 Pretty high. Today's host of Let's Mana Up. This show is meant to dive into stories of local product entrepreneurs and how they are growing their companies from right here in Hawaii. My guest today is Lauren Shupe, founder and CEO of Ulumana, based on Oahu. Welcome to the show. Thank you for having me. Yeah. So why don't we start off with your story. How did you get started? So I'm originally born and raised over on the Big Island. After high school I went to San Diego for a little bit, but knew that wasn't going to be in my long-term home. So I moved back here to Oahu and was looking for something to do and I fell into the farmers markets. So kind of what happened, I was selling like jams and jellies and all these like locally made products and doing a bunch of different farmers markets. And then other Big Island vendors started to contact me like, hey, can you help to sell our products to you know, macadamia nuts, teas, coffees, sea salt, all different types of things. So we just kind of rolled with it and then we started selling different products to the farmers markets, but they were all just very local products and I would love doing it. And yeah, that's kind of how it all got started. So how did you get introduced to Ulum? Ulum, I mean, again, growing up on the Big Island, it's always been around. My mom would use it growing up here and there. She was a caterer, so she used it for some events. But I don't know, it's just one of those things. I don't really know how to explain it, but it's just so good to be true. Too good to be true, I guess. So I just really like how you can use every part of the fruit and it grows in abundance and it's already growing. It's not something that we really need to just plan all over the place because it's already growing. It's a good crop for Hawaii. Yeah, it's a very good crop for Hawaii. So I love the climate here. It's easy to take care of. It lasts for decades. It can feed families for years, so it's just all around great fruit. But yeah, I know it's always just kind of been on my radar of the things I wanted to work with. Awesome. So you found Ulu, a very good crop. You can do a lot with it. What did you try out first? So first I tried out Ulu hummus. Yeah, so to back it up a little bit, first I started making hummus. So that was, again, I'm from the farmers' market background. So I guess I realized that no one in Hawaii was making hummus commercially. So if you go in a safe way, there was like, you know, sagras, boars head and all this products, but they're all from the mainland. I'm just like, man, this is crazy. No one in Hawaii is making hummus. How is this possible? And I was like, hey, I can do it. I'll give it a shot. So that's what I did. So I just walked across to another aisle and grabbed some garbanzo beans and looked on YouTube or whatever and found some recipe and started making hummus. But like I said, of course, I'm from the farmers' market world, so I had to be local. That was the first thing. So again, I started incorporating local beets, local sweet potato, local turmeric, even made like a pineapple one, I made a mushroom one, like all these crazy flavors. And people really liked them. You know, I just gave friends family, you know, I didn't sell any of them, but I was just friends and family tested out and it was good. But it just like to me, it just wasn't local enough. I really wanted to be like a home run on the local side. So it kind of went on the back burner for about a year and a half. And then I was introduced to an Ulu recipe. I was working with the Ulu Co-op for a little while, and then they introduced me to the idea of Ulu Hummus, and I've never heard of it before. And one thing led to another where I just took my old recipes and married it with, you know, an Ulu Hummus idea. And there you go. So you started selling out the farmers' market. Yeah, so that's when I'm like, okay, this is, you know, we got it going on now. This is about as local as it's going to get. We can get most of the ingredients here, or a lot of them here, obviously the Ulu. Yeah, then we just started rolling with it. And that's a good thing about being in the farmers' market world is I'm exposed to a lot of different customers, a lot of different customer bases and price points and all this stuff. You can get feedback right on the spot. Instant feedback like, oh, this is, I don't want to eat this, or oh my God, it's really good, or it's too expensive, or not, you know, it just you'll get all kinds of feedback. So that to me was like, just amazing. It's really hard to get like, you know, instead of spending tons of money in a retail location that you have no idea what's going to go on. You know, here I am able to introduce it to the farmers' markets and get instant feedback. Do the tourists like it? Do people, you know, and Kailua like it? Do people in the North Shore like it? Like who even cares about this? Or if they do care? So I got a lot of great feedback. And it really helped me by, okay, people like it, you know, it's a doable price point, we can make it work. Let's go. And that's kind of what happened. And so then what was the journey