December 9, 2024 • 62 mins
How one man transformed Texas BBQ traditions—without the meat
From fast-food addict to a champion of plant-powered protein, Brett Christoffel shares his journey of health, compassion, and entrepreneurship.
Hear about his awakening to the power of plants, the birth of 'It’s Jerky, Y’all,' and how he’s disrupting the meat industry while giving back to sanctuaries like Rowdy Girl.
Perfect for anyone passionate about sustainable living, animal welfare, or simply curious about how to make a difference—one bite at a time.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hello everyone and welcome back to the Plant Powered Athlete Podcast. I'm your host Robert Cheek and I have another fantastic guest for you today.
(00:08):
Brett Christoffel is the founder and CEO of All Y'all's Foods. He's an entrepreneur. He's a friend for a long time.
In fact, we met a little bit over half a decade ago. Brett, welcome to the show. So great to have you here.
Thank you. I appreciate the opportunity to be here.
Yeah, absolutely, Brett. So let's jump right into it by just starting here. How are you doing? And feel free to give me the long version.
(00:35):
I'm doing all right. The plant-based sector continues to grow. We continue to be able to make donations to Routy Girl Sanctuary that we support.
And I'm excited about what lies ahead as far as people awakening to the concept that plants have all the protein we've ever needed.
(00:57):
And I just got blood work back after being off of meat for eight years and dairy six years. And my protein and calcium levels are right in the middle.
And my B12 is good too.
That's great to hear. So, Brett, let's talk about that awakening, that shift in mentality, focus, value system.
(01:19):
Let's talk about your vegan journey to give some people some context. We know you as this entrepreneur. You've got your vegan jerky.
I've got it with me right here. It's fantastic. It's jerky, y'all. It's my favorite brand.
I think the best brand out there from the flavor to the texture to the packaging, the whole thing to my engagement and communication with you. All fantastic.
(01:40):
My audience loves it. I distribute it all over the country. We know that. But tell us how this all started.
Take us back to your vegan journey so the rest of us get to know that.
I grew up in Dallas on a meat-centric diet, like pretty much most of us, and hunted and fished. It was just, you know, a part of life.
(02:01):
About a dozen years ago, what really started everything was I read two books.
One was Medical Miracle and the other one was The One Minute Cure.
And after reading those, I was kind of bent in that I realized that everything I thought was true and accurate around disease and cures or needed cures.
The whole shebang around health was not accurate.
(02:25):
And shortly thereafter, I had been on antidepressants for nearly a decade.
Now, understand my diet consisted of fast food two or three times a day, processed foods, meat, dairy, eggs, and diet drinks.
That was pretty much my diet. And someone pointed out to me and said, look, our brains are made up of over half fat.
And if you're not nourishing your brain, how can you expect it to form or perform properly?
(02:50):
And he said, look, he said, if you will begin incorporating, in my case, it was two tablespoons of fresh ground flax seeds every day.
He said, in six months time, you can reverse or eliminate bipolar disorder, depression, and ADD.
And I thought, OK, he's not trying to make any money off me. Let me give this a shot.
And so I started doing smoothies. Now, in those smoothies, I also put some greens and fruit and either coconut water or almond milk.
(03:16):
And in four months time, I had resolved my depression through diet alone.
And so I'm like, OK, there's really something to this. So I attended the Institute for Integrative Nutrition.
And I got my board certification as a drugless practitioner, integrative health coach.
And at the same time, because I had read a book by, now I'm going to draw a blank on his name, Matthew Kenny about raw vegan food, I was like, wait a minute.
(03:45):
What? Huh? So I opened, I had an opportunity in a friend's shop who had a 1930 soda fountain to open a raw organic vegan juice and smoothie bar.
Now, understand I still ate meat and dairy all day long. And in fact, the first time I heard a meatless Monday's, I laughed out loud.
I was driving in my car and I thought, I couldn't even think of a meatless snack. And why would you want to have a snack without meat in it?
(04:07):
You know, I mean, that's was my mindset. And so I did the smoothie. I did the smoothie bar.
It was not a big hit. And I ended up shuttering it about 10 months after it opened because it didn't make sense.
But I at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, they gave me a study buddy. And my study buddy is a woman by the name of Deanna one W.O.N.
(04:28):
Now, she's just not another person. She's a physicist. She worked on missile systems, defense systems for our government.
She's now retired colonel in the U.S. Air Force, but was so unique about her, other than being very kind, was that she was the only person I met who was in hospice care who was alive.
And I like explain that she had stage four ovarian cancer, was given four weeks to live.
(04:54):
And in two about two weeks in the pain was so great, they're about to have her morphine. And she knew that that would be her exit.
And she remembers some information her grandfather had shared with her as a child.
She's of Chinese descent about the healing properties of mushrooms.
So she began working on that along with a modified Gerson protocol, which I would say, look, if you're not familiar with the Gerson protocol, two movies dying to have known and the food cure will give you insights.
(05:19):
And she's alive today. She shows women how to heal their bodies of disease. So I'm like, okay, there's really, really something to this. So I published a book, Nutritional Truths.
And in that book, I spoke about I interviewed like nine people who would use alternative methods to heal disease.
But I pointed out to people here things to avoid disease. And here's what to do if you get a disease, if you don't want to die from today's cure, if you will, or solution or whatever you want to call it.
(05:47):
And in the book, I talked about the elephant, the gorilla and the rhino, because it had never occurred to me that you have a 10 to 15,000 pound animal full of muscle and bone and strength.
And they don't eat water burger and Chick-fil-A. They eat plants. And they're a mammal.
(06:10):
And like us, we have flat teeth to grind plants. Our jaws go back and forth to grind plants. Our carnivores are locked in place and they just have little mountain ranges in their in their mouth because they tear and swallow.
I know people think we're carnivores. It's like if you're a carnivore, you'd eat the raw meat off the bone. We cook it and flavor it with plants.
(06:32):
There's never a time that plants aren't involved. Almost always. And a smoke char and salt as well. But on a trip to the zoo, don't hate on a trip to the zoo in February of 2016, I saw a rhino.
I teared up, saw the gorilla, teared up. And then by the time we made it to the elephants was just towards the end of the visit.
(06:54):
Out of nowhere, it was like someone flipped a switch and I realized all animals are present and aware and they don't want to die.
And I know we kill a hundred thousand animals every minute of every day when all the protein we've ever needed is in plants.
And I turned to my wife and I said, I'm done eating meat. She's like, I'm okay. And so that's where my journey began. I was a pescatarian. I started pescatarian until I learned that we and growing up in Texas, Gulf shrimp is a thing.
(07:22):
They were delicious. Today, it's, you know, again, it's not a food source anymore, but I found that we waste 20 pounds. They kill off 20 pounds of other critters to get a pound of Gulf shrimp.
And just from a logical rocks or hard waters, wet standpoint, that's silly. I mean, that's just doesn't make any sense. So I stopped and then I learned more about the egg and dairy industry.
(07:46):
So in April of 18, I went vegan and I've never looked back. In 2017, I learned that beef was our second largest export next to cotton. And as a native of Texas, that bothered me.
And I said out loud to myself, are you going to bitch about it? Are you going to change it? Because you know, people like to bitch, but it doesn't change anything.
(08:08):
So I said, I'm going to do it. And I had experience with a dehydrator in the smoothie bar. And I said, I'm going to do jerky. So I wanted to do very Texas focused jerky. And that there's seven regions of Texas.
So there'll be seven flavors, each one represented in a region, which are a little bit different. And I want to support an animal sanctuary. So I looked around and there's a lot of great animal sanctuaries of all kinds in Texas.
(08:32):
But the one I found with the most cattle was Routy Girl Sanctuary, which was actually the first cattle operation in America turned into a vegan animal sanctuary.
So we donate a portion of every sale to them and had done so successfully for over six years now. And when it comes to sustainability, we use less than 10% of the land, fuel and water to produce our protein compared to beef.
(09:01):
And, you know, I did a presentation recently in Texas A&M about alternative proteins. And I said, I get that I'm not a bastion of fitness. Now I have dropped over 100 pounds. I've got a ways to go.
The thing is, is I presented people like yourself who are extremely fit and extremely full of muscle and don't eat meat because it's not true. It's not required.
(09:27):
I just wish everyone throughout America, especially those within the incoming government, would get clear on that, that, you know, it's not required. It's just not. So that's been my journey. I think I covered it all. And thanks for letting me run through all that.
Yeah, you covered a lot of ground there, Brett. And one of the things I picked up is that it's the little things. When you were talking about your health changes, making these little swaps here, making these little awakenings and mindful shifts in choices, in dietary consumption, in awareness of even the exports and the waste and all that kind of stuff.
(10:07):
You covered a lot in that background that made you create this shift. And I think that's one thing that's really important, Brett, is that some people think you have to do this complete lifestyle overhaul overnight. It's daunting. And I'm just never going to do it.
Like you said, people just want to sit back and complain and not actually take action. But these little steps, these small incremental steps, even if they're just every single day or over the course of weeks or months, can lead to massive change.
(10:39):
And now here you are as an entrepreneur creating a plant-based jerky that's in hundreds of stores, maybe more. You can tell us more about that in a moment. But I also like that there's that compassionate component, too.
You've already mentioned Rowdy Girl Sanctuary, I don't know, two, three, four times in the first opening minutes of our conversation. And I know that you go visit the farm, too. I'd love to hear about those experiences. What does it feel like to go out there with these rescued animals, knowing that you're no longer contributing to the suffering that they were going to experience in just the standard Western culture where they're seen as food?
(11:20):
No, it's a great feeling. The fact is, is here in Texas, and I live out in the country north of Dallas, a lot of people have cows. And again, it's a money source. If you feed them and water them, and then you can take them to the sale barn and make some money off of them.
And if I focus too long on it, I go to a real dark place. And so I can't. But when I'm at Rowdy Girl, and I get to go and pet on like cinnamon or feed them or, you know, all the goats and they've got chickens and ducks and the turkey, Anthony, or Antonio rather.
(11:59):
It's it's like, I'm so far removed from it because.
You know, I had it made up. I was able to block out the 1 thing I realized after I stopped eating animals was I had compartmentalized them very, very effectively.
You know, the dogs and the cats and the, the, the, the gerbils and the, and the this and that that you have as a pet you love and you care for and you protect with your life. And these over here, I would just breed them and kill them and eat them.
(12:32):
And so once again, that wall came down and my eyes were opened.
They're no longer a source, but a food at all. And so today, when I do spend time down there and I get down there probably at least twice a year, and they have a volunteer day that's going to be coming up in April.
This year, normally it's right after Valentine's Day and it's a great time to talk with people and get to visit and these are usually members that support routing girl because people can be a member for as little as like 5 or 10 dollars a month.
(13:10):
And or adopt an animal that kind of thing.
It's different because you know, that they're loved and cared for. They each have a file with a veterinarian. So it's not like, it's not like how the industry typically is where it's like, if they get 6, you put them down or sell them.
And a lot of these animals were on their way to slaughter and for various reasons.
And usually because they don't have a usefulness or there's a program in the schools where the kid raises the animal for 6 months and then goes to sell them and then they'll go to slaughter and they realize, wait a minute, I love this animal.
(13:45):
And that makes no sense to me. And so they get to go and spend their lives loved and cared for.
You know, you have to understand that, you know, they've got to herd, I think it's around 60, 70 cows there at Routing Girl.
