00;00;06;23 - 00;00;21;03
Speaker 1
Hi. Welcome to Dig in the podcast brought to you by Digg Insights. Every week we interview founders, marketers and researchers from innovative brands to learn how they're approaching their role and their category in a clever way.

00;00;23;03 - 00;00;38;00
Speaker 2
Welcome back to Dig In. This is an exciting episode. We've got Michael Hamm, who's the co-founder and president of Wild Orchards with us. Wild Orchard is a regenerative green tea company. Michael, how are you doing?

00;00;38;27 - 00;00;42;01
Speaker 3
Good. Thanks for having me, Megan. A pleasure to be with you.

00;00;42;19 - 00;00;50;23
Speaker 2
Yeah. And when we had a chance to connect before the interview, I found out you're a fellow Canadian, which is always exciting.

00;00;51;11 - 00;00;53;25
Speaker 3
And a proud Canadian, as we all are.

00;00;55;14 - 00;01;03;03
Speaker 2
Yeah. Sorry. I should be clear, though. You're not based in Canada anymore, but I can't remember. Where are you from? In Canada?

00;01;04;15 - 00;01;20;01
Speaker 3
I was. I was born in Ontario. Moved to Vancouver when I was young, graduated university, started my professional career there. And then a week before 911, I moved to New York City. So good time tonight. Wow.

00;01;20;02 - 00;01;24;01
Speaker 2
I would have been pretty intense. Well, it was.

00;01;24;01 - 00;01;29;02
Speaker 3
A crazy time and it was another world. If you guys couldn't imagine, like, oh.

00;01;29;02 - 00;01;29;07
Speaker 2
I'm.

00;01;29;07 - 00;01;30;24
Speaker 3
Sure the airport, right?

00;01;31;24 - 00;01;58;26
Speaker 2
Oh, my gosh. Yeah. I can only imagine what. It's exciting to have a fellow Canadian on the podcast today. I want to dove right in because we've got loads to cover. We're really excited to have you join us because this is quite a unique business and you've got a really unique background just, you know, starting a CPG company or co-founding a CPG company.

00;01;59;10 - 00;02;09;12
Speaker 2
You come from sort of a wellness tech background. Can you tell us a little bit about your background in tech and kind of what made you join or create wild Orchard?

00;02;10;14 - 00;02;34;11
Speaker 3
Sure. It's much. I mean, people see technology and tea or food or something as ancient as tea being drastically different. But because I pretty much carry the same mission with both companies, it's to me it's it's the same thing. So just a little bit about my background. I was always interested in health and my mother was a nurse.

00;02;34;11 - 00;02;56;18
Speaker 3
She always tried to get us to eat healthy, even though she didn't like her lifestyle. She would work all day long. But so it was kind of ingrained in us. You know, health food is important. Exercise is important. So when it came time to choose my major, I thought, okay, food and exercise. That's how I'm going to impact people's lives positively.

00;02;56;18 - 00;03;33;19
Speaker 3
Right? Help them eat right. Make sure they're active. So I majored in kinesiology. I married into then and for the better part of my career, I've been in the health and wellness field. About ten years ago, I kind of entered the tech field and with smart homes going into homes, automating them and I was at that time, I really came to understand better how much impact our environment had on our health, not only food, not only exercise, but the air we breathe, the water we drink, drink and but fast forward to today.

00;03;33;19 - 00;03;46;25
Speaker 3
Now, you see in the news more and more that air quality issues all around the world. W.H.O. says 99% of air is not acceptable. 99% of the global population do not breathe.

00;03;47;08 - 00;03;49;06
Speaker 2
I didn't know that stat while.

00;03;49;24 - 00;04;16;20
Speaker 3
Most people don't know it. But it's is it because it's invisible, first of all, and then water quality, too. There's no safe tap water. And now studies are showing there is no safe bottled water because microplastics are coming out of the plastics and when we drink bottled water, ingesting them. So, you know, Megan, if I ask you the question, ask hundreds of other people, this question is likely going to be asked.

00;04;16;20 - 00;04;22;11
Speaker 3
So my question is typically, do you know or have any friends or family that have been stricken by cancer?

00;04;23;14 - 00;04;24;00
Speaker 2
Yes.

