Building a Healthier Future Through Plant-Based Food with Dominique and Wendy Da’Cruz
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Meet Dominique and Wendy Da’Cruz
Dominique and Wendy (W.E.) Da’Cruz are a dynamic entrepreneurial couple. Together, they co-founded The Mushroom Angel Company, a plant-based CPG food business aimed at promoting healthier eating habits and environmental sustainability. Their first product, the Cruz Burger, is a mushroom burger patty that cuts and bites like meat but tastes like veggies.
Episode Highlights
During this episode of The Food Means Business Podcast, we discuss:
How inspiration from a Malawian chickpea meatball led to a unique mushroom patty
The couple's journey from pescatarian to fully plant-based living
Overcoming recipe scaling and packaging challenges during the early stages
Utilizing online sales and farmers markets to gain initial traction
Integrating work and family life for a wholesome entrepreneurial experience
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00;00;00;15 - 00;00;24;29
Djenaba
You were listening to the Food Means Business Podcast, which features the personal stories and secret ingredients behind what it's like to abandon your day job to start a food business. I'm joined now by Jonathan Jones, former marketing executive turned entrepreneur and founder of food business incubator Hudson Kitchen. Join a community of fellow food business owners and subject matter experts to learn and laugh with us as we explore a startup world that's a little more culinary and a lot less corporate these days.
00;00;25;00 - 00;00;28;24
Djenaba
All right. And Dominique, welcome to the Food Means Business podcast.
00;00;29;24 - 00;00;31;24
Dominique
I are so happy to be here.
00;00;32;14 - 00;00;35;01
Dominique
And yes, this is very exciting.
00;00;36;06 - 00;00;53;06
Djenaba
Thank you for joining me. So we're all about talking to individuals that have left their kind of corporate jobs to launch a business that is specifically a food business. And so I'd love to hear your story. What made you guys want to open up the business?
00;00;54;11 - 00;01;14;23
W.E.
Yeah, for sure. You know, it's so funny. Dominique and I, even in our pitches, we always start off by asking the audience, you know, after 13 years being together, almost ten years married. Can you guess the one thing that we. We get we'd have spats about is the one thing, you know, knockdown leaving his dirty socks next to the laundry.
00;01;14;28 - 00;01;15;05
W.E.
Me all.
00;01;15;06 - 00;01;16;18
W.E with Laughter
Along he never.
00;01;16;19 - 00;01;25;03
W.E.
Did not not leaving his shoes under the couch from the closet is right there. No, not that either. But food.
00;01;25;20 - 00;01;46;21
Dominique
Well, I was you know, I've slimmed down some, but I was the, you know, chubby two guy. She was the the the beauty queen. And so taking advice from me about food didn't make any sense in her world. So anytime I would ever say anything about mushrooms or anything veggie related, she rolled her eyes at me.
00;01;47;23 - 00;01;53;06
W.E with Laughter
And let me talk them. You know.
00;01;53;06 - 00;02;10;09
W.E.
And but honestly, you know, it was always food was like the one thing that we just could not see eye to eye. And so in a twist of events, so interesting and so funny that we now run a food company together, you know, something that we've always wanted to do in terms of running a family business, that it happens to be food.
00;02;10;19 - 00;02;27;25
W.E.
And so the way it really started for us was through a Daniels that, you know, every year we do this spiritual path in our family just to recenter ourselves. And that was just to remove meat from our diet. We were pescatarian. We hadn't really been chicken anything for a while, but we were still eating salmon, still eating fish.
00;02;28;08 - 00;02;43;25
W.E.
And and so during I think 2020, it was January. Yeah, January 2020. Was it when you know, it was when the pandemic happened. I think it was. I think it was it.
00;02;43;28 - 00;03;03;25
Dominique
Was January 2020. We we started off as we usually start the Daniels Fest at the beginning of the New Year. And so this year was no different. January 2020. I mean, there was a little whispers about COVID and, you know, we were starting to see some headlines, but nothing that would make anybody like for a blown, you know, cautious or afraid.
00;03;03;25 - 00;03;33;11
Dominique
I don't think even people would wear a mask at that time. But yeah, so, you know, January rolled by and in February rolled by and then something more serious. And so what what was the fast pretty much turned into a commitment to plant based diets. We saw a lot about, you know, compromised immune systems in the media. We saw, you know, headlines about food manufacturing plants, especially meat manufacturing plants having to shut down.
00;03;33;11 - 00;03;51;00
Dominique
And so for us, it was like, hey, we're already on this fast. What Why would we even go back? Our our bodies are starting to adjust, you know, and it's not easy. I would anybody who's ever tried going vegan or plant based for a while, it's not easy, but we're on this road now. I go back. Yeah.
00;03;51;11 - 00;04;02;01
W.E.
Yeah. I mean, and really the the inspiration of the product, right? So it started through a D.A. fast. And so what happened and I got to tell a story this where you know, where we're going deep into the story.
