October 14, 2025 • 35 mins
“I believe what we’re doing is based on something that’s good for healing people and healing the planet. So, we’re always organic and we’re always working with regenerative organic farmers. And we’re sticking to that mission and values, which is really important to me, because those are things that are always going to be good for you and for the…planet.” —Neka Pasquale
Sometimes, wellness feels like a luxury instead of a way of life. Between the stress of business, family, and bills, it’s easy to put health last until the cost of burnout catches up. What if the values that ground us—nourishment, balance, and purpose—were also the very things that drive sustainable success?
An acupuncturist turned entrepreneur, Neka Pasquale has built Urban Remedy from her kitchen into a movement by pairing holistic values with smart business. Her journey shows that growth doesn’t come from chasing trends but from honoring what genuinely heals and sustains people.
This week, Justine and Neka provide clear, usable lessons about product-first growth, sourcing, hiring leadership, bootstrapped problem-solving, pivoting retail models, investor trade-offs, and how to scale without losing the values that made you special.
Meet Neka:
Neka Pasquale is the founder of Urban Remedy, a nationally recognized organic food company rooted in the philosophy of food as medicine. With a background as a licensed acupuncturist and practitioner of Chinese medicine, Neka has dedicated her career to promoting health and wellness through functional, organic, and healing foods. Since founding Urban Remedy over 13 years ago, she has grown the company from a local business in Marin, California, to a national brand featured in Whole Foods and other major retailers. Neka is known for her innovative approach to nutrition, her commitment to sustainability, and her passion for making healthy, fresh food accessible to a wider audience.
Connect with NextGen Purpose:
Episode Highlights:
00:41 Urban Remedy: First Store to Wild Growth
04:43 Developing the Menu: Chinese Medicine and the Power of Food Temperatures
08:41 Finding Food Balance and Early Entrepreneurial Spirit
13:35 Scaling Up and Facing Growth Hurdles (Money, Team, and Staying Afloat)
16:35 Major Lessons on Grit, Glitch, Growth, and Greed
21:13 Evaluating Opportunities and Choosing the Right Growth Path
23:01 Hiring Your First CEO— What Matters Most
28:16 Navigating Unexpected Success and Bittersweet Decisions
31:40 Urban Remedy: The Next Steps
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Justine Reichman: (00:12):
Welcome to Essential Ingredients. I'm
Justine reichman. With me todayis Neka Pasquale, and she's the
founder of Urban Remedy. I'msuper excited to have you here.
You're someone that's local,inspirational, and built a
business that I can't wait tolearn about as you've grown. And
it's so important to me, becauseI came from New York and
couldn't find anything. And whenI found you, I kind of felt like
(00:34):
I was home again. So welcome.
Neka Pasquale: (00:37):
Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. I'm
excited.
Justine Reichman: (00:40):
Oh, my pleasure. I love to also just
connect with other local peoplethat are building good
businesses, better for you foodoptions, and accessibility for
people here are the local area.But equally, that being said, as
we learn more about this, andwe'll get into it, see how
you've grown outside the localMarin or Bay area. So for those
that are not familiar, can youmaybe just give a little
(01:03):
overview of Urban Remedy?
Neka Pasquale: (01:05):
Yeah. Urban Remedy is a company that I
founded. It's been like 13years, which is so crazy. And as
we were just talking aboutprivately, I'm an acupuncturist,
and my background is in Chinesemedicine. I had a practice for
many years, over a decade, andthat's where I kind of really
got into food as medicine, andreally looking at how diet
(01:29):
impacts our overall health. Andwhen I had my practice, I kind
of dove deep intodetoxification, and really kind
of looking at our farming systemand where food comes from. How
it's grown, how it affects ourbody, pesticides, and all that
kind of stuff. And so I was soexcited about all of it. It was
(01:50):
so cool for me when I was inschool, because I was like, wow.
Everything has a medicinalquality to it. Everything that
you eat or make, you couldreally think of it like, what
does this do to my body? Or notin a way that's like stressful
or pressured, but just reallyunderstand how food is just
like, Chinese medicine is basedin, we are nature, and nature is
(02:11):
us. So really looking at food inthe same way, and how we're
connected. How eating local andorganic is really important. Not
just for us, but for ourenvironment. And the healthier
we are, the healthy ourenvironments are. So just
bridging that all together. Andthen I started doing retreats
with my patients that haddifferent chronic illnesses, or
people that just want to loseweight or just feel better. And
(02:32):
that's kind of, honestly, reallyhow Urban Remedy was born.
People just started feeling sogood in such a short amount of
time. People were like, I can'tmake the food. It doesn't taste
as good when you make it, andcan you just make it for me? I
love cooking, and so I startedmaking snacks. And people just
bought those like crazy. Andthen I thought I was just going
to open my first store in 2011or 12. I really thought this is
(02:59):
going to be just like a nichething for people like me that
like to eat this way. And I justcouldn't believe it. It just
went gangbusters when we openedthe door. There was nothing else
really like it at that point.There was maybe like Jamba Juice
at that point.
Justine Reichman: (03:13):
I don't feel like Jamba Juice is the same as
Urban Remedy.
Neka Pasquale: (03:19):
No, no, no, no. Just from like a juice
perspective. If you wanted ajuice, there's a lot of little
juice shops around, right? If Iwanted wheat grass juice, if I
was in New York or something,they were just talking about New
York like, I would know that Icould get a wheat grass shot
when I went to Jamba Juice. Itis definitely like a higher
sugar, different kind ofsmoothie thing. But there wasn't
(03:40):
a lot of juice shops. I also didfood, and it's just been such a
crazy experience. Because like Isaid, I never really wrote up a
business plan. I was like, oh, Iwant this to be a national
company. I just thought this isgonna be so fun to do in Berin
where I live. A lot of people inthe beginning were like, good
(04:00):
luck. Your location is good. Idon't know, but it was something
that people really wanted andwere craving. And so we grew
100% year over year for manyyears. And so it felt like when
I look back at that time, I'mlike, God, my life was so crazy.
Because I was just anacupuncturist, so I was just
(04:23):
figuring out like, how do youprocure ingredients? Where do
you store bottles? How do youship? All of these things. And
so I made so many mistakes, butit was so fun. I'm a really good
problem solver, so I was like, Iwas constantly just figuring it
all out. And yeah, it's been ajourney.
Justine Reichman: (04:43):
It sounds like that super fun. I say that
because I have a little bit ofChinese medicine experience. I
would not say I have a lot,because I don't want to do that.
But one of the things that thatthey talk about in Chinese
medicine that I learned was allabout cooked foods, so I was
(05:05):
curious and like heating thingsup. And I'm curious, where did
that come into your thinking?And how does that play a role?
What are your thoughts on that?
Neka Pasquale: (05:15):
Actually, quite a few people ask me that
question. Because in Chinesemedicine, there's things like
never drink ice cold water. It'snot good for your spleen. So
your spleen is like your maindigestive organ. So when you eat
food, your spleen digests thefood. It transforms and
transports it into blood, intoenergy, into chi, into like life
(05:36):
force. And so in Chinesemedicine, they say, don't eat
too many cold foods. In my ownkind of journey and my own
health journey when I was inacupuncture school, I actually
developed PCOS, I was stressedout, and I was eating not a very
healthy diet. And they werelike, okay, let's put you on
this medication. And I was like,I'm gonna do some research. Let
(05:59):
me look into this. And I said,just give me six months. And so
I started juicing. I startedeating a raw food diet. But
there's a way to do a raw fooddiet where you're not eating all
cold food like ice cream coldout of the fridge, right? So
every food, as you know, has ataste, a temperature, and a
meridian associated with it. Sowhen you look at the qualities
(06:21):
of any individual ingredient,they can be cool, cold, cooling,
warm, hot. Really, that's kindof the basic. Even if you're
eating foods that are not wellcooked, they can still be
warming and support spleenfunction. So if you look at
something like ginger, you couldeat it fresh. It's warm. When
you heat it up, when you cookit, it actually is hotter. And
(06:44):
so there are a lot ofingredients that are warming.
