396 Happy Wolf

Jeffrey Feldberg: [00:00:00] Jana Goodbaum and Derek Beigelman are the dynamic duo behind Happy Wolf Snacks, a new brand dedicated to providing wildly simple, clean, and nutritious snacks for kids. Jana, a proud mom of two toddlers, brings a wealth of marketing expertise from her previous role leading Integrated Marketing Communications at Tim Hortons, Canada's largest restaurant chain.

Her passion for health and nutrition intensified when she became a parent, driving her to tackle the challenges of snack time head on. Frustrated by the lack of wholesome school safe options, Jana left her successful career to create the kind of snacks she wished existed for her own children.

Derek, a lifelong entrepreneur with a knack for innovation, began his journey on Wall Street before founding Open Farm, a mission driven pet food company. Over seven years, he successfully launched over 120 products, developed a fully traceable supply chain across 100 plus suppliers and expanded the brand to more than 6, 500 [00:01:00] retail locations.

After stepping away from Open Farm, Derek turned his entrepreneurial focus to his family identifying a glaring need for better snack options for kids.

Together, Jana and Derek combined their complementary skills and shared vision as health conscious parents to launch Happy Wolf Snacks. With a commitment to raising the bar in the snack industry, they're creating a brand that prioritizes simplicity, transparency, and nutrition for families everywhere.

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Deep Wealth Nation, welcome to another episode of the Deep Wealth Podcast and today I am thrilled we have some entrepreneurs in the house, but not just any entrepreneurs, and they're not just doing a startup, they are doing a company that is revolutionizing health, your health, your family's health. So I'm going to put a plug in it right there.

Jana, Derek, welcome to the Deep Wealth Podcast and there's always a story behind the story and I know both of you have incredible stories. So [00:04:00] what's your story? What got you from where you were to where you are today?

Jana Goodbaum: So, I'm Jana. I grew up, wanting to be a CMO. I don't know if a lot of people can say that, but that is where I wanted to go. I did my MBA, I came out, and I said, I'm going to climb, the corporate ladder, and I'm going to lead marketing for a big, huge brand. And I was on my way, and I had my dream job in many ways.

I worked for Tim Hortons, which is Canada's largest coffee company, and largest quick serve restaurants. and largest advertiser. And I ended up leading advertising there for, the better part of seven years. And I was living my dream. I had a huge budget, a huge team, and I was on my way to my CMO dream.

but the problem was, is I didn't eat the food that I was selling. I've always been health conscious very ingredient focused, and, it started to feel a little bit inauthentic selling a product that I personally didn't eat, and then when I became a mom, that I really certainly [00:05:00] didn't feed my own children.

And then at the same time, I had my first daughter in 2020, height of the pandemic, and I, as this health conscious person, really took the responsibility of feeding her very seriously. It felt like, she's a blank slate, this is a huge responsibility, and why should she be eating all of these ultra processed ingredients and sugar and all of this stuff that she doesn't need.

And I'm the one who's in charge. So I started making almost everything that she was eating from scratch. Which was all well and good while I was on maternity leave. But then I went back to work at my busy job. I was coming home after a long day of work. I was responsible for three of her meals a day.

And I was also like literally sleeving away, making energy balls for her at two in the morning because nothing at the grocery store fits, my standards and we're all so school safe that I could send her to daycare. And I started thinking, if I feel this way, if I have this willingness to pay for [00:06:00] the best quality snacks for my toddler but I truly cannot find them, then maybe there's other parents out there who are facing this same problem.

And I did a ton of market research in my role at work. And so I put that same hat on and I started spending her nap times, like literally calling, other moms and their friends and their friends and talking about their kids food and their kids snacks. And I honestly. Came out with this conviction that there is this like white space here for ultra clean ingredient, school friendly snacks for kids for this next generation of parents like me.

I could see it. I had a vision for what type of brand I wanted to build and what kind of product I wanted to make, but I knew that I had no idea how to implement it. Commercialize it and make that happen. And so I will let Derek tell his story behind the story, but that is the point where I was like, I need a partner in this.

And I know exactly who I want that partner to be. And it's my longtime friend, [00:07:00] Derek. 

Derek Beigleman: My background is I actually started off in finance, call it like 15 years ago, and decided that really wasn't the path that I wanted to go down. I really wanted to go and be an entrepreneur and build something from scratch.

I actually partnered with my brother and sister in law more than a decade ago. And we built a business called Open Farm. Open Farm it's a, truly revolutionary pet food company where we were pushing the standards in traceability, ethical sourcing, higher animal welfare. We were building at the time and continue to build today what I think is one of the most innovative brands in pet and We went through, all different iterations over the course us working together.

We built over 120 SKUs across seven different product categories. We had manufacturing spread out all across the United States. Distribution, we had, over 6, 000 retail stores carrying the brand. We were shipping tens of thousands of D2C orders every year. It was just an [00:08:00] incredible experience and consumer.

