#85 - Eric Gutknecht @ Charcutnuvo

Episode Recap:

ReGen Brands Recap #85 - How Does Regenerative Sausage Get Made? - (RECAP LINK)

Episode Transcript:

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

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

Anthony Corsaro - 00:00:32
episode. On this episode, we have Eric Gutknecht, who is the president and CEO at Charcutnuvo. Charcutnuvo is supporting regenerative agriculture with their regenerative organic certified beef sausages, and they are working to transition their entire product portfolio of beef, chicken, and pork sausage products to ROC. In this episode, Eric gives us the real scoop on how the sausage is made. We cover his family's 5 generation history in sausage making, his sausage making training in Europe, and what processes the brand implores that sets them apart from the sausage making competition. Eric also gives us the lowdown on the regenerative organic beef they're sourcing, how adding the rock certification to their products has boosted velocities, plus what it's going to take to see more regenerative sausage at your favorite retailer. Let's dive in. What's up, everybody? Welcome back to another episode of the ReGen Brands Podcast. Very excited to have our friend, Eric, from Charcutnuvo with us.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:01:24
So welcome, Eric.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:01:37
Hey, guys. Good morning. Thanks for having me.

Kyle Krull - 00:01:40
Good morning. We're stoked to have you. I've been purchasing these products for a couple years at this point, and I did not know that there was a regenerative effort behind the scenes. So I was super pumped to see this brand and to see you on the on the schedule that AC put together, and I'm excited to learn more.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:01:57
Oh, that's awesome. We've actually been regenerative for since we launched the organic brand in 2017. Oh, yeah. But we've only we've only recently called it out, since we joined the, regenerative organic alliance. So that's the call that we have on the label now.

Kyle Krull - 00:02:12
Yeah. That's amazing. Makes me feel so much better. Not that I felt bad at all, but I feel great knowing that I've been purchasing regenerative product this whole time secretly. But for those who are less familiar with the brand than me, give us a quick lay of the land. What sort of products do you produce, and where can people find Charcutt Nuvoe today?

Eric Gutknecht - 00:02:28
Well, so we're, about 90% organic products, and we're really strong in the West Coast. We have organic chicken, organic beef, and a couple organic pork products, in natural grocers, Whole Foods in the Rocky Mountain region, as well as Whole Foods, SoCal. And then we're in a lot of the high end specialty stores across the west, like the Jimbo's and the Frasier Farms and the PCC and all of those great companies. We're also in, you know, a couple club guys like Costco here locally in Colorado and occasionally in the Bay Area. And then kinda anywhere where people are going to shop for organic and natural foods, like small co ops, infra, NCG type stores, places like that.

Kyle Krull - 00:03:14
Got it.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:03:14
So just to summarize,

Kyle Krull - 00:03:17
really strong natural channel penetration on the West Coast.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:03:20
On the West Coast. And we're you know, we have a little bit in the east and the Midwest through CAHI, but it's not a it's not a ton. And we're slowly building that out, but we're really kind of a West Coast brand right now.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:03:30
Mhmm. Got it. And y'all are the sausage people. We're gonna talk sausage today. We're talking all things sausage with a 4th generation sausage maker. So, Eric, take us through the family history of just, how long y'all been doing this, and how does the brand kinda get to where it's at today?

Eric Gutknecht - 00:03:48
Well, it's kind of a long story. We started, back in the 18 eighties in Switzerland, actually. My great grandparents had a sausage company. Wow. I was born over in Switzerland, moved here, in the mid seventies, and then my dad ended up purchasing this purchasing this company, from another Swiss Fellow. And then I go obviously grew up in the company. It's cheaper for me to pack sausage than the for them to pay for day care. So I started packing sausage. Started packing at the age of 8, and I just grew up in the business. I loved it. I've been making sausage forever.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:04:13
I went over to Europe, studied sausage making, came back, did some consulting work, and then I I joined. I came back into the business in 1998, and I ended up purchasing the company in, 2003.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:04:38
What does it look like to go to Europe and study sausage making? What does that entail?

Eric Gutknecht - 00:04:44
In Europe, they have official apprenticeships for every trade. It's pretty phenomenal. Yeah. So I did a sausage apprenticeship and kind of a program. But I I had actually no I I knew more than most of the guys in the classes because I had been doing it for so long already, so I was actually teaching them a little bit. But yeah. Yeah.

Kyle Krull - 00:05:03
I mean, when you started 8 years old, you you for sure got an advantage. You know? You're gonna you're gonna learn some tricks some tricks of the trade.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:05:10
That's true.

Kyle Krull - 00:05:10
Well, give us give us, like, you know, I think you you mentioned you took over 1998, Or that's when you came back in the business you purchased in 2003. What was the company arc like, you know, pre you owning the company? And then what have you changed since then, and where are we at today?

Eric Gutknecht - 00:05:25
Well, it was interesting because back then, it was more of a, like, a European brand. We only sold we made, we did you know, production was in the back in the factory, and we sold it out the front door at the retail store. When we purchased it, we made it first thing we did was made it natural, antibiotic hormone free. I got to know, Bill Nyman and Coleman and all those guys back in the day. And I also had my first child in 2002, and we decided as soon as we purchased it, we're gonna make everything clean as possible, which back then meant no antibiotics, no hormones, no animal byproducts in the feed, all that stuff. So we did that right away. And then we launched in retail in 2008, essentially. We didn't have any retail until then.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:06:00
And then what happened was can't remember as a buyer at Costco or Whole Foods, tried our stuff in Jackson Hole, you know, where we sell the bunch of restaurants. It's like, I gotta get this stuff. So we launched at Costco and then shortly thereafter at Whole Foods in 2008.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:06:23
Nice.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:06:24
And then it grew and grew and grew. And then when and then, you know, organic started to open up and felt like there was a bunch of greenwashing and natural. It kinda started to mean nothing to people, and we wanted to be as clean as possible. And it's important for us to, you know, same thing, like feed our kids organic products, eat organic products. So we, we went all in organic in 2016, 17. And then that took a while to actually get on shelf. We finally got on shelf with organic probably 2019 or 20.

Kyle Krull - 00:06:52
Why did it take so long? Was that simply, like, limitations in the supply chain? Like, it was difficult to source the organic meats, or were there some other barriers or constraints?

Eric Gutknecht - 00:07:00
Well, kind of both. I mean, not just sourcing, but just getting a retailer to give us a shot. You know, we we were known here, you know, in Colorado at Costco and Whole Foods and other specialty stores, but really nowhere else. And we had dappled with some West Coast distribution on our natural products, but it just didn't really go all that great. So it just took us a while to get placement. And then, you know, Natural Grocers who is, you know, phenomenal customer here gave us a shot, and that really opened up a lot of opportunity for us, including distribution.

