The B Team Podcast

Ep. 93 - Granola with Guts: The BFF Your Microbiome Needs

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A granola shot that goes down like bourbon and lands like a health upgrade. We bring Gita, the founder of Gut BFF, into the studio with Gabby to taste three flavors, Honey Glow, Apple Cinnamon Raisin, and Chocolate Peanut Butter, and dig into the big idea behind the crunch: 20 different plant ingredients per bag, designed to help you get closer to the 30-plants-per-week guideline from the American Gut Study.

Gita shares how food-first changes helped her navigate insulin resistance and post-COVID cholesterol concerns, and why prebiotics plus probiotics beat supplements alone. Think of probiotics as seeds and prebiotics as fertilizer; feed both and you generate short-chain fatty acids that support immunity, brain energy, digestion, and overall wellness. We get practical about how people really eat granola, on yogurt for texture, by the handful at 4 p.m., or as a lighter cereal, while calling out what makes this different from the usual sugar bombs: popped ancient grains for clean crunch, nuts and seeds for fiber and protein, and restrained sweetness that lets flavor win.

If you’re building a consumer brand, there’s a playbook here. Bootstrapping forced fast feedback loops, farmers markets, yoga studios, sampler three-packs, while an FDA-inspected regional facility bridged the scary gap between home production and big co-pack runs. We talk pricing, local retail rollout, and smart timing for a raise, plus how to scale without losing quality or shelf life. There’s also a cultural shift powering demand: Gen Z is leaning into gut health and clean labels, not just because of dietary restrictions like celiac or alpha-gal, but because they want snacks that feel good and actually taste great.

By the end, you’ll know which flavor stole the show, how to hit your plant diversity goals without overthinking breakfast, and why taste is the most underrated health strategy. Try the sampler, top your favorite yogurt, and tell us your winner. 

Subscribe, share with a friend who lives on “healthy” snacks, and drop a review with your flavor pick, what should the next berry be?

SPEAKER_03:

Welcome to the B Team Podcast. I am your host, Josh Stafford, with my co-host, Pat Mars, and our permanent guest, Rob Nelson. We're here every week to talk to you about all things Bettonville, bourbon, and business. The B Team Podcast. Be here. Well, we're here every Thursday for all things business, Betonville and Bourbon. We are the B team, but today it's the G Team. Because we got Gabby, my daughter, and Gita, an old friend from back in the day. When you had bad teeth back in the day, this is 100%. So I the G team is here. The G team. Gabby, I've known for 14 years.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Gita, I've actually known longer than that from our New York days. We worked in the New York uh Walmart Apparel office this year. Shout out to the Walmart Apparel team. Big day. Big day indeed. So, Gita, good to see you again. I had no idea. Well, let's drink some bourbon. You can't have any. Your mom would put me back in court for you know, so if we would add you have some. So I brought an Elijah Craig single barrel. That's high proof. It is. I did not bring it, I did not leave it in the car all day today. Thank you. Okay. So last time Jim brought bourbon, he tried to think it was sake. So it was like 112 degrees. It was sitting. Very good. It was sitting in the car, and we were like we had to cool it down. It was very warm. Cheers, everybody. Cheers. Cheers. This is a high proof. This way, this way. It's good though. It is easy to do that. Yeah. You know, Gabby, when one day, you know, in 12, 13 years, when you have your first drink, you're not going to want to start with uh single barrels or barrel. You're going to want to start easy. Maybe like, you know, uh uh a Zima or something. Zima. Do they still make Zima? Zima. What do they drink on the college campus? Now, Gaz, what's the drink for the 19 and 18 year olds? I mean the 21-year-old, sorry. 21.

SPEAKER_01:

Most of the time, people have like Malibu or Malibu rum? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

What don't they do like the what are the cans when that's they do?

SPEAKER_01:

Like the cutwaters? Yeah, cutwaters, and then there's like beatbox or something like that.

SPEAKER_03:

Beatbox. Beatbox. I've never heard of that.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, and then the little buzz balls.

SPEAKER_03:

Buzzballs. Shout out to Lisa Boris and the Buzzball team. I don't know that. Buzzballs. Well, they're podcast. So Matt Mars, shout out to our co-host who's not here. He is down at Ole Miss for the Tailgates every week at the Grove. Okay. And last week they were down there and Lisa gave him buzzball costumes and they wore buzzball costumes like a big buzzball. Really? To the to the uh tailgate. Him and Carrie. Amazing. Amazing.

SPEAKER_00:

Have you seen buzz balls? No. Okay, they're cute. They look like tennis balls.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

And they have really cool, like um exotic mixed drinks in them. And they're just, I think the format is what's done so well. It's just a cute little round ball.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, so it's almost like a juice box, like one of those little grenades. Those old grenade ones with the foil tops that you used to drink. Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

They have a guess who it is.

SPEAKER_03:

Not that you'd know where to buy them. You've heard that they're at the gas stations. Right, Gap? Okay. Very good. Excellent. Don't get yourself in trouble on her podcast. I know. I know. Don't get you in trouble. So I found Gita a month or two ago at a local conference. Okay. Very personable. She's got, she left Walmart. Shout out to Walmart. And she's got this new company called gut BFF, which you're going to explain, but it's this really healthy for you food, granola. And my daughter Gabby is someone who is struggling with multiple, no gluten, right? No dairy, alpecia or affigel, or what do we call it?

SPEAKER_02:

Alpha alpha.

