On this episode, we have Sara Delaney who is the Founder and CEO at Sarilla.
Sarilla is supporting regenerative agriculture with its lineup of ready-to-drink spritzers that are all made with organic and regenerative ingredients. Sarilla sources the majority of its ingredients via direct trade relationships with farmer cooperatives in Rwanda that are USDA Organic and Fair Trade Certified and pursuing regenerative certification.
In this episode, Sara shares how she was inspired to launch the brand to further her work supporting the people of Rwanda in their ongoing recovery from the Rwandan Genocide in 1994, and she shares how Sarilla has grown over time to find the right name, SKUs, and product positioning.
Sara’s personal story is one of resiliency, empathy, and community and is definitely very alive in the Sarilla brand. She subscribes to the Rwandan wisdom that “to be alone is to die” - which underpins Sarilla’s social impact mission and should serve as good advice for all of looking to increase collaborative efforts in regeneration.
Episode Highlights:
🙏 How supporting Rwanda sparked a CPG brand
💔 The Rwandan genocide and need for trauma healing
🌿 Why tea was the pathway to economic impact
🧘 Sourcing from legendary, regenerative Rwandan tea gardens
👉 Positioning SKUs as sober safe and non-alcoholic
👍 Why RTD beverage can be such an impactful category for regen
🎯 Finding the right brand name, SKU mix, and positioning over time
🔥 Why sometimes “rejection is protection” and “asking who not how”
🥤 Building in foodservice, hospitality, vending, and grocery
🫶 How community is the antidote to despair
Links:
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Episode Recap:
ReGen Brands Recap #92 - The Regenerative Sparkling Beverage Brand Spotlighting Rwanda - (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 Sara Delaney, who is the founder and CEO at Sarilla. Sarilla is supporting regenerative agriculture with its lineup of ready to drink spritzers that are all made with organic and regenerative ingredients. Sarilla sources the majority of its ingredients via direct trade relationships with farmer cooperatives in Rwanda that are USDA organic and fair trade certified and pursuing regenerative certification. In this episode, Sara shares how she was inspired to launch the brand to further her work supporting the people of Rwanda in their ongoing recovery from the Rwandan genocide in 1994. And she shares how Sarilla has grown over time to find the right name, SKUs, and product positioning. Sara's personal story is one of resiliency, empathy, and community, and is definitely very alive in the Sarilla brand. She subscribes to the Rwandan wisdom that to be alone is to die, which underpins Sarilla's social impact mission and should serve as really good advice for all of us looking to increase collaborative efforts in regeneration.
Anthony Corsaro - 00:01:25
We love spending this time with Sara, and we hope you enjoy this one as much as we did. Let's go. What's up, everybody? Welcome back to another episode of the ReGen Brands Podcast. Very excited today to have our friend Sara from Sarilla with us. So welcome, Sara.
Sara Delaney - 00:01:54
Thanks. Hi, everyone. Good to be here. I love this podcast.
Kyle Krull - 00:01:59
We love that you love this podcast.
Sara Delaney - 00:02:02
No. I'm actually a listener. You know? It's so much fun to be on.
Kyle Krull - 00:02:06
Okay. Do you have a favorite episode or, like, a one that comes to mind recently?
Sara Delaney - 00:02:10
Gosh. Yeah. I mean, I I love the one that you guys did a deep dive on tea, actually. Mhmm. So it was Yogi.
Kyle Krull - 00:02:18
Mhmm.
Sara Delaney - 00:02:19
And that's actually where I discovered that they work with some of the same farmers that we work with in Rwanda. So it created a conversation after the podcast with the person you had on.
Kyle Krull - 00:02:31
Amazing. I love that answer for two reasons. Number 1, like, the the in category love, I think, is super, super cool. And part of that, like, collaboration that, like, we can do this together. It doesn't have to be, like, we're we're at each other's throats for market share. And number 2, the fact that it spurred conversation and collaboration, not just from a, like, hey. Let's do this together, but, you know, let's collaborate and work with our suppliers together. That's that's awesome. But we we already were talking before we hit record, and we're gonna go down, like, conversations that we're gonna have a hard time stopping.
Kyle Krull - 00:02:53
So before we go there, for those who are not familiar with Sarilla, give us a quick lay of the land. Like, what does your brand produce, and where can people find your product today?
Sara Delaney - 00:03:08
Sure. So Sarilla is a sparkling beverage. It's made without any alcohol, no preservatives. It's a very clean label product. We have 7 flavors now. Our original was inspired by the silver tip tea, which I discovered when I was living in Rwanda. I'll save that for later. But it is real brewed tea leaves with herbs, fruits, spices. Most of our flavors are either low or no sugar, ranges from 0 to 90 milligrams of plant based caffeine. We also test for antioxidants now after packaging, which is really exciting.
Anthony Corsaro - 00:03:45
Hell, yeah.
Sara Delaney - 00:03:46
So it's been an evolution we can talk about. We do call it a spritzer today, and that has come a long way. I love that word, though, because it brings to mind that it's light, that it's refreshing, that it may have tiny bubbles. And we do call out the 0% alcohol on the front. So I'm very focused right now on building in hospitality and convenience. I love that channel. We're working with Vistar PFG across the country. Nice. We work with corporate campuses, college campuses, some vending, some, obviously, grocery. We're in natural grocery.
Sara Delaney - 00:04:12
You'll find us in Sprouts nationwide starting in April.
Kyle Krull - 00:04:32
Oh, hell yeah. Congrats.
Sara Delaney - 00:04:34
Yeah. Yeah. I really I would say, food service and hospitality is where we got our start in kegs in 2018. And we still produce the product small batch in, kegs as well to have on tap. So it's really fun building with that sort of hands on, like, testing ground, getting immediate feedback. It's a great way to sample the product too.
Anthony Corsaro - 00:04:59
Mhmm.
Kyle Krull - 00:05:00
Before we go into some of the origin story, we gotta talk about some of these flavors because they sound extraordinary. As somebody who has yet to try the product, but I mean, there's like a ginger Green tea. Yeah. Hot pepperoni. We tried to make that happen. It's okay. I mean, I I actually I kinda like the fact that I'm like, I really wanna try this. You know?
Kyle Krull - 00:05:16
I think it's a good vibe to bring to the episode. Like, the vanilla rooibos infusion. Like, do you have a particular, like, favorite flavor, or is there a top seller, like a leading horse or maybe top 2 or 3?
Sara Delaney - 00:05:30
Mhmm. My original is the lemon. So that's kinda my original baby, but, and I will say that's popular across the country. I it's so interesting how flavor palettes change from, like, city to city, region to region. You know, people in the south where I am tend to like sweeter flavors than, like, the northeast where I came from. People are not as sensitive to, like, a little bit of sugar, right, in the Midwest compared to the 2 coasts. So I will say the green tea, which I have in front of me, and I would I'm not gonna drink it now because it's, like, after 12. And this definitely gives me a little buzz from the green tea. It's high caffeine, completely plant based caffeine, nothing synthetic, and it's blended with organic hibiscus flower and organic pure monk fruit.
Sara Delaney - 00:06:13
But our newest flavor is the hoppy hibiscus, and that's what I have almost every night. I'll have that, like, with my dinner. It's got a very light, citrus hops flavor. Doesn't taste like a beer. So I'm 18 plus years sober, and, personally, I don't want, like, I don't want the flavor of alcohol. And so I wanted to create this beverage that was also sober safe for people like me that we are just bored sick of sparkling water, and we don't drink, like, Diet Coke or Monster anymore.
Sara Delaney - 00:06:47
And so what else is there?
Anthony Corsaro - 00:07:01
Yeah. I have certainly been that person many times, and I'm sure Kyle has as well, because Kyle doesn't drink, and I've gone to extensive periods of adult life. And I actually am extremely underwhelmed by many of the non alc options that are always offered. It's like, I don't wanna drink something that just tastes like a beer, but doesn't have alcohol. Like, that doesn't yeah. Like, I'd rather than
Sara Delaney - 00:07:19
do something else. Is so confused by that.
Anthony Corsaro - 00:07:21
Right. But the the sales, like, they're selling well. So, like, someone, I guess, we're not the target demo for that. But,
Sara Delaney - 00:07:28
I will say it's the the zebra striping is what's working. And I think it's a funny term because it's like, okay. You have a regular beer, and then you have, like, let's say, a non alc beer or something else, like, 0%, and you go back and forth throughout the occasion, throughout the night. But, like, I used that term with someone the other day, and they're like, what's the difference between zebra striping and just, like, normal drinking?
Anthony Corsaro - 00:07:53
Right.
Sara Delaney - 00:07:53
Yeah. Like, true. I mean, that's nothing new. You know? Even drinkers have, like, water in between their drinks. So I think that's what it is. It's just, like, to get maybe less buzz or to get, like, less hungover the next day or feel like it's safer to drive home.
Kyle Krull - 00:08:10
Well, and from my perspective, having never drank in my life. Right? So I don't have a, like, a baseline to compare to. We're all drinking alcohol here. Drink? No. I don't drink. Never, never drink. Awesome. Yeah. And for me, it's just really nice to have something that is interesting to drink with a little bit of potential benefit instead of, like, oh, I'm gonna have some water or, like, you know, for a long time, it was just kombucha, which is relatively high sugar. So to have some, like, interesting relatively complex flavor profiles, it just feels really nice to kinda, like, if you're at a party, you can bring something to feel like you're sort of participating without sacrificing, you know, your morals and or health or whatever reason you're you're not, you know, drinking alcohol that day.
Kyle Krull - 00:08:32
So Totally. I love these sorts of products.
Sara Delaney - 00:08:50
Yeah. Thank you. And I I wanted to make something that was adding to your life too because there are a lot of non alks that really don't have the greatest ingredients. I think there's some great brands out there doing amazing things. Even just using, like, herbs is such an ancient tradition where there's so much natural function in the plants that we don't have to use synthetic additives to get that same effect. And then there's this question of, like, the functional beverage category and what does that actually mean. Does it, like Mhmm. Does it have to be mood altering, or does it have to have CBD? And so I think that whole category is still taking shape.
