#101 - Brady Barnstable @ Seven Sundays - Regenerating Cereal Supply Chains Without Marketing Claims

Episode Recap:

ReGen Brands Recap #101 - Regenerating Cereal Supply Chains Without Marketing Claims - (RECAP LINK)

Episode Transcript:

Disclaimer: This transcript was generated with AI and is not 100% accurate.

Kyle Krull - 00:00:13
Welcome to the ReGen Brands Podcast. This is a place for brands, retailers, investors, and other food system stakeholders to learn about the consumer brands supporting regenerative agriculture and how they're changing the world. This is your host, Kyle, joined by my cohost, AC, who's gonna take us into the

Anthony Corsaro - 00:00:34
episode. On this episode, we're joined by Brady Barnstable, Co-Founder and COO of Seven Sundays. Seven Sundays is a breakfast brand on a mission to restore human and planetary health, one cereal bowl at a time. Brady takes us back to the early days of muesli inspiration in New Zealand, which inspired he and his wife, Hannah, to leave fast paced careers in New York City and bootstrap a new CPG brand. We get deep into the hard realities of sourcing regenerative and upcycled ingredients, the missing middle of processing infrastructure, and what it takes to scale a direct trade program at the farm level. Brady also shares how Seven Sundays has resisted the temptation to certify and shout, instead focusing on building long term meaningful grower relationships and systems level impact. You'll hear why they're bullish on sunflowers, oats, and sorghum in the Midwest, how they're navigating club and conventional retail, and what their new come a field with us campaign is doing to bring consumers along their regenerative journey. This episode is packed with candid insight, supply chain wisdom, and big picture optimism. Let's get into it. What's up, everybody? Welcome back to another episode of the ReGen Brands Podcast.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:01:34
Very excited today to have our friend, Brady, from Seven Sundays joining us. So welcome, Brady.

Brady Barnstable - 00:01:51
Hey. Thanks for having me.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:01:53
Absolutely, man. Thanks for being here. And for those that regularly listen to the show, this is where Kyle is usually talking and asking the first question. He's not here with us today. But, Brady, we'll ask you the same question that we ask folks who always are joining us. Just anyone who's not familiar with Seven Sundays, give us a little overview of the brand. What do you guys make, and where can people find your products today?

Brady Barnstable - 00:02:14
Yeah. Seven Sundays is a, a cereal brand. We've been around for a while, actually, since 2011 is when we got started. Yeah. Originally made muesli exclusively for, like, the first eight years of our business, which, you know, we can get into the history of muesli at some point. But, we pit we pivoted in 2020, to other ancillary categories of the cereal aisle, but still very much, a breakfast brand. We now make, granolas. We make, protein oats. We make sunflower cereals and oat cereals that are kind of reminiscent of your your your childhood favorites, only, using pretty unique ingredients like upcycled oat protein and sunflower protein.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:03:03
Mhmm.

Brady Barnstable - 00:03:04
And most recently, a sorghum crispy cereal that, is made with, like, a flaked sorghum that we're, really excited about. Kinda gives you that, like, snap, crackle, pop feeling, from when you were a kid. Yeah. Only it's like a a a single ingredient flake, so super clean ingredients. We and we, only sweeten with the bees and the trees. So, that's, you know, just sweetened with cocoa and date syrup and honey and, you know, things that come from nature. We're pretty, we're pretty adamant about the, the way that we flavor and, and the ingredients that we put in it, the the level of sweetness.

Brady Barnstable - 00:03:36
I think that's what we're most known for in the marketplace

Anthony Corsaro - 00:03:53
Mhmm.

Brady Barnstable - 00:03:53
At the consumer level is really solid taste, ingredients you can trust, only only real ingredients. And so that's kind of where we've made a name for ourselves in a category that is kind of known for the opposite of of all of those things.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:04:13
Yeah. No. That's great, man. And it's no surprise to me that given all of that, you guys have leaned into both regenerative ag and upcycled, because I think they're kind of natural next steps when you are committed to the things that you just listed off.

Brady Barnstable - 00:04:27
Totally.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:04:28
So excited to dive into all that. I'm also excited to kinda nerd out on the cereal or breakfast category with you. I'm really interested to to have you maybe dive more in-depth into kind of the various products that are made by you all now and how you, you know, came to be there. Sure. But take us back in time. I believe from the website, this was inspired by a trip to New Zealand. Your wife and you fell in love with the the Muesli there, and then y'all launched in 2011. Take us back to the original kind of foundation of the brand.

Brady Barnstable - 00:04:58
Yeah. So so, yeah, that's the that's the website short version. You did your homework, and that that definitely was a a turning point in Hannah and I's, lives and career paths. Hannah's my my life partner, and business partner. She's CEO and founder. I'm COO and Co-Founder of the brand. And and, yes, we did first have Muesli when we were on our honeymoon in New Zealand. We were both working really fast paced, intense jobs in New York City.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:05:35
She

Brady Barnstable - 00:05:35
was in finance. I was in environmental consulting. Not where I really expected to end up, in kind of this really fast paced breakneck environment where tight timelines didn't really feel like you were kind of adding a lot of value in the world. Didn't feel like, you know, it was aligned with with my passion or hers. Mhmm. So we took this break in New Zealand. It was a super inspirational place. It was you you felt very connected to both nature, and the food that you were eating, the people that you met. Everything just felt very real, felt very connected.

Brady Barnstable - 00:06:06
And I actually grew up, you know, surrounded by farmland, you know, in Central Illinois, very rural upbringing. I and I didn't feel that there, which is interesting to me. Like, it's where it's like where most of the farmland is. And, you know, even though a lot of, like, summer jobs were spent, like, bailing hay and, you know, you're kind of, like, you know, surrounded by cornfields, my my grandparents had a farm that we would visit very regularly. So I was like, I was there. I was present in that environment, but I was never super drawn to it.

Brady Barnstable - 00:06:48
I was never passionate about it, and I never felt very connected to it. So, you know, it took and I even went to I I even went to school at the University of Illinois

Anthony Corsaro - 00:07:07
Yeah.

Brady Barnstable - 00:07:07
In the in the agricultural space. It was, ancillary. They kept it very separate, which is also interesting to me, but it was like the agricultural college, and I was in the natural resources environmental science space, because that you know, so as I grew older, I, you know, I was that's sort of where I found I was, you know, sort of most interested in that kind of biological science space. Like, understanding the natural world was what was really kind of, you know, driving me. And so, interesting that, like, it took this trip to New Zealand, for me and Hannah, you know, to to really feel connected, to, you know, the food and this this breakfast that we were eating every day, which was, which was muesli. Yeah. This really super unprocessed whole ingredient, dried dried fruits, nuts, seeds, like, tastes delicious. Like, how have you never heard of this?

Brady Barnstable - 00:07:54
Come back to the and and and also, like, gave us kind of the space and time that we hadn't really taken. It was a it was like a six week stint, between December or early December through, like, early January. They're they're summertime in New Zealand. And, it took that, like, space and time away from our jobs to realize, like, okay. We need to we need to make a change here. Ultimately, it was just about, like, wanting to make a a difference.

Brady Barnstable - 00:08:31
We just sort of felt the need to do something different and do something that felt like we were making a difference. And it wasn't necessarily in that moment, like, oh, we're gonna start a muesli company. That that part, like, was a slower rollout where, like, you know, we came back, you know, started our lives, but we were still back in New York. Where do we wanna live? Where do we wanna raise a family? And what kind of business do we wanna start?

