Policy, Politics and the Natural Products Industry – Colorado Gov. Jared Polis on Compass Coffee Talk, Nov. 16, 11:30 am EST

Policy, Politics and the Natural Products Industry – Colorado Governor Jared Polis on the Next Episode of Compass Coffee Talk, Nov. 16, 2022, 11:30 am EST

October 4, 2022

Leading podcast Compass Coffee Talk on Wednesday, November 16, 2022, 11:30 am Eastern Standard Time, welcomes Colorado Governor Jared Polis, a longtime advocate for organic and regenerative food and agriculture, for a discussion of his and the state’s support for entrepreneurship, the natural products industry and sustainable business.

What: Compass Coffee Talk™️
When: Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022, 8:30 am PST; 9:30 am MST; 10:30 am CST; 11:30 am EST
Where: ZOOM, Admission Is Free
Presented by: Compass Natural, Connecting Media and Markets in Natural and Organic Products
Sponsored By: INFRA, Presence Marketing, Naturally Boulder, Naturally New York and Naturally San Diego

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Colorado Governor Jared Polis

About Governor Jared Polis
Prior to being elected Governor in 2018, Jared Polis began his career as an entrepreneur. While still in college, he co-founded American Information Systems, an internet access provider that was sold in 1998. In 1996, he co-founded one of the first Internet greeting card websites, bluemountain.com, which was sold in 1999 for $780 million in cash and stock.

As a public servant, Jared has brought a unique business perspective to his role as a policymaker. Before beginning his term in 2019 as the state’s 43rd governor, Polis launched and ran several successful companies, founded schools for at-risk students and new immigrants, served from 2001 to 2007 on the State Board of Education; he also served five terms in the U.S. House of Representatives for Colorado’s 2nd Congressional District from 2009 to 2019. As governor, Polis has been a practical leader guiding the state through the pandemic. He is a dedicated advocate for the state’s economy, communities and environment, and is a strong proponent of the state’s burgeoning natural products industry, the cannabis and hemp industry, and climate-resilient, regenerative agriculture.

Governor Polis has appeared and spoken at a number of conferences and events focused on natural and organic products business, including for Naturally Boulder, and he has been featured as a keynote speaker at the annual NoCo Hemp Expo. He has long been a supporter of hemp, announcing in summer 2021, upon implementation of the state hemp plan, that “Colorado is the undisputed leader in the cannabis industry, and our hemp plan is a model for the country.”

Polis further noted: “Hemp is a versatile crop, an economic engine that supports jobs and our agriculture industry. We look forward to seeing how hemp can be further developed for fuel, food, and other uses while being a source of revenue for family farms.”

Just recently, the state’s Department of Agriculture awarded over $600,000 in hemp processing grants to several Colorado hemp businesses in an effort to further support and innovate the fast-growing sector.

Governor Polis is also leading the way in his support for renewable energy adoption and water conservation throughout Colorado. He has set a goal of 100% renewable energy for the state by the year 2040. Polis is focused on electrifying cars, buses and trucks for cleaner air and better public health, as well as on reducing greenhouse gas emissions from a top polluting sector. Colorado has already taken steps to move to electric public vehicles. 

In August, Polis signed House Bill 22-1301, which will use hydroponic indoor farming for controlled environment growing year-round in Colorado, using less water than traditional agriculture. Governor Polis said upon signing the bill that he had seen the future of agriculture and “it’s a more sustainable future, which it has to be when we’re having these tough discussions about the Colorado River Compact and the changing nature of water in the West.”

“We are particularly excited about hosting Governor Polis on Compass Coffee Talk. It’s our final episode of the 2022 season, and we’re grateful for the support of such distinguished guests as Governor Polis, our sponsors, and our viewers and listeners,” said Steven Hoffman, Managing Director of Compass Natural and co-host of Compass Coffee Talk. Hoffman also served on Governor Polis’ Inaugural Planning Committee in December 2018, helping to select candidates for cabinet-level positions. 

Register Here for Compass Coffee Talk with Governor Jared Polis
Register here to participate in the upcoming Compass Coffee Talk, Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022, 11:30 am – Noon EST.

About Compass Coffee Talk™️
Compass Coffee Talk™ features lively interactive conversations with industry leaders and experts designed to help guide entrepreneurs and businesses of all sizes to succeed in the marketplace. Hosted by natural and organic products industry veterans Bill Capsalis and Steven Hoffman, Compass Coffee Talk is produced by Compass Natural Marketing, a leading public relations, branding, and business development agency serving the natural and organic products industry.

Previous Episodes of Compass Coffee Talk
View the entire library of Compass Coffee Talk episodes on YouTube. Co-hosted by natural products industry veterans Steven Hoffman and Bill Capsalis, Compass Coffee Talk has featured notable professionals such as John Mackey, CEO and Co-Founder, Whole Foods Market; Miyoko Schinner, CEO and Founder, Miyoko’s Kitchen; John Foraker, CEO of Once Upon a Farm; Emerald-Jane Hunter, Founder of the MyWhy Agency; Heather Terry, CEO of GoodSAM; Milton Zimmerman, Executive Vice President, Presence Marketing; and more.

Once Upon a Farm: Q&A With John Foraker

Once Upon a Farm: Q&A With John Foraker

By Steven Hoffman

John Foraker, CEO and co-founder of organic baby food company Once Upon a Farm, and former CEO of Annie's Inc., has been building national organic brands since the mid-1990s. An accessible business leader, he has served as an advisor to numerous emerging brands, and remains one of the industry's top advocates for organic. John recently shared his views during a Q&A session on business, organics, entrepreneurship, and today's market climate on the popular podcast Compass Coffee Talk, produced by Compass Natural and sponsored by Presence Marketing. Read on to learn more about John’s thoughts on today’s natural and organic products marketplace, how his company is navigating today’s economic climate, and how his perspectives can help your business.

Q:  What inspired you to get involved in the organic food industry?
Before getting involved in natural and organic foods, I was a banker and worked about seven years in commercial corporate lending in the wine industry. I became super interested in brands as a result of that work, and I wanted to transition out of banking. So I went to a business school in Berkeley. While there, I got involved in a food startup between first and second year, and that's kind of where my attachment to food came. I come from an agricultural community and my family grew rice in the northern Sacramento valley. So I was always connected to food.

It was the early 1990s, and my son, who's now 30, was turning about four or five, something like that. He was young, and I came home one day and my wife had a separate shelf in the refrigerator and there were these beautiful strawberries on one shelf and then some good looking strawberries on the other. And I reached for the more beautiful ones and my wife said, “Oh no, no, those are the organic ones. Those are not for you; those are for Jack.” 

And so I'm like, “Wait a second!” And it was at a time when organic products were still being sold in small natural food stores and independents. And then there was the specialty food business, such as Neman Marcus, Williams Sonoma, Fresh Fields, and others doing super specialty stuff, and to a lesser degree, healthy products. Those two worlds were so obviously colliding with each other — organic and better food. That led me to become interested in it from just a consumer standpoint and seeing the audience that was coming in, and also the business opportunity around it. I got involved in the space in my first startup in about 1994, and that led to an investment in Annies in 1999, and then there was the run with Annie’s.

John Foraker

Q:  Baby food is often a gateway for families to discover the benefits of organic food. Can you talk about Once Upon a Farm and its commitment to organic and child nutrition?
Once Upon a Farm is committed to elevating child nutrition. The company was started in 2015 by Cassandra Curtis and Ari Raz in San Diego. Cassandra was trying to solve her own problems: she wanted better baby food for her kids. When she’d go into the grocery store, she didn’t like all the shelf-stable products that were there. So, she developed the first fresh baby food…and we brought it to market. I became an investor in 2016 and in 2017, they invited Jennifer Garner and me to come in as co-founders and take it to the next level. Not only have we brought it to the baby space, but we’ve been able to elevate it to kids ages one through seven. And it's turned into a pretty significant brand now, available in about 12,000 stores in North America. We're in Target, Kroger and the like, but, also, we have a significant business at Whole Foods Market and Sprouts Farmers Market. And also, the independent natural products retailers and co-ops are incredibly important to us. In fact, we really started there. Our products are well positioned for the independent channel, and we love it, so go support those retailers when you can; they’re doing a great job with our products.

The way I think about it in my own space is that I spent 17 years at Annie’s, and Annie's was a brand that really helped mainstream organic. We were not the only one, of course — there were other organic brands leading the way, too — but we were one of those brands that helped bring organic out of that spot at the back of the store and into the mainstream aisles. Also, at Annie’s, we focused on kids and kid nutrition, and we did it mostly in dry products. We worked hard to elevate the nutrition in those products and to have less sodium and obviously, none of the fake stuff, such as artificial colors and flavors. Plus, we were focused on organic to a great degree. Yet, it was hard to elevate the nutritional component the way I wanted to. 