Kyle Krull - 00:09:36
Mhmm. Yeah. It's a huge catch all term to your point. Like, what is the specific function? You know? Like, it could be anything from high fiber, high protein, to mood enhancement, adaptogens. Like, it's so so so big and ambiguous. I I wanna queue you up for the origin story, but that's Anthony's question. I feel really I gotta know what to do. So Anthony, you stop me from talking and and lead us in.
Anthony Corsaro - 00:10:00
Yeah. No. I think we're definitely gonna spend more time on kind of how the product has grown in this journey and what the positioning has been and and is now and will be in the future. I definitely wanna talk about that. And particularly how, like, the social impact piece and the regenerative piece play into that, Sara, and how we all think about that. But, you know, I had the pleasure of watching your TEDx talk to prep for the interview today, which I had no idea about that entire journey. Just really powerful stuff. I commend you for, your resilience and your ability to share so vulnerably.
Anthony Corsaro - 00:10:23
And this brand is really based on such a cool social impact, mandate and, you know, your personal story is just wild. So we'd love for you to take us back and share what you would like just about, you know, your journey and why you started the brand and and what you're doing with this, really, the work in Rwanda and other places as well.
Sara Delaney - 00:10:48
Okay. Yeah. Thanks for taking time to watch that. Was that just tonight?
Anthony Corsaro - 00:10:51
Oh, yeah. This morning. Mhmm.
Sara Delaney - 00:10:53
Okay. Nice. Yeah. That was such a good experience. I definitely recommend doing a TEDx for anyone who is kinda thinking about it. And that was, I will say, 6 months before March 2020. So I was the last group on the stage Wow. Before you know? And then they started doing virtual TEDx. But my topic was, for listeners, how community really is the antidote to despair. And so heading into 2020 and all of that disruption to our lives and being separate from each other, it like, I got a lot of feedback.
Sara Delaney - 00:11:20
Of course, I didn't know that was gonna happen. It was just really good timing that I had that topic. And, so much of what I learned around community building is either number 1 from my recovery network of getting sober, and being a member of AA, but also, like, my time living in Rwanda and learning from the people there that, you know, there's a saying that to be alone is to die. And that's like a very ancient sort of tribal survival mechanism, but I think we've forgotten as we as we do so many things so independently and alone here in this country and other countries that are much more, like, based on me and I rather than we and us. So that's something that I've always thought about is, you know, how well, together, we're better, right, and stronger. And so it really is kind of a luxury in a way in this country to be be so independent. It's almost like praised. It is. Right?
Sara Delaney - 00:12:26
I can do this. I got this. I'm self reliant where it's, so strange in Rwanda. Like, I travel there. You know, I still go back a couple times a year, and I'm usually with a group. But a couple of times, I've been by myself.
Sara Delaney - 00:12:45
And but I always know people. Like, I'll get together. You know? I'll I'll head to the farm. And if I show up, like, by myself, they're like, what? Are you okay? What's wrong? Like, where are your friends and family? Like, why would you be alone? And it's not like a safety. I'm perfectly safe there.
Sara Delaney - 00:13:00
It's a really safe country. Probably safer than anywhere else I've been. But it's just that, like, why would you wanna be alone? So that's been a great lesson for me, and I still think about it. And and that's when, you know, the shutdown happened. It was very, very hard for for the farmers that we worked with there because they were also told to stay home.
Sara Delaney - 00:13:25
And that's like there's so many layers to that. I mean, for for someone living in poverty, it was, like, a very dangerous situation not to be told, like, not to get together and be farming and leaving the house because they needed that every day to survive.
Anthony Corsaro - 00:13:48
Mhmm.
Sara Delaney - 00:13:50
But, yeah, it was 2009 that I lived there. I was hired I had just moved to Asheville from Vermont, and I was hired by an American couple to come and help, build a restaurant that they had started the year before. And they really initiated this as more of a public health solution and looking at, you know, we have all these NGOs coming into Rwanda and helping with post genocide development, but people really need jobs and training. And there at that time, there was very little in the hospitality sector. And, so they built this restaurant as a hands on training facility for, orphans who had lost their parents during the genocide. And the couple was moving back to the States for a year, so they hired me to run the business, stay in their house, like, basically manage their life while they were gone. And it was like, I just knew, you know, the job was meant for me, and I'd never been to sub Saharan Africa.
Sara Delaney - 00:14:45
I said yes, and 30 days later, I was on a plane.
Kyle Krull - 00:14:55
Yeah.
Anthony Corsaro - 00:14:56
Sara, for for those that aren't familiar, will you just give a brief overview of the of the genocide? Like, I was 1 years old when it happened, so I was relatively unfamiliar before the interview today. And we'll we'll put some links in the show notes. But just for for those listeners that are unfamiliar, could you give the context on, like, what happened there and
Sara Delaney - 00:15:13
Yeah. Why it matters. So it was 1994, and it was in April that it started. But there's a long history before that dating back to probably the 19 fifties. Right? So it didn't, of course, it didn't happen overnight. But in the span of 100 days starting in April in 1994, about a 1000000 people were killed by it was a 1000000 Rwanans by their fellow Rwanans, so it was neighbors killing neighbors. And there were 2, like, I I will say tribes. That's controversial. Okay?
Sara Delaney - 00:15:41
But it was Hutu and Tutsi, and the the the Hutu population was the majority, about 80%, and, they were directed to kill the Tutsi, which is about 20% of the country. Jesus. And this was a 1000000 people, and that represented 10% of the population. At the time, there were only about 10,000,000 people. It's a tiny country. Okay?
Sara Delaney - 00:16:05
So it's it's the size of Vermont where I grew up. Vermont has less than a 1000000 people in the whole state, and Rwanda is about the same size in terms of land mass. It's very mountainous. It's beautiful. It's, densely populated. Most people are farming, and it's bordering many other countries.
Sara Delaney - 00:16:28
So during that time, I mean, I'm I've met so many people that survived the genocide, and they fled to neighboring countries if they could. Like, Congo Democratic Republic of Congo, hosted many people. Burundi was also part of the war. So it is considered a civil war. It, there's, like, a long history of colonization and how those two groups of people were kind of pitted against each other. But I will say that, everything I've read and learned from people there is that they were living peacefully at one time. So there were Hutus married to Tutsis.
Sara Delaney - 00:17:05
It was, like, incredibly amicable. But, so that that was what happened that year, and it's been, what, 30 almost 31 years. And now what we're looking at is the generational transfer of trauma. So it's still very for someone who hasn't had trauma healing, it's very fresh. Trauma does not know any time, so it's like Right. You know, you it could have been yesterday.
Sara Delaney - 00:17:42
So many people are now living back in the same communities, and, like, many people went to prison or they fled. And immediately after, like, the following year this is an interesting fact too. Women in Rwanda were not allowed to own land. I think it was 1997. So it took about 3 years from the genocide for them to because they were left with land. The men, in many cases, were either killed or they left or they went to jail.
Sara Delaney - 00:18:14
So the women are left with land that, technically, they didn't own, and and they were the head of household. Many children were head of household. So that was you know, had to be a very interesting time. I think there were only 3 psychologists in the whole country, like, following the genocide. So when I moved there under resourced. That's Under resourced. Yeah. In 2009, when I moved there, it was, you know, beautiful, clean, safe.
Sara Delaney - 00:18:42
But the people I work with before I left said there's 2 things we still really need. We need jobs, and we need trauma healing. And so when I moved back to the state, eventually, I had another stop along the way. But, my first mission was to create a nonprofit to work with women there that had experienced trauma, particularly sexual trauma, which was a big part of the genocide as well. Many women were intentionally infected with HIV AIDS,
Kyle Krull - 00:19:30
you know,
Sara Delaney - 00:19:30
were pregnant from rape. And that's a whole another set of issues with children being born of rape.
Anthony Corsaro - 00:19:40
And so that's just, I mean, insane and just so tragic. Yeah. And thank you for the work that you're doing to support, you know, those folks. Just to clarify one thing, it's more dealing with the residual effects of the conflict that lasted about a year. There is no ongoing conflict or war kind of remaining bloodshed currently
Sara Delaney - 00:19:59
or not. Actually, the current president Kagame, he's he came in he's Rwandan, but he was living in Uganda. He came in with the troops that helped end the genocide and put it to a stop that year, And he's still president to this day. So he's beloved, from what I can tell. Yeah. And I think he has maybe another term left. So it's been it's been safe, peaceful, lots of resources coming into Rwanda. Throughout Africa, I would say Rwanda is really seen as a success story in so many ways.
Sara Delaney - 00:20:29
It's very good health care, very good education. The the restaurant that I that I was there working at is now, like, one of the best in the country and spans over, like, an entire street. They have, like, 2 hotels. They had Prince Charles stayed there a couple years ago. We have lots of, like, celebrities coming in to do the gorilla trek, which is a big tourist destination. And so there's a lot going on there.
Sara Delaney - 00:21:03
There's a lot of reason to visit, and it was an amazing place to live. My quality of life there was so good. I mean, beautiful home, gardens, food. You know, I know we're gonna get into the farming and food part, but that like, the we had the best ingredients coming into the restaurant. Everything was natural. No pesticides, no preservatives, like, fresh every day, farmers coming in to deliver. It was an awesome experience.
Sara Delaney - 00:21:34
It and everyone I think I've taken maybe 13 crop to cup trips so far. And out of all those people, everyone always says, like, I need to go back. You can't just go once. It gets under your skin, and people fall in love with this country. It's amazing.
Anthony Corsaro - 00:22:02
I love crop to cup. That's that's incredible. Yeah. So how how did you go from it?
Sara Delaney - 00:22:08
Crop to can. But
Anthony Corsaro - 00:22:10
Hey. I I like it. Don't mess with it.
