#71 - Dana Ehrlich @ Verde Farms

Episode Recap:

ReGen Brands Recap #71 - Verde Farm’s 100% Organic & Grass-Fed Beef Goes Regenerative - (RECAP LINK)

Episode Transcript:

Kyle Krull - 00:00:16
Welcome to The ReGen Brands Podcast. This is a place for consumers operators and investors to learn about the consumer brands, supporting regenerative agriculture, and how they're changing the world. This is your host, Kyle. Joined by my co host, AC, is going to take us into the episode.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:00:34
On this episode, we have Dana Ehrlich, who is the founder of Verde Farms. Verde Farms is supporting regenerative agriculture with its lineup of 100% USDA organic and grass fed and grass finished beef products. They have recently begun working with Land to Market to transition their supply to fully regenerative and have begun certifying certain SKUs. In this episode, Dana shares the health and tourism journey that led him to South American grass fed beef, plus how they've grown the brand over time very unconventionally. Through private label business and branded sales to conventional and mass retailers. Verde Farms is growing 50% year over year with category leading velocities and recently took on his first major investment while also transitioning to self manufacturing. Tons of fun topics in this one y'all on all things CPG, plus Dana shares the behind the scenes look at getting their farmers to adopt more regenerative practices.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:01:19
Here's a hint. The incentives have to do with boosting on far profitability. Here we go. What's up, everybody? Welcome back to another episode of the Regen Brands podcast. Very excited today to have our friend Dana from Verde Farms with us. So welcome, Dana.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:01:44
Thank you very much for having me.

Kyle Krull - 00:01:46
Dana, we're stoked. As always, you know, our listeners are probably tired of us saying this, but AC and I both feel the impact of animals, especially when raised right, can be so tremendous for both human and planetary health. So we're super pumped to to get to showcase another story in that vein. So for those who are unfamiliar with the Verde Farms, give us a quick lay at the land. What sort of products do you produce? Where can people find you today?

Dana Ehrlich - 00:02:10
So, again, thanks for having me on. So Verde is a leading brand of organic grass fed pasture raised beef. We predominantly sell to retail customers across the US, folks like BJ's in the club channel, Amazon Fresh, kroger, Albertsons, and and many other points of distribution.

Kyle Krull - 00:02:30
BJ's, I was not expecting to hear that, and really cool to to hear that there's regen beef at BJ's. Like, out of curiosity, what's the price point for, like, a a pound of ground?

Dana Ehrlich - 00:02:41
So we have a a couple different, lean points there. We have both an 85 and a 15 and a 937. And I think they're in the kind of 6 to $7 per pound price point.

Kyle Krull - 00:02:55
Really accessible. That's awesome.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:02:57
Yeah. And that was definitely we'll we'll get into the origin story, but, one of the things that I wanted to do was democratize grass fed beef and get it out to the masses, and it really started from nothing and to be able to go, we're in a 100% of the the BJ clubs and and to get it out nationwide and, you know, lots of points of distribution has been a a very exciting journey.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:03:20
Yeah. It's been fun to watch that proliferation in the grass fed beef space. I mean, you started this this brand in 2005. I think I was in 5th or 6th grade then.

3 - 00:03:28
So I

Anthony Corsaro - 00:03:29
was not I was not along for the whole ride

Dana Ehrlich - 00:03:31
as well.

3 - 00:03:34
But but

Anthony Corsaro - 00:03:34
no, I mean, it's a testament to, like, Most of the brands we've talked to that have scaled to the the point that y'all are at. Like, it takes a long time. Like, it takes a long time to build these returner supply chains and do it correctly. And to create symbiotic relationships with retailers and consumers. And so really excited to dive deep into that that, you know, whole story today, but want want you to take us all the way back to really this all got started with some personal health challenges that you had now.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:03:59
Yeah. Yeah. So, so the the company really officially formally launched in 2005, but the the story actually started a couple of years before that. So I started my career in Silicon Valley. I was a semiconductor manufacturing engineer and a product manager at Intel, and then

Anthony Corsaro - 00:04:19
little different than grass fed

3 - 00:04:25
beef. Makes total.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:04:26
I don't understand. That was a natural transition for me. So it wanted to get out of of high-tech and do something that I was more passionate about and got into business school at Dartmouth took a year off to backpack around the world, which was an awesome experience and was really interested in doing something entrepreneurial I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. Really love travel. Really love food. And it was during a semester abroad when I went to live in and study in Buenos Aires in Argentina, where I really discovered grass fed beef. I grew up in the the suburbs of Boston, it was just red meat and a Styrofoam package. I didn't know anything about some white chains.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:05:00
I didn't know the difference between a rib eye and a strip 1. And and so this was all really, really new. But when I came back to the states, I in January of 2005, I was looking for Argentinean beef or grass fed beef, and had a bad meal at a steak house. And that was really the moment where I thought, you know, there there's some opportunity here and then really start looking into the the major trends in the US in terms of health and wellness, animal welfare, environmental sustainability. And organic livestock standards had just been finalized in the early 2000s. And so this intersection between organic and grass fed really felt, fit with those major trends in the US.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:05:41
On the personal side, which you mentioned, I had just been diagnosed with ulcerative colitis right around a couple years be before that. And so when I ate certain foods, it would really affect my GI.

3 - 00:06:03
Yeah.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:06:03
And, you know, it went through different medicines, different mindfulness, different, you know, adjusting stress levels and so on. And I found when I ate as all the the the beef down in Argentina, I could eat as much as I want. It was both delicious. But it never bothered by system, like the grain finished beef did. And so that kind of personal impact plus going out to in Estancia, which is like a working bed and breakfast, cattle ranch out in the the province of Buenos Buenos Aires got to see how the cattle are actually raised. Gauchos on horseback, eating red meat, cooked over, open flame, oh, yeah, outside drinking, all back under the stars. You know, is pretty enticing.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:06:37
And that combined with coming back to the US really, kicked things off.

Kyle Krull - 00:06:53
Yeah. Alright. What a beautiful story. You really romanced that well. Like, this sounds like I need to go do that.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:06:58
It's like a South American Yellowstone. I like wanna be there. You know? Like, ready to go. Dana, do you remember, like, can you articulate or describe what it was like walking through a regular grocery store at that time? Cause, like, I was too young. Remember that. But, like, what what were the options?

3 - 00:07:15
Like Yeah.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:07:15
So the second time you called the old in about 5 minutes.

3 - 00:07:18
And You're

Anthony Corsaro - 00:07:19
taking it that way. That's not that's not how I'm using it. You know, I'm looking to be educated. I'm looking for your wisdom. That's that's what we're looking for.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:07:26
Yeah. Yeah. Speaking of you

Kyle Krull - 00:07:27
look better, so I'm fine with it.

