Episode 84 - Heidi Diestel @ Diestel Family Ranch

Episode Recap:

ReGen Brands Recap #84 - Why Regenerative Turkey Takes Both Feed & Fowl - (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 episode.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:00:34
On this episode, we have Heidi Diestel, who is a 4th generation turkey farmer and an executive at Diestel Family Ranch. Diestel Family Ranch has been raising turkeys since 1949, and they're supporting regenerative agriculture with their non GMO regeneratively raised turkeys that are certified regenerified. In this episode, Heidi schools us on their family's journey raising turkeys and how their practices and products have evolved over the years. She gives us an in-depth look at how they raise their regenerative birds and source regenerative feed. Plus, she breaks down how they think about product innovation and what is coming in the future from Beas del. Listen, folks. That calendar says November, so it is time to start thinking about that Thanksgiving turkey. We went in-depth for a big time turkey 101 with Heidi today.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:01:13
And honestly, we are fascinated by everything that we learned. A ton of cool insights shared. We hope you enjoy this one as much as we did, and more importantly, we hope you're serving a return of turkey at your holiday meal here in a few weeks. Let's go. What's up, everybody? Welcome back to another episode of the ReGen Brands Podcast. If you're checking your calendar today, folks, it is officially November.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:01:36
So we are talking turkeys with our friend Heidi Diestel from Diestel Family Ranch. So welcome, Heidi.

Heidi Diestel - 00:01:52
Hi. Thanks for having me.

Kyle Krull - 00:01:54
This is our second take because my mic failed the first time. AC didn't do the weird accent on turkeys, unfortunately, because I wanna call him out. But as AC said, we're talking diesel Turkey today. I am super excited. I've been consuming these products for well over a decade. So, Heidi, really, really pleased to have you here to learn more about your your company. But for those who are less familiar with the brand than me, give us a quick lay of the land. What sort of products do you produce and where do people find your de stow turkey today?

Heidi Diestel - 00:02:22
Yeah. Definitely. So, we produce everything turkey. Right? We've been farming since 1949. So 75 years in business, and we've got everything you can think of. Ground turkey, turkey sausage, deli meats, whole birds, of course, of the holiday. You can find us at your, you know, natural organic retailers, Whole Foods Sprouts, you know, a little dabble on Amazon direct to consumer if, hunger root or imperfect is your jam.

Kyle Krull - 00:02:48
As you started listing the different types of turkeys, I had, like, a flash to Forrest Gump, and I was like, are we gonna go fully down the rabbit hole here? Yes. All

Heidi Diestel - 00:02:57
of the tops. Half the time, I have to reference that movie because it sounds like, you know, but it got shrimp. I mean Right. Right. I can do the accent. I know AC left his turkey accent out, which I'd like to know where that was from. But, yeah.

Kyle Krull - 00:03:12
Awesome. At some point in time today, we need to hear, like, the best Gobble impersonation between the Oh. Oh.

Heidi Diestel - 00:03:18
Oh. That has to happen. Oh. Oh. You show you you show me yours. Maybe I'll show you mine.

Kyle Krull - 00:03:26
Okay. We'll get there. We'll see we'll see how the live ends up. Or the jive because we're a bunch of jive turkeys. There's a lot

Heidi Diestel - 00:03:31
of turkey jokes that we can do. Oh, jeez. We can't stop that.

Kyle Krull - 00:03:37
Okay. Oh my god. Okay. I'll settle that. I'll settle that. So you mentioned you mentioned all the types. You mentioned DTC. I don't know. Did you mention retail partners?

Heidi Diestel - 00:03:46
Yeah. Like National distribution? Mhmm. Yeah. I mean, we're we're primarily on the West Coast, but we do have some national distribution, yeah, through, Whole Foods and Sprouts. But, I mean, all the way down to, like, your your, you know, regional groceries. Right? Like, New Seasons in the Pacific Northwest and Nugget, Lunardi's, Drager's in Northern California. You got some Graley's in there. Jimbo's down south, which is a phenomenal grocery store. So yeah.

Kyle Krull - 00:04:09
Oh, yeah. Awesome. Yeah.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:04:11
I was I was amazed by the amount of the the depth of the product portfolio when I looked at the website again today before we hopped on, Heidi. It's just it's insane. The amount of things you can do with turkey, it's a beautiful thing.

Heidi Diestel - 00:04:21
Yeah.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:04:22
And also just the the different breeds, the different kind of farming practices, and how that translates into the different product specs. So we're excited to dive into all that. I'm I'm ready for my turkey education today. Nice.

Heidi Diestel - 00:04:34
Awesome.

Kyle Krull - 00:04:35
Yeah. Well, kick us off. Tell us about the origin story. You mentioned this this farm or your family's been farming since 1949. You know, why turkeys to begin with, and what is that I'm sure there's probably a few different iterations of, like, what the farmer's been doing in 25 years, but walk us through that journey.

Heidi Diestel - 00:04:50
Yeah. For sure. So my great uncle Ernest was farming in, our county, way back in the day. And, honestly, turkey I mean, he they they had apples and chickens and turkeys, you know, I mean, in in, you know, 100 plus years ago. Right? That is, pretty normal to have really hyperlocal food sources. And so, you know, turkey farming was just it just was good money. You know, you you could make a good living in it. And my grandfather, you know, grew up, in in the county, born and raised in Sonora, went off to Well,

Kyle Krull - 00:05:24
you mentioned you said our county. Is that o u r county? Our a r e county?

Heidi Diestel - 00:05:31
The the Tuolumne County, the county that we're in. Yeah. Sorry. I I reference it as ours because, like, it's, you know, part of my, like, life.

Kyle Krull - 00:05:41
Yeah. I just wanted to make sure that there's not a county called r that I'm already

Heidi Diestel - 00:05:44
familiar with. No. Just according to Heidi's law, but no.

Kyle Krull - 00:05:48
Got it. Okay.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:05:51
Kyle's in a jokester mood to

Heidi Diestel - 00:05:52
I know. I know. I gotta be careful.

Kyle Krull - 00:05:55
That was a legitimate question. That was not a joke. That was really, like I'll show you. Like, I put our county right here on my notes.

Heidi Diestel - 00:06:01
That's pretty great. That's pretty great. Yeah. No. No. It's not ours, but, it is Tuolumne. But, bit more difficult to spell. But yeah. No. I mean, turkey farming was just it was a good way to make a living. My grandpa, you know, went off to the army. He came back. He was like, hey. I guess I'll farm turkeys. And, he and his wife ran the ranch, and they did a lot of contract farming, but they had the local community come out and buy birds direct from him.

Heidi Diestel - 00:06:20
And at the time, there's, you know, thousands of turkey farmers. Like, it was a pretty common it's a pretty common, you know, career, if you will. And he just had one ranch. And, you know, my uncle Ernest, like, his entire perspective on farming was like, hey. Give to the earth, and the earth will give to you. Be right you know, do right by the birds. The birds will do right by you.

Heidi Diestel - 00:06:43
This was kind of like the foundational farming philosophy in the family. So, you know, my grandfather just kinda continued on in that sense. And, you know, it's really wild to think about, like, your food source. And, you know, my grandfather would before they had the mill, they put in the first mill in 1956. But prior to that, you know, he would haul birds on a flatbed pickup down to the San Francisco Pier, sell off his birds to, you know, the chefs and the market down there, and then run over to the ports and bring back the feed. And he would make those trips. You know? Wow. Yeah. And, I mean, that was his, I mean, that was his life. Right?

Heidi Diestel - 00:07:19
Like, I mean, such hard work, so much labor. So that's kind of how the the d stole. Right? It was our last name, my grandfather's last name. That's really how the farm got started, and that was, like, the roots of of who we are as as people.

Kyle Krull - 00:07:41
That's incredible. Yeah. And it sounds like you know, what's that drive time to go to

Heidi Diestel - 00:07:47
Oh, well, today today, it's, like, 2, 2 and a half hours. I mean, then Wow. You know, you're talking at least probably double. I don't know how fast those trucks drive. So

Kyle Krull - 00:07:58
So at least a full day, if not more, trip.