And when Jana approached me, call it two years plus ago, and we kind of started doing that research. At first, I was definitely a little hesitant, but as we continued to dig in and learn more and more, what really became abundantly clear to me was that There's more innovation in what I could feed my dog, Molly, than in what I could give my two children, Lucas and Jory, and that was a big aha moment for me, because what I realized was probably a lot of the similar elements of what I saw in the pet food industry Actually existed in young kids nutrition.

And so there was like an aha moment where, wow, we can go build something in the kids space that can truly be impactful, raise the bar, and have a really positive impact on parents. Like I even saw it with my wife. She was literally, taking Mondays off to roll energy balls for my son, Lucas, [00:09:00] and she's a therapist, so she bills by the hour, and I would rather her be billing than rolling energy balls, you know, so it was called I, we saw it in the market and all the diligence that we did, but I also saw it in my own home, and so that really gave me the, what I'll say, kick in the pants to be like, all right, let's go do this and we got pretty excited about it and hit the ground running.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Yeah, such a fascinating story with the two of you, all kinds of questions, but for Deep Wealth Nation, let's set them up in terms of a better understanding, because I'm sure when they walk through the, wherever they get their food, they're going through the different aisles and they're in the snack food area and they see this green packaging and it's saying it's healthy, maybe it's even organic.

They look at the label, probably don't understand what's on the label. So, let's reveal behind the curtain what's really going on for the typical snack food, even the ones that are quote unquote, healthy. What's going on, particularly for kids foods? Yeah,

Jana Goodbaum: Yeah, and I think that is exactly the change that we're starting to see, is people are starting to go deeper [00:10:00] than like the front of package. Because on the front of package, it is really confusing to be a consumer right now. Everything says it's natural, and organic, and amazing and has all of these claims of 16 grams of protein, it's wonderful when you're looking at the front of the pack and I think what has changed is that a lot of parents, like me are starting to turn it around and actually read the ingredients and question what the hell is this long string of words that I have never seen before, that I certainly have never baked with or had in my own pantry or my own kitchen, and that my grandmother would never have known what it is, as in it's made in a lab, it is It's highly processed and it's really far from a whole food.

And so what we said is, all of these people who are making their own food at home are only using what is available at the grocery store as like a whole food. And so let's use whole real [00:11:00] foods as minimally processed as possible and none of these weird, processing agents, these emulsifiers, these stabilizers These preservatives, colors, flavors and just go back to basics, to food that is whole.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Such a great story there. And Deep Wealth Nation, we've had doctors and scientists on, and they've shared with us, and the study's now dated, I suspect it's even worse, that 88 percent of people in the U. S. have some kind of metabolic disease. I suspect that's even higher. You are what you eat, and so those diseases are primarily coming from the kind of foods, and anecdotally, maybe you'll tell me, Jeffrey, your on base, off base colleagues or friends, when they go overseas, they go to Europe, they have some of the same foods over there.

But they come back, hey Jeffrey, I lost some weight, or I felt terrific, or I didn't have the typical reactions when I have it over here. So what's going on with that? Because both of you, you've been in the industry before Happy Wolf, you see what's [00:12:00] going on behind the scenes. The big food companies, what don't they want us to know?

Jana Goodbaum: I think coming into this industry, relatively new, especially on the manufacturing side, what became very clear to me is that all of those ingredients that you don't recognize and that you don't use at home, those are not in your packaged food for you, for your benefit. Really, in every way.

Those ingredients are benefiting everyone else in the supply chain except for you, so those ingredients make products cheaper, they make products last a hell of a lot longer, they make them easier to mass produce so they don't get stuck on the line they help, the grocery chains and the grocery stores.

Distributors so that if you're going between, cold and not so cold, it doesn't melt in between. And 

Derek Beigleman: I would just add, yeah, it's also a byproduct of the demand of the consumer. The consumer wants to buy the same product every time. They don't want it to have variability. [00:13:00] Yeah, 

Jana Goodbaum: We can get it. That's such a good point.

The consumer has been trained the food that they eat especially when you're eating more processed food, you're used to it being identical every time. First of all, none of these products are in it really for your health.

And then coming at something like Natural flavors. Natural flavors are the third most common ingredient in food today. It's literally salt, sugar, natural flavors. And they're just like a compilation. Basically, it's a boatload of chemicals that make your products smell and taste the every time. And it's proprietary. You don't have to put on the label what's inside these natural flavors. They can have up to a hundred highly processed chemicals within that two words, natural flavors. There can be a hundred ingredients hidden in there. But to Derek's point, when you give a kid, a granola bar, they are trained, especially if it's called a blueberry granola bar I [00:14:00] won't tell you the brand, but there's a very popular brand of blueberry granola bars right now out there. You open that package, it smells like blueberry fragrance.

And they're trained that to take over their palate, their expectation, what they're expecting. That is a taste and a smell that doesn't actually exist. In reality, but now that's what they think a blueberry should taste like. I would say the same for banana flavor and to Derek's point, when we're manufacturing with real whole foods, our dates taste slightly different depending on literally the season and the rainfall in this country and the crops are, slightly different, but that makes a huge difference in how our products taste.