Kyle Krull - 00:22:12
I I
Anthony Corsaro - 00:22:12
like it. So how how did you go from living there in 2009, working at the restaurant, starting the nonprofit to support these women to a CBG brand? What was what was that journey?
Sara Delaney - 00:22:22
Well, in the the nonprofit was really about creating an exchange. It's called Africa Healing Exchange and still exists as a 501c3. What I saw when I was living there is, like, so many NGOs had a presence there. They didn't want to leave, like, the 60 mile radius from the capital. We have a joke in Kigali, the capital, which is like, it's it's like how far do you have to go to get a latte, and that's about as far as, like, the NGOs would go. So Yeah. It, you know, it was me kind of being on a mission to go where other people didn't go and to help. Not I don't even wanna say help. Okay? It's an exchange because I was getting so much as well.
Sara Delaney - 00:22:57
My experience living there showed me the healing that I still needed to do with my own trauma, my own, like, you know, what I talk about in my TEDx. And so they became my teachers, my healers, and I was like, when I left, how can I stay connected to them? Because I need this. It's like a lifeline. I need to keep working with people in Rwanda.
Anthony Corsaro - 00:23:26
Mhmm.
Sara Delaney - 00:23:27
I also want to expose other Americans to that culture that helped me so much. And so I wanna create this bridge with the two cultures. So for some time, it was a nonprofit, which is really a model that we built in Rwanda, and it was really based on the wisdom of Rwandans, not a western approach that was somehow, you know, catering to another culture. Because I saw that that was not a sustainable approach either.
Anthony Corsaro - 00:23:55
Mhmm.
Sara Delaney - 00:23:56
So it was, you know, a model we call restoring resiliency instead of using the word trauma, which also is very exhausting to keep hearing that word. It's one of those, like, is it onomatopoeia? Is that how you say it?
Anthony Corsaro - 00:24:09
Yeah.
Sara Delaney - 00:24:10
Right? You say it, the word, and you feel like like you guys probably feel heavy right now. I was like, we need to move out of that, like, trauma experience. And, I learned that with my TEDx coach too. It's like, if we're gonna take people down into, like, like, a hard story or a sad story, like, you better take them up pretty quickly. Like, you can feel the energy go down, and it's like, okay. Now we gotta come back. But I found that
Kyle Krull - 00:24:36
I just wanna call out that I super appreciate both of you navigating that down and back up because I was sitting there like, man, like, this is like, how are we gonna talk about spice cider after this? You know? Like, I I don't mean to, like, poke fun, like, make a joke of it because, I mean, it's really like it's like, oh, I I feel that. You know? So I appreciate the the wisdom you're both bringing to navigating this conversation.
Sara Delaney - 00:24:56
Well and, I mean, speaking of, like, Sorelle, like, we have our branding. It's like sun rays. It's elevated. It's light. It's bright. It's joy. It's inspiring happiness. And that came from, like, okay. We all have there's light and darkness, shadow and, you know, with everything. And that really was rooted in this experience I'm talking about in Rwanda where it's, like, on one side, it's it's so heavy, and there's, like, these dark stories. And you'll get into a cab, and all of a sudden, the driver's just telling you what happened in 1994 like it was yesterday. And you're like, woah. Like, I was not prepared for this.
Sara Delaney - 00:25:31
But then you step into, like, you know, the farm that I work, and it's women singing and dancing in bright colors, and they take their drums out. And and then in the next minute, they tell you, like, someone just died, and you're like, wait. But are we celebrating, or are we mourning? Are we grieving? And it's, like, all the feelings, you know, all the colors in of of an experience. So I think and it's part of the reason I I love beverage so much too is because we're consuming it all day, every day. It's liquid. We're 80% water.
Sara Delaney - 00:25:58
It's liquid coming through our body. We have the opportunity to impact so many lives with this beverage, not only with these stories and connecting cultures, but with the the physical liquid, like, coming into our into our bodies.
Kyle Krull - 00:26:30
Yeah. I agree. When we first, you know, booked this brand, when AC booked this on the podcast, I love this category because it can be so impactful to your point. You're consuming not just, like, buy 1 consumer same day, potentially 2 or 3 in the same day. So the opportunity to drive sales in a direction that could really, like, move agriculture, like, scale agriculture is is huge.
Anthony Corsaro - 00:26:51
But I
Kyle Krull - 00:26:51
wanna take it back to AC's question because we keep going down rabbit holes in a great way. Like, what was the journey to the CPG brand? How did that what did that arc look like?
Sara Delaney - 00:27:01
Oh, I, well, I kinda burnt out on fundraising, which is ironic because I'll be fundraising forever right now. But, like, with the nonprofit, honest like, what happened is, it was very, like, purpose driven, meaningful work. But I it must have been a couple trips. I came back with tea as gifts for people. And I remember going to my friend, Andrew, who owns Dover Tea House here in Asheville, brought him some tea from Rwanda. They sat down, cupped it, and we're like, do you know, like, how good this is? And I'm not, like, a tea geek.
Sara Delaney - 00:27:34
Like, I loved it, but I grew up on, like, herbal tea bags. So I didn't know how damn good this was. And I was like, really? Okay. And so over the course of that summer, I just started, like, playing around with it, making cold steep teas, really using that Silvertip tea as my halo ingredient. And I felt great. I was trying to cut back on coffee, but I still wanted that caffeine kick.
Sara Delaney - 00:28:06
So, it just and then what happened is I was like, I think I'm on to this. You know, I started bringing it to people and just letting folks sample it. I met this this great guy. I was actually working as a fundraising manager for a local private school. And one of the parents, somehow we got talking, and, he was like, I'm really interested in, you know, the work you're doing in Rwanda. Why don't we sit down?
Sara Delaney - 00:28:30
I would say he was my first, like, unofficial mentor. And I remember seeing, like, I think it's really time to build a business with this mission, you know, and get beyond just, like, fundraising for a nonprofit because we're still lacking this, economic healing with this model. We're doing the the mental health part, stress management. People are feeling stable, but they need to earn more money. You know? And that's where these products with purpose can come in and help with that full circle healing. And I think that's what's missing from a lot of nonprofit work.
Sara Delaney - 00:29:08
It's like, okay. We're helping people feel better, but then, like, they need to go on and earn an income, and we need to create jobs here. So I remember just laying it all out with him. Like, I have these beautiful baskets, fabrics, jewelry, coffee, tea, like, all these things. I wanna shine a light on Rwanda and let people know that it's just, like, beacon of hope and light and full of all these great products, and it's not just about the genocide. Because people hear Rwanda, and that's all they seem to think about.
Anthony Corsaro - 00:29:52
Mhmm.
Sara Delaney - 00:29:52
So he was like, this is awesome, but, like, you really need to focus. Like, pick one thing and build on that. And I was like, it has to be tea. It has to be because the health, the trends, like, it's sustainable. We grow it year round. The farmers are earning income year round. You know, I love coffee, but it's not that. And everything in the US was headed towards tea being, like, a trending ingredient as well. And I love year was it?
Sara Delaney - 00:30:16
Just so
Kyle Krull - 00:30:25
we have, like, some frame of reference
Sara Delaney - 00:30:26
for 2017, 2018, I started kegging. Yep. So I decided tea. I'm all in on tea. I wanna do hot tea, cold tea. I started with a loose leaf tea. I I learned how to import tea. I took my
Anthony Corsaro - 00:30:42
Yeah.
Sara Delaney - 00:30:43
My home recipes to the local brewer school, and he had all these, like, your, beer brewer students. And I was like, so I have this tea, and I wanna put it in a keg. Will you show me how? And he was like, sure. So he took me and he's still, like, with me today. He took me under his wing. And I would just come in, like, on the off hours, and we would keg together. And he taught me about SOPs and sanitation, like, everything. Mhmm.
Anthony Corsaro - 00:31:12
I wanna I wanna go
Kyle Krull - 00:31:12
back to 2017, 2018 because today, launching a sparkling herbal tea feels very on trend. But to have that thought back in 2018, like, what was the compelling reason? Like, to me, that that would have been very novel back then. You know, why was that so important to you to put tea in a keg at that point in time?
Sara Delaney - 00:31:31
Yeah. It was because I'm here in Asheville, like, surrounded by breweries on every corner. I'm sober. My friends are sober, and we only really have, like, coffee shops to meet at. And, I felt like I'm not the only one that's kinda feeling left out in these situations. So I thought, you know, why why do we have to have it be why does it have to be beer? You know, there's gotta be something else we can have on tap. And so I I will say, like, I wasn't so welcome, like, walking into these breweries with my tea
Anthony Corsaro - 00:32:12
and a keg. It was definitely weird.
Sara Delaney - 00:32:17
And I will tell you, like, every time I would walk in, they'd offer me a beer. And I'm like, no. You don't understand. Like, that's why I made Sorilla. And, I had a couple a couple breweries that were all in, you know, and they had taps allocated for kombucha already. So they knew, like, the idea was there. But it's just it's amazing, like, you know, only a few years later. Now if I walked into a bar or brewery and I'm like, hey. I have this nonalcoholic product. They're like, oh, no way. I'm looking for something. What is it? It happened so fast.
Sara Delaney - 00:32:48
So I am glad, like, I am glad that I entered at a time where it was harder because I think that I had to build a lot of grit and, like, toughen up my skin, you know, to just keep going. And it was just a test of, like, do are you sure you wanna do this? Because this is not gonna be easy.
Kyle Krull - 00:33:13
Right. And, I mean, you have to pave the way for other non non alc options down the road. And then you you I mean, I think you were very early on, but you definitely caught the trend at the right time. Right? And now I'm curious because it sounds like the primary, you know, original concept was food service, breweries, keg. When did you decide to transition? Like, hey. I actually wanna put this in a can for maybe a different, you know, maybe more convenient or a take home, occasion.