3 - 00:07:28
You know, keep going on that path.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:07:31
Well,

Anthony Corsaro - 00:07:32
cop today.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:07:33
Yeah. So, I mean, I'm I'm hurting 50, in 2 weeks, and when I started this, you know, 29, 30, and so when I shopped, I mean, there were a lot less options than we have today. And some ways, it's different. Some ways, it's not. Yeah. You've got a wall of red meat, and I think we grew up with mom cooking in the kitchen and and knowing different cuts, but not that education, not really getting passed down. And so I think it's intimidating when people go to a supermarket.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:08:03
First, you know, for people that didn't grow up in the the countryside around cattle, they have no idea, you know, the the different breeds, you know, what makes a a tender cut versus an on the tender cut, different cooking methods. I think it's it's really intimidating to to go to a supermarket when you see different cuts of red meat and styrofoam package on a big wall without any instructions. I think it's hard for people to know what to purchase. You actually, you know, you fast forward that today. And now you've got all these different claims, organic, grass fed, regen, never ever, feedlot, And again, unless you're in the sector, I think it's really hard for the the consumers to know what the difference is between the the different options that are out there. So, you know, price point is certainly a guide. I think packaging, just like in wine is a guide.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:08:56
But to really understand what things mean is very, very challenging for layperson, which I think is the vast, vast majority of the consumers we're about.

Kyle Krull - 00:09:14
Yeah. Dana, I couldn't agree more with that. And even as somebody who's worked in the natural space for more than 10 years, I, I I'm often like, the more I learn about food, the more I realize, like, it is so complicated. You know, the the type of soil it's on, like, the soil health, you know, the, Bio diversity of the diet of the animal, you know, where it's processed, how it's processed. It is so, so complicated. So I think that's a really good point you made. But before we deviate too far away from the health journey story, I'm really curious about this, like, physical or physiological reaction you had to, like, the grass fed beef versus the, you know, standard American grain finished beef. Do you have a sense for, like, nutritionally speaking why your body with with ulcerative colitis was able to tolerate the 100% grass fed and is so much better than the alternative.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:09:58
I mean, and I'm an engineer and I've got a chemistry minor, undergrad. It's hard to tell, you know, exactly the dynamics between the food we ingest and the the why. And I think particularly for those with colitis, It's very much an individual experience. There are certain things

3 - 00:10:16
that

Dana Ehrlich - 00:10:16
I could tolerate that other people that have the same illness cannot. And so I think it's very much an individual journey. And depending on how active the disease could be, there are certain things where when it's not active, I could eat popcorn, when it is, like, Don't don't even eat anything, you know, that that's hard and fibrous. And so I think it's really just about being self aware, and in tune and terms of what the body can and can't handle, you know, fast forward many years later. I do think, you know, you are what you eat. And if the animals aren't moving in the feedlot, they're eating grains, you're gonna get a lot of fat, on the animals and traditionally, that's what we've measured. That's what the US Radiant system has been built around. I find the the grass fed meat has more flavor. Generally, it's more fat.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:11:00
Although I'd say as the quality of the beef, particularly the grass fed beef has improved, and I think regenah is a big component, the the fat levels have actually increased as well. So it's a more both tender flavorful steak. But I also think that a fat is a healthier fat than what you would get in a grain finished product as well.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:11:28
Yeah. It's crazy to think about genetics and forage diversity and all the things that actually go into that end product. Which we've talked about on some episodes and happy to to go into today. But be before we do, I wanna close the loop on the origin story. So you have this very, like, formidable health experience journey. You you go to South America. You see this. You said you had this interest in food.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:11:40
Were you in the MBA program thinking like I'm gonna start a food business, or was this basically just like a giant light bulb moment where you just hit it and ran with it. Like, what was what was that big, you know, shift or or critical deciding factor like?

Dana Ehrlich - 00:12:00
Yeah. So going into business school, I wanted to do something burnerial and wasn't honestly, wasn't sure what that was going to be. I did this whole year of backpacking, around the world, 20 plus countries, multiple continents, Europe, Africa, Southeast Asia, Brazil, Central America. You know, amazing experience. And I actually got very close to starting an adventure travel company. And so that was actually the reason that I went to our was improving my Spanish and starting trips to Patagonia. And then obviously got sidetracked, with with the beef and my uh-uh moment. I always whenever I traveled, people had asked me how the trip was, and I'd always start with the food.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:12:36
And so I always, you know, not a professional but I always had, you know, high level of interest in food. And then I always had a high level of interest and environmental issues. So during, my undergrad at UPenn, I did a my senior thesis on for profit business models to solve clean air issues. And so I very much think what Verde is doing is using food as a mechanism to solve, planet climatic issues. And food is the the mechanism to do that. So, I think that's really the the right way to go. And if people value that, they'll they'll pay for it.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:13:14
And and I think, you know, the the the industry's obviously grown tremendously, over the years.

Kyle Krull - 00:13:27
Dan, I love what you shared. And I'm actually I'm reading a book right now called The End of Craving. It's the same author as the Dorado effect. The HD is gonna, like, roll his eyes at because the and this new book is fascinating, but he talks about how humans are so in tune with food and how it's so important us to be able to understand what we're consuming. From a DNA perspective, there is more DNA allocated to the development of the mouth and the nose than any other body part. In the human body. And from a from a gray matter perspective, there's more gray matter activated when we're consuming food than any other activity humans participated. So to your point, like,

Anthony Corsaro - 00:14:04
even Wait.

Kyle Krull - 00:14:05
What's a green man? What's green man? It's just like the the the, essentially, the parts of your brain, essentially. Yeah. It's just like brain mass is matter. Wow. Right? It's, I guess it's not distinguishing between the specific lobes or parts of the brain. It's just like total brain activity. Obviously, I'm not an expert in gray matter, so we've pointed that out.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:14:25
Brother, that was eloquent. You can plug all the books you want. You know? I love that.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:14:29
That was great.

Kyle Krull - 00:14:29
We're doing

Anthony Corsaro - 00:14:30
Yeah. But,

Kyle Krull - 00:14:31
yeah, so so, Dan, to your point, food is like, it's this evolutionarily speaking. We are developed as a species because of how much we appreciate food. So, just wanna highlight that.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:14:43
Yeah. Well, and I think there there's so many aspects of food. Obviously, there's we need it to survive. But there's such a a cultural aspect to it of, you know, being with friends and family you know, literally back to sitting around the fire and eating, you know, and also in terms of just being active athlete, both my cofounder and I, we've done triathlons and marathons with, and, you know, pretty active. And it's just part of the the fueling the body with the the right types of foods and trying to avoid the the Doritos and all that other stuff.

Kyle Krull - 00:15:20
Yeah. No doubt. So I'm curious. Getting back to the origin story, you come back from this travel, you realize I wanna do something with grass fed meat how do you go from concept to, like, the beginning, like, the formation of this company?