00;04;02;01 - 00;04;03;29
W.E with Laughter
Of this, right? Yes, yes, yes.
00;04;04;11 - 00;04;20;10
W.E.
So we do this family back was only supposed to be 21 days, right? Just 21 days. I'm I can do that. I can remove meat from my diet for 21 days. You know what I mean? I can have the vegetables and some salad and fruit. I love the Lord. Like, I could do that. So, Dominic, after like the 21 days, right?
00;04;20;10 - 00;04;28;09
W.E.
I'm getting ready to have that big meal after my fans. Dominic says that he heard the Lord say, We need to extend the fast. I'm like, extend the.
00;04;28;09 - 00;04;28;17
W.E with Laughter
One.
00;04;30;24 - 00;04;48;21
W.E.
That I said, You telling you to extend or he said, the whole family to extend it, because at this point I'm ready to eat a full salmon or something. And he goes, No, we have to expand the fans and like indefinitely. And this is about a week to me taking a trip to Africa to go do some tech work, right?
00;04;49;04 - 00;05;09;20
W.E.
So I'm like, Man, I'm getting ready to go to Africa. I had all these plans of having all these different dishes be excited, and my husband just told me I had to be on a fast and so I'm a little tight, but I'm, you know, want to be obedient to my husband and the vision of the household. So I'm in Uganda, I'm in Malawi, I get to Malawi, a hotel in Malawi, and I'm stunned by the menu.
00;05;09;20 - 00;05;30;15
W.E.
In Malawi, there's like chickpea meat balls and all these different dishes, you know, renditions of meat, but not maybe meat made with like being spicy, something that we had never really been exposed to. Maybe Dominique had a larger palate, but wasn't something that was in our household. And so I was inspired by a chickpea meatball and so I'm not a chef.
00;05;30;15 - 00;05;35;16
W.E.
And not to put a joke around like you do not attach my name like w e to Cruz with cooking.
00;05;35;21 - 00;05;36;21
W.E with Laughter
Or you do.
00;05;36;28 - 00;05;40;11
W.E.
What it was when we got married. Like, I am not a chef. I'm not a cook. Right?
00;05;41;09 - 00;05;45;07
Dominique
It took me. She brought me to her mother's house so her mother can cook you. Okay, So.
00;05;46;00 - 00;05;46;06
W.E with Laughter
When.
00;05;46;06 - 00;05;53;25
Dominique
We got married, I'm thinking, okay, well, her mother maybe. Maybe she could do not her thing.
00;05;53;29 - 00;06;15;16
W.E.
So then I get back from Malawi and I'm like, Babe came across this amazing chickpea meatball. We don't have to just be a salad on the side. You can do something different. And so, you know, not knowing how to cook, I don't have chickpeas. I have all the ingredients. I just got to chop it up. Mushrooms put together this Patty had Dom eat it, you know, kind of be obedient, submissive wife.
00;06;15;24 - 00;06;25;11
W.E.
I'm trying to do something. My husband, my family. And he goes, This is so good. We should take it to market just like that in the middle of a pandemic. I'm like, Oh my God.
00;06;25;11 - 00;06;27;07
W.E with Laughter
Who get.
00;06;27;11 - 00;06;43;28
W.E.
To market? I was like, Okay. And that was the beginning. I inspired it, but Dom have perfected it and really it was on his inclination. It was his intuition that we're here today. So I'll credit. The husband's vision for that path was actually amazing after all.
00;06;44;10 - 00;06;53;21
Djenaba
That's amazing. So, so, okay, so you create this burger, Dom. You, you, you know, refined it. And so when did you go into production?
00;06;54;27 - 00;07;02;08
Dominique
Yeah. So it depends on which level of production you're really talking about.
00;07;02;13 - 00;07;06;14
Djenaba
Let's start from the beginning. Just give me give me the beginning. Where how do we get started?
00;07;06;14 - 00;07;34;06
Dominique
Yeah. So, you know, any entrepreneur will kind of attest to hearing the stories about starting in your garage or your basement. We started in our newly renovated kitchen, and so that was a lot of fun. That started, I would say so March is when the pandemic really started to pick up. By about May, I decided, you know what?
00;07;34;06 - 00;07;54;07
Dominique
This is going to need my full attention and I'm not going to be able to work and do this at the same time. You know, I was in sales and underwriting for small businesses, actually. So I got a chance to talk to a lot of small business owners over that four year period that I was working with those companies, and that was great.
00;07;54;19 - 00;08;21;09
Dominique
But I knew I couldn't give my time to both. Like I think I wanted to and enjoyed my job a lot. So I would say in about May of 2020, we got started doing some production in our home. That means cutting down large batches of mushrooms on my countertop. Newly renovated countertop, cooking down these mushrooms and I don't know, mushrooms at scale in large batches.
00;08;22;05 - 00;08;24;17
Dominique
They don't smell as great as they do. And it's just a couple of them.
00;08;25;06 - 00;08;31;26
W.E.
How do they stay in my house?
