on Amazon, per Berry. That's ridiculous. And that's when I that's what I was buying it for when I was like for two and a half years, like, to me it was worth it because I was actually effecting change. Like I was actually I kept 80 pounds off, I've kept 80 pounds off, I was over 250 pounds, size 48 waist. And, and I can't tell you like the feeling that I get when I go to Erawan or Whole Foods or whatever and I or creation have fallen in love with creation. Now here. I get a juice and it would taste like I couldn't taste it. It was tastes so bad. And I have a berry. And all of a sudden it tastes like a green Jolly Rancher candy. Like, like it's so important to lead with taste. But give me a question again. I want to stay on topic. Yeah,
my, my question was, you know, when you've had a lot of this type of viral success and stuff where people have had these shared experiences that are so like life changing in their wonderful, you know, like, how do you like, what are the type of barriers and stuff that you have to face in terms of sharing that product with, say communities of need and stuff to
what I was where I was going with that pricing stuff is that, you know, one of the biggest one of that still to this day, even though we've dropped the price from $3.33 per serving with the raw fruit down to 50 cents on subscription with our large jar, we still get that push back on price. And, and as an entrepreneur, you're always going to feel that pressure. Like right now our best seller is a I think it's 4.6 grams. And it's $27. It fits into a one ounce volume jar. And when people see something the size of a tic tac jar, and they see it's $27 $28. They think that this is way too expensive. Like that's their obvious first thought. And why? Well, because they're like when we first started, they're thinking of weight and dollars. They're thinking of exactly what sweeteners are traditionally like. And so when you're launching a new product, the two things that you have to do is you have to set the expectation like I went back and I looked at when they launched the telephone, the actual phone at home, and they had to teach people the right way to dial they had to teach people the right way to hold it to their head. You know, don't turn it upside down. Like it was very, very basic, basic stuff that we all take for granted right now. And I feel like that's the process that a lot of people want to skip as entrepreneurs, they want things fast. Like I actually thought that we would be hitting a million in revenue by like year three, like when I started doing the projections like way, way, way back, I was massively, massively wrong, like I was way off target. Because I underestimated the timing. And I think that a lot of founders and a lot of entrepreneurs get caught up in that. But also they get caught up in customers wanting to pay less all the time, all the time. But that is not necessarily what's going to keep you arrived. Sorry. I think there's something Oh, I'm so ah, that's I have my headphones on. I thought that I turned my
okay. No problem. Um, so you're saying that, that is what people get caught, the entrepreneurs get caught up in,
right, you have to you have to make sure that you're the one thing if you're going to have a message, you have to build value. And building value in any way, is about justifying the price financially. Right. And so to me, it's like I would always end every single demo with you know, how when you have a go to a juice bar, like Jamba Juice, or Whole Foods or whatever everyone has like add ons, they have like the energy juice, or the immunity boost or whatever. And that's like two bucks or three, but whatever, would you pay two or three for a flavor boost that would just make something taste amazingly delicious, but not add any carbs calories. The point is that I've you know, you can experiment and many companies have seven, seven second brands that experiment with price. And you'll find that at any price, people are going to complain about the price. No matter what if your product is like 50 cents, or if it's $1 or whatever, people are still going to complain. So you have to be able to focus on what is going to allow your company to stay alive to where you can get to your 1415 and 16 so that your prices can finally get to where other people are going to be happier and you can grow your grow your base. But if you're not, I can't turn my phone off for some reason. Anyways, if, if you're, if you're gonna be going out of business because you're listening to people to lower your price, then you're not going to be doing any good for them later on. Right? And so justify your price financially, I would always ask, you know, is it worth $1.02, and our travel jar makes it $1 A serving. So just starting off at retail, I think that what people see the value there is like, I can have $1 pay $1 for a 20 minute experience, I can have my amazing like, you know, what's $1 $1 is the cost of Arizona iced tea, right? So I can have my iced tea at home, you know, avoid all the sugar that's comes in the Arizona iced tea, but make it tastes exactly the same. Okay, I can make that happen, you know, and then like, instead of seeing like the cost of the jar itself, you start talking about meals, and you start talking about okay, well, one serving might not just be like a drink and the appetizer, it might also cover you for, you know, when your food comes. And that would be a better experience than just, you know, relying on the flavor of the food from wherever you're at. Like, really, I take this, and I have to bear with everything, everything that comes in contact with my tongue, and experimenting with that as part of the fun. And I think that that's why people buy the jar and over and over because they like figuring out oh my god, it works with this too. It works with this too. That's wild.
But does that alter your tastebuds if you if you're having it long term, like every single and I'm assuming you're having it every single day, multiple times a day?