Brady Barnstable - 00:08:55
But it kinda for Hannah, it kept coming back to food because she had this really in this her passion and what, you know, really drives her is around, you know, the food system in America is is really messed up. The way we make food, the way we grow fruit, how disconnected it all is Yeah. How it's making us all sick. All of these things, kinda really make her like, drive her. And then and then, of course, I come at it from, like, the the the the planet health standpoint. And the unique thing about the food space is, like, we're uniquely positioned to tackle both the people health and Planet Health problem kinda all in one, and that, you know, that's sort of, you know, where we have this, like, intersection, and that's where now the mission of Seven Sundays and the the brand has kind of evolved past, like, just wanting to bring muesli to The US, in a bigger way into this, like, how do we change the cereal aisle?

Brady Barnstable - 00:09:33
How do we change the food system as a whole to restore people and planet health?

Anthony Corsaro - 00:10:09
Yeah. And I think it's hard probably for most people listening to this to think back to 2011 and the state of the cereal aisle at that point, which in most conventional grocery stores, it still has a long ways to go. But even in the natural channel, I'm sure and and I I can kind of remember the amount of options was still severely limited. I mean, you you would know better than I, and I'd love for you to speak to that. What what was that what was that journey like of figuring out, okay. Like, you know, we wanna live here. We wanna be in this type of business.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:10:31
So we think it's food. We're inspired by the New Zealand muesli to, like, okay. There's an actual category opportunity here to, like, start a brand with this type of a product in in this industry.

Brady Barnstable - 00:10:49
Yeah. If if I were to think back, you know, where our heads were at in those those early years, it was it was really all about, you know, muesli, a product. Yeah. Like, kind of we saw an opportunity in that category. We saw what was happening with, you know, healthier granola. You know, even, like, the Greek yogurt craze was happening at the time, and there was a sense or we had a sense that muesli being, you know, kind of a lower sugar, less processed version of granola was really about to take off. And so we were kind of, you know, leaning into that product as, like, our entry point into the cereal aisle. And to some extent, that did happen.

Brady Barnstable - 00:11:29
It just didn't. It wasn't happening fast enough, to it it didn't happen overnight. It's sort it's still happening. Like, our we still have our four original muesli recipes. Actually, I think we swapped one, and we're we're gluten free now. We didn't start as gluten free.

Brady Barnstable - 00:11:52
So there's been some adjustments that have been made, but, you know, we're still seeing, you know, 10 to 15% growth on those muesli product lines today. Wow. It's just it was wasn't enough to, like, support the bigger mission that we had to change the serial out because we were still

Anthony Corsaro - 00:12:16
Mhmm.

Brady Barnstable - 00:12:16
Getting positioned on the, you know, the bottom shelf, you know, with, you know, the the Alpens, the Swiss familias, the the Bob's Red Mill, you know, muesli, which is what basically the category that's really all that exists today. I mean, there's been some people that have kind of come in and out of that muesli space, but, we we always like to say we are the we are the the tallest midget of the, you know, the the the the muse the muesli, category, which is pretty small.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:12:49
That's that's interesting to me because when I look at the product portfolio today and I wrote down, you know, and you've you listed off oats, granola, cereals, muesli, and then the little crispies. I think you're you're you would put that in cereals, but to me, it was, like, almost like a separate thing.

Brady Barnstable - 00:13:03
Yeah.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:13:04
And as just a guy who grew up in the American Midwest just like you, it's like when I think about those products, I kind of know exactly what I do with all of them besides muesli. So, like, there's the Yeah. There's the least familiarity for the average American consumer there, I would assume.

Brady Barnstable - 00:13:19
A %. Yep.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:13:21
But but there is also this this could just be my bias, but, like, they're all so similar. There's, like, not that much difference between them, but then I'm sure you also have your consumers where it's like, okay. Oats, I'm, like, making oatmeal with hot water, and I'm eating them like this. Cereal, I'm obviously, like, putting it with milk, and I'm eating it like that. How how do you guys think about that when you, like, think about how you develop products or market products, like, in that category overall?

Brady Barnstable - 00:13:49
Well, yeah, I'm glad you brought that up, because that awareness piece that, you know, what do I do with this product, like, once it once it's in my pantry?

Anthony Corsaro - 00:13:58
Yeah.

Brady Barnstable - 00:13:59
You know, the the it our our theory was that, like, you know, this this muesli product, even though there was that, you know, less familiar familiarity to it, and less awareness around it, it was still, you know, the best cereal that you could eat and put in your body that's gonna, like, leave you feel feeling full. It it tastes if you do prepare it the right way, it tastes delicious. And then and we were also establishing our brand, and we were, you know, we were learning the ropes of the the food supply chain and unwinding the the the the supply chain to have more transparency. And muesli was a great product for us looking back to get started with because we didn't have food industry experience. Yeah. Coming in, I mean, an environmental consultant and a finance person, like, I mean, they they play a role now, but, like, starting a a food brand, like, we we had no idea what we were doing. And there's a lot of things we still don't know.

Brady Barnstable - 00:14:58
But it was like this MBA of, like, how do you start a food brand and stepping in, like, every pitfall that you could possibly imagine along the way, those first eight years, and starting a family. We have three kids at home and all these things. But in at a certain point to you know, back to your point of, like, the lack of awareness, we realized, you know, in order to really make change in the cereal aisle and the food system at large, like, we need to meet our consumers where they're at with products that still have the same clean ingredients, same value proposition that we brought with the muesli, but let's bring it in a format that they don't have to think about it. It's just either grabbing it right out of the bag and eating it like a granola or a cereal or just I'm gonna pour milk on it and go. Like, there's zero thought. And that's that was sort of a a shift that probably took us a little like, we were pretty stubborn, in those early days too.

Brady Barnstable - 00:15:48
Like, you know, we're we're gonna keep pushing, keep pushing. But at a certain point, like, there was a tipping point where we were like, we need to we need to pivot here. And and it's about the brand and growing the brand trust over time, not about a specific product per se. So that's when we felt we had the, we had the customer loyalty. We had sort of built these early adopters who really cared about these things. We had a mission behind our brand. We had retailer relationships and farmer relationships.

Brady Barnstable - 00:16:23
Like, let's just bring those pieces together, all those learnings from those first eight years, and let's, now let's meet the consumer where they're at, with you know, hit them with a something that tastes like a Cocoa Puff, and, you know, has the familiarity of that, but we're gonna make it with totally different ingredients.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:16:53
Alright, team. Quick interruption to let you know that we are extremely close to our goal of $25,000 for this very first fundraising campaign. We're so close y'all. We only have a couple weeks left. So to those of you that have donated and participated, thank you very much. To those of you that have not, we would greatly appreciate you considering and making it a donation. There are some pretty cool fun perks. Alright? Any donation over $10, that's our minimum donation amount, you'll be included in our community call, which is happening in a number of days since this episode comes out.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:17:17
So make sure you go note donate quickly so we can get you invited to that celebration. If you can make a recurring monthly donation of at least $25, you'll be entered to win a regenerative product price packed valued at over $1,000. Okay? That's a pretty epic deal. Alright? And then if you make a one time donation over a hundred dollars, you'll be entered for a chance to win a force of nature grill master box, which is a over $300 value of regenerative meat coming your way if you are selected as the winner.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:17:44
So if you can, if you value what we do, we would greatly appreciate your financial support. You can visit donate.regen-brands.combackslashpodcast to make a donation. That's donate.regen-brands.combackslashpodcast to make a donation. Thanks so much. I think that's, like, the best Trojan horse for sustainability regeneration.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:18:09
All these things we're trying to accomplish is, making products that are very familiar to the consumer where they don't feel like they're trading off whatever that typical experience is. But it's has a way better LOI, it has way better nutrition, has a way better sustainability portfolio. I think there's a lot of opportunity in that, and we've seen that across a lot of the the brands we've kinda studied or or talked to on on the show. You mentioned the supply chain. I would love to talk about that, and maybe that'll lead us to kind of the agricultural piece. Sounds like there are some major hurdles there upfront, which is not shocking. Okay. Was it really hard to just find the right ingredients?

