Compass Coffee Talk Podcast to Feature Ibraheem Basir, Founder & CEO of A Dozen Cousins
Compass Coffee Talk™, a popular live webinar series featuring conversations with business leaders in the natural, organic and sustainable products industry, welcomes Ibraheem Basir, founder & CEO of A Dozen Cousins, a top Black-owned natural food brand.
What: Compass Coffee Talk™
When: Wednesday, July 19, 2023, 8:30 am PT; 9:30 am MT; 10:30 am CT; 11:30 am ET
Presented by: Compass Natural, Connecting Media and Markets in Natural and Organic Products
Sponsored by: Presence Marketing, Naturally Boulder, Naturally New York and Naturally San Diego
Register: Register for Free Here
BOULDER, CO (June 15, 2023) —Ibraheem Basir, founder and CEO of A Dozen Cousins, a natural food brand making beans, rice, sauces and more, will appear on July 19, 2023, on the popular Compass Coffee Talk™ podcast, which features lively conversations with natural products industry leaders, innovators and experts designed to help guide entrepreneurs and businesses to succeed in the market.
A Dozen Cousins, whose offerings hark back to the traditional Creole, Caribbean and Latin American dishes that Basir enjoyed in his childhood in the culinary melting pot of Brooklyn, N.Y., is named after Basir’s daughter and her 11 cousins.
Ibraheem Basir of A Dozen Cousins
Basir grew up in a large family where food was at the center of all celebrations and gatherings. After observing a gap in the market for authentic, nutritious cultural foods, Basir launched A Dozen Cousins to provide the comforting, flavorful recipes he grew up eating with his family. The brand’s flagship beans have become the No. 1 item in their category on Amazon and are sold nationwide at retailers including Whole Foods, Sprouts and Target, among others.
Hosted by natural and organic products industry veterans Bill Capsalis and Steven Hoffman, Compass Coffee Talk is produced by Compass Natural Marketing, a leading public relations, branding and business development agency serving the natural, organic, eco-friendly and hemp products industries. Capsalis and Hoffman will interview Basir to learn more about his and his company’s story.
Helping the Natural Foods Industry Evolve
Basir is a passionate advocate for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the consumer packaged goods industry and seeks to help the natural foods space evolve and grow to reflect the diversity of the United States. He is a founding board member of Project Potluck, a nonprofit that provides a range of mentorship and education programming in support of its mission to help people of color build successful companies and careers in the CPG industry.
Basir holds a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from the university’s Wharton School of Business. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and daughter.
Project Potluck
While breaking into the natural and organic products industry isn't easy for anyone, Black, Indigenous and other people from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds can find it especially challenging to attract investors, find the right co-packers, refine recipes and garner placement on retail shelves. Enter Project Potluck, established by Ibraheem Basir, CPG veteran and founder and CEO of A Dozen Cousins, a leading Black-owned natural food brand, to provide the support that minority entrepreneurs in the natural products space need to succeed. In March 2022, Project Potluck won New Hope Network’s inaugural Justice Award for its efforts to promote justice, equity, diversity and inclusion in the natural and organic products industry. Read about the organization in Forbes magazine.
Register for Compass Coffee Talk with Ibraheem Basir
Register here for free to participate in the upcoming Compass Coffee Talk, Wednesday, July 19, 2023, 11:30 am – Noon ET.
About Compass Coffee Talk
Take a 30-minute virtual coffee break with Compass Coffee Talk™. Hosted by natural industry veterans Bill Capsalis and Steve Hoffman, Coffee Talk features lively interactive conversations with industry leaders and experts designed to help guide entrepreneurs and businesses of any size succeed in the market for natural, organic, regenerative, hemp-derived and other eco-friendly products.
Compass Coffee Talk™ is produced by Compass Natural Marketing, a leading PR, branding and business development agency serving the natural and organic products industry.
Previous Episodes of Compass Coffee Talk
View the entire library of Compass Coffee Talk episodes on YouTube. Co-hosted by natural products industry veterans Steven Hoffman and Bill Capsalis, Compass Coffee Talk has featured notable professionals such as Jared Polis, governor of Colorado; Steve Hughes, co-founder of Sunrise Strategic Partners; John Mackey, CEO and co-founder, Whole Foods Market; Miyoko Schinner, CEO and founder, Miyoko’s Kitchen; John Foraker, CEO of Once Upon a Farm; Emerald-Jane Hunter, founder of the MyWhy Agency; Heather Terry, CEO of GoodSAM; Milton Zimmerman, executive vice president, Presence Marketing; Jennifer Maxwell, founder and CEO of JAMBAR®, and more.
Contact
Steven Hoffman, Compass Natural, steve@compassnaturalmarketing.com
Founding an Industry: Q&A With Energy Bar Entrepreneur Jennifer Maxwell
In the mid-1980s, Jennifer Biddulph was a nutrition and science major and track athlete at the University of California, Berkeley. Her boyfriend, Brian Maxwell, who had been a track star at UC Berkeley a decade earlier, was an Olympic marathon runner.
Like many marathoners at that time, Maxwell was concerned about what to eat to avoid running out of carbohydrate fuel and “hitting the wall” during a race. He and Biddulph began experimenting with recipes that included amino acids, complex and simple carbs, and other nutrients that could not only help high-level athletes perform, but also get what Biddulph called “that extra 1% advantage.”
In 1986, Maxwell and Biddulph debuted PowerBar®—the world’s first energy bar. In the ensuing years, the duo grew their company into a nine-figure business, married and had a family, and eventually sold PowerBar to Nestle in 2000.
JAMBAR founder and CEO Jennifer Maxwell
But in 2004, tragedy struck. Brian, who had been diagnosed with a congenital heart condition as a teenager, died of a heart attack at age 51—leaving behind Jennifer and six children under the age of 15. Devastated, Jennifer turned to music as a healing force. She took up the drums and today plays in two bands. She also started running again, and in 2021, combined all of her passions into a new energy-bar company, JAMBAR®.
All of JAMBAR’s four flavors are certified organic and whole-food based, and Jennifer Maxwell donates 50% of the company’s profits to community, education, music and outdoor activities. She also funds a sustainability program and entrepreneurship scholarship at the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business.
Recently, Maxwell joined industry veterans Bill Capsalis and Steven Hoffman for their podcast Compass Coffee Talk. Read on to learn more about the genesis and evolution of PowerBar and JAMBAR, along with Maxwell’s thoughts on philanthropy, sustainability and the future of the natural products industry.
Q: You literally created the energy bar industry and an entire food category out of scratch. What was it like back in PowerBar’s early days?
We started in our little apartment from nothing, really from nothing. And we grew not just a great product that was innovative at the time, but also a company that was innovative, as well.
We had an employee stock-ownership program, so all of our employees owned the company. We also divvied up the profits among all of the employees, from the warehouse people to top management. And I think that was one of the things that led to our success—people really believed in what we were doing, and they were essentially working for themselves.
Q: How did you actually get PowerBars out there and into stores?
We started as a mail-order business; of course, there was no Amazon at the time. We figured the bar would sell itself, so we'd go to events and give out a lot of product, and also put flyers on windshields of cars at races. There would be a little coupon you could tear off and you'd send it in the mail and get your three dozen bars for $39.
I was still a student at Berkeley, so on breaks from classes, I’d go to the post office, get the orders in the mail, go back to our apartment and fulfill the orders and put them out on the porch for UPS to come pick them up. And all of a sudden, we'd have 20, 30, 40 boxes a day going out of our little apartment.