00;08;32;14 - 00;08;34;05
W.E with Laughter
Like all the clones that we play.
00;08;34;26 - 00;09;06;18
Dominique
A little bit work like fungi. So nonetheless, yeah, so that that lasted the entire summer of 2020 through to an entire summer. We were sampling. We were kind of tweaking the recipe here. There. A little side note for a moment, we thought we lost the recipe totally and nothing was coming out the same. I was concerned by that because by this time I had already quit my job and it's like, you know, I'm sampling and yeah, it's not.
00;09;07;03 - 00;09;08;09
W.E.
Successful and I.
00;09;08;14 - 00;09;10;12
Dominique
Was a bit of a scare, but oh.
00;09;10;12 - 00;09;10;29
Djenaba
Wow.
00;09;11;01 - 00;09;30;20
W.E.
So you know, my senses and my nose and since I was just I was not feeling anything that was going on down there. Quit his job. I'm pregnant. And we have this, this recipe that we just lost. Because when you start to scale a recipe, you can lose it. You know, you get so Dom, you're saying come up.
00;09;31;13 - 00;10;01;23
Dominique
I mean, that's so true. I mean, and I think it is a lesson in entrepreneurship going from, you know, your bay to one little kind of patio or whatever you're producing to trying to figure out how to do it at scale efficiently and still hopefully make some money. Right? So that was a big learning curve. We got the recipe back and then, you know, we started getting some some mentorship and some consulting from free resources throughout Michigan.
00;10;02;00 - 00;10;25;16
Dominique
Michigan's really got an initiative to get more of those from our community into the food, and so went to MSU, Michigan State University to get some consulting. I think that's one thing. Just a note for entrepreneurs out there listening is, hey, at the beginning, find those resources. That's that's a part of your main job that might be that's actually better than money in a lot of sense.
00;10;25;16 - 00;10;45;23
Dominique
It's like the sales are great right? But I want as many resources as possible. So we definitely tapped into those and then found out, Hey, we're going to need a food license, We're going to need, you know, nutritional facts, you know, all of these things that kind of seem like a, you know, like a dub moment. But, you know, not being food manufacturers are entrepreneurs to begin with.
00;10;46;02 - 00;11;07;03
Dominique
It was a little bit of a learning curve. And then, you know, from there, we we tried we tried to get into food manufacturing facilities. But again, the pandemic pretty much put a hold on everything. And so, you know, at this point, we're like, okay, we've tested it enough. We we have you know, we have something that people like we need to start actually making money from it.
00;11;07;03 - 00;11;37;20
Dominique
So, you know, a couple other things happened and we did find ourselves in a in a good spot, but not not until after a couple of trials and tribulations, especially when it comes to e-commerce and just really making some sales off of something that we knew was in demand. But because of the the kind of we got bottleneck of what was going on in during COVID, it was hard to kind of transition to that place that we could actually make sales.
00;11;37;20 - 00;11;38;17
Dominique
So yeah.
00;11;39;08 - 00;11;43;18
Djenaba
So where were you selling before?
00;11;43;18 - 00;11;55;08
Dominique
We were sampling at first, so we sampled for quite a while and then we finally got into a kitchen that was, you know, a stable place for us. And our first sales were online or sales.
00;11;55;08 - 00;12;17;02
W.E.
Okay, yeah. So having a little techno tech background, e-commerce background, our first strategy was of course marketing online to get that pre revenue. So we presold our patties and we use that revenue to actually buy the boxes to then ship the product, right? So we did the whole marketing thing. But let me take it back a step. We weren't collecting leads.
00;12;17;03 - 00;12;41;10
W.E.
So anyone that is looking to build a business like your first point of revenue is collecting first name, last name, email, phone numbers. So every time we were sampling, we had a whole website kind of built with a lead form and people could pretty much request samples and we would drop them off within the area. And so we spent a year sampling and collecting leads.
00;12;41;10 - 00;13;02;26
W.E.
So by the time we were ready to actually launch a product for sale because legally we could not sell producing sample products and we didn't want to be on the wrong side of law. So we were collecting leads. And so by the time we had gotten our license and we were ready to actually sell, we had over 600 contacts in our database.
00;13;03;08 - 00;13;28;05
W.E.
And so we pre sold online, created some scarcity in the marketplace and all that good stuff. And I think we raised maybe like $6,000 in the first two weeks of pre-sales or to 2 to 3 weeks of sale online. And so we were able to take that money and then quickly go buy boxes and figure out the rest and the back end, like we knew we had a product, we knew how to get it to you, but we knew we need the money.
00;13;28;10 - 00;13;30;24
W.E.
So we pre-sold.
00;13;30;24 - 00;13;32;16
W.E with Laughter
You know, that.
00;13;32;16 - 00;13;48;19
Djenaba
It was that was so smart. Like because it's the same as that people use for different types of industries. I know people pre-sell clothing first and then they go and make, you know, manufacture the thing. So it makes a lot of sense to get, you know, sample your products, throw up. I did this too, with my business with Hudson Kitchen.
