Pitch Slam 11 Finals - Rich Nuts

Speaker 1 [00:18] All right. Up next, we have Richard Powells and Samantha Coker, the co-founders of Rich Nuts. Come on up.

Rich [00:34] Hello, I'm Rich. I am the founder and sprouting guru at Rich Nuts, and this is my wife and co-founder and our CEO Samantha Coker. Now before I became, uh, before I started Rich Nuts, I was a firefighter and paramedic and I spent 20 years doing that job and the last 12 years I was stationed in Malibu.

Speaker 3 [00:54] Now all of you all have seen those crazy fires devastating California. That's what he was doing. Yeah,

Rich [00:59] so imagine fighting those fires without anything healthy to eat. Unfortunately, the only options available to me on the fire line were prison sack lunches, MREs, and fast food. So I started to eat a lot of raw organic cashews and organic trail mix. Instead of getting the energy I needed to fight those fires, I got a lot of digestive issues. I was gassy and bloated. I had brain fog, it was a mess. So I did some research and I found out that if you're eating nuts that weren't sprouted, you could have these symptoms. So I started sprouting the cashews and before I knew it, all of my symptoms went away.

Speaker 3 [01:36] So Richard, can you tell us a little bit about sprouting? Sure,

Rich [01:39] so. Nuts and seeds basically evolved over time to survive the digestive tract. The survival strategy of the plants is to have animals eat the nuts or seeds and drop them out whole so they can grow into a new plant. Well, how do they do this? Well, they concentrate certain substances like phytic acid and lectins, which by design block, inhibit, and disrupt our digestion, allowing that nutter seed to pass through us unharmed.

Speaker 3 [02:03] Now, does everyone know what lectins are? No, but everyone knows what gluten is, right? Now, gluten is the most famous lectin, isn't that right, Richard?

Rich [02:12] That's right. Gluten is the most famous lectin. So, uh, let's see, where was I here, um. Yeah, so, in order to mitigate these effects, what we do at Rich Nuts is we soak our nuts in water to activate them and then we allow them to germinate. That puts them into a growth phase where they drop their defenses, they become more digestible and therefore more nutritious.

Speaker 3 [02:36] So you solved your digestive issues, but how do they taste?

Rich [02:39] Well, Honestly, at that point, they didn't taste great. They were soggy and really mushy. So I discovered dehydration which brought back this amazing crunch, but at that point they were a little bland. And a bit boring to be honest. So I looked to nature, I grabbed some sage and some rosemary, and I threw in some liquid aminos, and boom, we had our first flavor, savory sage. Now, my flavor philosophy is simple. I think that nuts taste great already, so I use a few simple ingredients to enhance their natural flavor without overwhelming them. And you know, who wants cool ranch flavored cashews?

Speaker 3 [03:13] Richard has a really wonderful ability to create unique gourmet flavors, and that's put us at this really interesting intersection of nutrient dense, high impact nutrition and luscious, decadent gourmet flavors, and that's really allowed us to sneak a whole lot of healthy into a satisfying splurge.

Rich [03:33] Yep, and in my work as a paramedic, I often try to save people that were beyond saving. And frequently I thought if only I had gotten to them 20 years ago, I could have maybe helped them change their diet and we might have a better outcome. So, whenever I'm out there sourcing ingredients, I look to find things that are organic, low glycemic, paleo keto friendly, and vegan.

Speaker 3 [03:57] So this gets to our demographic. Like we know that health food trends are on the rise, sprouting is on the rise, and of course we feel that our flavors are good enough to lure some of those people who don't care about those things over to the dark side, but generally our consumers care about having healthy organic plant-based snacks. They come in two different categories. Women from 35 to 55 are a main consumer, but we're also finding that. Men who are biohacking Bitcoin loving tech corporate guys are also loving our product. We have 6 different flavors, 2 cashew, 2 walnut, a pecan flavor, and a trail mix. Right now we're, they're priced at 11.99 and 9.99. We're in about 70 stores in Southern California. We're just onboarding into UNFI's up next program where we'll expand Southern California, launch into Northern California, and really saturate California before we expand outside of that. We're doing a little D2C and Amazon, but right now we're focusing on retail. Um, just a few other things about us, we're certified minority owned business. Richard is Chickasaw Nation and he's also Latin American, obviously a first responder but also veteran. He was a Navy man owned business. Um, we have a big pledge to regenerative sourcing and responsible packaging, and we have a very big commitment to, um, mindfulness in every aspect of our business with everyone we touch and basically we're just a few crazy nuts.