Anthony Corsaro - 00:18:51
Was it really hard to to find the right commands? I mean, you guys are doing direct trade now. Like, just unpack some of the supply chain complexity at the beginning and kinda where some of those things are at now, if you don't mind.

Brady Barnstable - 00:19:09
Yeah. Have to take take a deep breath and make sure

Anthony Corsaro - 00:19:14
That's a I know that's a loaded one. And so we got we got plenty of time, and I'll help you along the way.

Brady Barnstable - 00:19:18
Yeah. No. I I just I don't wanna turn it into a therapy session, and it's it's easy to go down that road Yeah. When when you start when you start digging in. I mean, it was important to us. It was important enough to us as founders and as a brand that we we like, the very first supplier we worked with was, was whole grain milling. They were they were an organic small grain pioneer, from back in the early nineties. We were introduced to that to their product through the the Minneapolis has a really awesome natural food co op scene. So if you go into the bulk bins in any of the, in in any of the co ops, which Hannah, like, lives in pretty much every day, She's not at the office or

Anthony Corsaro - 00:20:07
at home.

Brady Barnstable - 00:20:08
She's at Lakewood's co op if anybody wants to find her. She, that that's where we found whole grain milling. They were our original supplier of oats, rye, and barley kinda to those original recipes. Mhmm. And he had what was what was unique about him and what I think still really resonates with me today is he has on farm processing. So he had this ability unique ability where we could go direct we were essentially doing direct trade right out of the gate. Yeah. And we then very then we outgrew his oats, rye, and barley supply probably in in year two.

Brady Barnstable - 00:20:41
We were kind of moving out of the friend's restaurant kitchen into co packers, starting to pick up, you know, regional chains like Lunds and Byerlys. Target even came to us early on and did did a a test. So we're starting to scale, and that's when it really got challenging because, I think direct trade works, and and just sort of transparency in general, which is needed for all of this regenerative work, is is early easier in the early days. Yeah. And then as you I think there's also a point at which it becomes a little bit easier once you have scaled, but there's this in between time where, you know, you're ordering a few pallets here and there where it's tricky, because you're typically having to go through, like, a distributor or broker, and then you're, like, another step or two removed from the from the source. Right? So, it was a pretty it was a pretty, long learning process on how to unwind that.

Brady Barnstable - 00:21:48
And the you know, one of the bigger challenges that I kind of hinted at or you know, with Doug's on farm processing is you have to you you that intermediary step, like, that that middle tier milling, like, cleaning, deholling, milling, you know, that that's a big barrier, and it needs to be established, really before you can do your direct sourcing, for for it to be successful for the grower and for us. Right? Because we can't just put I mean, I'm sure you've had many of these conversations on this podcast already, but that was that was a thing that we quickly realized, you know, was was missing in order to, to do the things that we needed to do and and that we wanted to move our mission forward. And so, you know, though those kind of learnings, you know, if you fast forward to present day, you know, we're we're really trying to to build our direct trade program at scale around specific processors. And the same the same thing applies to things like upcycling. Any anywhere you have a unique ingredient where you're trying to do things differently outside of that, like, really refined, efficient model that the food system has built or that big Yeah.

Brady Barnstable - 00:23:08
Big food and ag have built. If you step outside of that, like, you basically have to build it yourself, which is really hard, time consuming, expensive, challenging, all the things. But, also, it's what consumers want. It's what, it's what moves our mission forward. That whole, movement outside of the the, like, the the path that's been, you know, clearly clearly paved, it still exists. It's just everything's just on a a larger scale now.

Brady Barnstable - 00:23:55
And and it is tricky in those kinda middle that that and it it we have this issue, like, with ingredients that we still use small amounts of. But we have a team now, like, a supply chain team, like Emily, who who you know, who has has, like, at least, you know, established direct to processor relationships that doesn't always like, with things like vanilla and cocoa, things that we, you know, we're sourcing outside of the country, it's, you know, it's it's more difficult to find that transparency all the way down to the growing level.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:24:35
Right.

Brady Barnstable - 00:24:36
But, at least there's not, you know, three steps along the way. There's only,

Anthony Corsaro - 00:24:41
you

Brady Barnstable - 00:24:41
know, there's and then from there, it's, you know, kind of just getting the, the right, you know, supplier policies and code of conduct in place in that trust that you establish with these with these processors that they're doing things the right way in their supply chain.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:24:56
Yeah. I mean, for all those for everything you're sourcing domestically for the most part, there's there's nothing that you need to purchase that I can see that, like, you don't need some sort of processing element. Right? So it's your direct rate's really gonna have to be with some sort of aggregator processor that can actually get you the finished good that goes into the package. Okay. And, you know, you can tell us however many ingredients you have now if you if you know the exact number, but it's a lot. And you have all these multi ingredient skews to where you're really managing a lot if you're trying to do direct trade Okay. I would assume.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:25:20
So, yeah, I I can only imagine the complexity.

Brady Barnstable - 00:25:32
Yeah. And then and not to keep going on the on the the challenges, but, like, it's, I I think one thing that doesn't really get brought up or talked about enough is the disconnect in, you know, the food, like, the food safety world, like the the the FDA compliance, the, SQF standards that we have to maintain as a brand and at the, the the food manufacturing facility, the food the food safety elements. Yeah. Anytime like, that that whole system is, immensely challenging to to break into from a a direct trade or farm farm level standpoint. And it's almost like, you know, we we don't we're we're we're always challenging the team because we have, in in house, you know, so we source all of our ingredients. We buy all of our ingredients. We have our own quality team in house, to to help, kind of bridge that gap.

Brady Barnstable - 00:26:32
We but we do work with external manufacturing partners. So they have their own, you know, food safety teams and quality teams and their own culture on sort of on how, you know, risk averse or conservative their approach to food safety is. But trying to, like, bridge that, gap and sort of meet each manufacturing facility's quality requirements, now you add in, like, you know, farm level ingredients or on farm processing, or upcycled ingredients. Those products tend to be in in the growers and the partners that we work with, they don't have the resources necessarily in house to to meet in all the

Anthony Corsaro - 00:27:26
all the the the paperwork. Paperwork, the calls. Quality documents. Right. The admin.

Brady Barnstable - 00:27:32
Yeah. All all of the stuff that that we have or that, our manufacturing partners have. So it's like then, you know, we have to step in, and we've done this on, a lot of our upcycled ingredients. Like, we step in and bring a a food safety consultant to the plant and say, the you know, these we kinda hand hold them through this, this process of, like, getting up to, food safety standards so that they can those ingredients can be accepted into the plant. That's like an ongoing everyday conversation internally, between us, our manufacturing partners. The consistency challenges too, like, with upcycled ingredients in particular, But even regenerative and direct trade, like, anytime you're kinda outside of that, again, like, that that well worn path or that, like, you know, really highly refined system, you're gonna have inconsistencies from year to year in, you know, weather conditions, drought, all of the things which change which which changes the the ingredients. So, like, there's almost like I'm I'm I'm not quite there yet, like, with educating consumers, but certainly certainly having conversations with retailers around, you know, hey. Why is your product out of stock? And it and it's like, well, we had some issues with our upcycled supply chain because it's brand new.