00;13;48;19 - 00;14;10;24
Djenaba
I threw up a Web page that just had literally first name, last name, email address, so I could start to collect things, you know, collect information about people that might be interested in this thing I was trying to do. And then you know, and then you sell something. So I think that that's amazing. So you so you got you made $6,000 and your first your initial your initial sales and you figured out the boxes, you got everything delivered to your client and then what happened?
00;14;11;06 - 00;14;21;08
W.E.
Yes, but let's let's just put this list. Is that the context that launched May 14? Right. So we're launching a Foldit, a frozen food product going into the summer, like Hope.
00;14;21;08 - 00;14;25;01
W.E with Laughter
Does that oh, oh, oh, You know, you know.
00;14;25;13 - 00;14;47;27
W.E.
I'm tracking the calendar and all that stuff. You just you just try to get these sold. So we had a whole learning curve around frozen selling frozen food products across the U.S. and we think offer partners like UPS who kind of work with us to ship and and things of that nature. But Abdon can share a little bit more about that but that's kind of how it started.
00;14;47;28 - 00;14;56;24
W.E.
Got the funds that got the boxes figured out that our vacuum sealed packaging got to our customers and our patties looked like pancakes.
00;14;57;08 - 00;15;16;10
Dominique
Oh, wow, Thank God for family. So we I think we were smart enough to know to know that this is a trial and we don't know how this is going to end up. And so let's send them to family first. So we set this up for the family like on the East Coast and New Jersey and Maryland, things close to those locations.
00;15;16;10 - 00;15;26;05
Dominique
And yeah, like Wendy said, they turned out like pancakes instead of burgers. And so we quickly found out like, okay, okay.
00;15;27;04 - 00;15;29;28
W.E.
So yeah.
00;15;29;28 - 00;15;46;29
Dominique
Yeah, the vacuum selling that we see in the stores, there's something else, too. This is not as simple as we think. You know, I think we might have a three or $400 back sealed off of Amazon, you know? Yeah, it's going to be easy, you know? Yeah. A little too much pressure and not enough. Not enough dry ice.
00;15;46;29 - 00;15;58;24
Dominique
And so, you know, again, these are these learning these micro learning curve that you just unless you go through it, not even a great consultant can kind of give you all the insight on that, you know, is true true.
00;15;58;24 - 00;15;59;04
Djenaba
Sure.
00;15;59;09 - 00;15;59;19
W.E.
Yeah.
00;15;59;22 - 00;16;00;02
W.E with Laughter
Yeah.
00;16;00;23 - 00;16;18;19
W.E.
Flexibility. There's power and flexibility. And so we pivoted quickly. I mean, we probably had about 6 to 7 pivots throughout when the preorders came in, when all the orders went out with our packaging scenario. I mean, we ended up putting patties in a a soup container that we're using right now.
00;16;19;23 - 00;16;52;11
Dominique
So. Right. Yeah. This is this is probably our final pivot. We have a little bit more, you know, sort of friendly, but so yeah, we went from yeah, all these versions of like soup deli cups, like something that you might find at a, you know, on the east coast of California. Right. So wasn't the most ideal but, but we're at a greater, you know far we're great at innovating and making the best look of something that might seem a little bit more, you know, mom and pop.
00;16;52;11 - 00;17;06;03
Dominique
But yeah, so we ended up on a pretty strong plastic soup cup. It it fits the burgers nice and neat. But, you know, again, we still ran into a lot of challenges with logistics. Yes.
00;17;07;18 - 00;17;09;06
W.E.
Your audio is breaking up. Sorry.
00;17;09;14 - 00;17;09;29
Dominique
It is.
00;17;11;22 - 00;17;14;12
W.E with Laughter
No. Yeah, it's yeah.
00;17;14;22 - 00;17;18;20
Djenaba
So lots of lessons learned in the beginning. So what what happened next?
00;17;20;02 - 00;17;41;03
W.E.
Oh, my goodness. So. So we have these, like, high variation of two cups, which you realize we know and we're in the process right now doing the packaging. We have a machine coming right now, should be getting to Michigan any minute now. And two weeks now probably from China. But so we got that situation. I think our biggest our biggest focus was we have a commitment to the customers.
00;17;41;12 - 00;17;52;24
W.E.
We don't want to incur customers in an upset. Everyone is flexible, they're lenient. They know we're just getting started. We got back orders up until like four months. Oh wow.
00;17;52;24 - 00;17;53;09
W.E with Laughter
Shut.
00;17;53;09 - 00;17;54;24
W.E.
That e-commerce off.
00;17;57;00 - 00;17;57;15
W.E with Laughter
Like so.
00;17;57;15 - 00;18;09;28
W.E.
Sorry. Let me just let this happen quickly. So we have to shut e-commerce off real quick and we didn't want any upset. And so we down through he called it g t s, which is Google that stuff. That's the bad.