00;04;24;18 - 00;04;50;22
Speaker 3
Yes. I think if we eat 100 people or whoever is in the audience, if we ask if you took a poll, I would say 90% plus would say yes. And that's unfortunate. And in fact. But why does cancer happen? It's through stress, just like stress from life. Right. Whether it's a traumatic event or just your job or where you are in your life, you're not happy, your marriage, whatever the case.

00;04;50;22 - 00;05;24;13
Speaker 3
Right. Stress has a tremendous impact on health, environmental toxins in our diets. And so when our body cannot handle all of it, that's when our selves start to break down those types of impact that that toxins, they have the negative impact. And then that's how cancer forms, right? So one in two almost get cancer. And so for me, the environmental aspects that contribute to it, the dietary aspects, the being active and connecting to nature, that's why I think all of those things are the same thing to me.

00;05;24;20 - 00;05;29;22
Speaker 3
And that's how I want to make an impact and that's why I am a part of these ventures.

00;05;30;16 - 00;05;44;06
Speaker 2
Yeah, I think you mentioned it. All kinds of stuff. Sorry. It all kind of comes back to the mission of why you're starting these businesses. What was your what was your previous tech business in the wellness space?

00;05;45;21 - 00;05;46;20
Speaker 3
My tech business.

00;05;46;29 - 00;05;49;01
Speaker 2
Yeah. Where did you go before.

00;05;49;01 - 00;06;10;24
Speaker 3
It was revolving around smart homes. So automating lights, the door locks, you know, security system. But and even like home theater and audio systems. But, you know, to me, that was I love technology just since I was a young kid. I loved even when GPS first came up, playing with the maps and all that. But I love it.

00;06;10;24 - 00;06;40;23
Speaker 3
But I still wanted it to find a way where the technology can help improve health. And that's where I kind of went down into the deep dove with air quality and water quality. And now we can use monitoring and hardware to automate indoor air quality so that it's always optimized for human health. Just like you said, a thermostat in Canada, you set it at around 22.5 and then you forget it because you expect your temperature to always be at that level.

00;06;41;03 - 00;06;54;22
Speaker 3
Now we have the capability of setting the air quality in the Green Zone, and if you have the proper equipment, it'll always keep it in the Green Zone. So your family is actually not negatively impacted by these environmental factors.

00;06;56;09 - 00;07;21;25
Speaker 2
Very cool. And I know that, you know, you kind of see this as all kind of connected to the wellness space, which it absolutely is. You know, your previous experience and then your time, not one or two. But I'm wondering kind of what you learned from the years you spent working in the technology space that you brought to your your new business.

00;07;22;13 - 00;07;45;00
Speaker 3
I see. I see. Yeah, that's a great question. So it's hard to pinpoint one thing, but if there's anything I would say that I was a huge asset or benefit working in the tech field, you have to network a lot. I mean, I guess this is applicable across all industries, but in the tech field you have hardware, you have software.

00;07;45;00 - 00;08;06;25
Speaker 3
So you're always going into different areas. You have to build relationships and you have to find a way to bring value to each other. You have to make it a win win, right? So to be able to grow your business, you have to always consider what is that person's needs? How can I fill that? And then how can I share my needs?

00;08;06;25 - 00;08;22;09
Speaker 3
And we can help each other. And I think in the tech industry, especially as tech advances so quickly, those types of opportunities were really out there. And I think I've taken a lot of that into the CPG space. So that's that's certainly helped a lot.

00;08;23;14 - 00;08;38;24
Speaker 2
Yeah, that's really interesting. I wasn't expecting you to say that, but that's very true in terms of building a business strategy or any of the sort of strategic elements. Would you say that it's all the same regardless of what industry you're working in?

00;08;39;12 - 00;09;02;29
Speaker 3
The large scope is the same, and then per industry you have your nuanced areas where it's very specific to that area. Just going back to your previous question that the major benefit of being in two industries is if you're only in one, you typically go down that rabbit hole of doing things the way things have always been done.

00;09;03;12 - 00;09;25;23
Speaker 3
Whereas if you're part of two separate industries that have their own nuances, you can actually cross apply certain things that have worked. And I think that's a huge, huge asset because I heard someone yesterday speak on a podcast and they were saying Most conferences are so boring because you have someone in their cubicle and they start talking about just what they know.