Heidi Diestel - 00:08:01
Oh, yes. Yeah. For sure. I mean, at least at least. Right? Yeah. But, you know, my dad was, you know, born in Sonora. He was raised with the birds and, you know, he thought, like, hey. We've got people coming to us, and we take a handful down to the pier, but San Francisco's big. Northern California is a big place. He thought, you know, I'll I'll I'll take up farming and, you know, just haul the birds down and, you know, kind of the same idea. Right? And, he studied business economics at UC Davis after going to you know, before he went to junior college and then transferred in.

Heidi Diestel - 00:08:26
He met my mom who was born and raised in the San Francisco Peninsula. She was studying to be a registered dietitian. And my grandfather was like, you're crazy. You know, get away from here. Farming really hard. Like, you know?

Heidi Diestel - 00:08:42
Where I'm speaking from today is our home ranch as we call it, and it's the ranch that my my parents started with and my grandpa founded. And, yeah, my parents met, and my dad had this crazy idea. Right? And so all of my mom's friends are married, like, doctors and all this, and my mom's gonna marry a turkey farmer from Sonora. You know? But they moved back.

Heidi Diestel - 00:08:59
They moved back to Sonora in the early 19 eighties, and, the, our our main office or our home office, if you will, is, was our home. So I I was, like, raised in this house. The front was an office. The back was our house. And we were turkey farmers. Right?

Heidi Diestel - 00:09:21
Like, we just we just did what had to be done. And at that time, you have to realize that natural and organic foods were not what they are today. Right? You didn't you didn't have certified organic. This wasn't even a program. And so I grew up with a phone book and butcher shops, right, speaking to butchers, people who really understood, like, the value of

Kyle Krull - 00:09:48
meat Yeah.

Heidi Diestel - 00:09:49
Yeah. Of, like, the protein first before any of, like, health claims or attributes or anything like this. And Mhmm. It wasn't popular to be antibiotic free or vegetarian fed. It wasn't you know, you were kinda like you know, you were a hippie in a way if if you were doing this type of stuff. So those those butchers said, hey. I'll take 5 birds. I mean, literally, like, 5, 10 turkeys at a time is how my parents built this business. Yeah.

Kyle Krull - 00:10:14
And has it always been antibiotic free, no hormones Yeah. From from the jump?

Heidi Diestel - 00:10:19
Yep. From the jump. So, when my when my dad took it over, he kinda looked at everything, and he said, hey. Let's let's do it antibiotic free and vegetarian fed because it's it's wholly different than what is in the market. And he didn't really think it was actually that necessary, right, with the way that, like, we were bringing the birds to market. So and my mom being a registered dietitian, she's, like, you know, nineties low fat face. Like, that I mean, that was you know? I mean, she was riding the wave. Right? So Yeah.

Heidi Diestel - 00:10:44
When my parents first moved back, my mom was actually working at the hospital, right, because someone had to make the money. So she she worked at the hospital in town and, slowly but surely came over to do, like, you know, sales and support the family business, but she had a whole career in, you know, dietetics. So she was very much aligned with, like, hey. Let's do this the best way we know how with, like, highest nutrient profile, if you will, you know, best quality, best taste, best meat to bone ratio, the best value. So, yeah, that's how it started. And then, you know, really, the brand grew and was built on the the coattails of the natural organic food movement Right.

Heidi Diestel - 00:11:18
With Wild Oats and Whole Foods and, you know, Rob, Walter Robb, who, you know, was one of the, you know, founders of Whole Foods. My parents met in Marin, right, when he had his his shop there and has been such an advocate of just what we do and such a supporter of my parents and now of us as 4th generation. So, you know, it's, we've been here. We've been here a while, and I think that's why the portfolio is so large with products. And, you know, what we do is, is still quite unique. And it's it's kinda funny to say that, but it's unique in its own way.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:12:01
What what was the inflection point product, Heidi, to, like, get more into CPG away from the wholesale food service and butcher shop business? Was it just whole birds to retail? Was it, you know, something else?

Heidi Diestel - 00:12:12
What was it? You know, it's funny because a lot of our business is still, you know, non UPC'd items. Right? Mhmm. But, you know, folks would call my parents and say, hey. You guys call yourself a turkey company, but I can't get, you know, deli meat from you throughout the year. You know? It was really driven by the by the shift in consumers' habits and eating habits. And so, you know, we we have still a whole deli portfolio, and then, of course, we have all the sliced, you know, deli that you can just buy packages of. And we really started, you know, taking the bird and then breaking it down into all these different formats.

Heidi Diestel - 00:12:44
But you have to remember too, like, we're family owned and operated. We don't have, you know we we only have the resources we have. So Right. We had to really build out super thoughtfully over the many, many years. And, you know, it takes a lot of money, a lot of processing equipment, a lot of, you know, technology to to put things into a package format in the perfect package for whatever customer, you know, you're trying to sell it to. So that that took us quite a bit of time, which is why that shift was, like, slow and very methodical.

Heidi Diestel - 00:13:14
And turkey is also a super kind of funny protein. Like, the way that culturally we surround ourselves with turkey is quite funny. It's not it's not like chicken, and it's not like beef. So, you know, we had to really think outside the box to make our company successful when all we do is turkey. Right? We don't do chicken.

Heidi Diestel - 00:13:32
You you don't see a lot of people in poultry doing just turkey. It's a bit of a death sentence in some in some ways.

Kyle Krull - 00:13:48
Yeah. So there's there are so many questions I want to ask about the portfolio, the the revenue split between the different pack types. Like, there's there's we can really go down that rabbit hole, but I don't think that's the best use of our time. That being said, I I am curious about you know, you mentioned the processing. Does do you all do all your own processing and packaging on-site, or do you have partners? What does that relationship look like?

Heidi Diestel - 00:14:09
Yeah. So we do a mixture of both. Right? So as, as we've needed to evolve into different categories and also, you know, technology has changed in, like, you know, pre sliced you know, the way that you bring a pre sliced product to market. You know, we found a couple of really key, people in the industry who are really good at what they do and super specific at what they do. And, so we do have a couple of folks we work with. But, primarily, a lot of the products we do are, is is is our own production facility. So we have primary and further processing, and we do a lot. And that's that's really fun.

Heidi Diestel - 00:14:38
Like, that is such a joy for me to look at, like, our r and d processes and really break down and say, like, okay. Well, how is this different, and is it different? Right? And, like, flavor profiles and just that innovation in our space is really fun. Because, like, you you're taking a protein that no one really thinks about unless you're thinking about, like, eating healthier or a sandwich or Thanksgiving. And you're like, hey.

Heidi Diestel - 00:14:58
Let me surprise you with something that could be super awesome, and you could have it every day for dinner.

Kyle Krull - 00:15:12
Okay. This is this is my time to shine here. We're talking about how to eat turkey, and this is my jamming. So

Heidi Diestel - 00:15:17
I'll take a quick bite. I'm ready to go now.

Kyle Krull - 00:15:20
House I grew up in a house where I 4 4 kids and my sister, one of them did not eat any red meat.

Heidi Diestel - 00:15:26
Okay.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:15:26
And,

Kyle Krull - 00:15:27
we are like, you know, my last name is Kroll. We are like German Irish heritage. Our family meal was tacos, which makes no sense. But we always did ground turkey tacos. And Very good.

Heidi Diestel - 00:15:39
I was

Kyle Krull - 00:15:39
just at a bachelor party recently, and I made ground turkey tacos for everybody. And they're like, why why are you making ground turkey? And they're like, this is delicious. Oh my gosh. So there is definitely a stigma out there. Like, why do you eat ground turkey? You know what I mean? That's kind of a unless to your point, you're looking to be super healthy. But throughout my journey of consuming food, I used to I was a rep.

Kyle Krull - 00:15:51
I'd be driving around Southern California, go to different Whole Foods, and I'd stop in and just order, like, a half pound of diesel turkey from the deli case fresh. Yeah. It was phenomenal. Like, that and an apple was, like, lunch almost every day.