That some of the cows were never like humanized, if you will, interacted with people. So they're skittish and they keep to themselves.
(14:10):
There's no aggressive aggressive ones.
But then there are others that are just sit there and let you love on them. And it's, it's just amazing to have these docile sentient beings that mean nobody any harm.
And it just feels good to know that we support them in, you know, caring for these animals and letting them live their full lives.
(14:36):
And I don't know, it's a great feeling. And I would highly encourage people to visit an animal sanctuary near them.
At Routing Girl, people have to get on a schedule to be able to do that, because it's not like an open thing. It's not like a zoo or anything at all like that.
But get out and connect with the animals. And you can, you can just see that there's just this almost like a piece within them.
(15:06):
I mean, you know, chickens, a little different, unless they're a house chicken, you know, they come in the house and that kind of thing.
But for the most part, all the animals, you know, they love treats too. So if I always take a case of apples, and who knows what else, and you'll make a lot of friends.
If you're sharing bits of apple with the critters, but it's, it's, it's, you know, as a kid, I really love petting zoos.
(15:34):
And so it's, in a sense, it's kind of, it's not like that at all. But in a sense, it is because you get to spend time with the animals. But at the same time, you know that they're cared for. They're never going to end up in a sale barn or hanging from a tree being killed.
Yeah, Brett, I want to ask you, you mentioned that, you know, sometimes thinking about this industrialized animal agriculture that is just all around us, you think about it too much, you go to a dark place, it's very easy for us to get sad and, and, and feel hopeless, really, in a lot of ways, just because how big this animal agriculture machine is.
(16:12):
But how would you describe, you said it's a good feeling, you know, it's rewarding perhaps, but what are some other words that come to mind as far as how it impacts you as, you know, as a compassionate individual and animal advocate?
I mean, I don't want to put words in your mouth, but a few things that come to mind is, it's kind of getting reinvigorated, you know, like rejuvenated.
(16:38):
I've been doing this, I've been vegan for 30 years now, but I feel that same thing. When I go, I've got a Love and Arms Animal Sanctuary just down the road, I go there quite a few times a year because it is so close, I can get there in half an hour.
And I get this rejuvenated feeling that, man, I'm inspired, I want to go do more, it ignites me to want to make a bigger difference, to go write my books and get that message out there.
(17:05):
What does it do for you and your business and the pride you have in your own company and brand and your ability to change people's minds about animals?
You know, the thing is, is
(17:27):
on the business side of things, there's a lot of things that can be frustrating or disappointing. Again, I trust the universe works out exactly how it's supposed to, whether I like it, understand it, agree with it, whatever.
I don't have to fight it. What I do is set intentions and go forward. For me, whenever I run into myself, if you will, around operating the business, growing the business, that kind of thing, I remember why I'm doing it.
(17:54):
Because part of me is like, okay, this has been fun, but oh my, no, and the truth is, I forget why I'm doing it sometimes because I get into my own head.
And the fact is, is whether someone just cuts out meat and dairy and eggs for a meal a day to start, we can all do our part at varying levels.
(18:15):
And for me and my business, my business life for my career is always about making money and not at the expense of anyone, but making companies stronger and better.
But it was about the money. And today it hasn't been about the money since I started. In fact, I've run into it with investors when they're like, well, what, you know, when I started, what's your exit plan?
(18:40):
And I never thought of raising money and all that other stuff because it was just like, okay, I can make it for this. I can sell for this. I can give this to Routy Girl.
And so it's, when I think of why I do it, it grounds me. And just watching some of the videos like on social media, you know, around compassion for animals and that kind of thing,
(19:08):
just again reminds me why I do this. I didn't do this to make money. If I did, I'd be extremely disappointed.
But the fact is, is I do this because one, when I first started, my focus was on educating people that, hey, you know, you can, you can have this wonderful food experience, but not involve animals.
(19:31):
Now, is the texture going to be a little bit different? Yeah. Is the flavor going to be a little bit different sometimes? But in our case, you know, we're able to nail the flavors.
And just, I explain to people when I talk to the general public or secular folk, as I call them, I go, look, it eats more like chicken.
So they understand that it's more of a tender experience. But the fact is, is my focus was on educating people.
(19:56):
And then I realized, oh, wait a minute, I need to make money. So I stopped that. But at the same time, I work on that.
And again, this isn't about shaming people or, you know, condemning people because until my eyes were open, they were closed tight.
So I remember that. And I know that what I do is important from an education standpoint, from a nourishing rather than harming standpoint for the people,
(20:22):
but I do the same thing for the animals caring instead of harming them and the planet as well.
So there's a lot of different things that I looked at. But for me, it always takes me back to this is why I'm doing this.
And just shut up. You know, I've got it easy compared to these animals that were taken down. I've got it easy.
So it always brings the thought of the animals always brings me back to the reality of what's going on in the world
(20:48):
and how important it is that people like us and others, countless others, keep spreading the message and the advantages of plants as a protein source.
I think perspective is a powerful thing. And I get that from you, Brad, that you're reflective, introspective.
You are compassionate and considerate about these things that you are doing a mission driven business, but the business has to succeed as well.
(21:20):
It needs capital. It needs investment. It needs sales. It needs customers and all. So let's let's dive into the business.
So first of all, I've known you for over five years now. All y'all's foods. It's jerky, y'all. Tell me about the name. Tell me about the name.
I don't even think I know even though I've known you for a long time. I'm not sure I even I know the story behind the name.
(21:44):
Well, the name came up with, you know, being a Texan, y'all is a thing here.
And I was trying to figure out what name I would give it. And I'm like, well, it's jerky, y'all. I'm like, done.
And so that was it was that simple. And then I have a consultant, Shelley, that I work with, who helps with the verbiage to get proper.
(22:06):
I'm not an English major, proper verbiage on packaging and so on. And she goes, have you thought of a corporate name?
And I thought, no, really, you really hadn't. She goes, well, all y'all's foods is an option.
I went, oh, so I went immediately. I went and I got the domain and then filed the paperwork with the state to do a DBA initially.
(22:28):
And so that's how that that came to be. And then I worked with a designer out of Austin.
I had spent an afternoon in Whole Foods and looked at different products, not to find something that I wanted it to look like, but aesthetics of packaging that spoke to me.
And I found three and it turns out two of them came from one designer in Austin. So I worked with her, Trina, and she gave me six options and I put them on my door.
(22:54):
And later that day, I'm like, well, this is the only one that makes sense.
So that's where the packaging came from, because I wanted to have a design that would have people pick it up.
Hey, it's Nathan Crane, founder of Plant Powered Athlete.
And I want to thank you for tuning in to the Plant Powered Athlete podcast. And as a special thank you, I want to give you a 10 percent discount code on our plant powered protein scientifically formulated, super clean, organic, high quality plant powered protein designed with health and performance and longevity in mind with three super high quality adaptogens that have been shown to help improve energy, increase focus, endurance, speed up recovery and help you get the best results.
(23:33):
So the 10 percent discount code, you can use the word podcast at checkout and you can get plant powered protein at our website at Plant Powered Athlete dot com.
Thanks again for tuning in.
I've seen it in stores, store shelves.
Obviously, I've used product a lot, distributed.
(23:54):
I even took some with me on a trip to Europe last year.
I know I've told you that I got to send you the photos in front of Bill.
Beautiful buildings in Amsterdam. I've got photos, you know, holding jerky in the photos.
If you don't mind, Brett, I would like to get into the weeds a little bit of this whole entrepreneur thing.
(24:16):
I'm I wanted to be an entrepreneur for a long time. I want to be an entrepreneur. I wasn't very good at it for 20 years.
I struggled to do it. It's not really it's not really my thing. It's just not part of my DNA, but I'm still fascinated by it.
I've been very fortunate to talk to a number of entrepreneurs on this podcast.
In fact, I would wager to bet about half of the people I've talked to are entrepreneurs because that's what you get a lot of in the plant based space,
(24:42):
whether they're fitness coaches or product formulators or company founders or
individual entrepreneurs as writers and touring speakers, like a lot of people I talk to are entrepreneurs.
And so I'd love to get into some of the nuances if you don't mind, starting with just the overview of what's the best,
(25:05):
the best part of being an entrepreneur for you and also not going to use the worst, but what's the hardest part?
What's the best and then counter that with the hardest part of being an entrepreneur?
And you could relate it to being in this space, perhaps the plant based space. I'd love to hear your perspectives here.
Yeah, no, I again, the best part for me is making a difference for humans.
(25:31):
The truth is, is it's always animals first for me.
But normally when I talk, I'm like, it's for the benefit of the humans, the animals and the planet.
But it's really the animals, humans and planet.
So that for me is the best part and maybe opening eyes, planting seeds where people can, you know,
who think like I do that would look at me like I've got two heads.
The hell you talking about, boy? This is Texas.
(25:54):
But planting the seeds of that hopefully will sprout and have them reconsider the way they think.
Because, again, when you grow up in a culture and something is normal,
there's like, why would I change this? This is normal.
So that is the best part.
Especially one of the positives is when I'm sampling with people, especially people who are, you know, very meat centric
(26:26):
and then educating them on how it is and their reaction of, wow, this is really, this is really, this is really,
how it is and their reaction of, wow, this is really good.
And let's say all lie to me. I don't think they are.
It's a very positive. It's a very positive thing.
Because, again, it's important to open eyes and heart because, you know, until I connected in my mind and then in my heart,
(26:53):
I was I was just as as oblivious as anyone else.
I would offer that the hardest part is the hardest part.
I think the hardest part is when you make a product and the ingredients are quality ingredients,
there's usually a price point in the market for what a product can sell for.
(27:19):
So when you're a company that makes products that you don't care what you're serving people,
you know, you're just putting the cheapest ingredients you can put in it.
You have the biggest margins.
And so the hardest part is having the smaller margins when it comes to retailers. It can be done.
(27:40):
The thing is, is that every you've got to feed all these mouths before people can buy it in the store.
So that's why we like to sell it through our website, through our subscription service.
And the thing is, is you've got in some cases, you've got a broker that gets a percentage,
then you've got a distributor that gets a percentage and then the grocery store retailer needs to make a percentage.
(28:05):
And again, how things work is how things work.
It's just realizing that direct to consumer is the easiest business model and most cost effective usually.
And so I would offer the hardest part is working within the confines of the industry.
(28:27):
And that's really it.
The thing is, is since I started my company and people ask, I've got no complaints.
I've got observations, but I just trust that everything is how it is.
And I work through it or work around it or work with it and just go on and do the next right thing.
(28:49):
And I just focus on that.
So, Brett, this I'm learning a lot from talking to you and talking to some other entrepreneurs and just some very recent conversations.
In fact, your name came up in a conversation with another plant based entrepreneur, which was which was fun.
David Delcourt from Grown Ass Foods, the mac and cheese.
I mentioned that he knows you or has been in touch with you and kind of inspired by your work.
(29:15):
And he was telling me some of these same things about margins are so small and everyone's got to get their percentage or their cut.
And I was just I'm just flabbergasted by this idea of getting a product to retail.
And I was just like, how that is how that works, like how it's sustainable, because you've got all of these hoops to jump through, oftentimes free fills in the shelf space and paying for shelf space and discounts for certain retailers, maybe significant discounts.
(29:49):
You've got spend and then you've got you like you said you've got brokers or you've got sales reps or you've got shipping costs, manufacturing costs, warehouse fees, other people involved who are employees, people who run operations.
