Show Notes:
AC and Kyle chat with Alec Jaffe of Alec’s Ice Cream. Alec details how his life-long love affair with ice cream turned into Alec’s becoming the first certified regenerative ice cream brand in the world. We learn why regenerative and A2 dairy is better for people & planet, and we explore what the future holds for Alec’s and ReGen brands at large.
Links:
Episode Recap:
ReGen Brands Recap #5 - Alec Jaffe @ Alec's Ice Cream
Episode Transcript:
Kyle Krull - 0:00:16
Welcome to The ReGen Brands Podcast. This is a place for consumers, operators and investors to learn about the consumer brand supporting regenerative agriculture and how they're changing the world. This is your host Kyle joined with my co-host, AC. Let's dive in.
Anthony Corsaro - 0:00:34
On this episode we have Alec Jaffe, who is the founder and CEO of Alec's Ice Cream. Alec's is supporting regenerative agriculture through their ice cream products that are made with regenerative and easily digestible A2 dairy. In this episode, we learn more about how Alec turned his love affair with ice cream into a business, how Alec's created the first certified return of lineup of ice cream products in the world, and how they plan to scale the brand into new flavors, products, and retail channels. Man, I kind of want some ice cream right now. Let's dive in. What's up everybody? Welcome back to another episode of Regen Brands. We are fired up today to have Alec from Alec's Ice Cream with us today, the first regenerative ice cream in the world. So welcome, Alec. Pumped to have you with us, ma'am.
Alec Jaffe - 0:01:23
Thank you. Excited to be here.
Kyle Krull - 0:01:25
I recently was lucky enough to try Alec's for the first time and my God was a good. And it also felt just so good knowing that what I was doing, you know, was good for the planet while eating something so indulgent. That was a rare treat, literally.
Alec Jaffe - 0:01:40
Yeah, exactly. We like to have our ice cream. You know, you feel good about it, makes you feel good, you know, with the A2 dairy as well, all about it. It's just good all around.
Anthony Corsaro - 0:01:49
That's right.
Kyle Krull - 0:01:50
What's your favorite flavor?
Alec Jaffe - 0:01:52
Oh, I mean, my favorite flavor, I think since like childhood is mint chocolate chip. There's just been always my favorite. I know that can be kind of polarizing sometimes in the ice cream world, so.
Kyle Krull - 0:02:04
We're getting Contra room so early, you know? Yeah.
Anthony Corsaro - 0:02:07
That's like asking him what's his favorite child exactly. Stuff from the answer.
Alec Jaffe - 0:02:11
Yeah, don't tell the other ones I said that.
Kyle Krull - 0:02:15
Cool, right on. Well, that segues nicely into, you know what, tell us a little bit about your company, you know where can we find Alec's today, you know what kind of products do you carry and things like that. Just kind of give us a high level overview for those who are not familiar with the brand.
Alec Jaffe - 0:02:27
Yeah, totally. So we are the world's first certified regenerative organic ice cream, also made with 100% gut friendly A2 dairy. And we combine all of that into a super premium indulgent ice cream. I like to say if you're going to have ice cream, it better tastes good. Otherwise, kind of what's the point? So we like to make a better for you ice cream that actually tastes better too. You can find us in retailers across the country. We're constantly adding more stores. We're in over 500 stores at the moment and some awesome retailers like Erawan, Fresh Market, Mom's organic market, new seasons, Raley's and. We'll be adding to that list constantly throughout hopefully the future. So yeah, and you can also find us on our website. We also ship nationwide direct to consumer. So if you go to our website, Alec's Ice Cream Comm, you can place an order to ship directly to your door or if you want to send an awesome gift, you can do that as well.
Kyle Krull - 0:03:32
And for those listening, this is Alec's Alec's not Alec's. This one makes that distinction. And you mentioned better for you. You know what I love about Alec's and I have, I'm a huge ice cream fan. Like, as a kid, our family would go to Baskin and Robbins. I was like, you know, every night after dinner, like, hey, go to baskin-robbins, so big ice cream fan. And I've been trying to find somebody who, like, watches my Mac, and he was really conscious about what I put into my body. I've tried a lot of those alternatives that you're talking about like night food, Halo, top and things like that. And you mentioned like, you want ice cream to still taste good.
Kyle Krull - 0:03:39
And what I found when I tried Alec's was number one, I wasn't really too concerned about the macros. I just wanted to try it without worrying about it. But when I looked at like the total calories and sugars for the pint compared to some of the other alternatives, I was pleasantly surprised by the nutritional content and the IT wasn't 100 grams plus of sugar for the entire thing. I think it was like 45, which, you know, it's still high. It's still a treat, but, you know, for for me we didn't feel like a a sacrificing flavor. Was a fantastic ad, you know, like that it wasn't too. I don't want to use the term path for you, but it was like a good alternative for ice cream, yeah.
Alec Jaffe - 0:04:44
Totally. I mean, look, like at the end of the day, it's ice cream. Like, I'm never gonna come out and say, like, this is the health food. Like, this is the most important thing to add to your diet if you're trying to, you know, watch your macros and things like that. But also, I think. It's good to have the those treats and indulgences in our daily routine and in our in our life. And for us it was all about like OK how can we make something that tastes great but also is good for you in a sense of like you know we're not overloading it with sugar, it's we're using regenerative organic cane sugar and trying to make something that yeah it has that sort of like. Subtle sweetness where it it is a it is actually a little lower on the sugar content than a typical, really indulgent ice cream. It's definitely not a low sugar ice cream, but yeah, it has that where it's like, OK, you know, this is, yeah, it's ice cream, but it's also not like, Oh my God, this is a horrible, like a tree. Like I can never do this again. So yeah, we like to make it as clean as possible.