I've really tried to take thatphilosophy and balance because
you have to understand thatChinese medicine, when they were
talking about food and writingabout it, it was thousands of
years ago in a different climatewhere people had a really
different constitution at thatpoint in time. And so if you
(07:06):
live, let's say, in Antarctica,and you're living in a really
cold, damp environment, you donot want to be eating raw cold
food at all. You want to beeating soups, broths, stews and
things that are going to balanceout your environment. So I
always say, look at yourenvironment, where you live in
the season that that environmentis in, and then you eat
(07:29):
according to that. But there'sthings that are always good for
you. You know what I mean? Greenfoods are always good for your
liver. A lot of green foods tendto be slightly cooling. But our
livers, especially in this dayand age, tend to be stuck and
hot. And so green foods arereally good at cooling the
liver, soothing the liver, andhelping the liver to be able to
(07:52):
do its job better. In thesummertime, you might eat more
like salads, and drink moregreen juices because it's likely
to be hot. But if it'swintertime and it's cold, you
could still have liver for cheekingestion, and so you could
still eat salads. You couldslightly warm them. We have
directions on a bunch of oursalads about warming. You could
(08:14):
also take a salad out and justnot eat it cold out of the
fridge. Just let it sit for like45 minutes, and it gets to room
temperature, and then it's notso cold. Or if you're choosing
juices, you can choose juicewith like turmeric or ginger, or
like cayenne or something spicyin it. Because when you're
drinking it and it's warming,then it's supporting that spleen
(08:37):
stomach function. And you couldlook at all foods in that way.
Justine Reichman: (08:41):
I love the way you break it down. Because
for people like me that only gothalf an education in Chinese
medicine, I go to that nextstep. I'm so curious and I'm
like, okay, I want to know more,because this makes so much
sense. I'm not sure how toorganize the food and also
connect into the dots. So forme, I thought that was really
(09:05):
something interesting to askyou. But I do want to go back to
the beginning, for those tuningin that are just really inspired
by what you've built and how youbuilt it, talk a little bit
about that. My understanding isyou went from have doing
acupuncture to this. So as anacupuncturist, oftentimes,
people are entrepreneurs. Sowere you an entrepreneur then?
(09:27):
Or was this your first endeavor?
Neka Pasquale: (09:29):
I would say I'm kind of an entrepreneur at
heart, because my mom had herown business when I was growing
up. And same with my dad. Theynever had jobs. Same with my
grandparents. That's a greatquestion that I have never
really thought about. But when Ilook back at my acupuncture
practice, it takes a good yearand a half to really get in your
(09:50):
flow and get people coming. Andprobably, when I was three years
into my practice, I was verybusy. I was just telling my
boyfriend that I forgot. I usedto have three treatment rooms,
and I used to, at some mybusiest parts of the day be
treating three people the sametime and trying to manage
putting needles in one person,talking to another person.
Wendy, blah, blah, blah. How doyou do that? And so I was very
(10:14):
busy. And maybe in retrospect, Idid that so I could squeeze in
as many people as I could.Because when you're a
practitioner, your time iseverything because that's a
different thing when you haveyour own business when you show
up and be there, and you'regiving the service. And so over
time, as I got more interestedand learned more about
(10:35):
functional medicine anddetoxification, I wanted to
incorporate that into mypractice, and that is when I
started doing retreats. And so Iwas like, okay, I'm gonna get
this together. I'm gonna get,probably like 13 people. There's
men and women. I'm gonna takeeverybody out. We started at
Stinson Beach, and there wasthis huge house there that I
(10:55):
used to rent. It had, like, Idon't know, 11 bedrooms or
something. I just broughteverybody there, and I'm like,
all right, we're gonna do yoga,meditation, infrared sauna.
Obviously juicing, all live rawfood at that point. And let's
just see what happens. Becausethese are things that I found to
be really helpful for people.And it was just so incredible.
(11:17):
People felt so much betterafter. And so that was probably
my entrepreneurial spirit oflike, oh, I'm out. Let's try
this. And it's a really cool wayto do something different, but
also do what I incorporate like,all the things I love. I love
food so much. When I firststarted, I should have had
pictures, I do have pictures oflike, I would just make the most
(11:38):
beautiful food. Everything thatI would play, it was just so
colorful and just vibrant. Iwould do all the different
colors of the rainbow, and itwas so fun and creative for me
during that time to be able todo that. And then I just started
doing that quarterly. And thenpeople kept wanting food and
wanting the juice. And that'sreally, really how Urban Remedy
(11:59):
started. And there's a funnystory when I started doing the
juice. I had one person workingfor me, and we would deliver
people, mostly my patients,juices. It was like once or
twice a week, and somebodycalled me from Gilt. I don't
know if you remember Gilt, itwas like a shopping platform.
(12:21):
And hey, we heard about whatyou're doing. Can you offer a
juice cleanse to people in SanFrancisco? And I was like, oh,
that sounds so cool. Sure. But Ididn't even really know much
about what it was really and Iwas like, yeah, sure. And so I
had no website. I had nothing.Maybe I actually did have a
website that was just UrbanRemedy with a phone number or
(12:43):
something. And I remember oneday, and I was pregnant at this
point, my phone started ringingoff the hook. I had forgotten
that I said I would do it. Itwas like a month before, and I
was answering the phone andpeople like, oh, I want to
schedule my juice order. Andthen Gilt was like, you guys
sold out in like five minutes.Do you want to do more? And I
was like, yeah, sure. Thenpeople in San Francisco started
(13:04):
hearing about what I was doing,and then things started really
going gangbusters. I didn't havethe infrastructure at that point
to understand how to really havea back end system that tracks
all the orders and have peoplesign up online. And so I
literally had a notebook, and Iwas writing people's names down
(13:24):
and their addresses. Then Iwould eat and people would call
me and be like, I need mydelivery. That's kind of how the
whole Urban Remedy thing came tobe.
Justine Reichman: (13:35):
I love that it's so organic and so
authentic. I'm an entrepreneurtoo, and I feel like, as you
said, you like to solveproblems. Me too, so it really
resonates with me. Because wehave so many that are tuning in,
I can imagine that they're alsothinking the same thing. They're
like, wait, I did that too. Itmakes them feel like, okay, I
(13:56):
can do this. I can get to thenext level. So my question is,
how did you go to the nextlevel? Because that's the
question for many people, thatall came together. You're making
it happen, but you've got to gofrom scrappy to strategic at
some point. So what was that?
Neka Pasquale: (14:13):
I've really thought about that a lot over
the years, because I've gonethrough lots of different
periods where there's been timeswhere I'm like, oh, my gosh, how
are we going to make payroll?All of a sudden, I'm renting a
new space. Or I'm like, I can'tcatch up with this, and dealing
with employee things. And Iwould say very honestly that
there's been so many times whereI couldn't figure out how to get
(14:36):
to the next level. And I wouldsay to myself, what if this is
what I meant to be doing, andthis is what I meant to do? The
answer is going to show up forme, because I really don't know
how to do it. And I would saywith Urban Remedy, consistently,
the answer has shown up. There'sbeen so many times when I
(14:58):
eventually hired a CEO, people,and we had a team. There's just
been so many times, because ittakes a lot of money to grow.
