 Welcome to start up the storefront presented by or a Bora All right, welcome to the podcast on today's show with Juan from peanut. Thanks for coming people who don't know what does your company do? It's up Diego man. Thanks for having me bro. Appreciate it. Yeah, thanks Yeah, so we're an nutrition company and we make snacks. Yeah, I think you're probably the most famous for Getting shirtless going shirtless on national television on Shark Tank. I hope you know ask me to do that But I think it's a preparation that's going it was pretty amazing that to see someone commit to that level But let's go up to the beginning of the company. And so when you first started it What was the problem you were trying to solve? What did you see in the market? Obviously you're a fit guy, you know, I'm a big snacker Did you just want to what was the thing that made you want to start this crazy adventure? So I'm a big snacker too man. And so I started I'm a food scientist. I'm a PhD in food science I'm also sports nutritionist and I started my career by developing snacks for some of the larger food companies, right? And as you can imagine man, it was all about the taste, right? So as a matter of fact, whatever, you know goals we had in terms of developing a product and knowing where the product was gonna Be good. It was a taste test that we will deal with consumers Even consumers say they liked it. Yeah, then we will launch it, you know There was not a lot of talk about the ingredients we were using There was not a lot of talk about the nutrition of it. None of that stuff So being that I was a sports nutritionist, right? I was also doing a lot of bodybuilding at the time I was actually competing and stuff. So I was always looking for healthy products that actually fit into my lifestyle, right? With nutrition And I was like none of this stuff. It's hard, right? I can't eat any of the stuff that I'm making. I kind of feel a little bad, you know Yeah, this is like I'm I know that I'm putting out products that are not necessarily good for you But they taste really good So that was that was kind of like in my whole quest in my head I was like man, I wish I could do this these other way I wish I could put this ingredient here instead of that and That went on for like 20 years, you know until one day. I decided I'm just gonna do it What was the first thing you came up with so you could have done anything? You could have chose anything in the world a chip a snack a chocolate bar Why what landed you here funny enough? This wasn't the first product. Of course. Yeah. Yeah What was the first one? The first one was a gel. It was a protein gel Still pretty cool. It was sort of like a pouch You know that you could just carry with you to the gym or whatever you have Yeah, and I would just open it and it would be sort of like a gel kind of a You know, what flavor is a certain flavor citrus flavors. I had like an orange one. I had like Tropical flavor and it actually was pretty good. It tasted really awesome and I had already learned the technology You know because I was working for a nutrition company for like power bar So I had already all the contacts with the suppliers and everything. I knew how to make it and when I took it to the Manufacturing that's when I started finding that there was gonna be a huge problem with it Okay, you know, what was the hard part of that? So, I mean the thing is that it was all manufacturing really the product tasted great I could make it but so protein under Temperature it gels and that's what makes the product a gel, right now If it gels on the during the part in the piping of the product before hits the pouch That's a big problem because now you have pipes that are clogged up with this product and cleaning those pipes It was like a three-day process and right away. It was just like this is not gonna So you can't scale it and at the time were you just giving that first prototype to your clients your friends? Yeah Yeah, pretty good feedback. Yeah. Yeah, we would love them Okay, so I'm gonna put these on the shelf one day, man. We'll come back with it. Okay, you couldn't scale it Okay, so then what made you shift or pivot to the next? Yeah So then where I was looking for solutions to this problem I came across a company was selling peanuts, you know, and they had these different types of peanut powder And one of the prototypes that have been working on was a puff was an extruder puff And I was like that's interesting when I tried it, you know, it's like I think I could do something with it You know and make it healthy and nutritious That was the start of it and then I just took that matrix, you know with the peanut and I started messing around with other ingredients You know, I was like, okay, what if I combine it with beans rice, you know My whole thing was like I want to make sure that I create a complete protein that is plant-based Right, so you have to be complete and that's my sports nutrition background, right? And then the carbohydrates, right? They have to be slow digesting, you know One something that is going to sustain energy and not just, you know, be, you know, simple sugar, right? So that's kind of I started working with these ingredients and it kind of went into the development of the What you have today and it's what's the name peanut? Is it just like basically it's enough? This really or not at the beginning uses the hardest for the name You're so hard like every name that makes sense. Yeah, it was already taken. Well, what were you thinking of the names? You know, like protein pop like simple things. Yeah, just want to consume what it is, right? You just want to be straight up and everything that was straight up was like already patented, you know, like, I mean copyrighted, right? So I'm like, damn, I gotta come up with something actually Chinti helped me out with the name and his team and we were trying to come up with, you know A name that kind of talked about the product being a puff, but at the same time some of the properties, right? So protein was one of them, you know, peanut was the other one So like the big P that we have in the brand is it represents protein and peanut and the and enough It's like the puff so it's like peanut peanut. Yeah, I like it And so then at some point were you investing your own money into this at the beginning? Yeah, I did Okay, yeah, you went big on it yourself. I went Okay, and then were you getting into retailers first or did you go on like Amazon? Like how did you first start getting the product out? Yeah, I put a backpack on and I started walking down Brooklyn, you know, I'm from Jersey So I was like Brooklyn. There's a lot of stores in one block. I could hit a lot of them It's true. That's exactly how I did it I put a backpack on, you know, and I just went out and I had a little flyer that I made up on my computer You know and had some some samples that weren't even finished products, man They were like, you know a sticker over like a foil bag And did the retailers get it that you were talking to like that? They understand the opportunity or what was their take on it? You know, someone did some didn't someone that were like, you know, get the hell out of here. What are you doing here? And you know, New York is different man. It's a different market, you know, they're pretty rough over there So you build a bit a thick skin man when you're there Love the East Coast for that if they like you, they'll tell you right away and if they don't they'll tell you right away Oh, yeah, it's really honest. It's pretty like, you know where you stand pretty quickly. Absolutely. Yeah So you just gotta, you know, swallow your ego sometimes because you're like It's funny now that when I think about your shark tank experience So there's also like Barbara who's sort of like this East Coaster that fell in love with you I think pretty quickly, but what made you want to apply to Shark Tank? Did they reach out to you or what was the process there? You know, it's you know, I had to say I remember for me It was kind of simple man because I know it takes a lot, you know to get in there But you know, I just felt it was a good idea to go on the show even just for exposure at the beginning, you know If I don't get a deal, I'm like, at least I'll get some exposure. That'd be great And we just apply it online, but we attend a lot of the trade shows, you know Like we go to the expo as here every year, right? So I think the combination of then seeing us there and knowing that we had an application in they reached out to us And then we're like, hey, you know, and I wasn't sure it was real or not You know, this is just a prank and it turned out to be real And what stage were you at? Like how many stores were you in prior to you going on the show? Yeah, so I went on the show during COVID, you know, so it's very unique Experience because before then actually right before as I was going into the show I had a I don't know about 900 stores, right? Mostly in the Northeast and then After the show, I actually ended up losing just about all of them, you know, it was COVID Yeah, I mean we lost our distributor We're doing a lot of export to the Middle East. We lost that distributor too Actually, I distributed decided to stop doing food and they started doing distribution for all the products It was pretty hard hit, you know, it was oh man. So but when I went into Sharkton, it was actually The business was doing okay, you know, we're we're growing. We're profitable, you know We already passed the break even point and so it was just about scaling it at that point an exposure And so the funny thing is too so you go on there you take your shirt off Did you know you were gonna do that? Yeah, you knew the whole time And did you practice that because ripping a shirt for people who have done it or haven't done it It's not easy to do all the time and you can mess it up kind of quick like it could be in your head It could be sexy, but in real life, it's like, oh god Well, so there's two things right one is I'm ripping the coat off and another one's the shirt off now I didn't practice the sheriff that one just came out of passion But the code I had actually practiced that and actually that code I have it still have it I had to die it with like teabags Because you probably know, you know what I guess they told me you know with the TV lights white just just looks like you know like Like like something too too bright So they wanted it to be more like a brownish color and I was like, you know, I'm a dog Like it has to be white, right if you're a doctor, right? So, you know, I start messing around with teabags and that's how I died and many worked So I still have it and also it doesn't have buttons in it It looks like it has buttons, but it actually has those clipping things, you know got it. So I could just easily rip it Yeah, it's a pretty memorable moment, which is pretty cool Yeah, so I like that you committed to that and I think from just the pure entrepreneurship lens If you're seeing someone do that you're like that person. They're committed There's no question right like they're here to make a deal Yeah, and so then but at the same time maybe the men are like, oh my god This guy's this guy's ripped and we're not this is awful for us So you can see