From Stand-Up to Shark Tank: How Sara Polon Built Soupergirl with Purpose

Episode 59 July 03, 2025 01:11:40
From Stand-Up to Shark Tank: How Sara Polon Built Soupergirl with Purpose
Love 'n Business
From Stand-Up to Shark Tank: How Sara Polon Built Soupergirl with Purpose

Jul 03 2025 | 01:11:40

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Hosted By

Britt Arnold Mick Arnold

Show Notes

What happens when a stand-up comic reads one book, quits her job, and drags her mom out of retirement to start a soup company?

Sara Polon, founder of Soupergirl, turned a simple idea into a national brand — featured on Shark Tank, sold in Whole Foods and Costco, and recognized as the first food company in the U.S. to earn Fair Food Certification.

In this episode, she opens up about building a mission-driven business, living with ADHD, and staying true to your values while scaling a brand that feeds both people and purpose.

 

Watch the full episode on YouTube → https://youtu.be/VCyLhZ6g1h8

View Full Transcript

Episode Transcript

[00:00:04] Speaker A: Welcome to a talks for the silver stars tonight. [00:00:08] Speaker B: Tonight, today's guest turned soup into a national movie. Sarah Polin is the founder of Supergirl, a handcrafted plant based soup brand sold in Whole Foods, Costco and across the country. She's been featured on Shark Tank and became the first food company in the US to earn fair food certification. Standing up for labor rights in an industry that often looks the other way. She graduated from UPenn, did stand up comedy in New York, led tours in the Middle east and carved her own path through creativity and grit. In this episode, Sarah brings humor, honesty and hard won wisdom about entrepreneurship, purpose and building a business that reflects your values, not your margins. Let's get into it. Welcome. We're happy to have you here. [00:00:52] Speaker A: Thank you so much for having me. Entrepreneurs love talking about themselves. [00:00:55] Speaker B: So we all, we all have that in common for sure. So look, we're going to give it right to you. Let's start with your bio. It can be anything you want our audience to know and we're going to pull on all of these threads that we possibly can and figure out who Sarah is. [00:01:11] Speaker A: Awesome. Okay. Wow. The whole bio started 77, child of the 80s, big duran duran fan. And then we'll just skip over, we're going to skip over right. To stand up comedy in New York. Then started working for a friend in the travel business and then decided the world need better, it needed better soup. Logical steps, career steps. [00:01:38] Speaker B: Yeah. What a straight line trajectory. [00:01:40] Speaker A: Well done and thank you. Thank you. I have attention span of a nat so you can see that in my bio. And so fast forward to now 2020 I for this is 2025, right? Yes. Okay. [00:01:54] Speaker B: But fact check us too. [00:01:57] Speaker A: We, we have a really great plant based food company. I'll say. So my mom and I started the business in 2008 hoping to disrupt the industrial food system. That proved to be much harder than we anticipated. But we think we're, we're making a little bit of a chip by producing food that's really good for you and really good for, for the other. So we make incredible soup, Handcrafted, all natural, plant based, lower in salt, certified kosher, My mother's recipes. So if you don't find anything in her kitchen, you're not going to find it in any of our products. And we've expanded. We sell in supermarkets like Costco and Whole Foods and Shoprite and Safeway and then we also ship all over the country and then we've expanded our product line now to include salsas and we do you know, quite a few different products, but we're really proud of our soups and now our salsas. And one of the biggest things we're. We're proud of is our fair food certification. So we're really focused on food justice. You kind of got to pick a lane, right? You can't. You can't cover it all. And for us, it's. It's labor. It's labor rights. So, you know, in the Supergirl plant, everyone is treat. You know, paid a fair wage, access to fully subsidized health care, paid time off, sick leave, safe, respectful working environment. But then when you take that out, you know, you got to look at what's going on with your suppliers, and we really try to focus on what's going on in the fields. So that's, that's my bio. From Duran Duran to food justice. [00:03:38] Speaker B: So I'm gonna, I'm gonna. [00:03:39] Speaker C: One question here because you hit on the importance of that fair food certification, and fact check me on this, but you were the first food and beverage brand in the US to earn that certification. [00:03:50] Speaker A: Yeah, that's correct. It's something we're really proud of. [00:03:52] Speaker C: Yeah. And how. What did that process look like? [00:03:55] Speaker A: Yeah, it's a good question. I'm going to make a long story short, but it happened during COVID And so we, we really, we got some press, which was. Was nice, but it was actually for the wrong reasons because I was one of those. What do you. Those businesses that were supposed to stay open, what were we called? [00:04:16] Speaker B: Essential. [00:04:16] Speaker A: Essential business. Thank you. [00:04:18] Speaker B: That's right. [00:04:18] Speaker A: Thank you. I have a terrible memory. Short term and long term. So. So we were essential business, but we really weren't given a lot of guidance. And so we were scrambling. We. We contracted with a doctor to come in and test people, and we got like, you know, the, the equipment long before everyone else did. And we really just. If we decided to stay open and we were, we're going to make sure we were going to create a really safe, as safe as possible working environment. It was extremely stressful. But then I learned that, you know, people were kind of willing to let people die for their bacon for. To be quite blunt. Right. So a lot of businesses that were deemed essential didn't do anything for their laborers. Nothing. And people were dying at meat processing plants. And I, I thought to myself, well, we. We're vegan, so we don't have to worry about that. And then I learned that actually the opposite was true. And what was going on in the fields is the stuff of Nightmares. And you have a. A huge labor force that is completely unprotected. And I got connected to the coalition of immokalee workers who. They're the group behind the Fair Food certification. And this was basically a group of laborers that said enough. We're, we're not working under these conditions anymore. With, you know, we're talking about stolen wages, slavery, in some cases, sexual assault, just horrible abuse in the fields and no protections. And so they worked. And this is why. This is. You know, the Department of Justice called this the gold standard for labor certifications because it. These, the, the. This was created by the labor force. The standards were created by the laborers. And then they established this organization and then they enforce them and they enforce these rights and there's no recourse. So if someone's on a Fair food certified farm and call the hotline, they have a 24. 7 hotline saying there are some violations here, this person does not have to worry about losing their job. And it's an incredible program that needs to grow. And so we got connected with them and worked with them to actually create the standards for CPG businesses, which was amazing. And then they worked with us. We're like, you know, after six months we're like, you know what guys? This really isn't working. Maybe we could do this and could we do. And it's been incredible. And now what we're trying to do is get more companies involved and expand our relationship and really spread the word because it's so important. [00:06:50] Speaker B: I think it's interesting what you said was you, you started right before you said the, the federal organization doj. I thought you were going to say FDA or usda. It actually wasn't. Yeah, it wasn't those federal organizations that were on board. It was actually the Department of Justice that had to be involved because the treatment was that bad. [00:07:10] Speaker A: Exactly. There's a, there's an anti slavery division of the Fair Food Division program that works with DOJ that's literally investigating slavery. I mean there was a huge bust in December 2020 called the Blooming Onion bust. You can, you can google it. And it's, it's terrible. And I mean you are talking about modern day slavery. [00:07:32] Speaker B: Right. And still most recently child labor. [00:07:35] Speaker A: Right. [00:07:36] Speaker B: Up to. As it relates to some of these processing plants that have a third shift in that. Third shift. [00:07:41] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:07:41] Speaker B: The clean, the clean aspect of it is done in the wee hours of the morning by underage or children in. [00:07:47] Speaker A: Certain spots, unprotected, exposed to horrible chemicals, Blades. Right. [00:07:51] Speaker B: I mean these are Cutting. [00:07:52] Speaker A: Yep, cutting facilities. So. [00:07:54] Speaker B: Yeah. Interesting. [00:07:55] Speaker A: Yeah. Huh. [00:07:55] Speaker B: And so you mentioned something too in working them, because I imagine there has to be a very happy medium. Right? You still have to run the business and you still have to do so profitably. There's nothing to talk about. [00:08:05] Speaker A: Right. [00:08:05] Speaker B: All those people are going to be working somewhere else if the business fails. What did the back and forth sound like? Where you wanted to have fair practices, but you also had to run a business and do it profitably and there had to be enough for everybody to go around. How'd you do it? [00:08:19] Speaker