So, when the opportunity came to get involved in Once Upon a Farm, I jumped on board, because fresh is obviously a big thing on parents’ minds. And there was this technology out there, HPP high pressure processing pasteurization, which basically uses pressure instead of heat to take these wonderful fresh fruits and veggies, blend them all together, and never getting over 40 degrees using pressure to knock back any harmful bacteria and give you a little bit of shelf life. As a result, what's so amazing about our products is the flavor and the color and the texture and the phytonutrients, and all the things that don't get beat down when you process with heat. Everything we do right now is refrigerated, with relatively short shelf life. By the time it gets to retail, it's got 30 to 60 days on it. I had to learn a lot, as a cold supply chain is a lot more of a challenge than what I worked with at Annie's. When the four of us originally got together, Jennifer, Ari, Cassandra and me, we said, okay, “How are we going to bust this out?” The hard thing is, you're selling baby food and where do you put it in the store? There are no coolers in the baby aisle. We had to figure that out; we were creating a new category, which is fun but hard.

Q:  How is your company managing supply chain, labor and inflation issues?
We're not immune from inflation. It's been endemic in everyone’s supply chain. The conversation we've been having in the organic industry is that the base of agricultural acres in the U.S. is still is very, very low. Yet, consumer demand for organic has been increasing significantly year after year and the industry's gotten bigger and bigger. So, the pandemic and the shifts in consumer behavior just put more and more pressure on that. What it's done for companies like us is we have to spend a lot more time focusing on where stuff's coming from in the next two years, not just right now, and developing supply relationships and adding growers to our network. It's a nonstop effort.

We were able to go through the pandemic and still fill our order rates in the 98-99% range, which is slightly miraculous, because it was really difficult and we've had to carry a lot more inventory. We source a lot of ingredients from the tropics, so I'd say about half comes from Mexico down to South America, and half of it comes from domestic producers. We've had to stuff warehouses with frozen IQF (individually quick frozen), high quality ingredients throughout this time. I believe we have 28 different warehouses across the country right now, just filled with materials to stay ahead of all the uncertainty that you have to deal with in the supply chain. Now, shipping has moderated and fuel surcharges have come down quite a bit. Some of the shipping lanes have gotten less expensive. However, there is still a shortage of labor and truckers. They are getting premiums, so I wouldn't say it's come way off, but it’s definitely come off its peaks. But, it's still significantly higher to ship in most places than it was a couple years ago. No doubt.

One of the biggest changes we made is we went almost entirely remote at the beginning of the pandemic because of the lockdowns. We had a corporate headquarters in Berkeley, CA, and we were headquarter centric, like many traditional companies. We adopted lots of tools to figure out how to do better remotely and work with each other that way. And then about six months in, we made the decision to do that permanently, and we've grown significantly. We've more than doubled the number of employees since then, and our mantra has been that we're going to hire the best talent wherever it is. We have people all over the country now. We’ve also figured out how to work it in the plants, though there are still labor challenges. Obviously, at the beginning of pandemic, the priority was working with the manufacturers to keep everybody safe, make sure that we had enough capacity, etc. It was really difficult, but that's moderated, and it’s gotten quite a bit easier. Still, it’s more expensive because we're having and wanting to pay a premium to get people who are going to stick around and be with us for a long time. But, that part at least has gotten a little more predictable.

Q:  When you made the decision to go remote, how did your workforce respond in terms of loyalty and commitment? It's a looming question for many business leaders in keeping their workforce together and motivated. How do you do that when you're remote — have you learned any tricks?
I’d say we're on a learning journey. We haven't been doing this long enough to know, but I'll say a few principles. One is we've adopted technology to help us stay closer than we would otherwise. So we're a really strong Slack-using company. We use Slack for everything and that's helped because it can help emulate the visibility you get by walking through the office and talking to somebody on the right and the left that are different functionals and being able to see. That helps a little bit, and we've been focused on lots and lots of communication — communication about what the business is doing, how it's doing. Every week I write something that goes to our board and all of our employees. Also, we conduct monthly company meetings online that we spend a lot of time thinking about.

Then the piece that we're still evolving, that I think is a core part of it, is we're talking about bringing everybody together at least two times a year, which is expensive. But when you think about, we don't have a real big office lease, so there are trade offs, right? Also, our company leadership is going out into the market and saying, “Hey, the marketing team's going to go to Denver for four days and visit with our partners there. So that's the kind of stuff we're doing, and so far, it's worked really well. I mean, our engagement's very high.

We have incredible employees, but I still do worry. Like, is there an end point to that? Do you start to get diminishing returns from it? I will say that as a general rule, our employees love it. They love the culture of flexibility and being close to home and being able to organize their work around their life in ways that are a lot more flexible than they were before. And so there's a lot of things they love about it, but as business leaders, engagement is the part that we all have to be concerned about, right?

Q:  What's your outlook on the future for organic and regenerative food and agriculture?
We’ve been growing and scrambling so fast the last few years just to buy high quality organic ingredients and deal with economic conditions that honestly we haven’t had the chance to drill down to the next level like regenerative organic agriculture, but it is something we want to focus on in the future. The fundamentals around organic are incredibly strong and are continuing as the generation of Millennial households that came into parenthood when I was at Annie's care a lot more about where their food comes from and the transparency around it. When Annie’s was going into retailers, we knew there was a tsunami of consumer coming who are going to be interested in organic and clean food, and that for sure happened, and it’s continuing. So, I think the future is very bright from a demand side. I think the place where it gets more challenging is the supply side. And are we doing enough in public policy, through agriculture programs and the USDA to encourage organic transitions and support organic farmers and the economics required to make that a viable, lifelong pursuit. I think that's going to continue to be the challenge for the next decade: can supply keep up with demand?

Q:  Are you innovating any new things going forward that you could share with our audience?
We have a lot going on in the innovation space. You know, you need to work on innovation a couple years before…easily, a couple years before you make it big. I can't really reveal any of that now, but I will say one thing that's pretty exciting. My first instinct when I came to Once Upon a Farm was that we were going to grow the fresh baby food business by building out coolers in retail. We started working on that but found it was difficult. We had to learn a lot. We ended up building the brand largely in refrigerated areas of the store where products such as yogurt and fresh snacking are. Today, that's a significant part of the business. Now, however, we never gave up on that ambition. We've been working hard for three years and have some pretty amazing things happening there. Over the next couple of years, you're going to see thousands of baby coolers in retail stores in the U.S. Freshpet did it in pet food, which is pretty unbelievable, and it always amazed me that nobody had done that in baby food, so we will.

Q:  What counsel can you offer for brands trying to break into the natural and organic channel right now?
It is a very challenging time, maybe a more challenging time than ever. But I'll also say it's always been challenging. To succeed, build a network around you; reach out to people that can give you good advice and help. Learn from your peers. I had great mentors when I started my first company and have always been of the mindset that I wanted to pay that forward and be available for other people, which is why I'm pretty available. There's also a sense of humility that comes with that. I've been in this industry for a long time and have made many mistakes. I've learned a lot, but still don't know crap. That's my view. Frankly, I think I learn as much from entrepreneurs I engage with and help as they learn from me. I'm constantly looking for that too. It can be mutually beneficial to engage with really smart people who are passionate about starting something. The emergence in the last decade of digital marketing as an art and a practice is a great example of that. The scrappy ways that small entrepreneur companies grow have really opened the eyes of lots of people. And I've learned a lot from that. It’s hard, yes, but there are lots of good resources out there. There are lots of good books to read. Get involved in the Naturally Network or one of its regional chapters in Austin, Bay Area, Boulder, Chicago, Los Angeles, Minnesota, New York, North Bay, and San Diego. I wish that organization was around in 1994 when I was starting out. Learn from the people involved in that network and you'll avoid a lot of mistakes, if you just talk to people who have been around for a while. Because a lot of the same mistakes are repeated, you know, in the space. The talent that's in this industry now is just unbelievable. Every time I run into these entrepreneurs coming in, I just shake my head going, “it’s unbelievable.” We're pulling in the talent that used to go to the consultants and the investment banks and larger corporations, and it's fantastic. 

This article was originally published in Presence Marketing’s October 2022 newsletter.