Dana Ehrlich - 00:15:33
Yeah. So, I mean, so, again, January 2005 of I I think that there's something here, but, again, I know nothing about it, coming from the high tax sector. And and so I start to look into what are the the major trends in the US, how does organic and grass fed beef beef potentially fit into that? We had, depending on who you ask, either an Argentinian barbecue or American BBQ. That was in May, of every year. And that was my test launch event. And so that was the first time I ever sourced beef and, you know, I contacted, what is now one of our largest suppliers where we buy, like, 100 of 1000 of pounds a week. And I'm like, hey. I need, like, £200 a beat for this event. And even with an Argentinian classmate of mine, they won't answer my phone calls.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:16:18
They're like, who is this guy? I've never heard of him. I don't wanna waste my time. And so, you know, eventually, I found, like, a local distributor and we set up a account. I was just learning about setting up you know, chart of accounts and AR and AP and, you know, just the mechanics of How do you form an LLC? How do you set up a business checking account? At the time, you know, how do you set up a website and reserve a URL?

Dana Ehrlich - 00:16:54
You know, things that now that that might have taken me like a year that might take me like a week, to do today. And some of those things were were really challenging just mechanically. But it it was that event was the first one And, you know, it was it was a gorgeous day. Everyone's eating tons of beef and drinking beer, out in the the quad. And and that was a

Kyle Krull - 00:17:28
great idea. I need specifics. Like, you didn't just make beef. What kind of beef did you make? You know

3 - 00:17:32
what I mean?

Kyle Krull - 00:17:32
We've got burgers. You know about ricolas, like some tacos,

Dana Ehrlich - 00:17:36
Yeah. Oh, so, I mean, our our our Argentinian style is, not a lot of ground beef. So it's usually whole mussel cut. So, and not a a a flank, try tip, skirt, rib eyes, sea salt, very simple, taste the meat, not covered in marinade, precooked, and then a lot of chimatory. And everyone's got their grandmother's recipe of what a real chimichurri tastes like. And, you know, that's served on the side. And again, a lot of beer, to to to wash it all down. But usually, when we say whole muscle, just meat, salt, That's it. Keep Yeah. Taste me.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:18:19
Oh, yeah.

Kyle Krull - 00:18:20
That's why I wanna

Anthony Corsaro - 00:18:21
have a steak at that time. Right. So that's how was great.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:18:24
Yeah. So so that was, you know, kinda summer of 2005 starting to launch it. And then it was 4 years before we got our 1st major retail accounts. And so, you know, started off with air shipments, almost selling beef out of the back of a car to, like, Louisville Restaurants and really struggling to get volume to scale up. And when you're bringing meat in from South America, when you're doing air shipments, small quantities, very expensive. And And we're kinda hitting our head against the wall. And when I say we, it was me full time, my my cofounder who went to business school with me, and, like, a part time bookkeeper. It was not not a big staff. And and finally, we got our first opportunity with Wegmans, in January of 2009 and then Costco in March of 2009.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:19:07
And probably not the retailer that That's a wall you

Anthony Corsaro - 00:19:22
got to gate, brother. Yeah.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:19:24
And and things just really kinda took off in volume from there. You know, we started with containers and bringing on more staff, more systems, more customers and just kinda running the the way from there.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:19:39
Was that muscle cuts? Was it all branded, like, brick packs of ground beef? Like, what was the SKU assortment at that point in time?

Dana Ehrlich - 00:19:46
Yeah. So Costco was a branded ground beef, saddleback. Wegmans was private label. And so part of the evolution of the company was, we were a 3rd party co pack because we didn't have enough resources. We can get into the fundraising at some point, but, to to build out our own, processing facility. Right. And then, you know, we had a label, but I wouldn't say we really had a brand. And so we just had had a very strong supply chain. You know, we started. I think there were 18 farmers in the program when we first launched today. There's, you know, thousands globally.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:20:20
So, you know, what we do today, I mean, you couldn't even we couldn't have done it 5 years ago. Never mind. 15. Just as the supply side continues to expand. And at one point, Costco disintermediated, us and started their own online inside their own, brine facility out in California. And, we transitioned almost all of the business from private label onto the branded side. And that has really happened over the last 5 years.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:20:54
Plus, we built out our own manufacturing facility. So there's been a lot of transitions in the underlying business. Still, the the core is the same with that supply chain. But a a lot of evolution, in the the all the different components and pillars of the business. To get us where we are today, which required hard work, time, money. And so there's been quite a journey between 2009 2024.

Kyle Krull - 00:21:35
It sounds like a hell of a journey. And, you know, lots of pivots, a lot of transition in, you know, maintaining the integrity of the supply chain. It seems like priority 1. And I'm curious, you know, you mentioned a 100% grass fed grass finished. You mentioned USA Organic, and you also mentioned your own, like, individual interest in climate solutions and how food intersects with climate. I'm curious when did the term regeneration, like, first hit your radar, and when did that become like a higher priority for brand, or was it always a high priority and just sort of, like, you realize that term better encompass what you were looking to achieve?

Dana Ehrlich - 00:22:06
Yeah. I I think it's the latter. So I'd say we were always focused on both organic and grass fed. We actually dabbled for some time with a non organic grass fed program. And really decided to go back to our roots of being a 100% organic where we are today. We've always been a 100% grass fed grass finished. And we've always been pastor race. That's always been a red line for us. I think you'll find that some brands, particularly in the US, were feedlot based with grass fed pellets. You wouldn't have to consumers wouldn't know that per se.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:22:30
But we think that's disingenuous. And if you ask consumers what they thought, they wouldn't think that. And so I think regenerative to me is just an evolution of what we've always been doing. I I think the the term I probably became familiar over the last couple of years And, you know, it took us a while to both it con certify the farmers, but with real when we went to organic, the farmers were naturally, farming with organic methods in many cases. And so it's just a certification process. Regenerative on the other hand requires fundamental changes in how the land is managed as well as the certification process.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:23:14
So that's been a a multi year process to get there. And so, you know, we've been working with really core supply chain partners, particularly on the Erguan side. We have worked with land to market through the certification process. And earlier this year, all of our stakes were converted into regen certified. The grinds are not at this point. And but, a lot of the meat is, but not exclusively. And, you know, something we're working to, But it's a process.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:23:49
And so, again, I would say it's very in line with what we've our our core values but it has been relatively new in the grand scheme of things in terms of both the definition and change in practices on the ground.