00;18;11;24 - 00;18;12;00
W.E with Laughter
We.
00;18;12;01 - 00;18;33;18
W.E.
Need to get this big real quick. Let me just get this and so that is is big and one for store you found ourselves in farmer's market. So for entrepreneurs who have a CPG product or can get into their local farmers markets, it's a great place to test your product. And so we got into the and Detroit, funny enough, I think one of the largest and nationally renowned farmers markets in the in the US.
00;18;34;00 - 00;18;53;12
W.E.
Wow. So it's called Eastern market got into the farmer's market and we appreciated the cash flow from the farmer's markets because we have to focus so much on packaging and shipping in all that dry ice and things. And so it was a better margin for us to kind of use the funds back into the business to grow and scale.
00;18;53;20 - 00;19;16;10
W.E.
And it was from the farmer's markets and the connections from the farmer's markets that we met our first retailer or buyer store manager and a higher store buyer here on the East Coast is like it's like a like stop and shop kind of, you know, Shoprite for for those on the East Coast. And and so we got into our first retailer and there's a shift, right?
00;19;16;10 - 00;19;41;08
W.E.
If you're an entrepreneur, you go from Farmer's market, like the way you engage farmer's market customers and retailers is a whole different ballgame, right? You have a lot more people that you have to attend to. You know, the processes are different in terms of stocking, restocking, understanding merchant or merchandizing. And so it was another learning curve, but we knew we needed to get into stores to kind of test that roadmap as well.
00;19;41;17 - 00;20;04;13
W.E.
So we got into our first we did we were doing well and it was through that contact that we got into the other kind of sister stores in other location. But all the stores that we got into the first in the first seven months of launch or eight months of launch, I think we were in about 11 stores and knocking on doors, going understanding your market, understand your customers, the leads that we have been receiving for a year plus.
00;20;05;10 - 00;20;20;22
W.E.
And a lot of times the customers will pull you, so they'll say, Hey, can you get this product in this store? And we'll say, okay, let's share the contact or let them know about us. And we would go, and they'll already have customers asking. And that's how we were able to scale to like 12 stores on our own.
00;20;20;22 - 00;20;45;26
W.E.
No brokers, no, just not go looking for the store manager and understand their process. Make a request, leverage their own interest like they want. Local people want black owned women, own minority owned leverage. Those goals of these retailers and align it with your company and you'll get into these opportunities a lot faster. And what that's what we've been doing.
00;20;46;08 - 00;20;55;15
Djenaba
Okay. So so so 12 locations and then you still did you still were still doing e-commerce or did you kind of scale back that back a little bit?
00;20;55;16 - 00;21;19;01
W.E.
What you know, when you get started in the company and it's going to of you, there's only so much energy and effort you can put into everything. E-commerce is its own. So we had it on and live, but we weren't pushing it as much as we were the first time when we were just e-commerce because we were also managing scaling of production and producing and so having to meet the demand of farmers markets.
00;21;19;01 - 00;21;36;18
W.E.
And then we were sell out of farmers markets every weekend. Wow. Every time we thought we bought enough, it wasn't enough. We bring like 30, like, okay, we got more than 20 last week. So 50. Okay, we're good. So okay. 71 Oh, okay. Oh really. Like that. Okay. Increase production.
00;21;37;00 - 00;21;38;24
W.E with Laughter
You know.
00;21;38;24 - 00;22;01;15
Dominique
One thing to note about that too, is that, you know the power of a recurring product, right? And so like if you are trying to get into entrepreneurship and you're thinking, okay, what do I want to sell? You know, think about things that people are using week to week, month, month, etc., because that will help you with that build up where you are selling out because people are just going to come back just like they did last week.
00;22;01;15 - 00;22;03;02
Dominique
So it's really important to think about that.
00;22;04;09 - 00;22;04;22
W.E.
Yeah.
00;22;05;04 - 00;22;09;14
Djenaba
Yeah, that's fantastic. So tell me what's happening now.
00;22;11;06 - 00;22;18;19
W.E.
At the moment. Yes. Oh yeah. I mean, we're so excited that we both want to talk to, you know.
00;22;18;19 - 00;22;44;07
Dominique
Yeah, we'll just go back and forth. But yeah, so wow, a lot is going on, right? We're, we're innovating, creating new products. We're also hiring, which is awesome. We get the chance to which is really a part of our mission, which is to, you know, really hire locally and build up the Detroit economy through teaching food, manufacturing and e-commerce skills to native Detroiters.
00;22;44;07 - 00;23;10;14
Dominique
And so that's exciting. We were able to land a agreement with a local food distribution company, which is would you when you find out in food, would you find out in food is that there's a lot of, you know, logistics involved. And so in order to get to scale without putting, you know, a whole bunch of food in your your pickup truck and trying to ship it all around the around the state, you need you need partners.
00;23;10;14 - 00;23;24;21
Dominique
And so we got with a logistics company that gets us to hopefully they have about 1500 stores throughout the Michigan kind of Midwest region. And so hopefully we'll get into all of them by the end of 2023. But yeah, that's a part of where we are right now.