It doesn't, it has no effect. Okay, it has no effect on you. And yeah, I mean, that's scientific. That is it, the saliva on your, in your mouth just washes right off. So there's no tolerance, and, and it affects everyone. So as long as you have working taste buds, and if you don't have working taste buds, it might still affect you. There's a there are patients that are going through chemo like my parents did. And they have metallic taste buds, and it ruins their quality of life when they're eating. But for about 70% of those people with the metallic taste buds called decidua, that this same berry that turned sour sweet to us, gives them the regular flavor of food. So if you're watching this, we don't advertise it, but you can reach out to me, and we will give you cost on our berries, we don't make profit off of patients. Same for people that are living with diabetes, you can reach out to me and we set a special price up for you. So you don't have to worry about paying extra for what I perceive as healthcare, you can get something that you really actually need and make it you know, a no brainer.
I I think that every marketer, and every entrepreneur should have what you said build value into your message, like maybe not tattooed on their forearm or something, but seared, seared into like a board somewhere in their home, especially if their mission is helping like people in need. And stuff because like I think what you're tapping into is so important, like teaching people the right way about how that product takes care of the jobs to be done, especially like in wellness because I feel like for those of us who have been sick, or like chronically ill and so if we're facing potentially a diagnosis and stuff that meet that changes your, the way you operate, like significantly, nothing has really prepared us to understand what the price of our health and our wellness is. And I think we as consumers and stuff so easily misjudge in undervalue those experiences like for myself as like, as like a, you know, like, as a woman of color and stuff as like as a woman, period and stuff like me, like so many and stuff experience a lot of like women's issues and stuff. And I remember in my early teens never really fully understanding my body. And being so confused in which like, maybe this is TMI, but like having all these like urinary tract infections, like, all the time, and nobody was really talking to me about like, not only why that happens and stuff, but like other ways that I could, you know, intervene on that besides going to my primary care physician, or going into a walk in clinic and so for years, I was
this totally needs to be in school, it was literally needs to be taught.
Yeah, and I was so so reliant on prescriptions. And I remember just by off chance, I couldn't get to the regular walking clinic in my area. And so I had to kind of go out out of the ways and stuff to another neighborhood and stuff but like completely out of my demographic completely out of out of what I was used to and speaking with that walk in Doctor He told me it's like ice See this type of case with young women like you all the time. And I'm just like, really? It's not just because I was so embarrassed. I'm like, Why? Why is this happening to me? And he said, No, it happens a lot. It happens to a lot of marginalized communities, people of color and stuff. Like sometimes with urinary tracts, it's, in essence, a lot of times, it's ecoli bacteria around there, he said, three things enough to help a lot of people and stuff like yourself is, again, maybe TMI. But the recommendation is, take a shower, after every bowel movement, make sure you're wiping the right way for like front to back. And he said, Yes, people recommend like cranberry juice. But I know that that's super tart. And when people rock, we recommend it, nobody takes it, because it's not, it's not a great experience. And it can be very expensive. So what he recommended was cranberry pills, cranberry pills in a capsule form. And for five years, I had like chronic UTIs and stuff. And after that conversation with him, somebody who I trusted is of teaching me that this cranberry pill is going to save you a trip to the doctor's office, it's going to save your body building up in a you know, a resistance to antibiotics. And it's going to save you some embarrassment, if we're you feel shame when you shouldn't. And the seven years after that, never had a UTI again, and stuff. But at the time thinking of taking something so regularly and stuff. I was like, How can I afford? Like, how can I justify that? Do I want to have cranberry pills like all the time with me, like that seems silly, I don't want to be one of those people, and I don't want to be buying this stuff. But he taught me the right way of valuing what my problem was. And then the right way of calculating what am I willing to do to give myself back that like autonomy, and really improve my wellness, like, overall, when I think of like, yeah, the cost of like those cranberry pills and like 100% worth it, this because I didn't understand the value of my problem. And you know, you you can so easily forget what the state of like what we consider to be like normal beings. So I love you know, your approach and your recommendation to entrepreneurs of like, building that value into messages because it is a long road for education, but it is so so necessary if we're going to feel like reform relationships with products and relationships back with like ourselves and wellness.