Sara Delaney - 00:33:39
Yeah. It was it was it was, I like that saying, like, rejection is protection. You know? I it was March 2020, and I was in a situation working out of a brewery here that was not so great. Like, I didn't want to take time to make a change, but we were growing out of the equipment they had. It was not I will let's just put it this way. Like, my pasteurization consisted of, like, giving cans a water bath in a big tank.
Anthony Corsaro - 00:34:09
Like, that was not going to scale. I mean, that sounds arduous.
Sara Delaney - 00:34:17
Giving them a bath with our hands. So it was painful, but I was like, we were so busy, and we had just gotten into our first grocery chain. And it was like, I don't have time, like, just research and, but then when March 2020 hit, the the tap shut down, the restaurants were closed, and the brewery stopped making beer. And they went all in on making sanitizer, and there was no more canning line. So it was like God saying, okay. What are you gonna do now? You have no choice. Like, you need to make a change.
Sara Delaney - 00:34:50
And luckily, I had found there was a brand called Matti back in the day, and it was really good. I think it was like a year bed type drink, kind of before year.
Kyle Krull - 00:35:05
Like an energy drink, m a t I? Yeah. Yeah. That rings a bell.
Sara Delaney - 00:35:10
Okay. So they I was starting to look for, okay, we're gonna need a tunnel pasteurizer. And they were in North Carolina a couple hours away, and, they had the exact equipment because they were also seeping tea and then pasteurizing, but it was a different kind of tea. So when March 2020 came around, I was like, okay. I need to move into a place like that. They had since closed, but I tracked their equipment. I was like, who bought that equipment? I tracked somehow, I tried. It was like a wild goose chase.
Sara Delaney - 00:35:38
Tracked that equipment up to New Hampshire, and it brought me to it brought me to a new co packer in New Hampshire in Seabrook, and they had line time because the pandemic had just hit. It was actually the perfect time to get in with them. And that's when I started working with my first actual co packer. And we had just gotten into the fresh market, so we had about well, there's a 160 stores plus, like
Anthony Corsaro - 00:36:16
Right.
Sara Delaney - 00:36:17
You know, some of our other independent accounts. But that's when I was like, we need to go all in on cans because that's the only way people are drinking this now.
Anthony Corsaro - 00:36:24
Mhmm.
Sara Delaney - 00:36:25
We need to, you know, look at ecommerce options and just meet people where they're at, which is basically online. It was very tough, like, launching I know you've heard that story a 1000000 times, but it wasn't the ideal time to be launching a new product in a grocery store. Plus at that time, we only had, 2 flavors. Don't ever launch a canned beverage with only 2 SKUs because you're getting, like, 4 inches of shelf space. And it was, like, the warm shelf on the very bottom in the center of the store.
Anthony Corsaro - 00:37:00
Mhmm.
Sara Delaney - 00:37:00
And it was our old packaging, which is a scary gorilla looking. Like, it looked like an energy drink. And it was I did everything wrong, you guys. It was called Silphag Beverage because I named it after the gorillas in Rwanda, which inspired me. And it was the Silverback Gorilla. You know, you see it in the jungle, and it completely moves you. It's resilient. It's inspirational. It's strong. It's living with nature. It's plant based.
Sara Delaney - 00:37:17
But, like, you might not know that unless you trek down to the jungle with the gorillas like I have. So we had a local artist create these illustrations of the silverback gorilla, and that was my first brand. It was highly misunderstood, and, we've evolved since then.
Anthony Corsaro - 00:37:51
It it's kinda similar to all of us trying to make regenerative a thing. It's like, it sounds good. And if you know what it is, it's really good. But if you don't, it could it could be problematic.
Sara Delaney - 00:38:02
What what is it? How is it misunderstood? What's the most common thing, like, people think it is, but it's not?
Kyle Krull - 00:38:08
If they're gonna drink something, they would grow a new limb or a new
Anthony Corsaro - 00:38:12
tail. Yeah. I I get cannabis a lot. Like, I get when I say regenerative agriculture, people think cannabis for some reason. I don't know why, but that's, like, the most common, like, just, like, human human interaction. And then just because of the work that we do, like, with the research and the Google alerts and the newsletter, like, news tracking stuff, like, I see a lot of it being slapped on the medicine, like stem cells, certain types of surgeries, like, they're calling all that regenerative medicine now. So I don't know if that's gonna be problematic. But I think more than anything, people just don't know. So it's, like, not even a misconception. I think it's just, like, a complete unawareness or complete lack of knowledge.
Anthony Corsaro - 00:38:43
But it's a good it's a good segue because I want I want you to educate us on the actual farming that's going on over there, Sara. And I'm sorry. So maybe fill us in on, like, did you already know some of these farmers because of the sourcing you had done at the restaurant? So, like, how did you build the supply chain? How did you start working with these farmers? And then feel some kinda how that works today and what their farming practices look like versus regular tea farmers or other tea farmers in the region.
Anthony Corsaro - 00:39:05
Like, what's the what's the ag story here?
Sara Delaney - 00:39:14
Yeah. Well and just as I get into that, I think the word I've been thinking so much about this word, like, leading up to this conversation. And
Kyle Krull - 00:39:24
Mhmm.
Anthony Corsaro - 00:39:25
To
Sara Delaney - 00:39:25
me, it means bringing life like, giving life back. Bringing life back or getting back to life. And so whether it's within our own body so it could be cellular. It is on a cellular level. And, you know, I I love, like I think it was something you shared, Anthony, at the, RSFI conference in Denver last year, which was, in terms of marketing this, it's making that connection between the soil and our our gut health. And it's it's so obvious to me. I mean, now that's how I was raised on a farm in Vermont. It's Mhmm. Everything I grew up with was regenerative.
Sara Delaney - 00:39:55
We didn't use the word. We didn't have a term. It was just the way things were done. And, I've always kind of lived in these communities like Asheville, Vermont, Colorado, like, Rwanda where it's partnering with farmers. It's going to the farmer's market where they come to us and, or growing our own food and filling in the gaps maybe with a grocery store. So when I moved to Rwanda, it was a lot like that.
Sara Delaney - 00:40:30
It was, like, such a gift to be working in the restaurant industry and having farm I I remember this one. It was so hard to get a few things. Like, mushrooms were very hard to find. And remember one day, this farmer came in from the forest, and he had a brown paper bag. And he's like, I have something to show you. And it was a brown paper bag full of wild mushrooms.
Sara Delaney - 00:40:52
And it was so exciting, you know, to have these, like, fresh mushrooms. And we it was so hard to communicate with them. I think we were new, didn't really know any words, and were trying to understand, like, you know, what is this? How did you like, where did it come from? What type of mushrooms? Are they safe? Like Right.
Anthony Corsaro - 00:41:17
Right. And most importantly, like,
Sara Delaney - 00:41:19
how can we get in touch with you? Like, how can we reorder? Do you have a phone number? Anything? There's no business card. You know? Like, god. I hope this person comes back next week. And, of course, they do. It's, like, amazing. And cheeses, there's just like you I didn't take anything for granted there. Everything seemed special. And we started a, a garden in the back of the restaurant with lettuces and mixed greens, which was pretty unusual and innovative.
Sara Delaney - 00:41:38
Because prior I'd say prior to, like, my time working there and developing a culinary program was more of a culture of you eat because you need the calories. You need, you know, to feel full, not hungry. And so that's why there's so many starches. It was potatoes, rice, lots of white things. You know, stack your plate as high as you can because you might only have one meal that day. So for us to come in and try to build more of a high end, dining experience was quite challenging because we were coming from a place of we want color, we want variety, we want a diverse plate, and introducing new ingredients.
Sara Delaney - 00:42:15
So it was a balance of kind of stepping back and, like, learning and listening and, like, what do we have to work with here? And not being too unusual, but also offering something new and providing some education about nutrition. So it was like it was just a really it was an amazing year working with a lot of great farmers, ingredients, and, of course, being sober, like, instead of having beer at the end of the day, I'm I'm, like, turning to tea or, you know, trying to find something else that I can, like, be part of. And and often, I would sit with women that I work with, and we would share tea together and or I would go home and make my own tea. And and that's when I really, you know, became exposed to the loose leaf the world of loose leaf teas. And they had the black tea and the silver tea, and then there's this garden, that I didn't actually discover until a couple years later when I returned that has this amazing green tea.
Sara Delaney - 00:43:26
And then they're also doing a white tea. And there's great coffee, by the way, coming out of Rwanda too. So I definitely wake up to coffee and then switch to tea throughout the day. But, you know, after moving back to the States, you know, I already shared about, like, staying connected with people in Rwanda. Made a point to go back at least once a year. Eventually, it became, like, 2 trips a year.
Sara Delaney - 00:43:58
On one of those trips, when I made made the decision, like, okay. We're all in on tea, And I started visiting different gardens, and my experience was that many of them were very closed. Like, they were not really open to having tourists or guests.
Kyle Krull - 00:44:20
Mhmm.
Sara Delaney - 00:44:20
Glad to have an appointment. Didn't want you in the factory, definitely couldn't stay there. No tours. And then, somehow I discovered this this garden in the northern province of Rwanda. I contacted them to visit, and they were just so welcome. You know, we drove up there. The gates open. They had a guest house there, factory tours, everything. And you could just feel it, like and I've heard other guests on your show say, like, when you're in, like, a regenerative farm setting, there's a feeling of health and life, and people just seem happier and, you you know, looking well fed as well.
Sara Delaney - 00:44:46
Like, just feeling, like, more wealth and abundance. And that was definitely the vibe I got when I when I arrived at this tea garden. And it just felt different, and I knew that I wanted to work with them. And they had the certifications. They weren't using pesticides. They were doing, like, very I don't even think they would say they're not certified regenerative yet, but we're we're trying to help them get there because they're doing all the right things.
Sara Delaney - 00:45:21
They're not using any machines. There's no tilling. Everything's plucked by hand. This tea garden, it's combined about 7,000 acres.