Conserving Music, Art, Culture and the Natural World: JAMBAR® Signs On as Peak Sponsor of the Sound Summit Festival, Oct. 22, 2022, at Mt. Tamalpais State Park

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Conserving Music, Art, Culture and the Natural World – JAMBAR® Signs On as Peak Sponsor of the Sound Summit Festival, Held October 22 at Mt. Tamalpais State Park

JAMBAR®, Maker of Artisan Organic Energy Bars, Will Serve as the Peak Sponsor of Marin County’s Annual Sound Summit Festival, October 22, 2022, Supporting Community, the Environment and Conservation of Mount Tamalpais State Park in Marin County, California.

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. (October 18, 2022) — JAMBAR®, maker of artisan organic energy bars and based in San Rafael, Calif., has signed on as this year’s “Peak Sponsor” of the 2022 Sound Summit Music Festival, produced as an annual celebration of Mount Tamalpais State Park by the Roots & Branches Conservancy.

The much anticipated annual event, featuring leading music acts including The War on Drugs, Faye Webster, Fruit Bats and Wreckless Strangers, takes place on Oct. 22, 2022, at the historic Mountain Theater (aka Sidney B. Cushing Memorial Amphitheater), situated on the slopes of Mount Tamalpais in Marin County, California.

Photo courtesy of Tom Dellinger, Sound Summit Festival

Beloved by generations, Mount Tamalpais, or Mount Tam, is a treasure of the local landscape and the San Francisco Bay Area community. Named as an intentional double entendre, the Sound Summit has raised more than $250,000 to date to benefit the conservation of Mount Tamalpais State Park.  

Past Sound Summit events have featured such performers as Wilco, Bob Weir & Phil Lesh, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Herbie Hancock, Jim James, Grace Potter, Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, Father John Misty, Dr. John & The Night Trippers, Los Lobos, Bill Frisell, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Nikki Lane, Allah-Las, Vetiver, The Mother Hips, The Stone Foxes, Cha Wa, Con Brio, and more. 

For information about this year’s Sound Summit festival, visit www.soundsummit.net. 

Jennifer Maxwell, founder and CEO of JAMBAR®

Transformed by Music, Organic Food and the Legacy of PowerBar®
JAMBAR, a woman-owned company, was founded by Jennifer Maxwell, an athlete, food and nutrition scientist and a musician, who, along with her late husband Brian, in 1985 created the original PowerBar®.

Back then, living in a small apartment in Berkeley and inventing the original PowerBar® in their kitchen, Jennifer and Brian had no idea they were launching the entire energy bar category. They successfully sold the PowerBar business in 2000. Today, the energy bar category, valued at nearly $5 billion globally, is one of the most vibrant product sections in any retail food store. 

Now, inspired by her family and the continuation of her and Brian’s mission of innovation, quality and nutrition — combined with Jennifer’s love of music, active living and organic food and farming — Jennifer is back with a product for a new generation of healthy consumers: JAMBAR, a premium-quality artisan organic energy bar that delivers great taste and nutrition. 

Using only certified organic, whole food ingredients, JAMBARs are crafted in the company’s own, state-of-the-art manufacturing facility. Made with organic ancient grains, berries, nuts, premium chocolate, proteins from sunflowers and organic dairy, and real maple syrup, juices and honey as sweeteners, JAMBAR, available in four flavors, delivers a convenient, incredibly tasty bar you can take anywhere.  

“We are very pleased and honored to partner with the 2022 Sound Summit and the Roots & Branches Conservancy,” said Jennifer. “Mount Tamalpais is very important to me; I grew up in the area, and Brian and I were married on Mount Tam. Music, too, has become important in my life and a huge emphasis for the company,” said Jennifer. “It’s why our slogan is ‘Get Your JAM On®,’” she added.

“We feel that JAMBAR’s goals and passions, both within and beyond our local community, align perfectly with our own,” says Michael Nash, Executive Producer of the Sound Summit and Board President of Roots & Branches. “In that sense, we find them to be an organic partner in every sense of the word and feel fortunate having them aboard to lend a caring hand to our creative endeavor.” 

With 50% of profits benefitting music, community and active lifestyles, JAMBAR supports a number of causes including the California Jazz Conservatory, Bread and Roses, Positive Coaching Alliance, Marin County Bicycle Coalition and more. Visit here to learn more about JAMBAR’s philanthropic mission and the organizations the company supports. 

JAMBAR® Is Available in These Certified Organic, Musical Flavors: 

· Chocolate Cha Cha — Find your rhythm with a luscious blend of premium Guittard chocolate, real food ingredients and organic ancient grains. Dancing on the edge of decadence, it’s a bar to make brownies jealous! Fair Trade Certified, non-GMO and gluten free, Chocolate Cha Cha delivers 10g of protein per serving. 

· Malt Nut Melody — Peanut and maple malted magic mixed with a touch of sesame and vanilla for an amazing medley of flavors, Malt Nut Medley is non-GMO, with 10g of protein per serving. 

· Jammin’ Jazzleberry — A jazzy combo of strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries, it’s “berry” delicious and vegan, gluten free and contains 10g of plant-based protein per serving. 

· Musical Mango — Energy goes exotic with delicious mango and a blend of ancient whole grains. The Musical Mango bar is vegan, gluten free and contains 10g of plant-based protein per serving. 

JAMBARs are available online at JAMBAR.com, on Amazon.com, and also at leading natural food and specialty stores including Good Earth Natural Foods, United Market, Scotty’s Market and more. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram. 

For wholesale inquiries, contact jammin@jambar.com, tel 877-JAMBARZ 

Media Contacts 
Steven Hoffman, Compass Natural, steve@compassnatural.com, tel 303.807.1042
Debbie Pfeifer, JAMBAR, pfeiferworks@gmail.com

Natural Foods CPG Entrepreneur Moves to Empower Farmers – GoodSAM’s Heather Terry Joins Compass Coffee Talk, Oct. 19, 2022, 11:30 am ET

Natural Foods CPG Entrepreneur Moves to Empower Farmers –  GoodSAM’s Heather Terry Joins Compass Coffee Talk,
Oct. 19, 2022, 11:30 am et

LEADING PODCAST COMPASS COFFEE TALK WELCOMES HEATHER TERRY, FOUNDER AND CEO OF GOODSAM FOODS, FOR A DISCUSSION OF REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE, THE IMPORTANCE OF SUPPORTING FARMERS, DIRECT TRADE, AND HIGH STANDARDS FOR COFFEE AND CHOCOLATE

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 19, 2022, 11:30 am ET

ZOOM, Admission Is Free

Heather Terry, founder and CEO of GoodSAM Foods

Compass Coffee Talk™ continues its live webinar series for entrepreneurs and business leaders in the natural, organic and sustainable products industry by welcoming Heather Terry, founder and CEO of GoodSAM Foods, a public benefit corporation and a rapidly growing brand in the natural and organic products channel. 

In the popular podcast, hosted by natural products veterans Steven Hoffman and Bill Capsalis, Heather will share how GoodSAM is “doing well by doing good,” leading the way in regenerative agriculture and consciously sourced consumer products, with vertically integrated product lines in coffee and chocolate sourced from sustainable partner farms. 

Heather brings a career’s worth of experience to the GoodSAM venture, with a mix of entrepreneurial forays, such as NibMor Chocolate, and work as a consultant who grew many natural beauty product brands such as S.W. Basics, Pulp Pantry and Organic Bath Company, among others. 

Today, Heather is focused on working with farmers to ensure they are paid fairly and the material is ethically sourced for all of GoodSAM’s direct trade products.

“It seems small, picking up snacks or coffee for your everyday, but when you buy those things from GoodSAM, you are doing so much more,” states Heather on the GoodSAM website (www.goodsamfoods.com). “You are enjoying a high quality product with health benefits, you are paying farmers and families a living wage, you are contributing to reversing climate change because of our and our partners’ sustainability practices. It’s all circular and it is the reason I love getting up in the morning to do my job.” 

“Certain individuals make a big difference, and they influence and inspire others with not only good business sense, but also a strong sense of mission, leadership and service. Heather Terry is one of those people. Tune in to learn more about Heather and how her story can apply to the success of your business,” said Steven Hoffman, managing director of Compass Natural and co-host and producer of Compass Coffee Talk.