Man, this, this is intimidating. Just for me to even hear myself summarize.
(30:12):
How do you make it work? You mentioned direct to consumer, of course, subscription stuff, the higher margins and I encourage everyone listening to please support that method.
And by ordering directly, directly from all y'all's foods from the website, it's jerky y'all, look online.
I do the same. I order from your website. I also order on on Amazon sometimes.
(30:33):
But how do you, Brett, how do you make it work and how do you stay optimistic, you always come across as you trust the process you trust the universe you're optimistic your mission oriented here, you're enthusiastic.
But I imagine it gets tough out there. What keeps you going.
Well, what keeps me going is what I'm up to and belief in what I'm up to and the fact is is along the way. And I won't go into all these stories that I could share.
(31:03):
But the I always ask the universe God universe by use the terms interchangeably.
I always ask for direction, and time and time again.
I wake up with answers to questions I didn't ask, and I take action. I've run into situations where I'm like, well, how's this going to happen or where this needs to change or what and solutions come and it just happens.
(31:32):
So I would I would offer someone who wants to get into the space start small, you know, we've got cottage laws here in Texas and probably have in every state where you can produce stuff and go down to the market and sell, you have to be in person you can't put a UPC sticker on our label on it.
If you're making it at home unless you're you know, even move into a commercial kitchen, you can do that. So it'd be start small. But for me, it is I'm out on the tiny branches because I'm so far in from a financial standpoint that I just keep trusting that things will continue to work.
(32:07):
And we'll get in front of a larger audience because we haven't looked since we started we've done no ad spend on social or Google. We do do a bit of a spend on on Amazon, though we've dialed that back.
And again, you know I bootstrapped it so far. And so you have to have the resources to put behind it to keep going. The thing is, is what we focus on is what plays make the most sense.
(32:36):
And we've turned down opportunities to be in stores and people ask us, are you in here yet? Are you in? Look, there's so many companies have gotten into all those stores. They're gone.
Right.
Because if you're a big company, you've got big dollars, you can do these as a marketing play. In other words, you can go into these stores that everyone really likes and sell it even though you're losing a little money or maybe you're coming close to break even.
(32:58):
I haven't been in a position to do that, nor have I wanted to. Now, as we grow, that may make sense. It may not. And it doesn't have to look a certain way to me. I just want to enact best practices.
One of the things that I've been told helps me be successful is the fact that I don't have all the answers. I don't have a need to be right. And I'm open to other ideas.
(33:21):
And again, all I want to do is enact best practices because all I want to do is do more good again for the animals, for the animals, the people and the planet.
And so the failure is not an option.
It never has been and it continues to not be. And I don't know what the success will look like other than being an international brand.
(33:45):
And I'm just excited about what lies ahead.
Well, that's interesting, Brett. It appears to me that it takes some sort of level of self-awareness and humility to not jump at those opportunities to be in those stores.
And I hate to say it, but I've been in this space for a long time. I'm a consumer. I was out at a big popular natural grocery store yesterday shopping, a different one the day before.
(34:13):
I'm referring to Sprout to natural grocers. I've got Whole Foods down the road. I don't know which ones you're referring to.
But Brett, one thing I do see fairly often is that there are some plant-based brands, maybe some smaller brands. They break in to hundreds of these stores, maybe nationwide.
But after a number of months, they're gone. They're off the shelves. They've just been completely removed because there wasn't the customer support or they couldn't meet those requirements to continue to stay on those shelves, whether that's paying the fees or just the competitive nature of it.
(34:47):
And then I go and I shop at these stores. That's where I shop. I shop at Sprout's, at natural grocers, occasionally at Whole Foods Market, some Kroger stores, Trader Joe's, that kind of thing.
And I'll see discontinued or clearance. I'm like, oh, man. And I don't look at it as a consumer like, oh, man, I got a great deal. Man, I could get that thing for 75% off now. Let's stock up.
(35:09):
My heart sinks a little bit like, oh, man, I wish that was going to stay on the shelf. And the fact that it's being clearance or discontinued is maybe a bad sign for that product.
But I appreciate the position that you're taking where you have opportunities to go in these big, popular, beautiful stores that reach a certain demographic.
(35:30):
But you're saying that may not be the best interest for the health of the company. And so I want to commend you on just taking that perspective and holding that position and knowing what's best for your brand.
I want to ask you, Brett, how you would rank these things I wrote down, just listening to our conversation over the past half hour.
(35:55):
If you were to your objective with your business, these three things. Seek out solutions. So solutions to reduce an animal suffering perhaps. Combat that by replacing something that's a more compassionate product.
Determining what will sell to an audience, number two. And education, which you've mentioned numerous times today. How do you rank those as far as the effort that you put in or the vision or the focus or the resources?
(36:27):
Seeking solutions, determining what's going to sell or education.
The bottom line is in the CPG space is what's going to sell. Because if you can't sell it, there's not, in other words, there's not a demand or desire for it.
It's never going to play. It's just not. And so for me, and what brings that up for me is in the state of Texas, we have a grocery chain that's in Texas and Mexico only called HEB.
(36:57):
Started in 1906 by Mrs. Butts with $60 in a prayer, they say. And now it is the single largest private employer in the state of Texas.
And they have upwards of, I think they're getting close to 375 stores, something like that, in Texas and Mexico.
(37:18):
And they have a quest for Texas Best Contest every year. So in 2019, I entered it. And if you're one of the 20 finalists, then that means they want you in the store and then the finalists compete for money and that sort of thing and fame, whatever.
So I was one of the 20 finalists, which I was like just beyond delighted.
(37:40):
Then I competed for money and to come in first. And I did come in first plant based protein. I was the only plant based protein, but I did come in first.
The thing is, out of the 20 people, I came in sixth. Okay.
830 people had entered that year.
So I was like, okay, I'm in the beef capital of America. I have an alternative protein that replaces beef. And I came in sixth out of 830 people.
(38:12):
And I went, this is a fit. And so that's where my assurance came from.
That, okay, this is going to play. And we're in about 53, 55 of their stores. I keep opening them in the Dallas area.
They're a great employer and very good culture. And so that's what really helped me realize this is where, you know, okay, this is supposed to happen.
(38:41):
Now, when I first launched, the weekend I launched was at a street festival in Grapevine, Texas.
And the folks, Rachel, who owns Farmers Market at Grapevine came by and said, we want you in our store.
And so I got my first retailer at that time. And so we just continued to piecemeal and grow. So I would offer that is, I would offer the,
(39:10):
so there's a confirmation of viability of the product. And then, you know, the education piece, I went through the skew program, which is a big CPG, the first CPG accelerator down in Austin.
I learned a great deal. I didn't learn everything I needed to learn, but I learned so much. A lot of kind people there.
And so I'm also a member of the Plant-Based Foods Association. I'm connected with the Good Foods Institute and now the reduced tarian folks.
(39:42):
So I'm learning from all of these. They put on different classes and I'll even go into things I think I know because I'm like, there might be something new for me here.
So it's about realizing I don't have all the answers, even if sometimes I think I do. I'll always be open to learning more.
And what was the third one? Forgive me, Robert. Seeking solutions. What will sell? You covered what will sell and you covered education.
(40:10):
And well, you covered a little bit of seeking out solutions. You're replacing a beef product with your story of HEB.
So the curiosity was, and I think you answered it well, is that where you kind of rank those in this hierarchy, and you mentioned that you got to sell products.
Like things have to sell. And with that comes education. With that comes the seeking solutions and all of that.
(40:38):
I was just curious what that was for your particular brand because some brands are different. Some brands are, you know, they focus on a, well, I think we all do.
There's a problem here. We need to provide a solution. But sometimes there's others that are just focused on selling only.
You know, there's no problem. I've heard you in another podcast mention that with soda, for example.
(41:01):
There's not really, I guess, thirst is a thing that we all have, but water is free and that handles that pretty well.
But soda is something that just makes a lot of money. It just makes money, makes money, makes money. It doesn't really make the world a better place.
And some people are education focused, but then they can't, you know, the products don't sell. And then maybe, unfortunately, maybe that company goes under.
(41:26):
So that was a good summary of kind of what it takes to keep going.
You mentioned, Brett, that you've got some, I don't know if you use the word exciting, but I'm going to.
You know, you've got some things you're looking forward to and all that. So I want to ask you what excites you the most right now?
(41:49):
Like what gets you going with your company, with the brand, with the state of the plant based movement or projects that you know about that we don't yet that gets you excited?
I would offer, you know, excites me is we've got to, you know, our bacon bits.
We came out with those in July of 2020 and they toggle most days for number one meatless bacon on Amazon.
(42:11):
And we're taking those along with the new cheesy bit. It's like the bacon bit.
And I'll make sure you get some. And we're taking those into food service.
The food service, there's a lot of initiatives, schools and universities, as well as just the regular, you know, consumer sector of more demand for plant based options.
(42:35):
And so I would offer the, you know, the new product we've got coming out next month, as well as new flavors that we're developing that will be coming out.
And, you know, in the image here, if you're only listening to this, you won't know this, but Luna the Longhorn is our mascot now.
And she's got a great story and we're going to be getting her more involved in our space. She's all about kindness and compassion.
(43:01):
Like that was shown for her, for her to be able to just live out her days peacefully like the animals get to at Rite of Yerull.
And so I would say more people being open to plant based options is exciting.
I think there's a growing awareness or awakening, whatever you want to call it, of humans to realize that maybe all these things that they thought they knew all this time maybe aren't always accurate.
(43:32):
You know, again, if it's in our culture, it seems normal. But, you know, there are things in the past that were normal at one time that would, you know, we're like, what the heck?
You know, and so I would offer that, you know, that's exciting that more people are going to become aware of the opportunities that are in plants.
And, you know, when you take, when you take animals out of the equation, there's so many resources, they get freed up by doing that.
(44:00):
And so I guess I'm most excited about that. And, you know, eventually we're going to grow. We're going to be in Canada. We'll be in the UK. We'll be in Asia. We'll be all around the world.
And that is really exciting. But I don't spend too much time there. I mean, I do, but I really don't because, you know, the goals I've put together are enormous.
(44:22):
And again, we're just here to delight and nourish consumers, you know, look after the animals, leave them be, and take, be better stewards, if you will, of the earth.
So that's all exciting to me.
And even if the future is bright, I also appreciate that approach of spending time in the present, you know, and building what we're building here in the US market, what you're doing in Texas, and more direct to consumer and getting more people to support and word of mouth and all of that.
(44:54):
And the future is going to be there. You know, the future success is going to be there, the international distribution, all that kind of stuff.
In fact, I met one of your friends when I was up in Canada, who works with you, a supporter of yours or part of your board or something like that.
I remember he was, that's one of the first things he, he mentioned when he when he saw me that we had this mutual connection with you.
Brett, I meant to ask you a few moments ago, so we're a little bit delayed on that. But for those that are listening who have no idea what CPG is, can you explain that? You've used it.
(45:24):
Yeah, because we know, but for those who don't CPG stands for consumer packaged goods. So that's anything you buy you use so that goes from food to beverage to makeup to condoms.
It's things that you buy and you use and you rebuy.
So that's what a CPG is. And the other CPG in our movement of course is calling Patrick Goodrow.
(45:45):
He's the author of about seven vegan books, we know and love. But yeah, I just wanted that CPG explanation for those that may not know.