We've had all theseopportunities to have a kiosk in
Whole Foods and prove that out.And if we could prove that out
in California, we could go toother states. But all of these
things take a lot of money. Andonce you start shipping
(15:19):
nationally, and then you have tohave a whole nother distribution
system, people to pack the stuffand infrastructure, and software
to track the orders, all ofthese things take a lot of
money. And so part of the issuewith having starting the way I
did, if I were to do it over, Iprobably would have done it
differently. But everything isperfect. So I'm grateful for
(15:42):
where I am. I would always tellpeople now when they ask me,
take as little money as you canas you grow your business. Even
if you grow slower, it doesn'tmatter because you're going to
mess up. I have a friend who'sstarting a little food brand on
the side, and she wants to haveeverything perfect. I'm like, no
matter how perfect do you thinkit is, things are going to mess
(16:03):
up, and there's going to be aningredient that you can't
source, or that's not going tobe this, or the packaging. The
first two years, you're justgoing to be learning and making
mistakes. It happens to everysingle person, and that's how
you hone in and get things goingin a flow, in a smooth way. And
so you have to just know whenyou start that there's going to
be a lot of things that kinks,that need to be worked out. And
(16:25):
so I would just say thatluckily, I was able to be in a
flow, and grow in the flow theway that it was meant to go.
That just sound like I just madea rhyme or something.
Justine Reichman: (16:35):
There were a million things you could have
done differently, and I knowit's turned out perfectly right
now. It is how it should be, andyou're all excited. But when you
think about it intellectually,and you think about how you do
it differently today, what wouldyou say to those listeners
tuning in today?
Neka Pasquale: (16:50):
I would say, if you're starting something new,
first of all, the number onething is make sure you love what
you're doing, and you'repassionate about it, because
that's the most critical thing.I really do feel like there's a
difference between having apassion for what you do and
loving it. And having an ideathat you want to do because you
think it's on trend, and it'sgoing to make you a lot of
(17:11):
money. Those are two differentthings, and not that either is
necessarily. It's not wrong todo something just to make money.
But a lot of times, there's justa different energy behind it
than when you're so excited ondoing something that you really
feel is going to change theworld, or help people's lives,
or make you do something thatyou're just super passionate
about. But I would say thateither way, when you're starting
(17:37):
your business, it's best to tryto make your own mistakes in the
beginning and really figure outyour kinks, which is what I was
kind of saying before. And takeas little money as you need,
because it does take a lot ofmoney to grow a business. But
once you take investment, thenthere's these expectations on
you a lot of times to growreally, really fast. And
(17:59):
sometimes, to do things thatmaybe you don't really want to
do, or grow in a way you don'treally want to grow. And I've
been really lucky because myinvestors are all very
supportive and mission drivenaligned, which has been a great
experience for me. But I'vetalked with so many other women
founders that have had differentexperiences depending on their
(18:20):
investor or how much money youtake. Because the more of your
business that you give away,then the less kind of power you
have over those decisions.
Justine Reichman: (18:28):
Wow. It's interesting because as you're
coming up with these ideas, youcome up with so many, and you
want to do them because you getexcited. It's exciting, and
you're like, okay, we'regrowing. We're doing this, we're
doing that. And it seems likethe path forward. It seems like
the way to grow. So for thosefolks that are tuning in and are
(18:48):
like, okay, so how do I figurethat out? How do I figure out to
where do I want to go next whenall these things are coming at
me, and I got to make adecision. I'm just getting
started, and they all lookgreat. But really, gotta figure
out where you're gonna start.Because as you said, it's really
expensive. You can make a lot ofexpensive mistakes, and that's
(19:11):
part of the journey too. So ofcourse, I go back to it. What
would you recommend to them?
Neka Pasquale: (19:17):
I think it's good to have good counsel.
Somebody who can help you reallylook at every different way,
every different opportunitythat's in front of you and then
be like, okay, so if you chooseto do X, Y or Z, how much
capital is that going to take?How many employees are you going
(19:38):
to need to employ? What is thecost benefit ratio of each of
your ideas or each of youropportunities, and really
evaluate? I think one of themost important things is keeping
everything as simple aspossible. Because the easier it
is for you to execute, thehigher chance of success you're
going to have. Things that arevery complex just burn you out,
(20:01):
and then take a lot ofresources. And so I always
think, choose the path of leastresistance, the path that is
going to be the most simplifiedpath that makes sense. At least
just start, because nobody wantsto be stuck in something that's
very complex and difficult. Andeven what we do at Whole Foods
(20:22):
is, even though we've been doingit for a while and we're good at
fresh, what we're doing isreally difficult. Because it's
very difficult to scale freshfood that has a lot of a short
shelf life. That's why peopledon't do it, because it's not
easy. Look at the biggest foodcompanies, their shelf life on
their products are years, notdays or months. And so it's very
(20:45):
difficult. The shorter the shelflife, the more purge you have.
And who wants to throw away abeautiful organic food? So our
complexity is really figuringout that balance between keeping
our kiosks full, which still achallenge for us, but having
enough product in there so thatwhen people come to buy the
product, it's there. You're notdisappointing people. And so it
(21:05):
still is a complex business. Butwithout the other pieces, we're
able to address our complexityin a more sustainable way.
Justine Reichman: (21:13):
I think that's so important to share.
Because I remember when we werearranging this, I was like, I
can't wait to taste the food,because I remember how fresh it
was when I would go down toLarkspur in my town. I could
walk there with my dogs and getit, and it tasted like I made
this this morning. I wasskeptical because I said, okay,
(21:33):
how can you produce so much andstill have fresh? It's not going
to be the same. I was justcurious, and it came in, and
both my partner and I, and myfriend, we were tasting it, and
we were really impressed withjust how fresh it tasted, and
how it tasted like you had justmade it in front of me.
Neka Pasquale: (21:52):
Oh, thank you so much for saying it. That's so
great, because that's reallywhat we want to do, and how we
want people to experience ourproducts. I just said, fresh
food at your fingertips that'sready to eat, that's easy to get
from your local grocery store.I'm so happy that you had that
experience. And I feel the sameway. I'll go and get something
(22:14):
and I'm like, God, it's so good.I'm so proud of our team. I'm so
proud of us for being able toexecute in this way where you're
not going and getting a wilty,warm salad.
Justine Reichman: (22:26):
I want to go back to a couple of things that
you mentioned so that we couldtap into them for those folks
that are building businesses orin the process. So when you
found your CEO, or you foundyour counsel that was going to
be that person to help you grow,what were some of the things you
looked for? For me, I'd look forthe things that I can't do or I
don't want to do, but I alsowant to pay attention to the
(22:48):
skills that you need. What werethe top three things that were
really most important to youthat you think people should be
mindful of as they're recruitingfor this role as they grow?
Neka Pasquale: (23:01):
Well, I think the most important thing is
having somebody that believes inyour mission and vision, and
what you're doing. That isabsolutely the top thing. And if
you're hiring a CEO, you have totrust that person the way you
would trust a life partner, likea husband, or somebody in your
life. Because in the end, theCEO is the person that you're
(23:24):
hiring. That's the finaldecision maker in a lot of times
over the Founder. So you have tobe really clear that when you
hire somebody to take that role,that they are taking the lead
role in the company, if they'rereally a true CEO. My experience
was interesting because I openedmy store in (inaudible), and a
friend of mine, Keith Bellingwho started Popchips. One day,
(23:48):
he was like, hey, I really wantyou to meet this guy, Paul
Coletta. And I was like, oh,okay. So I went to the city and
he introduced me to Paul. And Iwas like, oh, he's nice. He's
like, you guys are both Italian.He's working at the Melt, that
old Grilled Cheese Company. Iremember going to his office,
(24:11):
and it was this really fancyoffice in downtown San
Francisco. And I was kind ofintimidated on like, wow, this
is so fancy. They obviously hadso much funding behind them, and
blah, blah, blah. And then hecame to my store in San Rafael,
and we had the funkiest office.We had card tables for desks.