Heidi Diestel - 00:16:12
Now that I'm home You're completely shredded. Right, Calvin?

Kyle Krull - 00:16:15
The fuel, baby.

Heidi Diestel - 00:16:16
Is protein.

Kyle Krull - 00:16:18
Body fat. So burpees 10% turkey

Heidi Diestel - 00:16:20
Yeah. Fruit. That's the rest.

Kyle Krull - 00:16:22
That's it.

Heidi Diestel - 00:16:22
I can see.

Kyle Krull - 00:16:22
That's it. It's it's not the case. I wish that was But now that I'm home, I'll buy just the the deli packaged meats, and I'll I'll, like, wrap up a pickled asparagus and eat that. Oh, yeah. Phenomenal lunch. I still do. And then every year, we buy a whole bird for Thanksgiving, A decent whole

Heidi Diestel - 00:16:40
bird. Awesome.

Kyle Krull - 00:16:41
Thank you. Last year, we did the the heritage. This year, we do we did the regenerified for the first time. And don't let me thank you for making great turkey.

Heidi Diestel - 00:16:49
Yeah. Yeah. No problem. It's my pleasure. Yeah. That's great. Can I ask a, like, a clarifying question real quick? Like, what type of pickle? Are we particular on the pickle?

Kyle Krull - 00:16:59
Sorry. It's it's pickled asparagus. The brand is Oh. Just

Heidi Diestel - 00:17:02
Oh, okay.

Kyle Krull - 00:17:03
So you get, like, a you get, like, 2 2 different slices of turkey, set them on a

Heidi Diestel - 00:17:07
plate. Tracking.

Kyle Krull - 00:17:08
You you set the asparagus and you roll it up like a little roll up. I feel like a child

Heidi Diestel - 00:17:11
eating lunch. Yeah. No.

Kyle Krull - 00:17:12
It's delicious.

Heidi Diestel - 00:17:13
I think there are going to be a lot of people rushing to the store right now to try this, and I'm with you. I think that's fantastic.

Kyle Krull - 00:17:20
It's a great way to have lunch.

Heidi Diestel - 00:17:24
How do you Yeah. I was I was on a flight the other day, Kyle, doing almost the exact same thing, like opening up the package of distilled. Like, I know this is weird, but I haven't eaten, and I'm hungry. So, you know, you get a few weird looks, but we just take it.

Kyle Krull - 00:17:36
Offline. Yeah. Weird stuff happens on plane.

Heidi Diestel - 00:17:38
I know. I know. I didn't wanna do it, but, like, I was hungry. So there was no there's nothing around that.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:17:43
There's nothing wrong with house and some some turkey. Okay? We support that. And I'll and I'll say my excuse is I was raised in the Midwest with where we had a little bit less de store product penetration availability. So Fair. But I I have I have had the products at this point. They are phenomenal.

Heidi Diestel - 00:18:03
Thank you.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:18:04
And, Heidi, I don't know if this is a a super hard question to answer or not, but, you know, I I want to there's the there's the, the page on y'all's website called meet our birds. Right? Where it kinda breaks down the different various different birds available. And I would love to for you to just educate our listener on that overall and then maybe tied into, like, the development of the brand over time and how that's evolved from, like, the original to the non GMO, to the organic, to the regenerative now. Like, just give us that arc if you can a little bit.

Heidi Diestel - 00:18:34
Yeah. For sure. So, yeah, it started with 1 turkey. Right? It was a diesel turkey, ABF, vegetarian fed, and that is, like, the quintessential bird of our brand. In the in the late late 19 eighties, early 19 nineties, there started to be discussion about an organic style movement. Mhmm. You know, a lot of produce. We have a lot of people in produce in this in the, valley there. You know, a lot of people just in ag, right, that our family knew, and there's a lot of conversation around what it would mean to be organic. So, you know, fast forward, my parents were helping set some of those standards for the, you know, the organic bird, the organic poultry standards.

Heidi Diestel - 00:19:11
And that bird, you could first label certified organic in 1999. And so my parents really wanted people to understand, hey. Like, the diesel turkey is the diesel turkey. Like, it's the OG. You know? There's nothing wrong with that. It's completely fantastic.

Heidi Diestel - 00:19:30
But for those that are looking for something really pure, and and and perfect, right, perfect in air quotes, you know, here's the certified organic turkey. Okay? And so we had both. We offered both. And then, you know, my parents were, you know, looking back on on just, you know, heritage, my dad growing up, looking at, like, you know, breeds. Breeds have always been very, specific in our in the diesel world as it relates to size and that meat to bone ratio and the confirmation and the quality. Mhmm.

Heidi Diestel - 00:19:59
Most producers will run, like, one breed, maybe 2 breeds because you have a conversion rate on on speed and on, you know, a a ton of efficiencies if you just run more simple breeds

Anthony Corsaro - 00:20:18
Yeah.

Heidi Diestel - 00:20:19
Of turkeys. But for us, you know, a 20 pound hen, we needed it to perform in taste and quality and meat to bone ratio as, like, a £10 a £10 bird. And so, like, my dad worked a lot in the breed side, and we have a proprietary breed with our own genetics that is, our petite. That is 6 to £10. Yeah. And that turkey will grow just as long as, like, a Tom or, you know, a heavy hen, and it will only ever be 6 to £10. And it's it's again, it just speaks to, like, we're gonna put these birds on the ground, and we're gonna know where they're headed when they come off the ground so that they have optimal meat to bone ratio and quality and that finish.

Heidi Diestel - 00:20:45
You really need the finish. Right? So, like, that time. So as they were kind of looking at interrupt well, I I

Kyle Krull - 00:21:02
do mean to interrupt because I'm interrupting.

Heidi Diestel - 00:21:04
But Yeah.

Kyle Krull - 00:21:05
You keep mentioning meat to bone ratio. Tell us why that's important and what that looks like relative to other turkey producers.

Heidi Diestel - 00:21:12
Oh, for sure. Yeah. I mean, meat spout ratio is, like, pure pure dollars in your pocket to a consumer. Right? Like, how much meat can you carve off of a £20 hen of diesel, and how much can you carve off of a commodity bag of bones? Right? Mhmm. So, you know, you think of, like, men and women. Most have, like, different bone structure. Right? Some are thicker bones, bigger people, smaller people.

Heidi Diestel - 00:21:27
It's the same kind of concept in in our turkeys. Right? Like, we don't wanna take a tom that has, like, this big bone structure and is meant for, you know, a lot more muscle and meat and and grow it as a 20 pound hen, which the industry does, and sell it to you at 25¢ or 30¢ cheaper per pound. Okay? On a 20 pound bird, it's a couple of lattes at this point in the world. Right.

Heidi Diestel - 00:21:55
But you're gonna have significantly less meat, on that turkey than if you if you spent a couple extra lattes more and got a diesel turkey. Like, your meat to bone ratio is is by far much better in a diesel program, and that's specific to the breed. And, usually, when you have optimal meat to bone ratio, usually, when you have it, you also have the finish on the product. Right? Because you've allowed that turkey the time. And as we all know, time, you can't, you know, you can't you can't, skimp on.

Heidi Diestel - 00:22:22
You've you've given that bird the time to develop its fat naturally, develop its flavor, you know, over time. So, like, mission critical, super important. But, yeah, my parents looked back and they were like, you know, we should be growing some, like, you know, bronze and black feathered birds, some some of the heirloom varietals. Now Mhmm. We don't grow true heritage turkeys. Like, there's the slow food movement with, like, what is a heritage turkey? And we tried. We we did a few.

Heidi Diestel - 00:22:47
We didn't love them. Like, as a family, we didn't love the taste. We didn't love the way that they layered on their fat. We just didn't like the way that they performed. So, and it was just like a personal preference. And so we we created what we call our heirloom varietal, which is a cross breed. So still, you have that really nice, rich, old world flavor.

Heidi Diestel - 00:23:06
It's just a very, like, rich and complex bird, but you have a double breasted bird, and you have one that has that optimal meat to bone ratio and and performs the way we think a diesel turkey should perform. So my parents introduced that. And those breeds are a lot of the same breeds that, like, my grandfather was raising. So, like, you know, we have a newspaper clipping from 1956 with my dad, like, with one of those, you know, style turkeys on it. Right? Like Wow. Yeah.