00;23;25;24 - 00;23;33;05
Djenaba
Yeah. Congratulations. And what do you think about the future of the future of the business? What are some goals you could you could share now.
00;23;34;21 - 00;23;59;17
W.E.
Man the goal I thing are ever evolving as we are digging deeper and deeper into the mission. And one thing to note is that prior to creating this recipe, we were not plant based or fully plant based of a lifestyle. And we've been really since launch. And just like our personal health have evolved, the business goals are evolving as well.
00;24;00;08 - 00;24;30;08
W.E.
As Dominic mentioned earlier, our mission part of our mission is to impact locally, build globally. But have everyone live healthily. And so that's like the philosophy we're living by. And I think our first thing is first to saturate Michigan market regionally and then and a big goal for me always has been the African market. So once we get our footing here in the US, a big goal for me and Dominique is to expand into the African market what that looks like.
00;24;30;08 - 00;24;48;01
W.E.
Yet we're not sure. Are we going to be helping African Russian farmers learn to grow mushrooms and then use raw material to scale into market? We're not sure what that looks like it, but all those are kind of the possibilities. Dominique, any others that I've haven't shared that I know we've been talking about?
00;24;49;19 - 00;25;14;15
Dominique
No. I think you hit it on the head and think, you know, the overarching theme with even expanding into international markets is thinking vertically, right? Thinking about, okay, how many parts of this value chain or supply chain can we keep under one roof and, you know, increase the impact that we make? Right. Hire more people, you know, decrease our costs.
00;25;15;07 - 00;25;29;05
Dominique
And as you really have to ask yourself, you know, are you building this to sell? Are you building this for legacy? And I think that we've had enough late night conversations around, you know, what we're doing. And we're really late night, late, early.
00;25;29;17 - 00;25;29;23
W.E with Laughter
Right.
00;25;30;01 - 00;25;48;13
Dominique
You know, conversations about like what is the what is the vision there? And I'm confident that our vision is to build legacy. You know, our children, you know, have come up with us through this entire process. They've learned so much. They've seen us, you know, through the struggles. And we want them to have the full benefit of that.
00;25;48;22 - 00;26;14;18
Dominique
And they and their foodies, my daughter wants to be a food, a chef or a food scientist and things of that nature. So if if it's at all possible, we'd love to have them work and run the business at some level at some point in time. So but yeah, going vertical, you know, really creating our brand, right. Like I think it was popular on social media a couple of months ago.
00;26;14;18 - 00;26;36;24
Dominique
Right. All of these names that we know about, these are people's last names, right? Like Kellogg, someone's last name, right. You know, brings someone's last name. These are not just brands. These are people's legacies. And so we'd also like to be considered in that group, you know, maybe 20 years from now as having, you know, a brand that is was family owned and family started.
00;26;36;24 - 00;26;48;13
Djenaba
Oh, that's great. So let's talk about the family a little bit. So are are the the children are they're small right now. What are the how are they how are they liking you All being are they all in the business? What are they doing in this right now.
00;26;48;15 - 00;26;56;22
W.E.
Right. Equity, I thought, okay, how would you guys my youngest is about 14 months. Girl, you are from marketing. Take that cute little picture with the burger.
00;26;59;13 - 00;26;59;20
W.E with Laughter
With.
00;27;00;07 - 00;27;02;25
W.E.
My hair in my hand. And then alcohol.
00;27;02;27 - 00;27;05;00
W.E with Laughter
You're so cute.
00;27;05;08 - 00;27;32;14
W.E.
But I mean, I'm serious. Know so our oldest is eight Autumn. This yogi is going to be five in a few weeks. And then our youngest is about 14 months. And and so we were homeschooling during the pandemic. We pulled our children out of school. So we were homeschooling. Going through the pandemic transition from a full time. I was pregnant with our third and we launched a food pantry and we were just clearly we were going crazy in the house.
00;27;32;14 - 00;27;50;28
W.E.
So and so they have literally been with us since the inception. So they're out there helping with they're helping with measuring and producing autumn leaves, the Chief Experience Officer So she's all about doing the videos on social media. You'll see her engaging girl. Talk to that customer, make that sale. That's right.
00;27;50;28 - 00;27;51;18
W.E with Laughter
30 year.
00;27;51;20 - 00;27;52;01
W.E.
Holds.
00;27;52;01 - 00;27;54;01
Dominique
The record for sales in.
00;27;54;16 - 00;28;01;23
W.E.
The record. Oh, really? Yeah. She. She sold like, I think it was like over 30 patties. Wow.
00;28;02;06 - 00;28;02;17
W.E with Laughter
Wow.
00;28;02;18 - 00;28;11;10
W.E.
2 hours to I'm like that But she still holds lots of so I'm like I'll pick your daughter what you your daughter which.
00;28;11;16 - 00;28;11;23
W.E with Laughter
Okay.