And so consumers, by and large, are not used to that. 

Derek Beigleman: Consumers have demanded a very low price point. And so manufacturers and the supply chain has adapted, well, how can we bring down the cost as much as possible to try to hit these price points?

And so those factors coming together It doesn't necessarily serve your health, it [00:15:00] might serve more your pocketbook and their pocketbook as well. 

Jana Goodbaum: someone said the quote recently and I wrote it down and I thought it was so interesting. People keep asking why healthy food is so expensive and why real food is so expensive.

But I think the question that we should all be asking is like, why is this ultra processed food actually so cheap? And I think that, that's a thinker for all of us.

Derek Beigleman: What I would say Happy Wolf truly does different than really, any company I've come across before is how we go about sourcing our primary raw materials, and by that I mean we are truly using the most minimally processed ingredients that you can possibly get your hands on, and I'll give you an example.

We use sunflower seed butter. It's one of the main ingredients. All that we're doing is we're taking sunflower seeds, We're grinding them and then putting them in the bar. And that is what we call an unprocessed raw material. There's no cutting it, there's no agents, there's nothing.

Jana Goodbaum: Adding oil and a lot of other brands are doing. 

Derek Beigleman: We're really going to great lengths to try to [00:16:00] exclusively use the whole ingredient in a relatively unadulterated format, which might be a technical word, it just means an unchanged format to a certain extent, in our bar. 

Jana Goodbaum: And we're also optimizing on taste in our ingredients, and I think that's something, again, coming in new to this world, has been so eye opening.

You go to these trade shows, and people are looking at ingredients who has the cheapest vanilla? Who has the cheapest Deepest oat flour, that checks all of these standards and has all of these certifications. But what we realized, because we're not using those flavors, because we're not using refined sugar, we have nothing to mask the true taste of our ingredients.

And so we had no choice, if we wanted to make a delicious product, to also really be ranking our ingredients on the merit of their taste and really not looking at them as commodities. 

audioDerekBeigleman11841568287: Totally.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And in looking at your ingredients, in preparing for the show and taking a look at that, I understood every single one of [00:17:00] them, and there's not a lot that was in there. And so, I know this is for kids, but I think to myself, you know what? That's something I can see myself eating. Now, I suspect, as we move forward, we're going to hear a lot more about the seed oils.

So, talk to us about seed oils. You've mentioned that most people really aren't aware of that and we hear seed oils, we think vegetable oils and we've been programmed more or less by just mass marketing, well, hey, what's wrong with a vegetable oil? 

Jana Goodbaum: I don't bake with them. And, from a, scientific nutrition standpoint, there's a lot of evidence to suggest that they're inflammatory, that, they're just really not good for your general health. And then it also goes back to stuff that our great grandparents would have used and understood, and they are, very heavily processed.

They're very far from the initial whole food that they started from and to get them to that clear, beautiful place that you just described, they have to be bleached [00:18:00] and, go through, I don't know, something like 20 manufacturing steps versus something like an extra virgin olive oil or a grass fed butter.

Not that we're using those. We're using cacao butter as our healthy fats and those raw, pure seed butters that we talked about, but it. It really comes down to minimally processed for us and again, something that your great grandmother would have recognized and used.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And so, with the bars themselves. You're not having any preservatives and I'm sure on the back end, that changes how we store the product, how we're going to get that out to the consumer. So from a business side of things, talk to us about that because there aren't these preservatives, so we can't just put it in some box on a shelf and however many months or years later, it's still there and it's still good.

What's the expiration of the product? How are you dealing with the bars with all the natural ingredients and making sure that it gets to us fresh? Go to

Derek Beigleman: Yeah, so I think when we went on this journey, Jan and I, we didn't say, oh, [00:19:00] we're going to launch a refrigerated bar. That's not where we started. Where we started was, we really think 

Jana Goodbaum: we would have started. Where 

Derek Beigleman: We started was, we really want to push You know, the category forward and how can we launch something that's truly innovative that does check the box for what we wanted and what, the parents of today's young children want to see in their kids snacks.

Jana Goodbaum: And like something that you can bring on the go that's convenient but has no compromise on ingredients. 

Derek Beigleman: And so as you go down this path and like literally go into product development, you know, you'll hit certain brick walls. And one of the brick walls that we kept banging into was By doing this without, emulsifying agents or binding materials or different types of sugars it's really tough to do what we're doing without some type of hack. And to us. Some kind 

Jana Goodbaum: of preservative. Sure. 

Derek Beigleman: Exactly. Some kind of preservative. So for us, that preservative is the fridge.

If you think of opening up a jar of almond butter. All [00:20:00] right, so much for joining me today, and I'll see you in the next one. Parts of it might've actually had a real flavor change and that's the fats going rancid over time. But if you take that same jar and you put it in the fridge, all of a sudden it holds together.