00;09;25;23 - 00;09;51;11
Speaker 3
And then you go down that rabbit hole and they are only giving you a one dimensional look into things. And he said that the best conferences are where people are working in a cubicle, but they stand up and they look around and see what everyone else is doing and they kind of take their work and put it in perspective of the whole so that when they speak, they don't they give it a much more much more context.

00;09;51;11 - 00;10;05;16
Speaker 3
Right. And holistic viewpoint of their work because it's within the holistic perspective. I think it's the same thing with working in multiple different industries. You can actually bring a lot of that too to the table.

00;10;05;16 - 00;10;33;24
Speaker 2
Yeah, that's so interesting. Like that multidisciplinary approach. I'm just we were just at a research and insight conference and I can imagine, you know, obviously client site researchers come to the conference and there's insights suppliers there. But I can just imagine if we were to bring in, I don't know, like a user research element or maybe more like a marketing lens that could make it even more interesting because there's more business context.

00;10;33;24 - 00;10;55;18
Speaker 2
So I totally get what you mean there. That's that's a really interesting perspective. Okay. I could probably continue talking about that all day. I find that really fascinating. But I do want to dove into Wild Orchard a little bit. Can you tell me what's happening? What made you start Wild Orchard? What's happening in the market right now?

00;10;56;14 - 00;11;24;12
Speaker 3
Okay, so why did we start a wild orchard? Obviously, there's a health crisis right now. The nutrient density in foods are 40% less. And like one apple today and you compare it to in an apple 30, 40 years ago, the nutrient value of it is considerably less. It's in the 30 percentile, which is tremendous. So if you're paying for two apples, would you not want something that's more nutrient dense?

00;11;24;26 - 00;11;53;08
Speaker 3
Right. So that's one of the big issues of industrial farming today. So it's one area where I thought we could really make an impact on any given day. Half of the U.S. population drinks tea in some form or another. So it's why it's a widely consumed product where we came into the business with a mission to provide the healthiest teas, which mean teased, grown in the healthy soil.

00;11;53;08 - 00;12;23;12
Speaker 3
And then we wanted to be more innovative because the tea category has been very stagnant. Like, Megan, you go to the super supermarket and go to the tea section. It's probably been the same or looks the same as if you went ten years ago. There's not a lot of innovation. It's the same commodity produced teas from certain countries and you don't really see premium high teas on the shelf.

00;12;23;12 - 00;12;45;06
Speaker 3
So when we started the company, we're like, Let's bring tea to another level. Let's give people access to an elevated tea product that's going to be great for their health, their taste buds, but also for the planet. Because when you cultivate teas or any crop for that matter, regenerative li, you're actually taking care of the health of the soil.

00;12;45;17 - 00;13;13;09
Speaker 3
That soil, when it has a greater healthy microbiome, is more capable of pulling carbon from the air. So you're reversing climate change and there's just so many benefits. A whole hour I could talk about the benefits, but that's really our mission. We wanted to make teas that are elevated in flavor, better for your health, and then doing something to improve the climate and our environment.

00;13;14;12 - 00;13;45;02
Speaker 2
Okay, very cool. It's funny, we I think it was yesterday actually I recorded a podcast is not out yet, although it may be out at the time this one goes live. But it was with the founder of Tudou Lu, which is a trail mix company. And they're really focused on regenerative, regenerative agriculture as well. So I got schooled a little bit in a great way in the episode yesterday and she said the exact same thing.

00;13;45;02 - 00;14;16;09
Speaker 2
She said, I could talk about this, you know, forever. Why it's it's so necessary and so important for for us to care about this essentially. And I always think that I mean, I completely agree. And I think that anyone who who heard about what's going on with sort of industrial farming and and regenerative agriculture would care. But I wonder to what extent we think consumers are willing to pay a premium for a mission like that.

00;14;16;17 - 00;14;37;17
Speaker 2
How how do you guys think about promoting your mission versus promoting maybe the taste or benefits of your tea or the health benefits of your tea? Do you put your mission right there on the package? Yeah. What is that sort of balance for you guys?