After we moved on from being a mail-order business, our main market was bike shops. We went down to the local bike shop, walked in, showed them the product. People were so receptive to our bars that we were able to do our own brokering. We'd have stores calling us to place an order.
Q: By the '90s, things were rocking and you ended up selling PowerBar. And then you had some life events occur, unfortunately. You took a break to take care of the family and play music. What led you to get back into the industry with JAMBAR?
JAMBAR came about as part of a conversation I was having with my daughter around the kitchen table. She said, "Mom, I know you like energy bars, and there's nothing out there that you want to eat for one reason or the other." And I said, "You're right. I'm a food scientist, so why don't I get back into the game and spend some of my knowledge and experience creating something that is great?"
It took me about four years of putting ingredients together to come up with a product I liked. My big thing is I wanted it to be organic, because I believe in preserving our earth and helping people avoid pesticides and eating the best that they can. That limits ingredients a little, because you have to have mass quantities of organic ingredients available.
And then I wanted to use all real food. I didn't want to use ingredients that I didn't know where they came from, that were somehow changed in a lab or created with mechanisms that I didn't really want to put in my body. I wanted ingredients that are close to nature and that taste great.
And, of course, there are a lot of ingredient options that we didn't have in the '80s, whether it's different grains, proteins, fruits, chocolate, and different ways of holding the product together. That’s a plus because one of the most important things I wanted to include in my portfolio of flavors is a lot of variety.
Each of the four JAMBAR flavors—Chocolate Cha Cha, Malt Nut Melody, Jammin’ Jazzleberry and Musical Mango—is very different from the other. Where other products on the market might take a base formulation and just add a little of this, a little of that and call it a new flavor, I didn't want to do that. So it made my formulation job very challenging—working with an array of very different percentages of all of these different ingredients, but keeping each bar similar enough that it's treated the same in the factory.
We have our own state-of-the-art manufacturing facility—which, interestingly, was once a Grateful Dead recording studio—so that gives us the ability to call our own shots. We can do a run of one flavor and then reset for the next run of a different flavor. We can say, “OK, it's Mango Bar Day.” We cut our own mango, and because it’s the second ingredient on the label, we have a lot of mango in there.
Q: What are some of the other major differences you see in the supply chain and business practices as you’ve come back into the industry with JAMBAR?
I think there’s always a lot to learn. I have a lot of experience and I have my own way of doing things, but I have to be able to adapt to a new way of doing things, which is full of technology. We came from an era of no technology to an era of everything's technology. So that's a pretty steep learning curve. Of course, I don't live in a tunnel or a cave, but in terms of really getting the most out of your resources, you have to be very savvy with your technology.
But the caveat to that is we have to be able to keep what makes us human. And that’s the challenge we are having today, in terms of really looking at what we want to accomplish. With JAMBAR, we want to accomplish supporting community, we want to accomplish manufacturing a great product full of real-food ingredients, and we want to accomplish having a type of work environment where people feel they can really make a difference and be a part of.
And the overall arching concept behind remembering what makes us human is communication. Sometimes, when you get a lot of technology involved, effective communication goes out the window. That's what I'm seeing with sales, in distribution and sometimes in marketing and brokering—communication can become very challenging, and you can lose a little bit of the essence of what you want to accomplish each day or each week or each month. That’s why I emphasize communication—it’s paramount to keeping the ball moving forward.
Creating the Silicon Valley of Natural Food: Q&A With Entrepreneur Steve Hughes
In 1997, Steve Hughes was named CEO of Boulder, Colo.-based Celestial Seasonings tea company. Although he came from a conventional food background, Hughes quickly saw the potential of the natural foods movement—and he realized that Boulder was one of its epicenters. Along with local first-generation natural products company founders like Steve Demos and Mark Retzloff, Hughes was instrumental in turning Boulder into what he calls “the Silicon Valley of natural and organic food.”
For more than 25 years, Hughes has helped build some of the natural products industry’s iconic brands. After leaving Celestial Seasonings, Hughes moved on to serve as CEO of Frontier Natural Products. He then built Boulder Brands, which launched EVOL Foods, Udi’s, Smart Balance, Earth Balance and other brands. Seven years ago, Hughes founded Sunrise Strategic Partners, which is now one of the leading investment firms in the natural channel.
Steve Hughes, CEO & co-founder of Sunrise Strategic Partners.
At Sunrise, Hughes identifies and invests in brands in trending categories that are transforming the healthy, active and sustainable-living space. Sunrise recently merged two companies in its portfolio—Teton Waters Ranch and Sun Fed Ranch—to create the industry’s leading grass-fed/finished-beef platform dedicated to regenerative agriculture. Other Sunrise investments include Maple Hill Creamery, which produces 100% grass-fed, organic dairy products, and Kodiak Cakes, which produces whole-grain, high-protein pancake and waffle mixes.
Hughes recently reminisced about his experience in the natural products industry and shared his predictions about the future on the podcast Compass Coffee Talk, co-hosted by industry veterans Bill Capsalis and Steven Hoffman and sponsored by PRESENCE Marketing, Naturally Boulder, Naturally San Diego and Naturally New York.
Read on to learn more about Hughes’ perspectives on brand building, hot investments in the natural products space, regenerative agriculture, the top components of a good business model and more.
Q: Over the years, you’ve really kept your eye on how to build brands, how to consolidate and scale, and how investments and economics affect the natural products marketplace. How is all of that going so far in 2023?
For 25 years, there was nothing but capital, increasing almost every year. If you had a good idea, you could probably get some funding to get started. But what happened last spring was that the pendulum kind of swung back the other way. People were less prepared to invest in companies that maybe had a great idea but not a great business model.
There are a couple of reasons why this happened. First of all, the Fed started making money more expensive. And then there was a lineup of natural brands that went public, like Beyond Meat, Oatly, Tattooed Chef. They came out of the box trading well above their IPO price, but they were businesses that had great top lines without very good business models. They were losing money, and they’re now trading 95%, 90% below their IPO price. That has really cooled off investors looking to take the big swing at high-growth, not-great-business-model kind of companies.
Before, this capital was pretty patient. They’d invest in a company, and if that company was losing money but the business was growing, they’d keep funding the business. But that changed pretty dramatically pretty quickly. I think there’s a little bit of retrenchment now, and I think it’s going to be with us for a while because interest rates are not going down anytime soon. They’re probably going up.
Q: What does that mean for natural products companies looking for investors currently or in the near future?
I think when you look at the lineup of companies that went public in 2020 and 2021 and how they’ve performed in the public space, it’s given investors a real pause about, OK, what are the rules? What has to happen for a company to be successful today? I think the answer is a bit different than it was a year or two or three years ago.
If you’re a company that’s got some scale and making money, I would just be really prudent now and be patient and grow and protect your bottom line. But if you’re a smaller company that isn’t cash-flow positive, you’ve got to get cash-flow positive. You’re not going to get funded, or if you do get funded, you’re not going to like the terms of that funding.
I think what we did with Teton and SunFed Ranch is a good example. These are two pretty good-sized companies, at about $60 million each. They had just turned profitable, but we figured if we put the two of them together and created Grass Fed Foods, we’d end up with a $120 million business growing 30% plus, making good money.
That’s one model. The other model I call “safety in numbers.” If you're a smaller company that’s underfunded, is losing money and can’t get funding, think about other brands in your category that are complementary and are facing the exact same issue. Could they or should they be trying to merge? I think that’s going to be the theme over the next 18 months—call it the mini-merger, where you get two or three small companies in the same category that together are profitable.
Q: Grass Fed Foods just recently launched. Can you tell us more about how it came about?
