#90 - Regen Beverages Supporting Rwanda & Our Forbes Debut

Episode Highlights:

• 🙏 How supporting Rwanda sparked a CPG brand

• 💔 The Rwandan genocide and need for trauma healing

• 🌿 Why tea was the pathway to economic impact

• 🧘 Sourcing from legendary, regenerative Rwandan tea gardens

• 👉 Positioning SKUs as sober safe and non-alcoholic

• 👍 Why RTD beverage can be such an impactful category for regen

• 🎯 Finding the right brand name, SKU mix, and positioning over time

• 🔥 Why sometimes “rejection is protection” and “asking who not how”

• 🥤 Building in food service, hospitality, vending, and grocery

• 🫶 How community is the antidote to despair

• Don’t have time for the full episode? 😵‍💫 

• Check out the recap! 🙃 

• Everything you need to know in less than 5 minutes. 🥳

🔥 Building A Regenerative Future For The CPG Industry (Forbes)

• Regenerative brands face key challenges, including consumer confusion around regenerative claims, lack of financial incentives for supply chain transformation, and misaligned funding opportunities, which ReGen Brands aims to address through collective action and industry support.

• ReGen Brands is building an ecosystem for regenerative CPG, consisting of the ReGen Brands Institute (education and insights), ReGen Brands Coalition (a trade association for regenerative brands), and ReGen Brands Capital (a forthcoming initiative to align regenerative businesses with mission-driven funding).

🙏 Quick favor my friend — if ReGen Brands has helped or inspired you, could you share a quick written testimonial about your experience?

We’re putting together something special and would love to include your story.

Conventional agriculture enthusiasts love to claim that our modern food system “feeds the world.”

They argue that regenerative practices can’t scale.

But regenerative brands are proving otherwise, as demonstrated by…

• large product portfolios and sourcing commitments

• expanding shelf space in mainstream grocery stores

• countless examples of farm profitability increases

• regenerative brand acquisitions by larger players

9️⃣ Regenerative brands prove that regenerative agriculture can feed the world

Our final takeaway for “How Regenerative Brands Are Winning Today”

👉 Learn more in our inaugural report: The State of Regenerative CPG – Successes, Challenges, and Opportunities for Collective Action

☕️ Organic India Launches Purely Chamomile, The First in a New Line of Single-Origin Regenerative Organic Certified Teas

• The tea is crafted from single-origin, ethically sourced chamomile flowers, grown on regenerative small family farms.

• More ROC™-certified teas are coming, with Purely Assam Black Tea set to launch in spring 2025 as the next addition to the Single-Origin Tea line.

🥛 A2 Dairy is experiencing rapid growth in the U.S. as consumers seek easier-to-digest milk options amid shifting dairy and plant-based trends. With demand rising, brands like Alec’s Ice Cream see a major market surge on the horizon. (Nosh ↗)

🫘 SIMPLi is relocating its headquarters to Philadelphia to tap into the city's thriving food innovation scene and Pennsylvania's leadership in regenerative organic agriculture. Alongside this move, the brand is expanding its product lineup with the nationwide launch of Regenerative Organic Certified® Chia Seeds in Whole Foods Market. (Web Wire ↗)

🥩 Verde Farms has expanded its footprint by partnering with Publix, bringing its USDA Organic, 100% grass-fed, and pasture-raised beef to over 1,400 stores across the Southeast. (Perishable News ↗)

🥩  Force of Nature is hiring a Creative Director & Product Safety & Quality Analyst

🫘 SIMPLi is looking for an Accounting Manager

🐮 Painterland Sisters is hiring a Senior Events & Partnerships Manager, Social & Marketing Coordinator, Graphic Designer, & Customer Experience Manager

🍺 Patagonia Provisions is looking for a Digital Lead

🍚 Lundberg Family Farms is hiring a Finance Director