Heidi Diestel - 00:23:31
It's super cool. So, so we have our our and and again, like, genetics were a big thing. My dad had to, like, pick the right genetics, work on that breed line for a really long time to get it to where it would perform across the weight ranges and, and be what we be what we needed it to be. And so, yeah, that was kind of what my parents really developed. We're, like, you're ABF, you're organic, and you're heirloom. We were off in college and doing all of our things and,

Anthony Corsaro - 00:24:06
Yeah. You

Heidi Diestel - 00:24:07
know, I never had intentions of coming back to the family business. I was like, get me out of here. You know? Like, I'm gonna go do something else, which my parents were super happy with. But, my brother, Jason, was like a quintessential farmer from the moment he, you know, came out of the womb. And, Jason got back from college. He's 4 years older than me. He came back a lot more quickly, and he was super interested in, like, the Joel Salatin model. Right? Multispecies, rotational grazing.

Heidi Diestel - 00:24:25
And at the time that he was, like, getting really geeking out on all this stuff, Whole Foods started developing the GAP rating system, global weight of whole partnership rating system. And so, it was about that time kinda coinciding, we had taken our home ranch, and we had made it kind of, like, a a trial period on on half the property. It's a 60 acre property. So we were kinda like, hey, we're gonna try some things out, see what we can do. And Jason started doing a multi specie rotational grazing program. And we said, hey.

Heidi Diestel - 00:25:00
We'll we'll take off, like, a a, you know, very small percentage of our production, and we'll make it gap step 5 plus because our primary processing sits on the same property. And we'll have, like, this really cool, super unique product. Right? It was, like, one of 2 in the country. Mhmm. And we did that for about a decade.

Heidi Diestel - 00:25:15
We had a lot of issues scaling it. It was it was a fantastic program. It was so neat, but we couldn't really make it pay, and we had a really a lot of issues scaling it. But Jason is really behind what our pasture raised program is that just recently in the last 2 to 3 years, we we pushed into being a regenerative turkey, certified regenerified. And it's been so neat to see that transition, but it's also, like, uniquely very cool to look back and say, okay. It started with this original diesel turkey that's ABF. My parents kinda had their imprint with these organics and the heirloom varietals and getting the genetics really dialed in.

Heidi Diestel - 00:25:54
And then, you know, you kinda see it pick up with Jason truly, and our gen the 4th generation in, like, that land stewardship piece and almost kinda going back to the basics of, like, incorporating the land into farming practices, right, as an as a as an additional component.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:26:21
I am fascinated by all this turkey knowledge. This is actually so fun. For the listeners at home, ABF is antibiotic free. Just flagging that to folks. Heidi, just, like, 2 or 3 questions on what you just shared. Yeah. So genetics matter a lot. Totally understood that. You kind of got into talking about hens versus toms. So question 1 is, like, the gender also matters, and how do you manage that is question 1. Mhmm.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:26:38
Question 2 is, like, I'm picturing you raising turkeys in flocks by these attributes or, like, by, like, the production process. Is it that segregated, or are they all kinda together and then there's some sort of, like, some function down the line, like, those 2

Heidi Diestel - 00:27:00
No. Yeah. No. You wanna you wanna kinda raise them in flocks for sure. Birds of a feather flock together. That's real. You know? That's that's that's it. Yeah. So hens, girls, Tom's, boys. Right? You know, you kinda wanna keep them in there so you know, their their groups. And, yes, we do raise them, like, no antibiotics ever, ABF, antibiotic free in in kind of that group because the feed, right, that's going to them is is the same, but different depending upon their their programming, if you're using certified organic feed or not. So, you know, we have a feed mill. We we bring in the corn and soy that we source and mill it ourselves. Feed is is a key component.

Heidi Diestel - 00:27:34
Breed feed and time. Right? And, like, the cornerstones of of a

Kyle Krull - 00:27:45
Yep.

Heidi Diestel - 00:27:45
Of an farm animal ag. And so, you know, we're keeping those guys separate and then and then raising them accordingly.

Kyle Krull - 00:27:55
I'm really curious and, this is a difficult question to ask. You know, oftentimes, we'll ask our brands, you know, tell us about why your regenerative birds are different and raised differently than non regenerative, like more commoditized systems. You all seem to run the gamut between, you know, baseline, which is still higher than most commoditized turkeys all the way up to regenerified. But help us understand what's happening on the ground between those different systems and those different flocks so we can get a better understanding of why those are different and how the regenerified system in particular is making a positive impact on the environment.

Heidi Diestel - 00:28:29
Yeah. For sure. Great question. So we're gonna step back, and then we'll move forward because it's really important we understand, like, our heritage in this industry.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:28:42
Yeah.

Heidi Diestel - 00:28:42
When turkey farming k. Turkey farming in the day. Right? Like, back in the day. You you you got a barn that you're gonna put them in. You're gonna brood the turkeys in your you know, when they're babies. Right? You need to provide them warmth and security and a nice fluffy bed of, you know, fresh fine wood shavings, which we still do. Right? Like, this is they're babies. And then as they get older in their teenage years, you're gonna let them outside. You're gonna let them roam around. Right?

Heidi Diestel - 00:29:01
And free range and range grown, these claims back in the day was a very genuine, right, like, get them out of the barn, bring them in at night if it's cold or raining or, you know, whatever. They're gonna come in, they're gonna go out. But, you know, food was was being manufactured, if you will, at a very high pace. And you have a lot of players in this market. Right? And you have a lot of people who are saying, hey.

Heidi Diestel - 00:29:27
I can do this faster and cheaper and more efficient. However that relates to their business, whatever more efficient means to that business. Right? And so they said, hey. If I keep these guys inside, or if I or if I break you know, if I if I change some practices, if I least cost my feed, if if I, you know, do x, y, and z, I can shave off 20¢. I can shave off 50¢. Look at how much more efficient I am. I'm lowering the cost of goods. I'm lowering my price. I'm competing better in the market. Right?

Heidi Diestel - 00:29:55
Not necessarily bad, but just the evolution of food and and of our industry. So when you think about, like, how these still started, right, or you think about how anyone in poultry started, I bet you if you talk to them, it's much different than where they are today. Because technology has changed, and the needs of the consumer and the price that the consumer is willing to pay has changed. Right?

Kyle Krull - 00:30:26
Mhmm.

Heidi Diestel - 00:30:26
And there's really nothing wrong with that per se because, you know, you're you're in business, and and it is your business. You have to be you have to be growing. You have to be prosperous. You have to make money in order to sustain Right. All your assets. Right? And and all the things that you're doing and reinvestment in your equipment and all of this.

Heidi Diestel - 00:30:39
So it's not bad, but it's it's it really has adjusted the way the product gets to market because of that consumer demand.

Kyle Krull - 00:30:51
Mhmm. So

Heidi Diestel - 00:30:51
when we think about the ABF birds, you're right. Like, the diesel program is drastically different than any conventional program, like, very different. And so, you know, there's that kind of, like, stepping point in which our barns are more like a, more like a screened in porch, right, than than, like, a fully sited barn. Right? And and yet when you look at the ABF program, there are efficiencies there, and there's a price point there that some people are willing to pay and are very comfortable with. But when you go to the regenerative and you say, hey. I'm gonna I'm gonna move this scale over to regenerative, and we're gonna look at how this practice is different. It's really getting back to basics.

Heidi Diestel - 00:31:27
I mean, it's really going back to the fundamentals of where my grandfather and my great uncle Ernest were, you know, a decade ago or excuse me. Not a decade. 100 years ago. Right? Not 10 years ago. But so so it's really getting back to basics, and it's saying, wait a second. Wait a second.

Heidi Diestel - 00:31:44
Like, not too many moons ago, we were really looking at the land, the environment, the soil. We were really thinking about, like, our impact on it. Like, my grandfather used to, like, drive through the valley, and he would talk about, like, the almond blossoms and then tell us about the spring we were gonna have. You know what I'm saying? Like, I Yeah. I don't have this knowledge. Like, he would taste like he grew tomatoes. We had a garden. Right?