A: So we're still figuring that out. I don't know if I have all the answers, but a lot of it is customer communication. This is, I hate to call it a premium product because that implies that it's not affordable to everyone, but it is or boutique. And that's not what we're going for. We want this to be available to everyone. American consumers used to spend 30% of their paycheck on food. Now they spend 10. So people expect cheap food. And the, the cost some there's no free lunch. Someone is paying the price for these really, really, really incredible discounts. You know, there I remember seeing a couple of years ago, one of a major retailer that expanded, is expanding around the country, has these big ads going, suspiciously low prices. And I'm like, yeah, thank you for admitting that. You know, that is suspicious. And I think part of it is consumer education, right? Of just, you gotta pay a little bit more, just a little bit. Because this is also what you're putting in your body. So it's not only what you're paying for in terms of what goes into the product, the labor and whatnot, but it's what you're putting in your body. And I'm a big believer in food is medicine. The other way we're able to tackle it is through, honestly through automation. Right. So that's why I do I have a big place in my heart for Arnold Packaging. Because if we can continue to grow, promote from within, not have to hire tons of new people every time we take on a new account because we've got that automation, we're building a more profitable, safer working environment where we can pass on those savings to the consumer, right? So it's just like baby step, baby step, baby step. Automation is truly key. I'm not just saying that because I'm on this podcast. [00:10:17] Speaker B: Yeah, no, and look, we appreciate that and we do talk about in productivity, right? Because how do you, how do you try to hold that input component and improve Your output. [00:10:26] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:10:26] Speaker B: And it is the key. Total sidebar, everybody. It is the key to opportunities that we will have to onshore, you know, to bring things back and be able to compete in a global marketplace and do so profitably because you can get that productivity quotient. Right. So your investments are smart and. And I'd root for you anyway, but really rooting for you. So I think there's so many opportunities right now, and certainly not to go off on a political tangent, but I do have a question in a minute. Is Hellbent on reshoring some things and trying to get some of that. That activity back here? This is a great time to do it for sure. [00:10:57] Speaker A: It. It is. It is. Yeah. There's a real opportunity here. Yeah. [00:11:01] Speaker C: Well, we dove right in and we're going to, we're going to build out to 2027. But I know, that's what I think we need to run it back because you have a very fun and interesting and intriguing life. So you, you talked about being a comedian, you talked about giving tours and that was in the Middle East, Correct? [00:11:22] Speaker A: Correct. [00:11:23] Speaker C: Can we talk about that? Because I would love to know how that is, how you got to where you are now and how some of those experiences built you as an entrepreneur. [00:11:31] Speaker B: Oh, can I make a request? We go back history major at Penn. [00:11:35] Speaker C: Okay, good. [00:11:35] Speaker B: What did you. What did you intend to do with that? That has lawyer written on it. [00:11:39] Speaker A: So my father's a lawyer and just he in. He got my brother in my head very early on. Do not be a lawyer. Oh, really? Yeah, yeah. I mean, he was just always in this mysterious place we like to joke it was called out of town. And he was just always out of town. And I just would see him, you know, I just didn't see. He was an amazing. He is an amazing father. And he always tried to get home for the. Went for the weekends or for dinner, but he worked a lot. Right. And so, so no, the truth is, I mean, it all leads up to. I. I have like off the charts adhd and so as most entrepreneurs do. And I had no idea what I wanted to do when I grew up. I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up. [00:12:31] Speaker B: For now it's soup. [00:12:32] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, I think I just always got antsy with what I was doing. I did know I didn't want to get like a, like a, like a. I hate. Because I don't. It's just not for me like an office job where I sit and I cook or whatever. In 1999. 1999, I graduated in the height of the dot com boom. So there was a lot of sitting and do, you know, typing and I knew I didn't want to do that. I thought I wanted to be a writer. I thought I want. I mean, I just had no idea. And so I did a lot. I mean, my parents were really stressed when I was in my early 20s because I, like, I came from college and then just spent a lot of time at Dewey Beach. [00:13:14] Speaker B: Yeah, certainly find yourself. [00:13:16] Speaker A: And my dad was like, so we got it. We're going to get a job. We're going to get a, we're going to do the job thing. I was like, totally, dude. And then I got a job. Actually it's a big company now, but it was a startup at the time, Blue Mercury. And that didn't last tremendously long. And then I waitressed and I. And then I started working for a friend doing travel. And that was amazing because I was traveling a ton. But it also meant I was traveling with a lot of teenagers and. Which was not fun. And at the end of a few years I realized, like, I have major problems with authority and my attention span. And then I read Michael Pollan's book, the Omnivore's Dilemma and I was like, this is a mess. Like our food system's a mess. I was like, I think I'll do this. And it, it. I never think things through. And I like to say that the best decisions I've made are the ones I haven't thought through. Although in the last two years, I've come to realize some of those decisions. Maybe, maybe not. Yeah, but right romantically, like certain men, that doesn't work. But for this, it has worked. I will say, yeah, you know, it's just you gotta, you learn, right? If you're not learning and making dumb mistakes, what are you doing? [00:14:36] Speaker B: So we're not skipping over the, we're not skipping over the comedic part. So give us the right. So how should. In at Penn, you were messing around with no stand up comedy or at what point of your ADHD did you decide comedy was what you were going to do for a minute? [00:14:51] Speaker A: I'd always wanted to do it and I got major rejections. At Penn, I didn't make the, the female improv group. I like, I was like, oh, I'm not funny. But I had always. When you would ask me, when I was five years old, people say, what do you want to be when you grow up? I used to say comedian and an artist. The artist thing. My mom is very artistic. I cannot draw a straight line, so I don't know where that. I mean, I guess I just wanted to be like my mom, but people just always found me funny from a young age. But that's the thing. Like when. When you were saying before the. The start, like, should you like some people? Someone could argue me make the mistake of when people tell you you're funny, that doesn't necessarily mean you should do it professionally. Some of my favorite comedians are terribly boring in person, and some of the funniest people I know who have tried comedy are terrible on stage. It's a very different art. And also, sketch is very different than improv, which is very different than standup. But when I was in my early 20s and I. I waitress and I was working for Blue Mercury, and then I was waitressing again, and then I worked for another startup, I kind of was like, if I don't do this now, I'm never going to do this. And I had a boss at the time who was like, I worked remote, I worked from home. And he was very supportive. Funnily enough, he's now on the Supergirl board. He's still a mentor of mine. We've stayed in touch all these years, but he let me move to New York, and so I had a job, and I just went for it for several years, for four, I think five. Four or five years. And I have recently decided I got to get back on stage. I miss it so much. Yeah, yeah. [00:16:40] Speaker B: Do you have some local ideas or local venues that you might drop into? [00:16:43] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm working on writing something right now that I think I'm really excited about. Now that I'm putting it on a podcast, I better do it. Yeah, yeah, exactly. [00:16:52] Speaker B: Well, we immortalize a lot of things here, so there's definitely some leeway. We have some time. [00:16:56] Speaker A: I mean, I've got so much material now, it's too much. Right. So. But I do think, like, in terms of Supergirl A, I hope we've created a fun brand. We have fun on social media, we have fun on the website. It also gave me very thick skin. There is nothing like bombing during fleet week in Manhattan in front of, like, 30 Navy boys. That'll really humble you. [00:17:26] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. [00:17:27] Speaker A: I mean, that is, like, intense. [00:17:30] Speaker B: Test your resilience. Yeah, that's amazing. [00:17:33] Speaker A: Yeah. Very cool. [00:17:34] Speaker B: Very cool. So what would you say if there's one takeaway? Obviously you talked about what I just mentioned. Resiliency from the comedian side. Any direct associations between business? Obviously, the Thick skin piece is huge. What else, what are the other takeaways? Risk. Yeah, of course. Build out on that. [00:17:50] Speaker A: What's, yeah, well, I, I, I, I mean, to be a comedian and you're throwing yourself out there and you can do. I just remember I would do a set one night and be like, I'm gonna make