Register here for Compass Coffee Talk with Heather Terry
Register here to participate in the upcoming Compass Coffee Talk, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2022, 11:30 am – noon ET

About Heather Terry
Heather Terry is the founder and CEO of GoodSAM Foods, a public benefit corporation (PBC). She has been a CPG mentor and an angel investor and is the author of From Broadway to Wall Street. In addition, she is a partner and the former chief strategy officer of BeyondBrands, a leading consulting agency focused on natural products. For more than a decade, Heather has been immersed in the consumer-packaged goods vertical, first as the co-founder of NibMor Chocolate. She also has worked to expand popular clean beauty and wellness brands, including S.W. Basics, Pulp Pantry and Organic Bath Company. She has secured for her wellness clients coveted spots on the shelves of national retailers such as Whole Foods Market and Target. She has also been featured at WELL Insiders, WELL Summit, The Wild Rose Collective, the Rising Women Conference, Loyola University, Good Housekeeping’s Raise the Green Bar Summit and the Regenerative Rising Summit.

Heather is a graduate of the International Culinary Center in New York and received an MFA from Rutgers University. She is pursuing a degree in permaculture and is passionate about direct trade and regenerative agriculture.

About Compass Coffee Talk™
Take a 30-minute virtual coffee break with Compass Coffee Talk™. Hosted by natural industry veterans Bill Capsalis and Steve Hoffman, Coffee Talk features lively interactive conversations with industry leaders and experts designed to help guide entrepreneurs and businesses of any size succeed in the market for natural, organic, regenerative, hemp-derived and other eco-friendly products.

Compass Coffee Talk™ is produced by Compass Natural Marketing, a leading PR, branding and business development agency serving the natural and organic products industry. Learn more.

VIEW OUR PAST COMPASS COFFEE TALK EPISODES ON YOUTUBE.

Get Your JAM On! Introducing JAMBAR, the Organic Energy Bar on a Mission

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Jennifer Maxwell, Founder of PowerBar® and Inventor of the Energy Bar Category, Is Back with the Launch of JAMBAR®, Organic Artisan Energy Bars with 50% of Profits Benefitting Music, Communities and Active Living.

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. (September 6, 2022) — When Jennifer Maxwell and her late husband Brian created the original PowerBar® in their kitchen in 1985, they had no idea they were launching the entire energy bar category. Today, that category, valued at nearly $5 billion globally, is one of the most vibrant product sections in any retail food store.

Now, inspired by her family and the continuation of her and Brian’s lasting mission of innovation, quality and nutrition — combined with a love of music and organic food and farming — Jennifer is back with a product for a new generation of healthy lifestyle consumers: JAMBAR, an artisan energy bar made with all organic ingredients, high quality protein and fiber. 

Using only certified organic, whole food ingredients, JAMBARs are crafted in small batches in the company’s own facility by a team of dedicated employees who share the company’s mission. Using organic ancient grains, berries, nuts, premium chocolate, proteins from sunflowers and organic dairy, and real syrup, juices and honey as sweeteners, JAMBAR delivers a convenient, incredibly tasty bar you can take anywhere.

“That’s the beauty of real food,” said Maxwell. “JAMBAR is pure, natural and organic from the get-go. Every ingredient in our energy bar you could eat right off a spoon. But if you’re too busy to carry a spoon, that’s where JAMBAR comes in,” she said.

JAMBAR donates 50% of all after-tax profits to support music, active living and community connections. Using a donor-advised fund managed by the Marin Community Foundation, these proceeds will be provided directly to qualified nonprofits doing amazing work in these fields, Maxwell noted.

“Partnering with the Marin Community Foundation in this venture allows JAMBAR to focus on delivering the best products, knowing that the administrative and financial aspects of our nonprofit support are being handled by an expert team,” said Maxwell. 

The causes JAMBAR supports include the California Jazz Conservatory, Bread and Roses, Positive Coaching Alliance, Marin County Bicycle Coalition and other organizations. Visit here to learn more about JAMBAR’s philanthropic mission and the organizations the company supports.

A Legacy of Athletics, Entrepreneurship, Music … and the Grateful Dead
A long-distance runner since the age of 13, Jennifer studied food science, nutrition and exercise physiology at U.C. Berkeley, where she met her husband Brian. After developing the original PowerBar® energy bar recipe in 1985, together Jennifer and Brian began building the business from a small apartment they shared, growing the company to more than $150 million in annual sales before they decided to sell the company in 2000 to Nestle. When Brian passed away unexpectedly in 2004 at age 51, Jennifer focused on raising her six children. She discovered the healing power of music and learned to play the drums. Today, in her free time, she performs regularly in two bands in the San Francisco Bay Area.

“Music was transformative for me. Brian passed away in 2004, and I was raising the kids — my youngest was seven months old in 2004, and my other children were four, seven, nine, 12 and 14. In the beginning, it was a struggle. I had always had athletics, but after Brian died, that part of me died. I still ran, but not like I did before. Music came into my life. It just appeared, particularly the drums. Drums are all about rhythm and timing. It was a continuation of the cadence, of the pulse of running,” Maxwell told Marin Magazine.

But the food scientist and entrepreneurial drive never really left her, and in 2016, Jennifer set about crafting the next generation of energy bars with the cleanest label possible. 

“When JAMBAR started, I was talking about energy bars with my daughter, and how I didn’t like anything out there. The bars on the market weren’t bad, but there weren’t any that I felt good about eating. I wanted more natural sweeteners — no brown rice syrup or tapioca syrup. And dates are too sweet. I wanted more whole foods, not just dried fruit, and I wanted to eat organic,” Maxwell shared.

And that is exactly the product line she created with JAMBAR. 

“Our slogan is ‘Get Your JAM On,’ as music is a huge emphasis for us,” Maxwell said.

And the Grateful Dead connection? “We completely gutted and rebuilt a building in San Rafael that once served as a recording studio for the Grateful Dead. However, we found and preserved a small mural that was painted on a wall by none other than Jerry Garcia! Another, larger mural we saved was painted by Rick Griffin, who illustrated concert posters and album covers for the Grateful Dead and many other well-known bands. You can still see their artwork when you visit us today,” Maxwell added.

JAMBAR Is Available in These Certified Organic Flavors:

• Chocolate Cha Cha — Find your rhythm with a luscious blend of premium Guittard chocolate, real food ingredients and organic ancient grains. Dancing on the edge of decadence, it’s a bar to make brownies jealous! Fair Trade Certified, non-GMO and gluten free, Chocolate Cha Cha delivers 10g of protein per serving.

• Malt Nut Melody — Peanut and maple malted magic mixed with a touch of sesame and vanilla for an amazing medley of flavors, Malt Nut Medley is non-GMO, with 10g of protein per serving.

• Jammin’ Jazzleberry — A jazzy combo of strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries, it’s “berry” delicious and vegan, gluten free and contains 10g of plant-based protein per serving.

• Musical Mango — Energy goes exotic with delicious mango and a blend of ancient whole grains. The Musical Mango bar is vegan, gluten free and contains 10g of plant-based protein per serving.

JAMBARs are available online at JAMBAR.com, on Amazon.com, and also at leading natural food and specialty stores including Good Earth Natural Foods, United Market, Scotty’s Market and more. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

For wholesale inquiries, contact jammin@jambar.com, tel 877-JAMBARZ.

Media Contacts
Steven Hoffman, Compass Natural, steve@compassnatural.com, tel 303.807.1042

Debbie Pfeifer, JAMBAR, pfeiferworks@gmail.com

How to Build Your Brand with Social Media Influencers

How to Build Your Brand with Social Media Influencers

By Steven Hoffman

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in the September 2022 edition of Presence Marketing News

With the explosive growth of social media, working with influencers is no longer an option for consumer products marketers, but rather an essential component of any modern-day marketing strategy.

Building word of mouth by collaborating with influencers on such social media sites as Instagram, TikTok and Facebook is particularly important for sellers of natural, organic, nutritional, eco-friendly and wellness brands where storytelling, education and product recommendations from a trusted source helps build trial, sales and loyalty among consumers.

Working with Presence Marketing, we interviewed a few brand leaders about their social media strategies. Here, in their own words, they share some helpful tips and insights for small and large brands alike on how to build your brand with social media influencers.

Rebecca Morgan, Marketing Director, Fresh Hemp Foods Ltd. / Tilray Wellness / Manitoba Harvest:
Influencers and content creators are an integral part of our community at Manitoba Harvest. They embody our commitment to hemp education through their recipe creation, engaging content and nutritional awareness. The most meaningful partner relationships are built over time, and Manitoba Harvest is proud to have a thriving ambassador program with 100+ creators, most of whom we’ve worked with for years.

As a Manitoba Harvest ambassador, creators receive bi-annual gifts of our everyday favorites and new products, and can count on our support content shares and paid investments. Whether they’re blending, baking or imagining innovative new uses for nutritious hemp, we’re inspired every day by the creativity of our ambassador community and value the engagement of the creators behind it.