And my son was probably one anda half or two, and he was
(24:34):
running around all over theplace. It was not a professional
environment, so I remember beingreally embarrassed. He loved the
food and the juices. And thenonce a week, he just kept
coming. He would be like, hey, Ireally crave this. Or, God, I
love what you're doing. And hewould just sit and ask me a lot
of questions. And I was like,this is interesting. What he's
really hanging around here alot? And then one day we were
(24:55):
talking, it's like, you knowwhat? I've just been thinking
about it. I really love whatyou're doing, and I really would
like to be your CEO. And what doyou think about it? And I
remember that I was thinking,God, I don't know. Because I was
thinking, this is really mybusiness. It's my baby. Do I
(25:15):
want a partner in what I'mdoing? And so it took me a while
to really get to the place whereI was like, you know what? It's
probably going to make my lifereally a lot easier. I had taken
a small amount. I think at thatpoint, I raised a million
dollars, which I thought was somuch money. But in the scheme of
things, it's really not. Butwhen I first took that million
(25:37):
dollars, I was like, I'm nevergoing to need any more money.
They can build out my San Rafaelkitchen. And then with that
growth, we outgrew that kitchenwithin six months. Then I was
like, oh, my gosh, I do needmore money, because I need to
have another facility and blah,blah, blah, the whole story. And
so things were starting to getcomplicated. I was like, oh,
(25:58):
it's gonna be so great. Let'sgo. And I already had this trust
with him because we'd known eachother for a while now, and he
asked all the right questions.And like I said, he was like,
you will always be the decisionmaker when it comes to product
branding, we will work togetheras a team. And so we did for all
(26:19):
of those years, and so I feelreally lucky. I've had so many
people come to me that have, Iwon't name their brands, but
have come to me that have localbusinesses. Women that are like,
I want a Paul. His name is Paul.How did you get a Paul? How did
you find him? And I was like,it's just kind of destiny. It
(26:42):
just kind of happened in areally wonderful way. I think
it's not common, right? I thinkmore than not, people are in a
different situation where you'llstart something and you'll hire
a CEO. And a lot of times, theCEO's vision for a company can
be a lot different than afounders because they might be
trying to get profitabilityfaster, or have pressure from
(27:05):
the investors to have a certainamount of growth and a certain
amount of period. I just wouldsay, if you're looking to hire
people in a leadership role, youjust really need to make sure
that they're aligned with yourmission and your values, and the
(27:28):
way that you want to grow thecompany. And sometimes, things
come up and you might be wrong.You might think like, I want to
grow the company in this way.And then all of a sudden,
something you never dreamed ofcould come in front of you, and
there could be a differentopportunity. And then being
willing to pivot and being like,oh, my God, I never thought of
that. And that's actually howtheWhole Foods kiosk happened.
(27:49):
Paul was on a bike ride with, Ican't remember his name, one of
the heads of Whole Foods at thattime in California. It was like,
hey, what if we had an UrbanRemedy kiosk in one of your
stores in Berkeley? And he waslike, yeah, that could be cool.
And they talked, and then he waslike, I'm gonna give you three
kiosks. And if you could do $80a day, it will work. And then
(28:11):
we'll both make money and letyou see. And so we did the
kiosk. I don't know if it was$80.
Justine Reichman: (28:16):
It might have been conversation purposes.
Neka Pasquale: (28:20):
And so we did it, and we did like, $170 a day
or something that we didn'texpect. And then he was like,
wow, this is a huge success.Let's do it in Southern
California. And I rememberpeople in Marin know us just
because we've started in Marin,we've been here for so long and
San Francisco. And I was like, Idon't know how we're gonna do.
(28:40):
People are very health consciousin LA, and there's zero brand
awareness. Several repetition inLA. There's a lot more
competition. But anyways, we didit, and we launched, I think we
started with like, I don't know,8 or 10 kiosks. And it was so
crazy, because that reallylaunched us in a different way.
(29:00):
There was a lot more influencersthere at that time, and so there
was not a lot of other brandslike us, especially in Whole
Foods. And so I remember justbeing online and just being
like, oh, my gosh. This personis posting about us, and that
person is posting about us. Andit happened very organically,
which was so cool that a bunchof awareness came about. But it
(29:22):
wasn't through paid social mediaor anything like that. People
really liked the product, andwere excited to find this kind
of product in Whole Foods atthat time. So we ended up
opening stores in that area, inSouthern California as well,
when we had stores. Sometimes,things like that happen that you
wouldn't even think of. And now,that is our one channel that
(29:44):
we're doing. So it's veryunexpected.
Justine Reichman: (29:48):
That was a big decision. Was that scary
when you made that decision tobe like, okay, we're cutting the
stores. We're doing this. Or wasit just like a relief? You're
like, wait, this is working.We're gonna pare down.
Neka Pasquale: (29:58):
Honestly, it was both because I was so attached.
Because I was like, I could goto my store in the city, or I
could go to my store in MillValley or whatever. It was just
so fun to you have a differentrelationship with the customer.
When you have a store, you canreally have a different
conversation with your customerbecause they come in and they're
(30:20):
like, oh, this is my favorite,or I like this, or you hear
their stories. I'd be in thestore and people be like, my mom
has breast cancer, and this isthe only food and juice she ate
while she was doing her chemo.And then you're just like, oh,
my gosh, this is why we're doingwhat we're doing. This is
exactly why I wanted to launchUrban Remedy. And so it turned
(30:43):
into really just the kiosk,you're not getting that direct
feedback all the time. Peoplewrite reviews, but it's a
different way of communicatingwith the consumer or the
customer. And so it was sad. Soyes, it was a good idea. And
also sad because then, we weremissing out on that piece of the
puzzle. But I think retail,especially right now, is just
(31:04):
very difficult. It's so hard. Wewere having trouble finding
people to work the hours.There's a lot of complexity with
retail, and so it has made it alot easier not having to like,
if somebody doesn't show up forwork with the kiosk, that kind
of stuff doesn't matter, so itdoes make it easier.
Justine Reichman: (31:23):
open the door? We need somebody to open
the door. So now that you're inWhole Foods and Mollie Stone and
a variety of other stores, whatdo you see for the next 5 to 10
Neka Pasquale: (31:39):
I see that we're really going to just continue to
years?
grow into as many Whole Foods aswe can, and so that we could
offer this food to as manypeople as we can. I think
there's a constant evolution ofwhat people want, and so it's
just continuing to offer thehealthiest, using the most
(32:00):
functional ingredients, and justkeeping our mission and vision,
and just expanding it, and keepthe consumer interested, keep
innovating new and excitingproducts. And I think that's
where also the challenge comesin. It's really staying relevant
and staying true to your missionand values, and not having
(32:20):
people get bored. It's reallyinteresting in the food space.
We look at trends a lot. And alot of the times, people will
tell me a trend. Somebody thatworks for me might be like, this
is trending, so we should do it.And a lot of times I'm like, I
don't care if that's trending.If I don't believe in it and
believe that it's good for youand have those properties that I
(32:45):
believe in, I don't care. Idon't care if something's
trending if it's not somethingthat I really believe in in
terms of innovation. It's alwaysinteresting. But every year,
you'll go to Expo and everybodywants to know what's the trend.
Sometimes, it's been like afermented food, which is great.
But I'm always trying to bringit back to like, yes, that might
(33:07):
be a cool, interesting trend.But how does it fit into Urban
Remedy? How does it fit into ourmission, our values? And I want
to continue to be a leader, nota follower. And so not turning
into a brand that's trying tokeep up with every trend, and
because I think that's kind ofhow you just jump the boat. You
just try to be everything toeverybody. And a trend is just a
(33:31):
trend. But I believe what we'redoing is based in something
that's good for healing peopleand healing the planet. So we're
always organic, and we're alwaysworking with regenerative
organic farmers. We're stickingto those mission and values,
which are really important tome. Those are things that are
always going to be good for,like I said before, when it's
(33:51):
really good for you, and you'reeating seasonally and locally as
much as you can, it's reallygood for the planet. And so just
staying within those guard railsis really important to me.
Justine Reichman: (34:02):
Awesome. Neka, thank you so much for
joining us today. It's good tosee you. It's a great
conversation. I've learned somuch. I want to thank our
listeners for tuning in. And ifyou guys have any more
questions, shoot us a note, orleave us a note on our social,
or on YouTube, or wherever youlisten or watch your podcast.