it. I think this is gonna work. The next night, do the exact same set and bomb. Right. So like it's just risk and also remaining humble. So knowing what you think works, not overthinking it. Right, because you can. I still have things on my to do list from 2008 when we launched. You can't overthink, but you have to have a general plan, you have to have that strategy. And that's the same thing with comedy. Like, you can't go up and improvise your whole stand up set. And also improv takes a lot of training. But, but then you improv, right? Using the skills you, you, you know, it's improv relies on skills that you've studied so you know how to be quick on your feet. [00:18:51] Speaker B: Right. Well, I would suggest off the cuff. It, anything, but it's a tremendous amount of planning and preparation. Even though it looks and feels off the cuff. Yes, interesting. [00:18:58] Speaker A: Yeah, I, I, I did improv too. I took some classes and, and it's a lot of fun, but it's, it's, it's hard, it's very easy to just rely on others in the group. I was notorious for just like hop tagging in and like aired playing the drums in the background and be like, I'm in, I'm in the sketch sketch. Someone else do something funny. [00:19:18] Speaker B: So back to the comment about you did the same set two nights in a row, two different audiences, one killed, one bombed. Why? Because there's some skill you have to have about reading the. [00:19:29] Speaker A: Got to read the room. [00:19:30] Speaker B: You have to tweak that presentation. It can't be the same thing twice. [00:19:33] Speaker A: Totally. [00:19:34] Speaker B: Really? [00:19:34] Speaker A: Oh, you have to read the room. I mean, yeah, like a group of Navy sailors is very different than like a group at the DC Improv. That's usually a pretty sophisticated group, right? Navy sailors, it's not that they're not sophisticated, it's just that their interests are elsewhere. Right. So I remember doing a set and this is, as I say, this now, I cannot believe I did this, but Tom Daschle was, I actually think he passed away. He was a senator at the time. I think he was the Senate minority leader. And I did this set and I realized in New York, this certain crowd. I was like, nobody knows who this is. And shame on me for just assuming. How condescending of me to start making jokes about a senator in D.C. at a new York nightclub. Like, bad. But, like, take that to the DC Improv. Yeah, they're with me. And big laughs. So you gotta read the room. You also, some people need to be warmed up more. Some people need that back and forth banter. You know, the heckler is sometimes welcome in certain crowds and sometimes not interesting. [00:20:41] Speaker B: That's cool. [00:20:42] Speaker A: But you have to do that in business, too. Yeah. [00:20:45] Speaker C: So. So you, you were a comedian. You try the New York thing. When did you ultimately decide you were going to start the soup company and was reading that book really the trigger? And like, I'm going to. I'm going to do this thing or what were the other things that were like, this is what I'm going to do and I'm going to go all in and do this thing. [00:21:06] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, the truth is, I read that book at a really crucial time in my life. The truth is that I share this openly now. Like, I was very depressed because I had as. You. You know, I, as. I've shared, I like, have adhd. I always thought, I can't sit behind a desk and just get a job and get married and move to the suburbs. And it just never clicked with me. And I never wanted, like, a career, a traditional career. And I had found myself. I was working for my friend in the travel business, but like nine months of the year, I was just sitting at my desk trying to sell those trips. And I was like, what am I doing? I've become my worst nightmare while tricking myself into thinking that I'm doing something different, but I'm not. And that book, I read it on the plane back from a bachelorette party in Costa Rica. [00:22:06] Speaker C: As one does as. [00:22:09] Speaker B: And it was very your body for seven straight days. [00:22:11] Speaker A: The, the, the. That couple's now divorced. And like, I've never, like, it was very. It was. They were so nice. But, like, it was three girls, four girls who knew each other from college and me. And so it was just like. And I remember that weekend I got, like, really sick. Not stomach. I just had. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't taste anything. I couldn't drink. I couldn't do any. And I was just like, I am in the depths of misery here. And I remember reading the book on the flight home and looking around the plane. I literally remember looking around the plane and be like, do you all know like, this is crazy. Our food, this is a mess. This is, someone's got to do something. And it really was that moment that I, I, I made the decision. It took a while. I, I, I dragged my mom out of retirement. She, she's, you know, she took care of all the anxiety and also all the recipes. I started apprenticing at a, at a soup kitchen at a, at a company that made soup. I started taking classes with score, um, like local. I got, you know, mentors. I read. I literally, and I still sometimes reference small businesses for Dummies. Um, and it just kind of, once I made that decision, it just kind of kept going and then there was no turning back. I remember the day that I quit my job. I worked for a very good friend of mine and I literally almost fainted at the lunch because I, I was, I just, this was a, it wasn't only quitting the job. It was like doing this. And it was during a recession in 2008. [00:24:00] Speaker B: Right. [00:24:01] Speaker A: Oops. [00:24:03] Speaker B: So would you consider yourself impulsive? Because some people would read that book and eat a salad. You read that book and started a soup company. So do you have some impulse issues? [00:24:10] Speaker A: Is that fair? [00:24:12] Speaker B: Which we completely celebrated. I mean, at the same time, each of us thinks the other's watching and control. Neither of us are watching. We're both totally out control, thrown into our impulse. So you suffer as well. [00:24:23] Speaker A: Totally. [00:24:24] Speaker B: Good. Good for you. [00:24:25] Speaker A: I just have no edit. This is taking everything in me to not say really stupid stuff and curse there. Right there. [00:24:32] Speaker B: You're allowed here. You're totally allowed here. [00:24:34] Speaker C: So why soup? [00:24:36] Speaker A: I get that a lot. Yeah, I get that. Yeah. I mean, so it's the perfect food. I mean, like there is no other food where you can get protein, fiber, hydration, vegetables, breakfast, lunch, dinner. Yeah. You know, in a spoon. Also, soup is really one of the only food. There are a few other foods. I'm not going to claim the only. But it's nostalgia. The right bowl of soup is like a hug from your mom. It's a memory. It's like people come, you know, you come in from the snow and you're like, I want, I want a bowl of soup. You know, it's, it's, it's a feeling. It's, it's a food that can almost give you a hug. A well made bowl of soup. [00:25:14] Speaker B: Right. [00:25:15] Speaker A: So why not soup all ages too? Yes. Yeah. We have so many kids that eat our soup and older folks like our soup. Everybody likes our soup. I hope not everybody. We're getting there. We're getting there. [00:25:31] Speaker C: So you talked about going into business with your mom. What was that like? And what is it like? [00:25:37] Speaker A: Yeah, it was great as. Because as long as I remembered, she's. She. She's the boss. She makes the final call. So when it used to be. I mean, God bless that woman. I dragged her out of retirement. [00:25:49] Speaker B: What did she do? [00:25:51] Speaker A: She was. She also had several careers. She was a speech pathologist for many years. And then she was a volunteer coordinator of a number of. Like she was at the Holocaust Museum before it opened, and then a social. Jewish social service agency. She did amazing work. And then she retired and became a docent museums downtown. And she was having a great life. She was going to museum, taking classes, taking art classes. And I was like, or, or you can come downtown and cook with me in a literal dungeon of a. Of a rented restaurant space that was closed for lunch. Dungeon. Like dungeon. And she's like, okay. And your mom's name's Marilyn, right? Uh huh. [00:26:35] Speaker B: Gotta remember Marilyn's exact description of the dungeon on Shark. She was very. She was vehement on what you invited into. She described exactly. [00:26:43] Speaker A: Yes. I mean, it was, it was rough. She was. And no one would sit next to her on the metro ride home because she smelled like onions. It was, it was brutal. I mean, the first year they canceled the vac. My parents canceled a vacation they had booked. I mean, she was unbelievable. No woman should ask if her mother. What I asked of mine, but she does say that I ironically enough, added years to her life because it's like she was, you know, at the time, she was in her early 70s and there she. She was on Shark Tank. She's, you know, she helped build this brand that we're really, really proud of. And, and it's been a blast. Now she does more sales and brand work with us. You know, she's. She helps with my nieces and she's an amazing grandmother and mother and. But she does. She's not in the kitchen. I mean, our kitchen is. It's not. It's a production facility now. [00:27:42] Speaker B: And your dad, Your dad had to be a bit of a trooper too, right? Oh, cancel. I mean, canceled vacations. [00:27:46] Speaker A: I mean, he was all super dad. [00:27:47] Speaker B: Whether he was right up on the edge or not, he was all in. [00:27:49] Speaker A: When we had us a storefront, you know, this is before COVID We were a hyper local business. We had two storefronts and one was downtown D.C. he came to lunch there when he was still going into the office. Every single day. Every single day. He Went for lunch. That's super cool. I mean, that is he, is he. At the end of the day, I just want to make my dad proud. Yeah, right, Absolutely. That's the goal. He's like the, the best dude and I just want to make him proud. That's cool. Yeah. [00:28:21] Speaker B: So let's stay on the Shark Tank. [00:28:23] Speaker C: Yeah, we have to. We have to. I mean, that's what a lot of people have seen. How early on was that in your. [00:28:28] Speaker A: That was 2018. So it was 10 years in. [00:28:30] Speaker C: 10, 10 years in. And how was that experience for you? And what even made you decide that you wanted to be on Shark Tank? What were you trying to gain from that experience? [00:28:40] Speaker A: I, I. Exposure. [00:28:42] Speaker C: Yep. [00:28:43] Speaker A: Millions of dollars worth of, of, of PR right there. That was an insane experience. We applied the year before and got really far and then they ghosted us. And then. [00:28:57] Speaker C: What does that process look like? I just see that process. [00:28:59] Speaker B: I'm sure our audience. I'd love to know. [00:29:00] Speaker A: Yeah, me too. [00:29:01] Speaker B: Love to know that the behind the. [00:29:02] Speaker A: Scenes, I think the first time we went to like an open call and then we had like, they're like, okay, send us a video. Okay, send us now we're gonna have a phone call. Okay, we'll follow up next week. And then we never heard from them again. Okay. And then the next year, a friend of mine forwarded another open call and I forwarded it to my associate at the time and I was like, haha. And she's like, you're going to. I was like, no, I forwarded this as a joke. Like, we've gone down this path. She's like, no, you're going. The first time I went, I had like, prepared, like, knew everything. Like this time I went and was like, making it up on the Met. I mean, this is terrible to admit, but like making it up on the Metro as I went downtown, because I was like, we're never, we've gone down, they don't want us. And we just kept going through the same process and then they kept calling back and then the next thing you know, we're on a plane to la. And the thing about it is that they tell you first, they tell you throughout the process, we do not ever guarantee you're going to record, so we're bringing you out here. But we, we don't guarantee we're actually going to pick you to go in front of the sharks. And then I learned once you record only 60% of them air, so 40% never get shown. And that's terrible because you hemorrhage money. They pay for your hotel. The Sheridan Four Points, Culver City. That was. I was like. It was like purgatory. And. And they pay for your plane ticket. That's it. So, like everything else, you have to get out there, you have to pay. Yeah. And then they give you, like, a per diem. It was like getting your allowance from your mom. And you would, like, knock on this woman who clearly not left that hotel room in, like, two months, because they just record, and she's like, here's your $100. Thanks, Mom. [00:30:58] Speaker B: I'm still gonna be hungry in LA when I come back, so be ready. [00:31:01] Speaker A: Yes. And. And so. So every morning, you. You would. People get, like, plucked off the island to go record. And there was no. They really want to keep that element of surprise. But we were very worried that we weren't going to air because we did spend so much money. [00:31:24] Speaker B: Is this just staying and living there while we waited? [00:31:27] Speaker A: No, it was. It was a week. No, like, getting all the product out there, it's a perishable product. And then, like, our set was very heavy. You know, you. We pay for that. And then we ended up not using any of it. And, like, we decided to come up on the fly with a different setup. And, like, it ended up working out, but, I mean, thousands of dollars. It became like Monopoly money after a while. It's like, just put on the credit cards. Just the ups of just shipping all of that out there was insane. And then you had to ship it back. We ended up airing on one of the most popular episodes, not because of us, but because one of the other families on was incredible. Their story was amazing. The Cupboard Pro. [00:32:05] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, yeah. [00:32:06] Speaker A: Beautiful family. [00:32:07] Speaker B: Oh, wow. The dad was the fireman. [00:32:08] Speaker A: Yes, yes, I know that. [00:32:10] Speaker B: Yes, of course. [00:32:12] Speaker A: Episode by dumb luck, we're on that one. I mean, they know what they're doing. They have three kids, two daughters and a son. And we record. We were at the hotel with them, and they're a beautiful, beautiful family. And when they were sharing their story, my mom talks to everyone. My mom will talk to people. Like, if she's at the grocery store, she just talks to people. She loves talking to people, so of course she's. Everyone at the Sheraton Four Points, Culver City became very close, but she started talking to them, and I was sitting there trying to run payroll, and they're sharing their story, and it's a. It. You know that her. Their mother passed away and then their father passed away, and they're carrying their. Their. Their father's legacy. And. And it's. I mean, it's. It's. It's gutting. And I'm like, I must put up a mental wall here and run payroll because we're a scrappy now. I'm not running payroll, but my coo, like, I'm not that far removed at all. And I was like, sitting there and transferring money to cover payroll and, like, running the payroll and running the hours. And these women, these. This family's telling us the story and I'm. My mom is sobbing and I'm like, you know, Christian worked 10 hours. It's like, awful. And like, I'm like, what is happening here? But Shark Tank is what it appears in that they don't know you. Like, you go out there and they don't. They know nothing about you. And they do run the camera for. I think. I think it's like 45 seconds of just them staring at you because they're trying to get a clip. You know, they. They cut the clips and mix it any way they want. And there were so many things they cut that I wish they had not cut. But they're trying to get you to, like. People have been known to pass out. They've been known to vomit. Like, there are people that, you know, just lose their. Yeah. At that moment because you're just standing there. And then you got to launch in. And they were impressed at the start, but then they didn't like our financials. Thank goodness I didn't listen to them because it used to be before COVID Oh, you've gotta get a co packer. You gotta get a co packer. And now everyone is like, you gotta self manufacture. And I'm like, told you so. [00:34:30] Speaker C: We are bringing some very engaging and interesting guests onto our podcast. So please, if you're interested, don't forget to subscribe so when every episode comes out, you're notified and you can join in on the conversation. [00:34:44] Speaker B: Yeah, I remember. So I went back and reviewed the clip and there were three things they were on you about. There were two biggies. Right. One was your profit margins at the time of only being 5%. [00:34:53] Speaker A: And was it 5%? [00:34:54] Speaker B: That's what you. Yeah, that's what you had. Had advertised to them. I think you were doing 2.4 million at 5%. [00:35:00] Speaker A: Right. I think. Because I had the choose. Yeah. [00:35:02] Speaker B: Yep. And then. And the fact that you would not try to repair or improve that margin by going to co packers and. And you know. [00:35:09] Speaker A: Yep. [00:35:10] Speaker B: And selling out, really, at that point. [00:35:11] Speaker A: Right. [00:35:11] Speaker B: Because they. They allegedly do what you want them to do, but they do what they do when you're not there. [00:35:16] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:35:16] Speaker B: No one can watch that. I remember that. [00:35:18] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:35:19] Speaker B: And. And the, I think the, the guest at Shark. Right. There's always the four bands. Yeah. You had Mark. It was the guy from Bar Bar. [00:35:25] Speaker A: Matt Higgins. Not. But he's from. He's RSC Ventures. [00:35:30] Speaker B: Okay. [00:35:30] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:35:31] Speaker B: He looks like the guy on the. What's the Bar Restoration? [00:35:33] Speaker C: Bar Rescue. [00:35:34] Speaker B: Bar Rescue. They look at the guy on Bar Rescue. [00:35:36] Speaker A: I don't know. I don't know that show, but I'll take your word for it. [00:35:39] Speaker B: But he was a fan. Like I. Oh yeah. [00:35:40] Speaker A: No, he's now on our cap table. He invested. He's a mentor after the fact. [00:35:45] Speaker B: He was the one on the. On the thing. Got it. Because I know about finishing your A round with. [00:35:50] Speaker A: I watched that for the first time two weeks ago. Ever. Ever. [00:35:56] Speaker B: You tell like us with our podcast. [00:35:57] Speaker C: And why is that? [00:35:59] Speaker A: My mom, I was, I was at my folks house and my mom's like, let's watch it. And I was like, why? [00:36:07] Speaker B: Because I have a truckload of wine. [00:36:09] Speaker A: We're good. We're in a good place. Let's watch it. And I was, I was. We did. Okay. I mean, like, I know. I don't. I remember having the data they needed. I think we did. I'm really. I was, I was proud of us. I was really proud of her because I drag, you know. You drag your 75 year old mother onto national television in front of the sharks. Like, who does that? I do. Apparently. She was fantastic. [00:36:40] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:36:40] Speaker A: But I just remember at one point, I mean they were. It was like, I don't know, we were in there for like 30, 30 minutes. 