00;14;37;28 - 00;15;06;19
Speaker 3
That's great. And a lot of companies, they kind of hold the balance between those things in their own way. For us, you know, people have a limited attention span, so you can't do everything right. So we want to do a bit of everything at opportune times. But I mean, the numbers say it. A recent study says that 62% of consumers in the U.S., I don't know why they don't say North America, but it's always U.S., right.

00;15;07;02 - 00;15;08;13
Speaker 2
So don't worry.

00;15;10;04 - 00;15;34;07
Speaker 3
I'm speaking as a Canadian. But anyways, 62% of consumers take into account a brand's position on sustainability when they decide to purchase a product which is gone, gone up tremendously. And the biggest driver are younger people, millennials and Gen Z. So to me, when I see that, it really bodes well for the future because consumers are starting to pay with their dollars.

00;15;34;07 - 00;15;57;19
Speaker 3
It doesn't matter what policy you set, as long as the consumers are paying for their dollars, policy will follow suit, right? It's not the other way around. So, so like just one example is women's voting rights. It's not like policy was set and then it happened. There was a constant struggle and fight for it. And a certain point they had to cave in and it became policy.

00;15;57;28 - 00;16;22;03
Speaker 3
So there's, you know, it's a similar similar lines with with our mission. So we do want to convey our mission because we want to cater to people and we want them to be able to trust in our brand. That's that's a very key component of why we do what we do. And then during COVID, what happened, everyone is now thinking about their health, right?

00;16;22;04 - 00;16;41;20
Speaker 3
Yeah, totally. So we people are looking for, okay, how is this product going to help me live healthier? So we also want to include that. So it's a fine line. I don't think we can say this over that, but it's a matter of how do we fit it in where it can be digestible.

00;16;41;20 - 00;17;06;21
Speaker 2
Yeah, absolutely. And with Wild Orchard specifically, I mean, I wish I wish I wasn't asking such a naive question, but do you have specific specifically competitors within the tea space that are doing what you guys are doing with regenerative agriculture? Or do you guys kind of see yourselves pioneering this space? What is the competitive landscape look like?

00;17;07;12 - 00;17;30;10
Speaker 3
So the tea category as a whole is extreme competitive, maybe not as competitive as ice cream, but if you go to your retailer, you're just going to see so many brands, right? So as a whole is very competitive. But I mentioned to you before, we want to disrupt the tea industry. There has been you won't see any international Tea Award winning brands on their shelf.

00;17;30;19 - 00;17;57;23
Speaker 3
They're mostly commodity, right? So we want to be the first RLC Regenerative organic certification arts are the first to get rock and only right now for the Camellia Sinensis plant. And so exactly. We want to pioneer this movement. We want to influence and motivate and inspire other tea brands who have a mission to make a greater impact on people and the planet.

00;17;58;01 - 00;18;29;03
Speaker 3
We want them to kind of look at regenerative as a great, great collective solution for the greatest problem crises of our time. And as you said, we you know, it's hard to say that we're pioneers, but we are in the beginning stages of that for that movement, for the tea industry. So we do want to set a great example and we want to be very embracing everyone and educating them and encouraging them to join this movement.

00;18;29;03 - 00;18;59;02
Speaker 2
Amazing. I mean, I spoke to a must have been almost a year ago now. I spoke to someone who works in fashion retail on the podcast, and she was talking about how challenging it is for fashion retailers to switch to more sort of sustainable production. Again, kind of a naive question, why is it that people that, you know, maybe all of those competitors that you talked about themselves, like, why are they not interested in switching?

00;18;59;02 - 00;19;03;11
Speaker 2
Is it a supply chain issue? Is it like they would have to? Yes, you're nodding your head. Okay.

00;19;03;26 - 00;19;28;19
Speaker 3
So a lot of tea companies, they source from multiple farms. Right. And so what happens is to get each farm certified, it's just very difficult. Why? It's why? Well, why it was easier for us is because we we are single farm stores, right. Direct. Farm direct. So we were able to help them navigate through everything. Everything was English.

00;19;28;19 - 00;19;41;22
Speaker 3
We helped them translate everything. So it was for if you're going to do that with ten farms or if your brand is sourcing from 100 farms, it's like very, very challenging. I think that's one of the big roadblocks, you know.

00;19;42;10 - 00;19;54;14
Speaker 2
Okay, that makes sense. And switching gears a little bit, we in a previous conversation, we talked about accessibility and how that's super important to your brand. Why is that so core to your mission?