Brady Barnstable - 00:28:52
Like, nobody's ever used this ingredient before. Right. So it's immensely challenging. Yeah.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:29:05
Right. And if it's an annual crop cycle and it's single origin and it's identity preserved, it's like there might not be redundancy of supply. Like, there might not be anywhere else to go. Like

Brady Barnstable - 00:29:14
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Emily always hates it when I say we don't have a plan b, but in some cases, we we don't. We don't yet. You know? Like, they're we're we're working on it. Like, we, you know, we can piece piece together things to, like, keep products in, you know, in supply, but it's, it, they are unique. They're bespoke. They're, they're with great farming or processing partners that we're supporting along the way to make it happen. But, or and it is way harder than doing things like the the traditional way I guess is the is the main summary. It was it was pretty easy in the early days, easier. It was very hard in the middle. And now it's like we're we've figured some things out.

Brady Barnstable - 00:29:56
We figured out a model that we think works that's kind of like building our our supply chains around the processor first. Like, that's kind of been the key, like, bridge, I guess, and then supporting that processor with anything that they need. Like, let's build around this because that that's sort of the key missing missing piece and, I think unlocking, you know, more acres and more

Anthony Corsaro - 00:30:32
Yeah.

Brady Barnstable - 00:30:32
Relation more growing partners along the regenerative supply chain.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:30:37
Yeah. There's definitely some key themes that we've seen time and time again there of, you know, the the middle infrastructure not being there, the the food safety is a piece that we've talked about a little bit, but I like the the the added detail that you kinda brought to that conversation. I think it's it's often forgotten and not talked about enough. And then the whole business brand phase of, like, phase one direct trade and, like, this specific sourcing is is is easy, maybe not easy to get the margin profile right all the time, but it's, like, easy to figure out operationally. And then it it gets easier in, like, phase three where you have some supply, and it's it's really easy to maybe take all the supply from a source or a processor or farmer. But that that middle kind of phase two or whatever we wanna call it with whatever associated revenue number, it's it's very challenging as you're really trying to grow and scale, to add that level of complexity. And maybe you have the volume for this, but you don't have the volume for that. So Mhmm.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:31:23
That's that's super interesting, and I think something we've we've clearly seen as as a pattern.

Brady Barnstable - 00:31:33
I would say more than a revenue target, like, that phase three maybe starts when you can hit kinda truckload, truckload volumes on things.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:31:42
Yeah. That's

Brady Barnstable - 00:31:43
some ingredient purchases. Mhmm. Mhmm.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:31:46
Yeah. That makes sense. The I wanna talk about the regenerative piece. Yeah. I think you guys have a unique approach. Like, you don't have a certification on any packaging. You're not really talking about regenerative a lot on the consumer marketing side. You guys don't really have a SKU specific strategy from what I understand from talking to to Emily and and a couple other people on your team. But you are doing a lot of work with the growers themselves, and you're deeply committed. You're doing a lot of work with SCI. Like, just high level, what does regenerative mean to Seven Sundays, and how would you articulate the strategy at a high level? And then we can come back for some of those more detailed kind of sub bullets.

Brady Barnstable - 00:32:25
Yeah. You're right in all those things. Spot on. Again, great job with the the homework. I can tell you've been talking to Emily.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:32:35
Yeah. She brought me well. Shout out, Emily.

Brady Barnstable - 00:32:37
Yeah. I wasn't I I would, yeah, I would say that we're we don't consider ourselves I mean, here we are in the the ReGen Brands Podcast. So but we we tend to to be, you know, pretty hesitant to talk too loudly. Some of that is just sort of like who Hannah and I are.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:32:59
Midwestern humility, I can tell very Fine.

Brady Barnstable - 00:33:01
Well, you yeah. You grew up in Indiana. You know how it is. You know, there's there's folks that are, you know, pushing us to talk more about it, but I don't I wouldn't say we're regenerative yet. I like to talk about it more in, sort of high level, like, looking out into the future, like, as our as our mission on, moves forward, how do we reach, you know, or how do we shoot for regeneration, of or restoration of a a food system. And, I can dig more into that in a minute, but, you know, as it pertains to, you know, the the certifications and the products, we have 85, you know, different ingredients across now all of our cereal products. Even our, like, our simplest, you know, like, our our crisp crispies that just launched have six six six or seven ingredients. Yeah. It would be it would be really difficult to go after, like, a SKU specific certification for us.

Brady Barnstable - 00:34:04
And I don't think the consumer is looking for that, at least from us, right now. Yeah. I think there's so much to tackle in the broader cereal aisle, in the broader, food system in terms of, like, you know, how we grow, how we process, how we use our resources, all the way to, like, how we pack package our serial. I consider that all part of how we define regeneration because it's a it's a system wide thing. I think, so that so that's how we we try to approach it. And in internally, that's how we talk about it.

Brady Barnstable - 00:34:49
Externally, it's a really complex conversation to have with consumers who have, like, two minutes or less than that, thirty seconds when they're making a decision in the cereal aisle. Yeah. So what we want people to see from in that this world of regenerative and sustainable and, client, you know, climate friendly, however you wanna define it. And I'm also looking at the back of our Krispies. We have, like, like six or seven other certifications on there already. We're we're non GMO verified, we're b corp certified, we're gluten free certified, % whole grain, you know, all all these other things. Right?

Brady Barnstable - 00:35:27
So it's like adding another certification to what's already probably pretty complex to the consumer to understand that in the thirty seconds they're making a decision in the cereal aisle. I think what we would like to do and again, for us, this is like this is we've been doing this for a long time. So it's like a long like, we're looking out, you know, five years, ten years, like, our, on this, like, seemingly impossible mission of restoring, you know, people and planet health. We just want people to see or have the feeling that we are doing things totally cereal aisle. And that means, you know, we're working with farmers differently. We're working with farmers who have different practices, some regenerative practices. Some are some of our farmers are, like, you know, leading edge regenerative farmers.

Brady Barnstable - 00:36:17
And then others are, like, brand new, to and we we wanna have flexibility to to, you know, kinda shift consumers or or or bring more and more consumers along on that that journey. And and I and I and I don't see a rock certification or, regenera or even even FCI who we work with really closely within our, within our farming network. We don't see an a need for the SCI verification at this point. We just want to have a way of we work we're working with SCI on they have really awesome farm level support, through, like, Liz Haney and her team. You know, Taylor Heron has a really great network of growers that she brings to the table to us all the time. We're using we're using them to verify and track the acres that are regenerative in our supply chain.