SPEAKER_03:

That's what I said. I always say alpecia. Alopecia. Yeah, alopecia. And so she's got to be very picky on what she eats. So I said, all right, let me get some. I bought a bag of your stuff, your gut BFF, and to my daughter who loves me to death, but I always get the food wrong for her. She goes, Dad, this granola is amazing. I said, What? She goes, This granola, she's got like nine bags of granola because her mom and I are buying granola. She goes, This is the best granola I've ever had.

SPEAKER_00:

That's awesome. Well, thank you.

SPEAKER_03:

High praise. So I said, You're in town today. I said, Gabby's gonna come in, we'll film and we'll taste this amazing granola. And I've mentioned her before on the podcast. My daughter Mary Kate is She has alopecia too? No, no, but she's got celiacs and she's type 1 diabetic. So she's got significant dietary restrictions. Like Thanksgiving this coming week is gonna be a challenge because we've got to make sure we have stuff for everybody. So wait, so I'm gonna have to make sure uh I introduce her to gut BFF. So what you which bag did you try? Do you remember what flavor you had? I tried the peanut butter, chocolate peanut butter. And it was killer, right?

SPEAKER_01:

It's really good. Yeah. I would get back to my dorm and I would just like reach into the bag and just snack on it.

SPEAKER_03:

She should be maybe your marketing team.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Right? Amazing. So, Gita, tell us what got you into this.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, so um, this has been like a pretty crazy journey. So I always knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur. I never quite had the bravery. I had to get a lot of experience, I had to save up a lot of money over a period of time to feel like I could take that jump. But um, I started to think about like what is the thing that I want to do that would be a unique use of my talents and I'd be very passionate about because entrepreneurship is so hard. You better really, really love it to get you through the hard times. So I love food, I love nutrition, and for many, many years, the way that I would de-stress from a crazy job, you you know, you and I both had crazy jobs at different times. Yeah. The way I would de-stress is I would cook during the weekend. I would make things from the bottom up, I would make things for my family, and I would always love to get down to the ingredients. And anytime there was like a new ingredient that was fun for me, I'd be like, oh, this weird vegetable, I'm gonna learn how to cook it, right? So that was like just a way for me to relax. And you know, making food is so gratifying because you make a meal in four hours. Some things you never finish in life, but you can make a meal in a few hours too.

SPEAKER_03:

Reason for you to learn to cook for your father. It's gratifying.

SPEAKER_00:

You have a wife that cooks amazing things for you.

SPEAKER_03:

She does, but it's not the same as if my daughter would cook for me.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. So um, you know, I was really into food. I was really into nutrition. I was always trying to hack my health. And so, you know, I had kind of learned over a period of years that if I ate right, I slept right, and I exercised, I'd be really healthy. Um and I had gone through like health things a couple of times in my life where I had managed to get through that health thing with dietary change. So probably the time that I met Jim in New York, my cause of some of your stress?

SPEAKER_03:

No.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, and he's definitely not the cause of the next thing I wouldn't tell you, which would be funny. No inferences here. So I I met um Jim. I was working in that New York office. That was the year I got married, and then I couldn't get pregnant. For like a couple of years, we were trying to get pregnant. It was very hard. And um, I actually found out I had insulin resistance, which means I have trouble digesting sugar. And that at some point in my life I'd probably get diabetes. And so there I was there with that fertility doctor. Oh, and he was like, You need to take metformin, which is a diabetes drug. And I just said, Why aren't you telling me to change my diet? Like, you should be telling me to change my diet before you tell me to take a drug.

SPEAKER_03:

Yes. You know, so I changed my diet and I got pregnant, you know, and then Well, you did get, I mean, you and husband had to romantic.

SPEAKER_00:

Of course, there were other mechanics.

SPEAKER_03:

So what made you so confident to say that right out of the gate? Yes. Because so and my wife Corey would very much say the same thing. Like she's very much studious in terms of understanding, you know, healthy nutrition and all that stuff. She knows a lot more than me about it. I would have sat in that doctor's office and said, Okay, yeah, give me the drugs. What background brought you to the idea that I'm going to challenge this doctor and say that? Because I don't think most people would do that.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, um, I was young enough and I had time on my side. You know, I I knew that I could I had some time to give this. And I wondered like if what creates insulin resistance is eating sugar, and I was eating tons of sugar. I mean, I love chocolate. I was eating all anything indiscriminately, right? So I knew that I could probably control this or change this by shifting the mix of food in my diet, and I wanted to try that before I was just like, yep, just give me the drugs. Right. So, and then years later, after COVID, like everybody, I gained weight during COVID. It was a depressing, difficult time, let's be honest. And for the first time I had high cholesterol, and then it was the same thing. I went to a plant-based, high fiber diet that had a lot of really nutritious food, and my co my cholesterol came back in check.

SPEAKER_02:

Really?

SPEAKER_00:

I I shed weight and I, you know, so I'm a big believer that you can your food can be your medicine as opposed to taking a supplement or something else. So that's a long-winded answer of what got me here.

SPEAKER_03:

I do want to do a public service announce before we get into the BFF. Yeah. Because for the people at home, changing your diet will not get you pregnant. I just want to make sure that everybody's clear. There are other factors involved.

SPEAKER_02:

Of course not.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay, just want to make sure. I don't want anybody to sue us and go, I changed my diet. Why didn't I get pregnant? Sue the B Team Podcast. You know what? Yeah. Right? Agreed. Okay. Just make it too careful. Can't be too careful.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, totally.

SPEAKER_03:

Can't be too careful. So let's try some of this. Yeah. So, well, how did you get to this? Oh, oh, okay. Okay, so let me tell you how to do it. Well, you're excited and hungry.

SPEAKER_00:

So I'm starving.