Kyle Krull - 00:07:35
Right. Yeah. Unlocking those unified DCs to, tackle the different regions. You know, that's a that's a that's a huge win. So kudos to Natural Grocers, who I I think is, like, one of the unsung heroes of the natural industry. I

Anthony Corsaro - 00:07:47
was just about to say that. Yeah.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:07:48
Yeah. I couldn't agree more. I mean, they have the strictest standards in the industry. So I feel like consumers just trust them. You know, when you go in there, I don't have to worry about is the produce organic or not. You know it's gonna be organic. And is it gonna meet the standards? Yes. Because they are super strict on all standards. Like, they're a phenomenal partner, and I agree they're doing amazing things for brands out there.

Kyle Krull - 00:08:11
Totally. Especially not even on the cosmetics piece. But for for the produce, they also don't allow that appeal film on the outside of their produce. And I think they're the only retailer that I'm aware of that does that in in a variety of stores in, like, a in an actual change. So it's just their their standards are just incredible. Mhmm. Absolutely.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:08:29
One thing I feel like I I've seen from them too is they really stick by people, especially the people doing, like, the best work in categories. Yes. They give people a shot, but they really have their horses that they really believe are, like, best in class, and they really help those people kind of have them as a foundational pillar retailer, which I think is really important. Like, if I mean, we've all looked at the back end of these businesses. Like, that's a huge that's a huge lift to just running things and operating things. So agreed for sure.

Kyle Krull - 00:08:54
Totally. And their trade spend expectations are reasonable, which in this day and age, man, that's such a big difference when you're building a company to not have to break the bank and be underwater. Yeah. They're just we could probably go on this, like, this low

Eric Gutknecht - 00:09:06
budget Mattrogers, man. Natural ones for

Kyle Krull - 00:09:08
a while, but they're they're fantastic.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:09:11
Oh, yes. I can't agree more. Mhmm. They're incredible.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:09:14
The I mean, they just don't mark they don't mark things up the same level, and they they're just a great partner, and they're collaborative, and they want they want everybody to be successful. Like, it's it's it's a it's wonderful.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:09:25
Mhmm. Totally agree. Maybe a maybe a behind the scenes question, Eric, but basically, it's Continental Sausage Company. Right? And then Charcutt Nouveau is the is the retail brand. You still do some business in food service, I believe, under more of the Continental Sausage brand. Has the retail product always been Charcutt Nouveau? Is that recent? Like, when what give us the Yeah. The details on that.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:09:48
Yeah. So, in 2016 or 17, we were expanding, to additional Whole Foods regions, and we had a potential trademark issue on both coasts. My parents had never they didn't trademark the name and other folks had. So there's a couple of potential conflicts. So we decided to just avoid potential litigation and go for a new name. And we are great at making sausage, but we're not strong at marketing by any means. And I wish back in 16, 17 when we launched the retail brand, Charcutt Nuvoe, that we also did it for food service. And now we're kinda playing catch up and starting to do that. Yeah. You know, because just for menu mentions, etcetera, that would be wonderful.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:10:20
Because we sell to a lot of great food service customers as well, like ski resorts, all the national parks, you know, places like that. It'd be great to have some menu mentions. But like I said, not great at marketing. Learning we're we're slow.

Kyle Krull - 00:10:42
Learn it on the way. Yeah.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:10:44
That's right.

Kyle Krull - 00:10:44
It's it's better to have a good product that you can't market well than to market a bad product. Right? So you you you get the if you have to pick one of those two things, you're you've made the right choice.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:10:54
Exactly. I mean, we're successful despite marketing. So that's how I look at it. So I think there's huge opportunity as we grow into into being a better company of marketing.

Kyle Krull - 00:11:04
For sure. If I mean, super high level, what's the split like right now between the retail side of the business and the food service side of the business?

Eric Gutknecht - 00:11:12
We're we're about a third retail, a third Costco, and a third food service. And the other 10% is, like, direct to consumer through either meal kit, our website, Amazon. So it's a nice blend. Unfortunately, we've had that blend. You know, if we didn't have that blend during COVID, we would have been out of business. Because at that time, we were 5050, food service and retail. And once all the food service went away, fortunately, had some retail left otherwise. Those were some hard years for sure.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:11:41
Yeah.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:11:41
But, we made it. Unlike a lot of our competition, like, they did not make it. So

Kyle Krull - 00:11:47
Okay. Well, it's the time in the episode for me to say this line I've been wanting to say since I first learned you're gonna do this episode. And I

Anthony Corsaro - 00:11:53
watched on how the sausage is made. Actually.

Kyle Krull - 00:11:59
And, you know, Swiss the Swiss are known for their quality. Right? Quality watches, you know, Swiss Army knives, you know. So what is it about the European and or Swiss style of sausage making that makes it so different?

Eric Gutknecht - 00:12:09
Yeah. Well, it's pretty different. You know? Because traditional sausage making is as you grind it up, you throw it into a big mixer paddle, mix in the spices, and stuff it out, and it's done. But, you know, Swiss and German style sausage making uses a whole different equipment. Like, we put everything through a buffalo chopper, and so we build a nice fine base.

Kyle Krull - 00:12:28
What what is a buffalo chopper?

Eric Gutknecht - 00:12:30
So buff a buffalo chopper is this huge piece of equipment, and the nice speed is, like, a 150, 200 miles per hour. It can emulsify something essentially really quickly. So we create this nice fine base, where we add the spices, the ice. And what that gives you is better flavor distribution throughout the sausage, and it allows us to to really, just add better flavorings, kind of gets a better quality, get a better bite in the product instead of, like, a kind of a mushy product that just ground up. You know, our product, even if it's in a skinless casing, you get that nice snap and bite. So it just gets a better quality, overall quality. And we do everything through a buffalo chopper in 300 pound batches. So it's, you know, relatively small batches. It just allows us to do better accomplish better better quality.

Kyle Krull - 00:13:18
And just just to make sure I understand is it's because of the the fineness of the chopping that allows for more continuity in the texture of the sausage. Am I reading that correctly?

Eric Gutknecht - 00:13:27
That's correct. Yeah. Because even when we add a if it's a coarse ground product, we'll start with a base. Everything we do starts with a nice fine emulsion base to get that flavor and the spices evenly distributed. And then you add a little bit coarser texture or the cheese or jalapenos. It's it's all about flavor staging. And then when you eat one of our products, you can kind of you can definitely tell the difference between, you know, what we do versus the, you know, mass produced grinding operations.