Brady Barnstable - 00:37:21
In that way, we have, like, a, like, a a clear path, a clearer path on what we're doing and how we're building this over time. But from a consumer standpoint, I think the story is just for us because of our product type and because of where we sit in the serial aisle. It's not something that we're really pushing to achieve a certification on our pack right

Anthony Corsaro - 00:37:52
now. Yeah. If that And I think that no. It makes complete sense, and it's super fair. And, like, we're the biggest cheerleaders in the world for, like, hey. Let's make as much SKU specific return of claims and really increase the awareness of that and increase the value of these certifications. But as you've referenced a couple times, like, if you really look and you step back at the macro, we're so early, like and all the data actually shows, like, the consumer still doesn't know what this word is. They don't really recognize the certifications. Like, look how long it's taken USDA organic to get consumer awareness and even understanding at a basic level of, and regenerative's more complicated than that. So totally makes sense. And something that Kyle and I have talked about recently on a couple of the podcast with the Maha movement is if you look at the Maslow of hierarchy of needs in Maha, regenerative's at the very tippy tippy top.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:38:28
Right? At the bottom is no artificial flavors, no dyes, less harmful ingredients. And, like, if I look at your site and I look at your packaging, like, that's what you guys are really leading with, which is the the primary need and the primary purchasing driver with the consumer. And so, you know, from our perspective as, like, a as an advocacy organization, right, if it's if it's still leading to net more regenerative acreage and net more support of regenerative supply, like, hey. Great. Like, I don't care if that demand comes from a explicit awareness for the consumer has or or or no awareness as long as the demand is is increasing.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:39:09
So for us, it's a both end, and I think it it makes sense from how you've articulated it for y'all. I think share go ahead.

Brady Barnstable - 00:39:28
Think too that we, you know, we also we also need those, like, tip top of the pyramid Right. Brands that are, you know, really pushing the envelope forward and kind of going for, you know, rock certification with, you know, things like chocolate bars and oatmeal and things. I think that helps with the awareness piece too. So, like, there it's all part of, like, moving moving the needle in the right direction. For us, we're just like we're taking a long term approach, and it's, a longer journey. And I also would add that, like, the retailers are really listening, and they really care. So, like, we've we've had we did a farm visit last fall to one of our regenerative farms, with Whole Foods, and their, their grocery team essentially came you know, flew in from Austin Mhmm.

Brady Barnstable - 00:40:11
Texas to Austin, Minnesota to visit, visit our sun sunflower farm. And, you know, even as big as, like, you know, Target and and Costco, like, they're inviting us in to have these manager meetings, or not just the usual, like, during during the buying cycle, they're bringing in brands to, like, review products. They wanna understand what we're doing within our supply chains, around regenerative practices. And we hope that that additional interest from them is, you know, hopefully, you know, prioritizing our products and brand when it comes to things like shelf space or off shelves or, you know, shelf tags, anything that can kinda help us sort of stand out and educate the consumer in a bigger way. So, like, we're kind of, you know, a roundabout way through the through the through the to the consumer. But the fact that the retailer who's super connected with the consumer even more so than than we are in some respects, like like, the fact that they're interested is really encouraging to me, and and that that seems to have really ratcheted it up in, like, the last year or two.

Brady Barnstable - 00:41:28
So I'm I'm excited about that.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:41:46
Yeah. It does seem like that overall interest is growing from a lot of the the leading folks. Like Mhmm. It's such a mixed bag how it's actually turning into the real business economics of working with those retailers that I think it's hard to assess, like, in a monolith. And you hear, like, really great promising things from certain brands, then you hear, like, not great, very disappointed things from certain brands. So, we're we are, like, asking ourselves actually, like, how we can do a better job kind of tracking, reporting, and being informed on that. But it's so much of a black box on the retail side, and it's also so individualized based on the brand and maybe the relationship with the category manager or whatever. So kind of kind of an aside there, but but agree that's what we're seeing overall. And, you know, there there's positive momentum.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:42:24
I think that is the biggest, like, takeaway is, like, there's definitely interest. There's increasing awareness and understanding, and there is support whether it's to the degree and, like, gonna really solve the fundamental problems remains to be seen. I wanna I wanna double back to just a couple of things, Brady, just to have you highlight. Yep. For the regenerative stuff and some of the tracking and some of, like, the the maybe practice implementation that you're working on with SCI, are there specific ingredients or regions that that's been most easiest or where you're really focused on? And then how do you all think about, like, organic versus nonorganic when it comes to, like, sustainability and sourcing and all the things?

Brady Barnstable - 00:43:09
Okay. Yeah. I'll start with the first one. I think, you know, inherently, our products are set up really well for, for grow to work with growers and add diversity to their to their Right. Rotations and provide markets for those diverse crops. Like Right. That that was one of the things that was apparent early on, especially even, you know, when we were just just a muesli business. Like, when we would talk to growers and learn from them, you know, it was like, I really wanna grow more buckwheat, and understanding, you know, why they wanna an organic farmer would wanna grow more buckwheat. It helps us helps us soil health and, you know, the, you know, the pollinator aspect of it.

Brady Barnstable - 00:43:50
And the same applies to, you know, sorghum that we're working with now, which is also like a really awesome cover crop or or diverse crop rotation, super climate friendly, drought drought resistant, all these things. Yep. So we're already kind of we're we're we're providing markets for, really diverse ingredients within, within our supply chain. So what was your what was your your your question was about originally I lost lost my train of thought there. It was about regenerative.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:44:34
Yeah. Focus on focus on ingredients and specific regions, and you were you were talking about how it it naturally lends itself to really backing up Yes. Crop rotations.

Brady Barnstable - 00:44:44
Yeah. So that's what was gonna lead me to, to sunflowers and sort of where we're at today with with, with sunflowers in the Upper Midwest. We have focused on sunflowers for a few different reasons. The diversity aspect, which I already mentioned, I think there's a lot of, really good and strong interest from farmers in wanting to add alternative crops to their system, whether it's from a regenerative standpoint or, you know, just not wanting to to grow commodity ingredients like corn and soybeans, for, you know, market conditions or, you know, they, they've seen a neighbor growing it or, you know, whatever their driver is, there's interest out there. And I'm sure you've heard that from a lot of folks. Like, there's there's no shortage of growers that that want to do things differently and grow different crops. And we Yeah. We can provide markets for that, which is great, but you have to have processing.

Brady Barnstable - 00:45:37
So we when we developed our sunflower cereal, back in, like, 2020, we worked with, Sunflower processor that we had known from, ironically, Expo West in sort of the years even though they were somewhat local to us, like, we we see them in California. We're part of the same Minnesota Department of Ag network. And so when we innovate, we tend to, like, you know, reach out to that network, and they had, developed the sunflower protein product that was, what's really interesting to us because it was, you know, early on in that, like, upcycled conversation. Mhmm. And and that was sort of starting to gain momentum. And this was an ingredient that was, you know, basically, historically either being, you know, wasted or sent out for animal feed, and we they were starting to repurpose it as a food a food grade ingredient.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:46:41
Mhmm.

Brady Barnstable - 00:46:42
And so, I bring that up because, a, I I think it's really important to to to bring the processor. We had learned that, you know, over the years bringing the processor to the table first and then establishing, a network of growers within, like, a reasonable distance, you know, to that processor was is pretty critical, you know, over the long term. And then you layer on the fact that, like, you know, sunflowers grow great in the Upper Midwest. It's primarily the Dakotas, but, you know, that we you know, I think we've shown now, you know, that we can grow them really well here in Minnesota as well. And, they're just a really awesome, you know, rotational crop. So that was, like, a really that's, I think, been our most successful, you know, regional direct trade model that we've built over the last few years. I think this year, we're sourcing 2,000 plus, acres of sunflowers in Minnesota kind of around this this processor, which is really exciting. Yeah.

Brady Barnstable - 00:47:36
And then, you know, we're excited to do the same thing around sorghum. I think that's a really good Upper Midwest kinda Great Plains crop that grows really well. And farmers are are who are in that regenerative sphere that we have met through FCI or other, you know, other brands in our network. There's a lot of grow interest in growing sorghum. So we know that when we're ready with the processing side, like, we've we're gonna have a really, awesome network of growers that we can tap into. And then the other the other one I would say that, I mean, buckwheat I've mentioned is, also, you know, a great regenerative ingredient, that farmers wanna grow or, doing some we're actually still work with Whole Grain Milling, who originally provided us oats, rye, and barley.