(34:22):
But for those that are curiousabout learning more about Urban
Remedy, Neka, what's the bestway for them to dig in a little
further?
Neka Pasquale: (34:29):
You can go to urbanremedy.com, it is our
website. And we have all of ourlocations listed there under
locations. We also haveInstagram, which is just Urban
Remedy. LinkedIn, I believe isjust Urban Remedy. And we don't
have YouTube like you. I thinkwe might have a couple things on
YouTube. But anyways, ourwebsite or Instagram are
probably the best ways to learnmore about Urban Remedy.
Justine Reichman: (34:52):
Awesome. So thank you again. Don't forget,
we will throw the links in theshow notes for Neka and for
Urban Remedy, so you can dothat. And if you're not
following us or watching us onYouTube, we are at Essential
Ingredients. And if you want totune in wherever you listen to
podcasts, we're on iTunes,Spotify. IHeart Radio, at
Essential Ingredients withJustine, s thanks again for
(35:14):
tuning in. And I want to thankyou again for joining us. Thank
you. You get to expand ourfamily each week with our new
guests and our new friends thatare tuning in and joining us for
these conversations.
Welcome to Essential Ingredients. I'm
Justine reichman. With me todayis Neka Pasquale, and she's the
founder of Urban Remedy. I'msuper excited to have you here.
You're someone that's local,inspirational, and built a
business that I can't wait tolearn about as you've grown. And
it's so important to me, becauseI came from New York and
couldn't find anything. And whenI found you, I kind of felt like
(00:34):
I was home again. So welcome.
Neka Pasquale: (00:37):
Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. I'm
excited.
Justine Reichman: (00:40):
Oh, my pleasure. I love to also just
connect with other local peoplethat are building good
businesses, better for you foodoptions, and accessibility for
people here are the local area.But equally, that being said, as
we learn more about this, andwe'll get into it, see how
you've grown outside the localMarin or Bay area. So for those
that are not familiar, can youmaybe just give a little
(01:03):
overview of Urban Remedy?
Neka Pasquale: (01:05):
Yeah. Urban Remedy is a company that I
founded. It's been like 13years, which is so crazy. And as
we were just talking aboutprivately, I'm an acupuncturist,
and my background is in Chinesemedicine. I had a practice for
many years, over a decade, andthat's where I kind of really
got into food as medicine, andreally looking at how diet
(01:29):
impacts our overall health. Andwhen I had my practice, I kind
of dove deep intodetoxification, and really kind
of looking at our farming systemand where food comes from. How
it's grown, how it affects ourbody, pesticides, and all that
kind of stuff. And so I was soexcited about all of it. It was
(01:50):
so cool for me when I was inschool, because I was like, wow.
Everything has a medicinalquality to it. Everything that
you eat or make, you couldreally think of it like, what
does this do to my body? Or notin a way that's like stressful
or pressured, but just reallyunderstand how food is just
like, Chinese medicine is basedin, we are nature, and nature is
(02:11):
us. So really looking at food inthe same way, and how we're
connected. How eating local andorganic is really important. Not
just for us, but for ourenvironment. And the healthier
we are, the healthy ourenvironments are. So just
bridging that all together. Andthen I started doing retreats
with my patients that haddifferent chronic illnesses, or
people that just want to loseweight or just feel better. And
(02:32):
that's kind of, honestly, reallyhow Urban Remedy was born.
People just started feeling sogood in such a short amount of
time. People were like, I can'tmake the food. It doesn't taste
as good when you make it, andcan you just make it for me? I
love cooking, and so I startedmaking snacks. And people just
bought those like crazy. Andthen I thought I was just going
to open my first store in 2011or 12. I really thought this is
(02:59):
going to be just like a nichething for people like me that
like to eat this way. And I justcouldn't believe it. It just
went gangbusters when we openedthe door. There was nothing else
really like it at that point.There was maybe like Jamba Juice
at that point.
Justine Reichman: (03:13):
I don't feel like Jamba Juice is the same as
Urban Remedy.
Neka Pasquale: (03:19):
No, no, no, no. Just from like a juice
perspective. If you wanted ajuice, there's a lot of little
juice shops around, right? If Iwanted wheat grass juice, if I
was in New York or something,they were just talking about New
York like, I would know that Icould get a wheat grass shot
when I went to Jamba Juice. Itis definitely like a higher
sugar, different kind ofsmoothie thing. But there wasn't
(03:40):
a lot of juice shops. I also didfood, and it's just been such a
crazy experience. Because like Isaid, I never really wrote up a
business plan. I was like, oh, Iwant this to be a national
company. I just thought this isgonna be so fun to do in Berin
where I live. A lot of people inthe beginning were like, good
(04:00):
luck. Your location is good. Idon't know, but it was something
that people really wanted andwere craving. And so we grew
100% year over year for manyyears. And so it felt like when
I look back at that time, I'mlike, God, my life was so crazy.
Because I was just anacupuncturist, so I was just
(04:23):
figuring out like, how do youprocure ingredients? Where do
you store bottles? How do youship? All of these things. And
so I made so many mistakes, butit was so fun. I'm a really good
problem solver, so I was like, Iwas constantly just figuring it
all out. And yeah, it's been ajourney.
Justine Reichman: (04:43):
It sounds like that super fun. I say that
because I have a little bit ofChinese medicine experience. I
would not say I have a lot,because I don't want to do that.
But one of the things that thatthey talk about in Chinese
medicine that I learned was allabout cooked foods, so I was
(05:05):
curious and like heating thingsup. And I'm curious, where did
that come into your thinking?And how does that play a role?
What are your thoughts on that?
Neka Pasquale: (05:15):
Actually, quite a few people ask me that
question. Because in Chinesemedicine, there's things like
never drink ice cold water. It'snot good for your spleen. So
your spleen is like your maindigestive organ. So when you eat
food, your spleen digests thefood. It transforms and
transports it into blood, intoenergy, into chi, into like life
(05:36):
force. And so in Chinesemedicine, they say, don't eat
too many cold foods. In my ownkind of journey and my own
health journey when I was inacupuncture school, I actually
developed PCOS, I was stressedout, and I was eating not a very
healthy diet. And they werelike, okay, let's put you on
this medication. And I was like,I'm gonna do some research. Let
(05:59):
me look into this. And I said,just give me six months. And so
I started juicing. I startedeating a raw food diet. But
there's a way to do a raw fooddiet where you're not eating all
cold food like ice cream coldout of the fridge, right? So
every food, as you know, has ataste, a temperature, and a
meridian associated with it. Sowhen you look at the qualities
(06:21):
of any individual ingredient,they can be cool, cold, cooling,
warm, hot. Really, that's kindof the basic. Even if you're
eating foods that are not wellcooked, they can still be
warming and support spleenfunction. So if you look at
something like ginger, you couldeat it fresh. It's warm. When
you heat it up, when you cookit, it actually is hotter. And
(06:44):
so there are a lot ofingredients that are warming.
I've really tried to take thatphilosophy and balance because
you have to understand thatChinese medicine, when they were
talking about food and writingabout it, it was thousands of
years ago in a different climatewhere people had a really
different constitution at thatpoint in time. And so if you
(07:06):
live, let's say, in Antarctica,and you're living in a really
cold, damp environment, you donot want to be eating raw cold
food at all. You want to beeating soups, broths, stews and
things that are going to balanceout your environment. So I
always say, look at yourenvironment, where you live in
the season that that environmentis in, and then you eat
(07:29):
according to that. But there'sthings that are always good for
you. You know what I mean? Greenfoods are always good for your
liver. A lot of green foods tendto be slightly cooling. But our
livers, especially in this dayand age, tend to be stuck and
hot. And so green foods arereally good at cooling the
liver, soothing the liver, andhelping the liver to be able to
(07:52):
do its job better. In thesummertime, you might eat more
like salads, and drink moregreen juices because it's likely
to be hot. But if it'swintertime and it's cold, you
could still have liver for cheekingestion, and so you could
still eat salads. You couldslightly warm them. We have
directions on a bunch of oursalads about warming. You could
(08:14):
also take a salad out and justnot eat it cold out of the
fridge. Just let it sit for like45 minutes, and it gets to room
temperature, and then it's notso cold. Or if you're choosing
juices, you can choose juicewith like turmeric or ginger, or
like cayenne or something spicyin it. Because when you're
drinking it and it's warming,then it's supporting that spleen
(08:37):
stomach function. And you couldlook at all foods in that way.