We invested in Teton Waters Ranch, which was grass-fed hot dogs and dinner sausages, six years ago. They were sourcing most of their raw material out of Tasmania, which is the ideal place in the world to get grass-fed meat. We built that business, got it to $60 million. But there was nobody to scale in the grass-fed space.
One of the challenges for regenerative agriculture companies like Teton is for the company to get the scale, so the retailers and food-service operators can really have confidence they can lean into it and get the product supplied properly and professionally. My partner, Vince, kept knocking on doors, saying, “If we could get two of these companies together, we could clear the field and be the largest.”
Then, I met Chris and Matt from SunFed five years ago at Expo. They’re sixth-generation ranchers in Northern California that do fresh grass-fed meat—what goes in the butcher case, what goes on the table at the restaurant. They had gotten SunFed to $60, $70 million at that time.
So, we had these two beautifully complementary companies—one doing prepared meat with an international source, one doing fresh meat with a domestic source. The big challenge was this was going to require somebody who really knew what they were doing to put these two together. We brought in Jeff Tripician, who had spent 15 years in premium protein with Niman Ranch and Coleman Natural Foods and had successful exits on both. So now we’ve got a scaled business with a guy who’s been there, done that—a guy with a playbook.
We invested in Teton when it was a $3 million business and today, it’s part of a $120 million platform. This is the largest grass-fed beef platform in the space, and I think it’s going to ramp and grow very quickly. This is really going to be a rocket ship. This could be the biggest outcome in Sunrise history.
Q: Can you talk a little bit more about the regenerative agriculture you’re promoting with Grass Fed Foods and other companies?
At Sunrise, we really felt six years ago that regen agriculture is going to be perhaps the biggest fundamental mega trend of the next 20 years—because, basically, it’s back to the future. It’s how we did it 100 years ago before we industrialized our meat supply and dairy industry. It’s better for the earth. So, we’ve put about probably 40% of our capital into this space.
One of the companies we invested in is Maple Hill Creamery, which is America’s first and only 100% grass-fed organic dairy milkshed, with over 150 farms. There are so many great positives to their regen agriculture business model.
First of all, they rotate the cows around the milkshed every three days. This makes the grass look like you haven’t cut it in three years—like how it used to be on dairy farms. The cows are also productive until they’re 14 years old, whereas an organic cow might be productive only until age 4.
A calf never gets an ounce of the mother’s milk on an organic farm. They get their own formula. But we incentivize Maple Hill farmers to wean, to have the calves on the mom for eight months. That makes the chemistry of the milk different, and better for the consumer. Cows are naturally wired to eat grass—they have four stomachs for that reason—and their grass-fed milk is a different chemistry than the milk from cows fed grain.
We launched Maple Hill Milk into Whole Foods. Our best item at Boulder Brands, Earth Balance margarine, sold $85 a week per store at Whole Foods. But after just 90 days, half gallons of whole milk from Maple Hill were going $600 a week per store. So, the consumer gets it. A challenge for us is to get the products there in an economical way that they can afford.
We were smaller, later-term investors in Vital Farms, which produces eggs, butter and ghee in the regen agriculture space, and it’s really exciting to see what’s happened with that business. It’s one of those that came out in the class of 2020 IPOs that traded way up, but is now normalized back to a pretty good place. It’s $15-a-share stock, and I think they've got nothing but white space in front of them.
Q: Speaking about brand development, we have a question from a listener: “What are the basic three to five general components of a great business model?”
Well, the first ideal is a highly differentiated, meaningful point of difference, ideally attaching an untapped consumer need. You’re looking for something the consumer’s ready for but isn’t on the market yet, like Maple Hill milk.
The second thing is margin. If you're a 50% gross-margin business, your ability to get the cash flow to break even quickly is there. But if you’re a 20% gross-margin business, you’ve got a long road to go and a lot of wood to chop.
The third is talent. To get to a business of $10, $15 million, you’ve got to almost be manic, right? You’re spending your own money. You’re spending nickels like manhole covers. You make every decision, because you’re on the line. But when your business starts to scale, you need to have the ability to bring in the “been-there, done-that” talent and be able to manage that talent. And that’s a challenge, because people that have been successful, that have been with bigger businesses and then come to smaller businesses, have a different business-management model.
Once we get the right CEO in place, the folks across our businesses see that, really, almost overnight, they start making the kind of progress and traction they need to get to scale the business.
Q: Can you give us an example, like how that applies to Kodiak Cakes? We know this is a story you’re really proud of personally, and there’s even a “How I Built This” podcast on NPR about Kodiak.
Kodiak is probably my favorite business experience. I got a call from my partner Jamie Manges at Trilantic Capital Partners, and he said he knew somebody who knew Kodiak co-founder Joel Clark, and Joel was getting ready to take in capital. So, I went on the internet, and they had the hokiest video of a trailer, which is their office, and a bear breaking into it, right? I thought, “This is something. OK, I’m just doing Jamie a favor. OK, I'm that kind of guy.”
Kodiak’s point of difference was a whole-wheat, high-protein alternative to white refined flour, which meant it could play in any category white refined flour is in. When Joel came to see me, Kodiak was at $15 million. It was at Costco and Target.
Joel showed me his deck, and when I got to the second page, I went, “Holy smokes, Joel, this is a billion-dollar brand.” He went, “What are you talking about?” I said, “Joel, you have got a 20 share of pancake-mix business at Target, and the category's up 20%. The category nationally is up 2%. You’re bringing millennial moms with money to Target to buy pancake mixes.”
So, we partnered up with Joel, and it was fascinating. It was just a great collaboration. Joel has got such great business and brand instincts. His business IQ is off the charts.
We came up with what we call the Kodiak Cabin. The foundation of the cabin is pancake mixes in 25,000 doors. The first floor is baking mixes in 25,000 doors. The second floor is all of that in a cup you can microwave in a minute. Then, the third floor is frozen waffles.
Kodiak went from $20 million to $200 million when we sold the majority of the control to Catterton 18 months ago. When I spoke to Joel recently, he was at $350 million.
Two years before he met us, Joel and Cam, his partner, were on “Shark Tank.” They were told all the reasons they weren’t going to be successful. I think they offered Joel $500,000 for half of the company. And, he said no, wisely.
I’m kind of a brand junkie and a trend junkie. I’ve been on some of the great rides in this industry. But working with Joel on this one was so special because it was so personal. All of his family had equity in the business, and he got to an extraordinary outcome. To have a small part in helping him do that is so great.
Q: Finally, what’s on the horizon for you personally? What kind of work is exciting for you right now?
I love looking for the next new thing. As I said earlier, I think products that revert us back to the basics are an untapped consumer need, whether it’s grass-fed meat and dairy or heirloom grains.
I’ve been talking with one company that’s doing stone-ground milling the old way. This company has just gotten started. They’re in the Northeast in Whole Foods, and they’re outselling Dave’s Killer Bagels by 50%, 75%. So, the consumer gets it, right? But one of the big challenges companies like this have is capital.
I also like resolving the disconnect between what a company founder says their unique point of difference is and what their product package says. One of the things we learned at Sunrise over the years is that you have your story, your concept statement. You want that to be 40%, 50% top-box resonating with your target consumer. But you want to make sure your package reflects that concept too. Because the reality is that for these small, emerging companies, 99.9% of their marketing budgets are package.
This industry is so dynamic, and while it’s going to go through different peaks and cycles, I think it’s just fascinating to see how many brilliant and caring people are in this industry. I think a young founder can reach out to anybody in this town and get a cup of coffee. I think that’s something we need to continue to nurture and build on, because there are tougher days ahead.