Kyle Krull - 0:05:52
Yeah, it's kind of like you found the white space between like the hardcore healthy ice cream where you're really sacrifacing on flavor. And the way too indulgent, like I can do this maybe once a month tops, which is nice.
Anthony Corsaro - 0:06:04
Over after eating it.
Kyle Krull - 0:06:06
You feel bad about yourself for a week after the fact? Yeah. You know, Alec's kind of walks that line really, really well.
Alec Jaffe - 0:06:12
Yeah. Yeah. Thank you.
Anthony Corsaro - 0:06:14
Well, you guys have a really cool origin story. You yourself have a really cool story. So just take take the audience through kind of your personal story and how Alec's came to be.
Alec Jaffe - 0:06:24
Sure. So. This really came to be through kind of a convergence of a few different life experiences that I've had. So I've always loved ice cream, so much so that I actually taught myself how to make ice cream in elementary school for a class project. We had something where made a project where we had to make something at home and bring it into class to present. And so I chose how to make ice cream. And so I bought a little Cuisinart ice cream maker recipe book, taught myself how to make a custard style base and. The whole thing, and this did has a side hobby growing up.
Kyle Krull - 0:07:01
You just absolutely destroyed, you know, I said I grew up loving ice cream and you just took that to like the nth degree, so yeah, that was.
Anthony Corsaro - 0:07:08
So much cooler than any science project I did in.
Alec Jaffe - 0:07:13
Yeah, it was. It was pretty awesome. And so did that, and then also grew up around family members who were very involved in the sustainable agriculture movement. An uncle who's a professor of agro ecology. And so I'm learning about like, topsoil and soil health and, you know, rainwater runoff and all these things. Like, at a time when no one was really talking about this. And so that was a really just impactful part of my life where I was just surrounded by sustainable agriculture and. As I got older looking in the grocery store, I'm like, OK, there's a lot of like, these better for you ice creams that don't taste really that great. And I want an ice cream that tastes amazing, you know, like and then at the same time, all these ice creams that taste amazing.
Alec Jaffe - 0:07:49
I don't really. I feel pretty horrible after I eat them. And also I don't really feel great about the impact that they're making on the environment and how they're being made. And and you look at every other category in the grocery store, it seems like there's some sort of better for you, more sustainable option that is delivering a nearly as good taste component too. And in ice cream, that wasn't really the case, at least according to what I found and. So I started making ice cream at home for friends and family, just like really going all in on developing a recipe. Found something that people really loved and.
Anthony Corsaro - 0:08:45
First flavors, more the first flavors.
Alec Jaffe - 0:08:47
Ooh, so the first flavor was, of course. And then we actually had a cookies and cream that we we haven't done for variety of reasons. I need that I.
Anthony Corsaro - 0:09:00
Need the cream?
Alec Jaffe - 0:09:01
Yeah. And then, you know, the classics, vanilla, chocolate, maybe some other creations that I have up my sleeve that, you know, maybe we'll see come to market and in a little bit and just just, you know, selling it around to neighbors in the community, giving it to friends, people really loved it and. So that started a long path of like, OK, this is kind of cool. How could I potentially turn this into a business?
Kyle Krull - 0:09:28
Give us, give us time frame like what? What year is this taking place?
Alec Jaffe - 0:09:32
So this was taking place around like 2018 I would say is when I'm like in the kitchen at home, just experimenting and then.
Kyle Krull - 0:09:43
How much ice cream are you eating at this time frame in your life?
Alec Jaffe - 0:09:47
Oh my God, so much a lot to the point where. I I basically have to be like so intense with my diet and every other aspect so that I don't gain just a ridiculous amount of weight. And also, like, I I'm just kind of obsessive like this. So I'll be, you know, in bed, it's like 1130 at night. And I'm like trying to go to sleep. And then all of a sudden I have some like, Oh my God, like, is this flavor OK? Or like, is this part of it OK? And so then all of a sudden I'm in the kitchen and I'm just like.
Alec Jaffe - 0:09:53
Eating ice cream nonstop at like 1130 at night, just like analyzing every bite, so that's probably not the healthiest habit to have. But yeah, eating eating a lot of ice.
Kyle Krull - 0:10:33
Those of us who choose, we really appreciate that.
Alec Jaffe - 0:10:37
Yeah, no problem. So, yeah, that was like around 2018 and then that goes through 2019. Trying to figure out in 2019 like OK, how do I turn this into an actual business, looking at a variety of different pathways, whether that be Co packing the product, maybe opening up an ice cream shop. And then we neither one really worked. The the ice cream shop didn't really work, mainly because I was more interested honestly in creating a product for. For retail and selling into grocery store, I just felt like more excited about that.
Kyle Krull - 0:11:21
Is that because of the scale or the fact that it can be in many places at once? Like what was the the driver for that kind of leaning towards retail?
Alec Jaffe - 0:11:30
Yeah, I I think it was the scale and just it was more exciting and interesting to me as a business opportunity where. You're creating this product and then you see it on shelves all across the country, ideally. And that was much more exciting to me than essentially creating a restaurant with the ice cream shop. And I just foresaw, I mean having an ice cream shop, it's really challenging. Really challenging business because you're just relying on so much foot traffic, so you need to be in a high rent area, but then you're selling something that's like $5 Max per customer. So you just need all those people. And just when I just looked at the two like, OK, how do I want to be doing that? Whatever, whatever path I go down, it's going to be really hard and really challenging. So I better be really excited about whatever I'm doing.