00;19;55;25 - 00;20;35;28
Speaker 3
Well, we think that because our keys are cultivated regenerative lead, that if more people consume it, it's better for their own personal health contributing to the climate crisis positively. So we want to make it as accessible as possible. Doesn't matter where you are, what country you're from, what socioeconomic status you are. We want to have a product that can contribute to your health and then by you consuming that, in effect, it's going to build our collective power to reverse climate change.

00;20;36;07 - 00;21;01;25
Speaker 3
And we're just one tea brand doing regenerative. So then it's working together, supporting other regenerative brands in other food categories or drink categories. And we're all working together with that similar mission of making our products accessible, affordable, so that we can make impact at scale. And that's that's really the main reason why we want to do that.

00;21;01;25 - 00;21;22;19
Speaker 2
And we also talked about how you've got big plans to have wilder teas and Michelin star restaurants. And I remember we kind of laughed the last time we chatted because it was like, oh, you know, accessibility on one hand. But then, you know, Michelin stars almost this exclusive club. Like, how did those two things go hand in hand for you?

00;21;23;05 - 00;21;48;25
Speaker 3
So you're right. Michelin star is not totally accessible. It's it's only available for a few. But let me tell you where I'm getting at here. So we were just so fortunate. We we were accepted by Noma at their New York pop up. Our teas were selected there. That number one restaurant last year. There are three star Michelin. So at the top of the top, the chef recipe is world renowned.

00;21;49;08 - 00;22;00;04
Speaker 3
So that gave us so much confidence. So then I started reaching out to other three star Michelin and we're actually talking to several and we've done tastings and they love it. So we're talking.

00;22;00;04 - 00;22;04;05
Speaker 2
About so it's not just it's not just plans. You guys are it's.

00;22;04;10 - 00;22;34;23
Speaker 3
We're in the middle of it. So we are. So we're talking about a co-branded wild lordship, plus the chef some so and so a co-branded so. And then we're going to have tea bags which are less than $10. Right. So if someone really wants to incorporate healthy tea into their lifestyle, they can do so. But how great is it for someone to buy a tea and say, yeah, this is a tea brand that's also in the mission and so one day I'm going to go to that restaurant or I'm going to try that tea.

00;22;35;00 - 00;22;55;18
Speaker 3
So we want to create excitement around tea and we want to get people excited and we want people to feel like, Oh yeah, this brand is all over the place. You know, people love to be a part of have brand name stuff, but most of the stuff, if it's luxury bags, it's way out of the price point, right?

00;22;55;18 - 00;23;04;03
Speaker 3
Like Louis Vuitton or whatever. But with tea, we want to elevate the quality of the tea, but still have a sub10 Bel Air product that anyone can access.

00;23;05;14 - 00;23;34;03
Speaker 2
Very cool. I'm excited too. I mean, I don't dine in Michelin star restaurants very often, but if and when I do, I'll make sure to take a look for your teas on the menu. You and we've got a few more questions before we wrap up. But I before we get onto our rapid fire questions, I did want to ask you what what's next for you guys other than those continued conversations with a few other Michelin star players?

00;23;34;18 - 00;23;39;21
Speaker 2
Are you guys looking at any sort of product innovation and what's on the roadmap?

00;23;40;18 - 00;24;10;21
Speaker 3
Sure. So we're about to come out with our tea bag line, the Sub10 other products very soon. In the next couple of months, they'll be available on Amazon and our DTC site. We're starting to strategize and map out our retail roadmap. So we've Wholefoods got in touch with us recently there for a year we sent in samples. So we hope to start our retail journey in our backyard of New York with about 50 to 100 stores.

00;24;11;08 - 00;24;40;04
Speaker 3
And we want to get a lot more press. I think a few well-known outlets have shown interest in writing an article about our connection with Michelin star restaurants. So that'll get us a lot of press, get people to get in better kind of understand our brand and what we're about. And then, yeah, next year, by the end of next year, I hope to be in many more regions throughout the US.

