The Produce Moms Podcast

"Qi Gong helps us get into that flow state where we feel our best selves and bring our best selves into all the activities of our lives."Lee Holden (8:56-9:08)

Would you like to be able to release stress and gain energy in just a few minutes?

By practicing a form of ancient Chinese medicine called Qi Gong, you can do just that. It's is an easy feel-good practice that can be done in just a short amount of time to access your internal energy and clear stress and tension out of your system.

Qi Gong involves stretching and breathing exercises along with flowing movements and is easier than either Yoga or Tai Chi. It is actually the most widely practiced form of exercise in the world - even though it's not well-known in the western hemisphere.

Lee Holden, a doctor of Chinese medicine and a world-renowned teacher of Qi Gong, is working to change that. By bringing it to public television and working with corporations like Weight Watchers, Lee has been able to make Qi Gong more mainstream and accessible to westerners.

"What you've done is taken this ancient practice of Chinese medicine and translated into the modern western lifestyle."

- Lori Taylor (4:47-5:03)

The key to Qi Gong's overall effectiveness is doing it consistently and habitually. Just as brushing your teeth is meant to be done at least twice a day, doing Qi Gong twice a day will bring the results you desire. Doing Qi breaks of seven minutes or so throughout the day recharges your whole system and makes you more efficient.

Lee often calls Qi Gong "mindfulness in motion." By practicing Qi Gong, we can meet life's demands with relaxation and flow instead of stress and tension. Qi Gong is a means of gaining energy to flow with life's demands and not get stressed out, tense, and depleted.

Fruits and vegetables are the ultimate Qi.

In connecting Qi Gong to fresh produce and healthy eating, Lee emphasizes that eating is really about gaining energy (Qi) to give our bodies the sustenance it needs to perform. The Qi (energy) of food is important, which is why getting organic, locally produced, and good sources of fruits and veggies is so important. They give us that Qi that we need to get us through our days and keep us healthy.

"Our bodies have tremendous healing power. And if we remove the blocks and charge up the system, our bodies heal themselves."

- Lee Holden (23:41-23:50)

In our western mindset, we often think that we need to take something to make ourselves feel better. However, in the long run, taking something can create other problems. Having tools and resources to take charge of our own health and healing is tremendously empowering. The practice of Qi Gong is one of those tools.

Visit Lee's website for 30-day Qi Gong challenge that only requires seven minutes of your time each day! It's great for moms (and dads) to do with their kids each day to give everyone a nice dose of energy and stress relief. Qi Gong will give the whole family a wonderful resource to deal with all of life's demands.

How to get involved

• Join The Produce Moms Group on Facebook and continue the discussion every week!
• Reach out to us - we'd love to hear more about where you are in life and business! Find out more here.

If you liked this episode, be sure to subscribe and leave a quick review on iTunes. It would mean the world to hear your feedback and we'd love for you to help us spread the word!

"We came up with this formula to combine produce distribution and nutrition education with a fun food experience"

Lisa Helfman (06:06 - 06:13)

At baseline, low-income families are eating so little produce, they're ignoring it at the grocery store because they're intimidated by it. Parents fear spending money on food that might spoil, because they are unaware of how to properly prepare it. Brighter Bites is not only exposing these families to healthy food for free, but assisting them with preparation so they can then apply it to their normal shopping and meal experience.

Early in her career, Lisa worked mostly helping non-profit organizations and government entities in public finance. From there, she got a good vantage point of the business of non-profit, particularly in schools. She went on to work for Texas Children's Hospital which then gave her a larger view of the entire healthcare system. She noticed most of the campaigns were built around treating illness, instead of preventing them.

Lisa was already participating in a co-op in her own home which gave her family access to fresh and local produce. It was then that she noticed a dramatic changs in the eating habits of her children, as they were regularly exposed to fresh, and new, produce. After beginning to volunteer with underserved communities, she wanted to be able to give children the same access, and came up with the plan of Brighter Bites.