Alec Jaffe - 0:11:59
And I just was more excited about the retail. Yeah.
Anthony Corsaro - 0:12:24
Side, then kovat would it came along and probably steered you that way. Yeah. And been a tough challenge. So it's probably blessing in disguise, for sure.
Alec Jaffe - 0:12:32
Exactly, exactly. So then we were really looking at the Co packing side and ran into a lot of issues there mainly around dairy sourcing and. You know, wanting to be as sustainable as possible. It was really tough at our volumes as this tiny brand with you know, no customers. We're just starting out and like hey, we want you to actually source this dairy from this farm and like clear out your milk silos and like this is who we're going to be using and also we're going to be doing like 1000 gallons and that's it. And then like that just doesn't work. So.
Kyle Krull - 0:13:09
We need that a little bit for the consumers who aren't as aware of like the manufacturing space. So basically you're working with these large Co manufacturers, you don't own your own facility. So you're looking for a partner who's willing to source a higher quality product than they're used to carrying. And because you care about the integrity of your ingredient claims, they have to through the extra process of essentially cleaning out their manufacturing line. So that you're not tainting your, your, your quality products, right. And the additional point of usually also been like next to nothing compared to the regular customers like why would they do that is essentially what's going on here, right?
Alec Jaffe - 0:13:46
Exactly. So that's that was the path that we were looking at, that's not what we're currently doing, but that was the path that we were looking at is like OK like we we are really specific about our sourcing and who we're getting our ingredients from. But at the same time you know we're a tiny brand and so that's that's kind of the the challenge that we ran into is these these larger factories and I totally get why they wouldn't want to do it. It's like why change up your whole operation like change up your sourcing, all these different things for this tiny customer that like who knows if they're going to be successful or not. So we ran into a lot of roadblocks there and and the Co manufacturing path is the path that. I don't want to know an exact percentage, but I would say probably 90% of the products that you buy especially from like new emerging brands, probably even more than 90% are coming from these Co manufacturers because it's so expensive to invest in your own manufacturing, right and challenging too, but we decided to.
Anthony Corsaro - 0:14:50
But.
Alec Jaffe - 0:14:52
We decided to. Invest in that manufacturing because it allowed us to do the things that we wanted to do and be really specific with our dairy sourcing. And I think dairy might have its own set of unique challenges that make Co packing challenging with sourcing, with unique sourcing. But we got really lucky, found this shutdown ice cream factory in Sonoma County, California. That was at the perfect size, where it's large enough to scale into a national brand size, but also small enough to where a startup can move in there and not feel like, why are we in this 50,000 square? Like, it's not this massive, massive factory. It's very small. Like when people in the industry come in, they're like, oh, this is a really small factory.
Alec Jaffe - 0:15:20
But you know, when you're walking in there, you've never worked in a factory before. You're like, this is a massive there's, there's.
Anthony Corsaro - 0:15:47
So many like good region threads to pull on here, all right. The facility doing something different rather than going the Komen route producing in house like we have to do things differently in this space to create the kind of traction and the kind of success we want. That's one to this old like abandoned Factory, we have to restore a resource that was kind of previously unused or degraded, right. And we have to be lean and do do less with more use less input so. There's all these beautiful kind of thematics about region that I think have been encapsulated in the brain and the production, so that's awesome.
Alec Jaffe - 0:16:18
Thank you. Yeah, it it really allows us to. Yeah, I mean we're we're growing this facility, we're repairing it. There's there's a lot of work that's you know gone into getting it back up and running and a lot of repairs that we're still doing and it allows us to just be really connected to region and to our suppliers and. You know who we're working with. And now, I mean there are some days when I definitely wish we weren't manufacturing and you know, machine breaks are like have another repair, but like zooming out. I am so happy that we've gone down this route. It it gives us so much more control over what we're doing and allows us to really go all in on this regenerative mission.
Kyle Krull - 0:17:03
Have you guys been sorting your dare from the same partner? Throughout, you know, since the inception of the brand or is that a a recent development?
Alec Jaffe - 0:17:11
It's a it's a recent development so we're we're currently working with Alexander family Farms which is an amazing company. I'm sure people in their regenerative space are are well aware of them and we we found out about them really some ways like. Spring, early summer of last year and as soon as we've found out about them is just kind of like we have to work with them. It's kind of no brainer.
Kyle Krull - 0:17:40
I was also the proximity thing. I mean, you're in Sonoma there in what present city, I think?
Alec Jaffe - 0:17:45
Exactly.
Kyle Krull - 0:17:46
Super close.
Alec Jaffe - 0:17:46
Yeah. So I mean and that's the other thing. Like I look at how lucky we've been in with all these different things that have happened. I mean just having. A farm like Alexander Farms, so local to us that we can source from them, you know, it really allows us to to do things that not a lot of other companies could do. And so yeah, we we started sourcing, we started talking with them last year and then made the full transition over to sourcing our dairy exclusively from them last fall and then in this past April launched. The kind of rebrand of our product that has the regenerative and A2 benefits and new packaging and all that will.