I've gotten a lot of great things out of this industry, a lot of great friends, a lot of great experiences. I’ve done well. It’s been great for my family, and I want to give back a little bit, and not necessarily with a price tag to it—just to help out where I can.
Compass Coffee Talk™ Gets Its JAM On: Podcast to Feature Jennifer Maxwell, Creator of the Original PowerBar® & Founder of the New, Artisan Organic Energy Bar, JAMBAR®
Compass Coffee Talk™, a popular live webinar series featuring conversations with top business leaders in the natural, organic and sustainable products industry, welcomes Jennifer Maxwell, Co-Founder of the original PowerBar® and Founder and CEO of the new Certified Organic, Artisan Energy Bar Brand, JAMBAR®.
What: Compass Coffee Talk™
When: Wednesday, April 5, 2023, 8:30 am PT; 9:30 am MT; 10:30 am CT; 11:30 am ET
Presented by: Compass Natural, Connecting Media and Markets in Natural and Organic Products
Sponsored by: Presence Marketing, Naturally Boulder, Naturally New York and Naturally San Diego
Register: Register for Free Here
BOULDER, CO (February 17, 2023) — How do you top being the person who created the entire energy bar category? By taking that category to the next level. Jennifer Maxwell, inventor of the original PowerBar and founder and CEO of JAMBAR, is doing just that.
Maxwell will appear on April 5, 2023, on the popular Compass Coffee Talk™podcast, which features lively conversations with natural products industry leaders, innovators and experts designed to help guide entrepreneurs and businesses to succeed in the market.
Jennifer Maxwell, founder and CEO of JAMBAR®
Jennifer, along with her late husband Brian Maxwell, literally invented the entire energy bar category in the mid-1980s. Today, the energy bar category, valued at nearly $5 billion globally, is one of the most vibrant product sections in any retail food store.
Jennifer launched JAMBAR using her food and nutrition science skills first learned at the University of California, Berkeley, to create a line of artisan energy bars with certified organic, whole food ingredients, high-quality protein and fiber.
Considered the “next generation” of energy bars, JAMBARs boast one of the cleanest labels in the category. In addition, Maxwell’s commitment to philanthropy is at the forefront of the brand’s mission – JAMBAR donates 50% of all after-tax profits to support music, active living and community connections in Marin County, California, where the company is based, and around the country.
Hosted by natural and organic products industry veterans Bill Capsalis and Steven Hoffman, Compass Coffee Talk is produced by Compass Natural Marketing, a leading public relations, branding, and business development agency serving the natural, organic, eco-friendly and hemp products industries. Capsalis and Hoffman will interview Maxwell to learn more about her comeback story.
A Legacy of Athletics, Entrepreneurship … and Music
A lifelong long-distance runner, Maxwell studied food science, nutrition and exercise physiology at U.C. Berkeley, where she met her husband, Brian. After developing the original PowerBar energy bar recipe in their kitchen, they began building the business from a small apartment, growing the company to more than $150 million in annual sales before selling the company in 2000. When Brian passed away unexpectedly in 2004, Jennifer focused on raising her six children and, over the years, discovered the healing power of music. Today, in her free time, she performs regularly as a drummer in bands in the San Francisco Bay Area.
“We’re thrilled to host Jennifer Maxwell on Compass Coffee Talk,” said Steven Hoffman, Managing Director of Compass Natural and co-host of Compass Coffee Talk. “As musicians in our spare time ourselves, Bill Capsalis and I appreciate JAMBAR’s mission and Jennifer’s passion for supporting music and active living. Jennifer invented the energy bar category and we look forward to hearing her perspective on this growing food segment, her comeback in the natural foods industry, and her continued entrepreneurship.”
Register for Compass Coffee Talk with Jennifer Maxwell
Register here for free to participate in the upcoming Compass Coffee Talk, Wednesday, April 5, 2023, 11:30 am – Noon ET.
About Compass Coffee Talk
Take a 30-minute virtual coffee break with Compass Coffee Talk™. Hosted by natural industry veterans Bill Capsalis and Steve Hoffman, Coffee Talk features lively interactive conversations with industry leaders and experts designed to help guide entrepreneurs and businesses of any size succeed in the market for natural, organic, regenerative, hemp-derived and other eco-friendly products.
Compass Coffee Talk™ is produced by Compass Natural Marketing, a leading PR, branding and business development agency serving the natural and organic products industry.
Previous Episodes of Compass Coffee Talk
View the entire library of Compass Coffee Talk episodes on YouTube. Co-hosted by natural products industry veterans Steven Hoffman and Bill Capsalis, Compass Coffee Talk has featured notable professionals such as Jared Polis, Governor of Colorado; Steve Hughes, co-founder of Sunrise Strategic Partners; John Mackey, CEO and Co-Founder, Whole Foods Market; Miyoko Schinner, CEO and Founder, Miyoko’s Kitchen; John Foraker, CEO of Once Upon a Farm; Emerald-Jane Hunter, Founder of the MyWhy Agency; Heather Terry, CEO of GoodSAM; Milton Zimmerman, Executive Vice President, Presence Marketing; and more.
Contact
Steven Hoffman, Compass Natural, steve@compassnaturalmarketing.com
Once Upon a Farm: Q&A With John Foraker
Once Upon a Farm: Q&A With John Foraker
By Steven Hoffman
John Foraker, CEO and co-founder of organic baby food company Once Upon a Farm, and former CEO of Annie's Inc., has been building national organic brands since the mid-1990s. An accessible business leader, he has served as an advisor to numerous emerging brands, and remains one of the industry's top advocates for organic. John recently shared his views during a Q&A session on business, organics, entrepreneurship, and today's market climate on the popular podcast Compass Coffee Talk, produced by Compass Natural and sponsored by Presence Marketing. Read on to learn more about John’s thoughts on today’s natural and organic products marketplace, how his company is navigating today’s economic climate, and how his perspectives can help your business.
Q: What inspired you to get involved in the organic food industry?
Before getting involved in natural and organic foods, I was a banker and worked about seven years in commercial corporate lending in the wine industry. I became super interested in brands as a result of that work, and I wanted to transition out of banking. So I went to a business school in Berkeley. While there, I got involved in a food startup between first and second year, and that's kind of where my attachment to food came. I come from an agricultural community and my family grew rice in the northern Sacramento valley. So I was always connected to food.
It was the early 1990s, and my son, who's now 30, was turning about four or five, something like that. He was young, and I came home one day and my wife had a separate shelf in the refrigerator and there were these beautiful strawberries on one shelf and then some good looking strawberries on the other. And I reached for the more beautiful ones and my wife said, “Oh no, no, those are the organic ones. Those are not for you; those are for Jack.”
And so I'm like, “Wait a second!” And it was at a time when organic products were still being sold in small natural food stores and independents. And then there was the specialty food business, such as Neman Marcus, Williams Sonoma, Fresh Fields, and others doing super specialty stuff, and to a lesser degree, healthy products. Those two worlds were so obviously colliding with each other — organic and better food. That led me to become interested in it from just a consumer standpoint and seeing the audience that was coming in, and also the business opportunity around it. I got involved in the space in my first startup in about 1994, and that led to an investment in Annies in 1999, and then there was the run with Annie’s.
John Foraker
Q: Baby food is often a gateway for families to discover the benefits of organic food. Can you talk about Once Upon a Farm and its commitment to organic and child nutrition?