Justine Reichman: (08:41):
I love the way you break it down. Because
for people like me that only gothalf an education in Chinese
medicine, I go to that nextstep. I'm so curious and I'm
like, okay, I want to know more,because this makes so much
sense. I'm not sure how toorganize the food and also
connect into the dots. So forme, I thought that was really
(09:05):
something interesting to askyou. But I do want to go back to
the beginning, for those tuningin that are just really inspired
by what you've built and how youbuilt it, talk a little bit
about that. My understanding isyou went from have doing
acupuncture to this. So as anacupuncturist, oftentimes,
people are entrepreneurs. Sowere you an entrepreneur then?
(09:27):
Or was this your first endeavor?
Neka Pasquale: (09:29):
I would say I'm kind of an entrepreneur at
heart, because my mom had herown business when I was growing
up. And same with my dad. Theynever had jobs. Same with my
grandparents. That's a greatquestion that I have never
really thought about. But when Ilook back at my acupuncture
practice, it takes a good yearand a half to really get in your
(09:50):
flow and get people coming. Andprobably, when I was three years
into my practice, I was verybusy. I was just telling my
boyfriend that I forgot. I usedto have three treatment rooms,
and I used to, at some mybusiest parts of the day be
treating three people the sametime and trying to manage
putting needles in one person,talking to another person.
Wendy, blah, blah, blah. How doyou do that? And so I was very
(10:14):
busy. And maybe in retrospect, Idid that so I could squeeze in
as many people as I could.Because when you're a
practitioner, your time iseverything because that's a
different thing when you haveyour own business when you show
up and be there, and you'regiving the service. And so over
time, as I got more interestedand learned more about
(10:35):
functional medicine anddetoxification, I wanted to
incorporate that into mypractice, and that is when I
started doing retreats. And so Iwas like, okay, I'm gonna get
this together. I'm gonna get,probably like 13 people. There's
men and women. I'm gonna takeeverybody out. We started at
Stinson Beach, and there wasthis huge house there that I
(10:55):
used to rent. It had, like, Idon't know, 11 bedrooms or
something. I just broughteverybody there, and I'm like,
all right, we're gonna do yoga,meditation, infrared sauna.
Obviously juicing, all live rawfood at that point. And let's
just see what happens. Becausethese are things that I found to
be really helpful for people.And it was just so incredible.
(11:17):
People felt so much betterafter. And so that was probably
my entrepreneurial spirit oflike, oh, I'm out. Let's try
this. And it's a really cool wayto do something different, but
also do what I incorporate like,all the things I love. I love
food so much. When I firststarted, I should have had
pictures, I do have pictures oflike, I would just make the most
(11:38):
beautiful food. Everything thatI would play, it was just so
colorful and just vibrant. Iwould do all the different
colors of the rainbow, and itwas so fun and creative for me
during that time to be able todo that. And then I just started
doing that quarterly. And thenpeople kept wanting food and
wanting the juice. And that'sreally, really how Urban Remedy
(11:59):
started. And there's a funnystory when I started doing the
juice. I had one person workingfor me, and we would deliver
people, mostly my patients,juices. It was like once or
twice a week, and somebodycalled me from Gilt. I don't
know if you remember Gilt, itwas like a shopping platform.
(12:21):
And hey, we heard about whatyou're doing. Can you offer a
juice cleanse to people in SanFrancisco? And I was like, oh,
that sounds so cool. Sure. But Ididn't even really know much
about what it was really and Iwas like, yeah, sure. And so I
had no website. I had nothing.Maybe I actually did have a
website that was just UrbanRemedy with a phone number or
(12:43):
something. And I remember oneday, and I was pregnant at this
point, my phone started ringingoff the hook. I had forgotten
that I said I would do it. Itwas like a month before, and I
was answering the phone andpeople like, oh, I want to
schedule my juice order. Andthen Gilt was like, you guys
sold out in like five minutes.Do you want to do more? And I
was like, yeah, sure. Thenpeople in San Francisco started
(13:04):
hearing about what I was doing,and then things started really
going gangbusters. I didn't havethe infrastructure at that point
to understand how to really havea back end system that tracks
all the orders and have peoplesign up online. And so I
literally had a notebook, and Iwas writing people's names down
(13:24):
and their addresses. Then Iwould eat and people would call
me and be like, I need mydelivery. That's kind of how the
whole Urban Remedy thing came tobe.
Justine Reichman: (13:35):
I love that it's so organic and so
authentic. I'm an entrepreneurtoo, and I feel like, as you
said, you like to solveproblems. Me too, so it really
resonates with me. Because wehave so many that are tuning in,
I can imagine that they're alsothinking the same thing. They're
like, wait, I did that too. Itmakes them feel like, okay, I
(13:56):
can do this. I can get to thenext level. So my question is,
how did you go to the nextlevel? Because that's the
question for many people, thatall came together. You're making
it happen, but you've got to gofrom scrappy to strategic at
some point. So what was that?
Neka Pasquale: (14:13):
I've really thought about that a lot over
the years, because I've gonethrough lots of different
periods where there's been timeswhere I'm like, oh, my gosh, how
are we going to make payroll?All of a sudden, I'm renting a
new space. Or I'm like, I can'tcatch up with this, and dealing
with employee things. And Iwould say very honestly that
there's been so many times whereI couldn't figure out how to get
(14:36):
to the next level. And I wouldsay to myself, what if this is
what I meant to be doing, andthis is what I meant to do? The
answer is going to show up forme, because I really don't know
how to do it. And I would saywith Urban Remedy, consistently,
the answer has shown up. There'sbeen so many times when I
(14:58):
eventually hired a CEO, people,and we had a team. There's just
been so many times, because ittakes a lot of money to grow.
We've had all theseopportunities to have a kiosk in
Whole Foods and prove that out.And if we could prove that out
in California, we could go toother states. But all of these
things take a lot of money. Andonce you start shipping
(15:19):
nationally, and then you have tohave a whole nother distribution
system, people to pack the stuffand infrastructure, and software
to track the orders, all ofthese things take a lot of
money. And so part of the issuewith having starting the way I
did, if I were to do it over, Iprobably would have done it
differently. But everything isperfect. So I'm grateful for
(15:42):
where I am. I would always tellpeople now when they ask me,
take as little money as you canas you grow your business. Even
if you grow slower, it doesn'tmatter because you're going to
mess up. I have a friend who'sstarting a little food brand on
the side, and she wants to haveeverything perfect. I'm like, no
matter how perfect do you thinkit is, things are going to mess
(16:03):
up, and there's going to be aningredient that you can't
source, or that's not going tobe this, or the packaging. The
first two years, you're justgoing to be learning and making
mistakes. It happens to everysingle person, and that's how
you hone in and get things goingin a flow, in a smooth way. And
so you have to just know whenyou start that there's going to
be a lot of things that kinks,that need to be worked out. And
(16:25):
so I would just say thatluckily, I was able to be in a
flow, and grow in the flow theway that it was meant to go.
That just sound like I just madea rhyme or something.
Justine Reichman: (16:35):
There were a million things you could have
done differently, and I knowit's turned out perfectly right
now. It is how it should be, andyou're all excited. But when you
think about it intellectually,and you think about how you do
it differently today, what wouldyou say to those listeners
tuning in today?