00;28;12;27 - 00;28;29;21
W.E.
And then we have Jyoti who's the chief delivery boy. He's really big with like, wanting to pitch in and helping Dom with the boxes and the mushrooms and the nature. And then Julie, she's just you. And we're the farmers markets. Everybody be upset with that because they're like, Everybody come to your table. We're like, That's right.
00;28;29;21 - 00;28;31;17
W.E with Laughter
You keep.
00;28;31;22 - 00;28;38;15
W.E.
Smiling. Googoo Gaga, he all of them. Give them that is that is so good.
00;28;38;15 - 00;28;58;04
Djenaba
So how do you how do you guys separate business from personal meaning? Like, do you is are you at a certain is it 6 p.m. and business is just left up the you know at the door and you're able to shift into family mode or is it just the all the time, what do you do to relax with the family and have a good time?
00;28;59;17 - 00;29;25;15
W.E.
You know, that's a really good question. Maybe you may have a different answer than this, but I think we're on the same page. You know, just just mature, maturing in life and maturing as a mother and a father and parents. I no longer have. I no longer it's not a goal for me to like separate, but rather to be present in every moment and experience every moment and often times things overlap.
00;29;25;15 - 00;29;51;23
W.E.
I mean, there's nothing I can really do about it. But what we focus on is the present and how everyone can be totally complete and whatever we're experiencing. And so if we have to go do drop off at a store, when we were first off distributing, we would turn it into a family trip and we go eat dinner at a restaurant, new place afterwards, or we'll find a new part that's by the grocery store and it'll become like this real, just immersive experience for the children.
00;29;51;23 - 00;30;02;15
W.E.
And so they would have to feel like, Oh, mommy, daddy, I always working. Because right now in the business we are it's three, four, seven. There's no way for us to separate them. What would you say to that? Maybe end it?
00;30;02;29 - 00;30;22;10
Dominique
Yeah. No, I think that's a great answer. I think that's a great answer. I think even about, you know, so a big part of the food business is things like food shows and that takes us on the road, right? It's a pretty cool experience. You get to go to places like Vegas or Anaheim, you know, Chicago, they're all over the place.
00;30;22;10 - 00;30;49;12
Dominique
And so again, to my wife's point, it's just about making that a full body experience where, yeah, we're at a food show, but yeah, we're we're not, you know, maybe tabling at the food show. We're going to visit a nice museum that's also in the same city. And so it's a, it's a way for the experience to also impact the kids so that they're not against or like this is only for them and not for us.
00;30;49;12 - 00;31;08;07
Dominique
And, you know, you hear those stories sometimes about like parents who worked so much and now their kids, you know, hate the business and they want to sell it. I can't really see that for our kids. I feel like the way we're anchoring the business and just, you know, entrepreneurship in our lifestyle overall is something that they would want to carry on.
00;31;08;07 - 00;31;10;10
Dominique
And I think that's really important to the both of us.
00;31;11;12 - 00;31;30;26
W.E.
Yeah, it's cool for them because they'll they'll know and meet the founders of products that they're eating in our household. So think, Oh, mommy, you know, whether it's whether it's the new cheese that we're in or a pancake or a cookie, you know, they're like, Oh, this so and so amidst this, you know, after this, you know, so it's so immersive.
00;31;31;16 - 00;31;47;21
W.E.
And even if we wanted to try something, we couldn't. We walked Natural Expo West for the first time, like last past year. And so we're prepping to exhibit there is coming here. That was my daughter kind of overheard Dominique speaking so like, Oh, are we going to Anaheim? We're going to California.
00;31;48;10 - 00;31;49;18
W.E with Laughter
I guess we are.
00;31;49;18 - 00;31;54;05
W.E.
Oh, let me finally and Aaron, let me let me ask it. Clearly, they're going to call their colleagues and I think.
00;31;55;04 - 00;31;55;27
Djenaba
We are going.
00;31;56;25 - 00;31;57;15
W.E with Laughter
To.
00;31;57;18 - 00;32;01;06
W.E.
Be there. We're going to go to.
00;32;01;06 - 00;32;03;01
W.E with Laughter
Oh, but it's so good.
00;32;03;03 - 00;32;10;07
W.E.
Oh, they already left and they were already getting themselves into every part of the process. And so it's just been great.
00;32;10;07 - 00;32;20;24
Djenaba
That's that's so good. So at Hudson Kitchen, we have what I call the money bell that people ring when they're celebrating something. So what are you all celebrating? Could be business or personal.
00;32;20;24 - 00;32;27;15
W.E.
Yeah, I like to think of my answer when I tell them.
00;32;27;15 - 00;32;51;07
Dominique
Yeah, well, I think, you know, a big win for us recently. We post today on LinkedIn and, and a couple of other social media platforms was, you know, distribution. That is a big undertaking. It was our biggest purchase order to date. We did it through our through the help of an employee that is has been on with us for 90 days.