Kyle Krull - 00:13:55
No doubt. And I always wondered because I've had numerous, like, you know, for me, I'm super lazy, especially at lunch. Like, I don't wanna spend a bunch of time cooking food in the middle of my workday. So I'm always looking for a quick convenient way to get, like, high quality protein. And I've I've had these sausages numerous times, and they cook really well. They're really simple. They don't, like, blow up and explode like a lot of them do. And to your point, Eric, when you cut them, they don't fall apart.

Kyle Krull - 00:14:11
They stay relatively firm. And I always wondered why it was so different. I was like, how come these sausages have such a different texture than all the rest of them? And now I know how the sausage is made, and it all makes sense.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:14:29
That's that's why. And then, you know, everything's fully cooked too. That also helps kinda lock it in, like, fully cooked and smoked. So that gives you, you know, better shelf life, better flavor. Can you

Anthony Corsaro - 00:14:38
explain that? I I was gonna ask about that. Like, what is the actual cooking process, for for a sausage, like, when you buy it that's fully cooked like that?

Kyle Krull - 00:14:46
Yeah.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:14:46
So we have these massive smoke racks. So we'll stuff it out, hang it on these big racks, roll it into a 3 truck smokehouse. You know, it's about a £1,000 at a time, and then we'll we'll essentially go through the whole cooking process, about smoking process, smoke the product, and then cook it at the end. So the majority of our products are smoked, and cooked, but some of

Anthony Corsaro - 00:15:09
the products like just the chicken sausage is only cooked.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:15:12
But everything's fully cooked, so you can eat it cold out of the package if you wanted. It's not gonna kill you. So but everything we do is fully cooked. I just feel like it's safer that way, you know, especially in Yeah. Days, day and age where people are lazy or not gonna take the time to fully cook it, for the consumer and the and the restaurant. Yeah. You know?

Anthony Corsaro - 00:15:32
I was just saying that for myself, like, yeah. From his laziness. We appreciate

Kyle Krull - 00:15:35
that. Thank you. Saving my life.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:15:38
Yeah. Eric, I'm curious about the cuts of meat, and I'm sure this varies different by the animal. Is that a point of differentiation for sausage makers? Like, is that not a thing? Just curious about the cuts.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:15:50
Yeah. You know, it it can be a thing. You know, we prefer to you it kinda depends on, you know, who you're sourcing from or what's available, quite frankly. But, you know, we use a lot of like bottom round, flats or shoulder clods, like really lean points because we like to mix in like a very lean cut with like a fattier cut, and stage it differently. So it kinda depends on the protein. And, obviously, chicken, there's not a lot of options on Right. Pork. You know, it's pork. It's we use a lot of skinless jowls, which is, you know, the cheeks. That seems to be the best fat when you're trying to get a good juicy sausage.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:16:24
Wow. So interesting.

Kyle Krull - 00:16:27
But hey. I mean, I commend the effort because, I mean, I think to have a really regenerative food system, right, you need to utilize the whole animal. Like, how do we do that? And I think that there are different types of manufacturers who play different critical roles in that effort. There's obviously like your prime cuts. You get your sausage makers. You get your bone broth folks. Right?

Kyle Krull - 00:16:42
And it's this mutual effort that we all have to support these ranchers and farmers who are trying to do the right thing. So I think it's it's fascinating that you're doing what you're doing and I think it's really, really important as we try to develop this regenerative supply chain that we come up with ways where these farmers can get more value out of the animals they're raising and you help to provide them with that that additional market. Right? So that's that's super, super exciting.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:17:09
A 100%. I mean, that's why, you know, having a good relationship with the rancher and helping them utilize. You know? Because we can be flexible on what cuts as long as we're hitting us, you know, specific lean point. We can be we can help them utilize in certain different ways. So

Anthony Corsaro - 00:17:25
it's all about relationships.

Kyle Krull - 00:17:27
Yeah. And all of all

Anthony Corsaro - 00:17:29
of the folks, especially on the b side that we've talked to that touch production that have a brand or or vertically integrated or direct trade in some capacity, they're always talking about whole carcass utilization is always something they need to solve for. So like Kyle said, I think that's an amazing tool to have. Eric, let's go into the regen side of things, and maybe it sounds like the the approach has been kinda 2 pronged there. Like, the original sourcing decision was not marketed as regen originally. So, like, why did you start sourcing from a regenerative source? And then why now did you go through, like, the certification process and the marketing and branding process? Like, what And

Kyle Krull - 00:18:02
I don't mean to interrupt, but I'm interrupting. When did the term regenerative kinda hit your radar, and why did that why was that, like, important to you?

Eric Gutknecht - 00:18:12
I mean, the term itself probably hit my radar in 2,000 18, 19, I would somewhere in there when we were starting to to launch the organic. And at that time, you know, the beef we were using was certified by the Audubon Society, and we kinda felt like it didn't really mean a lot to us. And if it didn't mean a lot to us, you know, it'd be hard to explain it to the consumer. So we didn't put that on our label. Maybe we should have, maybe we shouldn't have, either way. But once that supply there's a challenge with that supplier, and it essentially ceased operations. So when we were searching out for new suppliers, we wanted to make sure we're we're trying to find something that was certified regenerative or could be certified regenerative in the future.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:18:44
Yeah. And then we happened to land on our current beef supplier, which is, I think, the best beef in the world.

Kyle Krull - 00:19:00
Oh, yeah. And what what is it that they're doing that makes you so confident in that statement?

Eric Gutknecht - 00:19:06
Well, I mean, interestingly enough, I went down there in Australia and visited the ranches and and saw the cattle and saw saw how they rotate crops, how they saw how they rotate the animals, saw what they're doing, what they're growing. It was a pretty phenomenal experience. It just so happens I was gonna be there for a triathlon anyway, and there was bass in the next town over. I'm like, this is perfect. So,

Kyle Krull - 00:19:31
But you get to expense your triathlon trip.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:19:34
Yeah. It was wonderful. So, yeah, I know it's great. So saw it, met them, the few owners, you know, tour the ranches. I just it was incredible. And, you know, they're very deliberate on what they're planting, when they're planting it. You know, for instance, like we were looking at a pasture where they had just rotated the the cattle through. They grazed it all. They're moving to the next next parcel, and they're planting turnips. And the purpose of the turnips is they plant them, they dry them out, and then that turns into, like, little water shoots into the land to help get moisture into the land. It's really incredible. So great experience.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:20:05
Can't say anything

Kyle Krull - 00:20:10
about it. As you describe it, it feels like a step above a lot of the regenerative, cattle that I've heard about in that they're also, like, typically and I don't mean to diminish anybody's efforts at all, but based on my my understanding as somebody who's never been a rancher, it's a lot of high stock density grazing utilizing the land as the land is. Whereas it feels like the folks you're describing are planting specific crops to probably introduce different food sources to the cow and for different ecosystem benefits on the soil. Is that correct?