It actually enables that product to have a much, much longer shelf life where it's going to taste great. So the fridge does that for us. And so in order to use these, what we'll call minimally processed raw materials that really work. In terms of both nutrition and taste, we need the fridge to give us that six plus month shelf life in order to be scalable and saleable in retail.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And you're right, it's a different way of looking at a healthy snack, and the keyword is unhealthy. So there's always two sides to a coin, and yes, it's healthy, you can check the boxes, not the allergens, it's not highly processed. It does mean, though, that it needs to be refrigerated, not really a [00:21:00] big deal on the back end.

Jana Goodbaum: know what, it is new, though, for people, and I think that is the challenge that, there's a lot of challenges that the fridge bring up, which we can get into for the business, but I think for the consumer, it does take sort of education and learning because, As much as they're used to sending their kids to preschool with, an ice cold water bottle and maybe a yogurt with an ice pack, bars and other sort of pantry favorites, they're used to throwing into that bag and leaving it there for a week, for two weeks, for a month.

And so we've had to train our customers. That, this is something that, should be stored in the fridge, but is still good on the go for a few days, but not a few weeks and not a few months and not a few years, like other shelf stable items. And that is learned behavior and takes a little bit of time in educating.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And so from the back end, I get it. You wanted something that's really healthy for your children, and you did that, others found out about that. I'm sure they wanted to have that. And [00:22:00] that's a whole narrative there, and it's a terrific one. On the business side, I know there must be listeners thinking, okay, sounds like a terrific idea.

An amazing product. That said, we're up against multi billion dollar food companies. Big advertising budgets. Your former world, Jana, in terms of what you were doing, and it's a different way of thinking about it. You're going to go to the refrigerator section to find a snack, which we're not really used to.

And I'm sure people are saying, my goodness, seems like a lot of roadblocks. Why in the world would you want to go up against that? You're a startup. You're just getting out there. You already have enough on your plate. This adds a whole lot more. So what was the inner thinking? On both your parts and saying, you know what, we're going to figure it out.

We're just going to get beyond that. What was going on with

Derek Beigleman: Easy business? Sorry, you mentioned this is a hard one. Tell me an easy one. 

Jana Goodbaum: That's fair. No, No, it is a hard business. I'll give you that. I'll give you that. It is an extra hard business. And I think where we got to, and it was like a go, no go moment when we [00:23:00] realized that these bars had to go in the fridge, because of course it does add so much complexity what we realized, though, is if we did compromise on ingredients, if we did add a preservative that wasn't the fridge, then we really weren't solving the problem.

And so, I had to do this problem in the first place. And again, I had told you, I had talked to over the course of now, were years in development and I had talked to hundreds of parents. And I knew that there were other options out there that sounded great until you saw the preservatives or until you saw, these natural flavors and seed oils and other ultra processed ingredients.

And so, I us, we knew that even though it went into the fridge, even though it was complex, we were actually solving a problem for a group who really deeply cared about this issue. category, and about getting the best possible items for their children. And so, for us, that was enough to say, let's keep going, even though it's going to be hard.

Jeffrey Feldberg: [00:24:00] And Derek, to your point, you're right. There is never an easy business. There's always some kind of a so called challenge. I call it an opportunity to figure out. And once you do that, though, that's really what, as entrepreneurs, really makes us great. As we get out there and we take it to market, So, what's been the early feedback that you've had from the marketplace, because to me, as I hear the passion and the love that went into actually creating this.

It sounds as though, very reluctantly, you would rather not have done this, you wish that someone else had already done this, you can just go to the store, pick it up, it'd be done, but that wasn't there, so this was the bar that you wish was out there for your kids. So, what are you hearing now from your customers?

What kind of feedback are you getting?

Jana Goodbaum: It's funny that you say that. I always say that. I'm like, I wish I could have found this. And, I'm always happy when I hear about, people are like, oh, there's this competition that's coming out with this other muffin over there. I'm like, amazing. I'm going to buy it for my kids. Kids eat four snacks a day.

And, There's not enough, there's not even close to enough, truly [00:25:00] clean, healthy options for this next generation of kids. So, super happy when we hear about others going down this road, but not many are. What we have heard from our customers is exactly that. When they find us, and again, we're super new, we're just over a year old, we still have very limited awareness, but when a health conscious mom comes across Happy Wolf, we are happy.

Get customer emails, we get DMs on Instagram every single day from moms who said I avoided snack bars, which are by the way, the most popular snack item for children. I avoided snack bars, my kids weren't allowed to eat them. There was nothing that I approved of in the market and then I found HabiWolf and I'm so So excited because now I don't have to make snacks myself or now I can, you know, my kid can have one of these on the way home from gymnastics every day and I don't have to feel guilty.

I don't feel like I'm sacrificing. And so I would say so far it's been like the champions who have found us. They're really like on the curve of health and nutrition [00:26:00] and ingredients. They are far to the right. They really deeply care about this and they're helping us and they're acting as our loud speaker in this first.