30, 40 minutes, I don't know. And they were yelling at me so much. I remember there was at one point in my head I was like, I don't know if I can take this much longer. Like, like, okay, you know, you guys have made your point. [00:37:00] Speaker B: And this was sharks yelling at you. Right. Whether it's Mr. Wonderful suggesting that you had a 50, 50 chance of going out of business. [00:37:06] Speaker A: Oh, and then what he said after. So we have a funny social media post coming up as a response because we have like, can we pile on. [00:37:12] Speaker B: And talk about people who going out of business don't need palletizing robots? There's something to be done around that. Don't worry. [00:37:18] Speaker A: There you go. [00:37:19] Speaker B: These two will get them. [00:37:19] Speaker A: You gotta, you gotta repost that. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. It's coming up very soon. Good. [00:37:25] Speaker C: Did you Find any parallels between doing stand up and being on Shark Tank? [00:37:29] Speaker A: Oh, totally. Oh, my gosh. It's like the ultimate heckler. Yeah. Right? I mean, that is like. And you have to keep going. You can't, because they're gonna put it all. They want the drama. Oh, yeah, Right. And if you. If you. If you pass out or if you cry, that's gonna be a clip on all the commercials. Thankfully, the clip that. That they put on all of them was me yelling at Mr. Wonderful, saying, no soup for you. No soup for you. And that all season long they had. And I was like, great. [00:38:03] Speaker B: Yes. [00:38:03] Speaker A: You know, like, I'm so. It is the gift that keeps on giving. Like, I'm so grateful for that. Right. Experience. [00:38:10] Speaker B: And borrowed from one of the funniest shows of all time, too, right? [00:38:12] Speaker A: Yes. [00:38:13] Speaker B: Which is. Which is as good as it gets. [00:38:14] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:38:15] Speaker C: Did you walk away from that immediately upset that you didn't have a shark on board, or did you feel good about the experience when you're walking off stage? [00:38:25] Speaker A: Walking off stage was so bewildering. I don't think it went the way I thought. Thought it would because our growth had been so extreme. And we have. Our margins are really solid now, and we needed that investment to kind of get us there. And that's what I was trying to explain. They literally wouldn't let me speak, which is the point. And so we did it. But at the time, it was very bewildering. I mean, they really were, like, yelling at me. Um, so I was just grateful to not be being yelled at. But then I was just so happy with the. With the publicity. The truth is, I didn't really want them. They're sharks. You know, I know a lot of those deals don't go through after you air because they're. They're sharks. [00:39:21] Speaker B: Yeah. And there's disclaimers at the bottom of the screen that are this big in one font that says, here's all the reasons why this may not actually work, but thank you for the amazing entertainment. [00:39:30] Speaker A: Right, Exactly. I mean, they're really, like, rough negotiators. And I know. I think I'm under whatever NDA, you know, like, they've put people in awkward positions, and it's. It's. I do not want to be in bed with any of those guys. [00:39:44] Speaker C: So your publicity, I imagine you saw an uptick after the exposure. What did that. What were the immediate impacts on your business after that aired? [00:39:52] Speaker A: It's funny. So we saw a huge uptick in our. In our shipping and a huge Uptick in, in grocery sales. And then to be honest, it just went back down to normal. [00:40:04] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:40:04] Speaker A: And I think a lot of people think like there's life before Shark Tank and life after. And a lot of of companies go under because they think that and they put every last dollar into it. It's amazing. And there are these crazy stories like Scrub Daddy. [00:40:18] Speaker B: Scrub Daddy. [00:40:19] Speaker A: Everyone talks about Scrub Daddy. [00:40:21] Speaker C: You see it everywhere. [00:40:22] Speaker A: Episode and Squatty Potty. [00:40:24] Speaker B: Squatty Potty. [00:40:24] Speaker A: Yeah. But for every one of those, there's like a dozen that are long gone. [00:40:30] Speaker B: Yeah. We own a skateboard. From there. [00:40:33] Speaker A: We own the skateboard. [00:40:34] Speaker B: I'm. You know, we have any number of Shark Tank products in our house that we bought along the way. [00:40:37] Speaker A: And I know some of the people that I recorded with that I stayed in touch with got deals gone. Gone. It's, it's not. So what it does is we can write SC non Shark Tank. Okay. And that people then it gives us this air of legitimacy. People think we're cool, we're not cool, but we're still here. [00:40:59] Speaker B: Yeah, that's cool. That's very cool. [00:41:00] Speaker A: There you go. [00:41:01] Speaker B: So had you tried other funding methods prior to Shark Tank where you had you tried to raise funds in other ways or. That was. [00:41:08] Speaker A: No, no, no. And then in 2020 we closed a series A. [00:41:11] Speaker B: Right? [00:41:12] Speaker A: Yeah. So no, it was just had been like friends and family kind of putting in notes here and there. But there now been a formal like, okay, now we're fundraising until 2020. [00:41:22] Speaker B: Got it. [00:41:22] Speaker C: But you had not get into that though a little bit because our, our audience, they're business minded, mostly folks and some are in startups or working for startups. And that piece as we both know of how to generate money when you, when you have nothing, especially a product like your, there's a lot of inventory and you're paying upfront capital intensive. Especially like in the beginning where you don't have any terms or credit lines. And how did you do it in the beginning? How were you able to make it work? [00:41:50] Speaker A: Well, we, we, before we opened our storefronts, we were profitable, so we had built up some, some money that way. We. And then just selling online. Yeah. [00:42:00] Speaker C: Okay. [00:42:01] Speaker A: I mean our, you know, the rent at that kitchen was not very much money, so we were able to kind of build the brand up. And. [00:42:10] Speaker B: And were you two the laborers? Was that it was the two of them? [00:42:12] Speaker A: Yeah. And then we did hire people, but again, you're talking about three, four people. Sure. Small business loans. The problem with small business loans, they're Great. And that's how we really were able to grow, is that you have to personally guarantee them. And this is what I'm always telling people, that will come back to haunt you, because it is. Once you sign that personal guarantee, the business owns you. To just be like, I'm a big fan of entrepreneurship and I'm a big fan of startups, but you have to know the numbers and you have to know what you're willing to risk. And what people don't know about a personal guarantee is that the banks will collect, which means if you don't make it, they will take a piece of your paycheck if they're polite, until you pay that down. So if you have taken out a $500,000 loan and you only pay down $100,000, you're going to pay that back, and for 50 years, you might be paying that back. [00:43:18] Speaker B: Right. [00:43:18] Speaker A: And. Or you have to declare personal bankruptcy because of the personal guarantee. And that's that dirty little secret that no one talks about. [00:43:29] Speaker B: Right. Well, everyone, I think, thinks that that SBA program is a gift from the government. [00:43:33] Speaker A: It is. [00:43:34] Speaker B: It's not. If not free money, it doesn't have nearly the number of. Of tethers to it that it does it. [00:43:40] Speaker A: Right. It. It's personal loan, it's a personal guarantee. It might be a better rate. [00:43:45] Speaker B: Right. [00:43:45] Speaker A: Than you might get from a commercial bank, but it's a personal guarantee. Yeah. [00:43:49] Speaker B: Yeah. And that 400,000 you're going to pay in after tax dollars as well. After tax dollars versus if you, you know, piss away that money in. In the midst of the business, at least it's not going to be subject to tax. [00:44:02] Speaker A: Correct. [00:44:02] Speaker B: That's another piece that nobody fast forwards to. [00:44:04] Speaker A: And it's terrifying. [00:44:05] Speaker B: Yeah. Make this. Tax it down and then pay the piper for a period of time and try to live on whatever the disposable aspect of that is. [00:44:11] Speaker A: Yep. [00:44:12] Speaker B: Hard. [00:44:12] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, I. I do try to. Anyone who wants to. I mean, I'm like a Debbie Downer right now, to be clear. Supergirl's going very well and I'm very grateful. And we've grown. We've, like, are triple the size we were last year. It's amazing. But anyone who wants to talk to me, I'm always happy to not mentor, but, you know, people have advice about production or this or that. And I'm always saying, have you figured out your margins? Have you figured out your. Your fix? Have you figured out. And I remember talking to this one young man who was starting. I don't want to go into the details, but he was trying to start a beverage business. And I was just like, okay, just back the napkin math. You're gonna have to sell this for $10, and I'm not gonna pay $10 for this. For this beverage. So until you figure out how to bring your cost down, do not take out a loan. Don't do it. [00:45:05] Speaker