Eric Gutknecht - 00:20:41
Yes. Yes. And and the reason they can do that is because they have a very large property. I do understand, you know, some ranchers are, you know, restricted by the what what access they have to pasture and especially, you know, being certified regenerative and organic. You know, I mean, they have to be certified organic in order to even be, rock certified. So, you know, when when our supplier kind of went away, you know, our original beef supplier closed down, you know, seeking out another organic supplier, that's also regenerative was kind of our goal. And and we just kind of got lucky. And the cool thing about this company, they're called Hewitt Foods, is that they're also trying to grow a startup or do more in the US, as far as livestock and processing and all that stuff. So it's it's a great partner. Can't say enough about them.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:21:34
Nice. Yeah. Australia has some unique, governmental climatic and experiential kind of advantages in grass fed beef. They're definitely a lot further along in a lot of ways for a lot of different reasons. And I hope we can get the domestic production up to a similar level over here. I think it's a little more challenging, just the diversity of geographies and some of the other factors, but they're, they're doing some good work over there, man. They are they're leading in that front for sure.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:22:02
Yeah. So my irony I'm hoping to do it here.

Kyle Krull - 00:22:05
At least in my experience, I lived in Australia for about 7 months, and they love grain finished beef. They love the taste. They, like, put it on menus, grain finished. It's almost the opposite of here where most of the cattle there is 100% grass fed, grass finished, but they want the grain. And here it's the opposite. Right?

Eric Gutknecht - 00:22:21
That's interesting.

Kyle Krull - 00:22:22
Yeah. So they export a ton of that super high quality grass finished beef to the US because there's more of an appetite for it than there is domestically. At least this is back in, like, 2016. So things may have changed since then, but, I always found that to be interesting.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:22:37
Yeah. That is interesting. I had no idea.

Kyle Krull - 00:22:41
Yes.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:22:43
I've been told that the McDonald's burgers in Australia are even grass fed, grass finished. Is that do we know if that's true or not? I don't know. I can honestly say that while I was

Kyle Krull - 00:22:52
in Australia, I did not eat McDonald's. There was a killer burger chain there that I used to go to all the time. I wish I could remember the name. It was so good. But they put, like, beets on the burgers. Beet root. Yeah. And it's delicious. And there is a, a burger place in New Zealand, a chain.

Kyle Krull - 00:23:02
Oh, man. I can't believe I'm playing on the name. But it's all like, the branding is it's it's like Trans Am, like eighties Trans Am branding, and they had this thing called a doofer, which is basically like a burger holder made out of cardboard so you don't spill on your hands. Mhmm. Which is awesome. New Zealand's weird. It's a great place. We're getting way off topic. But, you know, burgers are awesome.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:23:35
Question question for you, Eric, on domestic supply. Like, I'm I'm sure you've looked into that. What is what is the supply constraint domestically? Is it the fact that it's not organic? Is the fact that the unit economics don't work? Is it the fact that it's not pooled in enough kind of, like, enough volume? Like, what what's going on domestically over here?

Kyle Krull - 00:23:55
Yeah.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:23:55
I mean, on the beef side, all all of that. Like, it's a challenge right now on on organic beef and especially, regenerative organic beef. Like, on the chicken side, of course, that's easier. Everything's domestic. Pork's all domestic. But just on the beef side, it's just a challenge. It's there's just not a lot of supply, and I know they're working on that. There's a couple of guys out there who are doing great work, and I think it's coming along.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:24:14
And I think and Hewitt will help with that locally, I mean, in the US. But right now, there's just not the not a consistent supply. You know, there's but there are great guys working on it. I think it's coming. It's just taking a long time.

Kyle Krull - 00:24:35
Okay. Let's let's get into the actual portfolio. So you mentioned there's beef, there's chicken, and there's pork. How many flavors are there? Do you have is it I mean, it's, like, asking your favorite kid. But, like, what are your top sellers? What's what's really working well for you right now?

Eric Gutknecht - 00:24:51
I mean, honestly so we we added the the rock certification to our labels in August, and that has really just crushed it. You know, we got some, obviously, some attention at Whole Foods and natural grocers and other places where we launched, and that's really kind of boosted the sales on those products. They were existing sales. We just added the bug, once we got the certification.

Kyle Krull - 00:25:14
And, honestly, I'm a huge data nerd. I hate to interrupt again. But did you actually see a velocity uptick when you're analyzing the data, like pre and post rock certification on shelf?

Eric Gutknecht - 00:25:24
Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Yeah. We just looked at the data. It was at, like, 25%. There's 25%. Yeah. Wow.

Kyle Krull - 00:25:29
It's huge.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:25:30
Wow. It

Eric Gutknecht - 00:25:30
was awesome. It was awesome. Yeah. So that's getting the attention, you know, because, you know, the retailers out there are really focusing on rock, which is huge. You know, our chicken products, of course, are always the top sellers because everybody loves chicken. And I think, you know, what you find if you ate our chicken products versus others, like ours is nice and moist and juicy where traditionally most chicken sausages are kinda dry and, like, chewy. But we've been able to figure out how to make them, I think taste really good. So those are our top sellers. Chicken's always gonna be

Anthony Corsaro - 00:26:02
a top seller because everybody loves chicken.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:26:05
And then, of course, the pork products do well. You know, we do some exotics. Like, we do a lot of bison, a lot of elk, mainly food service stuff, and those are always top sellers. Like, you know, and, like, we have a a bison jalapeno cheddar and an elk jalapeno cheddar, like, which are just killer products. But those will never be organic or regenerative. Maybe regenerative, but not

Kyle Krull - 00:26:28
I wish they sold those in in natural grocers. I'm a huge bison fan. Love bison. Try to eat as much as I can. So, yo, that that sounds phenomenal.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:26:36
So I should check that out

Kyle Krull - 00:26:37
on my website because, I would love a bison jalapeno cheddar. Is that what you said? Bison jalapeno cheddar?

Eric Gutknecht - 00:26:42
Yeah. That's a oh, it's killer. It's so good. It's like crack.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:26:46
It's so Yeah. Sounds awesome. Yeah.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:26:48
And we are, you know, we are trying to seek out actually because, you know, for for natural grocers, like, we could get it in there. If we could find a 100% grass fed, grass finished bison that we believed was legitimate, then we would get it in there. But the I haven't found that one yet, but we are looking. And then we get it in there.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:27:11
So the the current portfolio of retail products is all organic, and the beef products is rock. But the

Kyle Krull - 00:27:19
chicken Yeah. Yeah. Beef yeah.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:27:20
Beef products are rock, and we do have a goal, for the future to get chicken. We're working on some chicken and pork relationships right now to also attain the rock certification for those. So that I don't wanna promise anything, but I I'm hoping that happens, next year.