"I was really passionate about produce and I knew from my own health how much it could change your life." Lisa Helfman (15:58 - 16:04)

While still under Texas Children's Hospital, Lisa began working on Brighter Bites as a source of fresh produce to school children. Having already built a relationship with KIPP - one of the largest charter schools across the country - they were the first school that agreed to participate in the fall of 2012.

Lisa established the three pillars Brighter Bites continues to run off of: produce distribution, nutrition education, and fun food experience.

Pre-coronavirus, Brighter Bites would have pallets of produce delivered to schools with parents and volunteers bagging and handing them out to kids. Each would be sent home with two fresh bags of produce containing 50 servings of fresh fruits and vegetables a week for 16 weeks. Now, the collections have turned into boxes that are pre-packed at a produce distributor before being given.

Brighter Bites also trains teachers in nutrition education to then teach their students in the classroom. Parents receive nutrition tip sheets, handbooks, and recipes which are now also available online or on their mobile app.

To show parents how they can use the produce they're being given, while distributing produce, the Brighter Bites program gives parents samples of what is in their bag. The goal being to demystify produce and show them it can taste good.

"If you don't teach people how to use the product they're not going to buy it, they're not going to eat it. You really have to put the education component with the access." Lisa Helfman (19:30 - 19:44)

Lisa points out that Brighter Bites not only serves to help the children at the schools they're in, but their entire families. Data shows that two years after being in the Brighter Bites program, families are eating 19 more servings of produce a week.

This fall, Brighter Bites will be in 138 schools, delivering 10 million pounds of produce to 34,000 families.

How to get involved

• Join The Produce Moms Group on Facebook and continue the discussion every week!
• Reach out to us - we'd love to hear more about where you are in life and business! Find out more here.

If you liked this episode, be sure to subscribe and leave a quick review on iTunes. It would mean the world to hear your feedback and we'd love for you to help us spread the word!

"My passion is supporting busy people so that they can have an economical, healthy and fast way to feed their families"

Katie Hotze (20:43 - 20:54)

There is always the impeding question of "what's for dinner" at the end of every day. As we are busy balancing work and home life, the go-to meals are often recycled every week, leading to possibly bland and less healthier options. A new application is looking to help the 21st century consumer by adding a Pinterest-style shopping option to your favorite grocers.

Despite having no background in grocery or agriculture, Katie Hotze was an experienced digital marketer and performance marketer by trade. As a working mom, she, along with fellow working moms, were always struggling to decide what would be for dinner at the end of a busy day. Katie would experience the endless cycle of looking up the same items from her grocery store on her phone, adding them to her cart, but never checking out.

Imagining the perfect platform solution, Katie began mapping out wireframes while working full time and earning her MBA at night. She spent what little spare time she had sharing them with family and friends in order to get feedback from the average consumer. After being laid off from her consulting job, Katie decided to take the plunge and make her ideas a reality. Katie spent the next year conducting customer discovery that showed her every tool that every recipe to cart solution out there was either slim pickings on the side of the grocery store, or the cart fulfillment didn't work. Most grocers websites offer recipes but the clickthrough rate in which to purchase the specific groceries required is extremely low. Truly seeing there was no streamlined solution, Grocery Shopii was able to come alive.

"Everything that we do is consumer first and retailer focused." Katie Hotze (03:40 - 03:44)

The technology created in Grocery Shopii directly integrates with the grocers ecommerce platform, giving the consumer a seamless experience. Backed by machine learning, the more you use it, the more it learns you making suggestions better and better over time. By saving your search history, consumers can return to it time and time again to not only use favorite recipes, but get inspiration for new ones.

While the application sounds appealing to the average consumer, what's in it for the grocer? The biggest appeal to the grocer is that Grocery Shopii encourages consumers to return as they are regularly adding new content, making it the all-in-one for recipes and groceries. The technology isn't only available for big franchised grocers either. After it was originally initialized, it now only takes about 2-3 weeks to get fully launched with a grocer, something that Katie says is ideal for smaller markets.

Grocery Shopii's best clients are those that don't have the means have an in-house engineering team to design and innovate new technologies. Having access to Grocery Shopii helps them go toe-to-toe with larger grocers.

"[Grocers] want to be close to the shopper but I've found there's a wild disconnect between people making the decisions and the shoppers' needs." Katie Hotze (12:24 - 12:31)

Working with content creators has been imperative to Grocery Shopii's success as well. Katie started with syndicated cookbook content but the groups they were looking into to license recipes just had too high of a price tag. As millennials and Gen Z shop with their phones, she knew that influencers would be the best type of contributors to the platform. With newer, fresher recipes, and added nutritional facts, these influencers were perfect to get involved with Grocery Shopii's offerings for consumers wanting to meal plan.

How to get involved

• Join The Produce Moms Group on Facebook and continue the discussion every week!
• Reach out to us - we'd love to hear more about where you are in life and business! Find out more here.

If you liked this episode, be sure to subscribe and leave a quick review on iTunes. It would mean the world to hear your feedback and we'd love for you to help us spread the word!

"What you see on the packaging is what you get"

Dr. Lior Lewenszatin (09:03 - 09:05)

Fruits are one of the most accessible foods on the food pyramid, and yet a hefty amount of Americans don't get the amount they should daily. When cruising down the aisles at the grocery store, fruit snacks might be more appealing especially to kids. The hard truth is that a lot of fruit snacks we see are loaded with added sugars, preservatives, and sometimes don't even contain fruit.

After attending medical and business school, Dr. Lior Lewenszatin discovered the statistic that only ⅓ of Americans get their daily serving of fruit. Taking the issue head-on, he wanted to create a product that was convenient and that helped people consume more fruit. When That's It began, there weren't many variations of the snack "bar" category. As a good delivery system, they began creating simple, nutritious and accessible bars.

"It really all began just trying to get people more convenient and portable ways to be able to consume fruit." Dr. Lior Lewenszatin (03:53 - 04:01)

At the time, there weren't many fruit bar options that contained actual fruit. Most competitors in the fruit category had added fruit puree, concentrate, or artificial flavoring. That's It focuses their products on actually having very few ingredients, keeping to their namesake. Just by looking at their catalog, any given product has between one and six ingredients, mainly whole fruit.

Dr. Lior Lewenszatin launched That's It with just three fruit bar options and sold them at five farmer's markets in Los Angeles; perfect for the company to receive immediate and real time feedback. Not taking the typical product path, the company expanded nationally to Whole Foods within months.

As their products have a very limited number of ingredients, all of That's It's offerings have a massive list of certifications such as organic, gluten-free, kosher, plant based and vegan.

1 in 4 Americans are making food purchase decisions based on allergies either for themselves or someone in their house. This is why one of That's It's largest certification is that all of their products are allergen-free. All products are not only free of the top 12 allergens, but they are manufactured in a plant free of them as well.

"We're really excited to be able to include that community and be able to support them with offerings that they didn't have options for before." Dr. Lior Lewenszatin (17:28 - 17:39)

With retailer growth also comes innovation and expansion. Keeping to the core of premium fruit, That's It have a slew of product options. Their crunchable bars are virtually the same as their fruit bars, but with a crunchy appeal to kids. A lot of kids' snacks in retailers and grocers are categorized as fruit snacks, but most don't even actually have fruit in them at all. That's It introduced these kids bars to bring something whole, fresh and a convenient option for parents.

"Sometimes you get these retail buyers that look at this product and say that it's not a fruit snack. It just goes to show you that they really view gummy bears and fruit roll-ups as a fruit snack. We're trying to change that." Dr. Lior Lewenszatin (13:00 - 13:23)

Having started with just three flavors, That's It has expanded to 15 fruit bar flavor options and many new products such as a Keto Kick energy bar. With an initial retail expansion in Whole Foods, you can now find That's It products in Starbucks, Target, and CVS along with direct to consumer on their website and Amazon.

How to get involved

• Join The Produce Moms Group on Facebook and continue the discussion every week!
• Reach out to us - we'd love to hear more about where you are in life and business! Find out more here.

If you liked this episode, be sure to subscribe and leave a quick review on iTunes. It would mean the world to hear your feedback and we'd love for you to help us spread the word!

"We realized what needs to happen is that we need to create a distribution network that ensures that food really makes it to the people in need."

Dan Zauderer (14:30 - 14:47)

It's an unfortunate truth that there are still families in this country that struggle to put food on their own tables. As we look to find ways to assist, sometimes it can be difficult to figure out what is the right thing to do to get accessible food directly to those in need. When Co-Founder Dan Zauderer saw a need at his own school in the South Bronx, he took matters into his own hands while building a hub for people in his community.

After teaching abroad for two years in Costa Rica, Dan Zauderer returned to the States and began teaching at bilingual charter school, The American Dream School in the South Bronx. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020 and school moved to online-only, Dan realized a harsh reality: families in his community were struggling to have enough money to put food onto their own tables.

"There were sometimes 30 faces on the other end of the Zoom class. What devastated me was the fact that 45% of those families said they had to skip meals or cut down on meals because they didn't have enough money to pay for food." Dan Zauderer (04:30 - 04:49)

Dan had heard of other fridge organizations that simply placed them on sidewalks filled with fresh produce, free for anyone in need 24/7. It was then that he decided this was a necessity in Mott Haven. After gathering colleagues, community organizations and members together, they were able to place their first fridge in Mott Haven.

Dan's students at The American Dream School are primarily undoucmented immigrants. As such, many parents aren't interested in waiting at food pantries. The Mott Haven Fridge Network gives these families accessibility to free and fresh food while keeping their anonymity.

Although Dan's idea started with just his students, it's expanded to an entire network around the Bronx community. During this process, Dan and his team found that even though they are a viable solution for these families they have a difficult time gaining access to larger food rescue organizations because of their smaller scale. To help keep their fridges packed, the network has created a mobile forward system where anybody that has a car can volunteer to pick up excess produce that would otherwise go to waste. The distribution doesn't end at their fridges either. Mott Haven Fridge Network drivers are also providing food to over 20 different community hubs around New York.

"All it takes is walking by a free food fridge or being exposed to this idea and realizing that you can make a difference too." Dan Zauderer (21:30 - 21:39)

Mott Haven Fridge Network is expanding to at least three more fridges in the area within the next month. As a completely non-profit organization, Dan and Mott Haven Fridge rely on volunteers and donations of food or money to pay for logistics, pantries, volunteer matching technology and so much more.

How to get involved

• Join The Produce Moms Group on Facebook and continue the discussion every week!
• Reach out to us - we'd love to hear more about where you are in life and business! Find out more here.

If you liked this episode, be sure to subscribe and leave a quick review on iTunes. It would mean the world to hear your feedback and we'd love for you to help us spread the word!

"We want to show that you can have it all and eat really well in a way that you can feel good about it."

Dan Riegler (03:50 - 03:57 )

Meat replacements in a plant-based society typically aren't necessarily what they are cut out to be. As we try to eat better, we still want to enjoy the flavors we have become accustomed to. Processed meat replacements are either clearly not the same texture, or filled with ingredients that completely take away the benefits of not eating meat in the first place. Whole food product company KARANA is providing jackfruit ingredient options for those that are looking for a healthier, and tastier alternative.

Despite spending most of his career in finance and consulting, KARANA Co-Founder Dan Riegler had a drive for food and a passion about sustainability. The combination of the two led to him exploring agriculture projects, particularly in food production. After seeing issues in supply chains, he wanted to create a company focused on making positive change in the food industry. To do that, he needed to find ingredients and food products that aligned with his core values. Being a carnivore most of his life, Dan already had an understanding and appreciation of food but ventured more towards wanting to combine values of sustainability with healthier options. It was then that his focus turned to the jackfruit.

"We were looking around for ingredients and crops that both would have a positive impact on the food system and especially the farmers" Dan Riegler (06:14 - 06:22)

Although the largest tree-borne fruit in the world, and an extremely popular meat replacement, Dan says the commercialization of it hasn't been done very effectively. Upon his research he discovered that jackfruit is actually an extremely low maintenance crop and that farmers were actually using it as a crop to shade other crops such as peppers. Because of this, upwards of 60-70% of jackfruit was going to waste. This was a product and potential profit to farmers going down the drain. By spending more time focusing on the supply chain, these farmers are able to make more money, while companies like KARANA can begin to use jackfruit to create its products.

By using the jackfruit in it's younger maturity stage, KARANA is able to handle the crop easier because the sugars in the fruit have yet to be formed. While it's technically still a fruit, at this stage it's more like a vegetable. Therefore, using it as an ingredient yields less sugar. Along with that, KARANA is using the whole plant to make for a more sustainable ingredient.

Right now, KARANA focuses their jackfruit meat replacement products primarily with food services, providing to chefs in Singapore and Hong Kong. The versatility of jackfruit gives these talented chefs endless opportunities to then go on to create dishes specifically around their respective restaurant.

The innovation isn't limited to high scale restaurants. While their offerings right now are primarily shredded pulled "pork" and ground "pork", KARANA is currently working on its first retail product to bring jackfruit options to your home in the form of dishes like dumplings and dim sum.

"I think people are more engaged with their food and what they're eating than ever before." Dan Riegler (11:08 - 11:11)

Jackfruit may be the staple of the company right now, but Dan and KARANA are always looking at more diverse options of what we as consumers eat and how they can introduce ingredients in different ways. They're also hoping to release products to the United States within the next year.

How to get involved

• Join The Produce Moms Group on Facebook and continue the discussion every week!
• Reach out to us - we'd love to hear more about where you are in life and business! Find out more here.

If you liked this episode, be sure to subscribe and leave a quick review on iTunes. It would mean the world to hear your feedback and we'd love for you to help us spread the word!

"This is a product that was created for me. It was something that I couldn't find on the market when I stopped eating meat."

Jason Rosenbaum (04:18 - 04:24)

The term "plant-based" gets thrown out a lot, especially in recent years, as more people are going towards a vegetarian/vegan diet. But not all "plant-based" products are created equal. While some *are* plant-based, they can contain a lot of other excess additives like salt and preservatives that counteracts the advantages of not being meat focused. Actual Veggies is standing above the rest, keeping true to their name and creating products that are "veggie-only". You can see it not only in the ingredients list, but in the burgers themselves.

Actual Veggies Co-Founder Jason Rosenbaum has always been an entrepreneur but never had a company he was truly passionate about. Thinking he was eating well, and fairly fit, Jason actually had fairly high cholesterol due to his genetics. After going through different options, he decided to cut out meat in 2019. With his favorite food being beef burgers, Jason was on the hunt for a way to replace them. In his findings, he discovered there are essentially two vegetarian burgers on the market: imitation meat, which is filled with sodium and extremely processed, and veggie burgers that are frozen and packed with preservatives. That's it.

"I started doing research and I was looking for a refrigerated fresh veggie burger because it wasn't something that I was able to make of my own. I couldn't find anything on the market." Jason Rosenbaum (06:57 - 07:06)

After seeing that there wasn't much innovation in the veggie burger market, Jason decided to take matters into his own hands.

Coming from the tech industry, primarily with small business owners and entrepreneurs, Hailey Swartz had a desire to make her ideas a reality just like them. Health conscious herself, when Hailey learned the issue Jason brought to the table, she was on board to work on executing his vision. The two, alongside Hailey's brother Alex, all teamed up to create Actual Veggies. Not knowing exactly how to create the burger themselves, the three partnered with a chef and created four flagship burgers: The Actual Black Burger, The Actual Orange Burger, The Actual Green Burger, and The Actual Purple Burger. All aptly named as you can see, taste and smell the veggies that are in them.

While Actual Veggies are obviously veggie based, Jason doesn't particularly like using the term "plant-based", but instead saying they're "plant-only" or "veggie-only" because they don't want to be grouped with other plant-based products that might not actually be.

"There's so many products out there that are called plant-based" then you look at their ingredients and you go 'wait there's not really many plants in here'" Jason Rosenbaum ( 16:34 -16:41)

Now the timing of creating Actual Veggies was tough, as it was around March 2020. But as the world shut down, they opened up. After launching officially in January 2021, Actual Veggies are already available with Imperfect Foods, Hungryroot and Fresh Direct, along with Sprouts stores nationwide and direct to consumers on their website. With no preservatives, Actual Veggie burgers are something that's unique that isn't really being done in the market right now. As such, they're primarily found in the refrigerated section, not frozen.

While veggie burgers are a staple of their product line right now, Hailey, Jason, and Alex have other veggie focused foods they're looking to innovate. Since we all eat with our eyes first, they want to focus on color to make whole, veggie-only food fun for everyone.

How to get involved

• Join The Produce Moms Group on Facebook and continue the discussion every week!
• Reach out to us - we'd love to hear more about where you are in life and business! Find out more here.

If you liked this episode, be sure to subscribe and leave a quick review on iTunes. It would mean the world to hear your feedback and we'd love for you to help us spread the word!

"Michigan blueberries and varieties are just miles ahead of where we were 65 years ago when our farm started."

Andrew VanTil (13:06 - 13:19)

Did you know there are nearly 150 different varieties of blueberries? Given any trip to your grocery store or farmers market, you're more than likely going to be exposed to any of the 30 main varieties. As a smaller farm, Bowerman Blueberries has been family owned and operated since the 50's and is now going on it's fourth generation of leaders. While it wasn't always easy to adapt to the changes in the farming industry, Bowerman has kept its focus on quality and safety throughout the years. This mission was further engraved thanks to a partnership with grower-owned co-op, North Bay Produce.

As most farms are, Bowerman Blueberries has been passed down in the family for generations. Kassie Grasmanis' grandfather, William, planted the first blueberry bush in 1948, but didn't have the first official harvest until six years later when Bowerman Blueberries was formed. Kassie's father, Randy, grew up on the farm and it only made sense to begin working on it as well shortly after marrying her mother. At that time, the farm wasn't enough to support both families, as blueberries can take anywhere from seven to 10 years to fully mature. As the crops began producing in sizable quantities, Randy was able to purchase the farm from his father along with the adjacent 40 acres to take Bowerman to the next level. Now, the farm consists of around 100 acres of blueberries, an on-site farm market store and even a bakery. The farm continues to stay in the family with six members working on the business including Kassie, her brother-in-law Andrew VanTil, and even a fourth generation of Bowerman's.

Much like her father, for Kassie, working with the family business was a given. She grew up on the farm as well and after going to college for management and accounting, it was a simple choice to take the business into the next generation, particularly with food safety.

Andrew joining the farm, however, was not as simple.

"Before joining the farm, I couldn't have even kept a houseplant alive." Andrew VanTil (05:21 - 05:25)

Those of us outside of the direct farming industry might think when they see someone that works on a farm that they're a grower. But as farming has developed throughout the years there are many many other needs for the business besides growing. And this is where Andrew came in. Despite his lack of grow knowledge, he came in to become a jack of all trades for the family business. Focusing mostly on production and sales, Andrew has also been able to advance technologies available to Bowerman to ease processes like harvest and packaging.

Food safety has also been a main focus of Kassie and Andrew's with Bowerman's as of late. Blueberries have some of the highest nutritional values compared to other types of fruits, along with lasting longer on shelves. Therefore, quality assurance of their crop is vital to providing their customers with top notch product.

Testing, technology and tracking are the three most important factors at Bowerman when it comes to their food safety. As an ever-evolving industry, the technology around farming has dramatically changed when it comes to harvesting, production and packaging. There are now machines that can detect bruising inside berries before it even manifests. They can even sort out pieces of fruit that have the potential to ruin an entire batch. These are the types of technologies Andrew and Kassie are working on at Bowerman to further allow an extended shelf life and top quality product.

"The biggest difference in our industry from when I was a kid versus now is probably the quantity and seasonality of blueberries on the market." Kassie Grasmanis (07:31 - 07:38)

Kassie reflects that when she was a kid, the only time you could get fresh blueberries in Michigan was mid-July to mid-September. The way the industry used to work is that grocery stores would deal with individual farmers and as that has shifted through the years, grocers are wanting berries year-round. Communication then shifted to co-ops and marketers, which led Bowerman to search for one to join. In their eyes, North Bay co-op is top of the line, and certainly aligned with their high quality expectations.

Advancements over the years at Bowerman have reached the point that they provide 13 varieties of blueberries, all with different harvest windows. This, and thanks to the North Bay partnership, allows them to pick earlier and provide longer throughout the year.

Even though Bowerman provides blueberries year-round there is still an off-season where they continue to focus on quality assurance, and replacing varieties they grow and make available. Anything to make their jobs easier come summer time.

How to get involved

• Join The Produce Moms Group on Facebook and continue the discussion every week!
• Reach out to us - we'd love to hear more about where you are in life and business! Find out more here.

If you liked this episode, be sure to subscribe and leave a quick review on iTunes. It would mean the world to hear your feedback and we'd love for you to help us spread the word!

"There's a food revolution underway and it's not a fad. It's not letting up. It's a really exciting place to be"

Josh Schroeter (05:05 - 05:11)

Josh Schroeter is truly an entrepreneur at heart. After working as a TV reporter and journalist for years, he went head first into the food industry in 2004 after starting Sahale Snacks with his best friend. Focusing on innovation, the company truly reinvented the packaged nut and trail mix category. When they sold the company to Smuckers after 10 years, it was time for Josh to move to his next venture; bringing a one-of-a-kind sunflower seed to consumers in the United States.

After serving on the advisory board of a large sunflower seed company, who is now his competitor, CEO and Founder of South 40 Snacks, Josh Schroeter, started re-thinking how consumers view them. As a very basic snack food, sunflower seeds had not seen that much growth as it's been dominated largely by two companies: Conagra and Frito Lays. Like with other seeds and fruits, there are different varieties, sizes, and grades of sunflower seeds; a factor the average consumer probably doesn't realize.

"My passion as an entrepreneur is innovating and disrupting categories of snack foods." Josh Schroeter (05:35 - 05:41)

When living in Israel as a child, Josh knew of giant sized sunflower seeds that only grew there. As he got older, and began working in the food industry, he realized he couldn't get them anywhere else. Aside from these seeds being much larger in comparison to normal sunflower seeds, they were much easier to crack with a higher payoff. This made the process of eating them more of an "activity".

Starting as a bit of a hobby, Josh traveled to Israel to see if he could figure out the supply chain to get these massive seeds back to the States. From there, he began shipping containers of them over, and found a partner that could help roast and pack them. Thus, South 40 was born.

The brand strategy of freshness is a highlight of South 40. As consumers are looking for healthier options, South 40 is providing that with their unique seeds with only two ingredients: seeds and salt. Using brands like Wonderful as role models, Josh and South 40 are focused on making their snacks a premium product for consumers. Displaying them in the produce section at your local grocery store is a staple to that strategy and central to how they grow and differentiate the brand from others. Making them accessible to all is also important with a direct to consumer option available on their website.

"The opportunity really is to communicate and turn consumers on to these seeds in a context and in a place where that quality gets reinforced." Josh Schroeter (15:44 - 15:56)

It doesn't stop at sunflower seeds with South 40. The company is also about to launch something special with raisins. If it's anything like what they've done with sunflower seeds, it's sure to be a must-have in your snack selection.

How to get involved

• Join The Produce Moms Group on Facebook and continue the discussion every week!
• Reach out to us - we'd love to hear more about where you are in life and business! Find out more here.