SPEAKER_03:

I'm looking for it.

SPEAKER_00:

I wanted to create a food product, and I was attempting to create a different food product. Um, and that's a whole different story for another time. But I got I went to Expo West this year in March, which is a giant natural and organic food trade show. And yeah, you should go sometime, it's pretty freaking awesome. And I went to this and I went to this panel on protein, and everybody was talking about the next big health trend. And they started talking about gut health. And I came home and I started researching gut health.

SPEAKER_03:

What is the definition of gut health for those of us that have a gut but don't know anything about health?

SPEAKER_00:

Um okay. So gut health is a pretty complex topic, but I'll try to make it simple. If you eat the right food, your healthy gut makes probiotics. You can make more probiotics or add probiotic things to your diet, which is usually yogurt or fermented food. And then sort of the missing part that nobody knows is those probiotics eat prebiotics, create short chain fatty acids that power your brain, your immunity, and your overall health. Well, those prebiotics come from plants. And the best and easiest way to get them is add plant diversity to your diet.

SPEAKER_03:

So then I did not know this. I did not know. I mean, I've heard of probiotics and prebiotics, but I didn't necessarily know that one came from plants and the other eats the other. So no.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. So, you know, probiotics are seeds and prebiotics are the fertilizer for those seeds. And when you have the two together, now you are sending good things all over your body that are making you healthier.

SPEAKER_03:

Did you know any of this?

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, and I know a little bit about it.

SPEAKER_03:

All right, you're this you're the college education though. This is coming in handy. This is like extra credit work. Okay, so qu a couple of questions. Yes. Is the product that you have here, gut BFF?

SPEAKER_00:

Yep.

SPEAKER_03:

Is this a pre-orbiotic?

SPEAKER_00:

Yes. So let me so I'm gonna finish the story and basically. Okay, so I learned that pre-bi the number one indicator of a healthy gut microbiome from a study that they did called the American Gut Study was they found that people that put a large diversity of plants in their diet had healthy guts. And they found that the magic number was 30. You need about 30 different plants in your diet every week. That does not mean you need eat 30 fruits and vegetables. That's all plant classes. So nuts, seeds, good grains, beans. Okay? So it's not just something.

SPEAKER_03:

30 servings a week?

SPEAKER_00:

No, 30 different ones.

SPEAKER_03:

30 different types. It's more about variety. It's variety.

SPEAKER_00:

It's variety. So um quantity, of course, matters, and I'm sure there's a scientific baseline amount that you need because you need fiber in your diet, but plants naturally put fiber in your diet. So you can now see how this weaves a thread with all the dietary changes that I had been making to get healthier, adding plants to my diet, you know. And by the way, to be really clear, I'm not vegetarian, and you don't have to be. You just have to find ways to add plant food to your diet.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

So that's what led to gut BFF. So I started digging into this and I started noticing in England and Australia there were so many interesting products in the grocery aisle, not the supplement aisle, that had plant diversity and made it simple to add plants to your diet. So I started working with this really amazing food developer in Oregon. He's all about natural and organics. And we started playing with how do we create a product that has still tastes good, but has as many plants as possible because we know that life is hard, we are busy, we have lots of things going on. It's really hard to consciously be putting those plants in your diet all the time. So we weren't initially trying to make a granola, but some of the things we were trying to make something that was like a topping that you put on food. But they weren't coming out quite right. They were crumbly, they didn't always taste good. And he was like, This guy had 25 years of granola experience. He's amazing. I mean, just such a wonderful person.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

And he was like, why don't we make a granola? And I was like, but granola is not healthy. It's a sugar bomb, it's hard on your teeth. You know, granola is kind of acts healthy, but isn't it? He's like, No, we can make a healthy version that still tastes really good. Trust me, I'm gonna make you a delicious granola that puts in a lot of plants. So to create an assortment and have flavors, and we only we did 20 plants in every single product as opposed to 30, but that's still a giant step towards your goal. Two-thirds of the way there.

SPEAKER_03:

Look at that manual. Look at that.

SPEAKER_00:

Yep, two-thirds of the way there. And you know, that doesn't mean you shouldn't be eating fruits and vegetables and other things, but this starts your day well.

SPEAKER_03:

But it's not the same 20 plants in each one, or is it the same 20 plants?

SPEAKER_00:

There's a ver there's variety to create different flavors. Okay. So generally, let me break down the 20 plants because sometimes 20 plants sounds like ooh.

SPEAKER_03:

Now you're gonna be able to rattle off 20?

SPEAKER_00:

I'm not gonna rattle off 20, but I will tell you a bunch of nuts, seeds, right? All kinds of seeds are good for you. We don't eat enough of them, but they have tons of protein and fiber and nutrients in them. Um, they also go through your digestive system really well and take things out with them. Um, all kinds of good grains like buckwheat, millet, amaranth, quinoa, they're popped like popcorn, so they're crunchy and they don't taste like cooked quinoa or things that you might not want to eat.

SPEAKER_02:

I'm getting hungry.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, and then there's lion's mane in it, which is a superfood that's good for your brain and your gut. So we we said, how do we take this thing, this this study, and we make it easy for people, but but it still tastes good. Right.

SPEAKER_03:

We've been telling Josh that he needs stuff for his brain for years. I'll minute you the Yeah. Pour it right into my head.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, so you want to do a tasty?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, yeah, Gabby, which are we gonna do first? Well, what we're going left to right, left to center. What do we do?

SPEAKER_00:

Um we'll see. Left to right. Left. Okay, so the first one is honey glow.

SPEAKER_03:

Honey glow. Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

And I'll call this like the OG. It's like the original.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

Just throw back like a shot.

