May 20, 2025 • 29 mins
Episode Description:
“In the CPG industry, so many individuals are just so friendly and eager to help emerging brands and founders succeed. Ask for help and they’re always willing to make an introduction.” —Danny Auld
Early childhood nutrition is more than just filling tiny bellies with food. It's about creating lifelong eating habits that can shape health, curiosity, and cultural understanding. The first few years of a child's diet can determine their relationship with food for decades to come.
Danny Auld and David Fullner are the co-founders of Kekoa Foods, a groundbreaking baby food company born from their personal mission to provide nutritious, globally-inspired meals for children. As an educational psychologist and former entertainment industry professional, they've developed a revolutionary approach to introducing complex flavors and healthy eating habits from infancy.
Tune in as Justine Reichman explores with Danny and David their innovative "Taste Training" program, uncovering how parents can help children become adventurous eaters, why 93% of kids aren't eating recommended vegetables, and the transformative power of introducing global flavors from the very first bite.
Meet David:
David Fullner, the visionary CEO and co-founder of Kekoa Foods, turned his passion for cooking, gardening, and healthy living into a bold mission after the birth of his son in 2013, when he saw the lack of flavorful, high-quality baby food options. Motivated to create something better, he began crafting organic baby food blends using fresh vegetables, herbs, roots, and spices — a unique approach his son instantly loved. What started as a personal solution quickly evolved into Kekoa Foods, a company now known for challenging industry norms and prioritizing taste, wellness, and ingredient integrity. Under David’s leadership, Kekoa Foods is reshaping the future of baby food to ensure every child has access to clean, nutritious, and flavorful meals.
Meet Danny:
Dr. Danny Auld is the co-founder and President of Kekoa Foods, where he leads business operations, sales, financial strategy, and production logistics with a strong focus on excellence and community impact. He manages fundraising, investor relations, and compliance while also shaping the company’s public presence through digital content, influencer partnerships, and nationwide food donation initiatives. With a PhD from Fordham University and a background in academic leadership, Danny brings strategic insight and a passion for meaningful change. Beyond his professional work, he enjoys cooking, family time with his husband and co-founder David, and their son, and actively mentors young professionals while supporting efforts to combat food insecurity and promote youth development.
Connect with Kekoa Foods:
Connect with NextGen Purpose:
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
much for joining me today. I'mreally excited to have you here
and learn all about Kekoa. KekoaFoods is named after your son.
So we have Danny and David, ifyou guys would just introduce
yourselves so our audience,whether they're listening or
tuning in, know a little bitmore about all of both of you.
Danny Auld: (00:22):
Sure, I'm Danny Auld, and I am an educational
psychologist turned CPG,co-founder of Kekoa, which I co
founded with my husband, DavidFullner.
David Fullner: (00:34):
And that makes me David, co-founder and
husband. And I spent 20 years inthe entertainment industry, and
that is a perfect segue to beinga CPG owner.
Justine Reichman (00:49):
Okay. How does that correlate? I thought maybe
you would come up with somethingcrafty and clever on how it was
going, but that's okay.
David Fullner: (01:01):
Well, I guess you could say I could manage
things quite well.
Justine Reichman (01:13):
So for those that are not familiar, and if
someone in our audience wasasking, what would you tell them
about KekoaFoods is? How wouldyou best describe it?
Danny Auld: (01:23):
Sure. Kekoa Foods is a company that has an
organic, globally inspiredpalette, expanding line of pouch
berries that include many veggieforward recipes, as well as a
couple of fruit forward recipes.And our goal is to provide these
to our youngest eaters, andensure that they love to be
(01:46):
adventurous healthy eaters,eating nutritious food for life.
Justine Reichman (01:50):
And I think that's so important, because I'm
an adventurous eater. And thereare so many children out there
that I watch and see with theirfamilies who only eat like
chicken nuggets, french fries orpasta. I don't know if it's
because of what they're given atyounger ages. I don't know if
it's because, nowadays, wereally cater to what our kids
want. But I think expandingtheir palate right away just
(02:13):
seems like such a greatopportunity for them to be more
open to all the different kindsof foods out there.
David Fullner: (02:20):
We've been together for a while, so I guess
we talking at the same time. Weactually created a program based
on that exact problem calledtaste training, and we launched
it with Dr. Nicole Avena, who isa neuroscientist. And so we've
(02:42):
partnered with her to helpeducate parents on the
fundamentals and the importanceof taste training. And because
you have potty training, youhave sleep training, but then
there's really nothing out thereto talk about, what should I do
to make sure that my child iseating really healthy food? And
it's not one and done. If you'regoing to go have your child
(03:08):
brush their teeth and they say,no. Well, you're going to brush
your teeth because you don'twant a bad teeth. So you have to
keep at it and keep trying newthings. It takes a long time for
someone to develop a taste or aliking. And an interesting thing
is, when a baby tastes somethingnew for the first time, a lot of
(03:30):
times, they'll make a face. AndWE as adults interpret that as,
oh, they don't like it. But forthem, it's not that they don't
like it, it's just new. And soif you keep at it, they actually
will enjoy that taste, and beopen for further adventurous
eating as they get older,
Justine Reichman (03:45):
So they get curious. Is what you're saying?
If I'm hearing you, those faces,we should not look at them and
say, oh, my God, they hate it.Let's give them something else.
They want to try it again. Ithink even I can relate to that.
Because sometimes when you trysomething new, or you try
(04:07):
something and you're not surewhat it is or what it's going to
taste like, the first bite, youkind of go, I'm not sure.
Danny Auld: (04:16):
I just want to say that so many times, we'll talk
to someone at a demo that we'redoing, and their first response
is, oh, my child doesn't eatvegetables, so I don't think
they'll like some of yourproduct. And I'm like, well,
what do you give them forvegetables? They're like, well,
I tried giving them broccoli onetime, and they didn't like it.
So I just don't give them thatanymore. But the thing about
(04:37):
eating in foods is we eat whatwe know. And so if you go around
the world,children are exposedto the cuisines of their
cultures, and that's what theyeat. They grow up with, and it
becomes familiar and comforting.And so if you limit your child
and don't give them vegetables,and don't keep offering these
unique flavors that are reallyhealthy and nutritious, then
(04:57):
yeah, what you're going to seeis the chicken fingers and the
french fries, butter withnoodles, all of which are really
lacking in good nutrition.
Justine Reichman (05:03):
And that makes total sense to me. I know I was
a very adventurous eater becausemy parents fed me all sorts of
things from the time I couldeat. I'm not saying this is the
best for a kid. But my mom anddad were feeding me sushi when I
(05:24):
was like three or four, andlobster, meat, steak. Whatever
they were going out for, I waseating it. From Mexican food to
whatever. And I think today, itallows me to be really open to
things. Not particular, but not picky.