That is exciting about the cheesy bits. I think I was driving to New Mexico on my way to Albuquerque and had a phone call from you and you were telling me about that a few months ago.
(46:06):
So that's great to hear about that progress. And I also like that you talked about questioning the status quo in this.
The heart of what your business is, when you mentioned your mascot a moment ago and just questioning authority or questioning narratives, questioning the things that we know about food and about health and what we eat and why.
(46:34):
And the more we learn about lobbyists and government subsidies and large scale animal agriculture and behind the closed doors and more about the industry and what it takes to be on the shelves in stores and how just a handful of companies control almost every category.
What is it like three companies control all cereals? Three, I don't know, companies control all the meat. There's just a few companies that control all cleaning products.
(47:01):
It's just very consolidated these days and to fight. We talked about that the struggle to have shelf space when you mentioned it, another entrepreneur mentioned it too recently where if you're a big company, you can just take a risk with a new flavor, a new product.
Just throw it out there, plaster it all over the store, big end caps, aisle displays, discounts, just throw in money away at it and see if it works.
(47:24):
And then we realized that nobody wants Pepsi clear and it goes away or whatever it is. So I want to know how we can support your company, your brand. We're going to get that in a moment.
But I want to ask you something else, Brett. What would you be doing if you weren't doing this?
I have no idea. I didn't know when I got into this. I didn't know what I was going to do next. I looked at some different options of alternative working with alternative groups that help people heal.
(48:02):
But when I read that about our second largest export being beef, it just went, I know I'm going to do this. And I was in a position to do something. And so I did.
And again, it wasn't planned out. You talk to the people who've known me for decades and they're like, you do what? Huh? You're what? You're vegan? What?
(48:28):
Again, I didn't expect to be here, but I'm grateful to be here. And I just want to be as useful as I can and do as much good as I possibly can before I'm gone.
Brett, what's it like being a vegan entrepreneur in the heart of Texas?
It's wonderful. It's wonderful. There's no place I'd rather be. There's some other beautiful states for sure. But this is where I'm supposed to be.
(48:54):
And again, people are typically more open than people think because people don't come up against me. They just don't.
And I don't know if it's because I'm not, I don't know. Maybe it's my personality. Maybe it's because I'm taller than them. I don't know.
(49:17):
It's just people are, you know, there are people who want nothing to do with it. We don't want to try it. Don't just keep walking.
But everyone else is just like, you know, tell me more. So that's where I just try to plant seeds. And when people confront me, it happens online, more so than in person, as I just try to give answers.
(49:38):
You know, I don't take shit personally. I just want people to know the truth and then what they do with that, it's their business. But at the same time, educate as I can. And I'm right where I'm supposed to be.
I agree with you, Brett, that Texas is a beautiful place. I lived in Austin. It's one of my favorite places I have ever lived and I've lived in incredible places. I've lived in London, England briefly in Santa Monica, California and Victoria, British Columbia and Orlando, Florida and Phoenix, Arizona, Salt Lake City.
(50:14):
Obviously I move a lot. But Austin was one of my favorite places that I have ever lived. And from there I would visit Dallas, I would visit Houston, San Antonio, you know, Western Texas. It's a long drive.
But being from Oregon, I would make that trip sometimes. I think Texas is a wonderful place and I'm glad that you're out there spreading the vegan message really in the heart of cattle country and changing hearts and minds and also very importantly changing menus and meal plans as well.
(50:45):
And what people put in their grocery cart, their grocery basket, and what they check out with when they go to the store or online. And I also appreciate your mentality of remembering why you're doing it. And this is an animal's first approach, which is near and dear to my heart.
I grew up on a farm, I raised animals, I became vegan for the animals back in the late 1900s before the internet. And I'm still reminded of that all the time. I was just home, literally a week ago back at the farm I grew up on in Oregon and there's a bunch of cows out in the field with ear tags and I just kind of walk by and say I'm sorry.
(51:27):
My brother runs that farming operation. He's a pretty big time cattle farmer out there in Western Oregon. And it's tough, it's tough to look at those animals, the baby calves or the cows or there's other animals too but just to know what their future is like is very likely going to be like and
(51:49):
knowing that you know I wasn't able to influence certain members of my family and that's just, that's part of our family and that's disheartening but it also, that's where I go get those ideas to go write more books and get those distributed all over the world and change other
parts and minds and, and menus and meal plans throughout the globe, even if close to home it's it's difficult for me to do that so I appreciate your mentality as well.
(52:20):
Check in the time here Brett we've got a few minutes left I thought we'd jump into some lightning round questions if that works. Oh yes.
Yeah, these can be. Yeah, so these can be brief answers, a few words, you need, you know, 30 seconds or whatever. We'll just go down the list here.
All right. Brett, what do you, what are you grateful for.
(52:43):
My life.
My wife, my dog.
The fact that I can speak, I can see I can hear the list goes on and on.
Attitude will take you out of crap and funk all day long.
And attitude of gratitude is the only way to live.
(53:04):
Yeah, that's well said.
What are you most looking forward to 2025
growing the brand donating more to route a girl sanctuary and introducing more people to the fact that plants are an excellent source of protein.
Brett, who are your role models.
(53:28):
role models.
Wow.
My role model.
I will I will say, okay.
Okay, now I got it. I was like, roll my I've never you know going oh.
(53:51):
And Michael Singer, Akutoli wrote the power of now if you want to change your world and change your mindset and live more free.
Read that book. Now I introduce people to Michael Singer.
The untethered soul is his big book.
It's cleaner. It's easier than the power of now.
But both of them will take you to places you've never been. If you're not familiar with the books.
(54:15):
And so I would say those two are it for me.
Thank you for sharing that I'll have to look into those.
Brett, how do you view the state of the plant based food industry today.
It's adjusting.
I would offer, you know, we always have those who don't sell plants working against us when it comes to influencers when it comes to people in the medical profession when it comes to marketing when it comes to
(54:44):
studies that aren't influenced. Come on.
So I would I would say that, you know, we need a broccoli coalition with billions of dollars.
You know, again, people the Internet has allowed people to see the truth.
Because, you know, if people just watch TV and trusted what they saw on TV, they wouldn't know all the truths.
(55:08):
So I'm now as I sit here, I'm like, what was the original question?
The fact is, is I think I answered it. Sorry.
And Brett, what innovations would you like to see in the future in the plant based food industry?
I'd like a really good Swiss cheese.
(55:30):
The fact is, is I've had some products that mimic meat perfectly and I'm like, what kind of witchcraft are they using? I think here's the thing because everything on the animal side is subsidized.
Our government subsidized tobacco for 48 years after it was discovered. It was dangerous. So no surprise.
As as the volumes continue to increase, the costs will go down. So I would like to see more nutritious versions of meat replacements.
(56:05):
And I trust that they'll continue to come because, you know, fermentation and all these other processes that are coming in will continue to make those possible with reducing costs.
Yeah, those do seem to be really, really popular now. Precision fermentation. I just saw another company, I think the Better Meat Company, raised millions more dollars or got approval for the next steps.
(56:29):
And, you know, they've been doing precision fermentation for years. I just saw some news just briefly. I just came across my news feed that Paul Shapiro shared.
But there's a lot of innovation there. So I'm excited about that future as well. And including the innovation in vegan cheeses and all of that. I think that's exciting.
Considering you wrote a book 10 years ago or so on some aspects of health and we started this conversation with health and you talked about this, I think, organic raw juice bar that you opened.
(56:59):
What are you concerned with regarding the global health of our citizens at the current state that we're in right now?
The global? I would just say that, you know, I know that what we put in us is important. What we put on us is important. Our movement is important. The way we think is important.
(57:21):
And I'd like the world to know that it's not genetics. Most people think when it comes to disease it's genetics because grandma had it or uncle Ed had it or whatever. It's not. It's repeated behavior.
Six to eight percent of the time, depending on what study you look at, do genetics have a damn thing to do with it? It's repeated behaviors driving repeated results.
And I just would like, you know, globally people know that and be able to choose what works for them.
(57:46):
That is a great quote. That's a great sound bite. I really like that. That repeated behavior, repeated results.
We spin our wheels all the time or we have repeated behavior that just works and we get great results and great success and great happiness, development and achievement and all of these different things.
You know, you had, you said, a hundred pound weight loss already and all kinds of transformations that are possible. And we see that so much in the plant based world, which is exciting.
(58:14):
Brett, just a couple more questions because I want to honor the time that we've got today and get you out of here on time.
One, how can we best support your company? I'm going to hold it up again. You know, all y'all's foods. It's jerky, y'all. There's lots of different flavors. I love it.
How can we as listeners and consumers best support you and your mission and help keep you going strong?
(58:40):
Follow us on social media, you know, on Instagram, we're on YouTube, Facebook. I think we're even on TikTok. Just kidding.
You know, so follow us on social. Go to our website, allyall'sfoods.com. Feel free to purchase or subscribe monthly.
We have a compassion corral, which is a monthly subscription. So if you get a six pack or 12 pack every month, you can earn discounts or points towards a discount just by doing good deeds.
(59:13):
So there's, there's a, that would be the best way. We're also on Amazon and about 375 stores from New York to LA.
But through our website and by supporting us on social commenting, sharing that kind of thing would be great.
Yeah, and I absolutely encourage you, all the listeners. You've been tuned into this podcast for months now.
(59:36):
Brad is a great guy, very mission oriented, super nice guy, as you can tell from today's conversation. And he's out there trying to make a difference in the world, including the fact that he's mentioned Rowdy Girl Sanctuary over and over that that's one of the core missions is to keep supporting them and putting resources into their pockets.
They can pay for veterinary care, if the house, more rescued animals to give those animals, another shot at life where we all have this shared goal to live a life free of fear, pain and suffering regardless of species and I know Rhino and elephant and gorilla and other animals that
(01:00:13):
inspired you to create some sort of compassionate change in your life and now you've created this product where we can now purchase it, consume it, enjoy it, my friends love it, I love it, my audience loves it.
It's, it's convenient, it's tasty and it's high in protein. So for plant powered athlete audience, all y'all's foods, it's jerky y'all is perfect for you so go please order online.
(01:00:37):
All right. I've just got one last question for you. And again, thank you so much for your time today and sharing wisdom and, and all that certainly appreciate you so much but Brett I gotta ask you, if there was a movie made about your life, who would play you.
That's a funny question.
(01:00:59):
I have no idea.
Honestly, I have no idea. I don't know no one comes to this actor, Ryan Reynolds, there you go.
No idea.
It could be.
It could be someone who is a someone in the in the vegan movement it could be someone who's a friend or family member. The idea is just getting you thinking who would best tell your story, who would best represent you and your value system and the life you've lived.
(01:01:35):
If you weren't able to play your own role in the movie but someone else was going to tell your story. Who would you want that person to be. So it doesn't have to be a famous actor.
It could be, but yeah, I don't I know no one comes to mind. Okay, you have the starring role that you are going to play. Yeah, you're going to play Brett Christophel in the movie about your life well, Brett.
(01:02:02):
Any any closing words you'd like to share with our audience today.
Just be kind to yourself, be kind to others, be kind to the animals and enjoy your day. It's a, it's your choice.
That's a beautiful way to finish and I want to thank you all so much for tuning in. I want to thank my wonderful guest today Brett Christophel from all y'all's foods and it's jerky y'all, and you've been listening to the Plant Powered Athlete podcast.