Brady Barnstable - 00:48:23
We still, we still use them for our buckwheat, which grows really well, here. And then the last one I would mention is, you know, oats, I think, are a huge unlock for growers because there's a lot of familiarity with it, probably, you know, a generation removed, I would say, from, you know, their they they know of it. They know how to grow it. They've Yeah. The the equipment that they need to grow it is is either already on farm or, you know, a neighbor has it. They're they just need a market for it, a consistent market for it, the right price.

Brady Barnstable - 00:49:12
And, Practical Farmers of Iowa, who we've partnered with on some pilot projects in the past around oats, do a great job of, like, bringing all those growers together in a network and providing cost sharing and doing all these, incentive programs to get growers to bring more oats into the to the Corn Belt. And so the missing piece to the oats equation and for a lot of these ingredients is processing, and we're really excited that there's a, an oatmeal coming into Southern Minnesota that will help unlock some of those, regional oat the oat mafia is, like, just waiting. Just waiting. You know, I think there's a lot of pent up demand. It's just a matter of, like, competing with corn and soybean pricing and, like, all these, you know, barriers that the farmer has to, like, getting over the hump and, like, yeah. I'll grow oats.

Brady Barnstable - 00:50:16
But, like, there's been enough studies now that have shown, you know, if you're if you are focused on not necessarily just yields, but profitability, like, adding oats into your rotation is a game changer, and can be a positive if we have local processing, if we have, you know, con you know, good, consistent pricing. And some of those things are being solved, which I'm really excited about because there's, I think we use a lot of oats, a lot of oat byproduct or oat protein that's coming out of the oat milk industry. Like, we're you reusing that, so we're not sourcing it directly from farmers necessarily, but, like, growing oats in the Midwest, processing in the Midwest, and then using using all that byproduct from the oat milk industry in the Midwest is to me, like, when I when I think about that, like, it's it's like, oh, that that is that's regeneration all the way through because you have it at the farm level and then, you know, you have it at the processing level because they're the processor is repurposing that product, and then you're putting it into a a healthier cereal, instead of, you know, using all those resources to grow oats, from the literally from the ground up. You're just taking the nutrient rich leftovers from oat milk and making cereal out of it. And then, like, let's put some oat milk on it. And then you've got this, like, beautiful full circle regeneration cereal. Like, that's that's the stuff that gets me really excited is when you can kinda, like, system wide Yeah.

Brady Barnstable - 00:51:43
Start to finish local, regenerative, and healthy to the consumer.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:52:01
Yeah. And I think it's not an accident that you brought up, like, the fact that y'all live in Minnesota, and the most you you you said, like, the most successful direct trade partnership is actually something that's in your backyard or in your region. And then you mentioned a couple other very close places, whether that be other places in Minnesota or Iowa. I have a very strong, I feel like, hypothesis that's backed up with really good correlation, maybe not, you know, confirmed causation that the closer the team or the founders are to the sources that they're actually trying to work with, like

Brady Barnstable - 00:52:30
Yeah.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:52:31
It seems like it becomes easier for them to pull off whether it be direct trade or just a more return of supply chain. Yeah. What what percentage or, you know, how much importance would you assign to the fact that you guys are there close to the source?

Brady Barnstable - 00:52:45
I mean, I think it's I think it's it's a huge advantage that we have and opportunity that we have being kind of in the the bread basket Yeah. Of America right here. And this is why, you know, General Mills is here and Kellogg's was here and Post was here. Everybody like, all the big cereal brands have established themselves, you know, around here for for the same reason. And that was sort of back when, you know, the mills were along the Mississippi River, and there was, you know, a lot of processing. In in in some ways, we're kinda going back to that and, or we're trying to.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:53:32
Yeah.

Brady Barnstable - 00:53:33
We're kinda trying to, you know, reinvent that in a in a in a modern way. Right? And and but that you know, the way things were done kind of locally and and regionally, it I think it works really or it could work really well in the Midwest, and so we're really lucky to be here. We have some great resources through the Minnesota Department of Ag who support these things. There's some really great growers and and processors and nonprofit organizations that we've worked with over the years that have educated us and brought everybody to the table. Yeah. So everything's here for like, it's such a it's such a huge opportunity for us as a cereal brand, particularly, to take advantage of, all those resources, the great soil that we have here in the Midwest, and and truly make a a change in the the food system.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:54:35
Yeah. Love it. I wanna switch gears and talk a little bit about channel mix and maybe how you guys have managed that over the years and where you think that's going. I mean, I see you all at a lot of the key natural retailers. I see you in club now. I see you know, you're talking about Target. So you seem to have, you know, some good channel diversity. Mhmm. Where did that start? Where has it gone? And and where do you see that going?

Anthony Corsaro - 00:54:51
And how does that relate to this this work that you're trying to do building, you know, better better supply chains and impacting agriculture in a positive way?

Brady Barnstable - 00:55:08
Yeah. I'll start with club because that was a that was a real game changer for us for a lot of reasons.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:55:16
Unlocking those truckloads, I'm sure. That was a big part of it. The the

Brady Barnstable - 00:55:20
the scale is one thing. Yeah. We've already we already already covered that as an unlock. The like, the way that there's, like, particularly Costco for us, the way that they're, like, we're we're drawn to Hannah and I as founders both, like, when it comes to building teams, like, who we partner with in our with our co manufacturers, who we partner with in our supply chain and our retailers, we're drawn to, people who have kind of chosen a different path or done things differently because that's sort of how how we started. Right? So, like, there's, like, this magnet effect, and same with other founders. Right? Like, we're Mhmm. Really good friends with Christie at Quinn and, you know, some of the and then, there's a there's a local brand here, E and C's Snacks, who, was early into Costco with Heavenly Hunks.

Brady Barnstable - 00:56:01
You've maybe seen Heavenly Hunks.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:56:14
Yeah. I've had them before. Yeah.

Brady Barnstable - 00:56:15
Yeah. They invited us to this, like, local it was like a, a kind of a local food showcase in the back of the Eden Prairie Costco store. And we mocked up, like, a two pound bag of our blueberry chia, our number one selling muesli at the time. Yeah. And, you know, like, they had I remember they had built, like, a office out of, like, toilet paper rolls of all things. Like, this must have been, like, pre pre COVID Yeah. Because they were you know, they had a lot of excess toilet paper and things. They built this, like, backroom in a Costco, and we pitched essentially this, this this product line.

Brady Barnstable - 00:56:49
And, what I love about it was, like, the efficiency of their model is, and and the regionality of their model. Like, we were meeting with, like, the Midwest buying team. So when you when you think about, like, opportunities to work in a, or change the food sys shift the food system into, like, sort of a more a regional play or a lot like, a sourcing and shipping direct instead of going through distributors and shipping in bigger bags instead of small bags. Like, I've always loved the Costco model. They're also just, like, a great partner to work with. They pay really fast.