00;32;51;07 - 00;33;12;11
Dominique
We were able to, you know, carry payroll for over 90 days. Now. And I mean, that's huge. It's really the kind of it's the it's the genesis into like true food business. Like without having distribution, nobody takes you seriously. You know, It's like, okay, you got a little cookie company and there's nothing wrong with that, right? Everybody has a start.
00;33;12;18 - 00;33;30;23
Dominique
But once you get distribution, that's saying that, okay, the industry is taking you seriously and, you know, kind of welcome like, all right, put your boxing gloves on. It's really time to fight, you know? So I would say that that's one of our our biggest wins recently. But I'm sure there's a couple of others that I'm I'm not remember.
00;33;30;23 - 00;33;31;04
Dominique
What do you think?
00;33;31;04 - 00;33;54;20
W.E.
But I know that I mean, they're they're all kind of interconnected. So, yes, our ability to get distribution really make the road map to a thousand plus stores, which is our next milestone. So doable. So doable. And then also, I think the next big thing that people can expect from us is getting into food service restaurants and hotels.
00;33;54;20 - 00;34;07;28
W.E.
And we're in a lot of great conversations. We were we were doing a demo at a restaurant and they took our patty and they made like one of their menu items. But with our burger patty and they served it to us. I was like, Ooh, this feels good, you know.
00;34;08;03 - 00;34;12;07
W.E with Laughter
And I can do this. I can really right here.
00;34;12;15 - 00;34;34;23
W.E.
And it was just one of those like, wow, manifesting, right? This was once in my kitchen, and now I'm coming into a restaurant. What we've made out of our kitchen now was the first one that being fed to me like this is what. And so I'm really excited about that moving into this new year and and what people can expect from from the company and the products that are coming out.
00;34;34;23 - 00;34;56;21
W.E.
And we're really excited just to represent an ordinary family committed to extraordinary things together and bring people together. And that's really the mission like like food miracles for all people, whether that's the miracle relationship, your family, your how like just understand that food can be that catalytic thing or that conduit that allows you to do so. So we're just excited to represent responsible industry.
00;34;57;07 - 00;35;12;14
Djenaba
So I just want to say congratulations on all that you've been able to accomplish so far. And I look forward to watching your journey to end. Let our listeners know where they can find out about you and all about cruise burgers.
00;35;12;14 - 00;35;17;08
W.E.
Absolutely. They want wrap it up.
00;35;17;08 - 00;35;41;19
Dominique
Yes. So there's a couple of places in so online right we're at cruise burgers dot com right that that's if you're outside of the Michigan area that's pretty much the best way to find out more about us make sure you go to our contact page and you fill out information because we're always doing cool things. We actually have a holiday recipe book coming out pretty soon, so that's exciting.
00;35;41;19 - 00;36;03;29
Dominique
You'll be able to take that and take the cruise burger and make some really cool holiday treats for you and your family. So yeah, cruise burgers that common. And if you are in Detroit or the Michigan area, we're in about 15 stores overall right now. So if you just go back to our website, you go to our store locator, you just kind of put in your zip code and you'll be able to find out some of the stores that were in.
00;36;03;29 - 00;36;26;21
Dominique
Like we said, we're in Myer, we're also in Westbourne Market, Western Market, We're a couple in independent grocery stores, are some black owned grocery stores which are very excited about in the Detroit metro area and also a place called the Mushroom Hub. So they're a retailer all focused in on mushrooms, which is a whole nother conversation that we'd love to have at a later point.
00;36;26;21 - 00;36;44;25
Dominique
But like mushroom is the way it's the way we are. So we're excited about that. And yeah, just excited about getting into more footprints. If you want to leave us a little message to let us know where you are and you know, maybe some good stores in your local area or restaurants in your local area that you love to see us.
00;36;45;03 - 00;36;49;13
Dominique
We are all about making those connections. So we love to hear that feedback from you.
00;36;49;13 - 00;37;08;29
W.E.
Absolutely. And another last link to keep in your bookmark is the Mushroom Angel COCOM. Cruise Burgers was our first product. That's what helped us into the marketplace. But we have a roll out of more products coming out. And so you're going to you're going to start to hear a lot more from the Mushroom Angel Company, which is really our mother company.
00;37;08;29 - 00;37;26;11
W.E.
And so if you can bookmark that, your you'll see we're going to do a whole new rebrand and roll out of more products. So keep of those links in your bookmark and the report serving you are the best meat alternatives for mushrooms and more. Great.
00;37;26;17 - 00;37;45;04
Djenaba
Thank you guys so much. The Food Means Business podcast is produced by Hudson Kitchen. It's recorded and edited at the studio at Carney Point. Our theme song is by Damian de Sandys, and I'm your host, Ginger Johnson Jones. Find out more about Hudson Kitchen by visiting the Hudson Kitchen dot com or follow us on Instagram at the Hudson Kitchen.
00;37;45;18 - 00;37;51;25
Djenaba
Listen below and leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. Until next time.
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