like Mark and Kevin kind of go like, I don't know what's happening here He tried to get me man. Yeah Before you go, did you want a certain shark where you trying to get a particular one? Yeah, I was look mark man mark. Yeah, I mean he was my favorite shark He connected with the product right away, and he had a cool story that I mean, I don't know So on the show during the airing he mentions the story to you about how he his wife brought some Yeah, and the bag was gone and she was mad at him when they air that they don't show that until later in the episode How soon did he share that story in reality with you? No right at that time So, you know the way things were going on at the beginning So first of all you stand there in front of it, you know all the sharks, right? And as you guys point out you got to adjust the cameras on the stuff So you actually I'm actually standing from them, and I'm just like I don't know what to say, right? Like they basically say just stand there. Yeah, so, you know mark and everybody else is just looking at you and Which was just like oh man, this is this stuff But then you know once to start giving the pitch, right? Then they started to start to interact like to start laughing right so that kind of relaxes me a little bit But I got to appointment and this doesn't show this on the show because it looks kind of really cool Right like people are like man your pitch was just perfect Yeah, but it wasn't in reality halfway through it They were laughing so hard that I started laughing myself man, you know after I took the shirt off Yeah, and they started making this comment. So after you know, everybody just came down I'm like holy crap. What the hell was I? My pitch, you know, I lost my track, you know, yeah, so Mark Mark actually was the one who'd like hey, you know This is the last thing you were saying and I was like oh and then I just finished it So right there man, it just you know, I was like mark man. He's cool, you know, and then The way it went and I don't know if you notice, but I feel like you know Mark's got like He's got some muscle man and I'm on the group Everybody's just talking about it asking all these questions and mark is just sitting back So I'm getting worried man because I'm like man. He's not interested. Yeah, you know He's just and that comes across on the show when you watch it. Yeah, you're like he doesn't seem into it at all Yeah, it's just cold man. His face. It's just like this, you know, and and I'm talking and I'm trying to look at him You know, I'm trying to say things to him So much so that at one point, you know, Lori gets all pissed off and she's like, why are you looking at me? It's like, don't you want to make a deal with me? I was just like, oh, sorry, you know, just and during covid They're all standing or sitting especially far away from each other. Yeah, really you can really tell bro And where your energy is focused and that was the problem because it was hard for me to hear him Because they had him so far away and so spread out and I don't think they thought it They thought that through because I heard from other entrepreneurs that went on the same during the same time the same issue So a lot of times I was like, man, sorry like what are you saying? Yeah, yeah, I didn't show that on TV But I was doing that a lot. But anyway at the end, you know mark interfere I mean basically after everybody was just like asking me all these questions Then mark started talking about the story and then you know, I started working with him and you know Kind of making a deal with him. Did you guys cement the deal? We did. Yeah. Yeah, and it went through after it did nice Yeah, it did nice still partners man. That's amazing. Well, congratulations. That's huge. What happened after the show in terms of sales? Oh, did it go crazy? Did it help in the store? Obviously you said you you lost all the stores later because of covid, but what happened immediately after the show? Yeah, so You know what we did because we're losing all these retail stores It started to focus more on the e-commerce, right? So By the way, I mean that valuation is so much higher. That's what we have to do. It's a genius play It helps the company exponentially. Yeah, it's what we had to but before then we were just strictly focused on retail so You know, I had a website, but it wasn't even a website where you can actually purchase product was more informational And amazon it was just it was we had it, but it was just there, you know, I mean So during that time Before the show we started like really working now on the website We changed the whole website completely We made it so that you can buy products from it And then we had, you know amazon like new images all all nicely So by the time I went to the show all that stuff was set up. Oh smart. Yeah. Yeah So when I went on it man, it was like I don't know. I live in jersey, right? So I go to Atlantic City, man. I felt like I was in Atlantic City It was like, you know, my phone had the ding thing, you know, yeah, yeah When there's a cell you get the ding you get the ding I couldn't believe it. I was just going like but then I started getting nervous, bro. Cause I was like, oh Like how am I gonna fulfill all these things, you know And um One opportunity one problem, you know, and you know, there's always a problem, right? Always because We had a whole team ready to start producing. We didn't know how much Right was going to be so we're like and by the way, we've heard from some companies that you go on and they obviously You know, if it airs, you're going to expect some sort of bump We've heard the bumps can be as small