Once Upon a Farm is committed to elevating child nutrition. The company was started in 2015 by Cassandra Curtis and Ari Raz in San Diego. Cassandra was trying to solve her own problems: she wanted better baby food for her kids. When she’d go into the grocery store, she didn’t like all the shelf-stable products that were there. So, she developed the first fresh baby food…and we brought it to market. I became an investor in 2016 and in 2017, they invited Jennifer Garner and me to come in as co-founders and take it to the next level. Not only have we brought it to the baby space, but we’ve been able to elevate it to kids ages one through seven. And it's turned into a pretty significant brand now, available in about 12,000 stores in North America. We're in Target, Kroger and the like, but, also, we have a significant business at Whole Foods Market and Sprouts Farmers Market. And also, the independent natural products retailers and co-ops are incredibly important to us. In fact, we really started there. Our products are well positioned for the independent channel, and we love it, so go support those retailers when you can; they’re doing a great job with our products.
The way I think about it in my own space is that I spent 17 years at Annie’s, and Annie's was a brand that really helped mainstream organic. We were not the only one, of course — there were other organic brands leading the way, too — but we were one of those brands that helped bring organic out of that spot at the back of the store and into the mainstream aisles. Also, at Annie’s, we focused on kids and kid nutrition, and we did it mostly in dry products. We worked hard to elevate the nutrition in those products and to have less sodium and obviously, none of the fake stuff, such as artificial colors and flavors. Plus, we were focused on organic to a great degree. Yet, it was hard to elevate the nutritional component the way I wanted to.
So, when the opportunity came to get involved in Once Upon a Farm, I jumped on board, because fresh is obviously a big thing on parents’ minds. And there was this technology out there, HPP high pressure processing pasteurization, which basically uses pressure instead of heat to take these wonderful fresh fruits and veggies, blend them all together, and never getting over 40 degrees using pressure to knock back any harmful bacteria and give you a little bit of shelf life. As a result, what's so amazing about our products is the flavor and the color and the texture and the phytonutrients, and all the things that don't get beat down when you process with heat. Everything we do right now is refrigerated, with relatively short shelf life. By the time it gets to retail, it's got 30 to 60 days on it. I had to learn a lot, as a cold supply chain is a lot more of a challenge than what I worked with at Annie's. When the four of us originally got together, Jennifer, Ari, Cassandra and me, we said, okay, “How are we going to bust this out?” The hard thing is, you're selling baby food and where do you put it in the store? There are no coolers in the baby aisle. We had to figure that out; we were creating a new category, which is fun but hard.
Q: How is your company managing supply chain, labor and inflation issues?
We're not immune from inflation. It's been endemic in everyone’s supply chain. The conversation we've been having in the organic industry is that the base of agricultural acres in the U.S. is still is very, very low. Yet, consumer demand for organic has been increasing significantly year after year and the industry's gotten bigger and bigger. So, the pandemic and the shifts in consumer behavior just put more and more pressure on that. What it's done for companies like us is we have to spend a lot more time focusing on where stuff's coming from in the next two years, not just right now, and developing supply relationships and adding growers to our network. It's a nonstop effort.
We were able to go through the pandemic and still fill our order rates in the 98-99% range, which is slightly miraculous, because it was really difficult and we've had to carry a lot more inventory. We source a lot of ingredients from the tropics, so I'd say about half comes from Mexico down to South America, and half of it comes from domestic producers. We've had to stuff warehouses with frozen IQF (individually quick frozen), high quality ingredients throughout this time. I believe we have 28 different warehouses across the country right now, just filled with materials to stay ahead of all the uncertainty that you have to deal with in the supply chain. Now, shipping has moderated and fuel surcharges have come down quite a bit. Some of the shipping lanes have gotten less expensive. However, there is still a shortage of labor and truckers. They are getting premiums, so I wouldn't say it's come way off, but it’s definitely come off its peaks. But, it's still significantly higher to ship in most places than it was a couple years ago. No doubt.
One of the biggest changes we made is we went almost entirely remote at the beginning of the pandemic because of the lockdowns. We had a corporate headquarters in Berkeley, CA, and we were headquarter centric, like many traditional companies. We adopted lots of tools to figure out how to do better remotely and work with each other that way. And then about six months in, we made the decision to do that permanently, and we've grown significantly. We've more than doubled the number of employees since then, and our mantra has been that we're going to hire the best talent wherever it is. We have people all over the country now. We’ve also figured out how to work it in the plants, though there are still labor challenges. Obviously, at the beginning of pandemic, the priority was working with the manufacturers to keep everybody safe, make sure that we had enough capacity, etc. It was really difficult, but that's moderated, and it’s gotten quite a bit easier. Still, it’s more expensive because we're having and wanting to pay a premium to get people who are going to stick around and be with us for a long time. But, that part at least has gotten a little more predictable.
Q: When you made the decision to go remote, how did your workforce respond in terms of loyalty and commitment? It's a looming question for many business leaders in keeping their workforce together and motivated. How do you do that when you're remote — have you learned any tricks?
I’d say we're on a learning journey. We haven't been doing this long enough to know, but I'll say a few principles. One is we've adopted technology to help us stay closer than we would otherwise. So we're a really strong Slack-using company. We use Slack for everything and that's helped because it can help emulate the visibility you get by walking through the office and talking to somebody on the right and the left that are different functionals and being able to see. That helps a little bit, and we've been focused on lots and lots of communication — communication about what the business is doing, how it's doing. Every week I write something that goes to our board and all of our employees. Also, we conduct monthly company meetings online that we spend a lot of time thinking about.
Then the piece that we're still evolving, that I think is a core part of it, is we're talking about bringing everybody together at least two times a year, which is expensive. But when you think about, we don't have a real big office lease, so there are trade offs, right? Also, our company leadership is going out into the market and saying, “Hey, the marketing team's going to go to Denver for four days and visit with our partners there. So that's the kind of stuff we're doing, and so far, it's worked really well. I mean, our engagement's very high.
We have incredible employees, but I still do worry. Like, is there an end point to that? Do you start to get diminishing returns from it? I will say that as a general rule, our employees love it. They love the culture of flexibility and being close to home and being able to organize their work around their life in ways that are a lot more flexible than they were before. And so there's a lot of things they love about it, but as business leaders, engagement is the part that we all have to be concerned about, right?
Q: What's your outlook on the future for organic and regenerative food and agriculture?
We’ve been growing and scrambling so fast the last few years just to buy high quality organic ingredients and deal with economic conditions that honestly we haven’t had the chance to drill down to the next level like regenerative organic agriculture, but it is something we want to focus on in the future. The fundamentals around organic are incredibly strong and are continuing as the generation of Millennial households that came into parenthood when I was at Annie's care a lot more about where their food comes from and the transparency around it. When Annie’s was going into retailers, we knew there was a tsunami of consumer coming who are going to be interested in organic and clean food, and that for sure happened, and it’s continuing. So, I think the future is very bright from a demand side. I think the place where it gets more challenging is the supply side. And are we doing enough in public policy, through agriculture programs and the USDA to encourage organic transitions and support organic farmers and the economics required to make that a viable, lifelong pursuit. I think that's going to continue to be the challenge for the next decade: can supply keep up with demand?
Q: Are you innovating any new things going forward that you could share with our audience?
We have a lot going on in the innovation space. You know, you need to work on innovation a couple years before…easily, a couple years before you make it big. I can't really reveal any of that now, but I will say one thing that's pretty exciting. My first instinct when I came to Once Upon a Farm was that we were going to grow the fresh baby food business by building out coolers in retail. We started working on that but found it was difficult. We had to learn a lot. We ended up building the brand largely in refrigerated areas of the store where products such as yogurt and fresh snacking are. Today, that's a significant part of the business. Now, however, we never gave up on that ambition. We've been working hard for three years and have some pretty amazing things happening there. Over the next couple of years, you're going to see thousands of baby coolers in retail stores in the U.S. Freshpet did it in pet food, which is pretty unbelievable, and it always amazed me that nobody had done that in baby food, so we will.