SPEAKER_03:

We do a shot. Let's go. Cheers. We do the whole thing. Yeah, it's my first cheers with you guys.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

We don't do it now. We chew it, though. We don't like just yes, you do chew. All right, I'm gonna chew it.

SPEAKER_00:

Yep. And Gabby, you hadn't tried that one, had you? You're trying flavors today that you've never tried.

SPEAKER_03:

I like that. What I like about it is, and I was nervous in the beginning. Because you hear honey, and I'm like, that's gonna be sweet, it's gonna be too sweet. It's not, it's really nice, and I like the crunch. Like, I'm a pretzel guy. You are uh, you know, from New York, you know, you so I will crunch on pretzels. You're telling me that this a shot of this is is healthier than a couple of pretzels. That's what you're telling me.

SPEAKER_00:

It's definitely more nutrient dense than a couple of pretzels.

SPEAKER_03:

That was really good. Yeah, that was that was very nice, it was pleasant. Now, I wouldn't do that one morning. When you do this, do you do it? So I asked you like to milk in spoons, and I got the I can see you look at the sort of like I'm not bringing milk and spoons, like but I like my granola like as a as a cereal. So would you eat it as a snack, is it like as a as a breakfast food? Like, how would you eat this?

SPEAKER_00:

You know, people eat it all kinds of different ways. So um I'm also learning a lot about granola because I certainly wasn't a granola expert, and I had never really spent a lot of time in food other than being a lover of food before I started this journey. So most people eat it on yogurt. And it's yogurt, and it's made me realize how much people dislike or are bored by the texture and flavor of yogurt. Yes. So the number one use is on yogurt. Interesting. Some people eat it by the handful just on the go. They say it tastes really clean. I know this is a good snack. So if I'm gonna eat a handful of something, you know, that 4 p.m. before dinner, 5 p.m., like you're waiting for dinner, but you need a little something, people have a snack um with it. And then a very small percentage actually pours it and drinks it has it with milk.

SPEAKER_03:

Interesting. Gabriella, how have you been eating this?

SPEAKER_01:

Um, I was putting it on coconut yogurt, and then I was also eating it almost like a cereal.

SPEAKER_03:

With water, with milk?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, not with water.

SPEAKER_03:

But water. That would be weird.

SPEAKER_01:

But yeah, and then I would just like grab a handful of it.

SPEAKER_03:

And which flavor did you say you had?

SPEAKER_01:

The I had the chocolate peanut butter one.

SPEAKER_03:

Is that the second one? We're doing the third one, chocolate.

SPEAKER_01:

That's the third one.

SPEAKER_00:

So I thought that's it.

SPEAKER_03:

That was good. That was really good. No, I would imagine with the dietary issues that's something that's difficult at times to manage. Two things. One, like, how excited are you when you get to try new things and and add variety to you? What you what is a more limited diet than the average 18-year-old has?

SPEAKER_01:

No, I get like really excited. Um Emily, my stepmom, her sister.

SPEAKER_03:

Shout out to Emily.

SPEAKER_01:

Just shipped me a box of snacks from her Whole Foods up in She's from New York.

SPEAKER_03:

Buffalo.

SPEAKER_01:

Buffalo, yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

It's not really fun in New York. It's like New York, Canada.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, and just like being able to open up that box and see all the new snacks of foods try, like I was so excited.

SPEAKER_03:

Are you excited about the Whole Foods opening up here in Bedmont? Shout out the Whole Foods. Shout out.

SPEAKER_01:

I mean, there's one in Fayetteville, I think.

SPEAKER_03:

There is. But Fayetteville. Second part of that, with the difficulty you're dealing with now, did growing up with this guy kind of prepare you for a life of difficulty? I would imagine it did.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes.

SPEAKER_03:

Very much so. I mean, the alopecia can't be as bad as growing up with that.

SPEAKER_01:

You can't keep on saying alopecia.

SPEAKER_03:

Is that what is it called?

SPEAKER_01:

Alpha.

SPEAKER_03:

That's what I said. That's what I said, didn't it?

SPEAKER_01:

Do you even know what alopecia is?

SPEAKER_03:

Yes, the food thing when you get eaten by the tick. Yeah, the tick. The tick, right? The tick. That's not alopecia.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that's alpha. Alopecia is the same.

SPEAKER_03:

Don't listen. He's just teasing you. He's just done out. All right, we're off to the second one. Sorry. Back to you, Kita. Is this peanut butter?

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, the second one is apple cinnamon reason. Oh, all right.

SPEAKER_03:

This is the one that I'm most excited about.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, so that one.

SPEAKER_03:

I got cinnamon in my wheelhouse. She put chocolate peanut butter in the cleanup spot for me. That's what I'm waiting for.

SPEAKER_00:

I put it last. Um so the apple cinnamon reason has little dried pieces of apple that are baked into the granola and they get crunchy.

SPEAKER_03:

I like the crunch. That one's my favorite. I can tell you right now. That's gonna be my favorite. The honey one's gonna be my second favorite, the chocolate peanut butter. I'm not gonna be as crazy, but I'm not a chocolate guy. But I will try it. It won't be so difficult. I bet you'll like the last one, but I'm gonna go. You just say it's gonna be third. Oh. You really just that was good. I taste the cinnamon. I taste the apple. But neither one's overpowered at the end. It's like just a nice, it's it's a it's to me, it's gonna be great watching a movie and reaching in and grabbing a handful of this versus a couple of. No, see, I disagree. This is gonna be good over yogurt. I like it. This is breakfast. This is breakfast for me. I feel like uh what's the what's the yogurt we have in the house now? The one with the black label?