Brady Barnstable - 00:57:31
They're, they they're I think, oh, you know, you you hear in the industry a lot of negative things about Costco. We have in our six years, seven years of working with them nothing but great things to say about, that that retailer. They've really helped us bridge to profitability and kind of all the things. They have been a game changer for us.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:58:00
So,

Brady Barnstable - 00:58:04
club has been key, for those reasons. We we had a d to c moment like a lot of brands, like, kind of post coming out of COVID. We pushed hard and grew really rapidly during that kind of COVID pandemic supply chain era of 2020 to 2023. And it was for us, a really great way to get our product into, particularly, like, healthy food influencers' hands, and then they can come right to your website and buy it. Like, that was like, I I consider that time period, like, really important from a brand awareness and marketing standpoint. Mhmm. And also felt, like, very lucky that we could do that. Like, of all the you know, we were a pantry staple, which, like, benefited from, you know, that that time period as opposed to, you know, food service or some of the others that were negatively impacted.

Brady Barnstable - 00:58:54
So, we felt the COVID bump for sure. And, but, like, now that we're kind of back to normal, you know, I guess that changes by the day now. But, now that we're sort of back into this normal state, like, it's not a super high margin area of our business. It's more like just that high touch area of the business where you want to come as like a a a brand loyalist and get that extra love and attention, which we really lean into. And we that's a lot of, like, the education that we do if we do it around regenerative, around upcycling, initiatives, or anything b, you know, b corp related. Like, we're sending those messages in that high touch way through our our online shop. So it's a really great marketing and education piece that we'll always have.

Brady Barnstable - 00:59:55
It's just not we're not, like, putting the pedal to the metal on the d to c business because if that's

Anthony Corsaro - 01:00:13
assuming the shipping cost with the weight of your products is a is a challenge for that channel?

Brady Barnstable - 01:00:18
Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. And there's and we don't have a lot of margin built in to begin with. I mean, we're a we're a food company. Right? So we have to be, you know, super super tight on on everything across the board to stay competitive, particularly in the cereal aisle where, you know, there's, there's a certain expectation around, you know, what you what a customer will be willing to pay. And that's changing and shifting, in our favor, you know, thanks to a handful of emerging brands who have kind of come into that space. And and, and that's what it's gonna take to, I think, change that perception of, you know, what the what is, like, the true cost of of food. So we have back to your channel strategy, question. We are we're cautiously entering mulo or conventional. Yeah.

Brady Barnstable - 01:01:01
We just launched into Target, in Kroger kinda right around the same time. Wow. Nice. And I say that with caution only because we've been there before. And, we just didn't didn't didn't have the right product assortment and, and velocities to support it at the time. So it it can be, a What skews this time around, Brady?

Brady Barnstable - 01:01:33
This time around, we're, they started with our top selling sunflower and oat cereal, which is the the right place to be for them and for us, because Yeah. They're the most familiar in the marketplace. Even though they're relatively the newest, they've they've definitely, been the fastest growing. And then, yeah, more more to come is is Nice. And and better shelf space this summer from what

Anthony Corsaro - 01:02:03
from what I understand.

Brady Barnstable - 01:02:04
Because right now, we're, like, way on the top shelf. It's, like, hard hard for me to even reach, let alone, like, you know, a kid.

Anthony Corsaro - 01:02:11
The suburban mother. Yeah.

Brady Barnstable - 01:02:12
Yeah. So, so I'd say, yeah. Our and then and then looking forward even further out, like, how do we get how do we move beyond the cereal aisle is something we think about a lot into different formats. Because what we found is that it's more than just a a breakfast time Yeah. Opportunity for people, like, even our family. You know, we're eating it, I'd say, yes, in the morning, but also at night, throwing it into, you know, snack bags for, after school activities or sports activities, things like that. So and I and we're hearing that from a lot of our consumers. So Yeah.

Brady Barnstable - 01:02:49
How do we show up in a way that allows, you know, that convenience factor kinda more snack opportunities is another thing we're thinking about, as we look ahead to this year and next. We're trying to shift, you know, a larger, scale in the right direction as opposed to kinda going after, you know, that tip of the spear audience. So we're we want the flexibility of conventional regen. It's worked really well for us. We do use some organic ingredients where it makes sense to. We know we're all for it. And there's I think, I think there are consumers that are are looking for that.

Brady Barnstable - 01:03:26
But we're just for all the reasons I mentioned, we're just kinda trying to shift the industry and the food system towards better practice different practices, better practices, you know, whether that whether that's organic or not is is not the most important thing for us.

Anthony Corsaro - 01:03:53
Well, you were kinda just going there, Brady, but, one question I always like to ask is, like, what's coming in the future? You know? You guys are doing a lot. There's a lot going on with sourcing, supply chain building, new product development, channel mix. We've talked about all of that. Mhmm. You know, how do you all think about future growth and and what's coming on the pipeline?

Brady Barnstable - 01:04:12
Yeah. There's there's a lot in the pipeline from an innovation standpoint where we we intentionally kind of after the the the crispies and the and the we we launched a couple new granolas, we had to hit pause, on the on the innovation side just because we were all as a team here feeling like we're drinking from the from the fire hose with all the growth the growth that we're seeing, which is great. But, like Yeah. Now we need to operationally get to a point where we feel stable enough to, you know, to to start innovating again. So, that's not to say we won't, you know, mix up the flavors or bring seasonal things or different formats, of existing products that, like I mentioned, kind of can be, you know, outs outside of that breakfast moment

Anthony Corsaro - 01:05:04
Yeah.

Brady Barnstable - 01:05:05
And into more of, like, a snacking format. That's that's still, you know, top of mind for us. And then the other exciting thing I know I've mentioned, you know, early on in our conversation that, like, the consumer is not ready. You know, the consumer doesn't you know, you know, isn't, isn't, you know, listening or or not necessarily, like, engaged in the regenerative conversation. But we do still want to have that conversation. We've historically not really been great at it, to be honest. Like, we've what we have going for us is we've been talking about this loosely, like, our our farmer connections and sharing those stories. I don't think it would come as a surprise if we started talking about, you know, our supply our our farmer partners or shining the spotlight on them because we've, you know if you've been with us or following the Seven Sundays journey, you've heard us talk about these things in the past.

Brady Barnstable - 01:05:51
So we I think we have the opportunity to to talk more about some of the stuff that we're doing. So we are, we are hoping to, kind of, create a rallying cry, almost, you know, bringing the consumer into the things that we're talking about and doing within our supply chain. Mhmm. And so if you're open to me, you know, kind of testing a little bit here live with how you're thinking about this consumer education and bringing the consumer journey. Because to me, like, this is a key unlock, like the infrastructure piece, you know, some of these other challenges. The and some of your other guests on the podcast have said the same thing. You know? And, ultimately, the consumer is gonna drive, this movement.

Brady Barnstable - 01:06:53
If it is gonna have legs over the long term, it's gotta come there's gotta be more and more pull from the consumer side. So we have to we can't stop trying to to meet them Yeah. Where they're at. We just, I think, need to say it. We need to say things in a more engaging way. So we

Anthony Corsaro - 01:07:22
It's just that simple sometimes.

Brady Barnstable - 01:07:23
And and meet people where they're at. And, again, like, we're we historically haven't been great at this, but we're we're shifting the conversation to, this year, we're going further afield. And afield, essentially for us means, like, off the beaten path. Like, we are we are, we are going to try our best to bring the consumer out as if they were kind of taking this journey with us, getting out with our farming partners who are doing really awesome things, this growing season, and and kind of let them see what's happening. Share really engaging stories about, like, the Oat Mafia, for instance. Like, why is there this pent up demand for like, to grow oats in the Midwest? Who are these people? And kinda ship starting to share some of those stories. A field is also an acronym for always farm, innovate, educate, and lead differently.

Brady Barnstable - 01:08:13
So that that's kind of like our internal language for our mission, but our external kind of rallying cry

Anthony Corsaro - 01:08:33
Yeah.