as $14,000 and as high as like $250,000 in like a day And so you never know we saw three full truckloads Just from that one area You know, I have my mom working And she was pushing pallets That's amazing. But what happened then is that uh You know, with all this ding ding ding dings I call my you know, the guy in my plan managers like then we got to start producing like tomorrow. Yeah So we're like, yeah, okay. We're getting set in Next to you know, man, everybody came down with COVID all the workers came down with COVID, man You know, so we couldn't we couldn't run. Wow. So now we had a problem, man Yeah, we have all these orders and like I'm waiting for these guys to get better. Yeah So, you know, it wasn't the best execution. Sure, but we got through it. That's real life. You know, yeah Yeah, that's real life. It's a happy problem. It is unfortunately, but you're like, oh, man Yeah, where is the company today? So are you still focused e-commerce? Is it subscription based? What what's the offering now? Yeah, so we I mean, we're doing still e-commerce. We're going strong there But you know, I learned that man, it's just no way that you can just survive on e-commerce, you know I'm sure there's a way but I'm thinking People are going to the stores now, right, you know, it's changed since COVID for sure Yeah, so now it's like they're walking by the aisles, you know and meet the customer where they are Yeah, and there's a little bit of a impulse buying too, you know And uh, you know, as you know in e-commerce, you can't sell just one bag You have to sell a bond a bundle, you know, six or whatever in order to make it work for pricing and shipping Right. So a lot of people don't want to come back anyway, right? Who buys one bag of these? Well, people do, man They don't want to use. We haven't tried it, you know, I'm gonna try You gotta have a list ASMR you got the crunch That's great And they're healthy. Tell me they're healthy. Please. Of course. They are please. Tell me they're so I wouldn't have created it, man. If it wasn't something that I could eat That's good. How much proteins in a bag? So this little bag has five grams Um, but it's complete protein, right? So it's got all the essential amino acids all 20 And it's got the slow digesting carbohydrate. I could eat the bag without feeling bad. Yes, sir You know, what else we've done? We actually we actually done studies Not an official study, but like we put like those uh, the steaks for insulin just to see what we see a race on insulin We've done it against cereal, you know, another product and you could tell the difference, man So you figured it out. So that's a great product. Yeah, thanks, bro. That's really good. Yeah So this is the original You know, it's peanut and now we've come up with Four other flavors. We have a cinnamon a cocoa and we have a cheddar jalapeno, which is a new one and a barbecue So we wanted to do a little bit of savory You know just to get those people that the cheddar makes a lot of sense When you go to the stores now and you tell them these retailers, do they get it? Have they seen you on shark tank? Are you telling them? Hey, look, this is a mark Cuban company I imagine it's faster. Yeah, people get it, right? It's a big selling point Yeah, I mean just to tell them that you're in shark tank or you're working with mark Cuban It helps a lot, you know, do they get it? I think it's you know, this concept of Nutritious snacking and active nutrition is what I call active nutrition snacking. It's kind of new, you know It's still you will think that people will know about you would think so But they don't they don't they're still people getting cut off in fats, you know, like the paleo How many of these bags do you eat do you eat a day? Seriously, I eat two On purpose like you go like breakfast. Where do you start it? If someone's like me, right? So here I am I play tennis every day two to three hours Usually midday When should I eat this? Should I start my day with it? Should I end my day? Should I do it while I'm playing? Yeah, so I mean you can have it whatever you want, right? Whenever you're hungry, you can have it But this is a funny thing right during COVID not a little more time So I built a 34 day fitness plan Which I have actually on my website right at peanut.com and you can download it there But my idea was like, all right I've been doing this bodybuilding shows forever, right and I know how to get rep You can see it on on chart tank, right? I used the same program. I was like I'm gonna basically incorporate peanut into the program So the way I have it right now, right? It's that you The more you eat the better it is believe it or not But you're controlling your portions like you're actually having smaller meals over the day rather than two big meals Which is what you don't want, right? You just want to have enough to get you to the next meal, right? That's kind of the idea So Peanut crunch is the gap. So, you know, if you're thinking of breakfast and lunch now you have a gap in there in between That's peanut crunch. That's where it fits and the same between, you know Lunch and dinner so you hit it right there So you keep that, you know, the the whole thing it comes from this stack in between Yeah, but the whole thing is it's about this test that they did with that with cyclists, right? Same with runners where they were trying to figure out what was the best way to introduce protein For maximum performance, right? So for recovery and for muscle building When they found is that spreading it over three hours Smaller amounts that are over three hours was better than giving them a whole bunch Once