Kyle Krull - 00:45:45
Wow. Wow.
Sara Delaney - 00:45:46
Yeah. So it's split between there's one big cooperative, and then it's called Soruate, and that's, I think, 3,000 acres. And then they partner with a number of small, farm holders around the area, which forms another cooperative. And so there's about another 4,000 there. And altogether and then they've got the factory. So they have trucks that go through the region or the district to pick up tea leaves every day. We're harvesting year round. So the the tea plants in Rwanda typically create new growth every 7 to 10 days.
Anthony Corsaro - 00:46:29
Mhmm.
Sara Delaney - 00:46:29
And they love rain. So the more rain, the better. It's high elevation. So the mountains here are 6,000 feet. It's really cool at night, which tea loves. Sun comes out during the day or it's raining. So the weather is perfect for tea. The climate, people need jobs, and they're using cover crops, bird friendly, shade grown, all the right things. It's awesome.
Anthony Corsaro - 00:47:02
So is that the default in Rwanda? Is that the cultural norm of, like, you're pretty much organic and regenerative. You're not gonna have a lot of inputs or, you know, or no inputs, or is there a lot of, like, commodity conventional type production and this is abnormal? Like, what's the compare contrast?
Sara Delaney - 00:47:17
It seems like this is the default. I will say, I'm sure there's other crops being grown more conventional now as things do become more developed and modern, and people are getting access to free government fertilizer. And so there is a risk that without education, people will turn to those short term solutions. They see the promise of big, perfect, bright red tomatoes. Right? And it's, that's concerning to me. So but it is the default. I mean, I think Rwanda is quite, advanced in terms of, like, environmental education.
Sara Delaney - 00:47:45
And, for example, plastic is not allowed in the country. And so they'll check their suitcase. Yeah. I tell all my guests, like
Kyle Krull - 00:48:10
And here we are struggling with, you know, bag bans at a single grocery store, not in the country. That's insane in any awesome way.
Sara Delaney - 00:48:18
And they will take it out of your suitcase if you arrive with, like, ziplock bags. Yeah. Wow. So, I mean, the one, like, strange exception is all the water is in plastic bottles. So there's still that, which I don't understand how that but but everything's reused. Like, you're not gonna see trash on the street anywhere. Mhmm. So if I have to travel, if I've got a plastic bottle of water, there's a child, like, somewhere nearby waiting for me to finish that so they can take the bottle to do something with it.
Anthony Corsaro - 00:48:55
Wow. I wanna say a little bit more on
Kyle Krull - 00:48:58
the agronomy side while we're there. Because to me, tea, the plant itself is perennial. It's always in the garden. Correct? And you mentioned cover crops. So, like, let's spend a little bit more time talking about how non regenerative tea is grown and the specific practice is taking place in this regenerative system, whether you're adding cover crops or some level of biodiversity and the potential impact that has on the tea itself.
Anthony Corsaro - 00:49:20
Mhmm.
Sara Delaney - 00:49:21
Well, I think, and I'm not because I'm not a tea farmer, so I don't wanna be like I'm not an expert with this. And I will say I know Rwandan tea. I don't know a lot about tea grown in other parts of the world. What I do know is that our plants in Rwanda are more they're younger. So tea was only introduced in Rwanda in the seventies.
Anthony Corsaro - 00:49:47
Mhmm.
Sara Delaney - 00:49:47
And I think the combination of, like, the age and health of our plants combined with the weather, the soil conditions, it's very volcanic. And just these regenerative practices is creating more of a resilient plant than some of the other I know parts of Asia, tea plants are becoming extinct.
Kyle Krull - 00:50:10
I'm I'm really curious because, like, 50 year old tea doesn't sound that young, like, when you think about, like, a plant being 50 years old. But and and I know you said you're not an expert, but I'm I'm just, like, thinking to myself, like, how old are some tea plants? Are they 100 of years old? You know, that's an interesting question. I have no idea.
Sara Delaney - 00:50:25
Yeah. I don't know when the first tea plant I mean, the it so tea grows very deep roots. And if it's continually pruned, which it should be in a tea garden, then it can live indefinitely. Yeah. I don't know what the oldest tea that's that that would
Kyle Krull - 00:50:44
He's looking it up right now. I see it
Anthony Corsaro - 00:50:46
on his face. Google Gemini says tea plants typically live 30 to 50 years, but some can live for 100 or even 1000 of years.
Sara Delaney - 00:50:53
Mhmm.
Kyle Krull - 00:50:54
That's wild. Super interesting.
Sara Delaney - 00:50:56
Yeah.
Anthony Corsaro - 00:50:56
And we think we're so smart, and we're the elevated species. You know?
Sara Delaney - 00:51:00
I know. I wonder when they put it to bed, and they're like, alright. This this tea plant has had a good life. Yeah. I don't know. I guess they're always they're watching the the root system and checking the health. And they we also have a tea nursery at the garden, so they're constantly creating, like, new plants. And I think this came with with the yogi interview at the same farm. So we have, like, lemongrass and other plants growing along with the tea, and that also helps with biodiversity. I think what else? I mean, it's the plant itself is amazing at sequestering carbon, I think better than most plants.
Sara Delaney - 00:51:38
And part of that is the root system, and part of it is just the the fact that it is perennial. We use terracing in the way that it's planning to. We capture rainwater. What else?
Kyle Krull - 00:52:05
When you see capture rainwater, and you mentioned how much it rains, I'm assuming that there is no irrigation. It's all naturally
Anthony Corsaro - 00:52:11
Mhmm.
Kyle Krull - 00:52:11
Watered. Mhmm. Mhmm. Mhmm. Amazing.
Sara Delaney - 00:52:14
We produced, last year, £6,600,000 at this one tea garden.
Anthony Corsaro - 00:52:21
Wow. Wow.
Sara Delaney - 00:52:22
So that and that's dry processed. Mhmm. And it's a 1000 acre ratio. Mhmm. Mhmm.
Kyle Krull - 00:52:28
This is the 7000 acre Mhmm.
Sara Delaney - 00:52:30
Yeah. So and the factories are run off of their burning wood in the forest from and their eucalyptus, so they're using wood that's also growing back quite quickly.
Anthony Corsaro - 00:52:43
Wow.
Sara Delaney - 00:52:44
But that £6,600,000 dry is £26,000,000 wet, Fresh. Wow. Yeah. Wow. Yeah.
Kyle Krull - 00:52:54
That's incredible.
Sara Delaney - 00:52:56
But they're taking I mean, so after processing, they're taking what's left that's not sold and processed as tea. They're taking the scraps, putting it back into the tea garden. They're composting.
Anthony Corsaro - 00:53:10
Mhmm. Nice. Sara, I wanna circle back to the original impetus for, like, starting a brand and moving away from just the purely nonprofit work was the economic and social impact. Right? Uplifting these people economically. So is that just coming from the fact that you guys are another good paying customer that, know, builds a market for these folks? Are you giving a certain percent of the proceeds? Is there something, like, unique about that? Like, what what is the the social impact economic piece?
Sara Delaney - 00:53:37
So we are Fairtrade certified. We do pay a Fairtrade premium on top of our regular tea price as well, which is an extra, 50¢ per pound.
Kyle Krull - 00:53:47
Wow.
Sara Delaney - 00:53:48
And I'm also officially an importer, so now I'm bringing in we just brought our full our first full container of tea in last year. Nice. It's really exciting.
Anthony Corsaro - 00:53:58
Congrats.
Sara Delaney - 00:53:59
So I I'm able to buy directly from these farmer cooperatives, but now I'm also reselling some of the tea to other manufacturers. So, we work with a a big kombucha co manufacturer here, and they sell across the country. So I'm really my my goal is to introduce more people to Sarilla and Healthier Beverage, make sure they have that optionality when they're out socializing or at home here in the states. But, optionality when they're out socializing or at home here in the states. But coupled with that is making a a bigger impact with the tea farmers. And I with just Sorilla, like, it's not enough right now. And, hopefully, we'll get to that point where we're buying everything they can make. Mhmm.
Sara Delaney - 00:54:31
But they still have more supply than than we can buy. So that's why I wanna introduce it to other people and other brands. And, our formulation is unique, so I'm really not worried about people copying what we're doing. I don't I don't believe in that. I think if something's too easy to copy, it might not be worth doing.
Anthony Corsaro - 00:55:01
Yeah.
Sara Delaney - 00:55:03
So, also, this tea garden sells to other parts of the world, parts of UK, parts of Asia. They even sell to tea growing regions that can't produce enough tea for their own population.
Anthony Corsaro - 00:55:18
Wow.
Sara Delaney - 00:55:19
But part of our mission too, even beyond financial, is, like I said before, offering people the opportunity to discover Rwanda and to maybe dive in whether you can travel there or not to really learn more about it beyond the genocide and hopefully to be inspired by what's going on there, since 1994. And then I think just bringing this human element to, like, these are universal truths. You know? It's not just about being American or being Rwandan or being an assault survivor or being sober. Like, we have so many labels. And so for me, my goal now is to build a brand as big as we can that we have a platform where people are actually gonna listen. And I think that's what this is all about. Like, yes, we need to be profitable.
Sara Delaney - 00:56:03
Yes, we wanna be, like, known across the country in terms of our our brand recognition. But it's really like, that's where we can make a difference is people know us. They know the brand. And when we speak up, they listen. And hopefully, we can make an impact. And I think the greatest impact we can make on consumers is inspiring an individual to, well, our slogan is really tap into your inner power, and that's what it's about.
Sara Delaney - 00:56:23
It's, like, inspiring you to have the courage to make the change in your life that you've been wanting to make and to help make that easier. And part of that is being of service in the world. So, oh, by the way, you're also making a difference because we buy directly from farmer cooperatives in Rwanda. And, yes, we did just join 1% for the planet. So we we did, that was, like, a big push to do that, because for years, like, I've wanted to make that just commitment to okay. It's not about profitable.
