We love to interview food founders who also listen to our show, and Ashley Chase is one of them. Ashley has just changed her company name to Bird Food For Humans (originally Bird Seed Food Co); but why? It’s been a big journey for Ashley. Celebrating five years in business, becoming a solo Mom and barely hanging on to her business, Ashley did something both creative and brave. She sent out an email to a select group laying out her situation plainly and honestly that she was looking to either sell her business or find a strategic partner. Lo and behold, she was introduced to a woman named Tessa who had been out of the workforce for some time but was looking for a project and the stars began to align. Tessa not only had a food product background, her husband also happened to be the CEO of a large dairy company. Tessa brought connections and knowledge to the table, but it was still a few months of back and forth to put together the deal. Tessa and husband invested in Ashley’s company and are now the majority owners, but they also brought in more friends who have wound up being strategic partners. So one of the early projects was to end the confusion of “is it bird seed for birds or bird food for humans?” with the name change. That’s the glowing situation today, but the back story provides the real impetus for Ashley’s achievement. Back in 2013, she was a healthy, active person outdoors hiking and indoors leading Zumba classes. Feeling like the vision of health, Ashley was shocked to find out she was actually a rather sick person after running a full blood panel at her doctor’s office. Hearing that she had half the amount of blood as a normal person, Ashley was told not to raise her heartbeat to high levels as she could be prone to a heart attack. Time to open a new chapter and that’s exactly what Ashley did. First was a blood transfusion to get her stable and then tests for all sorts of possibilities. Luckily, she saw a naturopathic doctor who identified gluten as the sole culprit for her woes. Her extreme allergy meant her blood was not being replenished effectively hence the drop in supply. After the change in diet, Ashely was a new person. The allergy had her body performing at half capacity and now at full capacity she was twice the person as before. Bursting with this new lease on life she ran a marathon and many other robust activities. But she got to thinking about all the other people in a similar situation; what could she do to help them? Become a naturopath? She was now a voracious reader and came across a passage saying that having a product was a way to be a microphone for a story and that passage stuck. While managing a coffee shop, Ashley always had a mason jar full of her homemade granola, which a co-worker called bird seed. Everybody loved it and suggested it go on the menu, which it did. Then Ashley got the idea that some attractive packaging would be more appealing and the snowball effect was in gear. They called it the obvious – bird seed granola – and sales took off. A food blogger friend suggested hosting a breakfast and so Ashley built a website by herself, finished it the day before the breakfast and sold $800 from that one event. More shows, more social media and listening to podcasts kept the momentum going and led to initial grocery store shelf space. That grew to 75 locations up until COVID. 2020 Was a tough year and Ashley as for many food founders and she is digging her way out. But it’s working as her loyal customers have stayed alive and kept ordering.

Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast. 

Call our hotline with questions for Sarah and Sarah at 503-395-8858. If you want to support our show, write us a review, share episodes with friends, or subscribe to our Patreon.

Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House
Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers 
Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design 
Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky