Russell & Julia Menez - From Stage Four Cancer to the Brink of National Distribution

welcome to shelf help
today we're speaking with Russell and Julia Menes
husband and wife co founder of RJ Naturals
makers of Nature's Candy Bar
refrigerated organic whole food snack bar
brands
are growing pretty rapidly in Southern California
thus far they've some secured shell space
in some of the iconic retailers in the area
like Mother's Market Laston's Natural Food
just name a few I think
as well as a pretty growing network of
a lot of independent uh
locations like coffee shops
the gyms wellness studios
that kind of stuff
so yeah
really cool brand really cool product they're building
so we're just gonna dive straight into the
to the backstory so yeah
lay the land just in terms of the origin story and
and the why behind the brand
core products in the lineup today
and then if any
there's new tours
new retailers you guys got in recently
that you want to call out
and try to drive people to those places
you can get you can call those out too
and then uh yeah
we'll go from there
yeah well
first of all Adam
thank you for having us on this
on your podcast uh
this is the first time
Julia and I are doing a podcast episode together
so this is really awesome
yeah awesome
so yeah
RJ Naturals Russell and Julia
that's our brand three years ago
I was actually battling stage 4 cancer
and during that time
we totally switched our diets to Whole Foods only
and we were being very intentional
about what we were putting in our body
and we realized that all the snacks that we were eating
and everything that we thought was healthy for us
we're not that healthy at all
we're at least things we didn't want to put in our body
so Julia got in the kitchen
started making everything from scratch
including our bars that we sell today
and long story short
those bars really helped me out during treatment
recovery and when I hit remission
we had the idea to share it with the community
that's how the brand was born
fast forward today to today
we are in 50 stores just growing super fast
on a mission to make healthier snacks more accessible
and bring that bring that real food
sense of comfort to people everywhere
it's a uh
refrigerated snack bar made with grass fed butter
we have two flavors we have our original
which is like a cinnamon roll
and then we also have our matcha and we are based
I wanna show you some samples here
this is what they look like
love it um
we're based in Orange County
and you can find us at Mother's Market
Fermentation Farm Lassons
Clark's Nutrition
and then we also have a few stores on the East Coast um
like Happier Grocery in New York as well
nice awesome
you were making these in the kitchen
and then at some point there
that decision was made hey
we should maybe actually share this with people and
and make make this a real thing
I was kind of curious like what
I guess what did that conversation look like
or was there like a
looking back was there a specific moment or
I don't know maybe
a specific piece of feedback
you got from friends or family
and they were like
you should really turn this into a real thing
or what yeah
what was like
that special moment looking back
and that would kind of like
we want it we should turn this into a real thing
well I guess looking back
I don't know if there was a specific moment
but I felt like every moment
where I felt like it was helping me out
and just the taste from it too
was just a you know whoa
I think we really have something special
it was really supporting me
during treatment and recovery
on my health journey on hers too
and both of us
we come from an entrepreneurship background
you know we
we're always thinking about how to solve problems
and how to you know
bring things into the market that can help other people
and yeah
we just
once we started sharing with community after remission
people were like you gotta sell these
and we were like yeah
we know this these bars can help a lot of people
so yeah
that's just really how it started
yeah I feel like
so Russell's like he's a visionary
he see
he has so many ideas he
he's a Capricorn so every time like
there's something he's like
oh we gotta do this
we gotta do that so
of course like
when we had this you know
when I was making these bars
he had this idea he's like
we need to share it with the world
like this is what people need
you know people want real food that's comforting
that's nourishing that's real
and so he kind of LED that
what LED this in the beginning
and I was like okay
let's do it like
I'm down and so it kind of just like yeah
just started really organically
I have a wellness brand
and I was hosting a lot of events in Orange County
and so we kind of tested it out too with
you know bringing these bars to these events
like handing them out
sampling them getting feedback
and kind of just like
testing out on the market too
which then LED us to you know
get into our first coffee shop
and then just like
little by little just like
kind of grew from there
in terms of those early days of formulation and R&D
you know
clearly the bar is about as clean as you can get
I think it's yeah
dates sprouted oats
grass fed butter coconut
raw honey cinnamon
vanilla
sea salt which is about as clean as you can get
in terms of um
or key factors that were important to you
as you were tweaking things like yeah
what were some of the a key kind of changes
tweaks you made along the way
between that first version you made in the kitchen
Juliet to that final version where you're like okay
we're ready to bring this
we're bringing
ready to bring this to the market and take it big time
yeah I mean
we actually haven't strayed
too far away from the original recipe
which is amazing yeah
we're able to really
just keep that foundation of what I made originally
but I think as we you know
brought it to market and
you know we're doing a lot of testing
a lot of R&D
we were just playing around with the different ratios
I would say like
the amount of salt the amount of oats
so like
those type of things and
you know as we enter the food space
we really were learning that like
there is a there is a science to food
like there is so much things of ratios
of shelf life water activity
like all of those components really
are important when you're building a product
and that's something that we didn't really
you know realize in the beginning
because I was just creating this like
at home for us so that was like
a big learning curve for us
but yeah
in terms of R&D we
you know because we were able to just
share it with our community
and kind of start locally first
we were able to do tweaks along the way
so if someone said oh
it was a little bit too you know
too sweet for me then we maybe would like
test it out and like
lessen the amount of dates or too salty
things like that just played around with that
but we kept the ingredients all the same
ever since the beginning that's awesome
and then what is that what isn't that
what has that enabled from a differentiated taste
texture or something else standpoint
yeah so
ever since going through treatment
and going through our whole cancer journey
we became really big real food nerds
so everything we were putting in our body was grass fed
everything organic so when she was making these bars
she experimented with grass fed butter at first
and I think ever since then
we just stuck with it because it has this like
creamy soft texture to it
that you can't find in any other bars
uh we're currently the only grass fed
refrigerated snack bar on the market
so that's really cool too
and from a nutrition standpoint
grass fed butter has so many benefits to it
we see it as a superfood
I feel like in the past 20 years or so
butter has had a bad rep to it
but I think that's just because
a lot of butter out there is processed
but ours is you know
grass fed and our superfood
why do you think no other brands are using it
is it more hard more challenging to use
and for some reason or another
yeah I think it's very challenging actually
as we were on boarding with our co man a few months ago
we realized that a lot of manufacturers
don't like to deal with butter
just because it messes with their machines
or it's harder to make and then from a
uh shelf life point of view
the shelf life decreases the
or the butter decreases the shelf life of your product
so we treat the refrigerator as our preservative
so that helps us to not compromise with the butter
and the ingredients that we have in our bar
so that's also why we are a refrigerated snack bar
you guys use some
I never heard of these other type of dates
so you can probably totally butchering the name
but Deglet Nour dates
so I got that all close versus the typical
like mature ones
like what's the um
why those ones versus the more common ones
for us it was more of a personal preference
we personally like deglet dates more
they're smaller and they're less sweet as Medjool dates
so like most traditional bars on the market
they do use Medjool dates
which is like
the most common one but us personally
we just really like the deglet ones
and yeah
you know we wanted to create something that was sweet
but not too sweet so that's why we chose chocolate
yeah medjool dates are alright
medjool dates are great and everything
but we even experienced experimented using those too
but it just didn't taste the same with our bars
yeah makes sense
anything else that's coming on the down on the
the product of robe nap next
yes we have a
well
we definitely want to expand our flavors with our bars
we have like
a lot of really yummy flavors that we're already
you know experimenting with
um we won't say the flavors yet
but they're just really good
we can hint one you can hint one
OK well
I'm Filipino so
you know we had to experiment making a ube flavor
so that's in the works alright
so ube is one of the flavors
it feels like good timing
ube is all the rage these days
it feels good time yeah right
everyone loves ube yeah
and I'm actually Filipino
so I feel like I have the right to
yeah we have to make
my wife's been buying these uh
ube uh
pancakes that you can make
where did she get it from that's a good question
I think it was Trader Joe's maybe
oh OK
yeah I think it was Trader Joe's
Trader Joe's has a lot of really
yeah Trader Joe's does really well with their like
flavor
they do well for maybe some other founders that are
you know a little bit behind you
that are really focused and committed to building
just a really ultra clean snack
and he just I don't know
tips you tell them
or things you tell them to kind of keep top of mind
as they're going through the R&D formulation process
right yeah
I think like
you know the biggest thing is remembering that like
being clean is great but also it's not
it's not enough like
you also have to have a product that tastes good
like there's a lot of products out there that are clean
and maybe ultra clean too
but they might not have that taste factor
that'll keep you coming back for more
um and I think that is what is lacking in the market
and that's where we kind of fill that void where yes
we are ultra clean but we also taste really
really good where once you try it
like you're instantly hooked
most bars are obviously shelf stable
you guys are in the refrigerated aisle
was there ever like
a conversation where you tried to
at some point engineer shelf stable bar
or was just refrigerated like the plan from day one
that's what you were making at home
you're like we want us
we're committed to this formulation
and how good this is we don't care
it has to be refrigerated
we know that that's what it needs to be
yeah I feel like since day one
we never wanted to compromise
so our vision has always been in the refrigerator
but in the beginning we also did have a vegan option
which was made with coconut oil
instead of grass fed butter
and we tested that out for a little bit too
and people loved it as well
but it wasn't the same
wow factor as the grass fed butter bars
so yeah
since day one we've just always wanted to uh
get into the refrigerated category
and not compromise on any of our ingredients
and we feel like
if we were to be in a shelf stable category
with all the other shelf stable bars
we would have to you know
add a bunch of fillers that we
we don't really believe in
yup totally yeah totally makes sense
show why this is refrigerated
to maintain such a great product quality
or they kind of open to it
right away or what what did that look like
no not really
like buyers were pretty receptive right
to our bar yeah
I think like
the bar category
and the refrigeration category is growing
so there wasn't that much education
that we really needed to do
I think like
because there's so much opportunity
you know
the buyers are really open to trying us out and
you know building that set
and I think because our product is so innovative too
they're really excited so like the
the buyer feedback has been incredible
every buyer we've talked to this far has just been like
whoa like
I've never seen anything like this before
like yes
like we need this in our store
yeah and I think we were very fortunate and blessed
that we created a brand
in a time where people are shifting towards
real connection
and I feel like we feel that void with real food
you know especially with AI and technology
and everything feeling so unreal nowadays
and everything being processed out there engineered
you know
people are just looking for that real sense of comfort
and that's what we provide through our bars
and through our mission for sure
yeah love that
well yeah
shifting gears a little bit
I think when we talked I think it was a week or two ago
you guys definitely made a point to say
that you really wanted to do everything
by the book from
from day one getting the right permits
doing the kitchen transition properly
all the really unsexy boring
nitty gritty compliance related stuff
yeah tell me about that journey
from going from home kitchen to commercial kitchen
and now I think
you guys are in the process of launching it
with a co packer as well
yes yeah yeah
so like
with food you know
there's so much regulation
there's so many requirements and like
rules you have to follow so we definitely wanted to
you know do everything by the book in the right way
because obviously we're bringing food to market
and you know
we started in the home kitchen
which is where the product was first born
and then we moved to a commercial kitchen
which was honestly just like
a bigger scale of our home kitchen
you know I had more space
more equipment and it was just like
a really great starting point for us to really
just grow in our community
and then as the demand started growing
we realized that we just can't make enough bars
physically ourselves
and so that's when the conversation
yeah exactly yeah
so the conversation started to come up of like OK
I think we need a you know
we're ready for a co packer
especially with all like
these meetings with buyers and big box stores
you know we have to be able to meet those demands
and you know
making it by hand in our commercial kitchen
just was not efficient enough
so that's kind of where yeah
where we started and kind of where we're at
yeah our hands are hurt
yeah it's definitely yeah
a labor of love like
literally Russell has like
oh my gosh
like a cyst on his hand now
like an internal one
like molding the bars
yeah like
it's crazy I wanna show y'all
this is like
true under labor of love proof
yeah that's wild
so in in the kitchen
in our commercial kitchen
we are making
uh just Julia and I
we'd make about 600 bars a day in like
six hours and with our new co man
we're making thousands in a day now
yeah like
hundreds of thousands the capacity is like insane
yeah it's insane
so yeah
it's been a blessing
to finally be able to rest our hands
yeah but also like
I think that it's important
like I think that was part of our journey too
of doing it ourselves and making it ourselves
because we have the control
we're able to really you know
test everything out and that's
you know you know
going straight to a co packer can be like
advantageous for some people
but I think for us for our journey
it was really important for us because yeah
like we were able to just get
you know get
get down to the nitty gritty and just like
really get in there
and then that helped us on board with the command too
so that we can communicate
you know what the process is like
like you know
little tweaks here and there
and just really communicate that
yeah and on that
on that point
in terms of guys now transition to a co packer
thinking back a little bit of ways
when you you were in that commercial kitchen and you
you guys made that decision or call okay
this is we can't do this anymore
we gotta move to a co packer
how'd you actually go about is
what did that search look like
to find the right co packer
how did you find about going the right one
what did the search process look like
and yeah
what else can you share that maybe
be helpful for some other people
that are about to go through a similar journey
yeah finding a co packer was
oh my gosh
it was very challenging yeah
it was a lot of work
I think we interviewed over 20 co packers
insane cause uh
it's it's really hard to find a bar manufacturer
especially in California and after interviewing a bunch
we aligned with uh
two companies
and the one that we are working with today
but we really love them
we feel like we were aligned since the beginning
they took the time to look into our story
before we all started collaborating together
uh they
we're collaborating on ideas how we can make this work
and not compromise on anything else
and their facilities all kosher
gluten free it's
it was everything we're all about
they make natural products
so we were really blessed to find them
and yeah
it's it's just
it was really challenging because I was like googling
uh a bunch of co manufacturers
and then we were having video calls and all that
and with a lot of these manufacturers
they really it seemed like
they didn't really care what we were making
as long as we met the minimums and
you know had all of the requirements that
they they wanted from us
but uh
I think another challenging part was the butter factor
too yeah
it was really hard to find a manufacturer
that would mess with our or
you know actually use butter with their machines
yeah and then also have like
frozen capabilities and right
cold storage too
that was a big challenge as well
totally yeah
so we would find some co manufacturers
that could make our bar
but then they didn't have cold storage
so it was like oh no
and yeah yeah
so that was just like
a process just going through like just
you know interviewing different co manufacturers to see
like which one was
would be the best fit for us
but then also like
once we found those ones then it was like
diving deeper to be like can we trust this person
can we work with this this team in the long run
to really just produce our product with integrity
yeah yeah
did you
you guys are obviously so committed to the formulation
I you know
I talk to a lot of brands
and often times
when they're making that transition to a co pack
or they're going from making 26 bars a day to
you know 60,000 bars a day eventually
there's often times they have to make
some trade offs or sacrifices to be
from a formulation tweak standpoint
to be able to actually optimize
be able to scale up that that much
yeah obviously
you mentioned the butter factor being one thing
but yeah
have you been able to pretty much stick to your guns
or did you have to make any small tweaks along the way
to kind of accommodate for your co packer
to be able to produce at a much larger scale
yeah for the most part yeah
we pretty much you know
stuck to our guns we were very strong
and we don't wanna compromise on anything
um I think like
the biggest challenge was sourcing ingredients
so with co manufacturers of course
like they have their own relationships
they source from different vendors
they are they already approved
and so with us when we were onboarding
it was a bit of a challenge to find like
a one to one you know
exact comparison of a product
if
they weren't gonna be able to source from our vendors
but you know
luckily it you know
it just it just takes time
you just have to be able to do your diligence
your research to find you know
the right ingredient had that has the right specs
so you know
our co manufacturer also is really great
they have really high standards
like every ingredient has to go through a super
intensive review which is great
it has to be like kosher
gluten free organic
all of those requirements
and so that was a bit of a challenge for us
that took more time than we expect
but it's worth it because we didn't want to just change
you know different ingredients because
you know some of you might know that like
you know with um
cinnamon there's like
so many different variants of cinnamon
with honey there's so many different variants of honey
and that could totally alter and change the taste
and so with us we were really very adamant
on finding exactly the right like
you know strain of honey and the
you know
the exact flavor profiling so that we could keep the
you know
scalable production the same as what we currently make
spot on yeah yeah
maybe avoid getting tripped up along the way
I would just say follow your gut
when it comes to these count manufacturers and
and you know
this is a relationship that you're getting into as well
the cool thing about our manufacturer too
is
that they allow us to watch over every production run
which is amazing cause
with a lot of other count manufacturers
that we interviewed
they didn't want us near their facility at all
which was crazy yeah
so yeah yeah
and uh
just you know
being able to collaborate with them in that way
has just been amazing and I feel like
when you're looking for a co manufacturer
that's definitely one of the plus signs
that you should look for yeah yeah
I feel like you know
when we got off the call with our
you know our now co manufacturer
we those like
looked at each other we're just like wow
I think like
this is the one like
when you have that feeling yeah
when you have that feeling of like okay
these people like
they get it and they care
like that's so important for us because
you know
we are creating a product that is made from love
and it has so much integrity
we have so
you know we have such a personal connection to it
and to like
feel that you know
our team at the Co Packers
like they also feel that too
and that they're in on this journey with us
like really felt like OK
we can trust them yeah
to like build this for us and like
work with them for the long term
yeah and also
a piece of advice for people looking for a co man too
like since you land one as well
I feel like you should also have a back
back up plan cause stuff does happen
nothing bad has happened with our current co man
but we do have a backup plan just in case
you know you start growing really fast
and then the co man that you currently have
you know has a little hiccup and can't meet
you know due dates and
and uh stuff like that you
you wanna be able to have a backup plan
to be able to make your product
rebrand right now
original our natural
RJ Natural's identity was
you know something you guys put together pretty quickly
get to market get some feedback
now with you know
a year and a half or so
with some actual real world data
customer feedback
you feel like you had enough data to actually kind of
brand design process properly
so yeah
tell me now about this kind of rebrand strategy
as you're thinking about it
what clarity did you guys gain in the past
you know 18 months or so
that's now kind of driving the brief
and what you've kind of
given to whoever you're working with
to actually you know
I mean over like
the past 18 months like
we've had so much clarity
because we were able to really test the market
you know when we first started RJ Naturals that
you know the brand name and the
the branding it kind of was just like
we just did it and just to get us started
you know like
we weren't married to the brand name
we weren't married to the packaging
but we were like
we just need to get the product out there and just see
like how it does and
you know build that
and like
it was such a great starting point
I feel like
because it taught us so much just about the business
and just like
you know was proof that we actually have a business
and we have a brand that we can create and scale
and now that we're at that point where we are scaling
we're like we knew we had to shift
and with that clarity
it has brought us to a new brand name
that has new packaging new colors
like a new vibe
but at the same time
it still has the same exact product
and the same mission it's just a new like outer
yeah yeah
and with this rebrand
it'll allow us to expand into different categories
outside the refrigerated section
like into frozen
into snacks that are shelf stable and all of that
and yeah
our mission is very big
and we feel like to accomplish that
we need a new rebrand like the one we have right now
yeah but it's funny too
cause when we started with RJ Naturals
Julia was like I don't even like this name
I'm like come on Livs
yeah I did not like it
I was like no
like I don't want our names in it
like it's
you know
and just getting a lot of feedback from mentors
and people in the community
we kept hearing that acronyms like
RJ is not memorable at all
and it's really hard to I guess
scale with an acronym so we all
we've always been thinking of
what can we turn this brand into
or what can we evolve into
it's not necessarily a rebrand
but more of an evolution yeah yeah
the packaging the
you know the branding
so it's like the colors and
you know the vibe and like the
the messaging but also like
our mission is exactly the same
you know
our mission is to make healthier snacks more accessible
our product is exactly the same
it just has like
a little facelift essentially
I like that yeah yeah cool that's great
and why you started where you did
where you're kind of thinking where
yeah so uh
we don't want to scale too fast
I feel like we can go national right now
if we wanted to
but that just wouldn't make any sense for us to do that
what we're trying to do right now is pretty much
just take over our backyard
brand awareness and just share real food
comfort with people in California
and we've been doing that
and now we're getting retail buyer interest
from other states now and just
just putting all the pieces together slowly
to our capabilities and just going from there
we're in no rush to producing millions of bars
right now we just want to take it one step at a time
cause this is our first Rodeo in the food CPG games
uh we want to do everything right
from getting all of the correct permits
to having the right command to
you know just scaling at uh
a level where we can accomplish our mission
with that first conversation look like
how did you get actually get the meeting with the buyer
and yeah
what what did that look like
to actually get that first commitment
that's a fun story that's a fun story
yeah so
Mother's market was actually our first retailer
that we landed and at the same time
that was also when we landed our first distributor
as well Foundation Foods
and it's funny
it was kind of like a chicken and the egg situation
so we went to a networking event
so we go to like
a ton of networking events
where there's like buyers
distributors everyone
and we kind of just you know
just old pitch to people and
we are having a conversation with the mother's buyer
and it went really well and he loved us
he loved our product and he was like
okay yeah
like let's get you in the store
but I would like to see you with a distributor
and we're like okay
no worries like
we're on it and so like
the distributor was to go across the room
yeah we went over there
we're like okay
like we would love to be with you
like this is our whole spiel
and he was like okay
love it but I would love to see you with a anchor store
like someone like mother's
and we're like oh
actually we just spoke with the mother
so can you guys like
connect and like
make it happen and so that's kind of like
how we got that you know
got it all rolling yeah
so it's just interesting how like yeah
when you're first starting off
like you do need
you know both elements
both pieces together in order to start
but yeah
Mother's Market has been an incredible partner
we love them so much and
you know they're in our backyard
they're all around OC so we're able to go to like
literally all the stores see our product there
we've done so many demos there
getting connected with them
and mother's market is such a great retailer
because they value innovation
and they also value local brands as well
so that was a plus for us
I guess I'll call them non traditional accounts
like the gyms coffee shops
wellness studios
yeah like
I definitely think that you know
independent stores and coffee shops
and wellness studios they are so important in terms of
like
community building and getting your product out there
feedback and just you know
meeting your your customers
where they're at
and being in those spaces are really important
especially for us as a brand
I think that this channel is still very
very strong for us and
it helps us to be able to
transition into bigger retailers
you know because these are where our customers at
this is where the demand is coming from
and that helps us really move into those stores
yeah and I feel like
with the customers that get our product
from these non traditional accounts
these independent stores coffee shops
gyms
we really implement ourselves in their daily routine
which is amazing and
I feel like that just drives everything
towards the big box retailers
so yeah
the the small shops are very important to us
from an actual kind of tactical standpoint
and I imagine you might say
that's been the biggest impactful thing
but yeah
I'm kind of curious
what all the tools you guys have been using
whether it's demos or you know merchandising
point of sale assets
that kind of stuff anything else
what have you found has been the most impactful
in terms of actually driving velocity at retail
demos like I said
for sure yeah
it's uh
I feel like just demos with the
the founders of the company really play a big factor
we're able to share our story
tap in with the community
I feel like we've made so many amazing
new friends through demos too
and I wouldn't trade it for the world
these relationships that we have built
with people in the community
and other than demos
I feel like we're really good at social media marketing
just driving uh
social media audiences towards the retailers
is the other big factor
that or the big strategy that we use when it comes to
uh
velocity the tactical standpoint Yep
you kind of mentioned this
when you're you're starting out
um
I'm saying yes to almost everything as you grow
time becomes more limited
mm hmm you know
all those type of things you're having to start to say
you need to learn to say more no more
what a kind of like
opportunities are I don't want to know
if you want to call them shiny objects
do you guys feel
like you were saying yes to more in the earlier days
that now you're having to say no more
yeah I mean
when you're you know
a startup brand
there's just so many opportunities that are
you know constantly coming at you
like literally
you can do anything when you're just starting out
because it's a vision and so I think a lot of
you know in the beginning
there are a lot of also
there's a lot of people that have businesses
that can help your business
and so in the beginning
there's a lot of people that wanna help you grow
they wanna be a part of it
and which is great and so we took
we said a lot of yeses to take a lot of meetings
with people who wanted to be a part of our journey
whether that be through their services or their
you know platforms or systems and things like that
and so we we spent a lot of time in the very beginning
taking a ton of meetings and calls with like
demos and just like
anyone that we could talk to
which honestly was really great for that time
because it was so helpful for us
to learn more about the industry
learn more about what's out there
and be able to compare different things
but now in our current like
position I think
that
we are so much more knowledgeable about what we need
and we have more clarity so that we're able to
kind of say no to some conversations
because we've already kind of
experienced all of those in the very beginning
yeah yeah yeah
that makes no sense yeah yeah
because you know time
time is everything you know
we can't be on zoom calls for
you know
the whole day and then not really lead to anything
so we're definitely more intentional about like
the calls that we take the meetings that we take
the people we speak to for sure totally
at this stage of the business where you guys are now
you know 18 months in
I think ish
what do you feel like are the
the biggest uh
risks to the business at this point
and what do you feel like
are the biggest opportunities right now for the brand
over the next just say
over the next year or two
hmm I would definitely say like
scaling is the biggest opportunity
but also could be the biggest challenge
yeah and the risk
yeah 10 point yeah
yeah yeah
right now we are facing a real opportunity right now
to go into a much bigger national brand
especially now that we have a great command
we're also getting a lot of interest from a lot of
retailers that we didn't expect to talk to so early
and we're now building those relationships
uh by Q4
hopefully
we are going to launch in Whole Foods regionally
so that's gonna be a really exciting time for us
that's what we're preparing for
and yeah
it's it's a big risk that we're taking
but we're also you know
not scaling too fast by keeping everything regional
here in California
we're gonna keep it in the LA Orange County area
and just go from there
well yeah
this has been awesome guys
I guess the last question for you
you guys have been really
here in the store so much
any particular brands
or just kind of trends in CPG in general
that have just been piquing your interest lately
oh there are so many brands doing such amazing things
yeah like
I'm so in love with the CPG industry
and it's just so inspiring to see a lot of new brands
and current brands just coming up with new
innovative products
and I just feel like it's very inspiring
especially now that we are
you know
at a time where there's this shift towards real food
and I feel like that's a white space
or we have a white space that we can fill
so it's just really awesome to be
you know
part of an industry that has been open arms to us
and I feel like everybody wants to see each other win
and I feel like
I've never been part of any other industry like that
I come from the music industry
she comes from the fashion and wellness industry too
it's all yeah
cut throat CPG is cut throat as well
but it's just amazing to see that
you know a lot of these other founders and partners
want to see you win
for sure well yeah guys
this has been awesome what's some
a lot of exciting things going on with the brand
what's the best place to
to follow along with you guys individually and
what's the best place for people to actually follow
along with the brand itself
these days as well
yeah so our Instagram is RJ naturals dot us
and that's also our website too
we also have our DTC channel as well on Instagram
Russell is a underscore rush with 2 HS
and I'm at julissa and then we also post on LinkedIn
too Russell is really big on LinkedIn actually
you do really well on there
oh yeah
I'm always on LinkedIn
perfect love it
awesome guys
I appreciate the time this has been awesome
I think that's the podcast
love to just get quick
and so our product is called Nature's Candy Bar
those key variables that you played around with
what kind of
LED you to decide to focus on grass fed butter
and then the other thing I read into was
wow that sounds delicious
is there fair amount like
education that was required to kind of
bring this to life yeah
so the name will be changing
walk me through kind of your
where the next few steps are from here
what have you found you mentioned doing a lot of demos
when we took last week I think Julie

‍