SPEAKER_02:

Oikos?

SPEAKER_03:

Oikos, yeah. I do the oikdose vanilla. Yeah. And I'm putting in like high sugar granola, like you know, the oh, it's healthy. High sugar granola. This now is gonna be my go-ko. That was good. I like the cinnamon one very much. That was good.

SPEAKER_00:

What's fun about the cinnamon one is kids love it. Sure. You know, like I have fans that are seven years old and six years old, and I my my brother is coming to visit for Thanksgiving. So I'm gonna actually video his kids and I'm gonna be like, hey, you guys eat these chia seeds, and they're gonna like spit it out and make great faces, like five-year-olds do, right? And then I'm gonna be like, eat this granola, and they're gonna be like, this is delicious.

SPEAKER_03:

Is there a way to make the granola in one of your side dishes for um is there a way to utilize this? Sure, you could use it for Thanksgiving?

SPEAKER_00:

I'm sure you could use it in a crumble.

SPEAKER_03:

Mix it in an apple pie.

SPEAKER_00:

Put it on a pie. There's uh that there's all kinds of things you can make with granola. You can make protein balls. Um, and that's gonna be a section of our website as soon as we can get there. We're going as fast as we can. But recipe inspiration is a really great thing. That would be good for me, yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

So for people looking to like start businesses, you're someone who came from a big company, a large organization, large hierarchy, bureaucracy, the whole bit. What was the toughest part about a year and a half ago or whenever this was, starting out on your own and and trying to Josh? I'm asking you. Oh, sorry, you can chime in. Having no money.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, yes, my answer would be connected to that, which is we're self-funded, we're bootstrapped. That's actually really fun. Like my parents were immigrants, so I'm used to making something out of nothing, and that's not something I've had to do in many years because we're so resourced at a big company. But the flip side of that is accepting that you just have to go, and most of the time it's not going to be perfect, and you'll fix it as you go. Right? Like we just launched our website because we knew we had customers in other states that were interested. At the moment, we're not showing up in Google yet. We'll get there.

SPEAKER_03:

Gotta go.

SPEAKER_00:

Um we're we're like on search when you search for it. We know what to do, but we were like, okay, let's just get an MVP up, let's make it as good as it can be. Let's launch, let's email our customer list, let people start buying this. And then behind the scenes, we're doing all the other things that we need to do.

SPEAKER_03:

And if people want to start buying this, they already can. Is it available in any retail stores or on like an Amazon? Or is it more go to our website and buy this and try it, and then we're gonna get it big enough where it's gonna be in all those places?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, it's go to our website right now and buy it and try it. Um, we have a three-pack online where you it's kind of a sampler and it's actually what's selling the best. Okay. And then um, because it's not formalized yet in a week, I would give you a different answer, but we'll be in some local stores right away. Fabulous. We'll be in a store in Bella Vista, fill in the blank, they're only one. Um we'll be in Fayetteville. You know, we'll be in a few places here very shortly where people can go get the product and they don't have to wait for it.

SPEAKER_03:

But she's also carries around in her car and she's at the Bentonville Collaborative most of the week, and I can just buy some out of her car. All right, I would ask you a question now. Okay. What is this Bentonville Collaborative? It excellent question. In on Fifth Street, uh over sort of by the momentary and by blue over there. Where the holler used to be. No, that's A Street. Okay. Okay. And Airship is. Okay. Right over there is the building that I work in with Plug and Play, and she hubs and houses out of there. That's where we met, and she saw me the other day. She's like, When can I sell you granola? I'm like, when do you want to come on the podcast? When's Gabby coming to town? Yeah. And it that's kind of how we got here today.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. It's all happened pretty quick.

SPEAKER_03:

Gabby, making things happen. But but you're interrupting the fact that I want to get to the I know. You're drawing this out. You don't want to have this one. No, it's not that I don't want to. I'll have it. I'm just, I know I'm not going to be successful. I'm going to trade you my leftover apple for this one. Everyone else in the world, oh, chocolate peanut butter, it's my favorite, and it's always my least favorite. I'm going to trade you the rest of my I'm going to trade you the rest of this one for the chocolate peanut butter. Until it looks pretty good.

SPEAKER_00:

All right, throw it back again.

SPEAKER_03:

Cheers. I like to throw it back. I'm having shots of my daughter.

SPEAKER_00:

I always tell people it's the healthiest shot you'll ever have.

SPEAKER_03:

It's not heavy chocolate. It's not like overpowering. I like it. I would buy the apple cinnamon, and I knew it would be just a personal taste. But I think it wouldn't surprise me at all if the best seller was chocolate peanut butter. I'm not naive to the fact that most people like it. Now, watch what I'm gonna do for you, Gita. You would buy the apple cinnamon, take one out. Buy right now, Jim. Here we go. She's got it with her. How much is this? Is it so much is one bag?

SPEAKER_00:

Ten bucks all in.

SPEAKER_03:

Ten bucks for a bag.

SPEAKER_00:

Yep.

SPEAKER_03:

And the and the three bag is well online it's 35.

SPEAKER_00:

We're looking to lower the big.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, it's a B-team podcast disc. Oh.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes. So our in-store retail price will be sub 10, and we don't want to create friction by having a slightly higher price online.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, that's where we started because we're that new and we are trying to make a little bit of money. We have no scale.

SPEAKER_03:

I'm in on a cinnamon apple for 10 bucks.

SPEAKER_00:

But we will get there quickly to where we have the same price across all channels.