B: Right. [00:45:06] Speaker A: Because you're. You're like. Young entrepreneurs are so optimistic. It doesn't. There's like, failure. Failure. No way. I have the. I have the million dollar idea. Statistically speaking, most people don't. [00:45:19] Speaker B: Sure. [00:45:19] Speaker A: Yeah. And it's terrifying. [00:45:20] Speaker B: Yeah. And so many things that you don't know. I mean, just think about beverages. Right. And coming from the packaging side, do you know how many. First question, do you have any cans you actually have to buy to buy cans? Like, start there. Right. Which is a cash outlay before you actually have any liquid to put in the can and do what do you want on the can? [00:45:34] Speaker A: Right. [00:45:36] Speaker B: All the way down and. And you're sitting there with no cash left and you own some cans and a pot of liquid over there that you can't get in the cans. You're out of money. [00:45:43] Speaker A: That's a great example. So we went through a rebrand last year, and we're really excited about it, and it's awesome. The second half of it was a design on the lid. And the problem we have at a lot of supermarkets is that sometimes we're on a lower shelf. So if it's on a lower shelf and people aren't looking down, all they see are white lids. And so a key component is something to let people know what that is, the brand. And it also is some space to put our store whatever you want. It has been a full year and a half since we launched the new labels and the new website and the new branding. We are only now making the purchase for the lids because the minimum run was 50,000, which now we're like, okay, we got that. No problem. And we have the month. We can. We can do that. But we were like, nope, we are not able. And it's those little decisions, you know, even if you have cash in the bank, you should always operate as though you don't. Right. So, like, we were ordering T shirts, and someone on the team was like, we should get everybody on the team T shirts. And I was like, well, we have 60 people. No, we're not doing that. Correct. It would only be a couple hundred dollars, but it's those little hundred dollars here and a Hundred dollars there and the next thing you know you have a cash flow problem. [00:46:57] Speaker B: Yeah, sure. We use the word scrappy along the way, which was one of our favorites. I mean Brit, Brit has always operated that way. I'm so happy to have Brit around at eight years, going on nine years because as a 92 year old company, if we're not careful, we would lose the ability to be scrappy, you know, or we would, we would get complacent in spots as if, who cares? And, and that I have this daily demonstration of not being that way or not acting that way. Yeah, that's huge. It's helpful. [00:47:22] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:47:22] Speaker B: Because it can go quick. You know, it can go really quick. [00:47:25] Speaker A: A couple of bad decisions. Yeah. [00:47:26] Speaker B: And the last 20 years have been tough. You know, 0108 pandemic. You know, we've got some self inflicted stuff down in, in dc. It's hard, right. And you can make a lot of great decisions as an entrepreneur and still get wiped when you have that cash moment and you're just, you're just a liquid, just like that. All your cash is gone. But you own 50,000 lids. [00:47:45] Speaker A: Right? [00:47:45] Speaker B: Right. Even your lids, you and your lids can hang out in the backyard and look for a job. [00:47:50] Speaker A: Yeah, that's right. Yeah. [00:47:53] Speaker C: So let's talk about your. How you built the company. So you went from, you know, making it with your mom in the dungeon. [00:48:00] Speaker A: Yes. [00:48:00] Speaker C: Selling. Just selling online to opening up a retail. Now you're on to rebranding your dish. You know, distribution through Costco and some of the other stores. Can you walk us through like that, that build of your company since 2008. [00:48:14] Speaker A: Oh, wow. We would need another hour. The major points, I would say until. Honestly, Covid, it was all very reactive. We, we really didn't know what we were doing. And I don't know if we do now, but don't tell anybody. [00:48:27] Speaker B: Your secret savior. I mean, don't put this on YouTube, guys. [00:48:33] Speaker A: I'm a stand up comic. She's, you know, speech pathologist. Like, like we launched again. Not really thinking it through. I mean the original Mike, some of my best girlfriends. There's a group of us and they're like, remember your idea to deliver everything on. On a bike? Like that was the original plan and that got scrapped in week one because I was like, I'm tired after cooking all day. I'm not doing it. [00:48:59] Speaker B: But if you'd called it, if you'd have called a doordash, you'd have floated here on your own plane. [00:49:03] Speaker A: I mean I'd like to say now that we were the OG DoorDash since 2008. We. It was very reactive. Like, I. We launched and then what happened was at. We had a launch party and someone had a really cool idea to have five hosts because no one knew who we were. I mean, people knew what I was doing, but no one really knew who we were. We had five hosts send out the email to. To. To everyone they knew. And the invite went viral in D.C. and the next thing I knew, this. This date, this shows it was 2008. No one remembers this. The biggest blog. It was a food blog at the time. Because there wasn't. I don't even know if there was Instagram in 2008. I have no idea what there was. Was called Daily Candy. Daily Candy was the. If you. Everyone would get it. I think it came out daily. Daily, huh? And would feature something. And the writer from Daily. The D.C. writer from Daily Candy came and I literally got on my knees and I was like, please don't write yet. We don't. We haven't made a bot. A pot of soup larger than on my own stove, please. And she's like, okay, I'm going to. I'm going to give you one more week because if someone scoops me, I don't want to do it. And Daily Candy was it. So she gives one week and then she published. And then the email list shot up and our. And we just. It went viral. Like, it just. It just grew. And then we just started getting more and more local press and we tapped into something because people wanted healthy food and they didn't want to keep cooking, and there wasn't any solution like that. And so then we. We moved into a bigger kitchen space, into a synagogue. And then a landlord. This is what I'm saying. It was all reactive. A landlord found us and said and gave us like, the most amazing deal for a space in Tacoma, our flagship space. And so we were able to build this kitchen. And then we were outgrowing that. And then the coffee shop next door closed. And he was like, do you want to just take this over? And I was like, sure, okay. You know, and it was. It just kind of kept going, growing from there. And then, you know, then I took on the loan. I took on the loan to do that build out. And I was like, well, I did this. We might as well just go for it. And so we went then for Whole Foods, and then we had to pass an food safety audit for Costco. And. And then it. And then Covid forced difficult Decisions. Because what we were learning going up to Covid is that running farmers markets and two retail locations and then we had a second production facility downtown. So our margins were in the toilet because we weren't focused. [00:51:51] Speaker B: Right. [00:51:52] Speaker A: Covid was like, yeah, you. You're either in or you're out. And so we shut down all the retail and all the farmers markets and we're like, it's time to grow up. And then eventually it took us a couple of years, but we found our current production facility in Lanham. We shut everything else down and we decided to go for it with wholesale, which. And this makes it sound like it's been easy. It has been so brutal. Retailers have dropped us. Other ones have been really hard and really expensive and labor costs have gone through the roof and supply chain issues. Covid. And it's just one thing after another. I mean, that. What I just told you makes it sound like it was like, well, then this opportunity opened up and then this. I mean, it's been like there were many times where I would be driving to work and be like, I'm just going to keep driving and just see what happens and see where I end up, but I ain't going there. [00:52:38] Speaker B: Right. [00:52:39] Speaker A: You know. [00:52:39] Speaker B: Yeah, we understand the number of times we'll say, I think I'd like to just be responsible for me today. Right. The idea of being an individual contributor is very attractive at times. [00:52:48] Speaker A: It's, you know, there is no turning off your computer. You know, I every. I have a friend and she's very funny. She posts on social media on like Friday at 5. She's picture of, you know, slams computer for the weekend, slams down computer like that. That doesn't happen. I do take the Sabbath off. I'm. I observed the Jewish Sabbath and the Jewish holidays. But like, otherwise your time is not your own, you know? Absolutely right. If there's an SOS or if there anything or if you're overwhelmed, like your time is not your own. And that's a sacrifice. Yeah. [00:53:19] Speaker B: Was Whole Foods your first big entree? Did you do the pitch to get into Whole Foods? [00:53:26] Speaker A: How did you get in? [00:53:27] Speaker B: Give us. How did you get into Whole Foods? Because I think again, audience wise people that are aspiring to these. [00:53:33] Speaker A: But it's very. This was in 2015. I walked into Whole Foods Glover park carrying a sweet. A. A Ziploc bag of soup. And I went up to customer service and I was like, I'd like to talk to the soup buyer. And I happen to be standing next to the chef for the entire region