Anthony Corsaro - 0:18:32
You explain that to the audience, both the Regent side and how Regent dairy is different and both the A two side and how that's different. And for audience Alexander family Farms is the 1st and according to my knowledge still the only regenerative dairy in the world. So they're certified by Roc and also land and market. So you know just incredible company doing incredible work but take take the audience through. Kind of why regenerative dairy is so important and then why A2 is so important and what that means for the end consumer eating the ice cream.
Alec Jaffe - 0:19:02
Yeah. So regenerative dairy is really important for a variety of reasons. One, I guess the, the impact for you is the consumer and consuming that product, consuming that dairy, it's going to be higher in nutrients like Omega, threes and clas. Also with everything in region, the environmental impact is, is going to be really significant. I mean, it's so funny. And I guess more interesting when I'm talking to people and saying, yeah, we're, we're better for the environment. We're a daily product and people really having to talk through with people about like how cows and grazing animals are such an important part of this regenerative system and you really need them to have a soup, a really effective regenerative system. And so the way regenerative dairy is different is you're looking at how the cows are out on pasture consuming pretty much only grass or like having that as a significant, the significant majority of their diet just being grass. And then how they're managed on pasture where they're actually being managed in sort of a rotational grazing pattern where they're only on certain parts of the pasture which.
Alec Jaffe - 0:19:54
Creates a much healthier pasture, which then allows that grass on that pasture to pull carbon out of the air, store it in the ground to the point where, you know, we're seeing these regenerative cattle operations end up being carbon negative because that soil is that healthy soil which you need the cows, you know, adding their compost and, you know, trampling it into the ground and. Eating dying grass and you know, keeping that grass really healthy to just store so much carbon into the soil. It's it's really, really cool and really powerful when you are just there. And so I visited their farm at the end of August last year. Was that in California? First visit.
Alec Jaffe - 0:20:51
And at the in California in August pretty much everything is just brown and and kind of dying and it's because it's so dry and their their farm is still perfectly green and their area they're watering their fields way less than their their neighbors. And I'm like I have this picture that I show where it's their farm and then a neighboring farm and their farm is perfectly green and their neighboring farm is like brown and. Not so pretty. And it's just like, so amazing to see that.
Kyle Krull - 0:21:46
Impact. So I got to experiment right now because we are today is July 20th, we're in the middle of like a global heat wave, right. There's temperatures across the world right now. And I was just watching the video. It gets the ground put on earlier this morning, they did this really super simple experiment where they took a temperature gun and they shot it at a plant. Then they shot it at a green piece of paper and then they shot it on bear exposed Earth. Just compare the temperatures on the same day in the same amount of sun, the plant temperature was like 60 degrees. The green piece of paper which is also off the ground in same color was 89 degrees, a 30 degree difference. And then the bare soil was 138 degrees. But for those of us who cook, eat. I mean that's like that's a well done steak, you know and it's like the ground temp get to your point like these regenerative pastures are not just sequestering carbon but they're also holding water and helping to keep the earth cool. And if we can get more adoption of these regenerative dairies and or you know crops, grains, whatever and it's keeping the earth cooler in general. So just really important to touch on that right now because it's a really huge contemporary issue and this to me is like.
Kyle Krull - 0:22:28
You can eat killer ice cream and support like cooling the planet at the same time. Why wouldn't you choose to do that?
Alec Jaffe - 0:23:03
Pretty good, yeah. I mean the water, the water retention piece with healthy soil is something that we talk a lot about carbon, but the water retention piece is something I think doesn't get talked about enough with how I mean. I see it with farms around Sonoma County where like we don't get a ton of rain in the in the spring and summer, we get a decently rainy winter. But you know and so it's really beautiful and green in the winter and spring, but then you just see it slowly turn to brown and if we can store more of that water, rain water in the soil. Just keep healthier grasses, you know, I think that's really powerful. So that's that's the regenerative piece. And then the A2 side of things I think is really awesome as well. So A2 dairy is basically dairy that's easy to digest. A2 is a dairy or milk protein that's found in all mammals milk, so human milk.
Alec Jaffe - 0:23:37
Cow milk, goat milk, sheep milk have this A2 protein. A long time ago, certain cows started producing an A1 protein instead of this A2 protein, and this A1 protein is what causes a lot of digestive issues for humans when they're consuming cow's milk. So. Alexander Farms, they make sure that their dairy is 100% a two, so it's easily digestible and a lot of people who are sort of that self diagnosed lactose intolerant person actually. Are able to digest this A2 dairy totally fine, so there is still lactose in it. That's a question that I get often. Like, oh, so does your dairy not have lactose? No, it has lactose. It just has 100% of this A2 protein.
Alec Jaffe - 0:24:42
And it's been pretty incredible seeing how many people who typically struggle with dairy and especially like yeah, like we were talking about earlier, when you have that bowl of ice cream that's really indulgent, then you sort of are in a food coma for a few hours that blow and you just don't exactly. You just don't have that experience at all with our product. So like we like to say our ice cream leaves you glowing, that's bloating and and it's really true. It's, it's, it's a. It's pretty cool, right? Just just out of.
Kyle Krull - 0:25:29
Curiosity, sorry, Anthony, we always do this where we try to challenge the exact same time from a percentage basis. You might have the exact figures, but what percentage of US dairy is A1 slag 2 versus A2A2?
Alec Jaffe - 0:25:45
I don't have, unless the product specifically calls out that it is 100% a 2 dairy, that it's a 2 dairy. You're going to be consuming A1 dairy. It's just, it's so prevalent and also because a lot of the dairy products that you're consuming are coming from a dairy source that's like a called a pool of dairy. So you're pooling together all these different farms in a region. They all get sent over to a local Creamery. They get processed into whole milk, skim milk, 2% cream, whatever components you need. So you don't know, you know, OK, this farm, it may be 100% a 2, but if it's getting pulled into with five other farms, they're and they're not testing and not trying to have that percentage, they're definitely producing likely mostly A1 milk. And so, you know.