Kyle Krull - 00:24:15
It totally makes sense. And as a somebody else who works in grass fed, grass finished, that identity preserves SKU you're just talking about, how, like, you know, ex portion of the meat is actually regen, but you can't make the consumer facing claim. I very much understand and respect why we don't do that, but it's also so difficult as like, you don't really get that market validation for the work that you're doing until you get the 100% identity preserved regen. Right? So that's a that's a conflict point that I feel as you described that. I'd really like to learn from from you. Sorry. Go ahead.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:24:47
Well, I was just gonna say, and at some point, we may, let's say, call break our skews and do a non, you know, all of it's gonna be organic grass fed pasture raised, but we may do a non regen SKU and a regen SKU. And that's a possibility. Obviously, it adds, operational complexity. But, you know, We're we're moving in that direction over time.

Kyle Krull - 00:25:10
Totally makes sense. And I'm curious from your perspective, you know, when you go to these these farmers and and you're I'm not gonna say Right? Uruguay. And they've been doing 100% grass fed, grass finished for a long time. They're already organic and you say, hey. We want you to do this land on market thing. We want you to change your practices that you've been doing for a long time. What does that look like? What actually needs to change from their operational perspective?

Kyle Krull - 00:25:26
And, like, what is their reaction both initially and, like, maybe year 2, year 3.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:25:39
Generally, I think farmers are very traditional people. Most are not super sophisticated on the technology. They like living off the the land and and, doing what they do. So even when they know they can get a premium and they're already, essentially practiced having organic practices, just going through the certification process to do some paperwork is challenging enough.

3 - 00:26:07
Yeah.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:26:08
We've gone a step further and said there's demand for regenerative practices. Not only do you have to do paperwork, but you actually need to change your practices as well. That's a much higher lift. And so there there's definitely a price premium that we're extending to, are the producers. Now they're also seeing and we can get into what the practices are, but a shortened life cycle to reach slaughter weight So they're actually being more profitable as well. And so there there's a lot of benefit at the farm level for implementing these practices from a a pure profitability standpoint. It was interesting. I was at a farm last year. One side of this the the street, which is a dirt road, was to have regen practices, you know, grass, chest high.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:26:50
The other side of the street no regen practice and essentially barren. I mean, you could just see the the change in the practices have such a dramatic effect on soil quality, water retention, which leads to healthier grass, which leads to better content, for the animal seed and, you know, putting on, gain faster.

Kyle Krull - 00:27:24
So, Dana, I apologize, but I got to interrupt you on this. I was trying to to to not do that, but I'm so interested in this this story of how grazing cattle differently, just grazing cattle differently and strategically can lead to a faster or a shorter time frame of them putting on the way they need to reach slaughter. That that is fascinating. I've never heard that before. It totally makes sense to me. But I want you to really kinda drill into the why there. Why is that the case?

Dana Ehrlich - 00:27:51
Yeah. So this was the most surprising thing to me because I I heard people, you know, regen as a buzzword. And until I got on the ground and I saw it in practice. It was, you know, light bulb, goes off. And and I'll I'll go to what it means in a second, but know, the conversations that I have, whether it's a with with press or buyers or consumers, I my own employee it's the same thing. And until they really hear the story, it's a buzzword. It sounds good. Like, who wouldn't want regenerative, but it it's real.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:28:18
It's a change in practice, and it has very real effects. Alright. So what is it? So typically the the farms, let's say, are 800 to a 1000 hectares. They might be subdivided, by some rickety fencing into 3 different, sections. And so the cattle are out, and you got 2 gauchos on horseback.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:28:35
And it'll be somewhat facetious, but we'll we'll see you in a couple years. When they go to regenerative practices, they'll have either real fencing or sometimes virtual fencing, almost like what we have with dogs and dog collars. And the paddocks will get divided into 1 or 2 hectors each and be rotated every day, every couple days. And so it's a totally different dynamic where the grass will be high. And once the the cattle eat their way through that grass, you know, there there's manure. They stomp on the the grass and the dirt that's remaining. So it gets turned up quite a bit.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:29:23
And then they move on to the next section, and they move on to the next section. They move on to the next section. And so that process with the the soil getting churned, results in much healthier soil, whatever water there is, is retained much better and then the grass grows faster again. And so, again, we go back to this idea of gain. So how many pounds per day the the cattle gain much faster in these systems than without. And so you might be getting an animal to slaughter weight in 20 to 24 months versus 30 to 36 months. I mean, for the the farmer, that is huge.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:29:59
That's complete. I mean,

Kyle Krull - 00:30:11
it's a 33% reduction.

3 - 00:30:13
I mean,

Kyle Krull - 00:30:13
that's that's wild. Yeah.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:30:14
So from a profitability standpoint, it's much better from, you know, the the consumer standpoint the quality of the meat for an animal that's at 20 to 24 versus 30 or 36, much more tender, much more flavorful And so the the quality of our steaks has just gone up, and and I think it's the best of the best in terms of the the grass fed that's out there.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:30:41
I mean, it's a perfect example of, like, everyone wins in Regent, why it's so powerful. And for those that don't watch the video, we're having this, like, angelic moment where Dana skylight is like beaming on him as he's having this beautiful, epiphany and explanation. But, like, to to encapsulate that as short as possible. It's basically the cows eat grass. This helps you grow more grass faster so the cows can eat more of it faster. So they're know, they're gonna be at that slaughter way quicker and it's gonna be more profitable for the farmer. And agnostic of everything else, this theme that keeps coming up on the show is, like, If we can make the practices more profitable for farmers, we will win no matter what the consumer education or adoption is, no matter how brands market it, no matter you know, agnostic to all these other things.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:31:09
And I think we always have to ground the conversation in that.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:31:26
Yeah. And and, I was on a panel last month at the animal ag tech show in San Francisco and I was on with Paul Grieve from Pastorbird,

3 - 00:31:36
you

Dana Ehrlich - 00:31:37
know, better for you pasture Rays, regen poultry, true believer. What was so interesting was next to him was someone that up that does backgrounding of cattle that goes into the feedlot system that will never see regen on the package and a full believer in regenerative system. And because it's more profitable for the the farmer. And, like, it doesn't matter if the consumer knows And and, well, obviously, you know, we'd love to publicize it and make consumers aware. It's good for the the the planet for you know, the domestic farmers that are going into the the feedlot system to be doing this as well. And so I think it's a a really powerful concept and when one farmer does it, you know, they go to their their neighbor and their neighbor's neighbor. Yeah.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:32:23
And these things really start to spread. So You know, I'm pretty encouraged by that conversation and and and viewpoint as well.

Kyle Krull - 00:32:41
Totally. And and there's there's so much a little about the and AC definitely clicked on one of the most important pieces like profitability for the farmer. Right? One of the other, like, major counter arguments you always hear about regenerative agriculture is that you can't feed planet using regender practices.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:32:54
We can't feed the world.