Q: What counsel can you offer for brands trying to break into the natural and organic channel right now?
It is a very challenging time, maybe a more challenging time than ever. But I'll also say it's always been challenging. To succeed, build a network around you; reach out to people that can give you good advice and help. Learn from your peers. I had great mentors when I started my first company and have always been of the mindset that I wanted to pay that forward and be available for other people, which is why I'm pretty available. There's also a sense of humility that comes with that. I've been in this industry for a long time and have made many mistakes. I've learned a lot, but still don't know crap. That's my view. Frankly, I think I learn as much from entrepreneurs I engage with and help as they learn from me. I'm constantly looking for that too. It can be mutually beneficial to engage with really smart people who are passionate about starting something. The emergence in the last decade of digital marketing as an art and a practice is a great example of that. The scrappy ways that small entrepreneur companies grow have really opened the eyes of lots of people. And I've learned a lot from that. It’s hard, yes, but there are lots of good resources out there. There are lots of good books to read. Get involved in the Naturally Network or one of its regional chapters in Austin, Bay Area, Boulder, Chicago, Los Angeles, Minnesota, New York, North Bay, and San Diego. I wish that organization was around in 1994 when I was starting out. Learn from the people involved in that network and you'll avoid a lot of mistakes, if you just talk to people who have been around for a while. Because a lot of the same mistakes are repeated, you know, in the space. The talent that's in this industry now is just unbelievable. Every time I run into these entrepreneurs coming in, I just shake my head going, “it’s unbelievable.” We're pulling in the talent that used to go to the consultants and the investment banks and larger corporations, and it's fantastic.
This article was originally published in Presence Marketing’s October 2022 newsletter.
Natural Foods CPG Entrepreneur Moves to Empower Farmers – GoodSAM’s Heather Terry Joins Compass Coffee Talk, Oct. 19, 2022, 11:30 am ET
Natural Foods CPG Entrepreneur Moves to Empower Farmers – GoodSAM’s Heather Terry Joins Compass Coffee Talk,
Oct. 19, 2022, 11:30 am et
LEADING PODCAST COMPASS COFFEE TALK WELCOMES HEATHER TERRY, FOUNDER AND CEO OF GOODSAM FOODS, FOR A DISCUSSION OF REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE, THE IMPORTANCE OF SUPPORTING FARMERS, DIRECT TRADE, AND HIGH STANDARDS FOR COFFEE AND CHOCOLATE
WEDNESDAY, OCT. 19, 2022, 11:30 am ET
ZOOM, Admission Is Free
Heather Terry, founder and CEO of GoodSAM Foods
Compass Coffee Talk™ continues its live webinar series for entrepreneurs and business leaders in the natural, organic and sustainable products industry by welcoming Heather Terry, founder and CEO of GoodSAM Foods, a public benefit corporation and a rapidly growing brand in the natural and organic products channel.
In the popular podcast, hosted by natural products veterans Steven Hoffman and Bill Capsalis, Heather will share how GoodSAM is “doing well by doing good,” leading the way in regenerative agriculture and consciously sourced consumer products, with vertically integrated product lines in coffee and chocolate sourced from sustainable partner farms.
Heather brings a career’s worth of experience to the GoodSAM venture, with a mix of entrepreneurial forays, such as NibMor Chocolate, and work as a consultant who grew many natural beauty product brands such as S.W. Basics, Pulp Pantry and Organic Bath Company, among others.
Today, Heather is focused on working with farmers to ensure they are paid fairly and the material is ethically sourced for all of GoodSAM’s direct trade products.
“It seems small, picking up snacks or coffee for your everyday, but when you buy those things from GoodSAM, you are doing so much more,” states Heather on the GoodSAM website (www.goodsamfoods.com). “You are enjoying a high quality product with health benefits, you are paying farmers and families a living wage, you are contributing to reversing climate change because of our and our partners’ sustainability practices. It’s all circular and it is the reason I love getting up in the morning to do my job.”
“Certain individuals make a big difference, and they influence and inspire others with not only good business sense, but also a strong sense of mission, leadership and service. Heather Terry is one of those people. Tune in to learn more about Heather and how her story can apply to the success of your business,” said Steven Hoffman, managing director of Compass Natural and co-host and producer of Compass Coffee Talk.
Register here for Compass Coffee Talk with Heather Terry
Register here to participate in the upcoming Compass Coffee Talk, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2022, 11:30 am – noon ET
About Heather Terry
Heather Terry is the founder and CEO of GoodSAM Foods, a public benefit corporation (PBC). She has been a CPG mentor and an angel investor and is the author of From Broadway to Wall Street. In addition, she is a partner and the former chief strategy officer of BeyondBrands, a leading consulting agency focused on natural products. For more than a decade, Heather has been immersed in the consumer-packaged goods vertical, first as the co-founder of NibMor Chocolate. She also has worked to expand popular clean beauty and wellness brands, including S.W. Basics, Pulp Pantry and Organic Bath Company. She has secured for her wellness clients coveted spots on the shelves of national retailers such as Whole Foods Market and Target. She has also been featured at WELL Insiders, WELL Summit, The Wild Rose Collective, the Rising Women Conference, Loyola University, Good Housekeeping’s Raise the Green Bar Summit and the Regenerative Rising Summit.
Heather is a graduate of the International Culinary Center in New York and received an MFA from Rutgers University. She is pursuing a degree in permaculture and is passionate about direct trade and regenerative agriculture.
About Compass Coffee Talk™
Take a 30-minute virtual coffee break with Compass Coffee Talk™. Hosted by natural industry veterans Bill Capsalis and Steve Hoffman, Coffee Talk features lively interactive conversations with industry leaders and experts designed to help guide entrepreneurs and businesses of any size succeed in the market for natural, organic, regenerative, hemp-derived and other eco-friendly products.
Compass Coffee Talk™ is produced by Compass Natural Marketing, a leading PR, branding and business development agency serving the natural and organic products industry. Learn more.
VIEW OUR PAST COMPASS COFFEE TALK EPISODES ON YOUTUBE.
A Lifelong Commitment to Organic — John Foraker Joins Compass Coffee Talk, September 14, 2022, 11:00 am ET
A Lifelong Commitment to Organic — John Foraker Joins Compass Coffee Talk, September 14, 2022,
11:00 am ET
Leading Podcast Compass Coffee Talk Welcomes John Foraker, Co-Founder and CEO of Once Upon a Farm, for a discussion on sustainability, regenerative agriculture and setting the standard for organic consumer products, September 14, 2022, 11:00 am ET.
Wednesday, September 14, 11:00 – 11:30 am ET
Zoom, Admission is Free
John Foraker, Co-Founder and CEO, Once Upon a Farm
Compass Coffee Talk™ continues its live webinar series of business leaders throughout the natural, organic and sustainable products industry by welcoming John Foraker, Co-Founder and CEO of Once Upon a Farm. A renowned supporter of regenerative agriculture with an unmatched dedication to organic consumer products, John continues leading the way in the specialty, natural and organic industry through his work at Once Upon a Farm.
Throughout his 30+ years of experience, John led the well known natural and organic food brand Annie’s, Inc. to an eventual sale to General Mills, where he was influential in their adoption of regenerative agriculture. From there, he co-founded Once Upon a Farm alongside Jennifer Garner, Ari Raz and Cassandra Curtis, where his leadership brought a sharp focus on sustainability and social responsibility to the company, which still continues today.