Sara Delaney - 00:56:57
It's about we're gonna allocate 1% of all of our sales, whether we're profitable or not, to causes that we care about. And, you know, one of them is the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. They do work in Rwanda. We'll continue to work with people in Rwanda. I've also invested in another farm in Rwanda that we haven't mentioned yet, but this is a small cooperative of women in the western province, and we're growing herbs there. So that is a fully regenerative farm, and I'm not yet importing those ingredients, but we'll get there. So that's a big passion project for me.
Sara Delaney - 00:57:36
I've been funding some of that development myself. And, having, you know, survived hurricane Helene here in Asheville in September and just looking over the past few months of how can we take care of ourselves and our own company and survive and thrive, but also, like, really try to give back to our communities. So we are allocating that 1% of the, 1% of the planet money to some local nonprofits here in Western North Carolina that are helping with the rebuild effort as well as other communities where we work, including Rwanda.
Kyle Krull - 00:58:26
I love the mission. I love the story. Yeah. I think it's a really inspiring I don't want, like, inspiring tale, but a story of finding opportunity and figuring out what tales. I don't know. It's just it it felt like like I thought of a Bifel's tail or Bifel, whatever that Bifel goes west in American tail. I don't know. It's a weird segue in my brain. I was just gonna know
Sara Delaney - 00:58:48
it's gonna become a movie someday.
Kyle Krull - 00:58:50
I got we I would love to watch it. I I go on opening night. But it's really inspiring to see, like, the type of work you're doing and the level of intentionality and creativity in bringing some reciprocal relationships to this region of the world that seems like it's it's in I don't want to say in desperate need, but needs some some level of revitalization. Even before we started recording, like, your passion for this region just, like, exudes out of you. I do wanna pivot to what I like to call my comfort zone and talk about launching this brand at retail. So
Sara Delaney - 00:59:21
I might need a Sarilla. Yeah.
Kyle Krull - 00:59:23
I would love one. I you know, how about maybe tomorrow? But you mentioned all the things you did wrong with Silverback. And I'm curious, you know, like, when did the rebrand take place? And, you know, you talked about the 1st market launch, Sprouts is coming on board. What are some of the other things that have taken place in, like, the commercialization of the cans specifically?
Sara Delaney - 00:59:46
What have I done right? Is that your question?
Kyle Krull - 00:59:49
Yeah. What have you learned? You know, where have you pivoted? And, yeah, walk us through some of the the the phases after the difficult launch.
Sara Delaney - 00:59:55
I'm still learning. Yeah. It's not like smooth sailing, but I guess I mean, you guys know that. There's always something. I don't really like the word pivot so much because we're always just figuring it out, and new opportunities come up that we couldn't have planned for. I think right now, my focus really is on where can we make a difference in someone's life. Like, where are people looking for something like this, and they're not finding it? Mhmm. So as obvious as it might be to sell into, like, Whole Foods or other natural grocery stores, I feel like the opposite is true, where it's like, that's where people have options. Maybe not something exactly like this, but it's very you know, I work with some other founders now, or they just come to me for advice.
Sara Delaney - 01:00:33
And I'm like, don't always go for the obvious thing because that's where everyone else is. And, like, what I found is grocery is the probably the hardest place to build a brand. Yes. So my focus Definitely
Kyle Krull - 01:00:56
the most expensive place
Sara Delaney - 01:00:58
to build
Anthony Corsaro - 01:00:58
a brand.
Sara Delaney - 01:00:59
Yeah. I will say hardest if you're bootstrapped, let's say. But can you build a brand outside of the store? And then as hard as it is to resist, like, those invitations to go in the stores, only say yes if you're really ready to support with promotions, with demos. And I don't believe in mistakes really because if we learn from them, there you know, it's gonna be opportunity for growth. But that first chain, you know, with the fresh market that we tested in, we were there for a couple years, amazingly. But I had no idea. Like, it's from New York down to Florida. Right. So we had that many states for that many stores spread out.
Sara Delaney - 01:01:36
How in the world are you gonna support that many states? Because it's really not about, like, one chain. It's about all those different markets, all those different shoppers.
Anthony Corsaro - 01:01:52
Right.
Sara Delaney - 01:01:54
So for me, it's and so for Sprouts to come to us, was quite a surprise because I wasn't actually pursuing grocery right now. But, you know, we'll always look at every opportunity as it comes along, but I'm not gonna say yes to everything anymore. I am really passionate about getting Sarilla into hotels, into places where people are traveling, sports stadiums, all those places where you're like, why am I only seeing Coke and Pepsi products? That's another story because that's a tough one. Like, that's the barriers to entry are quite high in some of those channels because of the Coke and Pepsi exclusive contracts and exclusive with air quotes. There is room to get around that if you can provide a product that's non competing.
Anthony Corsaro - 01:02:44
Mhmm.
Sara Delaney - 01:02:45
But I think that's why a lot of brands don't go for it because it's just harder. It's, like, harder to get the yeses. And then you've gotta contend with these contracts. But I don't know. I'm I'm up for the challenge, and, like, I'm just so excited when I see Cerolo or another brand like ours in places like that where it used to just be you've got alcohol, you've got maybe a club soda, or you've got, you know, Coke or Pepsi products.
Anthony Corsaro - 01:03:17
Yeah. I think oh, ACU There's
Sara Delaney - 01:03:19
so many channel you know, beverage has so many channels. We could sell, and that's part of the challenge is just we we could sell everywhere. You know, it's like coolers everywhere you look, calling your name.
Anthony Corsaro - 01:03:32
Where where are you going in Sprouts, and how are you positioning it? Like, are you going in
Sara Delaney - 01:03:36
we're going to the innovation center. So Nice. Yeah. So we have to sell through this product, over the course of really 90 days. And they'll but it's the non alc buyer we're talking with. So they are pretty innovative in terms of building out that non ALK set.
Anthony Corsaro - 01:03:56
Mhmm.
Sara Delaney - 01:03:57
And I think it's a it's a great opportunity to show that we can do it. We're just putting together the pieces of, like, what is the marketing plan look like for such a short period of time to prove ourselves because I think there's this other risk of, like, doing too much promotion if and and we can't run sales during that time at the innovation. So Right. It's like, do you wanna spend, on, like, multiple demos for every store or, you know, do all kinds of online ads? Is that gonna be sustainable in the long run? Do you wanna make that push just in the short run to prove a case? But then the question is, are you really proving a case, or do people just pick up your product because it was essentially free? Mhmm.
Sara Delaney - 01:04:35
And then if they greenlight you for the whole chain on a permanent well, semi permanent basis, it are you gonna be successful? Right? Mhmm. So or are people only gonna buy this if it's on sale?
Anthony Corsaro - 01:04:56
Right.
Sara Delaney - 01:04:57
And whereas, like, outside of the grocery store, people are just less price sensitive as well. Right. I love, like, these new region displays that we're seeing in stores. I think that's great. We've also seen, like, we're woman owned certified. We see some of these weeping displays coming up. And I know buyers are looking you know, retail buyers are looking for these brands and these certification, but we're still collectively, we still have, like, a lot of work to do to make the case for the end consumer, especially when it comes to price difference. And that's where, again, I think grocery store shoppers, myself included, you know, we look at every 20 cent, 50 cent difference. Whereas, you know, if you're out and about, or if you're traveling or on the go, you're just not as likely to care about the price.
Kyle Krull - 01:05:52
I think it's a really interesting strategy you have. And as somebody who I mean, is probably as close to having the natural channel pedigree as anyone, with my my career arc in the industry, I think it's really interesting to to approach something different. And I think you're right, like, the traveler's mindset. Like, if if I'm traveling, I'm looking to try something new. I don't necessarily want to have the same thing I go and buy at the grocery store on a regular basis. So I think that's a really interesting concept. And if you can get some level of market saturation in a specific geography in alt channel, I think it primes the consumer who's ready for grocery. Right?
Kyle Krull - 01:06:16
So I think I'm really curious. Like, I wanna, like, you know, like, watch the growth. Is he, like, will this work? Because it's an alternative strategy I haven't really heard of, especially in beverage. So I'm super curious to see how it goes, and it sounds like it's going well so far.
Sara Delaney - 01:06:40
Yeah. Micromarkets and pantries, it's we have a broker too. He's teaching me a lot about that. I mean, he's been working with Canteen. We just got approval from Foodbuy, which is a national approval, which is huge, and then our partnership with Vistar. We also are working with Cheney Brothers here in the southeast for for food service. And yeah. I mean, when you check into a hotel, you're also, like, generally more relaxed. You generally have more time. You're gonna read the label.
Sara Delaney - 01:07:03
And then, also, like, I think a lot of, long term relationships with products and people are built in situations like that because people have memories. Like, they'll then, like, reference your product with a memory. Hopefully, it's a good one of what they were doing when they discovered it.
Kyle Krull - 01:07:31
Mhmm.
Sara Delaney - 01:07:32
Whereas in the grocery store, it's just much harder to capture someone's attention. And I'm on the fence with demos. You know, I think, when you run the numbers, they don't make a lot of sense. And it's, yes, it's great to be able to get out there and tell your story at a table and give out samples. But, usually, that is, like, people like to meet the founder, and that's not scalable. So it's, like, then you're relying on demo agencies across the country to do it for you. And, I think if we can demo our product, like, where we're also getting paid to demo it. So, like, we're working with Meta now.
Sara Delaney - 01:07:58
And so people who work at the META campuses are coming in. They're getting free product. They're getting basically an opportunity to sample products for free and hopefully fall in love with them. We're getting paid, you know, and they're getting a free product. Someone's paying for it. So that's another opportunity and example of, like, a way to demo your product. And that's how I got started, put it on tap.
Sara Delaney - 01:08:24
I'm getting paid for those kegs. We're now sampling it out to people who come into the bar and wanna taste it.