Heidi Diestel - 00:32:07
And, I mean, he would, like, he would just talk to you about, like, antioxidants and phytochemicals. He didn't use those words. He didn't say, like, technical terms, but he would tell you about, like, the sweetness or the tart or the acidity. Like, it was so much more ingrained into, like, the soil and the land, than I ever have been, which is, like, kind of humbling in a in a big way. So the regenerative programming is is a step back in a way. It's saying, wait a second. Like, let's look at our impact. But for poultry, regenerative is confusing. Right?

Heidi Diestel - 00:32:37
Because it started with cattle, ruminant animals that had a really big impact on the land. Turkeys don't consume grass as their primary source of feed, but they do have an impact. And so, again, like, when we were doing our step 5 program, we learned a lot in that program, and we never understood what that would mean to our future in regenerative. But we had, like, this foundation of, you know, trial and error and an understanding of, like, okay, how could our practices start to scale in order to be efficient enough to sell our product in market, but actually make a a difference? And so, you know, multispecies, we feel is really important for poultry because of what ruminants give and then, you know, what the birds give. We also feel that it's really important, and there's no third party that's requiring this right now to be regenerative.

Heidi Diestel - 00:33:35
But in diesel world, we we do because we wanna work towards this. But sourcing regeneratively grown feed. I mean, that's massive. Right? Like Huge. Huge.

Heidi Diestel - 00:33:40
And, you know, my brother On

Kyle Krull - 00:33:53
on that on that note, what what percentage of turkey diet is feed versus forage for this pasture raised system? Like, 90% feed?

Heidi Diestel - 00:34:02
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Your big majority is feed for sure.

Kyle Krull - 00:34:06
Right. Yeah.

Heidi Diestel - 00:34:07
Yeah. I mean, they're outside. Don't get me wrong. They're they're foraging and, you know, that's a very natural characteristics. They're wearing down their beaks. They're they're hanging out with the bugs and insects and seeds and whatever they can find, but the feed is their food for sure.

Kyle Krull - 00:34:21
Right.

Heidi Diestel - 00:34:22
I mean, why not? I mean, if you had to hunt or if you could be fed

Kyle Krull - 00:34:26
Totally.

Heidi Diestel - 00:34:26
Why not?

Kyle Krull - 00:34:27
I I think, you know, as all most humans here in this country agree with being fed versus hunting. Right? Yeah.

Heidi Diestel - 00:34:32
I think there are very few people here

Kyle Krull - 00:34:34
who go out and hunt every day for their own food. Right. Well, I just want to touch on that note with the feed. You know, a lot of folks I've spoken to in the regenerative space say that, you know, it's impossible for a monogastric like a turkey to be regenerative. But to your point, if you've got a regenerative input with the feed, I think that really solves that problem. Right? Because you're that that benefit to the land doesn't just take place on your land. It takes place with all of the partner farms that you're sourcing from.

Heidi Diestel - 00:34:58
Yeah. Well, I also think though that I would really challenge that thought. Like, that's kind of silly to say that something could be in agriculture and not contribute to land stewardship. Like, I don't I don't see that. Maybe what what we should do is reframe reframe the comment and say, hey. Maybe maybe birds don't have as large of an impact on the land as a as a as a cow. Right? As a ruminant animal because of sheer size and mass and what they do to the environment.

Heidi Diestel - 00:35:23
But just because the turkey or the chicken or, you know, a caterpillar has a smaller footprint, that does not mean that their their piece in the ecosystem is any less vital.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:35:40
Mhmm.

Kyle Krull - 00:35:40
I totally agree. Because to your point, if you harken back to nature, pre agriculture days, every species had a positive benefit on the ecosystem. Right? So there is the potential for any species to have that impact if it's being raised with the right level of intention, and that feels like what you all are doing with this program.

Heidi Diestel - 00:35:55
Yeah. Yeah. And I think it's highlighting, right, like, how we can show up and be a really good land steward and really challenge ourselves to think beyond Turkey and think beyond, like, just our little corner of the world. Right? I mean, we need more producers thinking this way. If we really want to adjust the landscape of, you know, farm animal ag, we need more people to incorporate and be thoughtful about their practices and where they're sourcing their feed, and we need more change than just than just our brand. I mean, we're a very, very small producer in the scope of our industry. We're very happy with what we do, and we don't have the desire to be everything to everyone.

Heidi Diestel - 00:36:32
But we definitely understand that, like, we need more scale in this in this thought pattern.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:36:44
Yeah. I wanna talk a little bit more about the feed. You guys, perfect segue there. My understanding I wanna state my understanding of the feed that y'all source, Heidi. You can correct me if I'm wrong. And then I would love for you to explain to the audience, like, the complexity and the operational variability of that. So you have GMO feed that goes to the to the regular birds. You have a non GMO organic feed that goes to the non GMO organic bird birds, and then you have a non GMO regenified feed that goes to the regenified birds. Correct?

Heidi Diestel - 00:37:13
Yeah. Just about. The non GMO regenified feed, we have not been able to source a 100% as regenified, but we're working towards it. So we actually have, like, a 4th slimmer in there, which is just non GMO project verified. It's not certified organic, but it is non GMO project verified.

Kyle Krull - 00:37:30
And is the reason you haven't been able to source that because, like, the supply simply doesn't exist, or what's the the primary hiccup there?

Heidi Diestel - 00:37:36
Yeah. A little bit of both. We definitely have to make inroads in finding those, crop farmers. We want to be able to visit those farmers and, like, know and understand their practices before we source from them, which can be challenging. Right? Because of, like, the feed cycling and when they're doing their harvest and when we need the feed. It's very complex. But, you know, there's a lot of people in the world of, sustainability, who are, like, you know, carbon credits or or, you know, part of it, like, a climate program, something like this. And there's really there's nothing wrong with that per se, but, like, we want hands in the soil. Right? Like, we want we wanna see we wanna see that benefit.

Heidi Diestel - 00:38:08
And that's just, like, the perspective we're coming from.

Kyle Krull - 00:38:20
Well, I mean, as a consumer, I very much appreciate the fact that you're not looking to put a sticker on a box and say, hey. We're we're doing something good, and it actually is meaningful for the end product and actually has an impact on the land.

Heidi Diestel - 00:38:31
Yeah. Yeah. And my brother went out to Illinois to visit. We we sourced 650 tons of corn that was from, you know, a regenerified certified, crop farmer. And my brother went out. And, you know, you have to understand, like, we're learning. Like, this isn't something that you just wake up, and because you've been in farming for this long, you just know how to do these things. Right? Like Right. We're learning just as much as anyone else is. And Jason went out there and he was like, I didn't know what I was thinking.

Heidi Diestel - 00:38:53
Like, I didn't know exactly what I was gonna see. He's like, but it was incredible. Right? Like, the the soil, the the depth of it, the roots, the the quality of it, like, it it's just incredible. So as we've gone along, though, like, we've we've really embraced this concept of, you know, testing the feed, right, for nutrient density. Testing the product for nutrient density.

Heidi Diestel - 00:39:09
Like, looking you know, land stewardship, yes. Right? Like, we have our data. We're looking at that over your year and 5 year metrics. You're you're seeing the improvement in the in the land. To be regenerified, like, you can just you can just stop there. Okay?

Heidi Diestel - 00:39:28
But for us, like, again, we're we're little farmers who are kinda geeking out on it. Like, we wanna see the nutrient profile of the corn. We wanna see the nutrient profile of the meat. We wanna see how far we can take this and how much different, we can make our products because, right, we are consuming them ourselves. Why don't we want to consume something that has a higher nutrient density? That was a healthier bird.

Heidi Diestel - 00:39:53
Why don't we wanna have these practices in our world that support, like, the future generation of farming versus just, you know, making a buck today, stamping the label on it, and and calling it quits, and and then moving on. Right? And I'm not saying anyone's doing that. I'm just saying, like, there's a difference. And I and I think the reason I I I I point that out is because there are a lot of commodity products with claims in the market. Right?