Kyle Krull - 00:27:38
Yeah. I'm curious about those efforts because I've heard and I I do not believe this, but some people in the regenerative space think that monogastrics like chicken can never be regenerative. And in my mind, that simply isn't true. I think any animal has the potential to be regenerative because they're all originally part of an ecosystem that can have a benefit. And when you say you're working with potential suppliers, like, what does it mean for them to become regenerative? What what do they have to change about how they're raising a chicken to achieve that rock certification?

Eric Gutknecht - 00:28:06
Well, it's 2 things. I mean, it's rotating, like, not having them on the same pasture. So it's constantly rotating them so that with the chicken, that's a mobile coop. You know, they put the whole coop on wheels and attach it to a trailer and move it around.

Kyle Krull - 00:28:19
Mhmm.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:28:19
And then second component, which I really love about the rock certification, is there's a there's a farmer welfare component. Like, they gotta make sure that the farmers and the farm workers are making a fair wage, and we love that about ROC in their certifications. Yeah. So on the ROC side, that for chicken side, it's definitely possible. On the pork side, it's a that's a challenge, to get it to get it rock certified, but we we are working with someone who's working on that. So it could happen. But they also have to be gap 4, you know, pasture access to pasture and such.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:28:48
So

Anthony Corsaro - 00:28:56
Interesting.

Kyle Krull - 00:28:57
Yeah.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:28:59
Go ahead, bro.

Kyle Krull - 00:29:00
I was gonna say it sounds like a herculean effort to, to make all these changes with these new animals. But this is this is what it takes to be first. Right? And somebody's gotta start and then that's how the supply chain develops. And I'm sure, like, going back to the conversation we had earlier about, you know, you're you're making sausages. So you're using, you know, these, I wanna call them extra cuts, but not the primary cuts. Right?

Kyle Krull - 00:29:16
So is there a level of partnership with other consumer brands or other food service folks out there who are using the rest of the animal and you're you're kind of going to these suppliers and say, hey, I'll buy this, this other customer will buy that if you can start implementing these practices, or is that a completely solo effort on your part?

Eric Gutknecht - 00:29:38
Yeah. That's kind of a different conversation. Like, we work more with the rancher to help them utilize, and then they have the conversation with others. But, you know, we do with with so rock requires 95% of the ingredients are certified rock. So that makes it a little challenging when we add different ingredients like the cheddars and the apples and the spinach. But but, you know, the collaboration among all the rock brands is pretty incredible. So we are working with other, essentially suppliers to develop more rock products that we can use in our stuff. So there's a lot of collaboration amongst rock companies and which is which is great. So we're working on and I'll tell you guys a little bit about that later.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:30:15
But we're working on a couple new cool products for the future, collaborating with other brands, which is gonna be fun. So

Anthony Corsaro - 00:30:31
What what percentage of ingredients is the actual meat? Like, on a regular just like sausage with, like, spices and Eric versus something, like, with the cheddar or the spinach. What what is that typically?

Eric Gutknecht - 00:30:42
It's about 70 5 to 80% protein.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:30:46
Yeah. And then

Kyle Krull - 00:30:47
So you

Anthony Corsaro - 00:30:47
still got a Yeah. You still got a ways to go to hit that 95% threshold. Like, it's not it's not like it's 90% meat or something like that.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:30:53
Yeah. I mean, you know, there's moisture. You know? Otherwise, it's gonna be super dry. So, you know, you take that out anyway. It's 95% of the non moisture ingredients has to be rock certified.

Kyle Krull - 00:31:01
Okay.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:31:01
You know? And, you know, salts, like, salt casings, like, those are probably never gonna be rock certified. So you lose it for percentage points right there. So, you know, you have very little wiggle room and and, which I like. So it's a that way no one not everyone can do it. You know, this is can't really greenwash rock, which is amazing. So

Anthony Corsaro - 00:31:22
I I wanna go back to the lift that you mentioned since the rock certification, and I wanna, like, see if you can tie that to sausage category analysis for us. Like, why do you think it's caused that lift? Is it because of what it represents from an animal welfare perspective to the consumer? Is it because it's just something new and, like, trendy and different and they wanna try it? You know, like, what what do you attribute that to based on where you see, like, sausage and what the consumer's demanding from that category?

Eric Gutknecht - 00:31:51
Well, I think it's a combination. I mean, I think the the larger retailers like Whole Foods, Sprouts, Natural Grocers are are taking on these incredible initiatives to support regenerative agriculture. Mhmm. And, you know, the fact that the consumer is learning and starting to notice those things on shelf, I think that's the primary reason is, you know, they have a big push. You know, like, natural grocers had their partnership with the Rodale Institute, and they featured that in Yeah. Remember if it's September or October. And that was huge for us because, you know, they're pushing that, and then somebody walks up to the meat, you know, display and sees rock certified beef products.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:32:20
I'm like, woah. And our little we have little shelf tags that say, you know, regenerative organic certified. So I just feel like it's the consumer who are shopping at those places. They're starting to learn about it and see it more often, and then they're like, we gotta do it. We gotta support this.

Kyle Krull - 00:32:44
Yeah. Well and it's such an important success story because, I mean, there's a number of brands. And this is what's so unique about the way you're positioned, where there's a lot of brands who launch as a regenerative brand. So they don't get to see the before and after uptick when they put the cert on. So I think that's a really awesome, like, value, value is the wrong word, like a case study that we can take to potentially other retailers as a movement and say, hey, you know, Brock certification leads to a 25% increase in, you know, baseline velocity. You know, this can be case for every single brand, but that's a really strong value proposition that regenerative brands can take to retailers to help get more shelf space or more opportunities, to win at retail.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:33:23
Absolutely. Yeah. It certainly help us secure additional business, you know, in some of the retailers we're not at, like the smaller groups, in the west. So it certainly helps.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:33:32
And you didn't change, like, the SKUs or the product formulations or the packaging significantly. Like, really the major change was just adding the RockServe. Correct or no?

Eric Gutknecht - 00:33:42
Yeah. I mean, we had some minor tweaks, you know, like, from, you know, whole, you know, organic onions or garlic to organic onion powders or garlic powders just to meet the 95%. So very minor, but no real flavor difference. So, I mean, if anything, it tastes this beef actually tastes better than the beef we're using before. So the product quality also has improved quite a bit.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:34:06
It tasted pretty damn good to me last night, and I've never wanted sausage more at 8:52 AM than I do right now. So you're doing something right.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:34:13
You know?