(01:02:30):
I've been Robert Cheek, my wonderful guest Brett Christophel. Thank you so much Brett and I hope you have the best day ever.
Thank you. All right, take care everyone. We'll see you next time.
Hello everyone and welcome back to the Plant Powered Athlete Podcast. I'm your host Robert Cheek and I have another fantastic guest for you today.
(00:08):
Brett Christoffel is the founder and CEO of All Y'all's Foods. He's an entrepreneur. He's a friend for a long time.
In fact, we met a little bit over half a decade ago. Brett, welcome to the show. So great to have you here.
Thank you. I appreciate the opportunity to be here.
Yeah, absolutely, Brett. So let's jump right into it by just starting here. How are you doing? And feel free to give me the long version.
(00:35):
I'm doing all right. The plant-based sector continues to grow. We continue to be able to make donations to Routy Girl Sanctuary that we support.
And I'm excited about what lies ahead as far as people awakening to the concept that plants have all the protein we've ever needed.
(00:57):
And I just got blood work back after being off of meat for eight years and dairy six years. And my protein and calcium levels are right in the middle.
And my B12 is good too.
That's great to hear. So, Brett, let's talk about that awakening, that shift in mentality, focus, value system.
(01:19):
Let's talk about your vegan journey to give some people some context. We know you as this entrepreneur. You've got your vegan jerky.
I've got it with me right here. It's fantastic. It's jerky, y'all. It's my favorite brand.
I think the best brand out there from the flavor to the texture to the packaging, the whole thing to my engagement and communication with you. All fantastic.
(01:40):
My audience loves it. I distribute it all over the country. We know that. But tell us how this all started.
Take us back to your vegan journey so the rest of us get to know that.
I grew up in Dallas on a meat-centric diet, like pretty much most of us, and hunted and fished. It was just, you know, a part of life.
(02:01):
About a dozen years ago, what really started everything was I read two books.
One was Medical Miracle and the other one was The One Minute Cure.
And after reading those, I was kind of bent in that I realized that everything I thought was true and accurate around disease and cures or needed cures.
The whole shebang around health was not accurate.
(02:25):
And shortly thereafter, I had been on antidepressants for nearly a decade.
Now, understand my diet consisted of fast food two or three times a day, processed foods, meat, dairy, eggs, and diet drinks.
That was pretty much my diet. And someone pointed out to me and said, look, our brains are made up of over half fat.
And if you're not nourishing your brain, how can you expect it to form or perform properly?
(02:50):
And he said, look, he said, if you will begin incorporating, in my case, it was two tablespoons of fresh ground flax seeds every day.
He said, in six months time, you can reverse or eliminate bipolar disorder, depression, and ADD.
And I thought, OK, he's not trying to make any money off me. Let me give this a shot.
And so I started doing smoothies. Now, in those smoothies, I also put some greens and fruit and either coconut water or almond milk.
(03:16):
And in four months time, I had resolved my depression through diet alone.
And so I'm like, OK, there's really something to this. So I attended the Institute for Integrative Nutrition.
And I got my board certification as a drugless practitioner, integrative health coach.
And at the same time, because I had read a book by, now I'm going to draw a blank on his name, Matthew Kenny about raw vegan food, I was like, wait a minute.
(03:45):
What? Huh? So I opened, I had an opportunity in a friend's shop who had a 1930 soda fountain to open a raw organic vegan juice and smoothie bar.
Now, understand I still ate meat and dairy all day long. And in fact, the first time I heard a meatless Monday's, I laughed out loud.
I was driving in my car and I thought, I couldn't even think of a meatless snack. And why would you want to have a snack without meat in it?
(04:07):
You know, I mean, that's was my mindset. And so I did the smoothie. I did the smoothie bar.
It was not a big hit. And I ended up shuttering it about 10 months after it opened because it didn't make sense.
But I at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, they gave me a study buddy. And my study buddy is a woman by the name of Deanna one W.O.N.
(04:28):
Now, she's just not another person. She's a physicist. She worked on missile systems, defense systems for our government.
She's now retired colonel in the U.S. Air Force, but was so unique about her, other than being very kind, was that she was the only person I met who was in hospice care who was alive.
And I like explain that she had stage four ovarian cancer, was given four weeks to live.
(04:54):
And in two about two weeks in the pain was so great, they're about to have her morphine. And she knew that that would be her exit.
And she remembers some information her grandfather had shared with her as a child.
She's of Chinese descent about the healing properties of mushrooms.
So she began working on that along with a modified Gerson protocol, which I would say, look, if you're not familiar with the Gerson protocol, two movies dying to have known and the food cure will give you insights.
(05:19):
And she's alive today. She shows women how to heal their bodies of disease. So I'm like, okay, there's really, really something to this. So I published a book, Nutritional Truths.
And in that book, I spoke about I interviewed like nine people who would use alternative methods to heal disease.
But I pointed out to people here things to avoid disease. And here's what to do if you get a disease, if you don't want to die from today's cure, if you will, or solution or whatever you want to call it.
(05:47):
And in the book, I talked about the elephant, the gorilla and the rhino, because it had never occurred to me that you have a 10 to 15,000 pound animal full of muscle and bone and strength.
And they don't eat water burger and Chick-fil-A. They eat plants. And they're a mammal.
(06:10):
And like us, we have flat teeth to grind plants. Our jaws go back and forth to grind plants. Our carnivores are locked in place and they just have little mountain ranges in their in their mouth because they tear and swallow.
I know people think we're carnivores. It's like if you're a carnivore, you'd eat the raw meat off the bone. We cook it and flavor it with plants.
(06:32):
There's never a time that plants aren't involved. Almost always. And a smoke char and salt as well. But on a trip to the zoo, don't hate on a trip to the zoo in February of 2016, I saw a rhino.
I teared up, saw the gorilla, teared up. And then by the time we made it to the elephants was just towards the end of the visit.
(06:54):
Out of nowhere, it was like someone flipped a switch and I realized all animals are present and aware and they don't want to die.
And I know we kill a hundred thousand animals every minute of every day when all the protein we've ever needed is in plants.
And I turned to my wife and I said, I'm done eating meat. She's like, I'm okay. And so that's where my journey began. I was a pescatarian. I started pescatarian until I learned that we and growing up in Texas, Gulf shrimp is a thing.
(07:22):
They were delicious. Today, it's, you know, again, it's not a food source anymore, but I found that we waste 20 pounds. They kill off 20 pounds of other critters to get a pound of Gulf shrimp.
And just from a logical rocks or hard waters, wet standpoint, that's silly. I mean, that's just doesn't make any sense. So I stopped and then I learned more about the egg and dairy industry.
(07:46):
So in April of 18, I went vegan and I've never looked back. In 2017, I learned that beef was our second largest export next to cotton. And as a native of Texas, that bothered me.
And I said out loud to myself, are you going to bitch about it? Are you going to change it? Because you know, people like to bitch, but it doesn't change anything.
(08:08):
So I said, I'm going to do it. And I had experience with a dehydrator in the smoothie bar. And I said, I'm going to do jerky. So I wanted to do very Texas focused jerky. And that there's seven regions of Texas.
So there'll be seven flavors, each one represented in a region, which are a little bit different. And I want to support an animal sanctuary. So I looked around and there's a lot of great animal sanctuaries of all kinds in Texas.
(08:32):
But the one I found with the most cattle was Routy Girl Sanctuary, which was actually the first cattle operation in America turned into a vegan animal sanctuary.
So we donate a portion of every sale to them and had done so successfully for over six years now. And when it comes to sustainability, we use less than 10% of the land, fuel and water to produce our protein compared to beef.
(09:01):
And, you know, I did a presentation recently in Texas A&M about alternative proteins. And I said, I get that I'm not a bastion of fitness. Now I have dropped over 100 pounds. I've got a ways to go.
The thing is, is I presented people like yourself who are extremely fit and extremely full of muscle and don't eat meat because it's not true. It's not required.
(09:27):
I just wish everyone throughout America, especially those within the incoming government, would get clear on that, that, you know, it's not required. It's just not. So that's been my journey. I think I covered it all. And thanks for letting me run through all that.
Yeah, you covered a lot of ground there, Brett. And one of the things I picked up is that it's the little things. When you were talking about your health changes, making these little swaps here, making these little awakenings and mindful shifts in choices, in dietary consumption, in awareness of even the exports and the waste and all that kind of stuff.
(10:07):
You covered a lot in that background that made you create this shift. And I think that's one thing that's really important, Brett, is that some people think you have to do this complete lifestyle overhaul overnight. It's daunting. And I'm just never going to do it.
Like you said, people just want to sit back and complain and not actually take action. But these little steps, these small incremental steps, even if they're just every single day or over the course of weeks or months, can lead to massive change.
(10:39):
And now here you are as an entrepreneur creating a plant-based jerky that's in hundreds of stores, maybe more. You can tell us more about that in a moment. But I also like that there's that compassionate component, too.
You've already mentioned Rowdy Girl Sanctuary, I don't know, two, three, four times in the first opening minutes of our conversation. And I know that you go visit the farm, too. I'd love to hear about those experiences. What does it feel like to go out there with these rescued animals, knowing that you're no longer contributing to the suffering that they were going to experience in just the standard Western culture where they're seen as food?
(11:20):
No, it's a great feeling. The fact is, is here in Texas, and I live out in the country north of Dallas, a lot of people have cows. And again, it's a money source. If you feed them and water them, and then you can take them to the sale barn and make some money off of them.
And if I focus too long on it, I go to a real dark place. And so I can't. But when I'm at Rowdy Girl, and I get to go and pet on like cinnamon or feed them or, you know, all the goats and they've got chickens and ducks and the turkey, Anthony, or Antonio rather.
(11:59):
It's it's like, I'm so far removed from it because.
You know, I had it made up. I was able to block out the 1 thing I realized after I stopped eating animals was I had compartmentalized them very, very effectively.
You know, the dogs and the cats and the, the, the, the gerbils and the, and the this and that that you have as a pet you love and you care for and you protect with your life. And these over here, I would just breed them and kill them and eat them.
(12:32):
And so once again, that wall came down and my eyes were opened.
They're no longer a source, but a food at all. And so today, when I do spend time down there and I get down there probably at least twice a year, and they have a volunteer day that's going to be coming up in April.
This year, normally it's right after Valentine's Day and it's a great time to talk with people and get to visit and these are usually members that support routing girl because people can be a member for as little as like 5 or 10 dollars a month.
(13:10):
And or adopt an animal that kind of thing.
It's different because you know, that they're loved and cared for. They each have a file with a veterinarian. So it's not like, it's not like how the industry typically is where it's like, if they get 6, you put them down or sell them.
And a lot of these animals were on their way to slaughter and for various reasons.
And usually because they don't have a usefulness or there's a program in the schools where the kid raises the animal for 6 months and then goes to sell them and then they'll go to slaughter and they realize, wait a minute, I love this animal.
(13:45):
And that makes no sense to me. And so they get to go and spend their lives loved and cared for.
You know, you have to understand that, you know, they've got to herd, I think it's around 60, 70 cows there at Routing Girl.
That some of the cows were never like humanized, if you will, interacted with people. So they're skittish and they keep to themselves.
(14:10):
There's no aggressive aggressive ones.
But then there are others that are just sit there and let you love on them. And it's, it's just amazing to have these docile sentient beings that mean nobody any harm.