So, year or so of business, and they're just so grateful for us taking this on.

Jeffrey Feldberg: So from in your kitchen, to having this startup idea. You really hit a grand slam for your first move out into the marketplace what was it like behind the scenes you don't really have that track record that other companies might have, but you somehow did it. Love that entrepreneurial spirit. So what's the story behind the story on that one?

Derek Beigleman: We see a big move over the next five years of just snacking becoming a much more conscious purchase, and people really digging into what they're buying, what's in it, and for us, we want to be one of the first movers, and it's okay if we're early.

We feel like we're early today, but what I think Whole Foods sees, and even a handful of other retailers, is this wave of fresh coming, or cleaner eating, minimally processed. People want to see it in more and more [00:27:00] categories, and they want to see it in a bigger and bigger way, and so what I like to think is that we're just part of this big wave, and we're riding this wave of demand at the consumer side that has to be made available by retailers on the retail side, and Whole Foods sees this too.

And I think their vision long term without, I'm don't, I can't speak for them, but I can, infer what I think I see coming is a larger and larger assortment within kids snacking that gets built out with the likes of Happy Wolf and other brands that are trying to push to the innovation curve as well.

Jana Goodbaum: so Whole Foods is actually our second big quote, big retailer. The first retailer that took a chance on us is Wegmans. We love Wegmans, but Wegmans took a chance on us because they were actually formally building out a set called Fresh Snacking for Kids, and it literally says, in the fridge, there's this fridge with a sign that says Fresh Kids and Baby.

And it has refrigerated baby food, some kids yogurt, kids smoothies, kids overnight oats, [00:28:00] and us, and Happy Wolf. When we were literally two months old we were brought in there. And so, I think, stores like Wagmans, stores like Whole Foods really see that parents are asking for more for their kids, the same way they demanded more for themselves, and the stores are excited about.

Derek Beigleman: Well, the stores also see the data. That category within Wegmans has grown almost four fold in three years in terms of sales velocities. At the end of the day, a lot of folks are just number focused and that's performance, and so retailers that have the right clientele that want to be shopping in those sections, if you give them the right curated assortment, it can perform really well for them.

And so I think for us, it's a combination of how do we give stores the data so that they realize, oh, the consumer really does want this, and I can take a risk on allocating space to this type of category. And going back to my prior point, I think over the next five years, we're going to see more and more retailers taking that risk, and that risk [00:29:00] will continue to go down and down as they see it proved out more and more.

And that's obviously what we're, aspiring to do, is help them make that change. 

Jana Goodbaum: And then we have to help educate the customer to know that those options are available in the fridge.

Jeffrey Feldberg: What's really interesting about this, and yes to all your points, there's so much there that each one of those responses could easily be an episode in and of itself. As we sit here from Deep Wealth and we look to our 9-step roadmap, I'm actually tuning into what we call Step 2 X-Factors and also Step 1 Big Picture.

And in Step 1 Big Picture, we're looking for inflection points. So an inflection point is a very early trend. It's not even on the radar, but you found it, you're leveraging it. 

And so Deep Wealth Nation is really exciting they are on an inflection point. Now the new regime of what we're seeing, health, and kids health in particular is very high up there, and what's in our food is high up there, and you're perfectly timed for this because you're there, you've done that.

From where you are right now, and to put you on the spot. Do you see product extensions? Do you see yourself [00:30:00] moving out into other areas? 

Derek Beigleman: Yeah, so I think we see it in two different ways. One is we're at the early stages of this category, and we really want to prove success within refrigerated, fresh, I call it minimally processed snacking for kids within the bar space. So we're laser focused on proving that these bars are going to continue to perform.

They've done really well at Wegmans. We're hoping that they're going to do really well at Whole Foods. And if that continues then each next conversation becomes easier and easier to have. As we see that trend continue to evolve, of course we want to look at innovation to continue to expand our assortment and really go where the next problem set for those millennial parents, Gen Z parents, is going to be.

And so that's really what we're focused on.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And I'm wondering, I'm smiling, Deep Wealth Nation, you can't see me, I'm smiling as I'm thinking about this question. I'm thinking actually one of my mentors from business school who said, Jeffrey, I'd rather be lucky than smart. And if you can be both, that's great, but pick luck wherever you can. And so when you're looking at Wegmans, Whole [00:31:00] Foods, back in the early days, was there an unexpected strategy or something that came up that really surprised you?

It actually, it worked exceptionally well, but looking at it, yeah, this would never work. But it did. 

Jana Goodbaum: What I would say that is very interesting about this industry for me, again, coming in new, is sampling at the grocery store feels very old fashioned. With all of the technology at our fingertips, standing in the grocery store and sampling as a marketing strategy, it feels, It's very old.

And yet, it is one of the most effective marketing strategies for CPGs of all sizes. It's just how you reach customers, where they are at, when they have their credit cards out, when they have their grocery carts open, and it works. And so, for me, coming, From the advertising world and knowing all of the tools that are at our disposal it is very surprising how important and central in store sampling [00:32:00] still is today. 