Kyle Krull - 00:40:21
No doubt.

Heidi Diestel - 00:40:22
And and it and it's unfortunate and it's fortunate. Right? Like, there's so many great things about how many people have had stepped into the organic profile, and and I commend everyone for moving in that direction. I think that's wonderful. But there's still, you know, check the boxes pieces of that that you're like, man, I wish I wish everyone did it with the intention of what it really means, and not sometimes, you know, the the washing that can happen.

Kyle Krull - 00:40:47
For sure. I'm I'm curious. I wanna I wanna dive into the nutrient density piece of this and speak a little bit tactically from, like, a marketing standpoint. You all, like we discussed, have a a wide range of different birds that you sell. How are you all positioning regenerative, and what what have you learned? As you mentioned, we're all still learning. How are you messaging and marketing that bird differently, to your consumers, number 1. And then number 2, from a nutrient density standpoint, what what have the results been so far and who are you working with? I know a lot of people are working with, like, Utah State. Curious, you know, what what that information looks like so far on the nutrient density set.

Heidi Diestel - 00:41:21
Yeah. It's really it's really early. It's really early to to to make any, like, super definite, you know, like, super definite decisions off of it, but we are working with Utah State on the nutrient density piece. Mhmm. And we we have seen, in in the data, you know, our regenerative bird performing better, in the omega 3, omega 6 ratio. We've seen it perform better in the antioxidants, higher antioxidants, which is really cool. And I think, you know, we've seen some really interesting feedback even on the corn. Right?

Heidi Diestel - 00:41:46
And just like the quality of that corn, which we know, like, the quality of the feed is going to impact the quality and the health and the vitality of the bird. I think what's, like, one of the most interesting pieces of this is, like, as humans, we don't yet fully have the knowledge or the ability to make the jump between the nutrient density of the bird, the the nutrient profile of the bird, and what that means for for you as a as a as a human. Right? We're getting there. We're definitely stepping closer to it, but we don't quite have that connection. And so, that was like as we've been going through, that's been something I've I've been really interested about because, right, my mom's a registered dietitian.

Heidi Diestel - 00:42:33
So, like, we're sending her all of the all of the information. We're like, mom, you know, tell us what you think. And, you know, we're like having all these dinner discussions around, like, words I've never said in my life. Right? And and it's funny because, like, we think about, you know, again, like, oh, I I wanna have a really good diet. I'm gonna eat spinach and blueberries for the antioxidant load, and that's gonna, you know, I don't know, support my metabolic rate or however these things, you know, kinda work together.

Heidi Diestel - 00:42:58
But, like, for protein and for for for these mac for this macro, we don't quite we don't quite know, genuinely. We think it's better. Right? We all want to assume it's better, but we still have to we still have to, you know, improve the analytics to to really make that jump. So for now, what we're saying is and how we're positioning it is, like, listen. This we know this is better for the land because here are the metrics that show that. Here's the data that shows that.

Heidi Diestel - 00:43:27
We know that this bird is healthy, and we know that, like, this omega 6, omega 3 ratio, and we understand these antioxidants are better, and we know that the health of the bird and the nutrient profile of this bird is better. And we're just kind of really leaning on the the action. Right? The the the actions speak louder than words. It's the here's all the things we're doing by action. Here's how we're sourcing the feed. Here's how these birds are raised. Here's, you know, here's here's kind of what we're doing.

Heidi Diestel - 00:43:54
It's been really challenging to message regenerative, and I don't think that people fully understand it. And I don't know that anyone's doing a particularly perfect job of articulating it because it's incredibly complex. So we're just letting our action show, and we're just trying to give as much insight into what it means to be regenerative. Here's the birds in a barn. Here's the birds going out onto the pasture. Here are here's the biodiversity we've introduced into the land. Here's, you know, year 1 with 2 types of grasses.

Heidi Diestel - 00:44:24
Here's year 3 with 6 types of grasses. Yeah. You know, here's why this matters. Here's the corn and soy or excuse me, the corn, the 650, you know, tons of corn. Here's the farmer. Here's Greg. You know?

Heidi Diestel - 00:44:38
And and having that show up and just helping people come with us on this journey, versus trying to, like, put it in a perfect bubble and market it in a in a really, like, strategic or perfect way. I mean, we're farmers first. We're not we're not marketers, but we feel like the journey is as much, is almost more interesting than just, like, the marketing or the words on the package.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:45:12
The the copy and the tone and the attitude on the website is so good. I love it so much. And it's very authentically, like, expert farmer friend, like, but fun. Right?

Heidi Diestel - 00:45:26
Yeah.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:45:27
So I think you guys are now on it with that Thanks. For the overall brand. And I think bringing more of that tone to the regenerative marketing, I think, is gonna be key because Yeah. You know, Brian at Smoketown had this awesome report, this white paper. And his his big kinda takeaway or recommendation is, like, the farmers are the source of trust with the consumer.

Heidi Diestel - 00:45:46
Yeah.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:45:46
And so grounding the messaging in that with the farmer as a source of trust, I think there's a lot of opportunity there. So

Heidi Diestel - 00:45:52
Yeah.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:45:53
Yeah. I think that's awesome. And the

Heidi Diestel - 00:45:56
We we call that SaaS, AC, on on, you know, like the SaaS

Anthony Corsaro - 00:45:59
There you go.

Heidi Diestel - 00:46:00
The SaaS dial.

Kyle Krull - 00:46:01
We like that. Give just the the audience an example of the SaaS, AC mentioned this before the podcast started, but on the website, it's not quite the first thing you see when you scroll down to the second section. It says, give the other bird the bird.

Heidi Diestel - 00:46:13
I mean

Kyle Krull - 00:46:14
Which is I mean, that's that's high SaaS. That's high SaaS.

Heidi Diestel - 00:46:17
Well, that is a high SaaS. But see, I I don't know if everyone always reads all the words. Right? So, like, this is this is what I thought would be fun is, like, let's have a little bit of playfulness because it's turkey. Like, it's turkey, you guys. It's not anything that cool. Yeah. And, if you read it, then, you know, you'll just get a chuckle. Why not? Right? Yeah.

Heidi Diestel - 00:46:30
There are some lines in there that I still I still catch me by surprise. I'm like, oh, good lord. Who approved this?

Kyle Krull - 00:46:44
I saw it. It's time to cheat on your other white meat. That was

Heidi Diestel - 00:46:48
It is.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:46:52
The, the part about, like, there's no embarrassing, shady practices unless you find Jacob's prom pictures, that was

Heidi Diestel - 00:46:58
Yeah. Yeah. Jason's prom pictures. Yes. Which I will I will find. We have them somewhere.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:47:06
Heidi, I don't I don't know if this is confidential or you'd be willing to share it with us, like, at a high level. But an interesting curiosity I have to frame the commercial conversation is, like, how much of the business is whole bird versus, like, value added, and how much of the business is, like, whole bird seasonal q four holidays versus everything else? Like, very

Heidi Diestel - 00:47:24
Yeah. That's a good question. You know, it's kind of hard. Right? Because we grow the whole bird. Like, we grow like, when we're growing turkeys yeah. We're always growing like, we always think of it in a whole bird dynamic. Yeah. So I'll say that, like, it's probably like a 60 40 split for, like, year round products and then holiday products. Right? Mhmm. So we've we've done a lot over the last, 10 years, the 4th generation, to to to try to strategically grow our business in a fashion that we could with the assets that we have, and also, like, you know, minimize that that peak at Thanksgiving to the best of our ability.

Heidi Diestel - 00:47:46
Right? And really transition, that holiday piece into our our air our heirloom birds and our regenerative birds, really working to scale those programs, versus just, you know, kind of being at the whim of of how competitive the turkey space has gotten at the holidays. And you gotta think about this too. Like, retailers don't you know, they're not making money on the holiday turkey. Right? Mhmm.