Throughout his tenure at Once Upon a Farm, the company has expanded its portfolio of products, developed a unique process to secure nutrients and flavors into its product recipes, and helped lead the way in an entirely new category in ‘Fresh Snacking.’ With a passion for developing mission driven brands, John inspires his organization to advocate and support efforts that drive positive social change and food justice for the benefit of families, children and parents.
About John Foraker
John is the Co-Founder and CEO of Once Upon A Farm, a company with the mission of providing yummy and nutritious “farm-to-family” foods to kids of all ages.
Prior to his new start-up, John spent more than 30 years in the natural and organic food industry running businesses with a sharp focus on sustainability and social responsibility. John was the longtime leader of Annie’s, Inc., a leading natural & organic food brand, in the US from 1999 to 2017. As CEO of Annie’s, he took the company public in 2012 under the symbol BNNY before General Mills acquired the business in 2014 for $820 million. For the following three years, John ran the Annie’s operating unit and also advised General Mills’ small business incubator 301, Inc.
He was recognized as an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year® 2015 in Northern California. Foraker received a B.S. in agricultural economics from UC Davis and an MBA from UC Berkeley.
About Compass Coffee Talk™
Take a 30-minute virtual coffee break with Compass Coffee Talk™. Hosted by natural industry veterans Bill Capsalis and Steve Hoffman, Coffee Talk features lively interactive conversations with industry leaders and experts designed to help guide entrepreneurs and businesses of any size succeed in the market for natural, organic, regenerative, hemp-derived and other eco-friendly products.
Compass Coffee Talk™ is produced by Compass Natural Marketing, a leading PR, branding and business development agency serving the natural and organic products industry. Learn more.
VIEW OUR PAST COMPASS COFFEE TALK EPISODES ON YOUTUBE.
Elevating an Industry — Leaders of Naturally Network Join Compass Coffee Talk, August 17, 2022, 11:30am EST
Elevating an Industry — Leaders of Naturally Network Join Compass Coffee Talk, August 17, 2022, 11:30am EST
Leading Podcast Compass Coffee Talk Welcomes Naturally Network Leaders Eric Schnell, Katrina Tolentino, Jim Slama and Ari Raz for an Overview of the Nation’s Largest Community of Natural Products Industry Business Leaders, August 17, 2022, 11:30am EST.
Wednesday, August 17, 11:30am – 12:00pm EST
Zoom, Admission is Free
(L) Eric Schnell, Co-Chair, Naturally New York, (LC) Katrina Tolentino, Executive Director, Naturally Network, (RC) Jim Slama, Managing Director and Co-Founder, Naturally Chicago, (R) Ari Raz, President and Board Member, Naturally San Diego
Compass Coffee Talk™ continues its series with a panel of leaders from Naturally Network, a collaborative community that advances and champions the wide-ranging ecosystem that makes up the natural and organic products industry. Alongside Co-Host Steve Hoffman, Compass Coffee Talk Co-Host Bill Capsalis, Executive Director of Naturally Boulder, is joined by his Naturally Network colleagues Eric Schnell, Co-Chair, Naturally New York; Katrina Tolentino, Executive Director, Naturally Network; Jim Slama, Managing Director and Co-Founder, Naturally Chicago; and Ari Raz, President and Board Member, Naturally San Diego.
Originating in Boulder, CO, known to many as the epicenter of the natural products industry, the community grew naturally by the number of innovative companies operating in the area. From an initial seed grant from the city of Boulder, the organization has helped entrepreneurs pursue their dreams and business success thanks to their many networking events, mentorship programs and educational resources available to all in the community. Today, Naturally Network holds chapters in Austin, Bay Area, Boulder, Chicago, North Bay, New York, San Diego and Los Angeles, and continues to grow.
About Eric Schnell
From startup to exit, Eric is a Visionary Disruptor with 25-years experience creating mission-based and purpose-driven products. Eric is the recipient of New Hope Media's 2007 "Sustainable Business of the Year Award" and 6X winner of their Expo NEXTY Awards, 4X annual winner BevNET.com, 2X winner of the Beverage Digest "Best Product of the Year Awards" - and awarded Top 50 Beverage World Magazine "Disruptor".
Since 2012, Eric has served as a Nutrition Capital Network Selection Committee Member & Cornerstone Investor. In 2002, he Co-Founded Steaz, world's first USDA Organic RTD tea brand and positioned it to be a leader today in the beverage category, while establishing a Triple Bottom-Line business model founded on People, Planet & ethical Profitability. In 2015, Eric co-founded mood33, pioneering this new beverage category marketing cannabis infused products to consumers seeking the benefits of this healing plant as well as Good Catch, the first Plant-Based seafood brand to scale globally. ln early 2016, Eric launched the strategic consulting agency BeyondBrands, together with his wife, Eco-Fashion pioneer, Marci Zaroff. BeyondBrands is a "Conscious Products" incubator and accelerator which focuses its Super-Tribe of experts on advising entrepreneurs, CPG brands and VCs in need of developing better-for-you, products in Food, Beverage, Fashion, Beauty, Plant Medicine & Nutraceuticals.
About Katrina Tolentino
Katrina is an award winning executive director and has successfully led and scaled multiple innovative nonprofits. She recently became the Executive Director of the Naturally Network, the national industry hub for the better for you consumer goods community. The Naturally Network has 8 affiliate communities across the country - Austin, Bay Area, Boulder, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, North Bay, and San Diego. Prior to the Naturally Network, Katrina was the Executive Director at Naturally Austin where she launched the M/O Fellowship, a 6-month program that accelerates diverse founders, and the Women in CPG Summit, which became a national Network program in 2022. She was nominated for Startup Leader of the year as part of DivInc's Champions of Change Awards this year and was recognized as a Community Builder honoree on Austin Inno's 50 on Fire in 2021. She is bringing 17 years of experience and expertise in community building and engagement, program development, events, fundraising, and partnerships.
About Jim Slama
Jim Slama is a Solutions-driven leader, early innovator, and connector in the natural products industry. Co-founded Naturally Chicago with CEO’s of industry leaders KeHE, SPINS, and Presence Marketing. Created the Good Food Accelerator, in partnership with Whole Foods Market and worked with numerous early-stage companies to help them grow. Is part of the management team of Fantastic Fungi, Go Grocer, and Tiny But Mighty Foods. Founded FamilyFarmed, a leading non-profit supporting the growth of sustainable food systems.
About Ari Raz
Ari grew up in a household that taught him the value of eating minimally processed food from a young age and decided to make it his life’s mission to make this style of eating more accessible to families across the country. He got his start in CPG in 2015 when he, along with his co-founder Cassandra Curtis, launched Once Upon a Farm, the first cold-pressed refrigerated kids nutrition pouch on the market. In late 2017, Ari and Cassandra joined forces with the powerhouse duo of former Annie's Organic CEO John Foraker and actress Jennifer Garner to launch Once Upon a Farm onto the national stage. From 2017-2021, Ari served as president through its growth from annual sales of +$1mm through +$50mm. In 2021, the cofounders of The Coconut Cult reached out to Ari for strategic advice, and over time asked him to join the team as CEO. Finding the mission, products, and promise of the brand to be aligned with his values, Ari jumped in with both feet and hasn’t looked back since.
About Compass Coffee Talk™
Take a 30-minute virtual coffee break with Compass Coffee Talk™. Hosted by natural industry veterans Bill Capsalis and Steve Hoffman, Coffee Talk features lively interactive conversations with industry leaders and experts designed to help guide entrepreneurs and businesses of any size succeed in the market for natural, organic, regenerative, hemp-derived and other eco-friendly products.