Anthony Corsaro - 01:08:41
Mhmm. I'm I'm curious. We talk ad nauseam on the show about the current state of regenerative claims and positioning in grocery retail, which we can spend some time on that today and obviously hear what what the Cirillo perspective is there. But I would love to hear your perspective on these other channels for that, Sara. Like, in these on premise food service sales or in these hospitality, like, does it matter at all, or is it just, like, cool packaging, tastes good, it's healthy, and it's something that, you know, solves that, problem that you mentioned earlier that's just something that isn't available? Like, does the does the social impact piece matter at all? Does the organic piece matter at all? Does the regenerative piece matter at all in those channels?
Anthony Corsaro - 01:09:14
Or is it really just those other things that I already mentioned?
Sara Delaney - 01:09:25
Yeah. I mean, I know I just logged into my RangeMe dashboard, I think, yesterday to look at the insights. You there's actually a section on all the certifications, and you can see what buyers are what's trending most in terms of the searches.
Anthony Corsaro - 01:09:39
And
Sara Delaney - 01:09:39
that's all retail buyers. And our or USD Organic's number 1. Kosher was actually showing up as number 2. And there's 2 pages. That's how long the list is. I know that Fair Trade Certification was on page 2. We need to have ROC or something up there with regen, but I think it's I think it's very regional. I think I'm probably in the toughest region in the country in terms of, like, awareness and, high level of value for Regen and some of these other, like, better for you claims. I think the southeast in general is a little slower to come on to that, but, maybe the Midwest. I'm not sure. So with vending and micromarkets, pantries, it really just depends. I mean, we have break rooms. Right? People are sitting down and, like, grabbing this with their lunch.
Sara Delaney - 01:10:30
I think they really are sitting there and, like, looking at the label. Yeah. And I think even if they don't fully even if they didn't purchase something or pick it up because it was regenerative, having it on the package, which it's the same reason I've always had alcohol free on the front, and people would be like, well, obviously. And I'm like, but no. Because it makes you think about it. It's like, wait. First of all, I'm sober.
Sara Delaney - 01:11:02
I can't have any alcohol, and there's a lot of confusing packages now. So I wanna make that really obvious. And we added regenerative to the front on the top. Even though we're not certified yet as a product, we wanted to call out, like, the source of our ingredients.
Anthony Corsaro - 01:11:26
Mhmm.
Sara Delaney - 01:11:26
And so it helps people think, like, what does that even mean? You know, I'm gonna quickly search on that. And that's kinda how that's how education happens. I mean, I worked in fair trade certification in my early twenties, and that was probably the first thing I was really passionate about. It's, like, making a difference in that in that social world. And, like, for me, it was finding out that there were unfair things happening. So saying something's fair I mean, one could argue that's a little BS. Like, really, what does that mean? I mean, how do they even, like, create a certification around that? But it makes you think, okay.
Sara Delaney - 01:12:00
If this brand is calling out that it's fair or direct trade or something, that means the other ones aren't? I don't know. I need to look into that. And that's where the dialogue starts.
Kyle Krull - 01:12:17
I think you're spot on, especially with that fair trade call out. You know, for me, in order to truly understand what regenerative agriculture is, I had to first understand what conventional or industrial agriculture is.
Anthony Corsaro - 01:12:28
And, you
Kyle Krull - 01:12:28
know, I think that's part of the complexity and, like, why it's so difficult for people to grasp this because most people don't truly understand the nutritional and or environmental impacts of industrial farming. Alright. So there's a big learning curve to get to the point of, like, oh, regular farming is bad. Regenerative agriculture is different. It's actually beneficial. That somehow means the nutritionals are better for me, better for the environment. There's a social impact there. It's just so complex.
Kyle Krull - 01:12:49
But
Anthony Corsaro - 01:12:55
I think
Kyle Krull - 01:12:55
it's a really good point that you've got to try to, like, put it in people's face and just maybe spark some level of curiosity. And the more that happens across the board, the more likely it is somebody will actually pick up their phone or Google or watch because the ground or whatever other, like, entry point into the movement already exists.
Sara Delaney - 01:13:11
Yeah. And I think the more we can do I mean, we we try to sprinkle in with social media and whatnot. Like, we have a spill the tea section. Like, did you know? Just like fun facts. People love going online and learning. I mean, my son's 14. It's basically TikTok's like his Google. You know?
Sara Delaney - 01:13:21
So Sunday morning was, oh my god. Okay. What what are we gonna do here? And I remember he goes to log in, and he's like, it's black, mom.
Anthony Corsaro - 01:13:40
Yeah.
Sara Delaney - 01:13:41
Like, there's no I can't get in. And I was like, are you okay?
Anthony Corsaro - 01:13:45
Really, I was, like,
Sara Delaney - 01:13:46
trying not to make fun. You know, this is serious.
Kyle Krull - 01:13:49
Right.
Sara Delaney - 01:13:50
I was really, like, are you okay? Mhmm. So yeah.
Kyle Krull - 01:13:53
Did you have a chamomile to calm him down a little bit?
Anthony Corsaro - 01:13:55
Yeah. You know?
Sara Delaney - 01:13:58
So I go, let's sit down. Let's make a plan. And I I remember I was like, where are you gonna go now?
Kyle Krull - 01:14:05
Right.
Sara Delaney - 01:14:06
And he goes, oh, I'm just gonna go to Instagram reels.
Kyle Krull - 01:14:09
And I'm
Sara Delaney - 01:14:10
like, okay. And then it was back on later that day, so we're all good. But, but I knew it's not like it's not like they're gonna suddenly have it, like, detox. Like, no. They're gonna find another place to go. Mhmm. And he you know, later that day in the car, he's like, mom, you understand. Like, I use TikTok, like, to search things. Like, I'm learning things.
Sara Delaney - 01:14:23
I'm like, he has so many random facts in his mind and hopefully mostly good, but, I think that's a huge opportunity for us as a movement to really, like, you know, go to that generation, go to people who are looking online, did you know? And also not throwing, like, other practices under the bus where it's like, maybe it's not good versus bad, but it's, I wanna actually have more conversations with people who don't understand why this is beneficial and maybe are very adamant about the way they do it being right because I wanna learn how do we address those people. Like, what is the barrier there, and what do we need to cross over in order for this to be more accepted? Because I know they're out there, but I think a lot of us doing this work are in a bubble. And, you know, it's like we live and breathe this stuff, and we're buying this stuff. And we're we we weren't buying products with red dye number 5 in it anyway. So, like, okay. That's great.
Sara Delaney - 01:15:29
It's coming out of our system, you know, the the food system. But, a lot of people just don't even think about it and don't know. And like you said, they don't even really think about the origin of their food to begin with. So what's that beginner conversation look like?
Kyle Krull - 01:16:00
Yeah. It's a great question. Yeah.
Sara Delaney - 01:16:02
Like, unfortunately, I think some of it is, like, a scare you know, when people feel scared or disgusted because they see a picture of what is actually happening and that's what happened with me with fair trade, and I was doing some work with, like, anti sweatshops back in the day and activism around that cause. Like, I had no idea. Like, I'm like, there's still child slave labor in the Congo. There's still children mining, you know, for some of these minerals that we're using in our cell phones and e EV cars, like, that is still happening. And I know some people just don't even wanna look at it or they don't believe it and they need to see the facts, but maybe using some of that imagery of, like like, how you know, when is the world when is the planet going to become a desert if we continue to farm it in these industrial ways? And what does that actually mean for the air that you're breathing and the quality of your life? And I think for people who have survived a natural disaster and, like, for people in LA right now, for us in Western North Carolina, we had over a day.
Sara Delaney - 01:17:05
Like, we had no communications to the outside world. We had no power, no water that was livable. We had everything was shut down. We had no way to leave, you know, no gas stations. Like, everything even money in the bank was useless. You know?
Sara Delaney - 01:17:28
And I think those are experiences and moments where we all get to this question of, like, okay. Like, every things are changing, and so how do we want to live the rest of our life? And for some people, it's going to be getting back to basics, living more simply, but really looking at the health of our own bodies and the health of our planet and our immediate surroundings.
Kyle Krull - 01:18:04
I wanna try to take that full circle and and build on the momentum you just generated. And what's so cool about a brand like Sarilla and many of the brands that we feature here is just, like how do we support all of those initiatives doing the right thing in a way that's convenient and accessible and I can do on a daily basis or multiple times a day. Mhmm. And that's what I love about brands in this category. Right? And that are so mission focused. But I wanna pivot now and talk about, you know, what's next for Sarilla. Obviously, the sprouts launch is looming. It's close.
Kyle Krull - 01:18:28
We've already discussed a lot about your plans for food service and other things, but are there any future innovations you can talk about whether that's, you know, new SKUs, different categories, other retail plans, other travel plans? What's on the horizon?
Sara Delaney - 01:18:47
Yeah. It's super boring because intentionally. I mean, I'm at a place, as a a founder and brand builder of keeping it as simple as possible right now, which is not easy for me personality wise. And it started getting really simple, I would say, like, right before, you know, hurricane Helene. I know I've said it. Like, 9/27 was the date. Thank goodness. Because when that happened, like, we were in a good spot. Very simple. Okay. Our strategy is this and this channel. I've got this broker.
Sara Delaney - 01:19:18
These are our goals for production this year. We've got an amazing co packer now, like and just staying super focused and no distractions and learning how to not only say no, but just, like, block, spam, delete. You know? And I used to be, like, just so easily excited, and I get inspired, and I wanna be nice. And it's like, no. This is a time just focus, keep it simple, and build something that has legs traction, is sustainable in at least a couple channels.
Sara Delaney - 01:19:55
And I've also learned, like, to set my ego aside, and I think that's that's a big risk with a lot of founders. We get so excited. We think our product's, like, part of us, you know. And we're, like, we need to see it on the shelf here because I shop there, my family shops there, my friends go in there. They're asking me, why aren't you in Whole Foods? And I'm, like, obsessed with being there.