Neka Pasquale: (16:50):
I would say, if you're starting something new,
first of all, the number onething is make sure you love what
you're doing, and you'repassionate about it, because
that's the most critical thing.I really do feel like there's a
difference between having apassion for what you do and
loving it. And having an ideathat you want to do because you
think it's on trend, and it'sgoing to make you a lot of
(17:11):
money. Those are two differentthings, and not that either is
necessarily. It's not wrong todo something just to make money.
But a lot of times, there's justa different energy behind it
than when you're so excited ondoing something that you really
feel is going to change theworld, or help people's lives,
or make you do something thatyou're just super passionate
about. But I would say thateither way, when you're starting
(17:37):
your business, it's best to tryto make your own mistakes in the
beginning and really figure outyour kinks, which is what I was
kind of saying before. And takeas little money as you need,
because it does take a lot ofmoney to grow a business. But
once you take investment, thenthere's these expectations on
you a lot of times to growreally, really fast. And
(17:59):
sometimes, to do things thatmaybe you don't really want to
do, or grow in a way you don'treally want to grow. And I've
been really lucky because myinvestors are all very
supportive and mission drivenaligned, which has been a great
experience for me. But I'vetalked with so many other women
founders that have had differentexperiences depending on their
(18:20):
investor or how much money youtake. Because the more of your
business that you give away,then the less kind of power you
have over those decisions.
Justine Reichman: (18:28):
Wow. It's interesting because as you're
coming up with these ideas, youcome up with so many, and you
want to do them because you getexcited. It's exciting, and
you're like, okay, we'regrowing. We're doing this, we're
doing that. And it seems likethe path forward. It seems like
the way to grow. So for thosefolks that are tuning in and are
(18:48):
like, okay, so how do I figurethat out? How do I figure out to
where do I want to go next whenall these things are coming at
me, and I got to make adecision. I'm just getting
started, and they all lookgreat. But really, gotta figure
out where you're gonna start.Because as you said, it's really
expensive. You can make a lot ofexpensive mistakes, and that's
(19:11):
part of the journey too. So ofcourse, I go back to it. What
would you recommend to them?
Neka Pasquale: (19:17):
I think it's good to have good counsel.
Somebody who can help you reallylook at every different way,
every different opportunitythat's in front of you and then
be like, okay, so if you chooseto do X, Y or Z, how much
capital is that going to take?How many employees are you going
(19:38):
to need to employ? What is thecost benefit ratio of each of
your ideas or each of youropportunities, and really
evaluate? I think one of themost important things is keeping
everything as simple aspossible. Because the easier it
is for you to execute, thehigher chance of success you're
going to have. Things that arevery complex just burn you out,
(20:01):
and then take a lot ofresources. And so I always
think, choose the path of leastresistance, the path that is
going to be the most simplifiedpath that makes sense. At least
just start, because nobody wantsto be stuck in something that's
very complex and difficult. Andeven what we do at Whole Foods
(20:22):
is, even though we've been doingit for a while and we're good at
fresh, what we're doing isreally difficult. Because it's
very difficult to scale freshfood that has a lot of a short
shelf life. That's why peopledon't do it, because it's not
easy. Look at the biggest foodcompanies, their shelf life on
their products are years, notdays or months. And so it's very
(20:45):
difficult. The shorter the shelflife, the more purge you have.
And who wants to throw away abeautiful organic food? So our
complexity is really figuringout that balance between keeping
our kiosks full, which still achallenge for us, but having
enough product in there so thatwhen people come to buy the
product, it's there. You're notdisappointing people. And so it
(21:05):
still is a complex business. Butwithout the other pieces, we're
able to address our complexityin a more sustainable way.
Justine Reichman: (21:13):
I think that's so important to share.
Because I remember when we werearranging this, I was like, I
can't wait to taste the food,because I remember how fresh it
was when I would go down toLarkspur in my town. I could
walk there with my dogs and getit, and it tasted like I made
this this morning. I wasskeptical because I said, okay,
(21:33):
how can you produce so much andstill have fresh? It's not going
to be the same. I was justcurious, and it came in, and
both my partner and I, and myfriend, we were tasting it, and
we were really impressed withjust how fresh it tasted, and
how it tasted like you had justmade it in front of me.
Neka Pasquale: (21:52):
Oh, thank you so much for saying it. That's so
great, because that's reallywhat we want to do, and how we
want people to experience ourproducts. I just said, fresh
food at your fingertips that'sready to eat, that's easy to get
from your local grocery store.I'm so happy that you had that
experience. And I feel the sameway. I'll go and get something
(22:14):
and I'm like, God, it's so good.I'm so proud of our team. I'm so
proud of us for being able toexecute in this way where you're
not going and getting a wilty,warm salad.
Justine Reichman: (22:26):
I want to go back to a couple of things that
you mentioned so that we couldtap into them for those folks
that are building businesses orin the process. So when you
found your CEO, or you foundyour counsel that was going to
be that person to help you grow,what were some of the things you
looked for? For me, I'd look forthe things that I can't do or I
don't want to do, but I alsowant to pay attention to the
(22:48):
skills that you need. What werethe top three things that were
really most important to youthat you think people should be
mindful of as they're recruitingfor this role as they grow?
Neka Pasquale: (23:01):
Well, I think the most important thing is
having somebody that believes inyour mission and vision, and
what you're doing. That isabsolutely the top thing. And if
you're hiring a CEO, you have totrust that person the way you
would trust a life partner, likea husband, or somebody in your
life. Because in the end, theCEO is the person that you're
(23:24):
hiring. That's the finaldecision maker in a lot of times
over the Founder. So you have tobe really clear that when you
hire somebody to take that role,that they are taking the lead
role in the company, if they'rereally a true CEO. My experience
was interesting because I openedmy store in (inaudible), and a
friend of mine, Keith Bellingwho started Popchips. One day,
(23:48):
he was like, hey, I really wantyou to meet this guy, Paul
Coletta. And I was like, oh,okay. So I went to the city and
he introduced me to Paul. And Iwas like, oh, he's nice. He's
like, you guys are both Italian.He's working at the Melt, that
old Grilled Cheese Company. Iremember going to his office,
(24:11):
and it was this really fancyoffice in downtown San
Francisco. And I was kind ofintimidated on like, wow, this
is so fancy. They obviously hadso much funding behind them, and
blah, blah, blah. And then hecame to my store in San Rafael,
and we had the funkiest office.We had card tables for desks.
And my son was probably one anda half or two, and he was
(24:34):
running around all over theplace. It was not a professional
environment, so I remember beingreally embarrassed. He loved the
food and the juices. And thenonce a week, he just kept
coming. He would be like, hey, Ireally crave this. Or, God, I
love what you're doing. And hewould just sit and ask me a lot
of questions. And I was like,this is interesting. What he's
really hanging around here alot? And then one day we were
(24:55):
talking, it's like, you knowwhat? I've just been thinking
about it. I really love whatyou're doing, and I really would
like to be your CEO. And what doyou think about it? And I
remember that I was thinking,God, I don't know. Because I was
thinking, this is really mybusiness. It's my baby. Do I
(25:15):
want a partner in what I'mdoing? And so it took me a while
to really get to the place whereI was like, you know what? It's
probably going to make my lifereally a lot easier. I had taken
a small amount. I think at thatpoint, I raised a million
dollars, which I thought was somuch money. But in the scheme of
things, it's really not. Butwhen I first took that million
(25:37):
dollars, I was like, I'm nevergoing to need any more money.