Alec Jaffe - 0:26:25
If you're consuming dairy and it doesn't call out a two, you're most deaf. I can't. You're like consuming A1. It's.
Anthony Corsaro - 0:26:54
It's a very small percentage. I bet Stephanie and Blake Alexander could give us the exact stats because they're they're all over. Yeah, hilarious story. I so I have an autoimmune disease and I gave up dairy for the longest time and last year we had a bunch of Alexander products at the Rfsi Forum. And they have these 12 ounce like individual chocolate milks, a turmeric milk like there's like 3 or 4 flavors. I must had six of them in three hours and I was just completely fine, like just smashing these chocolate milks that were incredible, but also like 00 issues consuming the dairy, which has not been the case for for me historically and then. You know them on the region side, we have these awesome region pioneers that are kind of nailing one or two commodities. Like the Alexander's are in a different ball, like they're in a different stratosphere. Like they got eggs, they got chickens, they're doing the dairy thing. Like if you listen to podcasts or you visit the website, they're, they're doing awesome tree plantings around their water sources in these riparian areas and they're integrating like even the native room in it, like elk and the species that are better native to that geography. So they're just, I mean they're just pioneering folks that we can't, we can't give them enough kudos for everything.
Anthony Corsaro - 0:27:29
What they're doing.
Alec Jaffe - 0:28:01
Yeah, it's, it's, it's really, it's really exciting being able to work with them and just yeah, exactly. You said just how they've helped pioneer the space is yeah.
Kyle Krull - 0:28:13
I'm also an everyday consumer of Alexander Farms Dairy, literally every single day, and I actually recently went to the store and they were out of stock. Which is both great and horrible to see. Like hey, people are buying the product, awesome, but I don't get to buy it. So I had to buy a different grass filled, non regenerative or sorry grass fed non regenerative milk. And I felt guilty every single day I was consuming it. And now I'm going to end up feeling the same way with ice cream. Like if I'm not consuming this regenerative ice cream like, I'm making a mistake for myself, for the planet, for everybody, right? So yeah, it's cool that I feel like.
Kyle Krull - 0:28:22
Brands like Alexander Farms or Alec's Ice Cream can develop this kind of hardcore fall, and the people who really want to put the best nutrition sources in their body were just the best sourced ingredients and are really looking to do something positive for the environment.
Alec Jaffe - 0:29:02
Yeah, yeah, totally.
Anthony Corsaro - 0:29:04
What, what has been the arc? So we're we want to talk a little fundraising history and kind of commercial track record, right. So like what has been the arc you started making the ice cream in 2018, how have you funded the growth and how has kind of the sales trajectory been since since 2018, take us through that.
Alec Jaffe - 0:29:21
So we funded the growth mainly through Angel investors, some, some people involved in in the space and. The sales trajectory it's, it's been really interesting. We started off just in in the Bay Area, San Francisco Bay Area selling to local independent retailers and then this past this past April I guess was when we really started branching out. And it's been pretty rapid and and pretty pretty kind of crazy the growth that we've seen especially since bringing on these region and a two I guess attributes and components. And so it's we've sort of just taken off and we've gone from I think we're last year we were in probably 150 stores. Now we're in over 500, let's go and yeah, and we, we, we should be in well over 1000 next year talking with some really exciting retailers for some wider launches next year. And yeah it's, it's, it's very exciting. The thing that has been so interesting for me being new into the whole grocery space is that grocery moves slowly.
Alec Jaffe - 0:30:23
And you know you.
Anthony Corsaro - 0:30:51
Calendars, these larger recycling people, you only take breaks, yes?
Alec Jaffe - 0:30:54
There's, you know.
Anthony Corsaro - 0:30:55
We do the ice cream.
Alec Jaffe - 0:30:56
Exactly and.
Anthony Corsaro - 0:30:57
So wait till then.
Alec Jaffe - 0:30:59
Uh huh. Yeah, that was a that was a big learning experience for me. Just, you know, every other industry that you want to grow, OK, go out to your customers, go pitch them your product, explain why it's you're going to help them and try and sell it with grocery. It's like, yeah, wait, talk to us in September and we'll look at it once and then. And then if we do like it, great. We'll put you on the shelf in March. So that growth process, it's very slow and comes in large chunks and that has definitely been a learning experience. But yeah, we're excited for that next large chunk growth to come.
Kyle Krull - 0:31:38
I assume. I'm curious, you know, when you just pitch these products to the retailers, you've got a premium price point. You got a verification and a certification that are not super super widely recognized at this stage of the game. How is your product typically received from the buyers and the decision makers? You're working with the retail?
Alec Jaffe - 0:32:00
They've all been really excited about it. On the buyer side. I think it's the industry side there. There is a good amount of awareness on region and A2 and so. They're really excited about those, those components and then they try the product and like wow, this tastes great too. And so then they're, they're, they get really excited about it.
Kyle Krull - 0:32:27
Gotta be easy when you're pitching ice cream instead of like the.