Sara Delaney - 01:20:28
I mean, that was me for for a while, and I couldn't let it go. And sometimes that fuels our growth, but sometimes it's just a complete and utter distraction. And it's like, no. That's not where the universe wants you to be right now. Look at what's right in front of you. And, I will say I had this thing happen last year where and I work with a great business coach, performance coach, by the way.
Sara Delaney - 01:20:50
We meet every week online, and that's helped me a lot with this whole process. But something happened last year. I was like, okay. This is the number. Right? Like, this is the number I wanna commit to with my new co packer that I'm moving in with for 2025. This is the number of units I wanna hit.
Sara Delaney - 01:21:07
And so okay. Backing out of that, how are we actually gonna do that? Okay. We need to, like, line up the sales and accounts in advance, and we're not gonna get there, sadly. Like, we're not gonna get there with natural independent stores. The volume is not there. Where are the high volume accounts? And, okay, my coach is always saying, ask who, not how.
Sara Delaney - 01:21:30
So for me, that's been the question, who, not how. And then I meet this broker, and he's like he gives me okay. We're getting along, like, building the relationships, feeling good. And then out of nowhere, he gives me this forecast for, you know, what he thinks we can very conservatively do just in this one vending pipe micro market channel for 2025. I kid you not, I hadn't shared my numbers with him at all, matched it to a t.
Kyle Krull - 01:22:09
Yeah. Wow. Hell, yeah.
Sara Delaney - 01:22:10
And it was Universe. Okay. You just can't turn away from that. Mhmm. You know? And I'm like, alright. Thank you so much. Like, that just simplified everything. And I'll tell you what, like, my friends might never see my product, like, in those micro markets, and that's okay. And people are like, where are you sold? And I'm like, you'll never know.
Kyle Krull - 01:22:34
Well, Sara, I I really love and hate your answer for so many reasons. I'll start with why I hate it. You know, I think and this is a symptom of the the era we live in in natural food where innovation and newness is like the big bright shiny object that I think so many founders and even non founders focus on. Right? This is how we grow. And your answer of, like, blocking and tackling, like, focusing on the core of what the business needs to do to grow the way it needs to grow is refreshing in its simplicity. So I think it's it's a really cool answer. I don't think we've had one like this before on the pod, so I really appreciate that that learning opportunity.
Sara Delaney - 01:23:15
I will say we had a great holiday. We we had some traction online, and this is also this might help someone listening where, over the years, I've really struggled to find a good formula for online sales where, you know, we're able to cover shipping. I mean, with a heavy £10, 12 case box, we're using the same box to ship online as we send into a store, dealing with damage, like, all of the things, like, the cost and and then trying to make it work on Amazon and the fees. And, we just decide I decided last year to finally get a branded, sampler box so we could ship a beautiful box to retail reviews. That was the only reason I wasn't even gonna sell it. And then, you know, it just started, like, taking off organically, and now this became, like, our number one online product is this branded originally, it was meant for a shipper, but then over the holidays, it became a gift item. And it's 6 different.
Sara Delaney - 01:24:19
It's one
Anthony Corsaro - 01:24:21
of each It's very nice.
Sara Delaney - 01:24:22
You're gonna get it, hopefully, tomorrow. And, I mean, that's just an interesting experience too where it's, like, sometimes you step back and when you stop trying, the answer just shows itself. And that's another example of this just became very simple. Because if if we wanted to this year, that could be the only thing we saw online. Why not just do the sampler, you know, and then have that as a gift item? I was also I'll plant the seed for this. I was envisioning, like, a Regen brand gift box where we could especially, it's probably too late, like, Earth.
Sara Delaney - 01:24:50
Maybe you're doing this, but Earth Month have, like, a curated box and the message. Because we've also we dropped this box off, and people are I walk into a UPS now, and they're like, oh. And they know who I am because of this box, because it's got our website, a message on the outside, and it's, like, actually marketing itself as it's going across the country.
Anthony Corsaro - 01:25:21
You're you're killing me, sir, because Kyle wants to do exactly what you just said so bad, and I keep telling him no for maybe
Kyle Krull - 01:25:29
I appreciate it, Sara. You keep talking
Anthony Corsaro - 01:25:31
training reasons.
Kyle Krull - 01:25:32
AC, don't come off, man. Could do it.
Sara Delaney - 01:25:37
We could have, like, a QR. I I know someone you probably know someone too who could do this, but we tell the origin story in less than 30 seconds and give people the opportunity to travel to origin, to the farm, if they can't physically go there. And so I remember my first business was this fair trade coffee shop in Vermont. I was, like, 23 years old. And the only certified fair trade coffee I had available was Equal Exchange at the time. OG's based in Massachusetts.
Anthony Corsaro - 01:26:07
Yeah. And
Sara Delaney - 01:26:08
they would give us these paper cups, and on the outside of the cup was it was, like, basically crop to cup. So it was the story all the way from the coffee farmer to your cup and where to go and how. And it was on the cup, but, like, we could do that digitally, you know, with this gift box. And I think that's what people they need to see. They need to see what it is. Like Mhmm. Who are the people on the other side? Who are the people in the farms and the fields?
Sara Delaney - 01:26:26
And I know many of them are here in the US growing, you know, all those ingredients. But I think that would be an awesome storytelling opportunity on this gift box that you're going to do.
Kyle Krull - 01:26:44
I totally agree. And I think, you know, I love that you said that we are going to do it. Yes. Yeah.
Anthony Corsaro - 01:26:48
That's why I caught that too. If you
Kyle Krull - 01:26:50
had if you had the founder, you know, in in the field wherever for every single brand, I mean, talk about, like, a powerful and to your point, keep it short, 30 seconds per brand. But that's that's impactful, and you really get to create that connection with these consumers and, like, show them what they're supporting and why it's important.
Sara Delaney - 01:27:08
You know? Is the common, like, it's mother earth, and that's why I would love to launch this for, like, Earth Day. It's mother earth holding us all together and showing the faces of people around the world that are coming together to bring this product into your home. And then we're all standing on Earth like the soil. You know, I'm starting to see, like, as we really dig into soil health and nutrient density, the soil is really the skin of the earth. Right? It's our skin is our largest organ. It's holding us together, and I think we need to think more about that in terms of the planet.
Kyle Krull - 01:27:50
Love that. A great visual. Love that.
Sara Delaney - 01:27:53
Kinda gross. But
Anthony Corsaro - 01:27:54
I'm I'm in for that. I'm still out on the gift box, but we're working on it.
Sara Delaney - 01:27:58
And we'll get there
Anthony Corsaro - 01:27:59
we'll get there eventually. I don't wanna go down that rabbit hole. Okay. But,
Sara Delaney - 01:28:04
Well, I have a box maker.
Anthony Corsaro - 01:28:06
It's it's it's just, I think, a little bit logistically and cost challenging to, like, do it and try and sell it, like, for our organization right now to become, like, an actual vendor of something. But I don't I don't open that can of worms because then you kinda gotta verbally arm wrestle, on on tape.
Sara Delaney - 01:28:23
What what we could do is just put it out there to the community. Like, if brands wanna get together on their own and we could collab and, like, do some different themed boxes throughout the year for different holidays, and then call out, like, the work that you're doing with the coalition on the box as well. I think that's another option. Mhmm. Maybe Sir,
Kyle Krull - 01:28:42
what can I tell offline? Don't worry.
Anthony Corsaro - 01:28:44
Yeah. Maybe we're working on some stuff.
Kyle Krull - 01:28:46
We'll figure this out. Yeah.
Sara Delaney - 01:28:49
We also have, like, a huge demand for our I know I said no innovate. I didn't I didn't actually say no innovation. I just said it's gonna be boring. But we had, a lot of demand for our products over the holidays, like being in glass bottle format, for parties, for tables and restaurants. So we are starting, like, our r and d for our ginger and our spiced apple flavor to have those ready in 7 50 mil bottles in time to present to retailers this summer when they're doing their holiday buying. So we're talking to some stores just about, like, maybe holiday displays, limited time on that. And I think that really brings the occasion, like, into play more when you see that glass bottle on the table in elevated settings.
Anthony Corsaro - 01:29:40
Nice. Well, this has been super fun. Learned a ton. So happy that we finally had you on, Sara. We will take you home with the question that you know well since you've listened to some episodes, but the one that we ask everybody, which I feel like I say this every episode now, but we've been talking about it for for 90 minutes. Right? But, how do we get brands to have 50% market share by 2050?
Sara Delaney - 01:30:05
Yeah. We need to work together with each other. But we also we need to bring everyone into the conversation. We need to start talking with the people who aren't part of it right now and maybe are even resistant to it and, like, be at the same same table to understand what is the barrier there.
Anthony Corsaro - 01:30:28
Love that.
Kyle Krull - 01:30:29
Yeah. Collaboration. You know? We're talking about it a lot. We think it's super important. Yeah. So yeah.
Anthony Corsaro - 01:30:35
To be alone is to die. The Rwanda Oh,
Kyle Krull - 01:30:38
we're gonna be
Anthony Corsaro - 01:30:39
to die.
Kyle Krull - 01:30:41
What a great podcast host. Man, what a finish. Well done. Yeah.
Anthony Corsaro - 01:30:45
Thank you, Sara.
Kyle Krull - 01:30:46
Well, for those before we leave, for those who are interested in learning more about the brand, go to drink sarilla.com. That's sarilla.com. And check it out. Beautiful packaging. I can't wait to try some flavors. So, thank you for sending those over. Shame on UPS for being late.
Anthony Corsaro - 01:31:02
I know.
Sara Delaney - 01:31:03
My pleasure. My pleasure. And if anyone wants to collab and as part of the network, reach out to me. I'm pretty active on LinkedIn, Sara Stender Delaney. Thank you, guys. This has been a lot of fun.
Anthony Corsaro - 01:31:14
Appreciate you. Thank you, Sara. For transcripts, show notes, and more information on this episode, check out our website regen-brands.com. That is regen-brands dotcom. 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.