And it just feels good to know that we support them in, you know, caring for these animals and letting them live their full lives.
(14:36):
And I don't know, it's a great feeling. And I would highly encourage people to visit an animal sanctuary near them.
At Routing Girl, people have to get on a schedule to be able to do that, because it's not like an open thing. It's not like a zoo or anything at all like that.
But get out and connect with the animals. And you can, you can just see that there's just this almost like a piece within them.
(15:06):
I mean, you know, chickens, a little different, unless they're a house chicken, you know, they come in the house and that kind of thing.
But for the most part, all the animals, you know, they love treats too. So if I always take a case of apples, and who knows what else, and you'll make a lot of friends.
If you're sharing bits of apple with the critters, but it's, it's, it's, you know, as a kid, I really love petting zoos.
(15:34):
And so it's, in a sense, it's kind of, it's not like that at all. But in a sense, it is because you get to spend time with the animals. But at the same time, you know that they're cared for. They're never going to end up in a sale barn or hanging from a tree being killed.
Yeah, Brett, I want to ask you, you mentioned that, you know, sometimes thinking about this industrialized animal agriculture that is just all around us, you think about it too much, you go to a dark place, it's very easy for us to get sad and, and, and feel hopeless, really, in a lot of ways, just because how big this animal agriculture machine is.
(16:12):
But how would you describe, you said it's a good feeling, you know, it's rewarding perhaps, but what are some other words that come to mind as far as how it impacts you as, you know, as a compassionate individual and animal advocate?
I mean, I don't want to put words in your mouth, but a few things that come to mind is, it's kind of getting reinvigorated, you know, like rejuvenated.
(16:38):
I've been doing this, I've been vegan for 30 years now, but I feel that same thing. When I go, I've got a Love and Arms Animal Sanctuary just down the road, I go there quite a few times a year because it is so close, I can get there in half an hour.
And I get this rejuvenated feeling that, man, I'm inspired, I want to go do more, it ignites me to want to make a bigger difference, to go write my books and get that message out there.
(17:05):
What does it do for you and your business and the pride you have in your own company and brand and your ability to change people's minds about animals?
You know, the thing is, is
(17:27):
on the business side of things, there's a lot of things that can be frustrating or disappointing. Again, I trust the universe works out exactly how it's supposed to, whether I like it, understand it, agree with it, whatever.
I don't have to fight it. What I do is set intentions and go forward. For me, whenever I run into myself, if you will, around operating the business, growing the business, that kind of thing, I remember why I'm doing it.
(17:54):
Because part of me is like, okay, this has been fun, but oh my, no, and the truth is, I forget why I'm doing it sometimes because I get into my own head.
And the fact is, is whether someone just cuts out meat and dairy and eggs for a meal a day to start, we can all do our part at varying levels.
(18:15):
And for me and my business, my business life for my career is always about making money and not at the expense of anyone, but making companies stronger and better.
But it was about the money. And today it hasn't been about the money since I started. In fact, I've run into it with investors when they're like, well, what, you know, when I started, what's your exit plan?
(18:40):
And I never thought of raising money and all that other stuff because it was just like, okay, I can make it for this. I can sell for this. I can give this to Routy Girl.
And so it's, when I think of why I do it, it grounds me. And just watching some of the videos like on social media, you know, around compassion for animals and that kind of thing,
(19:08):
just again reminds me why I do this. I didn't do this to make money. If I did, I'd be extremely disappointed.
But the fact is, is I do this because one, when I first started, my focus was on educating people that, hey, you know, you can, you can have this wonderful food experience, but not involve animals.
(19:31):
Now, is the texture going to be a little bit different? Yeah. Is the flavor going to be a little bit different sometimes? But in our case, you know, we're able to nail the flavors.
And just, I explain to people when I talk to the general public or secular folk, as I call them, I go, look, it eats more like chicken.
So they understand that it's more of a tender experience. But the fact is, is my focus was on educating people.
(19:56):
And then I realized, oh, wait a minute, I need to make money. So I stopped that. But at the same time, I work on that.
And again, this isn't about shaming people or, you know, condemning people because until my eyes were open, they were closed tight.
So I remember that. And I know that what I do is important from an education standpoint, from a nourishing rather than harming standpoint for the people,
(20:22):
but I do the same thing for the animals caring instead of harming them and the planet as well.
So there's a lot of different things that I looked at. But for me, it always takes me back to this is why I'm doing this.
And just shut up. You know, I've got it easy compared to these animals that were taken down. I've got it easy.
So it always brings the thought of the animals always brings me back to the reality of what's going on in the world
(20:48):
and how important it is that people like us and others, countless others, keep spreading the message and the advantages of plants as a protein source.
I think perspective is a powerful thing. And I get that from you, Brad, that you're reflective, introspective.
You are compassionate and considerate about these things that you are doing a mission driven business, but the business has to succeed as well.
(21:20):
It needs capital. It needs investment. It needs sales. It needs customers and all. So let's let's dive into the business.
So first of all, I've known you for over five years now. All y'all's foods. It's jerky, y'all. Tell me about the name. Tell me about the name.
I don't even think I know even though I've known you for a long time. I'm not sure I even I know the story behind the name.
(21:44):
Well, the name came up with, you know, being a Texan, y'all is a thing here.
And I was trying to figure out what name I would give it. And I'm like, well, it's jerky, y'all. I'm like, done.
And so that was it was that simple. And then I have a consultant, Shelley, that I work with, who helps with the verbiage to get proper.
(22:06):
I'm not an English major, proper verbiage on packaging and so on. And she goes, have you thought of a corporate name?
And I thought, no, really, you really hadn't. She goes, well, all y'all's foods is an option.
I went, oh, so I went immediately. I went and I got the domain and then filed the paperwork with the state to do a DBA initially.
(22:28):
And so that's how that that came to be. And then I worked with a designer out of Austin.
I had spent an afternoon in Whole Foods and looked at different products, not to find something that I wanted it to look like, but aesthetics of packaging that spoke to me.
And I found three and it turns out two of them came from one designer in Austin. So I worked with her, Trina, and she gave me six options and I put them on my door.
(22:54):
And later that day, I'm like, well, this is the only one that makes sense.
So that's where the packaging came from, because I wanted to have a design that would have people pick it up.
Hey, it's Nathan Crane, founder of Plant Powered Athlete.
And I want to thank you for tuning in to the Plant Powered Athlete podcast. And as a special thank you, I want to give you a 10 percent discount code on our plant powered protein scientifically formulated, super clean, organic, high quality plant powered protein designed with health and performance and longevity in mind with three super high quality adaptogens that have been shown to help improve energy, increase focus, endurance, speed up recovery and help you get the best results.
(23:33):
So the 10 percent discount code, you can use the word podcast at checkout and you can get plant powered protein at our website at Plant Powered Athlete dot com.
Thanks again for tuning in.
I've seen it in stores, store shelves.
Obviously, I've used product a lot, distributed.
(23:54):
I even took some with me on a trip to Europe last year.
I know I've told you that I got to send you the photos in front of Bill.
Beautiful buildings in Amsterdam. I've got photos, you know, holding jerky in the photos.
If you don't mind, Brett, I would like to get into the weeds a little bit of this whole entrepreneur thing.
(24:16):
I'm I wanted to be an entrepreneur for a long time. I want to be an entrepreneur. I wasn't very good at it for 20 years.
I struggled to do it. It's not really it's not really my thing. It's just not part of my DNA, but I'm still fascinated by it.
I've been very fortunate to talk to a number of entrepreneurs on this podcast.
In fact, I would wager to bet about half of the people I've talked to are entrepreneurs because that's what you get a lot of in the plant based space,
(24:42):
whether they're fitness coaches or product formulators or company founders or
individual entrepreneurs as writers and touring speakers, like a lot of people I talk to are entrepreneurs.
And so I'd love to get into some of the nuances if you don't mind, starting with just the overview of what's the best,
(25:05):
the best part of being an entrepreneur for you and also not going to use the worst, but what's the hardest part?
What's the best and then counter that with the hardest part of being an entrepreneur?
And you could relate it to being in this space, perhaps the plant based space. I'd love to hear your perspectives here.
Yeah, no, I again, the best part for me is making a difference for humans.
(25:31):
The truth is, is it's always animals first for me.
But normally when I talk, I'm like, it's for the benefit of the humans, the animals and the planet.
But it's really the animals, humans and planet.
So that for me is the best part and maybe opening eyes, planting seeds where people can, you know,
who think like I do that would look at me like I've got two heads.
The hell you talking about, boy? This is Texas.
(25:54):
But planting the seeds of that hopefully will sprout and have them reconsider the way they think.
Because, again, when you grow up in a culture and something is normal,
there's like, why would I change this? This is normal.
So that is the best part.
Especially one of the positives is when I'm sampling with people, especially people who are, you know, very meat centric
(26:26):
and then educating them on how it is and their reaction of, wow, this is really, this is really, this is really,
how it is and their reaction of, wow, this is really good.
And let's say all lie to me. I don't think they are.
It's a very positive. It's a very positive thing.
Because, again, it's important to open eyes and heart because, you know, until I connected in my mind and then in my heart,
(26:53):
I was I was just as as oblivious as anyone else.
I would offer that the hardest part is the hardest part.
I think the hardest part is when you make a product and the ingredients are quality ingredients,
there's usually a price point in the market for what a product can sell for.
(27:19):
So when you're a company that makes products that you don't care what you're serving people,
you know, you're just putting the cheapest ingredients you can put in it.
You have the biggest margins.
And so the hardest part is having the smaller margins when it comes to retailers. It can be done.
(27:40):
The thing is, is that every you've got to feed all these mouths before people can buy it in the store.
So that's why we like to sell it through our website, through our subscription service.
And the thing is, is you've got in some cases, you've got a broker that gets a percentage,
then you've got a distributor that gets a percentage and then the grocery store retailer needs to make a percentage.
(28:05):
And again, how things work is how things work.
It's just realizing that direct to consumer is the easiest business model and most cost effective usually.
And so I would offer the hardest part is working within the confines of the industry.
(28:27):
And that's really it.
The thing is, is since I started my company and people ask, I've got no complaints.
I've got observations, but I just trust that everything is how it is.
And I work through it or work around it or work with it and just go on and do the next right thing.
(28:49):
And I just focus on that.
So, Brett, this I'm learning a lot from talking to you and talking to some other entrepreneurs and just some very recent conversations.
In fact, your name came up in a conversation with another plant based entrepreneur, which was which was fun.
David Delcourt from Grown Ass Foods, the mac and cheese.
I mentioned that he knows you or has been in touch with you and kind of inspired by your work.
(29:15):
And he was telling me some of these same things about margins are so small and everyone's got to get their percentage or their cut.
And I was just I'm just flabbergasted by this idea of getting a product to retail.
And I was just like, how that is how that works, like how it's sustainable, because you've got all of these hoops to jump through, oftentimes free fills in the shelf space and paying for shelf space and discounts for certain retailers, maybe significant discounts.
(29:49):
You've got spend and then you've got you like you said you've got brokers or you've got sales reps or you've got shipping costs, manufacturing costs, warehouse fees, other people involved who are employees, people who run operations.
Man, this, this is intimidating. Just for me to even hear myself summarize.
(30:12):
How do you make it work? You mentioned direct to consumer, of course, subscription stuff, the higher margins and I encourage everyone listening to please support that method.