Kyle Krull - 00:34:13
That's awesome. No doubt. Yeah. I definitely get my lunch figured out today for sure. But, you know, you mentioned the importance of collaboration from, like, kind of a back of house perspective with supply chain development and like that, and you also alluded to the fact that there's some collabs coming more in a front of house, like brand facing or or consumer facing capacity. I would love to kinda dig in there and and hear what what you can share about those collaborations.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:34:39
Well, there's and there's there's also some additional marketing collaborations we're gonna do with just the regenerative organic alliance. They are going to really push hard on on some marketing pieces with different brands and kinda push the name forward more than it already is. But, you know, there's like a there's some cheese companies out there that are doing great things that, you know, like, origin cheese, the name of them, and they're certified rock, and we're gonna hope to do some things with them. Maybe it's a co branding or a call out, something like that. I mean, there's just there's a lot of phenomenal companies that are certified regenerative organic. You know, Lundberg, the rice company. Like, there's some talks about, can we do something with those guys, you know, some rice and such.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:35:16
I mean, there's just it's endless endless opportunities, and and and we, you know, we do, I mean, r and d is super fun here. We love experimenting and tweaking, so there's a lot of lot of options. But I feel like at some point in time, we're gonna have, like, a 1,000 SKUs, so that's also a little bit worrisome. But the collaborations are super fun.

Kyle Krull - 00:35:44
That sounds awesome. I think I think we have not had the origin team on yet, but I've been aware. Do they they do more than just cheese? Right? They do just traditional dairy as well?

Eric Gutknecht - 00:35:52
They do a lot of different things, including, like, some, you know, some pharma stuff. They're a pretty interesting company, like, really cool things.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:36:01
Adrian, if you're listening to this, you need to get your ass on here. He, he keeps he keeps putting me off. He says he's working on some things that he wants to have out in the world before he comes on for the big unveil via the podcast. So

Kyle Krull - 00:36:12
So, Eric, you mentioned you're a triathlete. Like, you mentioned you eat a ton of sausage. I've had the sausage. I buy it because I'm not a triathlete, but I want to be. And it strikes me it's one of the cleanest products I've seen on the shelf, especially in a category that is generally, like, not the highest quality meat and maybe filled with nitrites or something else that I'm trying to avoid in my body. So tell us about a little bit of the intentionality behind the ingredients in your product and what sort of attributes you're communicating to your consumers.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:36:43
Yeah. And that's, I mean, that's kind of the beauty of our product is the attributes are far superior from anything else out there, I believe, and others tell us. So not only am I a competitive triathlete, I'm also I also have rheumatoid arthritis, which is an autoimmune disease, and I have to be really careful about inflammation. So, I mean, our products contain probably half to 2 thirds of salt contents of other brands. Like, we don't need the way we make things, we don't need to add a lot of salt, to the products.

Kyle Krull - 00:37:11
Which means you have got real flavor in your food, and you're not relying on salt to flavor your your product.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:37:16
100%. You don't need to mask anything. Like, it's very low salt content, which is awesome. And then we also don't use any sugars. Like, sugar essentially is a filler. It's cheap, cheaper than protein, so it's a good way to make an extra buck. But we don't put any of that in our products. It's sugar free. There's, of course, natural sugars and apples and other ingredients, but we don't add any sugars. And for me, that that just allows me to, of course, eat it and not have, you know, inflammatory responses to, all of this stuff. And I just think, you know, our product, it just has incredible attributes.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:37:48
I mean, we have the we have the certifications on the rock side and the GAP side and the clean side, but then it also has all of these other nutritional attributes, and it tastes good. So I I kinda feel like we're got a pretty good product going.

Kyle Krull - 00:38:07
No doubt. And it's it's crazy and very understandable that no added sugar in a sausage means something. Right? Sugar is just so pervasive across every category, even in places where you wouldn't expect sugar. For example, Primal Kitchen ketchup. Right? Like, I love that there's no added sugar in that ketchup. And that's what I pair these sausages with. So it's fantastic that you can have those options available today.

Kyle Krull - 00:38:21
We also talked a little bit about retail. And, you know, currently, like, really good natural penetration, primarily West Coast. We talked about Costco. What about the conventional and the mulo category? Like, why have you not intentionally gone after that? And do you feel like it's maybe the consumer in the conventional space is ready for this, or are you still gonna hold out and and focus on natural for now?

Eric Gutknecht - 00:38:53
You know, I just think they're not ready for it in all markets. I mean, there's maybe certain markets that can be successful or certain banners within a conventional chain that could be successful. I just don't think it's quite

Anthony Corsaro - 00:39:05
I don't

Eric Gutknecht - 00:39:06
think I don't think the consumer that shops at Kroger or Safeway is quite ready for it. You know, I think I think here in Colorado, it could be a different story, where, you know, it's and and probably up in Bend and and parts of California and the northwest, like, it could it could work. It's just not across the entire region, like a entire Safeway or Cougar region. I don't think it'd be successful yet. I'm hoping that's coming because that would be huge, you know, if they, you know, actually have a directive to focus on regenerative agriculture for some of these big, conventional chains. I think that would be massive, and good for the industry and good for generative overall. They're not from what I've seen, I haven't heard anything like that yet.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:39:40
But if so, we'd be all over it. In select markets, I don't we're not a brand that's gonna be successful in certain markets.

Kyle Krull - 00:39:59
For sure.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:40:00
But we're people

Kyle Krull - 00:40:01
And I think that's that's very much okay. What you're trying to do right in so many different categories, like, you're never gonna be the best product, you know, in every single channel. And we we haven't had this conversation yet on the podcast, which I think is gonna be really interesting. And I think you're right in your assessment that not this product is not ready for all markets yet or the consumers in these markets aren't ready for this product. And you've mentioned, you know, you're waiting for maybe the larger conventional change to put more of an emphasis on regenerative. And is that sort of like the signal to you, like, hey. This might be important, or are there some other category trends you're waiting for?

Kyle Krull - 00:40:29
Are you looking to see some other more premium products in these categories in conventional markets? Is it more about your pricing relative to competition? Are you looking to see more rock attributes doing well in conventional before taking it maybe to the sausage category? Talk to us a little bit about, like, what you want to see there before you're willing to test the waters.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:40:56
Yeah. I mean, I just wanna see a directive honestly from the retailer that this is something they're all in on. Like, it doesn't help us just to go in there and then have it not be supported, and then we're kicked out in a year, especially if there's, like, a slotting fee or whatever associated with it. I mean, we are like you know, we're not a brand that's owned by a, we're not like, we just have different focus. Our brand, we're privately held. I mean, I'm 4th generation. The 5th generation's in the company, which is super cool. Like, we're a legacy brand. We wanna keep it going.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:41:21
We're not trying to be all things to all people and just blow it up, you know, like, jump a 100% a year in sales and grow and sell to whoever.