Alec Jaffe - 0:32:29
Challenge, right? Exactly. Like the, the Nice thing about what we're doing is no one turns down free samples. You know I we can from any like influencers to retail buyers like hey, we want to send you some free ice cream. Very rarely do we get like no, I don't want the free ice cream. So I would say retailers are really excited about both of these things. That are coming out and that are still very new. I think the real challenge is on the consumer side where that excitement and I guess really awareness it's not exciting because as soon as you tell someone about it they they get really excited about it. They're they're really interested like wow, we can help repair the planet, start contributing to like a really critical part of the climate crisis can have better quality food.
Alec Jaffe - 0:32:55
The challenge is most consumers just don't know about this. And so I think if a retailer does have a concern, they're like well, are people going to going to know about regenerative and that's what I see is the the biggest challenge with regenerative just as.
Kyle Krull - 0:33:42
Yeah, I really appreciate you surfacing that thought and it's something that Internet and I have thought to about a lot. Is demonizing animal based products as bad for the planet? And I myself am just as guilty as anybody. Like I didn't eat beef for three years because I thought I don't want to contribute to cafes and destroying the planet. And then when I learned about regenerative that it's not like a do no harm by avoiding a particular segment of food. You can actually support good by contributing to a A a company like Alexander Farms or Alec's Ice Cream that's doing it right. To me, this is a really powerful, like paradigm shift. And you're spot on. Like if we can get consumers to make that same shift, then I think there's a, the upside to regenerative is just like limitless.
Alec Jaffe - 0:34:30
Yeah. I mean, I think the hard thing is there's so much narrative around. Animal based products particularly and their impact on the environment and totally fair like industrial beef and dairy is in you know when they're in feedlots and all that really potentially damaging for the environment, lots of and there's lots of issues with I mean across the board you look at it industrialized agriculture, there's there's a lot of issues you can point to on both the animal and the plant side. And so it is really interesting when I have these conversations with people, I really have to walk them through why as an animal cow based product we are actually better for the environment and but even just the awareness of the term regenerative agriculture, a lot of people haven't even heard about it yet. And so it is still so early like when when we're in it. When you're in it, you're like this is such a no brainer thing to get behind and so exciting and so powerful and so much opportunity to make real positive change that it feels like everyone should know about this. But then when you go out into the market and we're doing demos or events and sampling and a lot of people like I've explained regenerative agriculture to me. And the cool thing is a lot of people are very open receptive to it. But that awareness I I see is like one of our big things that we're working on just getting people totally about it more.
Anthony Corsaro - 0:36:08
It's a challenge for somebody like myself that even works in the space every day like be at a party it sounds like what do you do? And it's like what do you have 5 minutes like can I, can I not like Jehovah's Witness? Can I talk to you about soil health today? Can I talk to you about soil health today? And but it's super important. And you know tactically you mentioned sampling events like. What have you guys done that's been successful to support launches in retail and what do you plan to do to support, you know, the massive kind of doors you're going to add here in the next year?
Alec Jaffe - 0:36:40
So it's been a real challenge with COVID because as a new. Brand and food product. The best way for me to sell my product to you is to give you a free sample and then you try especially a product like ice cream and if you have a product like ours that we really believe in the taste quality and that it's just a really delicious product. The best, most effective way that I can sell it is here's a free taste. Do you like it? Awesome. It's literally right around the corner. You can go get it. We're in the store. Like you just have to go to the shelf, pick it up and you can buy it at the cash register. But a lot of retailers have we, you know, just during the pandemic we haven't been able to do Instore sampling and it's still been slowed for that component to come back.
Alec Jaffe - 0:37:05
So when we can we we definitely do sampling and it's been so amazing just hearing the feedback from demo teams and everything. Like people are loving this product and we had one one like demo report come back and they said that one person tried the ice cream at the booth. Put they had another brands ice cream in their shopping cart, put the other ice cream back and replaced it with ours. Incredible. They're trying. So like, you know, it's such like it's so awesome like hearing that kind of feedback. So we're definitely leaning into demos heavily when available and if not you know, trying different things like.
Alec Jaffe - 0:37:55
You know, Geo targeted digital advertising, investing in other promotional programs in those retailers doing discounted pricing, you know, a variety of different things.
Anthony Corsaro - 0:38:29
Have you have you all thought about food service at all yet?
Alec Jaffe - 0:38:33
We we have a little bit and it's something that we are looking into and especially locally doing it. So it's it's something we're exploring the the challenging thing with with ice cream is just it just needs to stay frozen and stay really cold. And so it adds another layer of logistics for any kind of different initiative that we have. And so I'm very mindful about staying focused on what our core business is and. I'm very interested in food service, but sort of approaching it very makes sense.
Kyle Krull - 0:39:09
The food service, that was a potential future, you know, opportunity, future channel. What else is in the pipeline for Alec's? You mentioned you might have some flavors up your sleeves. I've got to say as like an ice cream enthusiast, somebody who loves peanut butter. I would love to see like a collab between Alec's and Queen Snacks with their like. Peanut butter filled pretzels, you know, which are also region like to me that's like the perfect regenerative ice cream dream, like collaboration. So what are you thinking in terms of innovation? Yeah.
Alec Jaffe - 0:39:43
So we do have flavor new flavors coming out. We actually have a a peanut butter flavor that should be launching. This is bringing later this year breaking news on the Rogen Brands podcast early next year.
Kyle Krull - 0:39:58
Let's go. It might be it might just peanut butter in the paper, like I need specifics here. As specific as you're willing to get.