00;24;40;04 - 00;25;14;29
Speaker 3
And of course I want to bring our teas up into my home country of Canada. So I've got a reason to travel up to Canada, right? So sometime next year and have it available there. But one product and one thing when when we talk about accessibility, there are even people that can't afford a $10 key product. Right? So what we're trying to do right now is partner with some nonprofits like food banks or nutritional educational courses for the poor, the underprivileged, underprivileged communities.

00;25;14;29 - 00;25;35;15
Speaker 3
And we want to partner with them. We want to do tastings. We want to educate them about how to incorporate it in their lifestyle, make some donations and things like that. And that brings our accessibility full circle, right? So the philanthropy kind of element to it. And then we're, you know, we're going to have a bottle tea product.

00;25;35;20 - 00;25;51;21
Speaker 3
So to do that, you need to brew the two tea leaves, most bottled tea leaves like Snapple, like you just name any bottled tea, they brew it. But what do you think happens to the tea leaves, Megan? Will they either?

00;25;51;23 - 00;25;55;18
Speaker 2
Yeah, I would just imagine. Yeah, I was going to say, I would imagine they get dumped.

00;25;55;28 - 00;26;17;02
Speaker 3
They're mostly getting dumped. Or if they're thoughtful about it, they'll put it into compost, which means at least it's being put to good use. Right. And our teas are world class. So to throw away those tea leaves is just it's not possible. I would never like that. And so for two years we've been wondering how can we save these precious tea leaves from the from even going into compost?

00;26;17;02 - 00;26;38;26
Speaker 3
Right. So we found a way we found a partner that can dry them even at a greater level than freeze dry, freeze dried. You still have about 10% moisture. This is like oh, or 5% moisture. This is bringing it down to like 2% moisture. So it's extremely dry, but it's going to contain all the nutrients of the tea leaf.

00;26;39;04 - 00;26;50;02
Speaker 3
98, 99% will be locked in. And we're creating tea flakes. Crystal flakes, so you can sprinkle these on your salad. I always joke when you have.

00;26;50;02 - 00;26;51;15
Speaker 2
Them, this is so cool.

00;26;51;15 - 00;27;16;10
Speaker 3
You can you can sprinkle on even your Big Mac and you'll elevate the nutrient value of your Big Mac. So so that product, because it's an upcycled product, it's going to be cheap. Well, I can't say cheap, but because it's relative rich everybody. Right. But we're going to be able to bring to market a relatively low cost product that has a super high nutritional value.

00;27;16;10 - 00;27;29;11
Speaker 3
And all you have to do is sprinkle it salad, soups, your food in your water, and when you consume it, you're going to get all the benefits of the antioxidant ins and all the great things that come out of tea.

00;27;29;18 - 00;27;35;10
Speaker 2
So we're really will it be flavored like the tea or does the flavor is that flavor gone at that point?

00;27;35;10 - 00;27;56;25
Speaker 3
So that's the thing, because it was brewed already, it's actually almost flavorless. So it's not going to if you put it in your smoothie, it's not going to overpower the existing fruits. So it's a it's a great, great way to add nutrition, nutritional value and build your health each day.

00;27;57;16 - 00;28;15;28
Speaker 2
That's so cool. I'm so t flakes. I didn't know that was going to come out of this conversation, but very, very cool. Okay. I have a few questions we ask to each person who joins us. Megan, you gained double your budget tomorrow. What would you spend it on?

00;28;17;02 - 00;28;43;02
Speaker 3
Oh, that'd be a very welcome event. So I believe that the most important asset and a company are the people. So I would probably use a large portion of it to build out our team, people who align with our culture, our mission, who are passionate, who are going to move the needle. And yeah, I would spend the majority of that on people.

00;28;44;24 - 00;29;00;29
Speaker 2
Are there any people specifically like in terms of any gaps on your team? I'm thinking like, is it like is it new business? Isn't marketing, is it innovation or R&D? Like what kind of people would you be looking for? What kind of roles would you give?

00;29;01;04 - 00;29;28;14
Speaker 3
Every team is going to have either tool. Okay, so we have a small team of five, six people and everyone has their strengths and expertize. So where we don't have expertize, our strategy is really to outsource to people in the CPG industry that can provide a lot of value. So those are like Amazon accounts, how to maximize sales, you know, retail, we don't have a lot of experience in retail.