In addition to our ambassador program, we partner with select influencers for larger content partners. Recently, we partnered with food blogger, @foodbymaria, for a five part “Can You Hemp It?” series, designed to show the incredible versatility of Hemp.

In the series, Maria celebrates the use of Hemp outside of traditional breakfast occasions by blending it into a Pina Colada smoothie, mixing it into a vegan Caesar Salad dressing, baking it into a strawberry shortcake, and more. These entertaining, engaging recipe videos are perfect for our organic social media, and allow us to run targeted digital ads to drive traffic to our retail partners.

Rosa Compean, VP of Marketing, Gimme Seaweed:
Developing an influencer strategy was new for us but now we feel we’ve gotten to a place where we’ve fine-tuned the consumer through our social media. We show up where our audience is, and for now, that is TikTok and Instagram. Even though we have more followers on Facebook, it’s not a channel where we are seeing the most engagement these days, so we shifted our content strategy to focus on Instagram and TikTok, including videos and Reels. It’s an age-related thing – we have what we refer to as the “OG” parents who may still be on Facebook, but the core target for us is on the newer channels. We’ve also started looking at other channels such as Discord (a gamer community), Twitch and others. We want to be where our audience is.

Our consumer is very health minded, gender neutral, 30-39 years old, diverse, and open to trying new things, with some disposable income where they can afford to buy organic snacks for themselves and their families. As such, we have to create content every month. As an organic, non-GMO brand, we create content about food, recipes, lifestyles, sustainability practices and to educate about our seaweed farms and commitment to the environment. For content creation, we use a combination of in-house creative and a kind of agency partner who helps us create fun, relevant content that we apply to a variety of platforms.

Gimme Seaweed just marked its 10-year anniversary as a company. We have a lot happening and we’ll have an active influencer campaign to accompany the launch of new  products this fall, including new flavors including Spicy Chili Lime and Vegan White Cheddar, and “slim packs” that fit in pockets, backpacks or more.

For big campaigns and when we want to work with influencers with 100,000 to 1 million or more followers, we often use the GRIN tool (www.grin.co) – it’s an all-in-one influencer platform that allows you to find the right influencers and affiliate marketers. It’s turnkey; all the legal paperwork is there and the best part is that all your data is stored on GRIN – at the end of each campaign, I can see all the metrics. It’s a very nice tool to have. The influencer world is an imperfect marketplace, and we are always testing, learning and optimizing. 

Katrina Picon, Director of Communications, Califia Farms:
At Califia Farms we love working with authentic brand fans, individuals who have mentioned or tagged us on social media. We actively seek them out. We work with many different types of creators, including people who are what we call “plant curious” and enjoy experimenting with plant-based products. For example, they might add oat milk to their morning latte, make a dessert with coconut milk or blend almond milk in their daily smoothie. Authenticity both as a Califia fan and in the plant-based category is key.

Traditionally, we’ve seen a lot of success on Instagram with influencers who like to share their daily coffee or smoothie routine as well as those who love showing off high-production images of food recipes using our products. These types of partnerships on Instagram allow us to show delicious, mouthwatering visuals of dairy-free creations that are possible with our brand and help encourage plant-based experimentation. Our iconic, curvy bottle also lends itself well to the platform and has allowed us to build a visual presence there with both organic and paid social mentions. Influencers and Instagram users alike love showing off Califia’s gorgeous bottle!

With the incredible rise of TikTok, we’ve naturally looked to engage there with influencers. It’s an ideal way to forge relationships with younger millennials and GenZ, a demographic that has helped drive excitement around plant-based eating and is often the first to try a new fun food hack or zany drink. TikTok is a great vehicle for us to engage with this younger segment and test some fun, out-of-the-box ideas.

We do have internal staff and external partners who work together to develop our integrated social and influencer campaigns. We always have our eye on the cultural and social landscape, ensuring that we’re on top of trends and staying engaged with our existing and new followers. All of this is certainly a team effort and requires a lot of internal communication, planning, and creative brainstorming sessions. We look for ongoing, seasonal opportunities to tell our story, but we also stay nimble and pivot when needed and where it makes sense for the brand. Planning ahead while remaining flexible are absolutely critical to our integrated communications programs.

Our influencer marketing efforts must always ladder up to our overall marketing plan, and that begins with clear marketing objectives and advance planning. If it’s a fun idea but doesn’t link back to our marketing objectives, we don’t execute on it. Regular, weekly check-ins with our brand team as well as campaign recaps where we break down what did and didn’t work are essential to campaign success. There is always room for improvement.

Regarding Affiliate Marketing, it can work well when you’ve established a relationship with an influencer, and their followers truly see the authenticity of the partnership shine through. The reason: it often takes a handful of brand social mentions on the influencer’s page before some of those affiliate sales convert. New, exciting product launches and limited-edition items are great candidates for these campaigns as they naturally generate a lot of social interest and there’s a sense of urgency to scoop them up. An affiliate code is often just what a consumer needs to try a new, untested product.

It’s important to remember that every influencer is different and has different levels of experience when it comes to working with brands on paid collaborations. Some influencers appreciate explicit instructions while others prefer minimal guidelines that allow them the freedom to stretch their creative muscles. There’s not a one-size fits all. I’ve also learned that it’s absolutely critical to hold kick-off calls with your influencer partners to make sure everyone is on the same page and understands the objectives of the campaign. This helps cut down on misunderstandings or delays down the road.

Finally, don’t overlook the value of working with micro influencers, these are typically influencers with less than 100K followers. They might not have the higher follower counts, but their audiences are often more engaged and take a creator’s product recommendations quite seriously.

Learn More
Learn more about how to build your brand with social media influencers at a free virtual Zoom workshop on Sept. 8, 2022, presented by Compass Natural and featuring special guest Ari Adams, CEO of ShiftCon, the nation’s largest community of “Eco-Wellness” influencers. Register here. Also, learn more about how your brand can get involved in the ShiftCon Eco-Wellness Influencer community and its upcoming annual conference, Oct. 13-15, in Westlake Village, CA.

For turnkey resources to match the right influencers with your brand, visit www.grin.co or www.upfluence.com.

For market research statistics on the growing importance of influencer marketing, visit Key Influencer Marketing Statistics You Need to Know for 2022, and the 2022 Influencer Marketing Report. Also, MAVRCK published an informative, free downloadable guide, An Integrated Approach to Influencer Marketing for Food and Beverage Brands.

To learn more about Affiliate Marketing, visit Affiliate Marketing 101: What It Is and How to Get Started and The Ultimate Business Guide to Influencer Affiliate Marketing. Another helpful guide is Affiliate Marketing for Social Media – How Can Your Business Benefit? Also, check out the organic food brands that have been reported to have the most successful affiliate programs here. To see what other healthy lifestyle brands are doing, visit 52 Health Brands with Influencer Programs.

Instagram's affiliate program lets creators share shoppable feed posts and stories, as well as host a "shop" on their account where influencers can earn a commission on any sales from their page. Instagram is planning to expand its affiliate tools to more video content in 2022; visit here for more information.

To help identify top wellness influencers, visit Top Inspirational Eco Influencers Brands Should Follow, 10 of the Best Health Instagram Accounts and Influencers, 25 Best Organic Food Blogs and Websites, Top 38 Vegan Influencers Making a Big Impact on Social Media, and Top 50+ Wellness Influencers (2022, Non-celebrity).

The Social Pact: How to Build Your Natural Brand with Eco-Wellness Influencers

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Social Pact: How to Build Your Natural Brand with Eco-Wellness Influencers

A Special Workshop Presented by Ari Adams, CEO of ShiftCon Media, the Nation's Largest Community of Healthy Lifestyle Influencers, September 8, 2022, 11:30am EST, for Marketers and Manufacturers of Natural, Organic and Specialty Food, Beverage and Related Products

What: Virtual Workshop — How to Build Your Natural Brand with Influencers
Date and Time: Thursday, September 8, 2022, 11:30am EST
Where: Zoom
To Register: Registration is free:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_zrHS1eHfQAuzp4y9kiLmFA

LOS ANGELES (August 29, 2022) — For natural, organic and specialty food, beverage and related eco-products brands that want to make a lasting impact on social media and make the most of their budget, an integrated approach to influencer marketing is the recipe for success.

Social media influencers, too, who consistently put out quality content and have built a large following know the value of their work and want to build relationships with brands who value them. This is particularly true when it comes to healthy lifestyles, where brands and influencers alike are often passionate about their products and mission in building sales and brand awareness among the world’s nearly 4 billion social media users.