SPEAKER_03:

Terrific. Now I'm I'm the brokerage for you. You're selling it to me as a distributor, so it's$15. You're selling it through me, and I'm getting my$5 up chart. So it's$15 bag for you. Oh, all right. I'll fair it.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Supply and demand. Josh is getting networking fees. You like that? Yeah. Listen, the B Team Podcast has got to generate revenue. So how do you make some money? We've got to make some money. Now you have three other flavors in addition to today's three, correct?

SPEAKER_00:

I have just these three for now, but I can tell you the next flavor when we do introduce it. We'll be in the berry family.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh my god. Which berry? Should we pick the berry?

SPEAKER_00:

Um, you can suggest a berry, and I'll certainly listen.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, so you're open to feedback on the berry.

SPEAKER_00:

Of course. So I don't think you're a fruit guy.

SPEAKER_03:

I I like a nice blueberry. In in blueberry, I don't like to eat blueberries because I get the blue on my hands. I don't like the staining, but blueberry. That's how it works. Yeah. I have that problem with my hands. I get blueberry stands on it. But blueberry in that would be good. What other options are you thinking about? The strawberry, raspberry would be good.

SPEAKER_00:

Yep.

SPEAKER_03:

I have an strawberry.

SPEAKER_00:

Those are the two contenders. Which ones? Blueberry and strawberry.

SPEAKER_03:

No raspberry.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, you can have a mixed berry. So usually that has freeze strawberry. Usually that has freeze-dried berries in it.

SPEAKER_03:

Or we can have a blueberry. Because banana strawberry would be great.

SPEAKER_00:

Possibly.

SPEAKER_03:

All right. Possibly. She's not saying no, but she's not saying nothing. So you're you're you're baiting the audience. I like that. Yeah. Well, she's not saying no because she likes it, but she's looking, I look at she's going, Jim, you're out of your mind, right? It might be a terrible.

SPEAKER_00:

I actually love banana granolas, and I'll I'll say that. We're we're a startup, and so keeping our product reined in is very important because every extra item adds complexity. Sure. You know, I've got I've got packaging, ingredients, costs. So we're trying to win with three out the gate. But this is this has been a really fun discussion because you're like, I like chocolate peanut butter, I like apple cinnamon. This is a flavor business.

SPEAKER_02:

A hundred percent.

SPEAKER_00:

Like everybody has their flavor, and it's not that chocolate peanut butter is the best seller. Um, they all sell pretty equally to different things.

SPEAKER_03:

Interesting. I think I like the honey glow.

SPEAKER_01:

I mean, I like R3 a lot.

SPEAKER_03:

You did?

SPEAKER_01:

But I don't know. I feel like the honey glow surprised me because I thought it was just gonna be like a boring honey taste. No, it was good. It was like a lot more than that.

SPEAKER_03:

So I I'm gonna have to buy bags of each of them for you today? Is that what you're thinking? That's three bags for Josh, one bag for Jim. I like that. I like that math.

SPEAKER_01:

If you wanted one bag from yourself, I will feed that.

SPEAKER_03:

Four bags for Josh. Four bags for Josh.

SPEAKER_01:

I'll just eat from your bag.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, I'll tell you what, Josh, if you buy four, I will up mine to two and I'll get one of the honey glue. How many bags do you have to you did a sell?

SPEAKER_00:

I I always carry run bags, so I I've just gotten to a point where so my business started, and I'm gonna give Lynn at Yoga Story a shout out. I was like a little crack dealer selling granola at Yoga Story before I was even a physician.

SPEAKER_03:

Not a legit, not a real crack dealer, people at home. You don't get pregnant from changing your diet. That's right.

SPEAKER_00:

So I I sort of knew that the people who come to Yoga Story would be a really good target audience for me. They're health forward, holistic-minded, you know. A lot people are usually, you know, that come that are part of a yoga studio, they're really into like how do I hack my health. So I was already like testing flavors, making sure people liked it. I was using them as an audience. So I already had fans there that were starting to buy from me. And then Lynn was like, Look, you're not selling officially anywhere yet. I was at the Rogers Farmers Market for a couple months just to get feedback. And she was like, You can just use my yoga studio as a pickup point. So to this day, like people DM me all the time. They're like, I need two bags of this, I need three bags of this, and I just leave it at the front desk. They take cash from me, and we're just running like the pioneers.

SPEAKER_03:

Like it's uh So full full transparency. I thought at first she said uh what is it? The yoga yoga story.

SPEAKER_00:

Yoga story in downtown Dunville. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

I thought she said yogurt story. I was like, I don't know where yogurt story is. I I didn't know there was a yoga stand. I thought she was delivering to a yogurt place, which would make sense. It's not because that wouldn't be ridiculous. Well, now that you know, don't you do yoga at home, you and Corey? I do not. I do not. Does this look like a person that does yoga? Downward dog. Question before John Not question, so much as a down the road flavor.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

The flavor that I would love to see out of it. Oh, yeah. You can have to talk about your berries for a while. Girl Scout cookie samoas. Ah. Like a coconut. How is that healthy? It's uh I it's her job to make it coconut. It's her job to make it healthy. It's not it's my job to eat it and have it taste good. I the the coconut, chocolate, I mean, you're able to do peanut butter and chocolate. You wouldn't think, oh, health food, but it is. So I'm saying coconut, somehow some sort of pseudo-caramel-tasting thing with chocolate and the flakes of granola, I think would be outstanding. I'm just saying that. Don't sign with Mr. Corbett. Because Gabby knows knows what she's talking about.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, I'm gonna I'm gonna let you in on a little secret. So with 20 plants, everyone already has coconut in it.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, well, thank you. I knew that, Jim. You mocked my cooking.