Heidi Diestel - 00:48:25
And they're selling it, you know, as a as a as a way to get people in the door and get the rest of their basket ring. And so, that's a tough spot to be as a turkey producer when when quality is like a cornerstone. And, you know, it's not

Anthony Corsaro - 00:48:46
massive volume part of your business. It's like, oh, we can't just lose money with you on that, guys. Sorry.

Heidi Diestel - 00:48:51
Exactly. Yeah. It's it's huge. It's huge. And you're you're taxing all of your resources and all of your production facilities to make it for this one specific holiday. So, yeah, you have to be really thoughtful about that. And, you know, luckily, again, for us, family owned and operated, like, you know, we sit around a dinner table and say, well, what do we wanna do? Right? And, like, how do we wanna show up? And, like, these you know, give the other bird the bird is the way we wanna show up sometimes. You know what I mean? So for better or for worse, it's out there. But, no.

Heidi Diestel - 00:49:16
I mean, I think, like, for us, we've just really been thoughtful about, like, hey. Let's grow that year round business. That's what keeps the lights on. You know? That's what keeps all of our team members employed. That's what you know, make sure that we support ourselves throughout the year.

Heidi Diestel - 00:49:28
And then let's show up and really grow, the the holiday business in a way in which a lot of our competitors can't and or just don't want to. You know? And I think, like, holiday holiday trends are shifting. I mean, they've shifted a lot since COVID. They were already headed this way prior to COVID. I think COVID just kind of spurred it along.

Heidi Diestel - 00:49:52
And, you know, you have to think about, like, the days of buying a, you know, 32 pound turkey to put in your oven to have 40 people show up at your house for this big meal. Right. I mean, that's not that's not the way people necessarily are having Thanksgiving any longer. So, you have to be thoughtful of that when that's a huge piece of your business, and you have to think about the innovation and how people are gonna consume your product in this really particular time of year. So

Kyle Krull - 00:50:23
Yeah. I can say that as somebody who's started purchasing a whole bird turkeys for Thanksgiving maybe 3 or 4 years ago, I'm so glad I don't have to buy a 30 pound bird. That I I when you said that was a holy cow, that is a a huge chunk of expense. Right?

Heidi Diestel - 00:50:38
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's what we're talking about. Specific oven, Kyle. You have to have the right oven to put on your key.

Kyle Krull - 00:50:44
No doubt. I don't have the type of oven.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:50:48
Clearly, how do you guys have added a ton of really cool value added products, over the last decade like you were talking about? I'm really interested I was really interested to see the the primal blend, you know, which I think is pretty recent. And the the beak to feather approach there. Right?

Heidi Diestel - 00:51:04
Yes.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:51:05
What what else are you all thinking about from that and from, like, future products and future product development innovation?

Heidi Diestel - 00:51:10
Yeah. For sure. You know, we're really kind of focused in on what, what we can do, to utilize the whole animal. So the primal was definitely a key component of that, and also make turkey, like, really easy and accessible to consume in Yeah. Like, a weeknight meal. So we have a product that's launching here, shortly that will be a turkey tenderloin that is Nice. Marinated. Yeah. It's marinated, and it's in a cooking bag. Okay.

Heidi Diestel - 00:51:29
And so in 15 minutes, you can have 12 ounces of pure meat, like, on your table. It's pretty cool. Yeah. It you just Meat. Poke a hole in the cooking bag, and you pop it in your toaster oven or your real oven in 15 minutes, and you got you got 12 ounces of really lean, lean meat. But, you know, things like this that, like, you know, we're we're gonna take the bird, break it down, and find a way that we can compete. Right?

Heidi Diestel - 00:51:57
That price point has to compete with chicken. We need a reason why people are gonna go and pull to the turkey side versus the chicken side. But, you know, this is these these are things we've been we've been working on. Turkey carnitas. Right? Fully cooked turkey carnitas that you can just speed up and, yeah, throw throw down. That is, another one that I think is gonna be really, really great.

Heidi Diestel - 00:52:17
But just looking at the dynamics of everything and saying, like, how do we insert turkey into more meal, you know, more mealtimes? Deli meat is something I think we're really gonna work on over the next kinda few years and see how we can innovate in deli, you know, and really look at, like, the eating performance of deli. And, like, how Kyle was talking earlier about, you know, wrapping up deli meat around a pickle or something like this or or his pickled asparagus. I mean, we eat like this now. Right? Like, I mean, I think there are so many people that are conscious about what they're consuming, and they want it really clean and and really tasty.

Heidi Diestel - 00:52:57
And, you know, the industry kinda goes the other way with, like, fillers and sodium and salt and sugar and all of this. Yeah. You know, we're gonna we're gonna see what we can do there to to bring to bring more, like, real genuine meat to the market.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:53:17
Yeah. There's, like, 2 trends you highlighted there that I don't know. This is the way I call them. Maybe no one else would use this language, but, like, busy mom meals was was those first couple, like, to me that I think they're all gonna be in need. And then this transition away from, like, a real sit down meal of a lunch to this, like, endless snacking and desire for more protein.

Heidi Diestel - 00:53:37
Yeah.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:53:37
It's like, how do you, like, what do you do other than just give somebody a slice of turkey, like you're saying, which is still great. And obviously, Kyle will eat £2 of, but, you know, what what else is there? Totally. Yeah. Super cool. Yeah. Agnostic of product development we're inclusive of since you just kinda talked about it a little bit, but just general future, the next 3, 5, 10 years, like, when y'all sit at the dinner table and you think as a family, like, where is this brand growing?

Anthony Corsaro - 00:53:51
Where is growth gonna come from? You know, what are you focused on? Like, tell us what the future looks like.

Heidi Diestel - 00:54:07
Yeah. You know, I think for us, we're we're really going to look at the holiday and continue to innovate in ways that our consumers and shoppers want to consume Thanksgiving. And I think that's gonna look really different than what it is now in 10 years. I think it's gonna look really different. So, you know, we've had a few a few items like our, cooking bag holiday roast. It's a £2.75, you know, net weight UPC'd item, and that has gained so much traction over the last couple of years.

Heidi Diestel - 00:54:28
And I I think it's thoughts like this that are going to be, you know, where can we add value to the next generation's meals at the holiday and capitalize on the fact that, lucky for us, they're having Thanksgiving, like, more than once a year. Right? Most most people in our generation or younger are having Thanksgiving or Friendsgiving or some type of a holiday celebration, 2 and 3 times in a in a season. And so creating products that are approachable and easy that, you know, maybe they don't have the bone because, you know, nobody wants to deal with that cleanup. This type of thing, I think that's gonna look really different. I think really focusing in on the regenerative bird, the heirloom varietals, you know, keeping keeping those programs front and center because they are so unique.

Heidi Diestel - 00:55:13
And what's crazy to me is there are so many people out there wanting these programs, asking for these programs, calling us to say, this is the turkey that I want. But retailers don't want to necessarily take the risk in retailing them.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:55:38
Yeah.

Heidi Diestel - 00:55:38
Right? They they need product that turns. So they're only gonna have ADF and organic, and they're gonna kinda water down those offerings and be, like, very stagnant. There's only a few retailers that are really looking and saying, you know, we do have this smaller percentage that want this higher quality, higher attribute program. So finding those retailers, marrying up, you know, what their needs are, what our needs are, and how our brand can add value. And I think as we evolve, and I think for any brand or any company, like, adding value to your products and your programs and your your lineup of products is really the the key in the ticket. Right?

Kyle Krull - 00:56:13
Mhmm.

Heidi Diestel - 00:56:13
And we'll we'll take that wherever it goes. I mean, the online platform has been a huge component to the whole. And I think when you think about what online grocery looks like, think we have to think a little bit bigger because most full service cases don't even carry turkey anymore.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:56:30
Right.

Heidi Diestel - 00:56:31
They don't even offer it. Right. So, like, how will you educate the next consumer about how to cook a boneless roast or bone and breast when they can't even access except for, like, 4 weeks out of the year. Yeah. You know? So I think that, you know, we're gonna we're gonna find some partners and and be really thoughtful and creative in in in categorically making our turkey, like, more accessible to the to the population and really making sure that, like, the bird is is front and center. The real bird is front and center for folks. So, yeah, it's gonna be a fun it's gonna be a fun drive.