and he's like, who are you? I make the soup. Who do you think you are? He ended up being amazing and, and gave us like a tour of the now defunct, like regional kitchen and started like, he's like, okay, I think you're ready for this store. I think you're ready for this store. But I literally showed up with a sack of soup. Like, it was so unprofessional. Like, it was a liter. I'm not exaggerating. It was a Ziploc bag of like mulligatawny soup. And we didn't know anything. We didn't know what we were doing. We didn't know nutrition. We didn't. We were like, barcode. What's a barcode? We were buying barcodes from buyabarcode.com. that's awesome. And I mean, it was like. And then they came and inspected the kitchen and, and they were incredibly supportive. It. It's a very different company now. [00:54:34] Speaker B: Right? [00:54:35] Speaker A: What I did would. No, that does not work anymore. But it was like, I was so fortunate to get into whole food. There was this like heyday of like hipster food companies that were creating non stop, you know, you had all of these dudes with beards in Brooklyn creating like fermented food foods, Kombucha. Like kombucha didn't exist. And it's, it's a little, it's sad what's happening now with like corporate consolidation. And it's, it's just, it's so much harder to start a food business now because you don't have this culture of experimentation and incubation. It's. It's very different because it's tough. It's tough. The margins in retail are tough and retailers have to cut back. I get it, I get it. It's just a bummer because that period we wouldn't have like, I have like sauerkraut and like these cool, funky, you know, fermented foods are good for your gut, biome or whatever. Like that wouldn't exist if it wasn't for that amazing period and like the chocolate renaissance of like really high end cool chocolate that came out of that period as well. Just cool stuff. [00:55:49] Speaker B: So how do you, how does this go now? Right, You've got not political commentary, but there is with Kennedy right now in his. And talking the other day about actually marking certain foods not fit for human consumption. [00:56:02] Speaker A: Really literally. [00:56:03] Speaker B: The comment that came out the other day and the pressure that's on whether dies, you know, he targeted dies initially. Do you see an upswell or interest in your food and your products? Yeah, more so anything that is, you know, a violent shift or. There is certainly an awakening in this country about food and what's in food, whether it's thanks to, you know, Netflix and documentaries they do. Which are incredibly eye opening when you see where your food actually comes from or focus on different things. I think Alzheimer's is scaring the out of people. You know, if that is truly, you know, type 3 diabetes, which would have you based in all types of choices. Right? [00:56:41] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:56:42] Speaker B: What are you seeing as a very healthy provider and manufacturer of food as it relates to that? [00:56:47] Speaker A: It's exciting for us. I. I don't want to. I think some of the messaging that's coming out is a little misleading. So, like, I heard a friend say, okay, if they get rid of red dye number five, are Twizzlers healthy now? Like, right. I don't. I think, like, we've. We gotta stop scaring people. And I think it's, it's. What is it about? It's also like ultra processed foods. That is just. That is the buzzword now. What is ultra processed food? You could theoretically call soup my beautiful lentil soup, because I cook the lentils, right? I cook it. So that's a process. And then I put in a package so you can eat it. So it's processed. You know, our soup is, I think, the healthiest thing you can eat. So we're very fortunate in that we don't cook with seed oils. I'm not commenting on whether seed oils are healthy or not. Yeah. That's a discussion for another time. [00:57:47] Speaker B: This is what your customers get. [00:57:48] Speaker A: Right? But, like, we didn't have to make any modifications. Our soups have always had very simple ingredients because they're my mother's recipes. Right. So we don't know how to eat. [00:57:59] Speaker C: What would be in one of your soups. Like take a soup, for example, Mediterranean red lentil soup. [00:58:04] Speaker A: Okay. We always have a mirepoix, which is onion, carrot, celery, our broth. So you have your thyme, garlic, you know, some herbs. And then you have red lentils, a splash of orange juice, some fresh herbs, and our broth. That's it. And. And then salt and pepper, kosher salt and pepper. That's it. So it works with Maha, it works with Michelle Obama. It works who. I don't care. This is what you're supposed to be eating, right? So my mom, if you look at my mom, she's 80 years old. People look at her and they're like, stop lying. She goes she, my dad and my mom, they're going on a hiking trip in Iceland in two weeks, three weeks. Right. Like, thank God. Like, she. Food is medicine. If you put junk in your body. And I don't buy the fact. I had this funny conversation with my doctor and we actually recorded a. A little podcast together. She's. She made the point. She's like, people know that donuts aren't healthy. Right. They just like them. Right. And also we have an industrialized food movement that literally pays scientists to find the addictive point, to find that point of sugar, fat, and salt to make you addicted. Right. And, and, and there's similar. Like. Like, it's. It's not quite as bad as alcohol addiction, but it's pretty close. Right. And, and whether you think Casey means. Or whoever is. Should be the Surgeon General or what, like the fact that we are up against this industrialized food movement that pays to lobby, to make us sick, to like, not follow the quote. Science, I think, is a nebulous term because it's always evolving. Right. Science. Everyone says, I've believe science. Well, science is always changing because we're always doing research. But fundamentally, lentils are always going to be better choice than donuts. And I don't think that's a political statement. And we haven't had to change a thing because we've always cooked with really clean, clean, simple ingredients. I hate that it's gotten so politicized. And I do wish this country worked more on prevention rather than treatment, because I think we could cure a lot or prevent a lot of disease. [01:00:31] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, we had some amazing podcast guest a few ago, and the comment that Greg made was is that our medicine system wants you to feel well, not be well. [01:00:42] Speaker A: That's a great one. [01:00:43] Speaker B: So you take that and you combine it with this industrial food complex. You've got a really. You have a deadly combination where you have the healthcare side of our world showing up to make you feel good while you have the other side, which is the, you know, what. What you put in your machine. [01:00:57] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:00:58] Speaker B: Working completely counter so you can eat, like, and then take this thing and feel, well, even though you're not the American way. It's. [01:01:05] Speaker A: It's really sad. [01:01:06] Speaker B: Yeah, it is. It's. [01:01:07] Speaker A: It's. I'm not sure. [01:01:08] Speaker B: It's a death spiral. [01:01:09] Speaker A: You can trace how we got here, but we're here. We're not doing anything about it. But I'm. I don't know if I think that scaring people is the wrong thing. And I think I'm not going into politics. So I don't know, I used to think I would. Now I'm like, I'm not touching that with a ten foot pole. [01:01:24] Speaker C: So let's get off that. And where do you source your food from? [01:01:29] Speaker A: So the Fair Food certified farms, that's our number one priority. And then we can't get everything from them. So we have a number of produce partners we try to get our beans from. We don't. Our thing is our ingredient list is, it's pretty small, you know, so it's great. Like we don't need 10 different suppliers for our gums and our. Whatever. It's, it's. Produce comes from this supplier, beans come from this supplier, you know, and then we have spices. It's, it's an herbs, it's, it's pretty simple. But our number one, I actually have a call set Thursday, I don't know what day it is today. Tuesday with another Fair Food farm to see if we can bring them in. So I'm just trying to get as much of our produce source from Fair Food certified farms because again, it comes down to food justice in the fields. I cannot get an organic certification. It would make my soup inaccessible to everyone. It is so expensive. We try to make sure these are sustainable farms, but I can't, I can't check every single box until I'm massive and have that buying power. Right. [01:02:33] Speaker B: And the, the Fair Food certification, is that relatively available in this market? Is that built out since you were the first one to do it in the region or wherever? [01:02:40] Speaker A: Yeah, the east coast. There's a lot of farms and it's growing and we just need to get more companies aware of it. You know, they, their funding is tight right now. They've lost some funding so it's hard for them to spread the word. So I'm trying to have podcasts, you know, be on podcasts like these and talk about it and expand our Fair Food certified product line to get it in front of more consumers, to get more people asking about it and talking about it. [01:03:15] Speaker C: In all of your free time that you have, have you ever thought about buying a piece of land and developing a farm? [01:03:22] Speaker A: I used to think that. I used to, I used to think that. I can't, I can't, I can't fathom. I'm like so overwhelmed right