SPEAKER_01:

The chocolate peanut butter one here.

SPEAKER_03:

You get it. Yeah, yeah, I suppose. I suppose. I'm still gonna get the two other ones. We're gonna have to edit that out because that did that was just I think I hit a home run with that idea. We just got to triple the coconut level on the on the peanut butter. I do. I like well, I like Samoas.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, Samoas are delicious. Samoas.

SPEAKER_03:

See, when I'm thinking coconut, I'm trying to think about mango and like sort of like a Hawaiian fruity tropical. Tropical. I think Johnmore girls go cookies. Pineapple, mango, coconut. Can we do those types of things a bit? Does that count as that would count as plant, right?

SPEAKER_01:

You could always just like pop a mango and put it with the granola.

SPEAKER_03:

That's work for me, Gabs.

SPEAKER_01:

I don't want to open the bag and have a little yogurt bowl with the granola and the fruit.

SPEAKER_03:

This is where you cook for me. You had me when you were agreeing with me, Gabs. I don't want to do work either. I'm with your dad on the road. Can we can we get to tropical?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, of course we can. So Gabby, Gabby, Gabby is a little bit.

SPEAKER_03:

But that adds for every minute going by.

SPEAKER_00:

No, Gab, Gabby's totally right. So a thing is styling these smoothie bowls. It's all over Pinterest. You make them beautiful. I'm actually taking photos, like I'm getting photos taken or taking them with people, and we're styling bowls because that's a thing. And it looks delicious, it looks healthy.

SPEAKER_03:

Gabby, if you like you have a homework assignment, I want you to Instagram a bowl styling. They're Instagram connected, right?

SPEAKER_00:

Totally. Yes, we are. We've been talking for a while.

SPEAKER_03:

I want I want to see an Instagram. What is it? An Instagram story? There you go. Look at you. You're so trendy. I'm very trendy.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Just don't put it on Snapchat. You like it? Instagram story of you bowl styling. Is that what we're going to call hashtag bowl styling? Is that is that cool? 6'7.

SPEAKER_00:

Styling. That's crazy. Sounds good. Look at that. 6'7.

SPEAKER_03:

Very hip. Very it.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, tropical flavors totally. It's doable.

SPEAKER_03:

All right. I have a few business questions for you. Okay. Sure.$10 is we're we're making money. We're profitable.

SPEAKER_00:

Yep.

SPEAKER_03:

Yes?

SPEAKER_00:

Yep.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay. Scalability. Are you looking for investors? Like, how do people in the community, other than buying your amazing product, which by the way is amazing, like are you for people to write you checks? Like, what do you need the community to do here?

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, thank you so much for asking that. Thank you. Okay. So here's what you can do for me. When you publish this podcast, make sure that the link to the website is in the podcast description.

SPEAKER_03:

Done.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. So that will help.

SPEAKER_03:

Can we always do that? Yes. That's a good link. Perfect. Not always, but it's when they asked.

SPEAKER_00:

And the website link is www.gut bff.com. Pretty simple, straightforward, okay? And then how do you spell BFF?

SPEAKER_03:

Is that is also Stanford Best Friends Forever? Best friends forever. You're mine. Not Dettonville Film Festival. It could be ABC.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, you guys are good for knowing that because um occasionally I will have a guy, and it's always a guy, that comes to me and says, What is BFF?

SPEAKER_02:

Really?

SPEAKER_00:

And I'll be like, it's best friends forever. You know, like you're best friends with your gut. This product is best friends with your gut, you're best friends with your gut and doing something nice.

SPEAKER_03:

It's all marketing. And IYKYK. If you know, you know.

SPEAKER_00:

You guys are awesome because you know. And I even had this CPG friend said, you know, if you call it gut BFF, you're alienating all men. And I was just Oh no, that's it. It was funny. But I was like, look, 80% of women buy granola, and if they get their husband to eat it, you know, women buy groceries primarily. So they'll they'll they'll do the work for me and the product. So to get back to your question, we will raise money six months from now. And they always say raise money before you need it. And if um what people can do is we have a section on our website where you can talk to us. You know, so you can always fill in that section and just say, I'm interested in being on your investor newsletter, or you can write me, Gita at gutbf.com, g-i-t a at gutbf.com. And I I I'm a small business. I talk to everybody, I respond to everybody. When he told me Gabby was excited about my product, I was like, hey Gabby, let's talk about this product. You know, tell me what you like about it. And, you know, it's all about building relationships with customers because these big CPGs are never going to be able to do that. That's a differentiation that I have. I'm a real person, she's a real person. We have a connection now, and I know what's important to her in the product, and that makes me really happy.

SPEAKER_02:

Yep.

SPEAKER_00:

And you're totally right. The number of people that are dealing with or have somebody in their family dealing with an alpha gel, a celiac.

SPEAKER_02:

Alpha gel.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, see, I got it right for you.

SPEAKER_02:

Got it right.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, a celiac, or so many different kinds of um, you know, even irritable bowel, or 20% of adults have some kind of gut issue. Sure. And all of those people are like, I'm not bloating when I eat this. And, you know, I feel like it's really good for my wellness and my digestion. So that's a good thing.

SPEAKER_03:

But here's the reality with this most the stereotype is healthy, tastes like shit.

SPEAKER_00:

Yep, I know.