Kyle Krull - 00:41:38
Yeah. Yeah.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:41:39
We're just we, you know, we since we make it ourselves, like, we can't we have to grow at a sustainable rate. It's too hard on people, processes, and equipment. So, if we if we did, you know, I just don't think we'd be successful at, conventional retail yet. I'm not saying it couldn't happen, but right now, it's not our focus. Like, Costco is a place we may experiment with some product, like 1 rock product, in, you know, maybe the Colorado stores or a section of stores to to test it out. We'd probably do that, like, at a roadshow or something first just to make sure people it's resonating with them. But but, again, it's like we're not we're not in a rush to to push it if it if it's not gonna be successful.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:42:24
Yeah. What I wanna go back to the the rock rollout, and you mentioned it's obviously on the packaging. You have some shelf tags or shelf talkers about it. Were there any other marketing strategies around the product? And what do you wanna see, like, moving forward there? What do you think will be effective there in terms of getting consumers to better understand regenerative and c certification and all those types of things?

Eric Gutknecht - 00:42:49
Well, I wish again, I wish we're better at marketing because answer answer is

Anthony Corsaro - 00:42:53
Hey, brother. You're doing something right. I think you should give yourself a little bit more credit. You know?

Eric Gutknecht - 00:42:58
Well, we are. I mean, it's you know, we developed some really cool posters and some takeaway information that we're we're getting to retailers and, like, hoping that they put it out or give to the consumer. We're doing you know, we're gonna be doing some things with the actual regenerative organic alliance, which I think will be helpful, and other brands that'll be helpful. But, you know, we're pretty much bootstrapping, on some of that stuff. And then I I think, you know, maybe next summer, next next year, we'll probably do a little bit more if we could figure out how to what to do and how to do it, frankly.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:43:33
Yeah. We

Eric Gutknecht - 00:43:34
just don't have the expertise at the at the moment, and it's expensive. You know, we do a lot of like, for us, like, if we can get in somebody's mouth, we'll have a customer forever. So, you know, it's kind of you know, so we'll we'll give out free coupons, you know, at expo and other places. Hey. Just try it. Yeah. Once you try it, we've got you. Like, it's because you're gonna I mean, there's there's nothing else like it out there, frankly. So we do we do demos.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:43:51
We do free product coupons. We just want people to try it because, I mean, if you once people try it, we'll have a loyal customer forever.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:44:07
Yeah. My favorite part about working in this space and the job that we do is that we can say things like, if we get into someone's mouth, we'll have a customer forever.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:44:15
Oh, well, can you can you imagine all the ween all the wiener jokes that go along with that? Yeah. We've heard them all. Appropriate, inappropriate. Oh, man. It's I'm sure.

Kyle Krull - 00:44:28
I always tend to hear some of the best, but we are being recorded on a podcast, so we can't go there today, unfortunately. We went to welfare. Yeah. AC is losing it. But AC and I, we're kinda, like, ping ponging back and forth on where we're taking the direction. But I'm curious, you know, we talked about retail growth. From a food service and meal kit perspective, because you mentioned meal kits earlier. Mhmm. What what does the growth opportunity look like there?

Kyle Krull - 00:44:50
And and from a meal kit perspective specifically, is that partnering with other meal kit companies out there, or is that something like a new initiative you're looking to do on your own?

Eric Gutknecht - 00:45:02
Plus, it kinda 2 things there. So food service, you know, we're definitely first to market on regenerative organic. You don't see a lot of callouts on menus, but we are going all in on that. I think over the next year or 2, we're gonna get some pretty good attention. You know, like the National Restaurant Association show. We'll have highlighting our rock products. We're talking to special, you know, like, customers that that that are focusing on rock. And there's not we haven't identified a lot of them.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:45:20
I I mean, the main one right now is True Food Kitchen. Like, they're phenomenal. So we're hoping to get a good conversation with them because we'd be a great fit. But we're just trying to identify other opportunities like that where people do care about it. Food service always lags behind couple of years, frankly, 2 to 3 years. So we're kinda early on in that process, but we're definitely pushing that forward.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:45:45
As far as, you know, meal kit, you know, we do, you know, we're well, 2 things. Like, we're used as an ingredient, and so we're hoping the meal kit companies will call that out, on their package. And and that's mainly for people that have prepared meals, essentially, sending them direct to the consumer. You know, for instance, like, MyFitFoods, a phenomenal customer. Mhmm. And then, you know, Factor from HelloFresh, people like that, helping to call out.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:46:14
And then we also do for some of them, we'll do a a like, a an add on product, essentially. And we're thinking that that's something that could be really big. You know, I know ButcherBox cares a lot about that, other other meal kit companies, so there's some opportunity there.

Kyle Krull - 00:46:35
Yeah. I mean, that feels like such a great fit. People who are looking for fast, convenient, well sourced food. I mean, you take all those boxes, and that that's just a killer partnership for both both parties. Right? Back to the food service piece. Like, this is my selfish what I would love to see somehow. You know, you go to a football game, a hockey game, a baseball game, and you can just eat, you know, some kind of who knows what hot dog. Right?

Kyle Krull - 00:46:50
But if there was a rock certified beef sausage that you could have in that environment, like, my god. I would I would consume many. I I don't wanna say how many, but it it that would just be so cool to see. And that's what I get so excited about. Like, taking this quality of meat and attention to a category like this that has so many applications. It'd be really, really cool to see.

Kyle Krull - 00:47:10
So I don't know if that's on your radar or not, but would love for that to happen in some capacity eventually.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:47:25
Oh, no. It's on our radar, and we're in discussions with some folks like that. Like, we do sell to a lot of the suites, essentially, you know, the higher Yeah. Parts of of the stadium.

Kyle Krull - 00:47:35
And I'm not quite suite level all the time. It's like maybe a lucky maybe once in once in 5 years somebody will invite me to a suite, but, I'll keep my eyes till next time I win 1, for sure.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:47:45
Not a lot of sporting events in Bend with the stadium that has sweets in it, unfortunately, also. Obviously, unfortunately, no.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:47:51
A lot. Yeah. But that's something that's something for the future for sure. You know, we also have a we have a we're gonna be launching a rock, beef pastrami, which is super killer and so good. And that definitely will have some some good placements, at high end restaurants, stadiums, you know, national parks, stuff like that.