Derek Beigleman: The only thing I'd add is I didn't realize how incredibly successful Jana would be at communicating our story and just how incredible of a storyteller she is. This is 

Jana Goodbaum: Our first podcast together and this is funny. I don't 

Derek Beigleman: Think it's funny, I think it's real. Not to say that I didn't expect incredible things big things from Jana, but she has just done such a fascinating job at instilling the brand, what we stand for, why we should exist and communicating that to our retail partners and also our dedicated parents. She really embodies everything that we're trying to be, lives it day to day.

And so it's real life for her. And it's amazing as her business partner to watch her do this. 

Jana Goodbaum: Thanks, Derek. But I will say that is something that we have clued into is when you're buying from the grocery store and you're buying from these multi billion dollar huge food conglomerates there is no one person's story that you're supporting .

Maybe there's some picture [00:33:00] of someone's grandmother on the package, but you know that they're not associated with that brand anymore. And I think what's really resonated with these, primarily moms who have found us on Instagram or have heard our story on other podcasts is the fact that it is founded by, parents who care, who are just like them, who are struggling with the realities of raising toddlers on top of, building this business.

And I think a lot of our customers are equally supporting our. Product and, loving the product and what it brings to their life, but also love the fact that they are actually supporting a small business that is associated with us.

Jeffrey Feldberg: From that side, a couple of questions. Let me start with the first one. And Jana, you really said it at the beginning, and I want to go back to the business partnership. When it comes to business partnerships, at the best of times, it's treacherous. Pick the wrong person, it's just not going to have a happy ending.

If you pick the right person, you have the right compliment. It has terrific history. And I know if I look back at myself, [00:34:00] very fortunate in my e learning company, Embanet, I had incredible business partners, could not have done what we did without them. And so both of you are bringing different things to the table.

And so you put some thought into that because Jana, earlier you said, yeah, I had the product, but if I was going to take it to market, I knew I couldn't do it on my own. And we'd love to hear from both of you. What was the thought process of, okay, we're going to work together, here's the reasons why or perhaps why not, or yeah, you know what, we're just going to do this because of A, B, and C.

What was that like for you?

Jana Goodbaum: It was very thoughtful. 

Derek Beigleman: The diligence came out as much as possible. My wife is a therapist and I would say we even went to therapy as potential business partners before deciding to become formal business partners. in my prior business, there's so many different roles and responsibilities that happened.

So I was able to extract this is what this business can evolve into. These are all the different actions that we'll need to take under all these different umbrellas, whether it's [00:35:00] CMO, sales, operations, finance, who's going to do what do you want to do, what do I want to do? And obviously it will evolve over time.

How will we talk about it evolving? 

And, I could just tell from the early dages dealing with Jana we didn't always agree, but it was always a really good conversation and we were able to communicate in a fantastic way. And it's been a fantastic experience.

Jana Goodbaum: I just smiled because I looked over and Derek has a sign, I made him print a sign that says, often wrong, never in doubt, and it's beside his desk because we are, like, very open with each other. We can laugh at our quirks and Derek comes on really strong to an idea, but what I love about working with Derek is he is never in doubt at the beginning.

He is very open to my perspective, to thinking about it. He changes course. He changes, based on very, good back and forth, conversation. We trust each other a lot in our, let's call them like different areas of the business or areas of expertise. So he will [00:36:00] give his opinion on something related to marketing or sales or branding.

At the end of the day, he think he trusts me and vice versa on his side of the business. But yes, it was a lot of diligence. 

audioDerekBeigleman11841568287: Yeah. I

Jeffrey Feldberg: You know what, your strengths, and we always want to build on our strengths, I've never been a believer in, hey, I'm weak in this area, let me focus on my weak areas, I'm going to ignore the strong areas. It's the opposite. And I see that in both of you. Your leveraging your strengths, bringing different skill sets and viewpoints to the table, it makes the company better.

And speaking of the company, when it came time to pricing, what was the thinking that went behind it?

Because you have incredibly high standards, very unique, you're the only ones out there doing what you're doing. And that costs money. It's not for free and it's not these cheap additives that's going in there to bring the price down. So what was the thought process when coming up with the pricing?

Jana Goodbaum: Our pricing is more premium and higher than your average box of granola bars that are shelf stable, that's for sure. [00:37:00] But there are, other really high quality snacks out there, I would say, that I personally eat in different categories, and we are comparable on a per serving basis to those.

So we're not the most expensive snack out there. I think we do spend a lot of time storytelling to our customers about why we cost what we cost. I think, we talk about the quality of our ingredients. We talk about, let's call it The challenges that we face as a small business and not being a huge food conglomerate, and we talk about how that translates into pricing, just to make sure that customers understand why we're priced what we are.

That level of transparency is something that you didn't used to experience. 