Compass Coffee Talk™ is produced by Compass Natural Marketing, a leading PR, branding and business development agency serving the natural and organic products industry. Learn more.
VIEW OUR PAST COMPASS COFFEE TALK EPISODES ON YOUTUBE.
Compass Coffee Talk Episode 26 — Emerald-Jane Hunter: Finding Your WHY
Compass Coffee Talk Episode 26 — Emerald-Jane Hunter: Finding Your WHY
Leading Podcast Compass Coffee Talk Welcomes Emerald-Jane Hunter, Founder and Ringleader of myWHY Agency, a Black-owned, Women-led Integrated Marketing and Creative Agency, July 13, 2022, 11:30am EST.
Wednesday, July 13, 11:30am – 12:00pm EST
Zoom, Admission is Free
Emerald-Jane Hunter, Founder and Ringleader, myWHY Agency
Compass Coffee Talk™ continues its showcase of diverse business leaders throughout the natural, organic and sustainable products industry by welcoming Emerald-Jane Hunter, Founder and Ringleader of myWHY Agency. Beginning her life in Ghana, West Africa, she developed a fearless business mentality, leading her to become a four-time Emmy Award-winning TV Producer and a master of media, marketing and storytelling.
Emerald-Jane’s passions are carried out every day through her vision at myWHY Agency, including influencer/ social media/ content marketing, PR/ media relations, brand strategy and a commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. The Chicago-based agency has become a national leader in empowering purpose-driven brands and minority-owned enterprises. From the start of her work at myWHY Agency, Hunter strived to expand the firm’s positive impact on the natural products industry by transforming the traditional food system and increasing the accessibility of healthy products to all people. To carry out this mission, myWHY Agency is a proud solutions partner with the J.E.D.I. Collaborative and currently serves on the J.E.D.I. (Justice Equity Diversity Inclusion) Content Advisory Council for Informa Markets.
About Emerald-Jane Hunter
Emerald-Jane Hunter has spent 20+ years of experience creating stories that seize the spotlight. She is a four-time Emmy award-winning producer and master of all things storytelling. Born in Ghana, West Africa, she relocated to the U.S. at the age of 19, where she discovered that her “WHY” was storytelling. This was the catalyst for a long career as a producer, production manager, and talent booker across a wide range of national and local broadcast media. As President of myWHY Agency, EJ is passionate about empowering purpose-driven brands and women-owned enterprises, and enabling authentic conversations that not only drive awareness and business growth, but also include commitments around DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) initiatives for her clients.
EJ serves on the board of Female Strong — an organization that offers hands-on programs, mentorship, and experiences targeted toward building confidence in middle and high-school age girls. She also serves on the J.E.D.I. Content Advisory Council for Informa Markets — ensuring that there's justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion in the organic and natural products space, and that this is being reflected in the stories being shared. Additionally, EJ is an alumna and cohort ambassador for the Goldman Sachs 10KSB program — an investment from Goldman Sachs to help 10,000 small businesses grow and create jobs by providing them with greater access to education, capital, and business support services.
About Compass Coffee Talk™
Take a 30-minute virtual coffee break with Compass Coffee Talk™. Hosted by natural industry veterans Bill Capsalis and Steve Hoffman, Coffee Talk features lively interactive conversations with industry leaders and experts designed to help guide entrepreneurs and businesses of any size succeed in the market for natural, organic, regenerative, hemp-derived and other eco-friendly products.
Compass Coffee Talk™ is produced by Compass Natural Marketing, a leading PR, branding and business development agency serving the natural and organic products industry. Learn more.
VIEW OUR PAST COMPASS COFFEE TALK EPISODES ON YOUTUBE.
Compass Coffee Talk Episode 25 — Mark Retzloff: A Lifetime of Service to the Planet and Its People
Compass Coffee Talk Episode 25 — Mark Retzloff: A Lifetime of Service to the Planet and Its People
Leading Podcast Compass Coffee Talk Welcomes Mark Retzloff, an Original Founder and Pioneer of the Modern Day Organic Food Industry, June 15, 2022, 11:30am EST.
Wednesday, June 15, 11:30am – 12:00pm EST
Zoom, Admission is Free
Mark Retzloff, CEO, Climate Foods
Compass Coffee Talk™, now in its 25th episode, continues exploring the industry landscape of natural, organic and sustainable products with guest Mark Retzloff. With a wide ranging impact throughout the natural products industry in his five decades of service, Mark continues to push the envelope in the role that food, agriculture and climate change play in our society and environment.
As Co-Founder of Alfalfa’s Market, Mark Retzloff was influential in the inception of natural foods retail in the United States, and helped set the standard for the modern day full service retail environment we know today. From there, Retzloff became Co-Founder of Horizon Organic Dairy, and was instrumental in leading one of the first organic milk brands to nationwide success and becoming a household name. Mark is also a Co-Founder of Greenmont Capital Partners and former Chairman of Organic Food Alliance where he was instrumental in Washington D.C., leading passage of the Organic Food Production Act in 1990. Today, Mark is CEO of Climate Foods, furthering his mission to promote soil health, make delicious regenerative organic food products and absorb tons of carbon out of the atmosphere to minimize the impacts of climate change.
About Mark Retzloff
Mr. Retzloff is a pioneer in the natural organic and sustainable food and agriculture industry with a 51-year career starting and managing a number of successful companies. He is co-founder and former chairman and CEO of Alfalfa’s Markets and also co-founded Aurora Organic Dairy in 2003. He was the University of Michigan’s School for the Environment and Sustainability, (SEAS), Practitioner in Residence for 2014/2015 and 2015/2016, and serves on the Colorado State University School of Agriculture Dean’s Advisory Board. He is past Chairman of the Board of Natural Habitats Group, a Rotterdam, NL and Boulder-based, fully integrated leader in worldwide organic sustainable palm oil production, processing, and distribution. Mark currently mentors, counsels, consults and advises numerous leaders and companies in the Natural, Organic, Local and Sustainable food and agriculture sector. In 2019, Mark co-founded Flock LLC which is a dynamic movement aimed at fast-tracking regenerative agriculture for the preservation of the planet and people.
In 1990, Mr. Retzloff was chairman of the Organic Food Alliance which was instrumental in passing the federal 1990 Organic Food Production Act in Washington D.C, and went on to become the co-founder of Broomfield, CO.-based, Horizon Organic Dairy. He then became Chairman of Rudi’s Organic Bakery, a leading Colorado-based national organic brand, where he helped execute a successful turn-around. He lends his knowledge as a board member and advisor to emerging companies, which have included Blue Horizon Organic Seafood, BlueSun BioDiesel, Boulder Ice Cream, Crocs Footwear, Evol Burritos, Goddess Garden, Haystack Mtn. Goat Cheese, Sambazon Acai, Traditional Medicinals, Tempt Hemp Milk, and Uncle Matt’s Organic Juice. Mr. Retzloff is a founding partner at Greenmont Capital Partners, and founder and former Chairman of The Organic Center and he is a past 11-year board member of RSF Social Finance.
About Compass Coffee Talk™
Take a 30-minute virtual coffee break with Compass Coffee Talk™. Hosted by natural industry veterans Bill Capsalis and Steve Hoffman, Coffee Talk features lively interactive conversations with industry leaders and experts designed to help guide entrepreneurs and businesses of any size succeed in the market for natural, organic, regenerative, hemp-derived and other eco-friendly products.
Compass Coffee Talk™ is produced by Compass Natural Marketing, a leading PR, branding and business development agency serving the natural and organic products industry. Learn more.