David Fullner: (05:45):
Our son, one of his favorite food is sushi.
Justine Reichman (05:53):
How old's your son?
David Fullner: (05:54):
He will be 12 in a few weeks.
Justine Reichman (05:55):
Wow, exciting. So tell me a little bit about
the back story.
David Fullner: (06:02):
So Kekoa Foods was actually born out of the
love of our son, because he wasborn in Honolulu, Hawaii to a
gestational carrier, and he was8 weeks premature. And so for
his fighting spirit, a localnative cultural practitioner
gave him the middle name Kekoa,which means "brave warrior". And
so when it was time for him toeat solid foods, I wanted to
(06:23):
make sure that he had the mostnutritious food possible,
especially being 8 weekspremature. So I made all of his
food from scratch and didresearch, and realized that you
can actually introduce herbs,spices and vegetables, and a
wide variety of food beginningat 6 months. But of course,
every child is different so youwant to talk to your
(06:43):
pediatrician to make sure thatit's the appropriate time. But
at 8 months old, he was eatingcurry vegetables, and that's
very advanced. And so as I keptposting it on social media, we
had friends and family saying,your son is eating better than I
eat, and I'm an adult. Where canI get this? And we thought,
(07:06):
well, that's actually a fun ideafor a company. Because as we're
solving the problem for our sonto make sure that he had
healthy, nutritious food, wealso wanted to introduce that to
the world, to have them, to havethe ability, to have that
adventurous food and nutritionas well.
Justine Reichman (07:23):
Wow. What an idea. What a way to get there,
too. But it's not uncommon howpeople start to do things for
themselves and out of passion.Filling a void or solving a
problem, they end up creating anamazing company, and that's one
of the reasons we do the podcastbecause we feel like that
inspires others to also buildand innovate in the same space.
(07:46):
I'm curious about all theseherbs, because I feel like they
can be spicy or they can beparticular, and there's people
that don't like things liketurmeric, ginger, or I don't
think Cilantro is in yours, butsome of these flavors can be
very specific. When you firstintroduced it, and we think
(08:09):
about spicy, and we shouldn'tgive spicy to a kid. What were
your thoughts going into that?
Danny Auld: (08:13):
Yeah. So all of the spices that we incorporate are
savory, but there's no heat tothem. So David developed a
special curry blend that doesn'thave any pepper in it. We have a
shawarma. Again, there's nopepper in it. It's just a savory
flavor. What we find is whenadults try the curry a lot, it's
(08:33):
very polarizing. So peopleeither love curry as an adult,
or they hate it because they'vejust never grown accustomed to
it. But when a child under twois introduced to it, again, it's
that novelty and it is exciting.So we find so many kids that are
really enjoying the curryvegetable mango, even though
their parents are like, I neverwant to eat that.
Justine Reichman (08:53):
I like green curry. Share one of your recipes
with me, and we could trade.I'll give you mine. You give me
yours. We'll taste them out. Iknow it's really spicy, but I
like a little kick. My dad andmy partner, they also love
(09:20):
spicy. So whenever I find hot,spicy salsas or sauce, I buy
them. I try them, and I think mytongue is going to fall off.
Danny Auld: (09:33):
I would agree. David and our son really like
spicy. I like flavorful with ahint, but not as much to the
extreme that they like.
Justine Reichman (09:42):
So I'm curious, you guys have been
around what? About three years?
Danny Auld: (09:45):
Yeah, this is our fourth year. We launched 2022.
And before we launched, we did aKickstarter just to kind of test
the concept and see whatpeople's responses were. And it
was really exciting. People werelike, I'm so happy to see
vegetables in baby food, becauseit's so much purees of fruits
and not as many veggies. And aspart of doing this, my
(10:07):
background is education, andDavid and I decided to partner
with the Newark YMCA. So folkswho wanted to support us as we
launched our company were ableto purchase the product and have
it sent to the New York wherethey have a housing facility. So
they have up to 200 families ata given time, and up to 80
infants. And so when we launchedour product in 2022, we then did
(10:30):
a panel with a nutritionist, aswell as a grassroots organizer
to talk to the families aboutthe importance of good nutrition
reading nutrition facts panelsand ingredient labels. We were
also able to contribute the foodthat our backers from the
Kickstarter had purchased anddonated to the Newark.
Justine Reichman (10:49):
Way to kick that off, partnering with Newark
and the whole thing is verysmart.
David Fullner: (10:59):
Thank you. It was just great to meet the
community there. A lot of theparents, they're focused on
making ends meet and payingtheir bills. So reading labels
isn't really the top priority.It's checking that price point
first. And so we launched onAmazon, and later added our
Shopify store. And it was reallyin October of that year that we
(11:22):
got our golden ticket. David andI were presenting to the buyer
via Zoom. It was still a Zoompresentation for the Sprouts
Farmers Market baby category,and we just loved the varieties
that we had, and the differentvegetable combinations. So we
had three that were on themarket at the time, and four we
had just tested with ourco-packer. She was like, I'm
(11:43):
gonna stop you right there. Ifyou can get all seven, I'll give
you a nationwide rollout by May.So David was like, thank you.
And my response was, well, wehave more slides to go through.
Justine Reichman (11:58):
That's amazing. I'm curious, because we
do have listeners and peoplethat are tuning in that might
want to go through a similarpath. How did you get to the
(12:19):
people at Sprouts? What was yourpath?
David Fullner: (12:22):
It's a long story, but I'll make it short.
We worked with the Rutgers FoodInnovation Center at the very
beginning, and they have afantastic program to help
launch, or do research, or helpsmall brands really bring their
product to fruition. And so wehad partnered with them, and
(12:44):
then they were offering at theFancy Food Show a table at their
innovation center where we areable to demo our product at the
time. And one of the foragers ofSprouts Farmers Market came
over, and then we had followedup with him after the show, kept
talking and kept theconversation going. And then he
said, we are doing our lastpitch slam via Zoom, and we want
(13:08):
to have you to be part of it,and you can meet the buyer. And
we thought, that's fantastic.And so we met the buyer, and got
the national rollout.
Justine Reichman (13:16):
That's amazing. So that was a few years
ago. So today, what does therollout look like for your
product?
Danny Auld: (13:23):
Yeah. So we're in Sprouts nationwide. We have
expanded to do additionalretailers as well. So we're in
Central Market in Texas, in thePacific Northwest, we're in PCC,
Market of Choice, and Hagan inthe Midwest. We're in Pete's
Fresh in Chicago, Woodman's,we're launching in fresh time in
(13:44):
all stores now. It should be anyweek that they'll be getting the
products on the shelf. On theEast Coast, we're in Wegmans, as
well as ShopRite and Fairway. Soyeah, we're just really excited.