Brady Barnstable - 01:08:33
To the consumer as we sort of bring them in is going to be like, let's go come afield with us, like, come off the beaten path. And there's these really great examples that we already have that we're just gonna open we're gonna open the door and let you in and share those stories, in in where they live and how, you know, exactly, you know, how we reach the consumer up in the air. That's sort of for where our our marketing team is kind of trying

Anthony Corsaro - 01:09:04
to,

Brady Barnstable - 01:09:05
figure out how best, to leverage this content and get it out into the world. But I think the first step is getting the content right. Like, really meeting consumers where they're at. Don't be too heavy. Obviously, like, it's tricky around, like, everything seems to be political and, and, you know, polarizing it to some extent. But, there's also these really great stories within our supply chain and these events that are happening around field days and, like, there's music festivals and other places that are, like, super engaging and good opportunities to sort of meet people in a really exciting way

Anthony Corsaro - 01:09:50
Mhmm.

Brady Barnstable - 01:09:50
To where we can kind of, like, just get them excited about the movement, about, like, give them hope, that there's, you know because I feel like there's all this gloom and doom around, you know, climate change or or, like Yeah. The path that we're currently on for people health and, you know, people are sick and, you know, it's not getting any better. And try to say try to send the message in a, like, a really hopeful way. One example of that, you know, for me and sort of this this journey, you know, Kiss the Ground really gave me a lot of hope. Yeah. And, and I think as a brand, you know, to the extent consumers are willing to listen and join that journey with us, we wanna, you know, pass along that same message and hope that we are there the cereal aisle is changing, and the food system is changing for the better. And here's, here's some really cool stuff that's happening at the farm level and bring people along that journey with us.

Anthony Corsaro - 01:10:52
Yeah. I love that because it's about narrative and transparency and and intimacy. And Ali from Harmless Harvest, I think, really know this on on her episode where she talked about for them, they look at regen or even their sustainability narrative as about loyalty and retention. It's not really about driving purchase. And I think for the vast majority of brands, that is the case. And so if you're thinking about it from a hardcore CPG marketing perspective, like, that strategy that you just articulated lends itself really well to being about loyalty and retention more so than than driving purchase. And so it's like, how do we turn a fan into a super fan? And how do we agnostic of certification, agnostic of claims, like Yep.

Anthony Corsaro - 01:11:23
Increase the consciousness and the connection to the food source, which ultimately will lead us to the right path. At the at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter what we call it at that point if if we accomplish that first.

Brady Barnstable - 01:11:45
Yeah. Totally. And there's certain threads that, that I think are within the that food system conversation and, nutrient density is a big, big one as well that we're digging into. No pun intended. But there's certain threads that I think will resonate with any person that eats food. Right? You you don't have to eliminate, anyone in this conversation or polarize anyone with this conversation, because ultimately they care about, you know, what they're feeding their family and they wanna do the best they can for, you know, their health and their kids' health. And, anyways, that I I think those those are the threads we're looking to pull.

Anthony Corsaro - 01:12:33
Yeah. I love that. Man, this has been a great conversation. I wanna give a quick shout out to Emily Lafferty, who we've alluded to multiple times. Emily is a dear friend of mine in this industry. She's an amazing person. She does great work, and I just deeply appreciate her. And she's obviously been a friend of mine for a while, but she's the also the one that connected us because she also works at Seven Sundays. So shout out, Emily. Thank you, Emily.

Brady Barnstable - 01:12:57
Thanks, Emily.

Anthony Corsaro - 01:12:58
And, Brady, we'll take it home with our final question that we asked everybody, which is how do we get ReGen Brands to have 50% market share by 2050? How do you think we do that?

Brady Barnstable - 01:13:09
Yeah. I think it's it's a collection of a lot of different things, that we've already touched on. And then, and then, you know, working together and collaborating as, in this all of us in the industry here that you're doing a great job of bringing to the table of of moving things in the right in the right direction. I think it's, you know, to kind of recap, it's it's infrastructure and kind of, you know, building different supply chains, whether it's regenerative or upcycled around processors. Even at the farm level, it's a a similar hub and spoke model, that we've we've talked quite a bit about here, like, where you have that that fringe farmer who's doing things differently, bringing in their neighbors because they're seeing the success that they're having or or, or just they're interested in doing things differently, and they're just a a really great resource. Tom Cotter is an awesome example of that, one of our sunflower growers. He's bringing in several of his neighbors this year to as we grow acres with him. Nice.

Brady Barnstable - 01:14:10
And and then it's the consumer awareness piece, that we that we just touched on. You know, a different type of storytelling that's more around, you know, shining the spotlight on these fringe farmers and why the practices that they're doing, are worth it and because it's hard and that, you know, they're they're stepping outside the traditional path and doing things differently and why that that matters all the way through the consumer level in terms of soil health and, and nutrient density and then ultimately the, the the food that we're, you know, bringing into the cereal aisle. So it's kinda connecting all those dots. It's it's a complex story. I wish there was just sort of one thing, but we are, like, thirteen years into our our our journey and our mission, and we're still kinda pulling all those pieces together. But the exciting thing for us and that, you know, I would share on to brands who are, you know, in on the same path is that if you if you do stick with it and, you know, fight through some of the challenges of, doing things differently and working with partners in your supply chain that are doing things differently.

Brady Barnstable - 01:15:21
And then finding the right product assortment and mix and retailer partners who are accepting of that, that it can work. There is change being made, and that's what keeps me going is that there's there's this this growth happening. So now I now I can kinda see a path towards 2,000 acres and 4,000 acres, and then joining a consortium of brands that, like, you know, are all in this together doing the same thing. And then you can then you can actually see, see the change in in the the landscape. And hopefully, you know, five, ten years from now, driving down the, you know, I 35 south to Austin, I'm not looking at sea of corn, sea of corn, sea of corn. Right. And there's an oat field, and there's buckwheat growing, and there's sorghum fields.

Brady Barnstable - 01:16:31
Like, that's kind of the vision for, for the future for us, and where where we're taking this mission.

Anthony Corsaro - 01:16:44
I I look forward to seeing that future with you as well, brother. That's gonna be fun. Yep. Hit me with the acronym, AFIELD, one more time. I feel like that encapsulates everything well, and I didn't catch it the first time.

Brady Barnstable - 01:16:53
Always farm, innovate, educate, and lead differently.

Anthony Corsaro - 01:16:59
Love it. Hell, yeah. Good good encapsulation. If anybody wants to learn more about Seven Sundays, you can visit their website, sevensundays.com. We'll obviously have it in the show notes with some of the other stuff that Brady and I mentioned as well, but appreciate you being here, man. This is great. Thanks for thanks for coming. Thanks for joining us.

Brady Barnstable - 01:17:16
Thanks for having me. Take care.

Anthony Corsaro - 01:17:21
For transcripts, show notes, and more information on this episode, check out our website regen-brands.com. That is regen-brands.com. You can also check out our YouTube channel, ReGen Brands, for all of our episodes with both video and audio. The best way to support our work is to give us a five star rating on your favorite podcast platform and subscribe to future episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. You can also subscribe to our newsletter, the ReGen Brands Weekly, and follow our ReGen Brands LinkedIn page to stay in the know of all the latest news, insights, and perspectives from the world of regenerative CPG. Thanks so much for tuning in to the ReGen Brands Podcast. We hope you learned something new in this episode, and it empowers you to use your voice, your time, your talent, and your dollars to help us build a better and more regenerative food system. Love you guys.