They can build out my San Rafaelkitchen. And then with that
growth, we outgrew that kitchenwithin six months. Then I was
like, oh, my gosh, I do needmore money, because I need to
have another facility and blah,blah, blah, the whole story. And
so things were starting to getcomplicated. I was like, oh,
(25:58):
it's gonna be so great. Let'sgo. And I already had this trust
with him because we'd known eachother for a while now, and he
asked all the right questions.And like I said, he was like,
you will always be the decisionmaker when it comes to product
branding, we will work togetheras a team. And so we did for all
(26:19):
of those years, and so I feelreally lucky. I've had so many
people come to me that have, Iwon't name their brands, but
have come to me that have localbusinesses. Women that are like,
I want a Paul. His name is Paul.How did you get a Paul? How did
you find him? And I was like,it's just kind of destiny. It
(26:42):
just kind of happened in areally wonderful way. I think
it's not common, right? I thinkmore than not, people are in a
different situation where you'llstart something and you'll hire
a CEO. And a lot of times, theCEO's vision for a company can
be a lot different than afounders because they might be
trying to get profitabilityfaster, or have pressure from
(27:05):
the investors to have a certainamount of growth and a certain
amount of period. I just wouldsay, if you're looking to hire
people in a leadership role, youjust really need to make sure
that they're aligned with yourmission and your values, and the
(27:28):
way that you want to grow thecompany. And sometimes, things
come up and you might be wrong.You might think like, I want to
grow the company in this way.And then all of a sudden,
something you never dreamed ofcould come in front of you, and
there could be a differentopportunity. And then being
willing to pivot and being like,oh, my God, I never thought of
that. And that's actually howtheWhole Foods kiosk happened.
(27:49):
Paul was on a bike ride with, Ican't remember his name, one of
the heads of Whole Foods at thattime in California. It was like,
hey, what if we had an UrbanRemedy kiosk in one of your
stores in Berkeley? And he waslike, yeah, that could be cool.
And they talked, and then he waslike, I'm gonna give you three
kiosks. And if you could do $80a day, it will work. And then
(28:11):
we'll both make money and letyou see. And so we did the
kiosk. I don't know if it was$80.
Justine Reichman: (28:16):
It might have been conversation purposes.
Neka Pasquale: (28:20):
And so we did it, and we did like, $170 a day
or something that we didn'texpect. And then he was like,
wow, this is a huge success.Let's do it in Southern
California. And I rememberpeople in Marin know us just
because we've started in Marin,we've been here for so long and
San Francisco. And I was like, Idon't know how we're gonna do.
(28:40):
People are very health consciousin LA, and there's zero brand
awareness. Several repetition inLA. There's a lot more
competition. But anyways, we didit, and we launched, I think we
started with like, I don't know,8 or 10 kiosks. And it was so
crazy, because that reallylaunched us in a different way.
(29:00):
There was a lot more influencersthere at that time, and so there
was not a lot of other brandslike us, especially in Whole
Foods. And so I remember justbeing online and just being
like, oh, my gosh. This personis posting about us, and that
person is posting about us. Andit happened very organically,
which was so cool that a bunchof awareness came about. But it
(29:22):
wasn't through paid social mediaor anything like that. People
really liked the product, andwere excited to find this kind
of product in Whole Foods atthat time. So we ended up
opening stores in that area, inSouthern California as well,
when we had stores. Sometimes,things like that happen that you
wouldn't even think of. And now,that is our one channel that
(29:44):
we're doing. So it's veryunexpected.
Justine Reichman: (29:48):
That was a big decision. Was that scary
when you made that decision tobe like, okay, we're cutting the
stores. We're doing this. Or wasit just like a relief? You're
like, wait, this is working.We're gonna pare down.
Neka Pasquale: (29:58):
Honestly, it was both because I was so attached.
Because I was like, I could goto my store in the city, or I
could go to my store in MillValley or whatever. It was just
so fun to you have a differentrelationship with the customer.
When you have a store, you canreally have a different
conversation with your customerbecause they come in and they're
(30:20):
like, oh, this is my favorite,or I like this, or you hear
their stories. I'd be in thestore and people be like, my mom
has breast cancer, and this isthe only food and juice she ate
while she was doing her chemo.And then you're just like, oh,
my gosh, this is why we're doingwhat we're doing. This is
exactly why I wanted to launchUrban Remedy. And so it turned
(30:43):
into really just the kiosk,you're not getting that direct
feedback all the time. Peoplewrite reviews, but it's a
different way of communicatingwith the consumer or the
customer. And so it was sad. Soyes, it was a good idea. And
also sad because then, we weremissing out on that piece of the
puzzle. But I think retail,especially right now, is just
(31:04):
very difficult. It's so hard. Wewere having trouble finding
people to work the hours.There's a lot of complexity with
retail, and so it has made it alot easier not having to like,
if somebody doesn't show up forwork with the kiosk, that kind
of stuff doesn't matter, so itdoes make it easier.
Justine Reichman: (31:23):
open the door? We need somebody to open
the door. So now that you're inWhole Foods and Mollie Stone and
a variety of other stores, whatdo you see for the next 5 to 10
Neka Pasquale: (31:39):
I see that we're really going to just continue to
years?
grow into as many Whole Foods aswe can, and so that we could
offer this food to as manypeople as we can. I think
there's a constant evolution ofwhat people want, and so it's
just continuing to offer thehealthiest, using the most
(32:00):
functional ingredients, and justkeeping our mission and vision,
and just expanding it, and keepthe consumer interested, keep
innovating new and excitingproducts. And I think that's
where also the challenge comesin. It's really staying relevant
and staying true to your missionand values, and not having
(32:20):
people get bored. It's reallyinteresting in the food space.
We look at trends a lot. And alot of the times, people will
tell me a trend. Somebody thatworks for me might be like, this
is trending, so we should do it.And a lot of times I'm like, I
don't care if that's trending.If I don't believe in it and
believe that it's good for youand have those properties that I
(32:45):
believe in, I don't care. Idon't care if something's
trending if it's not somethingthat I really believe in in
terms of innovation. It's alwaysinteresting. But every year,
you'll go to Expo and everybodywants to know what's the trend.
Sometimes, it's been like afermented food, which is great.
But I'm always trying to bringit back to like, yes, that might
(33:07):
be a cool, interesting trend.But how does it fit into Urban
Remedy? How does it fit into ourmission, our values? And I want
to continue to be a leader, nota follower. And so not turning
into a brand that's trying tokeep up with every trend, and
because I think that's kind ofhow you just jump the boat. You
just try to be everything toeverybody. And a trend is just a
(33:31):
trend. But I believe what we'redoing is based in something
that's good for healing peopleand healing the planet. So we're
always organic, and we're alwaysworking with regenerative
organic farmers. We're stickingto those mission and values,
which are really important tome. Those are things that are
always going to be good for,like I said before, when it's
(33:51):
really good for you, and you'reeating seasonally and locally as
much as you can, it's reallygood for the planet. And so just
staying within those guard railsis really important to me.
Justine Reichman: (34:02):
Awesome. Neka, thank you so much for
joining us today. It's good tosee you. It's a great
conversation. I've learned somuch. I want to thank our
listeners for tuning in. And ifyou guys have any more
questions, shoot us a note, orleave us a note on our social,
or on YouTube, or wherever youlisten or watch your podcast.
(34:22):
But for those that are curiousabout learning more about Urban
Remedy, Neka, what's the bestway for them to dig in a little
further?
Neka Pasquale: (34:29):
You can go to urbanremedy.com, it is our
website. And we have all of ourlocations listed there under
locations. We also haveInstagram, which is just Urban
Remedy. LinkedIn, I believe isjust Urban Remedy. And we don't
have YouTube like you. I thinkwe might have a couple things on
YouTube. But anyways, ourwebsite or Instagram are
probably the best ways to learnmore about Urban Remedy.
Justine Reichman: (34:52):
Awesome. So thank you again. Don't forget,
we will throw the links in theshow notes for Neka and for
Urban Remedy, so you can dothat. And if you're not
following us or watching us onYouTube, we are at Essential
Ingredients. And if you want totune in wherever you listen to
podcasts, we're on iTunes,Spotify. IHeart Radio, at
Essential Ingredients withJustine, s thanks again for
(35:14):
tuning in. And I want to thankyou again for joining us. Thank
you. You get to expand ourfamily each week with our new
guests and our new friends thatare tuning in and joining us for
these conversations.
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