And by ordering directly, directly from all y'all's foods from the website, it's jerky y'all, look online.
I do the same. I order from your website. I also order on on Amazon sometimes.
(30:33):
But how do you, Brett, how do you make it work and how do you stay optimistic, you always come across as you trust the process you trust the universe you're optimistic your mission oriented here, you're enthusiastic.
But I imagine it gets tough out there. What keeps you going.
Well, what keeps me going is what I'm up to and belief in what I'm up to and the fact is is along the way. And I won't go into all these stories that I could share.
(31:03):
But the I always ask the universe God universe by use the terms interchangeably.
I always ask for direction, and time and time again.
I wake up with answers to questions I didn't ask, and I take action. I've run into situations where I'm like, well, how's this going to happen or where this needs to change or what and solutions come and it just happens.
(31:32):
So I would I would offer someone who wants to get into the space start small, you know, we've got cottage laws here in Texas and probably have in every state where you can produce stuff and go down to the market and sell, you have to be in person you can't put a UPC sticker on our label on it.
If you're making it at home unless you're you know, even move into a commercial kitchen, you can do that. So it'd be start small. But for me, it is I'm out on the tiny branches because I'm so far in from a financial standpoint that I just keep trusting that things will continue to work.
(32:07):
And we'll get in front of a larger audience because we haven't looked since we started we've done no ad spend on social or Google. We do do a bit of a spend on on Amazon, though we've dialed that back.
And again, you know I bootstrapped it so far. And so you have to have the resources to put behind it to keep going. The thing is, is what we focus on is what plays make the most sense.
(32:36):
And we've turned down opportunities to be in stores and people ask us, are you in here yet? Are you in? Look, there's so many companies have gotten into all those stores. They're gone.
Right.
Because if you're a big company, you've got big dollars, you can do these as a marketing play. In other words, you can go into these stores that everyone really likes and sell it even though you're losing a little money or maybe you're coming close to break even.
(32:58):
I haven't been in a position to do that, nor have I wanted to. Now, as we grow, that may make sense. It may not. And it doesn't have to look a certain way to me. I just want to enact best practices.
One of the things that I've been told helps me be successful is the fact that I don't have all the answers. I don't have a need to be right. And I'm open to other ideas.
(33:21):
And again, all I want to do is enact best practices because all I want to do is do more good again for the animals, for the animals, the people and the planet.
And so the failure is not an option.
It never has been and it continues to not be. And I don't know what the success will look like other than being an international brand.
(33:45):
And I'm just excited about what lies ahead.
Well, that's interesting, Brett. It appears to me that it takes some sort of level of self-awareness and humility to not jump at those opportunities to be in those stores.
And I hate to say it, but I've been in this space for a long time. I'm a consumer. I was out at a big popular natural grocery store yesterday shopping, a different one the day before.
(34:13):
I'm referring to Sprout to natural grocers. I've got Whole Foods down the road. I don't know which ones you're referring to.
But Brett, one thing I do see fairly often is that there are some plant-based brands, maybe some smaller brands. They break in to hundreds of these stores, maybe nationwide.
But after a number of months, they're gone. They're off the shelves. They've just been completely removed because there wasn't the customer support or they couldn't meet those requirements to continue to stay on those shelves, whether that's paying the fees or just the competitive nature of it.
(34:47):
And then I go and I shop at these stores. That's where I shop. I shop at Sprout's, at natural grocers, occasionally at Whole Foods Market, some Kroger stores, Trader Joe's, that kind of thing.
And I'll see discontinued or clearance. I'm like, oh, man. And I don't look at it as a consumer like, oh, man, I got a great deal. Man, I could get that thing for 75% off now. Let's stock up.
(35:09):
My heart sinks a little bit like, oh, man, I wish that was going to stay on the shelf. And the fact that it's being clearance or discontinued is maybe a bad sign for that product.
But I appreciate the position that you're taking where you have opportunities to go in these big, popular, beautiful stores that reach a certain demographic.
(35:30):
But you're saying that may not be the best interest for the health of the company. And so I want to commend you on just taking that perspective and holding that position and knowing what's best for your brand.
I want to ask you, Brett, how you would rank these things I wrote down, just listening to our conversation over the past half hour.
(35:55):
If you were to your objective with your business, these three things. Seek out solutions. So solutions to reduce an animal suffering perhaps. Combat that by replacing something that's a more compassionate product.
Determining what will sell to an audience, number two. And education, which you've mentioned numerous times today. How do you rank those as far as the effort that you put in or the vision or the focus or the resources?
(36:27):
Seeking solutions, determining what's going to sell or education.
The bottom line is in the CPG space is what's going to sell. Because if you can't sell it, there's not, in other words, there's not a demand or desire for it.
It's never going to play. It's just not. And so for me, and what brings that up for me is in the state of Texas, we have a grocery chain that's in Texas and Mexico only called HEB.
(36:57):
Started in 1906 by Mrs. Butts with $60 in a prayer, they say. And now it is the single largest private employer in the state of Texas.
And they have upwards of, I think they're getting close to 375 stores, something like that, in Texas and Mexico.
(37:18):
And they have a quest for Texas Best Contest every year. So in 2019, I entered it. And if you're one of the 20 finalists, then that means they want you in the store and then the finalists compete for money and that sort of thing and fame, whatever.
So I was one of the 20 finalists, which I was like just beyond delighted.
(37:40):
Then I competed for money and to come in first. And I did come in first plant based protein. I was the only plant based protein, but I did come in first.
The thing is, out of the 20 people, I came in sixth. Okay.
830 people had entered that year.
So I was like, okay, I'm in the beef capital of America. I have an alternative protein that replaces beef. And I came in sixth out of 830 people.
(38:12):
And I went, this is a fit. And so that's where my assurance came from.
That, okay, this is going to play. And we're in about 53, 55 of their stores. I keep opening them in the Dallas area.
They're a great employer and very good culture. And so that's what really helped me realize this is where, you know, okay, this is supposed to happen.
(38:41):
Now, when I first launched, the weekend I launched was at a street festival in Grapevine, Texas.
And the folks, Rachel, who owns Farmers Market at Grapevine came by and said, we want you in our store.
And so I got my first retailer at that time. And so we just continued to piecemeal and grow. So I would offer that is, I would offer the,
(39:10):
so there's a confirmation of viability of the product. And then, you know, the education piece, I went through the skew program, which is a big CPG, the first CPG accelerator down in Austin.
I learned a great deal. I didn't learn everything I needed to learn, but I learned so much. A lot of kind people there.
And so I'm also a member of the Plant-Based Foods Association. I'm connected with the Good Foods Institute and now the reduced tarian folks.
(39:42):
So I'm learning from all of these. They put on different classes and I'll even go into things I think I know because I'm like, there might be something new for me here.
So it's about realizing I don't have all the answers, even if sometimes I think I do. I'll always be open to learning more.
And what was the third one? Forgive me, Robert. Seeking solutions. What will sell? You covered what will sell and you covered education.
(40:10):
And well, you covered a little bit of seeking out solutions. You're replacing a beef product with your story of HEB.
So the curiosity was, and I think you answered it well, is that where you kind of rank those in this hierarchy, and you mentioned that you got to sell products.
Like things have to sell. And with that comes education. With that comes the seeking solutions and all of that.
(40:38):
I was just curious what that was for your particular brand because some brands are different. Some brands are, you know, they focus on a, well, I think we all do.
There's a problem here. We need to provide a solution. But sometimes there's others that are just focused on selling only.
You know, there's no problem. I've heard you in another podcast mention that with soda, for example.
(41:01):
There's not really, I guess, thirst is a thing that we all have, but water is free and that handles that pretty well.
But soda is something that just makes a lot of money. It just makes money, makes money, makes money. It doesn't really make the world a better place.
And some people are education focused, but then they can't, you know, the products don't sell. And then maybe, unfortunately, maybe that company goes under.
(41:26):
So that was a good summary of kind of what it takes to keep going.
You mentioned, Brett, that you've got some, I don't know if you use the word exciting, but I'm going to.
You know, you've got some things you're looking forward to and all that. So I want to ask you what excites you the most right now?
(41:49):
Like what gets you going with your company, with the brand, with the state of the plant based movement or projects that you know about that we don't yet that gets you excited?
I would offer, you know, excites me is we've got to, you know, our bacon bits.
We came out with those in July of 2020 and they toggle most days for number one meatless bacon on Amazon.
(42:11):
And we're taking those along with the new cheesy bit. It's like the bacon bit.
And I'll make sure you get some. And we're taking those into food service.
The food service, there's a lot of initiatives, schools and universities, as well as just the regular, you know, consumer sector of more demand for plant based options.
(42:35):
And so I would offer the, you know, the new product we've got coming out next month, as well as new flavors that we're developing that will be coming out.
And, you know, in the image here, if you're only listening to this, you won't know this, but Luna the Longhorn is our mascot now.
And she's got a great story and we're going to be getting her more involved in our space. She's all about kindness and compassion.
(43:01):
Like that was shown for her, for her to be able to just live out her days peacefully like the animals get to at Rite of Yerull.
And so I would say more people being open to plant based options is exciting.
I think there's a growing awareness or awakening, whatever you want to call it, of humans to realize that maybe all these things that they thought they knew all this time maybe aren't always accurate.
(43:32):
You know, again, if it's in our culture, it seems normal. But, you know, there are things in the past that were normal at one time that would, you know, we're like, what the heck?
You know, and so I would offer that, you know, that's exciting that more people are going to become aware of the opportunities that are in plants.
And, you know, when you take, when you take animals out of the equation, there's so many resources, they get freed up by doing that.
(44:00):
And so I guess I'm most excited about that. And, you know, eventually we're going to grow. We're going to be in Canada. We'll be in the UK. We'll be in Asia. We'll be all around the world.
And that is really exciting. But I don't spend too much time there. I mean, I do, but I really don't because, you know, the goals I've put together are enormous.
(44:22):
And again, we're just here to delight and nourish consumers, you know, look after the animals, leave them be, and take, be better stewards, if you will, of the earth.
So that's all exciting to me.
And even if the future is bright, I also appreciate that approach of spending time in the present, you know, and building what we're building here in the US market, what you're doing in Texas, and more direct to consumer and getting more people to support and word of mouth and all of that.
(44:54):
And the future is going to be there. You know, the future success is going to be there, the international distribution, all that kind of stuff.
In fact, I met one of your friends when I was up in Canada, who works with you, a supporter of yours or part of your board or something like that.
I remember he was, that's one of the first things he, he mentioned when he when he saw me that we had this mutual connection with you.
Brett, I meant to ask you a few moments ago, so we're a little bit delayed on that. But for those that are listening who have no idea what CPG is, can you explain that? You've used it.
(45:24):
Yeah, because we know, but for those who don't CPG stands for consumer packaged goods. So that's anything you buy you use so that goes from food to beverage to makeup to condoms.
It's things that you buy and you use and you rebuy.
So that's what a CPG is. And the other CPG in our movement of course is calling Patrick Goodrow.
(45:45):
He's the author of about seven vegan books, we know and love. But yeah, I just wanted that CPG explanation for those that may not know.
That is exciting about the cheesy bits. I think I was driving to New Mexico on my way to Albuquerque and had a phone call from you and you were telling me about that a few months ago.
(46:06):
So that's great to hear about that progress. And I also like that you talked about questioning the status quo in this.