Kyle Krull - 00:48:13
And you were speaking my language. I'm a sucker for a Reuben sandwich. If I'm at any restaurant and they've got a Reuben, like, count me in. And if there's a rock Reuben, my god. I'm gonna look

Eric Gutknecht - 00:48:21
at it. Yeah. Yeah. No. It's a it's a fantastic product.

Kyle Krull - 00:48:26
Is that gonna be only food service available, or will that be available in retail as well? I I I'm asking for a friend, not myself at all.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:48:33
Well, we don't we don't have the the capacity to slice it ourselves. So we sell it whole. So, like, if you go to the deli counter at Whole Foods, you can get it there, but it's not gonna be preslice for you. They gotta slice it for you there. So so that's something that'll be in Whole Foods in, q one.

Kyle Krull - 00:48:52
I will be in Whole Foods in q one. I've never seen a rock's rock and straw

Anthony Corsaro - 00:48:56
meat. Yeah. Well, you're doing a lot on product development here, Eric. Anything else that that we should know about that is potentially in the pipeline?

Eric Gutknecht - 00:49:05
Well, something you may see in 2025 is, some well, couple additional rock beef products, that we've submitted and we're working on. We've got a beautiful cheddar with origin. We've got a beef breakfast sausage. Yeah. Yeah. We've got a beef summer sausage that may be rolling out too, which is exciting. But the other thing too is we're we've found a source for rock lamb as well. So we are testing, submitting, rock lamb and beef sausages, a couple of SKUs.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:49:24
So you may see those in retail, in 2025. We're super excited about lamb. So lamb favorite

Anthony Corsaro - 00:49:41
profile on that like?

Eric Gutknecht - 00:49:42
Well, we have 3 different ones that actually, the one that's been the most popular through testing is a lamb hero or lamb gearo, however you wanna pronounce it, style sausage, lamb and beef, and that taste that's that's been kind of the most popular one, but we also have a garlic, and we also have a rosemary.

Kyle Krull - 00:49:59
Man, as soon as you said the lamb and beef combo, I was like, I'm gonna get some tzatziki and just go go to town. You know, that that that's a combo. Maybe some rice from Lumbergh. You know? Who knows?

Eric Gutknecht - 00:50:08
Exactly. Exactly.

Kyle Krull - 00:50:09
But, yeah, that sounds phenomenal. I also love the diversification of trying to make lamb a little bit more mainstream, especially because lamb has such a unique regenerative opportunity. Right? Especially grazing in, like, orchards. So if you can provide an offshoot for for those raising lamb in that capacity, like, man, what a win that'd be for everybody.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:50:31
Absolutely. Kyle's

Anthony Corsaro - 00:50:33
ready to come to Colorado to help with r and d, Eric. If you don't if you don't have

Kyle Krull - 00:50:36
any Anytime, man. He's ready.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:50:38
Well well, that's the other thing too is we do a lot of tours. We love to show people it's okay to watch sausage being made, you know, and and, you know, just prove that little rule. So if you guys are ever out here in Colorado, we love showing people how we do it and how different we are.

Kyle Krull - 00:50:51
I mean, I I usually go to Golden once a year for an actual grocery's meeting. I will take you up on that offer, like, without a doubt. And then maybe we'll reach a NAB's game and in a sweet and eat a eat a sausage.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:51:02
100%. 100%. Yeah. Or a nuggets game. Or a nuggets game. They're they're also pretty good right now. So yeah.

Kyle Krull - 00:51:09
Yeah. Okay. I'm down. I'm I'm a hockey guy for sure, but I will go with you to a nuggets game. I'm not gonna say no. Yeah. Although, do you feel like they should change their name to the sausages instead of the nuggets?

Eric Gutknecht - 00:51:19
Oh, yes. Yeah. That'd be good. Nuggets. Yeah.

Kyle Krull - 00:51:22
I'll ask him

Eric Gutknecht - 00:51:23
about it.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:51:24
I don't think it's gonna go well, but, man, I'd love to see

Eric Gutknecht - 00:51:27
a a

Kyle Krull - 00:51:27
team called the sausages. That'd be too much. We should we should end before we make any worse jokes than that one. I was about to do that.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:51:36
I can see the Nikola Jokic promotions, now of, the the European style sausage making. It's beautiful.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:51:43
Oh, yeah. The joker.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:51:46
Well, Eric, this has been a really fun and informative conversation and really appreciate the work that you're doing. I will take us home with our final question that we ask everybody, which is how do we get Regen brands to have 50% market share by 2050?

Eric Gutknecht - 00:52:01
I mean, that's a great question. I think it's gonna be

Anthony Corsaro - 00:52:05
well, it could be

Eric Gutknecht - 00:52:05
a combination of things. It's gotta be either an event, for instance, or a person buying into the program, somebody with some influence, either a politician or a celebrity like Taylor Swift or a Patrick Mahomes or someone that's got some influence out there buying into regenerative agriculture. Or it's gotta be a a retailer, a conventional retailer, kinda like we talked about before. One of the big ones going all in or Costco going all in on regenerative and kind of forcing brands to become regenerative, frankly. I mean, I think, like, there's been so much momentum already, but I think something like that would just press the accelerator, and get it there quicker. Well, I

Kyle Krull - 00:52:44
think it's really important for certain brands to lead in certain categories, and it feels like you're really leading the charge in the sausage category. So we appreciate your efforts. They're not easy to do. Also just wanna do a shout out to the website. It's charcutenouveau.com for anybody who wants to learn more, and buy some of the products that are not available in store, like the bison jalapeno sausage, which I will be purchasing very soon. And, yeah, man. Thanks for the time. Thanks for showing us how the sausage is made.

Eric Gutknecht - 00:53:10
Well, hey. Thanks for having me. I I love what you guys are doing. Like, I listened to your podcast. It's phenomenal, and I I love the effort. And I think, you know, you're just doing great work in

Anthony Corsaro - 00:53:18
the community. So thank you so much. Appreciate that, man. Appreciate it. For transcripts, show notes, and more information on this episode, check out our website regen-brands.com. That is regen-brands.com. You can also check out our YouTube channel, ReGen Brands, for all of our episodes with both video and audio. The best way to support our work is to give us a 5 star rating on your favorite podcast platform and subscribe to future episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. You can also subscribe to our newsletter, the Regen Brands Weekly, and follow our Regen Brands LinkedIn page to stay in the know of all the latest news, insights, and perspectives from the world of regenerative CPG. Thanks so much for tuning in to the ReGen Brands Podcast. We hope you learned something new in this episode, and it empowers you to use your voice, your time, your talent, and your dollars to help us build a better and more regenerative food system. Love you, guys.