We're really resonating withbuyers and customers who are
looking for more veggie forwardcombinations for their children
(14:07):
and their families. And as Davidmentioned about the taste
training program, it's reallyhelping people to kind of
understand it. Because somethingabout food, people are quick to
say, oh, let's just dismissthis. And we don't have to worry
about my child eating vegetablesor eating healthier products or
foods, but then we see whathappens, right? Children aren't
(14:29):
eating vegetables. 93% ofchildren in the US don't eat the
RDA of vegetables, and 50%hardly eat a vegetable in a
given day. And then this isawful. It was shocking to me,
but then it kind of correlateswith our outcomes in health. We
see type two diabetes, obesityis a huge issue, especially
(14:52):
considering what a wealthycountry we are. We have access
to such quality food, and yetwhat's become normal is the
unhealthy. So we're reallytrying to not only make
wonderful products, but also toeducate folks about the
importance of eating better andhealthier throughout their life.
Justine Reichman (15:08):
Specifically around the taste training, what
does that look like?
Danny Auld: (15:13):
We have seven products. And basically what we
do is we take the more savoryveggie forward flavors that we
mentioned children may need totry a couple of times before it
becomes accepted and normal. Andthen we just kind of introduce
those flavors over a couple ofweeks. And then it's time for
the next bundle to try threemore flavors. And then we end it
(15:34):
with the fruit forward flavors,because we know that children
love apple. Many children lovemango, so it's a little bit
easier for them to kind ofaccept something that then
includes ginger or paprika. Butthe idea is to introduce them
early and often, especiallyduring that period between six
months and two years, becausechildren are much more receptive
(15:54):
to foods as they get older.They're in that NO stage, and
they're trying to assert theircontrol over their life, and not
have their parents constantlytelling them what to do. And
they're also going out into theworld more. They're in daycare
centers. They're off to school,preschool. So when you have that
opportunity to really controlwhat your child eats at a very
young age, that's the best timeto expose them to healthier
(16:16):
foods, and to ingrain thosepositive behaviors.
Justine Reichman (16:20):
I'm curious. I understand what the taste
training program does. And I'mwondering though, like, let's
just say I have a couple kids,and I want to hear about this
taste training. Are thereinstructions that come with it?
Is it something we do with youonline? Can you explain that a
little bit?
Danny Auld: (16:37):
Yeah. We have the information on our website. You
don't even have to use ourproducts. It's introducing a
gentle herb or spice to bringout the flavor of the food
without having to sweeten it oradd salt to it. And so you can
just start doing it with yourown groceries that you're
(16:58):
purchasing. Try broccoli onenight for your child, maybe add
a touch of lemon juice. Or maybethe next day, do a little
sauteed garlic and oil. And thenmaybe the third day, add it with
another vegetable just so thatthe child can try it in
different combinations andformats. Because maybe that
first time, it's not tooexciting for them. But that
fifth time, you really hit thewinner with them.
David Fullner: (17:20):
And the great thing about our pouches,
traditionally, you look at foodin the pouch and you think, all
right, baby. But because ourpouches are so nutritious and
they have such wonderful flavorto them, parents are
incorporating our pouches intoother foods, continuing through
toddler and then into childhood,and even adults are eating it as
(17:41):
well. Because you can take ourcurry vegetable, mango or
shawarma artichoke andcauliflower, people are mixing
it with a rice or a noodle. Solike a butter noodle, you'll
have a shawarma artichoke andcauliflower noodle, which now
has a lot of, one pouch for anadult is 25% of your RDA
vegetables. So you mix that withthe noodle, and they have
something familiar, which is thenoodle. But then they have the
(18:02):
flavor and the nutrition of theshawarma. Or they're mixing our
beet, fennel and kale with somesalad greens. Or they're using
the kale, squash, kale andturmeric, they'll warm it up and
eat it as a soup.
Justine Reichman (18:18):
Wow. So basically, if anybody wants to
do this, whether they're eatingyour product or not, you walk
them through the process on thewebsite. We'll put the website
in the show notes. I just wantedto make sure that we understood.
I understood and got the conceptof the program, but I wanted to
know how people can access it. Iwant to go back a little bit as
(18:40):
you were talking about Sprouts,and you talked about that you
originally did a Kickstarter,and then you did this, and
that's kind of a big roll out todo a nationwide thing. So CPG
company, it begs the question,did you raise money? I mean, you
said yes, which is what I wouldhave done, and then figured it
(19:00):
out after. But were you funded?Or was it self funded? What was
that process like? Because Ican't imagine it was that
straightforward.
Danny Auld: (19:10):
So to date, we're essentially self funded with
some debt financing. We did lookinto the investor route, the
equity route, and it was areally tough time when we
launched. We launched in 2022,and CPG investors weren't really
putting their money into newcompanies because the state of
the market was questionable. Soa lot of folks were reinvesting
(19:32):
in their own portfolio brands,but we were building a network
while we were doing that. I haveto say the CPG industry, so many
individuals are just so friendlyand eager to help emerging
brands and founders to succeed,so they're always willing to
make that introduction. Wementioned that we know Djenaba
who runs Hudson Kitchen. Thatwas an introduction from another
(19:54):
person in CPG, and then she madeintroductions for us. David
mentioned Rutgers FoodInnovation Center. Some other
resources that have beentremendously helpful for us are
startup CPG, so they have Slackchannel, and they advertise all
kinds of opportunities forbrands. Naturally, Network is a
wonderful organization. Theyhave a chapter in several parts
(20:17):
of the country, including theBay Area here in New York, and
then some other things thathelped. We did an accelerator
program in 2023, so that's nowcalled Beyond CPG, and mentors
there are always willing to makeintroductions for us. We could
kind of turn to them like, hey,we're trying to get this
(20:39):
ingredient, and the currentsupplier we have doesn't have it
anymore. Do you have anotheroption for us? So it's always
about asking, and having to beput your pride a little bit
aside sometimes. Just asksomebody, can you do this for
me? Or can you hook me up? Andthe overwhelming response has
been very favorable and alwayswilling to help.
Justine Reichman (20:57):
Well, yeah, it is nice when the community is so
integrated, and people arealways willing to help. I love
that. If there's anybody I canconnect anybody with, I would.
And I think that that's the sameacross the board. And I think a
lot of that isn't just in thestartup world. I think it's the
culture. From my experience, Ifeel like that as intimidating
(21:23):
as it is to start a newbusiness. Once you get in there,
people are really helpful.People want to help. They want
you to succeed. They want toconnect. They want to partner.