now. I can't. Like, I, I do work and then I ride my bike and I'm working on my riding and that's all I can do right now. Yeah. One day. Yeah. [01:03:45] Speaker C: So let, let's talk about right now. Let's talk about where the business is and what, where you want to go moving forward. [01:03:53] Speaker A: The business is great. It's growing a lot. We're. We're three times the size we were, I think at this time last year and, and continuing to grow and contribute. [01:04:03] Speaker C: That to anything in particular. [01:04:05] Speaker A: New product line. Okay. Yeah, the, the salsa business has been a big success and we're really, we're growing. [01:04:11] Speaker C: Have to get some of that. [01:04:12] Speaker A: Yes, you do. [01:04:13] Speaker C: When you say Costco. We have a one year old daughter who was in here before you were. [01:04:18] Speaker A: Oh. [01:04:19] Speaker C: And her favorite thing in the world is going to Costco, sitting on the cart and saying hi to everybody and looking at everything. [01:04:24] Speaker A: So cute. [01:04:25] Speaker C: So we have to go like every other night. [01:04:28] Speaker B: Right. [01:04:28] Speaker C: Because she loves it so much. So I would. You said Costco. I got really exc. [01:04:32] Speaker A: We'll be back there. We're actually, we should be. Should be back there in the, in the fall. We'll be back there in the fall. Stay tuned to our social media page for other announcements. Okay. Are you near a Whole Foods? Do you ever shop? [01:04:45] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, sure. [01:04:46] Speaker A: So you can get our, our salsa. She. [01:04:49] Speaker C: She'll like that too. She'll love Whole Foods. [01:04:50] Speaker A: Yeah. So if you go into the, the produce section and you'll see on the bottom, you'll see it's made by Supergirl. So all of those salsas and that's awesome. Yeah. Yeah, it's pretty exciting. [01:05:02] Speaker B: Well, the fact that it's featured in the salt in that section and not the chip section is a testament to what it's made of. [01:05:07] Speaker A: Refrigerated, it's a perishable product. It's a fresh, perishable product. You know, it's no preservatives, no cans. So I want to keep, you know, again, it's about impact. Like I just said, my buying power. You know, I have calls with Fair Food Certified Farm. If I can keep growing and more regions, add more products, get more retailers to pick up these products, I can keep going to farms and say, okay, you don't have your smaller farm. You're Fair Food certified. I can only buy by the truck. Like now I can afford to get a truckload of your onions or whatever it is, then it works and then you start adding on and then, you know, more, more of my products can get that certification because some of the products are like, there aren't Fair Food Certified lentils. Right. So I can get that and then I can get more CPG brands to start paying attention and More retailers start paying attention. And that's. That's when you go back to that plane ride in 2008, and. And. And I'd be like, okay, we're. It took a little longer than I anticipated, but we're. We're making more than a. A little brick. We're making a dent. [01:06:21] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. [01:06:22] Speaker A: And we're getting people talking. [01:06:25] Speaker B: Have you even considered anything that looks like succession exit at this point? I mean, you're right in the most. The three times growth is super exciting. That'll jump you out of bed in the morning. Winning cures everything. Right. And three times growth is certainly winning. [01:06:37] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:06:38] Speaker B: So it makes the tough days a little less tough, for sure. Any thoughts around that? I know it's early, and you're still on a pretty aggressive growth trajectory, but what are your thoughts? [01:06:47] Speaker C: You have stage calling, right? [01:06:49] Speaker A: I. Yeah, it's. We'll see. Okay, we'll see. Yeah. I think that's. That's all I'm comfortable saying. [01:06:57] Speaker B: Good news for you is all options are open. [01:06:58] Speaker A: Right. [01:06:59] Speaker B: When you have that type of growth and that trajectory and that we're pretty. [01:07:01] Speaker A: Excited about where we are, and we're trying to figure out the logical next step. And I just really want to make sure that we keep our values in mind as we. Whatever step we take, that we don't just abandon who we are. If you just going back to that 2008 moment, can't lose that. [01:07:22] Speaker B: Yeah. I think one of our other favorite podcasts recently said, do well and do good. [01:07:27] Speaker A: Right. [01:07:27] Speaker B: You can do both of those together. [01:07:29] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, exactly. Absolutely. [01:07:32] Speaker C: Because you typically think that they're conflicting or competing. [01:07:36] Speaker A: I hope not. Yeah. Yeah. I think you can do both. [01:07:40] Speaker B: We hope so. [01:07:41] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:07:41] Speaker B: Yeah. Because it would. It would be harder to get out of bed if you couldn't. Right. [01:07:44] Speaker A: If you can't look in the mirror, what are you doing? [01:07:48] Speaker B: Yeah, I totally agree. [01:07:49] Speaker A: And there are a lot of people where I'm like, how do you do that? [01:07:52] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, I know. [01:07:54] Speaker A: How do you go to bed at night? How do you sleep at night doing what you do? [01:07:59] Speaker B: Yeah. You have to be able to park your conscience and everything that would look like any of that. [01:08:02] Speaker A: That's for sure. Yeah. [01:08:04] Speaker B: Interesting. [01:08:05] Speaker A: Very cool. [01:08:06] Speaker C: I learned a lot. And actually, I feel like we just scratched the surface on so many interesting topics. I'm really, like. I went to school for kinesiology, so, like, anatomy of the body and nutrition. That's my passion. That I don't practice professionally, but you've got me very intrigued. And I think first like reading that book. Although I hope I don't have the same impulse that you had, because that would just be because I have another company that I need to run. [01:08:30] Speaker A: But. Yeah, yeah. [01:08:31] Speaker C: But I think for a lot of people, it's going to do the same. At least just looking into it or being a little bit more aware, which I think is, is the goal, at least that people are thinking about it when they're purchasing. We're all purchasing food every day. [01:08:43] Speaker A: Yeah. And you have to, you have to decide what your line is. Right, Right. If I can give you one more book recommendation that's much more recent and I thought is equally as powerful, but harder to read in terms of the eye opening of terms of where things are, because that book was published in 2007, I think Ben Lore wrote a book called the Secret Life of Groceries, and it is insane. And it's, It's. I really think everyone should be reading that book. [01:09:15] Speaker B: Okay. [01:09:15] Speaker A: The Secret Life of Groceries, guys. [01:09:17] Speaker B: We can find that and tag it. Make sure all of our audience knows it. [01:09:19] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. I do not get any. I emailed him after I was like, ben, I need to talk to you. I don't know what I need to say, but I need to speak with you because this book is insane and we've emailed a few times, but I think he's onto his next book. But it is. I'm not getting any sort of residuals or anything. I just think it's an important book and people need to be aware about what they're buying. Yeah. [01:09:40] Speaker C: Two final questions for you. Where can everyone find your products and find you and more about your company? And then lastly, if there's anything else, just lasting words you'd like to give to the audience that are. Are important to you to share. [01:09:57] Speaker A: Sure. Yeah. Thank you. So look for our gazpacho and our salsas at Whole Foods and then our soups. Our, our. Our soups are at Safeway and Moms and shoprite and then in the fall in Costco. But go to the store locator page on our website and the website's really a good place. Hopefully you'll. Our press. We will post. When this goes up. You know, we'll. We'll post this so you can find out more. And then our social media. Follow us. It's all on the website. And that gives, you know, if we're going to be doing any appearances or anything. We keep that up to date. And in terms of my final message, I'm just fundamentally trying to get people to connect the dots between or asking people not only think about what food does for themselves, but what your food choices do for the other. And if we can get people to not to just think a little bit broader, I do think that we can make a change. And that's all about education. That's why I talk about that book and fair food program. Just think about. Yeah, you don't have to make a sacrifice. You can have delicious, healthy, wonderful food that actually does make the world a little bit better. Totally agree. [01:11:06] Speaker B: Well, thank you. I mean, what a great. What a great interview. And thank you so much for your time. [01:11:10] Speaker A: You guys are great. [01:11:10] Speaker B: Our audience are gonna. You're gonna eat this one up. And I do mean that pun. [01:11:13] Speaker C: Absolutely. [01:11:14] Speaker B: I absolutely mean that cheesy punt I did. [01:11:18] Speaker A: That is. [01:11:19] Speaker B: That is improvisation I keep speaking of. See? So, yeah. Thank you so much. That was awesome. What a great time. [01:11:25] Speaker A: Appreciate it. Welcome to the Superstars tonight. Tonight.

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