Kyle Krull - 00:32:55
Yeah. And it's like, well, we just we just literally prove that you can actually breeze out faster on the same plot of land generate more meat per year using regenerative practices. Right? So that's incredible. Part 3, and we haven't touched on this yet. Had this conversation a few times before, but I always think it's a good refresher. Like, what are the environmental benefits when you start to have that sort of, high stock density grazing and or mild grazing, whatever term you wanna use on the land.

Kyle Krull - 00:33:12
What actually happens to the land? From either a water infiltration perspective, a microbial perspective, you know, walk us through all those benefits.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:33:30
Yeah. So again, go back to this, domestic rancher. He was in, Southeast Colorado and, you know, east of the Rockies relatively dry climate. And so if the soil is able to to capture the the rain. It's just a healthier ecosystem. And so when farmers switch to these practices, you start seeing biodiversity just naturally return. You don't have to do anything. You'll start seeing more birds and, wildlife return. And then one of the things that I really like about land market and their EOV program is their literally digging into the soil.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:34:05
They're doing soil samples, looking at the microbial health at the soil level, and it's better. It it's it's good with organic. It's even better with the the regen systems on top of that.

Kyle Krull - 00:34:26
Yeah. And and just to use the the Denver or, sorry, not Denver, the Colorado example, I believe the stat is for every 1% increase in soil organic matter. They're The water holding capacity of soil increases by 20,000 gallons

Anthony Corsaro - 00:34:38
per click.

Kyle Krull - 00:34:39
So to your point, in an environment where there's very like, not a lot of precipitation, the more you can capture, the better it is for the entire ecosystem. Like, the the benefits are just monumental. So, really appreciate that example.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:34:52
Yeah. And I'll just so one of the impediments is the farmer has to do something different. And and that's not inconsequential by by any means. And and so the this farmer that I mentioned down in Uruguay, you know, he implemented this system, which was a lot of work, to get this new fencing system in. He had a change the irrigation system, on his property. And and so a ton of work and money initially. Now he spends an hour a day resetting the fences, and he spends the rest of the day reading.

3 - 00:35:25
Yeah.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:35:26
And and he's most profitable he's ever been. And and so it's really fascinating. You'd need to get over that inertia, and this hump. But once you get to the other side, there there's a ton of benefits throughout the entire supply it.

Kyle Krull - 00:35:40
And how long did it take him to transition? You know, is that is that a 1 year cycle? Is that 6 months? Is that 5 years?

Dana Ehrlich - 00:35:47
Yeah. I mean, it's definitely not days or weeks, but, I mean, legit months, I I would say, at a minimum, and depending on the complexity of what people are are trying to do, and it might be a a year plus, probably less than 5 years, but, you know, they're depending on how big the properties are, If you have a canyon in it, you know, you might have these virtual systems that require essentially cellular towers to be placed around the property. Computer systems. Getting water

Anthony Corsaro - 00:36:17
in animals is also, like, very important. I'm sorry. People talk about that a lot. Is you know, you have to they have to have the water too and getting that around the different paddocks can be challenging.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:36:28
Yeah. And and, obviously, every paddock is different. And so Colorado guy has, canyons in his land. Yeah. You know? If it makes the the wireless signals more challenging. It makes water more challenging. Sometimes, you know, you might have a a good water source and, you know, slightly rolling hills, that's a lot easier. So, you know, every particular situation's a little bit

Anthony Corsaro - 00:36:54
Dana, can you can you throw on your CMO hat for a second and try and articulate to us how y'all look at y'all's, like, claims architecture? My assumption based on just looking at the brand, the website, and our retail is organic is still the most important thing that y'all feel like consumers look at first and then probably grasp fit and then regents kind of this emerging thing that you think has this, you know, a lot of a lot of tailwinds and there's gonna be important in the future. But Just talk to us about, like, that hierarchy and where you see that now and where you see it in the future.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:37:24
Yeah. So my my head of marketing and commercial side be very happy. That is how we prioritize it. And that's based on, consumer feedback. And so regardless of what I think or we think is the most important What do consumers think? You know, the USDA organic bug is known throughout the entire grocery store. And so I think both the word organic and that USDA organic symbol is very powerful, very well known. When we first started, I would say that was by far number 1. Because just like today, consumers don't understand regen 20 years ago, no one had ever heard of grass fed beef. And and that's different.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:37:56
So grass fed pasture raised has definitely gone up, and I would say somewhat equivalent with organic. But I also think that organic is more differentiating. And so there there's less people, and we're definitely the leader in that space that are doing both organic and grass fed. Regen is more known on the the trade side Right. Than the consumer side. And, you know, I think there's both the the term, there there's not one icon logo that represents regen.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:38:30
And so I think, you know, in terms of positioning, it it we're doing it more on, we could talk about the branding side, but outside of packaging. We've put it on front of pack, but it's definitely tertiary, you know, below organic and rest of

Anthony Corsaro - 00:38:55
What about from retailers? Are retailers asking questions about regen? Are are they wanting to spotlight it? Is it still just kind of like a cool thing that they don't care a ton about? Your retailer mix? Like, what's that look like?

Dana Ehrlich - 00:39:06
I think it depends. And I don't I don't think it's consistent across retailers. So when we announced last year that we were going to do this. Some were super excited. BJ's was a great example. Yeah. We gave them some time based exclusivity when we launched. They were super excited. Others would be in the middle, and others probably, like, Yeah.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:39:26
And and but I think this generally, this whole movement for not only better for you, beef, but better for you. Protein has really been driven by consumers and getting pulled through the retail supply chain. I don't think it's really been retailer led, and I think some of that has to do with who the meat buyers have been. Which have been traditional older butchers that have grown up behind the case and are not the organic grass fed consumer. And so they're gonna buy what they wanna eat.

3 - 00:40:08
I

Dana Ehrlich - 00:40:09
think that's changed over the last 5 plus years where there's been turnover in the buyer segment. And as the buyers get younger, more female, more kinda forward leaning. I think there's more alignment between the buyer and the end consumer. And I think that's part of the reason we're seeing acceleration as well.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:40:33
Super interesting angle there. We've talked about, you know, educating those buyers and category managers, but bringing in the actual demographic and that transition is super insightful, and I think an accurate, what you just described.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:40:43
And remember, the buyer is buying. They're not raising cattle.

3 - 00:40:47
Right.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:40:47
Or buying, you know, the all all the different attributes. And so it there's nothing better than getting the buyers out onto the farm so they can see it firsthand, but they're not experts on raising cattle either. And so, you know, part of our job is educating them as well.

Kyle Krull - 00:41:06
Yeah. I I would imagine, of all the different buying desks meet probably fit fits that demographic better than anybody else that you just talked about as sort of, like, older meat case generation, you know, you know, like, I I I imagine it's like a produce, like, a functional beverage buyer probably doesn't quite fit that demographic the same way as it doesn't mean. Right? Yeah. So that's really interesting. But I do wanna, like, let's stay on the brand. You all have beautiful packaging.