Derek Beigleman: But just because we're also trying to solicit new buyers, we're $1.80 a bar, and so when you look at different snacks that are going into the lunchbox, at $1.80 a bar, as far as organic and premium is concerned, it's really middle of the pack. There's other bars out there that are [00:38:00] even more than us right now. And so I actually think we've done a great job at keeping our costs. I won't say low, but efficient and being able to pass that on to our customers so that they can get into this better category at a reasonable entry point and have more and more people, be able to get onto the Happy Wolf bandwagon.

Jana Goodbaum: And I mean, I think like in a perfect world, this would be more accessible. For everyone, we feel every kid deserves, the best quality ingredients, but of course, yeah, it doesn't come free.

Jeffrey Feldberg: You really struck the right blend for Happy Wolf in terms of the quality, but it's not price exclusive where you're at right now, it's certainly within reach.

But when you take a step back and as the education gets out there of the true hidden costs of not eating healthy and what that means and these crazy rates that we're seeing of all these different issues particularly for the kids that are going on. It really puts it into perspective Hey, I am what I eat.

My health is my wealth and I'm gonna be not spending on it I'm gonna be investing in [00:39:00] putting good things into what I'm doing So as you look to the future and you begin to scale From one entrepreneur to another, what are some of the thoughts that are racing through your mind as you look at, okay, we're here now, but we want to scale what does that mean on the backend for you? What does that look like?

Derek Beigleman: When I think about the five year plan, what does Happy Wolf look like? To me, it's a brand, really, and I should say, and there's multiple products that support the brand in multiple categories.

So we're out there solving this snacking and food dilemma for parents across the spectrum. That doesn't mean we'll always be in the refrigerated section. Hopefully you'll see us shelf stable, maybe even frozen. I'd like to envision a way for us to have multiple products that are really out there pushing the envelope.

So, we'll learn a lot more as we continue to be deep with the buyers at the retailers, with the consumers buying our product. We're going to learn more and more about what customers, pain points are. Right now, we know one that we're working on just to give you kind of a [00:40:00] quick little snippet.

There's a product that, children love and parents hate to give, and so, we're at iteration, call it 20 already, in terms of working with the food developers, so, going to keep doing that.

We might hit a brick wall and it'll never work, but I like to think we're always going to be able to figure out a way. We figured out a way to do the bars, we'll figure out a way to do the next guy. And so I view, our long term is multiple product categories supporting that Happy Wolf is really this innovative leader in snacking for children.

Jeffrey Feldberg: That's a great vision. And I love how you're thinking, hey, it's not just about the bar. We're a brand. Here's what we represent to people. In one small package, you're dairy free, nut free, gluten free, organic, non GMO, clean label. I may be missing a few things, but you really checked off all the boxes in putting that all in there.

Derek Beigleman: We wanted to take more than one step forward. We really wanted this to be a true, I think it's a logarithmic jump in the context of where are we moving the goalposts in snacking? So it's not oh, it's a little bit better because of this. [00:41:00] No, it's a fundamentally different product. 

Jana Goodbaum: And I think something we haven't spoken about if any of your listeners have young children is it actually keeps kids full, right?

So, yes, the ingredients are super clean. Yes, we have every certification under the sun, basically, but I think, most kids snacks, most snacks in general, are like carbs and sugar, you eat it, you're full for a second, your blood sugar rises, then it crashes, and then you're hungry again, you're asking for another snack and so, our snacks, I mean, this is where our name comes in, turning kids from hungry wolves into happy wolves. But it is naturally high in protein and fiber and healthy fats, all from whole food sources and no refined sugar. And it really is a balancing snack that keeps kids full until their next meal.

This is not a meal replacement. This is not a protein bar that's like replacing their meals, but it is actually filling them up during snack time. And is one of the reasons parents are super excited about this as well.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And if you think about it, compared to the traditional snack, it's not the best business model [00:42:00] from a profit standpoint. Hey, you're going to eat one, you're going to be full until the next meal, versus the other guys, quote unquote, where, hey, start here, you can't stop, you're going to keep on going.

Jana Goodbaum: So true. They're designed to be addictive.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Absolutely. Let me ask you this. We're going to go into wrap up mode. I know there's questions that I didn't ask that I would love to ask. But let me ask you, is there a question I didn't ask that you'd like to put out there? Or even a message or a topic that we haven't covered?

Jana Goodbaum: I think something interesting, building this business today is like the power of community. And I think it's been really eye opening, coming from a big brand with, a hundred percent awareness, going to a small brand of our own design with zero percent awareness and building it up customer by customer, person by person.

It's been really inspiring and eye opening for me to see how, emotionally connected and proud our customers are to be part of this little community. It's kind of wild. Like we've [00:43:00] had customers in the back room at Whole Foods over the last few weeks when the stores didn't bring our product out fast enough.

They're literally searching the back room with us. Whole Foods staff on our behalf, they're writing me updates like, I've checked, you know, I've been back four times in the past two weeks, you're still not there, I left another note for the manager this is crazy, for a one year old brand.