Heidi Diestel - 00:56:59
But I don't think for us, it's about specifically the number of doors or, you know, these, you know, hey. I I've gotta be national in 15,000 doors. Like, we can do this in a more creative way.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:57:15
Yeah. I love it. And that train of thought you went down just really resonated with, like, man, what does Thanksgiving look like in 10 years when, like, all the millennials and Gen z's, like, really have to own the meal?

Heidi Diestel - 00:57:27
And Yeah.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:57:28
How many of us are, like, scared to cook a whole bird?

Heidi Diestel - 00:57:31
Oh, yeah.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:57:32
I would have no idea where to start.

Heidi Diestel - 00:57:34
Yeah. And so I had a conversation just yesterday with a guy who was, like, you know, he's a pretty beefy dude, you know, by meat. Like, this is his this is his jam, and he's like Yeah. Yeah. He's like, I really had to man up and, you know, like, spatchcock the turkey. I was like, was that a problem for you? You know? Like, was that you know? He was like, well, yeah.

Heidi Diestel - 00:57:48
Like, I've you know, I had to hear, like, the bone cracking, and I'm like, okay. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, it is. And and I'm excited for it. I think, like, the companies that are gonna do well are going to embrace these these cultural changes, and they're gonna find ways to innovate and and have a good time.

Heidi Diestel - 00:58:02
And, yeah, to see what works. Right? Like, I think being afraid of the change or, you know, thinking that, like, oh my gosh. It's horrible that, you know, the whole body, whole turkey, which we still do a ton of, is is somehow going to kinda go away. Well, I mean, we got some pretty large people in the industry report annual declines for, like, the last decade. Like, it's going away. Right?

Heidi Diestel - 00:58:25
I mean, whether we want it to or not. Yeah. We don't have as many people roasting a whole, raw turkey as before. And I think that's okay. Like, that these things change. And the bird can be in another beautiful format that is just as great or maybe better. So Mhmm.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:58:49
You have such a beautiful combination of, like, admiration for the historical context and also, like, the urgency and desire to improve for the future, like, for y'all's business and also just, like, turkey farming in general. So, like, it's just awesome and just wanna thank you for that. Thank you. Yeah. Absolutely. Which good segue to our final question, which we ask everybody, which is which is a rather large one. How do we get Regen brands to have 50% market share by 2050?

Anthony Corsaro - 00:59:14
I think we

Heidi Diestel - 00:59:21
Oh. Oh, golly. I'm gonna think about that here for a second. Yeah. So I think we've got to incentivize. I mean, it starts with I mean, for poultry. Let's speak for poultry. Right? Because I don't know

Anthony Corsaro - 00:59:36
Great.

Heidi Diestel - 00:59:37
I don't know everyone's, bag of bones there. But, for poultry, we've got to incentivize our crop farmers to to transition into a regenerative mindset. Right? It's a philosophy of farming, and we've we've gotta reach more of these folks, young young farmers, right, that are going to have a career in crop farming. That starts that starts home. Right? Like, soy, soybean meal, corn, that that's all gotta start at the grassroots. I mean, that's number 1. So however we can do that, I think is gonna be mission critical.

Heidi Diestel - 01:00:11
Because again, like, I don't think you can do a regenerative program in poultry and not address the feed.

Anthony Corsaro - 01:00:20
Yeah.

Heidi Diestel - 01:00:21
And then I also think that we've got to going, you know, from from the grassroots of the feed all the way to all the way to the retailers. We've gotta find a way to help retailers understand that that's not the monetization of a slot, this expectation of performance because of data. Like, how how many slots have to perform in this a level platform, or how many could perform for the future? Right? What, you know, what starts today and its sales today are not necessarily, right, indicative of in a decade. And if we're only going to look at this narrow lens of every slot has to perform in x, y, and z, and offer no other platforms for brands or, you know, people like ourselves to sell our products.

Kyle Krull - 01:01:11
Mhmm.

Heidi Diestel - 01:01:12
Either create a new platform where it's accessible and it has visibility to the shopper, or be more thoughtful about these slots and how they have to perform and give these products an opportunity to grow and mature. Natural organic foods didn't get here overnight. We we did it over, you know, 30, 35 years of showing people the benefits of consuming food that is that is grown in a more thoughtful manner. So we're gonna have to yield a bit. Right? And I think what I think retailers who get to that desk more quickly are gonna find is that this younger population genuinely care and are willing to put their dollars behind brands that they feel aligned with and are willing to, actually say what they're you know, do what they're saying, say what they're doing. And they will they will purchase this, but it's not gonna be it's not gonna it's not gonna happen overnight, and it's not gonna happen straight out of the gates.

Heidi Diestel - 01:02:00
And I think if if we continue the mindset where it's like, this slot has to perform by x or you're out, well, then you're gonna be left with, like, regenerative Captain Crunch or something. You know? And and and and then we're gonna miss we're gonna miss the mark, which is why I think it's really important for producers to think more thoughtfully about, like, their go to market strategies. Like, why why do we spend so much time trying to convince the really large conglomerates and the and the retail giants of the world to, like, give us a chance and spend all this money with them to promote and pay for the slot and get the distribution with broadway distributors who who really don't care about you as as a partner. And and just bleed out all this money, when you've already when you've already invested so much in the process. Nah. There's a better way. There's a better way.

Heidi Diestel - 01:02:47
And thankfully for us, we have, we have a digital space that amplifies what you do, and we have a digital space to, like, reach more people. So if we want this to be, you know, 50% by 2050, I think we're all gonna need to really think more creatively about how we get our products to market and that that go to market strategy. Because right now, you know, the performance is the metric, and database selling is wonderful, but there is also data that is yet to be, you know, curated. So what do we say about that?

Anthony Corsaro - 01:03:33
I love that so much. I was through on some some quick notes. Like, to summarize all that. Right? Like, poultry regeneration takes speed and foul is takeaway number 1. Takeaway number 2 is, like, if we're gonna ask farmers to have greater context and creativity in these rare earth systems, we need to ask retailers and distributors to embrace that same level of context and creativity. Totally. Like, with the size of these assortment assortments now at retail, there's no excuse. You you can satisfy these multiple kind of demands of what we need for today and kind of building for the future. And then the third one that you you start touching on there at the end, kind of like using the digital world as a pathway to increase consumer consciousness and awareness. Right? To tie into actual product purchase.

Heidi Diestel - 01:04:15
Yeah. Love

Anthony Corsaro - 01:04:16
that. That's a

Heidi Diestel - 01:04:16
home playbook.

Anthony Corsaro - 01:04:17
I think we

Heidi Diestel - 01:04:17
can

Anthony Corsaro - 01:04:18
use that one.

Heidi Diestel - 01:04:19
Well, you summarized it beautifully.

Anthony Corsaro - 01:04:21
Yeah. Thank you. Well, this has been so fun, Heidi. So happy to have you on the pod and just so pumped to kinda put this out in the world right around the big, turkey holidays. So Yeah. Thanks for being with us and thanks for the work that you're doing.

Heidi Diestel - 01:04:33
Oh my gosh. And right back at you, like, thanks for giving us a voice and a platform to talk about what we're doing because it it takes all kinds. So, just yeah. Right back at you. A lot of a lot of gratitude for you and Kyle.

Anthony Corsaro - 01:04:44
Cool. Thank you. Appreciate you. For transcripts, show notes, and more information on this episode, check out our website regen-brands.com. That is regen-brands.com. You can also check out our YouTube channel, ReGen Brands, for all of our episodes with both video and audio. The best way to support our work is to give us a 5 star rating on your favorite podcast platform and subscribe to future episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. You can also subscribe to our newsletter, the Regen Brands Weekly, and follow our Regen Brands LinkedIn page to stay in the know of all the latest news, insights, and perspectives from the world of regenerative CPG. Thanks so much for tuning in to the ReGen Brands Podcast. We hope you learned something new in this episode, and it empowers you to use your voice, your time, your talent, and your dollars to help us build a better and more regenerative food system. Love you guys.