Alec Jaffe - 0:40:07
Yeah, there is. There is a chocolate component to it as well. So yeah, that's that's all I can divulge at this time. And really we're looking at OK, adding different flavors, maybe some seasonal flavors, really investing in our core product line. And then from there, do we look at getting into different formats like novelties? Novelties are really big in ice cream right now. Explain.
Anthony Corsaro - 0:40:38
That to the audience, what that means. People aren't super CPG in the note.
Alec Jaffe - 0:40:44
Yeah. So novelties are everything that isn't in a tub of ice cream. So whether you're buying like a pint or a quart. So novelties would be an Ice Cream Sandwich or like an like one of those prepacked ice cream cones, like a drumstick style ice cream or an ice cream bar. Basically whatever, whatever other form of ice cream you could be consuming that's not in a, in a, in a. In a pint or a larger tub, and that's an.
Anthony Corsaro - 0:41:12
Alec's, Ice Cream Sandwich ASAP. Need that in the pipeline.
Alec Jaffe - 0:41:16
Oh, my God. Yeah, yeah, yeah, me too. Yeah. So we're definitely looking at that down the line, but right now really focusing on our our core favorite lines.
Kyle Krull - 0:41:28
That's exciting. PV Chocolate Alec's, you know, coming your way. Yeah, that's huge.
Alec Jaffe - 0:41:34
Oh yeah. Yes, it's. I'm very.
Kyle Krull - 0:41:38
That's awesome. That one what?
Alec Jaffe - 0:41:39
It's gonna be really what?
Anthony Corsaro - 0:41:40
Do you want this thing to look like in 10 years? You know what? What is success for you? When we when we do this podcast for maybe the fifth or sixth time in 10 years, if Alec's looks like X, you know you've you've succeeded. What is that?
Alec Jaffe - 0:41:54
I look at it from a from a few different lenses. I mean, there's the just pure business side, which is I want our ice cream to be everywhere. Maybe not ever truly everywhere, but you know what I mean? I want it to be a nationally available and recognized brand and we're super successful in sales and growing and you can find us in wherever you shop, you know you can you can find us there. So that that's one thing. Another thing I think is being looked at as. One of the early pioneers of the regenerative movement and a brand that really made a difference and tried to do things the right way and did things the right way and helped drive this movement. We're definitely not, you know, there are so many amazing people involved in regenerative and we just want to be a part of that. And I think with ice cream we have a really unique opportunity as a product that is super.
Alec Jaffe - 0:42:30
The category itself is just very branded like everyone kind of has their favorite brand that they recognize and they purchase and there's an element of fun to ice cream that you know it's that like other regenerative products maybe don't have like it's ice cream can be a lot more fun in how we market our product than.
Kyle Krull - 0:43:21
Like for example, it's just.
Alec Jaffe - 0:43:25
Both like it just it's ice cream is just a super fun product. So how can we lean into that to help spread the message about regenerative in a way that feels different than there feels unique to ice cream. So I think those are the two things that like for us to be successful and then I think the third thing is internally as a business how have we created an environment for people to. Feel a sense of ownership, feel like they've developed their career and just really enjoyed working here. I mean that's something that's really important to me whether that's distributing equity awards to all of our fulltime employees are offering great medical benefits as a small business. Like that's something that you know maybe isn't super exciting for the for the end consumer, but is really exciting for me and important to me as as someone who you know has people are coming here and spending their lives working at this. Spending their time working at this company like I want them to enjoy it. So if we can accomplish all three of those things, I'll be.
Anthony Corsaro - 0:44:29
Pretty happy and not. I'm not shocked to hear you say that as as to you know. Fellow walk on Division One football players I think that team kind of mindset and and that that shines through through yeah many conversations that we've had and you know to circle back to to some of the things on the animal agriculture side and I don't want to beat a dead horse here. So we've kind of talked about it here in another episodes. But like we have to attack that narrative head on like we need to do better in plant based AG as well and in terms of regenerative adoption and all the things but there is such this. Narratives out there that we we have to have pioneering brands that are animal based products that really tell that story and shift that narrative or we're just going to lose out to the kind of in my opinion the the mass marketing machine that's kind of funneling some of the the false solutions in my opinion on the plant based.
Kyle Krull - 0:45:16
Side totally well and I think we need to shift the argument because it's it's not animals versus plants, it's regenerative versus conventional industrial agriculture. So it's like you're, you're forced in this in today's world it feels like you're forced to choose between animal and plant and you can't like walk the line. But it should be that like plant based regenerative AG should be partnering with animal based regenerative AG and that should be like that's the front we need to like bridge the gap on because that's really where I think you're going to get the people that convert from like I'm not going to avoid all animal products no matter what to start to reconsider like oh why is this you know region plant company that I really. Like, love to purchase and support, why are they partnering with this animal company and then that can open the door to that further education?
Alec Jaffe - 0:46:06
Yeah, that's a great way to frame it, honestly is just do you either want to be supporting a more industrialized system or do you want to be supporting a holistic regenerative system and which way do you want to go? And I think framing it like that is is very helpful for people who are like. It's just a it's, it's a total you're totally flipping what you've thought of like how to be sustainable as a consumer. And so it's, it's, it's really important and you know. As a former athlete, it's kind of a fun challenge to take that on and feel like the underdog and like I'm going to, I'm going to show you why this is actually better.
Anthony Corsaro - 0:46:50
We're going to have this great contingent of super passionate consumers that are super well informed and follow all the region accounts on Instagram, but that'll probably never be the majority like I just, I just believe that. And so to me scaling this thing is about. When, when is regen going to show up at Walmart? Like at scale, I'm like what does that look like and what do we have to do to get there? And so kind of a segue into the question we ask all of our guests are how do we have 50% market share for regen brands by 2050? So what in your opinion, what needs to happen for us to have 50% market share of regen brands by by 2050?