So I think, that power of storytelling, that power of building a community, it's really got us where we are, and I think continuing to lean into that and invest in that with our time and, our resources it's very powerful.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And Jana and Derek, would you say it's the community that's really been your secret sauce, your secret weapon, if you will, because to your point, you're about a year old, the strides that you've made are remarkable. It was more than a year in the making, I get that, but going to market, year old, you're Wegmans, Whole Foods, who knows what else is behind the curtain that you're going to be announcing.

[00:44:00] Is it the community? Is that really what's been driving this for you? Or is there something else in addition to that?

Jana Goodbaum: I think to Derek's point, these trends are here, whether we're jumping on it or not this trend towards clean eating and simple ingredient decks and parents, demanding better for their children, these are trends that are here. There was definitely a white space that we are helping to fill and we have a community who's super excited about our mission and is empowered by joining it.

So I think a combination.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Well, that said, we're going to go into wrap up mode. It's a tradition here on the Deep Wealth Podcast. I have the privilege and the honor to ask every guest the same question. It's a fun question. I'm going to set this up for both of you. When you think of the movie Back to the Future, you have that magical DeLorean car that will take you to any point in time.

So the fun part, imagine now, Jana, Derek, you look outside your window, it's tomorrow morning, not only is the DeLorean car curbside, the door is open, it's waiting for you to hop in, which you do, you're now going to go back to any point [00:45:00] in your life. Jana, perhaps as a young child, or Derek, a teenager, whatever point in time it would be.

What would you tell your younger self in terms of life lessons or life wisdom? Or, hey, Jana, do this, or Derek, do that. What would that sound like?

Jana Goodbaum: Good question. 

Derek Beigleman: Buy Bitcoin. 

Jana Goodbaum: That's a good question. I think it got me where I am, but I think when you're young, and I think all of us are, probably, all of your listeners are guilty about this you're always worried about am I taking the right path, is this like a straight line, and I think, my path is like a little bit squiggly, and those squiggles have been like hugely rewarding and I think spending less, anxiety about am I making the right move and going with it.

And going for it and knowing that whether or not the path looks like the right path on paper, it will get you where you need to go.

Jeffrey Feldberg: So, if you had to say that in a sentence to the younger Jana, what would that be?

Jana Goodbaum: Your path doesn't have to be A [00:46:00] straight line to get where you need to go. 

audioDerekBeigleman11841568287: And I would just add, always bet on yourself.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Love that. So, your path doesn't have to be a straight line. Always bet on yourself. And if I can add, and you can tell me on base, off base, Enjoy the journey. You're gonna have a squiggly path. Just bet on yourself. The chips look down, but you're gonna figure it out. You're gonna overcome it. You're gonna somehow get through it, and you'll be triumphant along the way.

Yeah, that's terrific advice. And before the official wrap up, if a listener, they have a question, they want to reach out, I'm sure they have Or they want to maybe find where they can find this in a store, a store locator, where would be the best place online for someone to reach out, learn more, or have a conversation?

Jana Goodbaum: Sure. So you can go to our website, happywolf. com. You can also visit us on Instagram where we really share the behind the scenes, behind this journey at happywolfsnacks. And my email is also Very public. I tell all of our customers, email me, give me feedback, let's chat. Line is always open. So I'm Janah at happywealth.

[00:47:00] com.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Well, Deep Wealth Nation, you heard it, reach out, ask questions, get out there, try it if you haven't, and you'll be the better for it. Well, Jana, Derek, it's official, this is a wrap, congratulations, you guys hit it out of the park. And as we love to say here at Deep Wealth, may you continue to thrive and prosper while you remain healthy and safe.

Thank you so much.

audioDerekBeigleman11841568287: Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for having us, Jeff. 

Jeffrey Feldberg: So there you have it, Deep Wealth Nation. What did you think? 

So with all that said and as we wrap it up, I have another question for you.

Actually, it's more of a personal favor. 

Did you find this episode helpful? 

Have you found other episodes of the Deep Wealth Podcast empowering and a game changer for your journey? 

And if you said yes, and I really hope you did, I have a small but really meaningful way that you can actually help us out and keep these episodes coming to you.

Are you ready for it? 

The dramatic pause. I'll just wait a moment. Drumroll, please. Subscribe. Please subscribe to the Deep Wealth podcast on your favorite podcast channel. When you subscribe to the Deep Wealth Podcast, you're saving yourself time. Every episode [00:48:00] automatically comes to you, and I want you to know that we meticulously craft Every one of our episodes to have impactful strategies, stories, expert insights that are designed to help you grow your profits, increase the value of your business, and yes, even optimize your post exit life and your life right now, whatever you want that to look like.

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So all that said. Thank you so much for listening. And remember your wealth isn't just about the money in the bank. It's about the depth of your journey and the impact that you're creating. So let's continue this journey together. And from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for listening to this episode.

And as we love to say here at Deep Wealth, may you continue to thrive and prosper while you remain healthy and safe. 

Thank you so much. 

God bless.