It's about building up thatconfidence and feeling like
you're in that community, andyou too can share and connect.
David Fullner: (21:48):
Yeah. There was a point where everyone was never
in the CPG world. They alleventually came here, and
similar to us as small businessowners, we didn't know what we
needed to know until we knew it.But part of that is also asking
(22:08):
questions. As Danny hadmentioned, there are so many
people out there with theknowledge that you're seeking.
And until you ask, they don'tknow you if you have the answer
or not. So you always need toask. Always need to connect with
people. And that's one thingthat we love to do because
(22:29):
people have connected us andpaid that forward for us. We
love doing that for other brandsas well, or even more
experienced brands, or brandsare have been around longer than
us. We may know something orsomeone that they're looking for
at that time, happy to connect,happy to bring people together.
That's why this industry is sowonderful, because people are
willing to support and help eachother.
Justine Reichman (22:48):
So one thing I wanted to ask you, and I thought
about it earlier. But when wewere talking about the name, the
name of your company, and it'syour son's middle name. I was
wondering, what was hisreaction? This is a few years
ago. He wasn't a toddler. Heknew what was going on. Was he
(23:09):
your taste tester? Obviously,this is his food.
David Fullner: (23:15):
These are our recipes based on what I actually
fed him. And so, yeah, he wastaste tester number one. And if
it wasn't approved by him, thenwe had to go back into the
kitchen.
Danny Auld: (23:27):
We started iterating the idea for the
business. We were doing somevideos, and we tried to
incorporate him in some. I thinkhe was about five the first time
that we did that, and he justthought it was silly. It was
basically blooper roles. Andthen as he got a little bit
older, he was getting kind ofembarrassed. But then we had
(23:51):
neighbors over for tastetesting, and all the children in
the neighborhood love theproducts. And so they were like,
this is really cool. This isamazing. So you could see him
shifting a bit like, yeah, Iguess it is cool that I have a
company.
Justine Reichman (24:08):
Embarrassments, right? So what's your plan going
forward now? You've accomplishedso much in the last few years,
and it's a hard industry tobreak into. It's expensive for
shelf space. What is yourstrategic plan for going
(24:30):
forward?
Danny Auld: (24:32):
From a sales perspective, keep going. So
driving sales, increasing brandawareness, and making sure that
we're just doing the best thatwe can with all the retail
partners we currently have, andthen being strategic about new
opportunities that we take on.So for example, a lot of people
want to be in Walmart. We'relaunching right now. We actually
(24:54):
launched this week onwalmart.com, so we're looking to
drive awareness among the onlineshop. At Walmart and then work
with the buyer when we're readyso that we can look it into
doing expansion into the storesand walking before you run
situation. And then in terms ofproducts, I know this one has a
few ideas.
David Fullner: (25:14):
I have quite a few ideas for new products
coming soon, but you'll have towait and find out.
Justine Reichman (25:23):
Is it about building new flavors? Or is it a
departure from that squeezypackage to just something else
that you're innovating?
David Fullner: (25:33):
I would say a little bit of all of the above.
Justine Reichman (25:37):
But what's your timeline on that?
David Fullner: (25:41):
As Danny said, we have to do it. And do it
financially in a veryfinancially sound way. So we
have to make sure that we havethe financial resources to roll
things out, get all of thetesting done, the formulations
and all of that completedcorrectly. So we don't have a
definite timeline, but hopefullylater this year.
Justine Reichman (26:03):
Okay, that's exciting to stay tuned. You'll
have to keep us posted.
David Fullner: (26:07):
Lots of flavor, lots of vegetables, and
continuing our mission ofhelping to feed, not only kids,
but adults healthy, deliciousfood.
Justine Reichman (26:18):
Yeah. I like the peas and mint, and I think
they're great to throw in my bagso that when I get a little
hypoglycemic, or I've been busyrunning around from meeting to
meetings, I can just eat that.It was just beautiful when I
opened it. I was like, wow.You're still innovating, you're
(26:54):
still being scrappy, if youwill, with regards to financing
yourselves. For those folks thatare out there that want to keep
their business themselves, whatwould you say to them about what
you learned and what you mightdo different so that they can
maybe have a little bit of aneasier time, and learn from your
(27:16):
your journey?
Danny Auld: (27:18):
There's definitely resources out there that are
offering grants as well as lowinterest financing. So an
organization to check out isHello Alice. So they really
believe in supporting femalefounded and minority owned
businesses, including LGBTQ. Andwhile being certified owned is
(27:42):
great and that opens a lot ofdoors, Hello, Alice doesn't
necessarily require that.They're willing to work with
folks who are representing thateven without the certification.
As LGBT founders, we've workedwith start out quite a bit. They
have a strong presence on theWest Coast, in the Bay Area, as
well as in New York and throughthe state of New Jersey. We've
(28:04):
gotten a lot of great funding.So they've provided us with some
grants. And because of them, wewere able to exhibit at the
Fancy Food Show in New York inJune of 2023 which was really
wonderful brand awarenessopportunity for us. It led to a
lot of press for us, and a fewnew retailers that started to
(28:24):
purchase become retail partnerswith us. So I would say that
there's money out there, there'sopportunities out there, and you
don't have to give up equity ifyou don't want to. And then we
applied for an SBA loan veryearly, and we didn't get it. So
another big piece of feedbackwould be, apply for things and
go for it. But if you don't getit the first time, don't give
(28:46):
up. Keep applying. Keep lookingat these opportunities. So once
we were in Sprouts and we hitthe revenue threshold that was
required, suddenly the SBA loanbecame an actual opportunity for
us. So there's definitelyfunding out there that you can
get, but without having to giveup your company as well.
Justine Reichman (29:06):
Those are some great recommendations and
resources, and I reallyappreciate you sharing them
because we have so many folksthat listen to these podcasts
that have a germ of an idea, andthen other people that exited
and really far out there. Butequally, between the innovation
with the better for you product,with the training program and
how to educate the people aroundthe table, and the moms and dads
(29:29):
that are buying food for theirfamilies, as well as the
founders that are looking toinnovate, I think we've covered
it all, provided resources forall, and it's just been such a
great conversation. I appreciateyou sharing all that. For those
folks that are interested inpurchasing the product, what's
the best way to go about that.
Danny Auld: (29:51):
They can go to kekoafoods.com, and we should
have thought of this before, butwe'll create a promo code. Maybe
something brief. What would yousuggest, Justine?
Justine Reichman (30:06):
EI, and then whatever the percentage is.