That's thank you for sharing that, by the way. It's you're exactly on point, you know, there's a lot of unpleasantness with anything this like unsweetened, fermented, you get a lot of benefits from stuff like that. And, and that's one of the key things that has made this product so successful, changing my life. And, and hopefully, you know, are the people who are using it on every occasion every day, you know, too. And that's not to say that, having it once a day or once a week or whatever, isn't beneficial. But I know how I felt after 30 days of completely avoid avoiding late nights sugar or sugar in general and 30 days of having just green juices and completely changing the physiology of how I feel. It's, um, it is life changing. Yeah, it absolutely is. And, and I think that you can also fall off the wagon, you can like take it for granted. I know in my meditation practice, in evitable II, one day, I wake up and I feel oh, I'm good, I don't need that. I'm good, I can just skip that. And then like The Godfather pulls me back in. But, um, but I think the the part that you can buy this and it doesn't go bad also helps you feel like you know, having it on hand is going to help me out. That was the big thing because I was wasting so the fresh berries I was getting from the farmer. And you know, I'd keep them in the freezer because they would, that's the best way to keep them going. But even after 10 to 14 days those go bad. So you end up wasting a lot of good stuff a lot of good product and with this with this freeze dried meant that if we don't have to feel like we're wasting our money, but it's there when we need it. I think that also helps. Now also helps product
I'm so excited actually, I'm literally gonna go buy a bunch of these berries. And like well, even in my own personal life, because that's actually a top of mind something I was thinking to, like, see people go on like complete sugar free and not have any sugars and they felt amazing. And I just honestly there's the strength to do that is so difficult or like eating super healthy, but it kind of tastes like crap. And you know, it just it's such a cool product that it gets me so excited about it too. So I'm literally gonna go buy it
seriously. Like if you would have told me 10 years ago I'd be excited about sweet green or any salad joint, like slapped a, you, you know, laughed at you. Like, you know, you're looking forward to a green juice today what's wrong with you, like, get something that tastes good like, you know, have a have an ice or something Twinkie? You know, that was my life. Absolutely. That was another thing I wanted to leave people with. If I can just jump in, because you know, if it pops in my head, I just want to say it out loud, but you really can't judge anybody. And as a, as a business owner, as a CPG founder. If your product is supposedly like better for you, you cannot attack what you perceive as the competition that is worse for you, or whatever that is, that is dumb. At first, when I was thinking about starting this company, I thought that we would have a very large like anti sugar message. Can you imagine me not being associated with this company hearing, accompanying talk about an anti sugar message and like you're addicted to sugar like that would turn me off immediately. Like that would be like, Wait, you don't want me to have like sweets or like enjoy, you're judging me or how my eating habits are right now. Like, alright, guys enjoy your food company. I'll never try that. And, um, and I think that meeting people where there are so critical, and you can't do that with any amount of judgment in your tone, or your eyes, or how you view them, because you never know where people are when they find out about you. You know what I mean? Like they could, they could have the entirely opposite lifestyle of you right now, and be exactly what your product is hoping for, to find in a customer, you know what I mean? So definitely be aware of the tone that you're marketing in, and then don't don't like the militant vegans out there, I think that if I could just talk to you about, like, finding, like your core audience is, like you're missing the mark, like you really, I think that if you if you have a vegan message, you should be looking at flexitarians and be like, This is my people. Because if you want to make a big difference, you can't just go from zero to 100, there has to be an evolution involved. And that's the same thing that I think a lot of entrepreneurs are missing. They they want everything to happen in the first couple years, the first 234 years. And like, we're just now getting into grocery stores, like just now, Mike, it's been over six years. And we've turned down opportunities for brokers left and right, because we just weren't ready for our brand to be recognized on the shelf or in the store. And now after six years, I walked through, like Expo West. And people recognize me people recognize the brand, they say I've had your product, it's so like, It really blew me away. And having that behind you or in your corner as you approach grocery stores will give you not just the confidence or leverage, but it'll actually help your philosophy. It'll it'll make or break, whether your company gets a shot at expansion. Or if you're going to leave the store and never come back, you know, and just and leave the shop. And when you start getting a bunch of those where you're leaving stores, other stores just don't want to bring you on if you're too much of a risk. And so you find yourself really handicapping yourself if you try and go too early plus, it's going to kill you financially. So you really ought to have enough time and patience built into your business plan to have the grocery store locked up. I think that's just my my personal opinion. But you do you? And let's see what happens. No, that's awesome. In terms of like questions, gab, did you have any more,
I was actually going to ask you the same thing for me and stuff. Like I've loved all the stories that we've been able to share, and especially your advice, I think that you as a guest have have shared so many incredible insights in stuff that we don't often see. And I think they need to be heard because, you know, I feel like the CPG kind of food businesses if it's a little bit of a rat race, I didn't realize how cutthroat things were and I didn't realize, you know how, how tough it really is and stuff and do I find like when we get to those mindsets, it's really, really hard to listen to each other. So I really, really appreciate the perspective and your experience and your journey that you've shared with us today. Is there anywhere else that we can In follow you on your journey, as you guys continue to build and grow,
connect with me on LinkedIn, if you're a founder entrepreneur, because the CPG space for for that platform is amazing. Like you will get the support in the community that you desperately need, you'll get the advice, you'll get the mentors, I think it's worth two or three times what I pay, like the $60 or whatever for LinkedIn. So definitely 100% worth it. Our brand story is mostly on tick tock or LinkedIn. But you can always connect with us through our website. You know, I'm very responsive. I love to answer questions. You can't reach me at a bad time. Especially if you're finding trouble with marketing your product on Amazon. I have a lot of answers for you. If you don't want to have to pay somebody to get answers, you can just reach out to me, and I can probably give you some quick advice that will help you. And yeah, my email is Hank at Nature's wild berry.com. And if you want to, if you're a retailer, and you want to try us out for free, we can get you $200 worth of product. So you know your customers can verify that you'll be able to sell this product pretty well. And that's pretty much my last bit. Yeah. Thank you