Enter the “Shifters,” also known as members of ShiftCon, the largest community of eco-wellness social media influencers in the U.S.

To learn more about working with eco-wellness influencers in the ShiftCon community, join Ari Adams, CEO of ShiftCon Media, on Thursday, Sept. 8, 2022, 11:30 am Eastern Time, for a special virtual workshop, How to Build Your Natural Brand with Influencers. At this event, attendees will learn key tips on how companies can build cohesive campaigns that touch both the online and offline consumer experience to drive sales and lasting brand loyalty. 

Registration for this Zoom event is free and open to manufacturers and marketers of natural products, social media influencers and members of the media. The workshop is presented by ShiftCon Media and produced by Compass Natural in advance of the upcoming ShiftCon Eco-Wellness Influencer Conference. Oct. 13-15, 2022, in Los Angeles, CA.

If you are a member of the media, social media influencer, or natural products industry brand looking to grow your media presence and work with influencers, join us for this virtual event to be immersed into the eco-wellness ShiftCon community. 

What You Will Learn at the Virtual Workshop, How to Build Your Natural Brand with Influencers, Thursday, Sept. 8, 2022, 11:30am EST

• How to identify and reach out to relevant influencers to work with your brand

• How to effectively reach influencers across the social media spectrum (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok)

• How to increase brand awareness, broaden your reach and increase sales

• How to partner with influencers: affiliate marketing, creating cohesive social media campaigns, and much more

Save the Date: ShiftCon Eco-Wellness Influencer Conference, Oct. 13-15, 2022, Los Angeles, CA
Experience three days of learning about health and wellness, exploring ShiftCon's expo of sponsors and networking with other influencers.

The largest gathering of healthy lifestyle influencers in the U.S., ShiftCon is an event for influencers and brands of all sizes. Join us at the Hyatt Regency Westlake, just minutes from the scenic beaches of Malibu, CA, and join our community of “Shifters” that seek healthier and more sustainable lives, promote brands that mirror their values and help causes that speak to their soul. Exhibitor and sponsor opportunities are available now. Contact us to become an exhibitor at ShiftCon 2022 or to sponsor the event: www.ShiftConMedia.com/about/contact.

What Happens at ShiftCon

• Professional workshops on social media growth, wellness topics & ways to increase your revenue without compromising your values

• Keynote messages from professionals who are pioneers in their field

• Exhibitor hall with over 50 brands and organizations who want to work with influencers

• Networking with hundreds of your peers

• Fitness events and non-GMO meals

About ShiftCon Eco-Wellness Influencer Conference
ShiftCon is an eco-wellness influencer conference focusing on food, wellness, health, sustainability and platform growth. “Shifters” are part of an online influencer community that seek healthier and more sustainable lives, promote brands that mirror their values, and help causes that speak to their soul. Our influencers span between newbies, light and deep green. ShiftCon was born out of the idea that together we can create a profound impact on the world around us. For More Information, visit www.ShiftConMedia.com, or contact: www.ShiftConMedia.com/about/contact/.

# # #

Media Contacts
Ari Adams, ShiftCon Media, ari@shiftconmedia.com
Steven Hoffman, Compass Natural, steve@compassnaturalmarketing.com

A Lifelong Commitment to Organic — John Foraker Joins Compass Coffee Talk, September 14, 2022, 11:00 am ET

A Lifelong Commitment to Organic — John Foraker Joins Compass Coffee Talk, September 14, 2022,
11:00 am ET

Leading Podcast Compass Coffee Talk Welcomes John Foraker, Co-Founder and CEO of Once Upon a Farm, for a discussion on sustainability, regenerative agriculture and setting the standard for organic consumer products, September 14, 2022, 11:00 am ET.

Wednesday, September 14, 11:00 – 11:30 am ET
Zoom, Admission is Free

John Foraker, Co-Founder and CEO, Once Upon a Farm

Compass Coffee Talk™ continues its live webinar series of business leaders throughout the natural, organic and sustainable products industry by welcoming John Foraker, Co-Founder and CEO of Once Upon a Farm. A renowned supporter of regenerative agriculture with an unmatched dedication to organic consumer products, John continues leading the way in the specialty, natural and organic industry through his work at Once Upon a Farm.

Throughout his 30+ years of experience, John led the well known natural and organic food brand Annie’s, Inc. to an eventual sale to General Mills, where he was influential in their adoption of regenerative agriculture. From there, he co-founded Once Upon a Farm alongside Jennifer Garner, Ari Raz and Cassandra Curtis, where his leadership brought a sharp focus on sustainability and social responsibility to the company, which still continues today.

Throughout his tenure at Once Upon a Farm, the company has expanded its portfolio of products, developed a unique process to secure nutrients and flavors into its product recipes, and helped lead the way in an entirely new category in ‘Fresh Snacking.’ With a passion for developing mission driven brands, John inspires his organization to advocate and support efforts that drive positive social change and food justice for the benefit of families, children and parents.

About John Foraker
John is the Co-Founder and CEO of Once Upon A Farm, a company with the mission of providing yummy and nutritious “farm-to-family” foods to kids of all ages.

Prior to his new start-up, John spent more than 30 years in the natural and organic food industry running businesses with a sharp focus on sustainability and social responsibility. John was the longtime leader of Annie’s, Inc., a leading natural & organic food brand, in the US from 1999 to 2017. As CEO of Annie’s, he took the company public in 2012 under the symbol BNNY before General Mills acquired the business in 2014 for $820 million. For the following three years, John ran the Annie’s operating unit and also advised General Mills’ small business incubator 301, Inc. 

He was recognized as an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year® 2015 in Northern California. Foraker received a B.S. in agricultural economics from UC Davis and an MBA from UC Berkeley.

About Compass Coffee Talk™
Take a 30-minute virtual coffee break with Compass Coffee Talk™. Hosted by natural industry veterans Bill Capsalis and Steve Hoffman, Coffee Talk features lively interactive conversations with industry leaders and experts designed to help guide entrepreneurs and businesses of any size succeed in the market for natural, organic, regenerative, hemp-derived and other eco-friendly products.

Compass Coffee Talk™ is produced by Compass Natural Marketing, a leading PR, branding and business development agency serving the natural and organic products industry. Learn more.

VIEW OUR PAST COMPASS COFFEE TALK EPISODES ON YOUTUBE.

Retailers Whey In: Are Animal-free Dairy Products Natural?

This article originally appeared in Presence Marketing’s August 2022 industry newsletter and New Hope Network's IdeaXchange.

By Steven Hoffman

Which term do you like better – animal-free dairy, next-gen dairy, cultivated dairy, bio-identical dairy, or parallel dairy? If you preferred “animal-free dairy,” you’re not alone.

Knowing consumer acceptance is key to the success of precision fermentation – a rapidly growing biotechnology that genetically engineers microorganisms such as bacteria and yeast to produce complex molecules, including proteins that mimic those found in meat and dairy products – earlier this year German biotechnology company Formo, along with Fordham University and Mercy for Animals, surveyed consumers in the U.K., Germany, Singapore and the U.S. to ask that very question.

What they found out? While the clear favorite among survey respondents was animal-free dairy (the least favorite was bio-identical dairy and the strange term, parallel dairy), “Many wanted to know whether the product was natural or artificial, leading from here into questions of how safe the products would be and what bodily effects it might have, with some looking for data that could answer these questions for them,” the survey’s authors reported, according to Food Navigator.

While a significant majority of the survey participants responded positively to questions about animal welfare and conventional animal agriculture’s impact on the environment as they were framed in the poll around such “animal-free” dairy products, according to the survey’s findings, a “nearly universal” consumer concern was around precision fermentation’s “unbridled meddling with nature,” and many were worried about “eating the unknown.”

Organizations like the Good Food Institute tout the benefits of synthetic biology (syn-bio) and its use in creating animal-free dairy, meat and egg products, food flavorings such as vanilla, fragrances, and other substances meant for human and animal consumption. The past five years have seen an explosion in start-up biotech companies using synthetic biology and precision fermentation techniques to create ingredients and products. The Non-GMO Project tracked a 250% increase in biotech companies, now numbering more than 400. Many of these start-ups hope to sell to consumers who believe they are buying purely natural products, reported Prepared Foods. Yet, the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard, passed by Congress in 2016 and launched in 2020, will not apply, meaning these products are not required to carry a GMO label.