Danny Auld: (30:08):
Sure. Let's do 25, for 25% off. And we'll make sure
to email that over to you so youhave it.
Justine Reichman (30:16):
That's awesome. So for those folks that
listened all the way to the endbenefit of the discount code,
Danny and David, thank you somuch for joining me today. I
really appreciated thisconversation. It was full of so
many interesting facts, tips,resources. It's just going to be
(30:37):
a great conversation for thosefolks that are tuning in today,
I think. Thank you again forjoining me.
Danny Auld: (30:44):
Thank you so much for having us. We greatly
appreciate it. Justine, it'sbeen such a great conversation,
wonderful conversation.
Justine Reichman (30:49):
It has been. And I want to thank our
listeners and viewers who tunedin today as well. We have a new
episode every week, and we bringon Founders like David and
Danny, and it's really great tobe able to share these
conversations with everyone. Soif this was interesting for you,
don't forget to share it withyour friends. You can hear us on
Spotify, where or anywhere youlisten to your podcast. And if
(31:13):
you want to watch the video, ofcourse, our channel on YouTube.
Don't forget to follow us onInstagram at
essential.ingredients. Thanksagain for tuning in.
much for joining me today. I'mreally excited to have you here
and learn all about Kekoa. KekoaFoods is named after your son.
So we have Danny and David, ifyou guys would just introduce
yourselves so our audience,whether they're listening or
tuning in, know a little bitmore about all of both of you.
Danny Auld: (00:22):
Sure, I'm Danny Auld, and I am an educational
psychologist turned CPG,co-founder of Kekoa, which I co
founded with my husband, DavidFullner.
David Fullner: (00:34):
And that makes me David, co-founder and
husband. And I spent 20 years inthe entertainment industry, and
that is a perfect segue to beinga CPG owner.
Justine Reichman (00:49):
Okay. How does that correlate? I thought maybe
you would come up with somethingcrafty and clever on how it was
going, but that's okay.
David Fullner: (01:01):
Well, I guess you could say I could manage
things quite well.
Justine Reichman (01:13):
So for those that are not familiar, and if
someone in our audience wasasking, what would you tell them
about KekoaFoods is? How wouldyou best describe it?
Danny Auld: (01:23):
Sure. Kekoa Foods is a company that has an
organic, globally inspiredpalette, expanding line of pouch
berries that include many veggieforward recipes, as well as a
couple of fruit forward recipes.And our goal is to provide these
to our youngest eaters, andensure that they love to be
(01:46):
adventurous healthy eaters,eating nutritious food for life.
Justine Reichman (01:50):
And I think that's so important, because I'm
an adventurous eater. And thereare so many children out there
that I watch and see with theirfamilies who only eat like
chicken nuggets, french fries orpasta. I don't know if it's
because of what they're given atyounger ages. I don't know if
it's because, nowadays, wereally cater to what our kids
want. But I think expandingtheir palate right away just
(02:13):
seems like such a greatopportunity for them to be more
open to all the different kindsof foods out there.
David Fullner: (02:20):
We've been together for a while, so I guess
we talking at the same time. Weactually created a program based
on that exact problem calledtaste training, and we launched
it with Dr. Nicole Avena, who isa neuroscientist. And so we've
(02:42):
partnered with her to helpeducate parents on the
fundamentals and the importanceof taste training. And because
you have potty training, youhave sleep training, but then
there's really nothing out thereto talk about, what should I do
to make sure that my child iseating really healthy food? And
it's not one and done. If you'regoing to go have your child
(03:08):
brush their teeth and they say,no. Well, you're going to brush
your teeth because you don'twant a bad teeth. So you have to
keep at it and keep trying newthings. It takes a long time for
someone to develop a taste or aliking. And an interesting thing
is, when a baby tastes somethingnew for the first time, a lot of
(03:30):
times, they'll make a face. AndWE as adults interpret that as,
oh, they don't like it. But forthem, it's not that they don't
like it, it's just new. And soif you keep at it, they actually
will enjoy that taste, and beopen for further adventurous
eating as they get older,
Justine Reichman (03:45):
So they get curious. Is what you're saying?
If I'm hearing you, those faces,we should not look at them and
say, oh, my God, they hate it.Let's give them something else.
They want to try it again. Ithink even I can relate to that.
Because sometimes when you trysomething new, or you try
(04:07):
something and you're not surewhat it is or what it's going to
taste like, the first bite, youkind of go, I'm not sure.
Danny Auld: (04:16):
I just want to say that so many times, we'll talk
to someone at a demo that we'redoing, and their first response
is, oh, my child doesn't eatvegetables, so I don't think
they'll like some of yourproduct. And I'm like, well,
what do you give them forvegetables? They're like, well,
I tried giving them broccoli onetime, and they didn't like it.
So I just don't give them thatanymore. But the thing about
(04:37):
eating in foods is we eat whatwe know. And so if you go around
the world,children are exposedto the cuisines of their
cultures, and that's what theyeat. They grow up with, and it
becomes familiar and comforting.And so if you limit your child
and don't give them vegetables,and don't keep offering these
unique flavors that are reallyhealthy and nutritious, then
(04:57):
yeah, what you're going to seeis the chicken fingers and the
french fries, butter withnoodles, all of which are really
lacking in good nutrition.
Justine Reichman (05:03):
And that makes total sense to me. I know I was
a very adventurous eater becausemy parents fed me all sorts of
things from the time I couldeat. I'm not saying this is the
best for a kid. But my mom anddad were feeding me sushi when I
(05:24):
was like three or four, andlobster, meat, steak. Whatever
they were going out for, I waseating it. From Mexican food to
whatever. And I think today, itallows me to be really open to
things. Not particular, but not picky.
David Fullner: (05:45):
Our son, one of his favorite food is sushi.
Justine Reichman (05:53):
How old's your son?
David Fullner: (05:54):
He will be 12 in a few weeks.
Justine Reichman (05:55):
Wow, exciting. So tell me a little bit about
the back story.
David Fullner: (06:02):
So Kekoa Foods was actually born out of the
love of our son, because he wasborn in Honolulu, Hawaii to a
gestational carrier, and he was8 weeks premature. And so for
his fighting spirit, a localnative cultural practitioner
gave him the middle name Kekoa,which means "brave warrior". And
so when it was time for him toeat solid foods, I wanted to
(06:23):
make sure that he had the mostnutritious food possible,
especially being 8 weekspremature. So I made all of his
food from scratch and didresearch, and realized that you
can actually introduce herbs,spices and vegetables, and a
wide variety of food beginningat 6 months. But of course,
every child is different so youwant to talk to your
(06:43):
pediatrician to make sure thatit's the appropriate time. But
at 8 months old, he was eatingcurry vegetables, and that's
very advanced. And so as I keptposting it on social media, we
had friends and family saying,your son is eating better than I
eat, and I'm an adult. Where canI get this? And we thought,
(07:06):
well, that's actually a fun ideafor a company. Because as we're
solving the problem for our sonto make sure that he had
healthy, nutritious food, wealso wanted to introduce that to
the world, to have them, to havethe ability, to have that
adventurous food and nutritionas well.