Kyle Krull - 00:41:24
It's very, to me, intentional, and it's it's, like, designed to evoke a specific emotion. Has that always been the case, or has that changed over time? Like, when when did this rebrand hit And how has it been received thus far?

Dana Ehrlich - 00:41:45
So let let me just put the interview back to you. What what more oceans, are evoked when you say what do you do?

Kyle Krull - 00:41:53
Great question. So for me, like, when I see this, it it really it's almost like the way you were telling the story, like, the romantic the romantic version of, like, how food happens. Right? So, like, I look at the cows literally grazing on pasture with the river, the blue skies, and the sun, it almost makes me feel hope in a way, if I if I could describe it in one word, it would be hopeful. Maybe that's my own, like, I don't wanna use the term baggage, but, like, romantic sense of, like, what what beef can do. Right? But, yeah, that that's what I'd say is hope.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:42:23
The awesome. So, yeah, that that that's where we're going. So it it it was not always like that. And if you look at most of the case, it's not like that. And so there's a lot of private label, within the meat sector. And usually the private label brands are very, functional, they're not emotional. And so they'll have a list of attributes and some words on there. Even when you get to the branded side, It's not like that. It it's functional as well.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:42:51
And so when we made this transition of going being a a private label company, to a branded CPG company. There were a number of transitions, and one was moving from customer first to consumer first. And and that was really a a shift in mindset.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:43:12
Yeah.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:43:12
And we did a lot of consumer research. We did, focus groups. We did shop alongs. We did qualitative surveys, small scale, large scale, and and we wanted to tell a story. We wanted to evoke emotion. We wanna show up different in the case. And if you see our packaging today, it's totally different from anything else that's And it's it's shown we're now, the number one velocity, better for you beef item in in the category. And Oh, yeah. Congratulations. Yeah. And, you know, we we need to keep growing our our distribution, but wherever we're at, people are responding.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:43:51
I think, 1, the the product has to taste good. You know, it could have all the attributes in the world. If it tastes like shit, people aren't gonna buy it twice. But the packaging is is our number one point of interaction with the consumer. And so they might pick it up once because of the packaging. They need the product to eat grade, to buy it that second time and beyond.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:44:16
And I think we're we're delivering, on both with us.

Kyle Krull - 00:44:28
Yeah. And I almost wonder, and I don't mean to be too judgmental and or stereotypical here, but it it almost feels like it's designed for more of a feminine shopper.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:44:36
The mom.

Kyle Krull - 00:44:36
And I think that's very unique in your category. Yeah. Exactly. The you're you're targeting moms. And again, I think that's super unique for your category. It's a lot of masculine, brands out there. So you probably are super well differentiated and are, like, really honing on that specific consumer segment. Was that part of the goal?

Dana Ehrlich - 00:44:53
Yeah. Definitely to appeal to a broader base. So women do most of the food shopping. But when it comes to meet, they feel generally very uncomfortable just what we we started with of this overwhelming wall of meat. And so that making a package that's approachable, I think, is very important. Then you go to the cooking side, and it's generally men that are doing the cooking of the meat and the women doing everything else. You know, on average. And so it's an interesting dynamic within this category for for sure.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:45:29
So interesting to think about that. I'm, like, having flashbacks of, like, going to the grocery store with my parents and, like, my mom walking the store but, like, sending dad to get the meat and the seafood. Right? And then he's, like, grilling it or whatever, and that gets so true. Yeah. And

Dana Ehrlich - 00:45:42
And even at my house, you know, I I I do the grills. I do the green egg.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:45:48
Yeah.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:45:49
And wife is doing the cooking inside the house.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:45:53
And I I really wanna highlight that consumer first versus customer first mentality because I think what's come to light in a very unfortunate way in some regards about CPG recently is, like, a lot of people have put retailer demands first and created bad business outcomes for themselves. Because they've really been to the world retailers that haven't been aligned with consumer preference or demand. And so it's very clear that y'all have done, like, a ton of research and been intentional about that, and we need to do that individually for our regenerative brands so they can be operationally successful. But also as a regenerative movement, I think what Kyle and I get most disheartened about is, like, we spend so much time in the internal firing squad in trade focusing on dumb shit that we don't really feel like moves the needle instead of, like, trying to better understand how to get the common man or woman to care about this stuff, which is, like, actually what will move the needle.

3 - 00:46:41
So I

Anthony Corsaro - 00:46:42
just thought there was a lot of threads to to pull out on that one and appreciate you sharing the

Dana Ehrlich - 00:46:46
Yeah. And I think, you know, there is certainly the the packaging. The the design aspect of the packaging is huge. The product inside is huge. We've done a lot in terms of adding functionality, things like easy peel. So you don't have to take a pair of scissors. And getting your hands, full of of purge. We've adjusted the seal technology, so you don't see a bunch of liquid in the package. You know, and we've done been able to accomplish that by having our own manufacturing plant and really being able to control, those details. As well.

3 - 00:47:24
Mhmm.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:47:25
I I wanna talk about 2 things on the capitalization and the growth side that I think are just important lessons for us to harvest for listeners and other brands, Dana, which are what has that manufacturing journey been like and why did you invest in your own processing facility and how maybe that, like, that's decision criteria is look different than other meat brands in the space because you buy cuts instead of whole animals. So that's that's one. Try to remember all that. And then secondly is you know, you you basically, bootstrapped and self funded this thing until a very, you know, important growth equity investor management came in pretty recently. Would love for you to just talk about that journey and why you went that direction, what they've been like. So we'd love to talk about the manufacturing and the recent investment.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:48:06
Yeah. So, so we launched our own manufacturing facility in, the fall of 20 18. We made the decision in 2018. So it was less than a year from making the decision to launching the facility. We'd launched, 6 months prior to COVID. Thank god we did. Yeah. And as we were planning a nice gradual ramp, our primary co doctor shut down in May of 2020, and we had to move our major programs in 72 hours.

4 - 00:48:40
That ramp

Anthony Corsaro - 00:48:41
becomes a roller coaster real quick.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:48:43
Yeah. So I was like, our care, you know, before I started this thing. And so I still have here, but, you know, the la the last couple of years has been a roller coaster for sure. And so if we didn't have our own plan, we probably would have had to shut down, during the COVID time period. Wow. You know, it it it caused a lot of chaos, manage chaos, for that time. Do you mean

Anthony Corsaro - 00:49:09
you would have sporadically, like, just had to, like, stop operations? Are you saying, like, the brand would have been in jeopardy, like, totally if you didn't have your own facility?