As hi-tech and other venture capital (VC) investors commit billions of dollars to biotech companies seeking to develop and control IP over such food production technologies, the market for synthetic biology products in North America is expected to reach US$ 15.2 billion by 2028 from US$ 4.3 billion in 2021, representing an estimated CAGR of 19.7%, according to a July 2022 report by Business Market Insights.

Yet, it’s a technology that most consumers know nothing about, and one with very little regulatory oversight, say a growing number of retailers and other leaders in the natural products industry who are calling these products into question, especially when a handful of synthetic biology companies had exhibits at the recent Natural Products Expo West, the world’s largest natural channel trade exposition, held in Anaheim, CA, in March 2022. 

The Definition of Unnatural?
"Syn-bio dairy products are GMOs because they are created by genetically engineering a microbe like yeast to excrete milk proteins," said Megan Westgate, Founder and Executive Director of the Non-GMO Project, North America's most relied-upon non-GMO authority, in May 2022. "That's the definition of unnatural."

According to Westgate, the syn-bio process forces cells to produce novel proteins that mimic natural ingredients like casein and whey. The possible risks they claim include significant biohazardous waste, the accidental release of new GMOs into the environment, and continued reliance on fossil fuels for GMO growth media and the incineration of waste. Syn-bio dairy could also put traditional dairy farmers and farmworkers out of business, Westgate cautioned.

Referring to the presence of syn-bio companies at Expo West, Editor and Publisher of the Organic Insider Max Goldberg wrote, “Despite the fact that this is a ‘natural’ products expo, there were numerous companies selling products made with synthetic biology, or ‘precision fermentation’ — a fancy marketing term to hide the fact that this is a very risky and unproven GMO 2.0 technology. “Precision fermentation typically requires the use of genetically-engineered microorganisms, which are cultivated in brewery-style fermentation tanks. Needless to say, there is nothing ‘natural’ about this,” he said, noting that the presence at Expo West of food bio-tech start-ups such as Motif FoodWorks, maker of syn-bio meat and dairy products, and Perfect Day’s Brave Robot, a line of “animal-free” dairy ice cream, had upset many natural and organic advocates.

Noting that a coveted slot at Natural Products Expo West can bestow a halo of “natural” upon a brand, Mark Squire, a respected retailer, GMO labeling advocate and co-owner of Good Earth Natural Foods in Fairfax and Mill Valley, CA, told Goldberg, “These companies are trying to use us all to give their ‘un-natural’ products the ‘natural’ glow. I hope our industry will reject them from future shows,” Squire said.

Patrick Sheridan, president and CEO of the Independent Natural Food Retailers Association (INFRA), representing nearly 300 natural products retailers, told Ken Roseboro, Editor and Publisher of The Organic & Non-GMO Report, that the consensus among his group’s members was that syn-bio companies don’t belong at a natural food show. “We’re trying to curb the expansion of GMOs in our food system but food start-ups are getting into Expo using smart marketing campaigns that aren’t transparent,” Sheridan said.

While Shelley Sapsin, Director of Market Integrity for New Hope Network (producer of Natural Products Expo West) responded saying that retailer concerns “matter very much to us” and that “asking hard questions about GMO-derived ingredients is appropriate,” she also said that New Hope provides a forum to discuss topics such as precision fermentation and GMO 2.0. However, she said, “Rather than banning businesses and closing down debate we’ve chosen to encourage robust dialogue. And most importantly, we provide a place for the natural products community to choose for themselves the products that make sense for their customers.” New Hope Network allows these companies to exhibit as long as they don’t make “natural” claims, Sapsin said. 

Lack of Transparency
Yet, according to The Organic & Non-GMO Report, one of the biggest complaints from natural channel industry members is that these “GMO 2.0 companies” aren’t transparent. “They are hiding behind a lack of transparency,” Good Earth’s Mark Squire said. “…these GMO 2.0 products have a whole new set of problems attached to them and no regulations,” he remarked.

“It seems that even with all the smarts and savvy in the natural products community, we have failed to understand that we are being targeted by a coordinated global campaign to force the adoption of synthetics in natural channels,” Alan Lewis, VP of Advocacy at Natural Grocers, told The Organic Insider. “The campaign is spawn of the notorious GMO lobby, now emboldened and backed by technology moguls. New Hope’s decision to actively promote ‘syn-biotech’ is a direct threat to the thousands of small brands it claims to champion.”

Writing in Forbes in March 2022, Errol Schweizer, natural channel retail specialist and former VP of Grocery for Whole Foods Market, said, "This leads us to questions of how food technology feeds into racialized capitalism. White people own over 98% of agricultural land and make up over 84% of food executives and over 70% of VCs. Yet the food industry is extremely diverse among the rank and file, from farmgate to retail. How diverse are the leadership teams, boardrooms, capitalization tables and investor pools of precision fermentation enterprises? Are any of these companies worker cooperatives or employee owned? Will this new food technology slow down, reverse or accelerate racial capitalism in the food industry? When you consider that up to 75% of food retail workers are food insecure due to low wages and high costs of living, or that hundreds of food processing workers died from COVID-19, what substantive changes will this technology bring to a food workforce that has tremendous turnover, low morale and a growing sense of injustice with the way they are treated and compensated? We were promised that GMOs, which are now in more than 75% of processed foods, would feed the world, yet they can’t even feed grocery clerks," Schweizer commented.

Three Areas of Concern: Feed, Ferment and Waste
Alan Lewis of Natural Grocers, a longtime critic of precision fermentation, expressed three main areas of concern at the June 2022 Environmental Health Symposium, where he was a featured speaker:  “Feed, ferment and waste. You never hear the companies and founders and the PR professional who are promoting synthetic biology actually talk about the source of their feed. And you never, ever, ever hear them talk about what happens to the waste that’s left over after their fermentation is done,” he said.

Though a few syn-bio companies such as Perfect Day and Israel-based Remilk have received FDA GRAS status for their synthetic biology dairy and protein products, and their own in-house life cycle assessments rate them more environmentally sustainable than conventional meat or dairy agriculture, Lewis and others have expressed concern that potential impacts of synthetic biology are not being fairly compared to the benefits of organic and regenerative agriculture, and that they could destroy the livelihoods of farmers and producers of natural products such as vanilla, which is the single most important export in a number of countries in the global South.

“Where does this feed [for fermentation] come from?” Lewis asked. “It's basically sugars and proteins. It comes from the cheapest possible industrial source of soy and corn for the most part, and some sugar beet as well. So we are back to the GMO problem: monoculture, proprietary GMO seeds, corn and soy sugars as the basis for these foods and a massive shift in ownership and concentration of wealth, land ownership and control over our food supply because of the GMO system. And we've got to talk about glyphosate herbicides, neonicotinoid pesticides, synthetic fertilizers from fossil fuels and other residues that end up in the soil, on the crops, in the resulting food...and in this case, the feed. And, of course, when you mess with the soil you're releasing carbon, you're collapsing soil health and reducing the nutrition of those foods to begin with,” he said.

"If you are a fan of plant-based foods like I am you should be furious with the synthetic biology precision fermentation people taking over the idea of foods made from plants and replacing it or hiding underneath plant-based foods all of these suspect highly processed foods that are grown in facilities that have nothing to do with agriculture," Lewis cautioned.

"Long term safe fermenting of foods that have long been accepted as safe, traditional methods of fermenting foods or herbs or other materials to get specific therapeutic or nutritional metabolites is not what we're concerned about. Our concern is that longstanding acceptance and necessity of natural fermentation has been used to hide the synthetic biology under a lot of different other terms including plant-based," Lewis clarified.

Lewis also expressed concern about what's in the waste generated from precision fermentation. "What's in that bio-waste? Well, if you're fermenting sourdough or beer or spirits or something like that, what's left over is distillers spent grain or a yeast residue, and these are typically natural organisms that are consumable by animals; they can be composted and they're not considered a biohazard because they have been part of the natural system and part of the food system for thousands of years. However, when you get into full synthetic biology precision fermentation, the waste is a whole different ball game. What you have is a whole set of gene edited (and potentially antibiotic-resistant) microorganisms. These are novel living organisms that have never been on Earth before so all of this takes place in a biohazard laboratory setting with secure access and registrations and personal protective equipment, and it all has to be incinerated after use. And there's a very high amount of mass in this waste...I've heard that upwards of 90% of what goes into the bioreactor actually becomes waste that has to be securely disposed of -- it can't go to the land fill; it has to be deactivated. And...there's zero significant regulation about this in terms of the food supply," Lewis continued.

In particular, he said, "We don't know about all the off-target or non-target metabolites. Just because you gene edit a pathogen to get a specific protein or color or flavor, doesn't mean that that novel edited gene, mutated living organism isn't spitting out a whole number, hundreds if not thousands, of materials and substances that are not known, don't have a reference table, and we don't know about their food safety or environmental safety profile."