The heart of what your business is, when you mentioned your mascot a moment ago and just questioning authority or questioning narratives, questioning the things that we know about food and about health and what we eat and why.
(46:34):
And the more we learn about lobbyists and government subsidies and large scale animal agriculture and behind the closed doors and more about the industry and what it takes to be on the shelves in stores and how just a handful of companies control almost every category.
What is it like three companies control all cereals? Three, I don't know, companies control all the meat. There's just a few companies that control all cleaning products.
(47:01):
It's just very consolidated these days and to fight. We talked about that the struggle to have shelf space when you mentioned it, another entrepreneur mentioned it too recently where if you're a big company, you can just take a risk with a new flavor, a new product.
Just throw it out there, plaster it all over the store, big end caps, aisle displays, discounts, just throw in money away at it and see if it works.
(47:24):
And then we realized that nobody wants Pepsi clear and it goes away or whatever it is. So I want to know how we can support your company, your brand. We're going to get that in a moment.
But I want to ask you something else, Brett. What would you be doing if you weren't doing this?
I have no idea. I didn't know when I got into this. I didn't know what I was going to do next. I looked at some different options of alternative working with alternative groups that help people heal.
(48:02):
But when I read that about our second largest export being beef, it just went, I know I'm going to do this. And I was in a position to do something. And so I did.
And again, it wasn't planned out. You talk to the people who've known me for decades and they're like, you do what? Huh? You're what? You're vegan? What?
(48:28):
Again, I didn't expect to be here, but I'm grateful to be here. And I just want to be as useful as I can and do as much good as I possibly can before I'm gone.
Brett, what's it like being a vegan entrepreneur in the heart of Texas?
It's wonderful. It's wonderful. There's no place I'd rather be. There's some other beautiful states for sure. But this is where I'm supposed to be.
(48:54):
And again, people are typically more open than people think because people don't come up against me. They just don't.
And I don't know if it's because I'm not, I don't know. Maybe it's my personality. Maybe it's because I'm taller than them. I don't know.
(49:17):
It's just people are, you know, there are people who want nothing to do with it. We don't want to try it. Don't just keep walking.
But everyone else is just like, you know, tell me more. So that's where I just try to plant seeds. And when people confront me, it happens online, more so than in person, as I just try to give answers.
(49:38):
You know, I don't take shit personally. I just want people to know the truth and then what they do with that, it's their business. But at the same time, educate as I can. And I'm right where I'm supposed to be.
I agree with you, Brett, that Texas is a beautiful place. I lived in Austin. It's one of my favorite places I have ever lived and I've lived in incredible places. I've lived in London, England briefly in Santa Monica, California and Victoria, British Columbia and Orlando, Florida and Phoenix, Arizona, Salt Lake City.
(50:14):
Obviously I move a lot. But Austin was one of my favorite places that I have ever lived. And from there I would visit Dallas, I would visit Houston, San Antonio, you know, Western Texas. It's a long drive.
But being from Oregon, I would make that trip sometimes. I think Texas is a wonderful place and I'm glad that you're out there spreading the vegan message really in the heart of cattle country and changing hearts and minds and also very importantly changing menus and meal plans as well.
(50:45):
And what people put in their grocery cart, their grocery basket, and what they check out with when they go to the store or online. And I also appreciate your mentality of remembering why you're doing it. And this is an animal's first approach, which is near and dear to my heart.
I grew up on a farm, I raised animals, I became vegan for the animals back in the late 1900s before the internet. And I'm still reminded of that all the time. I was just home, literally a week ago back at the farm I grew up on in Oregon and there's a bunch of cows out in the field with ear tags and I just kind of walk by and say I'm sorry.
(51:27):
My brother runs that farming operation. He's a pretty big time cattle farmer out there in Western Oregon. And it's tough, it's tough to look at those animals, the baby calves or the cows or there's other animals too but just to know what their future is like is very likely going to be like and
(51:49):
knowing that you know I wasn't able to influence certain members of my family and that's just, that's part of our family and that's disheartening but it also, that's where I go get those ideas to go write more books and get those distributed all over the world and change other
parts and minds and, and menus and meal plans throughout the globe, even if close to home it's it's difficult for me to do that so I appreciate your mentality as well.
(52:20):
Check in the time here Brett we've got a few minutes left I thought we'd jump into some lightning round questions if that works. Oh yes.
Yeah, these can be. Yeah, so these can be brief answers, a few words, you need, you know, 30 seconds or whatever. We'll just go down the list here.
All right. Brett, what do you, what are you grateful for.
(52:43):
My life.
My wife, my dog.
The fact that I can speak, I can see I can hear the list goes on and on.
Attitude will take you out of crap and funk all day long.
And attitude of gratitude is the only way to live.
(53:04):
Yeah, that's well said.
What are you most looking forward to 2025
growing the brand donating more to route a girl sanctuary and introducing more people to the fact that plants are an excellent source of protein.
Brett, who are your role models.
(53:28):
role models.
Wow.
My role model.
I will I will say, okay.
Okay, now I got it. I was like, roll my I've never you know going oh.
(53:51):
And Michael Singer, Akutoli wrote the power of now if you want to change your world and change your mindset and live more free.
Read that book. Now I introduce people to Michael Singer.
The untethered soul is his big book.
It's cleaner. It's easier than the power of now.
But both of them will take you to places you've never been. If you're not familiar with the books.
(54:15):
And so I would say those two are it for me.
Thank you for sharing that I'll have to look into those.
Brett, how do you view the state of the plant based food industry today.
It's adjusting.
I would offer, you know, we always have those who don't sell plants working against us when it comes to influencers when it comes to people in the medical profession when it comes to marketing when it comes to
(54:44):
studies that aren't influenced. Come on.
So I would I would say that, you know, we need a broccoli coalition with billions of dollars.
You know, again, people the Internet has allowed people to see the truth.
Because, you know, if people just watch TV and trusted what they saw on TV, they wouldn't know all the truths.
(55:08):
So I'm now as I sit here, I'm like, what was the original question?
The fact is, is I think I answered it. Sorry.
And Brett, what innovations would you like to see in the future in the plant based food industry?
I'd like a really good Swiss cheese.
(55:30):
The fact is, is I've had some products that mimic meat perfectly and I'm like, what kind of witchcraft are they using? I think here's the thing because everything on the animal side is subsidized.
Our government subsidized tobacco for 48 years after it was discovered. It was dangerous. So no surprise.
As as the volumes continue to increase, the costs will go down. So I would like to see more nutritious versions of meat replacements.
(56:05):
And I trust that they'll continue to come because, you know, fermentation and all these other processes that are coming in will continue to make those possible with reducing costs.
Yeah, those do seem to be really, really popular now. Precision fermentation. I just saw another company, I think the Better Meat Company, raised millions more dollars or got approval for the next steps.
(56:29):
And, you know, they've been doing precision fermentation for years. I just saw some news just briefly. I just came across my news feed that Paul Shapiro shared.
But there's a lot of innovation there. So I'm excited about that future as well. And including the innovation in vegan cheeses and all of that. I think that's exciting.
Considering you wrote a book 10 years ago or so on some aspects of health and we started this conversation with health and you talked about this, I think, organic raw juice bar that you opened.
(56:59):
What are you concerned with regarding the global health of our citizens at the current state that we're in right now?
The global? I would just say that, you know, I know that what we put in us is important. What we put on us is important. Our movement is important. The way we think is important.
(57:21):
And I'd like the world to know that it's not genetics. Most people think when it comes to disease it's genetics because grandma had it or uncle Ed had it or whatever. It's not. It's repeated behavior.
Six to eight percent of the time, depending on what study you look at, do genetics have a damn thing to do with it? It's repeated behaviors driving repeated results.
And I just would like, you know, globally people know that and be able to choose what works for them.
(57:46):
That is a great quote. That's a great sound bite. I really like that. That repeated behavior, repeated results.
We spin our wheels all the time or we have repeated behavior that just works and we get great results and great success and great happiness, development and achievement and all of these different things.
You know, you had, you said, a hundred pound weight loss already and all kinds of transformations that are possible. And we see that so much in the plant based world, which is exciting.
(58:14):
Brett, just a couple more questions because I want to honor the time that we've got today and get you out of here on time.
One, how can we best support your company? I'm going to hold it up again. You know, all y'all's foods. It's jerky, y'all. There's lots of different flavors. I love it.
How can we as listeners and consumers best support you and your mission and help keep you going strong?
(58:40):
Follow us on social media, you know, on Instagram, we're on YouTube, Facebook. I think we're even on TikTok. Just kidding.
You know, so follow us on social. Go to our website, allyall'sfoods.com. Feel free to purchase or subscribe monthly.
We have a compassion corral, which is a monthly subscription. So if you get a six pack or 12 pack every month, you can earn discounts or points towards a discount just by doing good deeds.
(59:13):
So there's, there's a, that would be the best way. We're also on Amazon and about 375 stores from New York to LA.
But through our website and by supporting us on social commenting, sharing that kind of thing would be great.
Yeah, and I absolutely encourage you, all the listeners. You've been tuned into this podcast for months now.
(59:36):
Brad is a great guy, very mission oriented, super nice guy, as you can tell from today's conversation. And he's out there trying to make a difference in the world, including the fact that he's mentioned Rowdy Girl Sanctuary over and over that that's one of the core missions is to keep supporting them and putting resources into their pockets.
They can pay for veterinary care, if the house, more rescued animals to give those animals, another shot at life where we all have this shared goal to live a life free of fear, pain and suffering regardless of species and I know Rhino and elephant and gorilla and other animals that
(01:00:13):
inspired you to create some sort of compassionate change in your life and now you've created this product where we can now purchase it, consume it, enjoy it, my friends love it, I love it, my audience loves it.
It's, it's convenient, it's tasty and it's high in protein. So for plant powered athlete audience, all y'all's foods, it's jerky y'all is perfect for you so go please order online.
(01:00:37):
All right. I've just got one last question for you. And again, thank you so much for your time today and sharing wisdom and, and all that certainly appreciate you so much but Brett I gotta ask you, if there was a movie made about your life, who would play you.
That's a funny question.
(01:00:59):
I have no idea.
Honestly, I have no idea. I don't know no one comes to this actor, Ryan Reynolds, there you go.
No idea.
It could be.
It could be someone who is a someone in the in the vegan movement it could be someone who's a friend or family member. The idea is just getting you thinking who would best tell your story, who would best represent you and your value system and the life you've lived.
(01:01:35):
If you weren't able to play your own role in the movie but someone else was going to tell your story. Who would you want that person to be. So it doesn't have to be a famous actor.
It could be, but yeah, I don't I know no one comes to mind. Okay, you have the starring role that you are going to play. Yeah, you're going to play Brett Christophel in the movie about your life well, Brett.
(01:02:02):
Any any closing words you'd like to share with our audience today.
Just be kind to yourself, be kind to others, be kind to the animals and enjoy your day. It's a, it's your choice.
That's a beautiful way to finish and I want to thank you all so much for tuning in. I want to thank my wonderful guest today Brett Christophel from all y'all's foods and it's jerky y'all, and you've been listening to the Plant Powered Athlete podcast.
(01:02:30):
I've been Robert Cheek, my wonderful guest Brett Christophel. Thank you so much Brett and I hope you have the best day ever.
Thank you. All right, take care everyone. We'll see you next time.
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