Dana Ehrlich - 00:49:16
I mean, the plant shut down, and they were our primary processor. So, you know, it would have been a gap. It it was more than, like, a couple days that we would not have been able to have output and, you know, who who knows, but that environment was highly unusual to say the least. But if you don't have product on the shelf and you know, the the programs we do are 52 weeks a year. And part of why we've been successful over time is our our high fill rate. And high accuracy, and and it's built on the back of the supply chain. And so if you're not in store, and stocked. I mean, the retailers are are gonna find someone else who who is. Yeah.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:49:52
And so that's been, you know, making that decision to internalize has been absolutely critical. So, you know, going back to the the rationale, we wanted to have more control over quality there's things we wanted to do. You know, we have 4 color process registered film. You know, we we have easy peel. We have certain seal technology. You know, there's we we wanted to customize it and shape it for our particular operation. We're also very close to the Port of Philadelphia.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:50:23
So it's more where our imported product comes in.

3 - 00:50:36
So

Dana Ehrlich - 00:50:36
it's more efficient than sending out to another plant. Food safety. We can be under our auspices. So, you know, multiple reasons for for doing that. It also requires a complete change just like going from private label to brand is not just putting, you know, doing some cute artwork Like, there's a fundamental transformation of how you go to market.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:50:58
Right.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:50:59
We have category management. Our trade marketing, our social media presence. You know, all of that is completely new and different. And it's hard. It's really hard to do. And and takes the the right expertise that type takes resources and we can go into the man aside, but those are

Kyle Krull - 00:51:20
resources that we did not have for many years as

Dana Ehrlich - 00:51:20
we were really scaling up.

3 - 00:51:29
I'm really curious about the journey from the, you know, a lot of the retail accounts we've been talking about haven't been like the

Kyle Krull - 00:51:29
traditional natural channel startup towards conventional Moulo.

3 - 00:51:37
And I I feel like that's primarily because of the private label first opportunities, but now that you have the brand,

Kyle Krull - 00:51:45
are you thinking about the sort of, like, omnichannel strategy? Are you looking to get more into natural? Are you planning to stay where you are? What does that relationship look like from, like, a sales strategic perspective.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:51:55
Yeah. So someone might have been just I came from the high-tech sector and didn't know better and, you know, where were the opportunities and you start with some of the the the the most major ones.

3 - 00:52:06
Yeah.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:52:07
You know, we've diversified over time. So, you know, we're in club we're in mainstream with, you know, like Crowberter, Albertsons, Shnooks, were in fresh market we're in Amazon Fresh as their national, fresh organic grass fed beef brand. We're going national at Target. We started with 2 regions. We're now on 3rd, and we'll we'll be national in the fall. Nice. So we're really, at this point, our, omnichannel. And, you know, there there's definitely more doors to go, and that that's, a core part of the the strategy.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:52:36
But we've definitely expanded from where we where we started.

Kyle Krull - 00:52:52
I think super to you. You just don't hear a lot of success stories from brands taking that route. And, you know, whether I use your, quote, ignorance or not, like It works. You're selling to the customers who want

3 - 00:53:01
a product.

Kyle Krull - 00:53:01
That's the right thing to do.

3 - 00:53:02
You know

Kyle Krull - 00:53:02
what I mean? You don't to choose the more challenging road where, like, people aren't asking for it. Like, did, you know, take the take the easy path. Right? And I don't wanna say that it was Yeah. Well, yeah. Why why create more unnecessary friction?

3 - 00:53:14
What are the themes?

Kyle Krull - 00:53:15
So I I think it's awesome. And

Anthony Corsaro - 00:53:16
Sorry to cut you off.

Kyle Krull - 00:53:17
As you go ahead. The

Anthony Corsaro - 00:53:17
theme there that seems to be coming across in a lot of episodes is the brand is not, what am I trying to say? There's more of a symbiotic relationship between the brand and the supply chain where the brand actually makes key business decisions to be in service of the supply chain versus just it being super transactional. And it's it's very clear over the arc of the of the company you've done that. Right? And that's why the supply chain has been with you this long, and it's allowed you to kind of pivot, but the volume and the attributes and, you know, the good things about it have kinda stayed. The same throughout.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:53:51
Yeah. For for sure. And like I said, it started with the supply chain and somewhat built the company. And so you know, transforming from private label to brand, from 3rd party co pack to internal manufacturing, really fundamental changes to how we operate the business, but the supply chain has always been core, from the beginning, and it is today. As well.

Kyle Krull - 00:54:17
So you've got this beautiful brand now. You've got the processing dialed in. What is next for Verde? Is it, you know, getting more cuts out there? Is it focusing on those more doors? What's the next 1, 3, 5 years look like?

Dana Ehrlich - 00:54:31
Yeah. I think it it it's more doors. And so we've, I'd say, scaled back and concentrated on our core set of items, meaning organic grass fed, regen, raw single ingredient. That that's the core of what we do. And, as I mentioned, we're top velocity within the category. It's really there. We're in thousands of points of distribution. We wanna continue to expand. We have the the supply. We have the capacity. We have the the model. Dialed in, we wanna do more of that.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:54:55
That that's really core. I think eventually there'll be opportunities to expand either additional cuts more ready to cook, ready to eat type items when we have permission from both the retailer and consumer to do that. That that will come, I'm sure, with with time as well.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:55:25
What what about Manitry made them the right partner to help capitalize some of that future I mean, I'm sure big transition for you personally. You're not the CEO anymore. You're clearly still very involved. You're founder board member, but There's been a lot of a change. Right? So, like, what's that process been like and how is it to to go through that with them?

Dana Ehrlich - 00:55:42
Yeah. So it's been a a journey. So I just go back so I bootstrapped the company, had about a $100,000 of, from options that I made when I was in Silicon Valley, prior to business school. And took out student loans. And that was really the the startup capital in 2005. And we didn't raise any money until January of 2020.

3 - 00:56:06
Yeah.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:56:07
And again, 2 months before COVID. So the the the timing was great. We also scaled up everything then as well. So first, there's a big decision to release control between my partner and I from a 100% to, even having a minority partner. Mandatory is focused on food as health, food as medicine, And so there was a natural alignment of their mission with ours. Certainly the the capital, you know, we needed as we scaled up the manufacturing into this transition to the the brand. And and just having the the people behind it being really aligned with what we're trying to accomplish was really important as well. So that was the initial investment in January of 2020. I didn't step down as CEO until just a few months ago.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:56:51
So January of 2024, we brought on an outside president in May of last year. So almost, exactly a year ago, with the intention for him to succeed me, He's an experience, seasoned CPG professional. So we're really leaning in to that CPG branded protein aspect of what we're trying to accomplish.

3 - 00:57:24
And I

Dana Ehrlich - 00:57:24
think that's also just, you know, after 20 years, you know, fresh leadership, fresh mindset is really helpful. I'm still majority shareholder as of today, active on the board and doing some business development work. But just stepping away from the day to day, which I think is healthy for me. Family and the company as well.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:57:45
More time for podcasts with people like us too. So we appreciate that.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:57:48
Yeah. Alright? Yep. Absolutely.