00;29;28;14 - 00;30;03;26
Speaker 3
So hiring someone who can get our get our products into more retailers and also stock our products on the shelves, make sure they're not empty, things like that that we're not used to like. Our team will go out to the stores and do demos and interact with our community and try to get people to try our product. But there are certain areas where we don't have the expertize, so we would outsource it, but we would only outsource it to people that once again are aligned with our philosophy that understand regenerative and and we're aligned and moving in the same direction.

00;30;03;26 - 00;30;14;25
Speaker 3
We're not just going to look at someone. They do a great job for this company A, B and C. They really have to understand what we're trying to do and we want to do it together right.

00;30;14;25 - 00;30;21;18
Speaker 2
Awesome. And the inverse question, if you lost half of your budget, what would you do? What would have to go?

00;30;22;04 - 00;30;46;04
Speaker 3
Oh, that's an easy answer. It would cut everything out except for our people, because I don't it because when we bring on people like it's a huge process, we've got to find out if they're a good fit. They align with our mission. They join and they choose us because they believe in the mission to all of us and cut them out and let them go because our budget was cut in half.

00;30;46;10 - 00;30;56;22
Speaker 3
That would be the last thing I would want. So I try to look at everything else versus expenses, you know, cogs in the you name it. Yeah.

00;30;58;05 - 00;31;05;04
Speaker 2
And what's the coolest new food or beverage product that you've seen on the market? It's other than Wild Orchard, of course.

00;31;05;21 - 00;31;37;28
Speaker 3
Yeah. So I. You should start following these folks. They're from Canada. Quebec. It's a, it's a chocolate company called Midday Squares. And one of the founders co-founders there is Jake Carls. If you follow him, you'll be entertained, you'll be wowed, you'll get insight into the entrepreneurial journey. He's just fabulous and he's turned into a friend. So wonderful, wonderful guy, co-founders, their whole team.

00;31;39;04 - 00;32;05;05
Speaker 3
There's a regenerative ice cream brand. Alex Ice cream elite. See, they're the first regenerative brand, so they really care. Similar mission to us, really care about people's health. The planetary health. So check them out there on the West Coast and they're starting and we're actually trying to collaborate with them with our rock Red Rock Teas. So we sent them our matcha powders.

00;32;05;05 - 00;32;26;18
Speaker 3
So he's trying to come up with the matcha ice cream. So if he uses are certified. So we're looking forward to that collaboration and hope it pans out. But that's an excellent, excellent ice cream. That's how I know how the ice cream category is so crowded, he told me how bad it is. Right. So it's inspiring also to see someone like him.

00;32;26;27 - 00;32;38;28
Speaker 3
Similar mission to us in a crowded category, trying to elevate the quality. Right. And the mission. And then. Yeah, I mean, those are two that stand out in my mind right now.

00;32;39;22 - 00;32;51;10
Speaker 2
All right, cool. Michael, this is awesome. So interesting, so educational. Where can people find Wild Orchard and where can they connect with you?

00;32;51;10 - 00;33;15;22
Speaker 3
So we would love for anyone listening to try our teas. Our website is Wild Orchard dot com not orchid a lot of people sometimes things like that but it's Wild Orchard dot com and then we're on all the majors, Instagram, Tik Tok, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and under a Wild Orchard tea or Wild Orchard Teas so you can follow us.

00;33;15;22 - 00;33;34;11
Speaker 3
We try to give a lot of the scenes of the farm how our farmers are cultivating. We want that transparency. That's the only way to build trust with their community when they can see the people that are growing their trees care so much about human and planetary health, they can buy in and say, Wow, this is a brand that I can trust.

00;33;34;11 - 00;33;45;07
Speaker 3
So please, if you are on any of these networks, please tag us or follow us. And we are honored to have you in our community meeting.

00;33;45;07 - 00;33;50;04
Speaker 2
I'll talk to you soon, Michael, and see you guys next week for another episode of again.

00;33;50;04 - 00;33;52;08
Speaker 3
Thanks so much. It's been a pleasure. Thanks, Megan.

00;33;52;08 - 00;33;57;20
Speaker 2
Thanks.

00;33;57;20 - 00;34;04;20
Speaker 1
Thanks for tuning in this week. Find us on LinkedIn at Digg Insights. And don't forget to hit subscribe for a weekly dose of fresh content.