Syn-bio Foods Are Often Highly Processed
“Companies call these things ‘synthetic biology’ and ‘fermentation technology,’ but these foods are all just GMOs,” Michael Hansen, Ph.D., Senior Staff Scientist at Consumer Reports, told Max Goldberg in a recent article in Westview News. “They are using terms people do not understand, so that people will not realize these are GMO ingredients. Moreover, the problems with synthetic biology are the same ones that we have had with traditional GMOs.”

Hansen added: “These are often highly processed foods, which are associated with increased calorie intake and weight gain, according to a study from the National Institute of Health. And while these companies may be perceived as tech start-ups, the products they produce are designed to fit into an industrial food system, and society is clearly moving against this trend and toward a more agroecological-based food system. Additionally, they are introducing novel, genetically-engineered proteins into the food supply that will have unknown potential impacts on the human microbiome and the environment, and these companies are self-affirming GRAS status with the FDA, a voluntary process that is incredibly problematic and falls very, very short of protecting the consumer.”

In an editorial as CEO & Executive Director of the Organic & Natural Health Association, Karen Howard commented, “Growing investment in grass-fed livestock and regenerative agriculture are the perfect examples of [the natural food industry’s] reinvigorated commitment to sustainability. However, the stress on our current system can leave us distracted. Synthetic protein is a prime example. GMO crops are their main ingredients, but they have re-entered the policy discussion disguised in the costume of ‘synthetic biology’ and ‘precision fermentation.’ We are essentially being told again that GMOs are the panacea for every problem. Yet, it is impossible for synthetic protein to be considered natural.

“So what is a natural retailer to do? Howard continued. “How can the dietary supplement industry stop a swell of synthetically derived ingredients from appearing on shelves? How will this affect the availability of bona fide natural and organic ingredients? Should these products and foods be eligible for display at the ‘natural’ shows where we all do business? Where is the venue for educating and engaging people on the topic of synthetic biology?  

In closing, Howard said, “The Organic & Natural Health Association will continue to partner on education efforts to bring these issues to light. With COVID, those opportunities have diminished, while the syn-bio industry continues to flourish with massive investments behind the scenes. We’ve lost the legislative and regulatory battle at this point, so perhaps there remains one core question to be answered. Is the proliferation of genetically engineered synthetic protein destined to be an accepted cornerstone of the natural food industry?”

Elevating an Industry — Leaders of Naturally Network Join Compass Coffee Talk, August 17, 2022, 11:30am EST

Elevating an Industry — Leaders of Naturally Network Join Compass Coffee Talk, August 17, 2022, 11:30am EST

Leading Podcast Compass Coffee Talk Welcomes Naturally Network Leaders Eric Schnell, Katrina Tolentino, Jim Slama and Ari Raz for an Overview of the Nation’s Largest Community of Natural Products Industry Business Leaders, August 17, 2022, 11:30am EST.

Wednesday, August 17, 11:30am – 12:00pm EST
Zoom, Admission is Free

(L) Eric Schnell, Co-Chair, Naturally New York, (LC) Katrina Tolentino, Executive Director, Naturally Network, (RC) Jim Slama, Managing Director and Co-Founder, Naturally Chicago, (R) Ari Raz, President and Board Member, Naturally San Diego

Compass Coffee Talk™ continues its series with a panel of leaders from Naturally Network, a collaborative community that advances and champions the wide-ranging ecosystem that makes up the natural and organic products industry. Alongside Co-Host Steve Hoffman, Compass Coffee Talk Co-Host Bill Capsalis, Executive Director of Naturally Boulder, is joined by his Naturally Network colleagues Eric Schnell, Co-Chair, Naturally New York; Katrina Tolentino, Executive Director, Naturally Network; Jim Slama, Managing Director and Co-Founder, Naturally Chicago; and Ari Raz, President and Board Member, Naturally San Diego.

Originating in Boulder, CO, known to many as the epicenter of the natural products industry, the community grew naturally by the number of innovative companies operating in the area. From an initial seed grant from the city of Boulder, the organization has helped entrepreneurs pursue their dreams and business success thanks to their many networking events, mentorship programs and educational resources available to all in the community. Today, Naturally Network holds chapters in Austin, Bay Area, Boulder, Chicago, North Bay, New York, San Diego and Los Angeles, and continues to grow.

About Eric Schnell
From startup to exit, Eric is a Visionary Disruptor with 25-years experience creating mission-based and purpose-driven products. Eric is the recipient of New Hope Media's 2007 "Sustainable Business of the Year Award" and 6X winner of their Expo NEXTY Awards, 4X annual winner BevNET.com, 2X winner of the Beverage Digest "Best Product of the Year Awards" - and awarded Top 50 Beverage World Magazine "Disruptor".

Since 2012, Eric has served as a Nutrition Capital Network Selection Committee Member & Cornerstone Investor. In 2002, he Co-Founded Steaz, world's first USDA Organic RTD tea brand and positioned it to be a leader today in the beverage category, while establishing a Triple Bottom-Line business model founded on People, Planet & ethical Profitability. In 2015, Eric co-founded mood33, pioneering this new beverage category marketing cannabis infused products to consumers seeking the benefits of this healing plant as well as Good Catch, the first Plant-Based seafood brand to scale globally. ln early 2016, Eric launched the strategic consulting agency BeyondBrands, together with his wife, Eco-Fashion pioneer, Marci Zaroff. BeyondBrands is a "Conscious Products" incubator and accelerator which focuses its Super-Tribe of experts on advising entrepreneurs, CPG brands and VCs in need of developing better-for-you, products in Food, Beverage, Fashion, Beauty, Plant Medicine & Nutraceuticals.

About Katrina Tolentino
Katrina is an award winning executive director and has successfully led and scaled multiple innovative nonprofits. She recently became the Executive Director of the Naturally Network, the national industry hub for the better for you consumer goods community. The Naturally Network has 8 affiliate communities across the country - Austin, Bay Area, Boulder, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, North Bay, and San Diego. Prior to the Naturally Network, Katrina was the Executive Director at Naturally Austin where she launched the M/O Fellowship, a 6-month program that accelerates diverse founders, and the Women in CPG Summit, which became a national Network program in 2022. She was nominated for Startup Leader of the year as part of DivInc's Champions of Change Awards this year and was recognized as a Community Builder honoree on Austin Inno's 50 on Fire in 2021. She is bringing 17 years of experience and expertise in community building and engagement, program development, events, fundraising, and partnerships.

About Jim Slama
Jim Slama is a Solutions-driven leader, early innovator, and connector in the natural products industry. Co-founded Naturally Chicago with CEO’s of industry leaders KeHE, SPINS, and Presence Marketing. Created the Good Food Accelerator, in partnership with Whole Foods Market and worked with numerous early-stage companies to help them grow. Is part of the management team of Fantastic Fungi, Go Grocer, and Tiny But Mighty Foods. Founded FamilyFarmed, a leading non-profit supporting the growth of sustainable food systems.

About Ari Raz
Ari grew up in a household that taught him the value of eating minimally processed food from a young age and decided to make it his life’s mission to make this style of eating more accessible to families across the country. He got his start in CPG in 2015 when he, along with his co-founder Cassandra Curtis, launched Once Upon a Farm, the first cold-pressed refrigerated kids nutrition pouch on the market. In late 2017, Ari and Cassandra joined forces with the powerhouse duo of former Annie's Organic CEO John Foraker and actress Jennifer Garner to launch Once Upon a Farm onto the national stage. From 2017-2021, Ari served as president through its growth from annual sales of +$1mm through +$50mm. In 2021, the cofounders of The Coconut Cult reached out to Ari for strategic advice, and over time asked him to join the team as CEO. Finding the mission, products, and promise of the brand to be aligned with his values, Ari jumped in with both feet and hasn’t looked back since.

About Compass Coffee Talk™
Take a 30-minute virtual coffee break with Compass Coffee Talk™. Hosted by natural industry veterans Bill Capsalis and Steve Hoffman, Coffee Talk features lively interactive conversations with industry leaders and experts designed to help guide entrepreneurs and businesses of any size succeed in the market for natural, organic, regenerative, hemp-derived and other eco-friendly products.

Compass Coffee Talk™ is produced by Compass Natural Marketing, a leading PR, branding and business development agency serving the natural and organic products industry. Learn more.

VIEW OUR PAST COMPASS COFFEE TALK EPISODES ON YOUTUBE.