to moving to Oahu, setting up a factory and actually going for it? So I'm kind of one of those guys, I'm more of a just do it kind of a guy. You know, I'm thinking, you know, I'm thinking ahead, and I have plans and things like that. But I'm more of a, we're here, let's go. You know, I don't want to wait. I'm not going to. Anyways, I'm just, you know, I'm just in to just do it. You know, so I feel like you'll learn a lot that way. If it works, it works. If it doesn't, it doesn't. Hey, at least you tried. But you know, you didn't have to spend a ton of time like, not knowing either way. So I just dove straight into it. Man, you should have seen my head like three Cuisin arts, like little baby Cuisin arts. And then I was just making like, I think this is the honest here. So they're eight ounces. And I think per Cuisin art, I was making like six or something. You know, so I and then that was a one recipe every time. So just think of weighing all that stuff out trying to make even like 100 of them. It was just crazy. So I did that for like a, I don't know, a quarter, four months or so. And then luckily, very luckily, I ran into a used, it's called the stand up cutter mixer. So basically a massive blender. It's about chest high, 30 quart, 40 quart, something like that. So luckily, I got one of those used on the big island that was shipped over here to me. And that saved us, you know, that that turned it into an actual business. And again, this was very early on no labels, or you know, no official labels, just stickers and stuff like that, just again, farmers markets. But yeah, once we had that mixer, we really started going. But that's just one part of it. The whole other part is like, kind of even get enough fruit. Right? Yeah, that that's a whole whole another subset to the equation. She's like, is there farmers out there? Can I make a call to anyone? Is it how seasonal really is it? What's, what's the process? Because there's no one I could just make a phone call, Hey, man, drop off 5,000 pounds, like that doesn't exist, or at least didn't exist, especially back then. So you started to have to build relationships with farmers? Yeah, that was number one. So that's where we're, we've been doing that the past three years. But yeah, absolutely just building relationships with farmers like and how is that now? Is it are there big farms of bread fruit? Or is it you're working with individual? Most is just individuals. Yeah, most is just individuals. There are some larger farms that do have a steady crop. But still to this day, almost all of them is like a sub crop. It's like something that they just happen to have or they grew, they just grew some or, you know, maybe 10 trees or so. So it's not like their main focus, their main focus, maybe microgreens or something else, but they do grow Ulu on the side. So still to this day, it's I'm dealing with a lot of different little far of small farmers or, you know, big farmers, but big farmers doing other things not necessarily Ulu. So again, we're still working on it, but it's a lot better than it was like three years ago. Yes, that's awesome. Yeah, let's take a look at some of the photos of Ulu. Yeah, so this is bigger. These. Okay, so those guys are roughly about two, two and a half pounds, they can range anywhere from like one and a half up to I mean, there's some big guys that come in at eight pounds. But I would say average is about two and a half somewhere in there, two to three pounds. So this is the fall of variety. And this is absolutely what we're looking for. So a lot of the times, if I have like really small farmers or people that are first time users of Ulu or Pickers, they're not they don't know exactly what to look for. So that's a whole nother part of it is just teaching them what works for us, because maybe works for an auntie that's going to do another product, maybe an Ulu ice cream or something. So she wants the fruit at a different stage, where we need it a little bit harder, not as ripe, you know, so that's a whole nother process teaching them what we need to make our products. So that's been a couple of years in the making as well. But yeah, I'm not a follower. That's the variety. We really like a small, a small variety that's grown here in Hawaii. So how many pounds now do you get of Ulu a year? So we're shooting for anywhere from 40 to 50,000 this year. Last year, I think it was like 25 to 30s in that in that range, maybe a little more. So it's really grown is grown. Yeah, no, every year we're increasing, obviously growing. And then that's more that we can get from farmers, because a lot of the trees are young that people have planted in the past like three to five years. So they're really getting mature and they're really, really starting to grow some fruit now. So that's increasing. And there's just the awareness that people are out there looking for Ulu like myself is looking for Ulu. That's getting out out there too. So people are planting more trees. That's incredible. Yeah. And so, you know, what do you expect to be at next year? Um, I mean, it could really shoot to the moon, or I could say like, hey, you know, 