Justine Reichman (07:23):
Wow. What an idea. What a way to get there,
too. But it's not uncommon howpeople start to do things for
themselves and out of passion.Filling a void or solving a
problem, they end up creating anamazing company, and that's one
of the reasons we do the podcastbecause we feel like that
inspires others to also buildand innovate in the same space.
(07:46):
I'm curious about all theseherbs, because I feel like they
can be spicy or they can beparticular, and there's people
that don't like things liketurmeric, ginger, or I don't
think Cilantro is in yours, butsome of these flavors can be
very specific. When you firstintroduced it, and we think
(08:09):
about spicy, and we shouldn'tgive spicy to a kid. What were
your thoughts going into that?
Danny Auld: (08:13):
Yeah. So all of the spices that we incorporate are
savory, but there's no heat tothem. So David developed a
special curry blend that doesn'thave any pepper in it. We have a
shawarma. Again, there's nopepper in it. It's just a savory
flavor. What we find is whenadults try the curry a lot, it's
(08:33):
very polarizing. So peopleeither love curry as an adult,
or they hate it because they'vejust never grown accustomed to
it. But when a child under twois introduced to it, again, it's
that novelty and it is exciting.So we find so many kids that are
really enjoying the curryvegetable mango, even though
their parents are like, I neverwant to eat that.
Justine Reichman (08:53):
I like green curry. Share one of your recipes
with me, and we could trade.I'll give you mine. You give me
yours. We'll taste them out. Iknow it's really spicy, but I
like a little kick. My dad andmy partner, they also love
(09:20):
spicy. So whenever I find hot,spicy salsas or sauce, I buy
them. I try them, and I think mytongue is going to fall off.
Danny Auld: (09:33):
I would agree. David and our son really like
spicy. I like flavorful with ahint, but not as much to the
extreme that they like.
Justine Reichman (09:42):
So I'm curious, you guys have been
around what? About three years?
Danny Auld: (09:45):
Yeah, this is our fourth year. We launched 2022.
And before we launched, we did aKickstarter just to kind of test
the concept and see whatpeople's responses were. And it
was really exciting. People werelike, I'm so happy to see
vegetables in baby food, becauseit's so much purees of fruits
and not as many veggies. And aspart of doing this, my
(10:07):
background is education, andDavid and I decided to partner
with the Newark YMCA. So folkswho wanted to support us as we
launched our company were ableto purchase the product and have
it sent to the New York wherethey have a housing facility. So
they have up to 200 families ata given time, and up to 80
infants. And so when we launchedour product in 2022, we then did
(10:30):
a panel with a nutritionist, aswell as a grassroots organizer
to talk to the families aboutthe importance of good nutrition
reading nutrition facts panelsand ingredient labels. We were
also able to contribute the foodthat our backers from the
Kickstarter had purchased anddonated to the Newark.
Justine Reichman (10:49):
Way to kick that off, partnering with Newark
and the whole thing is verysmart.
David Fullner: (10:59):
Thank you. It was just great to meet the
community there. A lot of theparents, they're focused on
making ends meet and payingtheir bills. So reading labels
isn't really the top priority.It's checking that price point
first. And so we launched onAmazon, and later added our
Shopify store. And it was reallyin October of that year that we
(11:22):
got our golden ticket. David andI were presenting to the buyer
via Zoom. It was still a Zoompresentation for the Sprouts
Farmers Market baby category,and we just loved the varieties
that we had, and the differentvegetable combinations. So we
had three that were on themarket at the time, and four we
had just tested with ourco-packer. She was like, I'm
(11:43):
gonna stop you right there. Ifyou can get all seven, I'll give
you a nationwide rollout by May.So David was like, thank you.
And my response was, well, wehave more slides to go through.
Justine Reichman (11:58):
That's amazing. I'm curious, because we
do have listeners and peoplethat are tuning in that might
want to go through a similarpath. How did you get to the
(12:19):
people at Sprouts? What was yourpath?
David Fullner: (12:22):
It's a long story, but I'll make it short.
We worked with the Rutgers FoodInnovation Center at the very
beginning, and they have afantastic program to help
launch, or do research, or helpsmall brands really bring their
product to fruition. And so wehad partnered with them, and
(12:44):
then they were offering at theFancy Food Show a table at their
innovation center where we areable to demo our product at the
time. And one of the foragers ofSprouts Farmers Market came
over, and then we had followedup with him after the show, kept
talking and kept theconversation going. And then he
said, we are doing our lastpitch slam via Zoom, and we want
(13:08):
to have you to be part of it,and you can meet the buyer. And
we thought, that's fantastic.And so we met the buyer, and got
the national rollout.
Justine Reichman (13:16):
That's amazing. So that was a few years
ago. So today, what does therollout look like for your
product?
Danny Auld: (13:23):
Yeah. So we're in Sprouts nationwide. We have
expanded to do additionalretailers as well. So we're in
Central Market in Texas, in thePacific Northwest, we're in PCC,
Market of Choice, and Hagan inthe Midwest. We're in Pete's
Fresh in Chicago, Woodman's,we're launching in fresh time in
(13:44):
all stores now. It should be anyweek that they'll be getting the
products on the shelf. On theEast Coast, we're in Wegmans, as
well as ShopRite and Fairway. Soyeah, we're just really excited.
We're really resonating withbuyers and customers who are
looking for more veggie forwardcombinations for their children
(14:07):
and their families. And as Davidmentioned about the taste
training program, it's reallyhelping people to kind of
understand it. Because somethingabout food, people are quick to
say, oh, let's just dismissthis. And we don't have to worry
about my child eating vegetablesor eating healthier products or
foods, but then we see whathappens, right? Children aren't
(14:29):
eating vegetables. 93% ofchildren in the US don't eat the
RDA of vegetables, and 50%hardly eat a vegetable in a
given day. And then this isawful. It was shocking to me,
but then it kind of correlateswith our outcomes in health. We
see type two diabetes, obesityis a huge issue, especially
(14:52):
considering what a wealthycountry we are. We have access
to such quality food, and yetwhat's become normal is the
unhealthy. So we're reallytrying to not only make
wonderful products, but also toeducate folks about the
importance of eating better andhealthier throughout their life.