Alec Jaffe - 0:47:24
So I think a few things need to happen for that, for that 50% market share to to take place and. I think the most important thing is really increasing general consumer awareness where they understand why they need to be purchasing products that are contributing to this regenerative system and how important that is. Because if there's consumer demand, then brands are going to pop up to fill that demand and retailers are going to find those products to sell to those interested consumers and so. I think it's just really exactly like what Anthony was saying earlier about that mass consumer who's you know the bulk of the purchasing power in in the country and in the world. Having them understand why this is important will be will be huge and then on top of that making it easier for. Starting down the supply chain, starting allow making it easier for farmers to actually transition over to regenerative and making it more affordable, whether that's through subsidies or other resources to actually start supplying the market with regenerative ingredients. I can tell you as a manufacturer it's very, very hard to source regenerative verified or certified ingredients.
Alec Jaffe - 0:48:19
And then more and more brands also need to start making that transition and making that investment. And you know there's a there are some sacrifices as a brand that you need to make to like stand for this mission and what you what you believe in. Our ingredients are more expensive. We have less options of who we can source our ingredients from, but at the same time we really believe in this and we feel like that these sacrifices are worth. Doing because it's for something that we really feel is important and the more brands you have coming out and talking about regenerative, having these conversations, telling consumers at the demo booths why regenerative is important, the more people are going to know about it. So it's sort of this kind of full circle thing where you need consumers to be aware you need consumers to want these types of products, but you also need brands, educating consumers on this.
Alec Jaffe - 0:49:15
And why it's important to create that awareness which then drives more brands popping up, which also will drive retailers wanting to have these brands in their stores. So it is really kind of this full cycle thing, but I think, I think it really starts.
Kyle Krull - 0:49:58
With I agree and somewhere we just described sort of like it's almost like a miniature regenerative ecosystem and like what needs to happen for regenerative to scale. But I think this fall on that consumer awareness and demand is really the key. And as you would have said, there's a deer that's walking in front of my window. This keeps happening during the podcast and I love it. Just a reminder that, like they're here because we're talking about regeneration, which is great consumer demand. So to me, consumer demand is spot on. Like the thing that has to happen you mentioned like the consumers, will I try to get more regenerative products, right. So then more brands will come into the play, which will require more farmers to transition to regenerative. And I think about kombucha 10 years ago.
Kyle Krull - 0:50:11
And the availability of kombucha and as consumers started to become more aware of like, hey, I want this alternative to soda still a sparkling effervescent beverage. It provides some level of health for my gut. And now it's, it's in Walmart, like Anthony talked about before, it's everywhere, you know, so consumers made that demand, more brands started to make different kombuchas it sold at all sorts of restaurants. Now you can get anywhere you want. So if we can get that same kind of awareness and adoption and traction. For generative like I don't see why we can't get there, especially in 50 years. If you look at what kombucha did in the last 10, I think the region, there's a viable way we can actually make this happen.
Alec Jaffe - 0:51:16
Yeah, I mean even looking like on a much broader scope just how organic USDA organic foods grew and now you can find. Organic foods at every retailer you go to, whether that's Walmart, target, Whole Foods, every retailer is carrying organic versions of products. And so I think we can get there and I I don't see a reason why regenerative products can't be sold.
Kyle Krull - 0:51:44
Oh, I'm at every retailer. Yeah. And thank you for carrying the look you want to.
Anthony Corsaro - 0:51:48
See in that 2050.
Kyle Krull - 0:51:49
Sorry. Yeah. Thanks for carrying the regenerative flag. Yeah, through mile, you know.
Anthony Corsaro - 0:51:54
Absolutely, absolutely. Yeah. So great to have you on, man. Thanks for joining us. This was awesome.
Alec Jaffe - 0:51:59
Yeah, thank you for having me. I really enjoyed the conversation. It's fun to talk region and also not have to give the whole science class to you and convince them why. But yeah, absolutely. I really appreciate you having me on.
Anthony Corsaro - 0:52:12
Where as we wrap up, where can people find more information on what you're doing? And you mentioned at the beginning, but let's wrap up with that on.
Alec Jaffe - 0:52:20
Yeah. So you can find us at our website, Alec's Ice Cream calm. That's ale Cs ice cream calm. You can also find us on Instagram at that. Same at at Alec's Ice Cream. Hey, we're now on TikTok.
Kyle Krull - 0:52:36
To those Milan.
Alec Jaffe - 0:52:37
It's ice cream started to do that as well, exactly. And so yeah, you can find us all over social and on our website at www.
Anthony Corsaro - 0:52:49
Dot, thanks so much. Congrats on everything pump for you.
Alec Jaffe - 0:52:52
Thank you.
Anthony Corsaro - 0:52:58
For show notes and more information on our guests and what we discuss on the show, check out our website regenbrands.com that is regenbrands.com. You can also check out our YouTube channel, Regen Brands Podcast for all of our episodes with both video and audio. The best way to support our work is to give us a 5 star rating on your favorite podcast platform and subscribe to future episodes. Thanks so much for tuning into the Regen Brands Podcast brought to you by the Regen Coalition and Outlaw Ventures. We hope you learned something new in this episode and it empowers you to use your voice, your time, and your dollars to help us build a better and more regenerative food system. Love you guys.