Kyle Krull - 00:57:50
Get back to world traveling. Go eat some food in Argentina. You know?

3 - 00:57:53
What's your

Kyle Krull - 00:57:54
best life?

Dana Ehrlich - 00:57:54
Yeah. And and and it's been interesting because we've been able to accomplish that. We do travel as a family quite a bit. My my kids including when, they were stolen strollers, you know, have their passports. They've been to Argentina, Uruguay, we did a we actually looked at beef and Namibia. You know, we've traveled to Australia on a 3 week road trip that was, like, half beach, half slaughterhouse. And so, you know, we've just found these ways to incorporate the the business and personal side, over the the past 20 years.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:58:30
One of my favorite things about the regen space is the intersection of, intellect and humility that so many of our founding founders have. And it's so clear. Like, it it came through so clearly in this interview, Dana, that you you get you see that and you're like, hey, maybe I'm not the right person to be in the same role that I've been to take to the next level, even though I'm gonna be a part of it in this way. So just really cool. And it seems like the meat sector specifically is a very humbling sector. Some of our most humble, but also very intelligent founders come from that sector just because of the challenges that it presents.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:59:03
Yeah. And and, I mean, even 20 years in where I somewhat joke, but it was somewhat true. Didn't know much about the meat sector when I joined. Yeah. I still feel like 20 years in. I'm like, yeah, I I don't know that much. And, like, I know quite a bit. There there's just so much to always learn And, you know, I've done more in this category, obviously, than others, but it's a unique animal part and fun. It's just different than, I think, any other sector. There there's a lot of challenges and how how you navigate it. It's been fun. It's been challenging.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:59:29
It's been hard, but rewarding, nonetheless.

Kyle Krull - 00:59:43
You know, one of my favorite quotes of all time, and I probably said it before on the is, you know, as our island of knowledge grows so too do the shores of our ignorance. And it's like this is constant journey of, like, the more you know, the more you realize you don't know, Yeah. And I I just really, like, AC said, really appreciate that mentality.

Dana Ehrlich - 00:59:59
Yeah. And it's true.

Anthony Corsaro - 01:00:00
Yeah. Well, unfortunately, we have to ask you to set the humility aside to answer our last question because it's a rather tough one. Uh-oh. But Dana, just to take us home, it's the one we ask everybody, which is, how do we get regen brands in that 50% market share by 2050? How do we do that? Yeah. I mean,

Dana Ehrlich - 01:00:20
I continue pushing with with educating the consumer educating the customer, educating the press, and putting out great product. If the product's not good, the rest of it doesn't matter. But I think the more that our stakeholders are aware of what the challenges are and how this product can help solve these issues, the more that everyone will continue to demand these items the the the better for you beef segment and the one with the most attributes is the highest growth within the beef sector. And over the last 5 years in a row, we've continued to take share. And what started out as a very small, small segment is now a meaningful part. It's still minority share for sure, but it has continued to take share year after year after year after year. And we're moving in the right direction. We need to hit scale. We're not gonna do it on a completely fragmented you know, hyper regional basis. I think it's gonna require national players, national brands.

Dana Ehrlich - 01:01:21
So I do think they'll be sorting out within a very fragmented segment today. But I think that will help for being economically sustainable And that's required to make a industry sustainable, segment really come to fruition.

Kyle Krull - 01:01:53
Love that. Well, super appreciate your time, Dana. That's, I'm trying not to geek out too much on data and share right now because that's super passionate about data that you can share. But what we'll He's

3 - 01:02:02
out, bro.

Kyle Krull - 01:02:05
I mean, I I know what it's like, you know, Pete, our next period release for syndicated jobs Monday. Right? And I know how exciting it can be, especially going up against, like, incumbents in the category who are doing things the wrong way to be that better for you sector and to walk in every every 4 weeks and and analyze the new data by Nan We cracked 10% this year for the first time. Or now we're up to 15 or whatever that that continual battle is and how excited exciting it is to bring a better for your subset into this, like, again, incumbent, not necessarily ethical category. So just just love that journey for you. It's a it's a great time. It's a fun ride.

Dana Ehrlich - 01:02:39
Yeah. And I think that balance between being a meat company and a branded CPG company. So you you talk about syndicated data dropping. Well, 10, 15 years ago, we weren't doing syndicated data. I think a lot of our competitors probably aren't as well. And and the buyers probably didn't wanna see syndicated data either. Yeah. Now when we go in, I mentioned category management, we're telling a great story, success with our our existing customers, growth within the segment, How can we help you retailer do a better job? That story is really winning. Our our brand is up 50% year over year. So there there's clearly something happening. Yeah.

Kyle Krull - 01:03:21
And and, you know, what's the category doing relative to your brand? Is category at, like, you know, 5, 10, 15?

Dana Ehrlich - 01:03:27
What's your

Kyle Krull - 01:03:28
out pay?

Dana Ehrlich - 01:03:29
Oh, yeah. We're definitely significantly over indexed and relative to the category. Yeah. Yeah. We're we're taking share in a growing category.

Kyle Krull - 01:03:38
Love that. It's huge.

Dana Ehrlich - 01:03:40
Yeah. You wanna have, you know, pick the right category with the right team and then over deliver and you know, then generally good things happen.

Kyle Krull - 01:03:50
Awesome. Well, you know, for those who wanna learn more, check out Verde Farms dotcom. Again, you can check out the beautiful branding. It's it's fantastic. Dana, we super appreciate the time. ACA felt had cut you off. Was there something else you

3 - 01:04:02
wanna add?

Anthony Corsaro - 01:04:02
The last thought I had was just that's what I love so much about beef is we can have amazing brands like Verde and others that we've had on that are identity preserved super high attribute, you know, branded, etcetera. And that feedlot gentleman that you talked about, Dana, that producer that just sells into the feedlot, if we can get regen Braxton and all those niggas too, it makes a huge difference. And so, you know, there's multiple levers of positive change, which I think is always important to highlight and just gets me fired up. So

Dana Ehrlich - 01:04:30
Yeah. Absolutely.

Anthony Corsaro - 01:04:32
Cool. For joining us, man. This was awesome and super informative. Appreciate you.

Dana Ehrlich - 01:04:35
Yeah. Thanks. It was fun.

4 - 01:04:41
For show notes, episode transcripts, and more information on our guests and what we discuss on the show, check out our website, regen-brands.com. That is regen-brands.com. You can also find our regen recaps on the website. Regen recaps take less than 5 minutes to read cover all the key points of the full hour long conversations. You can 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, subscribe to future episodes, and share the show with your friends. Thanks for tuning in to 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.

4 - 01:05:24
Love you guys.