Justine Reichman (15:08):
Specifically around the taste training, what
does that look like?
Danny Auld: (15:13):
We have seven products. And basically what we
do is we take the more savoryveggie forward flavors that we
mentioned children may need totry a couple of times before it
becomes accepted and normal. Andthen we just kind of introduce
those flavors over a couple ofweeks. And then it's time for
the next bundle to try threemore flavors. And then we end it
(15:34):
with the fruit forward flavors,because we know that children
love apple. Many children lovemango, so it's a little bit
easier for them to kind ofaccept something that then
includes ginger or paprika. Butthe idea is to introduce them
early and often, especiallyduring that period between six
months and two years, becausechildren are much more receptive
(15:54):
to foods as they get older.They're in that NO stage, and
they're trying to assert theircontrol over their life, and not
have their parents constantlytelling them what to do. And
they're also going out into theworld more. They're in daycare
centers. They're off to school,preschool. So when you have that
opportunity to really controlwhat your child eats at a very
young age, that's the best timeto expose them to healthier
(16:16):
foods, and to ingrain thosepositive behaviors.
Justine Reichman (16:20):
I'm curious. I understand what the taste
training program does. And I'mwondering though, like, let's
just say I have a couple kids,and I want to hear about this
taste training. Are thereinstructions that come with it?
Is it something we do with youonline? Can you explain that a
little bit?
Danny Auld: (16:37):
Yeah. We have the information on our website. You
don't even have to use ourproducts. It's introducing a
gentle herb or spice to bringout the flavor of the food
without having to sweeten it oradd salt to it. And so you can
just start doing it with yourown groceries that you're
(16:58):
purchasing. Try broccoli onenight for your child, maybe add
a touch of lemon juice. Or maybethe next day, do a little
sauteed garlic and oil. And thenmaybe the third day, add it with
another vegetable just so thatthe child can try it in
different combinations andformats. Because maybe that
first time, it's not tooexciting for them. But that
fifth time, you really hit thewinner with them.
David Fullner: (17:20):
And the great thing about our pouches,
traditionally, you look at foodin the pouch and you think, all
right, baby. But because ourpouches are so nutritious and
they have such wonderful flavorto them, parents are
incorporating our pouches intoother foods, continuing through
toddler and then into childhood,and even adults are eating it as
(17:41):
well. Because you can take ourcurry vegetable, mango or
shawarma artichoke andcauliflower, people are mixing
it with a rice or a noodle. Solike a butter noodle, you'll
have a shawarma artichoke andcauliflower noodle, which now
has a lot of, one pouch for anadult is 25% of your RDA
vegetables. So you mix that withthe noodle, and they have
something familiar, which is thenoodle. But then they have the
(18:02):
flavor and the nutrition of theshawarma. Or they're mixing our
beet, fennel and kale with somesalad greens. Or they're using
the kale, squash, kale andturmeric, they'll warm it up and
eat it as a soup.
Justine Reichman (18:18):
Wow. So basically, if anybody wants to
do this, whether they're eatingyour product or not, you walk
them through the process on thewebsite. We'll put the website
in the show notes. I just wantedto make sure that we understood.
I understood and got the conceptof the program, but I wanted to
know how people can access it. Iwant to go back a little bit as
(18:40):
you were talking about Sprouts,and you talked about that you
originally did a Kickstarter,and then you did this, and
that's kind of a big roll out todo a nationwide thing. So CPG
company, it begs the question,did you raise money? I mean, you
said yes, which is what I wouldhave done, and then figured it
(19:00):
out after. But were you funded?Or was it self funded? What was
that process like? Because Ican't imagine it was that
straightforward.
Danny Auld: (19:10):
So to date, we're essentially self funded with
some debt financing. We did lookinto the investor route, the
equity route, and it was areally tough time when we
launched. We launched in 2022,and CPG investors weren't really
putting their money into newcompanies because the state of
the market was questionable. Soa lot of folks were reinvesting
(19:32):
in their own portfolio brands,but we were building a network
while we were doing that. I haveto say the CPG industry, so many
individuals are just so friendlyand eager to help emerging
brands and founders to succeed,so they're always willing to
make that introduction. Wementioned that we know Djenaba
who runs Hudson Kitchen. Thatwas an introduction from another
(19:54):
person in CPG, and then she madeintroductions for us. David
mentioned Rutgers FoodInnovation Center. Some other
resources that have beentremendously helpful for us are
startup CPG, so they have Slackchannel, and they advertise all
kinds of opportunities forbrands. Naturally, Network is a
wonderful organization. Theyhave a chapter in several parts
(20:17):
of the country, including theBay Area here in New York, and
then some other things thathelped. We did an accelerator
program in 2023, so that's nowcalled Beyond CPG, and mentors
there are always willing to makeintroductions for us. We could
kind of turn to them like, hey,we're trying to get this
(20:39):
ingredient, and the currentsupplier we have doesn't have it
anymore. Do you have anotheroption for us? So it's always
about asking, and having to beput your pride a little bit
aside sometimes. Just asksomebody, can you do this for
me? Or can you hook me up? Andthe overwhelming response has
been very favorable and alwayswilling to help.
Justine Reichman (20:57):
Well, yeah, it is nice when the community is so
integrated, and people arealways willing to help. I love
that. If there's anybody I canconnect anybody with, I would.
And I think that that's the sameacross the board. And I think a
lot of that isn't just in thestartup world. I think it's the
culture. From my experience, Ifeel like that as intimidating
(21:23):
as it is to start a newbusiness. Once you get in there,
people are really helpful.People want to help. They want
you to succeed. They want toconnect. They want to partner.
It's about building up thatconfidence and feeling like
you're in that community, andyou too can share and connect.
David Fullner: (21:48):
Yeah. There was a point where everyone was never
in the CPG world. They alleventually came here, and
similar to us as small businessowners, we didn't know what we
needed to know until we knew it.But part of that is also asking
(22:08):
questions. As Danny hadmentioned, there are so many
people out there with theknowledge that you're seeking.
And until you ask, they don'tknow you if you have the answer
or not. So you always need toask. Always need to connect with
people. And that's one thingthat we love to do because
(22:29):
people have connected us andpaid that forward for us. We
love doing that for other brandsas well, or even more
experienced brands, or brandsare have been around longer than
us. We may know something orsomeone that they're looking for
at that time, happy to connect,happy to bring people together.
That's why this industry is sowonderful, because people are
willing to support and help eachother.
Justine Reichman (22:48):
So one thing I wanted to ask you, and I thought
about it earlier. But when wewere talking about the name, the
name of your company, and it'syour son's middle name. I was
wondering, what was hisreaction? This is a few years
ago. He wasn't a toddler. Heknew what was going on. Was he
(23:09):
your taste tester? Obviously,this is his food.