If you liked this episode, be sure to subscribe and leave a quick review on iTunes. It would mean the world to hear your feedback and we'd love for you to help us spread the word!

"Our goal is to have a product that is so close to fresh produce as you can get it, but also making it shelf stable"

Natalie Mariani Kling (04:48 - 04:55)

Attached to the Mariani name, Natalie Mariani Kling was already in the thick of growing produce and providing nutritious food to consumers. But that mindset elevated when she became a mother. In-depth research about eating habits from around the world led Natalie to focus on plant-based nutrients and whole foods in her own lifestyle. Now, Natalie and Mariani Dried Fruits are on a mission to elevate how we view nutrition and partnering with others to make it more accessible.

Mariani Dried Fruits goes back to the 1900's when Natalie's great grandfather, Paul, immigrated to the States from Croatia. Landing in NYC, the love of his life, Victoria, was across the country in California. Working in a coconut factory for $1 a day, he earned enough money to move to California and began working on Victoria's family farm in San Jose - now Silicon Valley. Soon after, he married Victoria and made enough money to put a down payment on his own orchard, and Mariani Dried Fruits was born. Known for his dedication to not only his family, but all the families in their community, Paul brought something special to the Mariani name.

As the business grew, Paul passed the farm along to his children, who then expanded it worldwide by buying land in Australia to grow produce year 'round. With Paul's great grandson becoming the CEO in the 70's, Mariani Fruits continued to focus on quality, innovation, and family first. Now it's the fourth generation's turn as George Jr., Natalie's cousin, is at the helm as President. Even with many Mariani names involved, everyone has different roles to play in the innovation and "family first" mantra of the company. When it was their turn to run the company, everyone came together and discussed who they are as a company, as a family, and how they want to grow.

It simply came down to the ideals of living healthy with a family focus. They had a product they were able to take and deliver real nutrients to consumers just like them. The next step was figuring out how to elevate that into the next century.

"As a fourth generation, we sat down and realized that things are shifting and the success or failure of the company was going to be on our watch." Natalie Mariani Kling (06:46 - 06:54)

After re-establishing their dedication to the value of health and family, Mariani Fruits began planning on how to convey that to consumers, as all changes start at home. They began working on programs to make healthy eating easier and more accessible for their community members, something the company continues to focus on. One of these adaptations is arranging how they can be a resource for busy people and families. That started with making their website a platform for things like healthier lunch boxes for kids and quick and easy recipes.

The innovation mindset didn't just start when the fourth generation took over. When Paul started the farm he immediately began working on better technology for drying fruit like adding moisture back to make a more enjoyable eating experience. These ideals continue to this day.

"We understand. We are those busy parents and those families that are trying to do it a little bit better all the time." Natalie Mariani Kling (21:22 - 21:29)

Within months of these collaborative discussions, Natalie met with a company called Treasure 8. After hearing of their commitment to improving the food chain and especially supporting mothers and babies, she knew the combination of their technology and Mariani's ability to commercialize it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to impact the world together.

The two companies built this partnership by coming up with technology to preserve the cellular integrity of the food, thus locking in nutrients, flavor, texture and color so there would be no need for preservatives or artificial sweeteners. This took Mariani Dried Fruits to the next level when it comes to shelf stability. With that, Mariani dried fruits can not only be found in the dried fruits section in grocery stores, but in the produce section as well. Natalie points out this point was vital for customers to see them in a "fresh" area as 90% of shoppers at least pass through the produce section.

Treasure 8 can also take Mariani's food waste like prune or mango pits and make them into a nutrient dense ingredient that can be applied to other foods. The partnership between the two was a no-brainer between providing nutritious food to consumers, while also looking for ways to reduce waste and be more environment-friendly.

With partnerships like these, Mariani Dried Fruit can continue their mission statement of innovation while remaining relatable and convenient for families across the globe.

How to get involved

• Join The Produce Moms Group on Facebook and continue the discussion every week!
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