Brandon Burt: Taste is here, and there's one for children and adults, too.
Mike: You actually conducted some taste trials on this to get the right taste, correct? Can you talk about that a little bit?
Burt: We did. It's interesting the way we actually started developing this -- we had a parent that called us and said, "My child loves your greens. He takes it every day. He actually was on a nebulizer. He wasn't feeling good. He started taking your greens and he was 100 percent better." I said that was great. The parent then told me that the only way he could get his child to take our product was to go down to McDonald's and buy him a chocolate shake and mix up the greens in the chocolate shake.
I said, "That defeats the purpose of who should be getting the greens." It gave us the idea. We went down to the California Polytechnics Institute. They have a great marketing program down there and they've helped us with some other projects. We went to a senior class. The professors from Madison Avenue had done a lot of statistical research. They actually went out and interviewed parents in stores.
They went to common organic stores and asked customers what their children were eating for vegetables and fruits. Unfortunately, most of them weren't getting enough. We ended up doing a semester's long worth of research. We found out that not only were children not getting enough fruits and vegetables, which I think everyone knows, but they weren't getting the right kinds of fruits and vegetables. They weren't the right colors. We set out to create something that tasted awesome and something that they would eat. You have to get it past their noses first. We also wanted to get something that had all the different colors in the fruits and veggies -- not just your greens, but your reds, yellows, purples and oranges. Each color has different phytonutrients in it.
Mike: I was going to talk about that. The colors of the food are indicative of the nutrition they have and each color is indicative of different phytonutrients. I call it the medicine in your food and that medicine is in this product in freeze-dried form, correct?
Burt: It is. It's all been dehydrated at low temperatures. It's not from juice. They're whole-leaf fruits and vegetables. You're actually getting a dehydrated version of fresh fruit.
Mike: That's wonderful. What is the sweetener that's used in the product?
Burt: We use a little stevia in it. We also have a little of organic soymilk in there. That, of course, adds a little sweetness to it. It has some organic cane juice in it. Per serving, it only has one gram of sugar.
Mike: That's fantastic. Really for children you have to have that great taste even if you have to have a little bit of evaporated cane juice in there to make it go down.
Burt: It does. I think especially for children, the name of the game is getting it past their nose and having them drink it.
Mike: Most children can burn that off in the next five minutes anyway.
Burt: It wouldn't take long.
Mike: What are the main ingredients? If you were to talk about the top three ingredients in this product, what are those three?
Burt: The first thing is an organic fruit and veggie mix that we have. It has 33 different fruits and vegetables. It starts with our greens. My grandfather has been growing and dehydrating the most potent greens -- organic wheat grass, barley grass and alfalfa. It starts with that.
We have all 33 of them in there. We also use an organic soymilk base in it. It's a good, high-quality soymilk, and it's organic. We also use a decaffeinated redwood cocoa. It's a lighter-colored cocoa. We tried several different ones, and we found that children really took to the redwood cocoa, which is light in color. Those three things make up the top three ingredients.
Mike: They really work, because the first thing I did when I stopped by your booth here was to say, "Give me a taste."
Burt: You wanted to try it with some water too to see how it tasted.
Mike: That's right. If it doesn't pass my taste test, then I'm not even going to talk about the product. This was delicious just in water.
Burt: We formulated it to taste great just mixing it with water. We found out that almost all children have some milk product every day, whether it's dairy, soy or rice milk. A lot of them would mix it with milk. It tastes like chocolate milk, frankly.
Mike: Right, chocolate milk. Of course, you can't compare your product with traditional brand-name chocolate milk, which is made with basically table sugar and a little bit of cocoa. Your product gives the nutrition of all of those fruits and vegetables and some of the superfood grasses as well, correct?
Burt: It does, and there are so many great things about getting all of these different colors. We actually did a test. We tested the antioxidant level on it, and we found out that one serving, or one scoop, is equivalent to approximately three servings of fruits and vegetables. In one glass, you're getting the antioxidant power of approximately three servings of fruits and veggies.
Mike: Now what about a website where people can either purchase the product or find more information, Brandon?
Burt: You can go to www.AmazingGrass.com. We're on the internet. You can order products online. We also sell wholesale to many retail stores. Some of your bigger organic food supermarkets have it, as well as health food stores.
Mike: What's the retail price on this particular product?
Burt: It retails for $24.99, which is a month's supply. There are 33 servings in there.
Mike: It contains 33 servings?
Burt: We also have the single serving packets of them. There are 15 in a box, and let's face it -- today everyone is all about convenience. You just rip a packet open, you can dump it in your water and milk or whatever you like to drink. It's great for lunchboxes or after school. It's an easy way for children to get nutrition that they might not get otherwise.
Mike: Let's talk about nutrition for children. I have to throw this in because I'm passionate about this topic, Brandon. Children today are so often diagnosed with what I call fictitious diseases like Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, ADD and learning disabilities.
Most of the time, these have a nutritional foundation -- or a lack of good nutrition. I know you're not positioning this product as a cure for any kind of a disease like that and that's not what I intend to imply, but isn't it true that good nutrition is crucial for children to build healthy nervous systems, healthy organs and healthy bones?
Burt: You hit the nail on the head. Really, we believe that your food is your medicine. Really, you should be getting the nutrition from food and certainly as children are developing not only their brains, but their bodies -- physically, emotionally and mentally -- they should be eating the right foods, and that is key to that development I think.
Mike: Absolutely.
Burt: I have a child myself, and I now know how important it is to make sure that they get good food. If they're not getting the right things, it doesn't take much to turn on the TV and look at the diabetes rates, the obesity rates and just health in general.
Mike: Right. Your company, the Amazing Grass Company, sounds like sort of a small family-owned operation. Does that characterize your company?
Burt: It is absolutely. My grandfather's been in the dehydrating business for about 40 to 50 years now. He's been more on the wholesale side. I started the company with my business partner about three years ago and we had a passion for a healthy lifestyle outdoors.
We wanted to get the best-quality greens that we had in some products that people would actually like, regarding the way they taste, and that were convenient, to make it easier for people to get good nutrition that they're so often lacking in today's society.
Mike: That's what I love about talking to people like you, Brandon. People from small companies that are innovative, adaptive and quick. I have to say this is the best-tasting kids' superfood product that I've seen on the market yet. Congratulations for getting this to the market.
Burt: Thanks. I appreciate it. The word is spreading. People like you have tried it and are able to talk about it like that, so I appreciate it.
Mike: Again, it's Brandon Burt here with the Amazing Grass Company talking about "Kidz SuperFood" product. The taste is great. The nutrition is built into the product. If you're having trouble getting nutrition into your children's bodies, try this product. You can find it again at www.AmazingGrass.com or look for it at natural health food stores and quality grocers all around the country. Thank you, Brandon.
Burt: Thanks. As we like to say, we've taken the "yuck" out of eating fruits and vegetables.
Mike: Good slogan. I like it.
Burt: Thanks a lot, Mike.
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