SPEAKER_03:

Healthy tastes like shit. This was really, really like I would if I didn't care about my gut, I would buy this. Yeah. So and I do think, and and Gabby, I this is a question for you, because you're in college now. The rest of us are a little older. A little older. A lot older. A little older. Gray beard, a lot older. Yeah. It feels like, hey, this is a natural for you because you've got a more restricted diet, you've got to be conscious of what you put inside your mouth and stuff like that. When you're with your friends, do you feel like the generation that's coming up today is more health conscious than past generations? And you might not have perspective on that, but like I know I feel like it, but like, do you feel like this is something that your friends are gonna jump on because they want to be healthier? So what you're he's saying is if Jim and I were gonna go to Popeyes for fried chicken, would your generation rather eat gut BFF? It's not so much a rather, I just feel like COVID changed a lot of stuff. Yes. And for the kids who were growing up, or or for the adults who lived through it, I I think more and more there's an awareness that you know what, what Gita said earlier is true. My diet can make a big difference. And I want to and I want to be healthier and I don't want to be susceptible to stuff. So it's not just about celiacs or or diabetes or this or that, it's about what can I do to be more healthy, proactively manage the health. Do you feel like that's something that resonates with the college kids today? Because obviously Josh and I are talking to them every week.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, no, I definitely agree with that, and I feel like social media does play like such a huge part because there are like probiotic and prebiotic sodas have been trending a lot recently, and people like it will go out and buy them because I see all these influencers drinking them. And so I feel like health kind of is becoming more of a trend, and people are trying.

SPEAKER_03:

Great. It feels like you could be an influencer for Gita. Like you feel like anybody. This is about to blow up on with the bears in Missouri State. This is about to be big up there. Are you ready to be famous? What's the first thing you're gonna do when you make your first million dollars, Caps? Buy my dad a house.

SPEAKER_01:

I don't know what I would do, but it's not buying a house. I'd buy my dad a house.

SPEAKER_03:

Gita, the one question for you, because you're gonna blow up. I I feel very strongly you know business, you got a good background with Walmart, you're personable, you have a good brand. Are you gonna be able to supply all of the needs when you start getting distribution? Like, are you making this in your home? Like, where's it where are you doing this right now? And how are you gonna be able to scale quickly? Because this needs to scale.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, this does need to scale. And I'm realizing that um every day that it has a lot of potential. People are very, very passionate about it. They're telling their friends. Um Well, okay, so I got lucky, and we do live in a great place. And so just this past year, something opened called Market Center of the Ozarks in Springdale. And it is a place that has commercial kitchens, and in the back, there is an FDA facility that will help entrepreneurs like me with scale up.

SPEAKER_03:

That's fantastic.

SPEAKER_00:

So this is actually the hardest part, like getting from your kitchen to a co-packer, because maybe in your kitchen you're selling 200 units a week, and maybe with a copacker, you need to be buying 7,000 for a month, right? And so think of that scale difference. That's like a 30x difference, right? Nobody can make that kind of jump without it being scary as heck because that's a lot of money you got to put out, and you may not have generated that demand yet. So this um, I'll call it like a small copacker has been working with me. We've been producing, you know, just what I need. Um and so, and I can scale that to grow with the business to a point. I'm gonna project that like the middle of next year, I will need to go to a much bigger copacker and I'll be ready for scale. But I have been so fortunate to have this to get me through this six-month time period because otherwise I would be buying like my whole master bedroom would be filled with pallets of product and I would be under so much pressure to move it because food is a taking time bomb and it has an expiration.

SPEAKER_03:

Sure, it would look like Maven Kayla's bedroom.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

What is what is the the shelf life?

SPEAKER_00:

Nine months.

SPEAKER_03:

Nine months, okay.

SPEAKER_00:

And you know, another beautiful thing that happened when I started using this facility is I got a better quality of product than I've ever been able to get at home. So it was more consistent, it was better mixed, it was better baked, there was less moisture in it. So that also gave me a lot of peace that I could go scale now. Because before I was like, gee, I don't know how fast can I go? Like, it am I am I really safe with this? Because people eat food and you want to make sure every single thing is checked before you jump and you push that pedal to the metal. So that's been amazing.

SPEAKER_03:

Gabby, I don't want to put any pressure on you because this is your first podcast ever. But is there anything that you want to say to Gita? About how thankful that you are that stuff like this is on the market, and maybe just tell her how you don't have to lead her so much. She'll be fine. Gabby, what do you want to say to Gita?

SPEAKER_01:

No, I think stuff like this is amazing, and I love finding different products that are like this just because of with all my restrictions. And just a lot of the time I do have a lot of anxiety with the foods that I eat because of the restrictions. And so knowing that there's good, clean ingredients in what I'm eating and that it's gonna make me feel good and also taste really good is just like a big huge relief. So I am very thankful for products like this.

SPEAKER_03:

Outstanding. I don't think we're gonna do better than that.

SPEAKER_00:

No, other than just one more time on the website www.gutvf.com. And if you're curious, you're interested, you want to strike up a conversation with me, I love to learn from my customers. So feel free to do that even if you aren't gonna buy something. Yes and you just want to get to know me or you want to have a coffee, like I'm available, and I'm very passionate about growing this business and building authentic relationships with customers.

SPEAKER_03:

I'm excited for you. You're gonna blow up. We'll have you back in six to 12 months. You'll roll up in your Rolls Royce. You'll have you'll have an entourage, you'll have your people. I'm excited because I remember you when. You remember her when way back in the day. But now I'm looking at you six months and now she'll roll up in here like she snooped off. Cheers. Cheers, everybody. Cheers to goodbye.

unknown:

Cheers.

SPEAKER_03:

Thank you, Ida. Thank you, thank you, Gabby. Thanks for the opportunity to speak to you for anything.