or twice a day. Wow. And what they find out is that the whole body is more receptive to it Exactly and absorbs it better, right? So what happens is that they find out they're over a period of 24 hours This is going on 24 hours, right? So you want to feed your body protein Over those 24 hours, man. What were you doing? You know, you already did the work Now to maximize, you know results you want to spread, you know the protein over the whole day Even at night, that's what somebody builds wake up at three o'clock in the morning and they'll eat something. No, that's crazy But that's exactly why why is it 34 days? That your your work out 34 days. Yeah, you know what? Usually that's what I was preparing to when I was doing a bodybuilding show So the day of the show was my 34 day And that's how it started and it works. This might be day one of me becoming a bodybuilder. We'll see What about intermittent fasting? Does that does that not help when you're going for bodybuilding? Probably not, right? It doesn't because you're depleting your calories all through the day, man. And like That's when you need it. That's when you need it to do your running So if you're like an active person, it doesn't really work. It doesn't now I mean, I've heard of fasting in terms of overnight to the morning And to try to get the most out of your first run in terms of losing weight, you know But that's a concept, you know for every day just to me just doesn't really work Yeah, I guess some people do it. They'll do like a 24 hour fast to reset their body once a week But that's that's that probably is pretty effective. Yeah, but if you can I mean, I'm talking about consistently doing that Yeah, you know as a lifestyle. I don't know. See here. We are talking about a product and now we're on to We're into sports nutrition. Yeah, I love that stuff. It's so good What's next for the brand? So you you mentioned these new flavors Makes a lot of sense. Is there a different product you're working on? Or are you trying to introduce different things into the market or are you going to stick with? So, I mean, here's the thing. So they're good. These are great. You know, one of the things about our product is that it has peanuts, right? if you remember like three years ago four years ago the thing was like You know allergy free peanut free, you know, all this stuff. So everybody was producing products That didn't have peanuts in it. I went in with a peanut. I was just like, what the hell are you doing, man? You know, so my problem was that I couldn't find a copaker Okay, that will actually make it because they didn't want the allergen right, right? So what that did is I ended up buying my own equipment So I am now like the only producer in the east coast that can make an extruded product with peanuts, right? So What that does is that it gives me an opportunity to develop more products that are extruded with peanuts So there's a whole gamut of ideas that we come up with to do that. Wow. Are you working with other companies other brands too? We're we're getting in the past, but now we're starting to yeah because we have the equipment We're not you don't like we utilizing it, you know 100 percent. We have capacity. So We've got to pay the bills so much. Well, you know, that makes sense. Yeah And will mark be doing any bodybuilding competitions soon because of your product? Wouldn't that be amazing that'd be the best spokesperson of all time if you just got ripped Because of your 34 day program in this product. So we're supposed to go there I mean, we're we're going actually to Dallas. We're going to the game. We're gonna meet some of the team And uh, I'm trying to get a meeting with him too. Yeah, but uh, I'll pitch that idea I want to end on this note too. So you share this beautiful story about about your story You know about how you you sort of came here Different country had to figure it out and then you're on shark tank. It's really beautiful You know, I think the immigrant stories is an important one And it's one that I like to share because it's it's a story I share in too, you know that I believe in that like for me We came here my mom came here two kids Uh single parent and we had to figure it out and now here we are doing some really cool. Shit And so I just appreciate that that you that you have that and uh, it's really rare and to a lot of people You're an example And when people it's just doing something as simple as living your life and being on that show You know, there's people that look like you that go. Oh, I can do that too now And it's really beautiful And so you're inspiring a lot of people obviously the entrepreneurs I'm gonna get fit now. Thank you for doing this and tell people where they can find the product stores all the stuff Yeah, man. So now actually we're here in LA, right? Yeah from New Jersey So but we're here because we uh, we had a launch at the sprouts So now you can find there all the sprouts man and and what do they sell for how much is the a bag right now? We have a We have it for $2.99. Okay, which is that's pretty cheap. It seems very cheap and the big bag, you know Like a four ounce bag So like four four of this basically and we have the original the barbecue and the cheddar jalapeno And then, you know, amazon you can go on amazon or website, which is peanuts.com In texas central market. That's where you know mark found it, you know mark's wife found it We're starting with Wegmans, you know in the northeast and on instagram or you'll find you At enough up enough crunch. Love it. Yeah, thanks for coming on the podcast brother. 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