Speaker 1 [05:24] So thank you. Thanks. Hold on. Uh, if you could just slide up here so our cameras can get you. Um, before we get started, can I ask, you said they only gave you, uh, MREs and prison sack lunches. What's a prison sack lunch?

Rich [05:44] Is this on? Hello. Really like a terrible piece of meat like an old baloney and maybe some mayo on Wonder Bread with, you know,

Speaker 1 [05:53] you, you could have stopped at baloney. That's fine. Thank you.

Speaker 4 [05:56] I couldn't eat it. Uh,

Speaker 1 [05:58] uh, if Michelin rated nuts, this is what we'd be looking at. Uh, do you agree with that, Eugene?

Rich [06:03] Yeah, I mean, I love the concept. I guess I, I got a couple of questions on the application like. These are not roasted then, correct? They're not, no, they're sprouted, then dehydrated. So, OK. And then do you find that the seasonings without the whole roasting it's like a whole component to the seasoning and we don't use any oils to help it stick like they do in roasting. Got it. OK, yeah, that's, I, I think the product's great flavors great. I, I think, you know, the category, like, you know, kind of led the category for for many years and I think it could use some disruption.

Speaker 1 [06:36] Yeah, Gavin, you were nodding your head about the, the category and rich nuts in terms of it's,

Speaker 4 [06:40] I think the, I think the flavors, so like I, I tried these a little bit earlier today and I wasn't blown away and then I was sitting down and then I was stuffing my face with them. So something, something happened between the hour and a half, so it's Probably really good, uh, it is hitting on a lot of targets, right? So you're, you are hitting the, the vegan consumer, you're hitting paleo, you're hitting keto, you're hitting a lot of attributes, organic being the main one, so I think there's some legs behind this, um, I think you guys have a scaling opportunity, um. Uh, the firefighter, uh, logo on the front. I mean, I, I would more try to get this as a lifestyle brand, hiking, hiking and all that kind of stuff. Um, that way it appeals to more, maybe look at the REIs and things like that and, and try to get in there.

Speaker 1 [07:23] Yeah, staying on the demographic for a second, I don't know if you're a biohacking, uh, biohacking Bitcoin guy like they mentioned in terms of their target demographic, but in terms of their target demographic, Carol, uh, you know, do you think they nailed it, or do you think there is an opportunity to reach different types of consumers?

Speaker 5 [07:39] I, I think I was a little confused at times because you said that you often saw patients as a paramedic that you wish you could have saved. Those are probably not the biohackers and the like fitness women. So I think it, you know, there seems like there's a disconnect between who you want to help and who you're targeting and so you know that was a very long story about what sprouting means. How do you condense that down to reach those people that you wanted to help because sprouted nuts have existed as like a bulk bin item you have to figure out how to convey that on a package very coherently and that may mean not focusing on the biohackers they're gonna buy them no matter what.

Rich [08:21] Yeah, I think like, just to speak to your, to your comment is that um basically where we win is on flavor with those people. They may not even care that they're sprouted or organic or any of that things, but when they taste them and they can't stop eating them, I think that's where we win.

Speaker 5 [08:35] And I would say, you know, then you said, who wants a ranch flavored nut? Like a lot of people want a ranch flavored nut, especially in that market. So if you are trying to reach those mainstream consumers, maybe have two different lines like one's rich's nuts, one's Richard's nuts, you know, like, you know, kind of a, a, a, a, a more accessible version.

Rich [08:54] Yeah, and I, I think what really ties in there is that, OK, so what I found is that most of the commercially available stuff was overseasoned, it was too salty, too sweet, too something, and I think that speaks to your point that you can continue to eat them for a long time without getting like that oversaturated, greasy mouth fill. So I think that's one of our special unique selling points.

Speaker 1 [09:14] How do you get the last word? What are your thoughts on Rich's nuts? Sure, um, I love that you're diverse owned, indigenous owned, and I love that you have a woman CEO. Awesome, kudos there. Um, I think it's overall a good concept. I really like that they're organic. I think you have play there in the category. Um, the flavors are really bright. I love the clean ingredient panel and the packaging is super fun, like being able to see the, the peppers behind there or the maple leaves, you know, behind the nuts. So I really think you have something good here. Um, just take a look at that price point. How do you get it a little closer to what's happening in the category? All right, excellent feedback, great presentation. Well done. Thank you.