David Fullner: (23:15):
These are our recipes based on what I actually
fed him. And so, yeah, he wastaste tester number one. And if
it wasn't approved by him, thenwe had to go back into the
kitchen.
Danny Auld: (23:27):
We started iterating the idea for the
business. We were doing somevideos, and we tried to
incorporate him in some. I thinkhe was about five the first time
that we did that, and he justthought it was silly. It was
basically blooper roles. Andthen as he got a little bit
older, he was getting kind ofembarrassed. But then we had
(23:51):
neighbors over for tastetesting, and all the children in
the neighborhood love theproducts. And so they were like,
this is really cool. This isamazing. So you could see him
shifting a bit like, yeah, Iguess it is cool that I have a
company.
Justine Reichman (24:08):
Embarrassments, right? So what's your plan going
forward now? You've accomplishedso much in the last few years,
and it's a hard industry tobreak into. It's expensive for
shelf space. What is yourstrategic plan for going
(24:30):
forward?
Danny Auld: (24:32):
From a sales perspective, keep going. So
driving sales, increasing brandawareness, and making sure that
we're just doing the best thatwe can with all the retail
partners we currently have, andthen being strategic about new
opportunities that we take on.So for example, a lot of people
want to be in Walmart. We'relaunching right now. We actually
(24:54):
launched this week onwalmart.com, so we're looking to
drive awareness among the onlineshop. At Walmart and then work
with the buyer when we're readyso that we can look it into
doing expansion into the storesand walking before you run
situation. And then in terms ofproducts, I know this one has a
few ideas.
David Fullner: (25:14):
I have quite a few ideas for new products
coming soon, but you'll have towait and find out.
Justine Reichman (25:23):
Is it about building new flavors? Or is it a
departure from that squeezypackage to just something else
that you're innovating?
David Fullner: (25:33):
I would say a little bit of all of the above.
Justine Reichman (25:37):
But what's your timeline on that?
David Fullner: (25:41):
As Danny said, we have to do it. And do it
financially in a veryfinancially sound way. So we
have to make sure that we havethe financial resources to roll
things out, get all of thetesting done, the formulations
and all of that completedcorrectly. So we don't have a
definite timeline, but hopefullylater this year.
Justine Reichman (26:03):
Okay, that's exciting to stay tuned. You'll
have to keep us posted.
David Fullner: (26:07):
Lots of flavor, lots of vegetables, and
continuing our mission ofhelping to feed, not only kids,
but adults healthy, deliciousfood.
Justine Reichman (26:18):
Yeah. I like the peas and mint, and I think
they're great to throw in my bagso that when I get a little
hypoglycemic, or I've been busyrunning around from meeting to
meetings, I can just eat that.It was just beautiful when I
opened it. I was like, wow.You're still innovating, you're
(26:54):
still being scrappy, if youwill, with regards to financing
yourselves. For those folks thatare out there that want to keep
their business themselves, whatwould you say to them about what
you learned and what you mightdo different so that they can
maybe have a little bit of aneasier time, and learn from your
(27:16):
your journey?
Danny Auld: (27:18):
There's definitely resources out there that are
offering grants as well as lowinterest financing. So an
organization to check out isHello Alice. So they really
believe in supporting femalefounded and minority owned
businesses, including LGBTQ. Andwhile being certified owned is
(27:42):
great and that opens a lot ofdoors, Hello, Alice doesn't
necessarily require that.They're willing to work with
folks who are representing thateven without the certification.
As LGBT founders, we've workedwith start out quite a bit. They
have a strong presence on theWest Coast, in the Bay Area, as
well as in New York and throughthe state of New Jersey. We've
(28:04):
gotten a lot of great funding.So they've provided us with some
grants. And because of them, wewere able to exhibit at the
Fancy Food Show in New York inJune of 2023 which was really
wonderful brand awarenessopportunity for us. It led to a
lot of press for us, and a fewnew retailers that started to
(28:24):
purchase become retail partnerswith us. So I would say that
there's money out there, there'sopportunities out there, and you
don't have to give up equity ifyou don't want to. And then we
applied for an SBA loan veryearly, and we didn't get it. So
another big piece of feedbackwould be, apply for things and
go for it. But if you don't getit the first time, don't give
(28:46):
up. Keep applying. Keep lookingat these opportunities. So once
we were in Sprouts and we hitthe revenue threshold that was
required, suddenly the SBA loanbecame an actual opportunity for
us. So there's definitelyfunding out there that you can
get, but without having to giveup your company as well.
Justine Reichman (29:06):
Those are some great recommendations and
resources, and I reallyappreciate you sharing them
because we have so many folksthat listen to these podcasts
that have a germ of an idea, andthen other people that exited
and really far out there. Butequally, between the innovation
with the better for you product,with the training program and
how to educate the people aroundthe table, and the moms and dads
(29:29):
that are buying food for theirfamilies, as well as the
founders that are looking toinnovate, I think we've covered
it all, provided resources forall, and it's just been such a
great conversation. I appreciateyou sharing all that. For those
folks that are interested inpurchasing the product, what's
the best way to go about that.
Danny Auld: (29:51):
They can go to kekoafoods.com, and we should
have thought of this before, butwe'll create a promo code. Maybe
something brief. What would yousuggest, Justine?
Justine Reichman (30:06):
EI, and then whatever the percentage is.
Danny Auld: (30:08):
Sure. Let's do 25, for 25% off. And we'll make sure
to email that over to you so youhave it.
Justine Reichman (30:16):
That's awesome. So for those folks that
listened all the way to the endbenefit of the discount code,
Danny and David, thank you somuch for joining me today. I
really appreciated thisconversation. It was full of so
many interesting facts, tips,resources. It's just going to be
(30:37):
a great conversation for thosefolks that are tuning in today,
I think. Thank you again forjoining me.
Danny Auld: (30:44):
Thank you so much for having us. We greatly
appreciate it. Justine, it'sbeen such a great conversation,
wonderful conversation.
Justine Reichman (30:49):
It has been. And I want to thank our
listeners and viewers who tunedin today as well. We have a new
episode every week, and we bringon Founders like David and
Danny, and it's really great tobe able to share these
conversations with everyone. Soif this was interesting for you,
don't forget to share it withyour friends. You can hear us on
Spotify, where or anywhere youlisten to your podcast. And if
(31:13):
you want to watch the video, ofcourse, our channel on YouTube.
Don't forget to follow us onInstagram at
essential.ingredients. Thanksagain for tuning in.
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