100,000, I really just depends. Now, as far as Ulu in Hawaii, I'm sure there's well over 100,000 pounds, but it's like accumulating it all. You know, do they have the proper like handling techniques, you know, we're not trying to just get anything that's been like, not abused fruit, you know, it's like properly handled, right? You know, and then, yeah, it could be a few 100,000 pounds, you know, who really knows, you know, it's still like a big question. But for us, personally, it's more of like what our machines can handle, like what we can physically actually produce with the machines we have right now. So that's a big question for us. Yeah. But hopefully double next year, let's say that. Yeah. Well, let's take a look at what you've turned the Ulu into. Yeah. Yeah. What's this? Yeah. So this is the mixer I was talking about our original mixer. We no longer use this one. We actually went to a bigger one, but it's an awesome Hobart mixer that kind of saved us or really created the company. Once we had that, we're off to the races. But this is our Turmeric Hummus is the first one we've ever made our original flavor and it's still our one of our most popular flavors. But that is all Ulu. There's not one grubonzo bean in there. It tastes just like regular hummus, but it's completely made out of breadfruit. And that turns into this. Yeah. So we'll show this guy here right now. Yeah. So this is our Turmeric Hummus. This is our eight ounce. So this is the size we've been selling for a few years now. We've actually had about two, two and a half years. We've had labels and being in stores and things like that. So yeah, that'll turn into this guy right here. Yeah. Great. Yeah. What else do you make? So the next thing would be our Ulu chips. So the way that kind of came about was the abundance of Ulu. So you know, again, it's like, who knows how much we're gonna get, you know, I'm telling every farmer in town, I'll take it all, you know, and then they really did, they came with all the fruit, you know, and I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, you know, I got more than I can handle, you know. So again, like I was saying, I'm a guy that's just like, hey, we're doing this now, you know. So I was like, hey, we're making Ulu chips. So what you see on screen right now, this is our original Ulu chip packaging that kind of came out for about three months last year, November, December, and a little bit into January. And we just kind of made it on the fly really, hey, we got so much Ulu, we got to do something with it. I don't want to let down the farmers, you know, let's use the food, right. So that was our original packaging that again, we sold for about three years. And it was great, you know, it came in Christmas time, people were giving it as gifts. And I got in a few stores and they're selling through and it was a great, I don't just worked out great. So then we're like, chips, you know, absolutely delicious. Thank you very much. They go perfect with the hummus, which yeah, yeah. So it's kind of like a Ulu party. It's amazing. Yeah, one two combo there. Yeah. So again, yeah, this is our different flavors of hummus here. So we have the turmeric, the sweet potato, the beets, jalapeno, which is definitely my favorite. And then we're going to be launching, well, sort of launching a, I guess a new recipe. I had an original un-dried tomato, we call it sun-dried tomato recipe, but we have a much better one now. So we're going to re-launch it. And I think people really like it. Yeah, yeah. And so you started off with the first round of chips and now you've evolved it from a packaging standpoint. Yeah. So that was a little bit about absolutely huge for us. Yeah. So that's really changed the game. So again, we went from the original packaging to this packaging you see here, which like a Met-Pet material. So it's like a metalized Aztec, I believe is the name. But it's like something you'd buy in a store regularly, right? You buy a bag of chips, like this is the type of material that be packaged in. So this is going to hold the chips a lot longer. So we're shooting for like a 12 month shelf life. Again, this is a brand new bag. We've been selling it for about a month now, but this is totally kind of changed the game for us as far as like production. Because the thing is like we only have six months to make all of these bags. And then we got a storm for the off season, right? Because we can only make, so just FYI, yeah, Lulu is about a six months on, six months off season. And then there's different spikes in the season. We're going through a spike right now where we're just getting calls left and right for fruit. So we got to produce all those bags within about six months. Oh, wow. And then sell them throughout the year and then again start making fresh ones in June and July. And so the fact that you guys have developed the chip means that you can sell all year long. Yes. Yeah. So that packaging is what's allowing us to do that. So without that packaging, there's there's no way. I mean, the white packaging you saw before, we're talking two months max and it's not as crispy as it originally was. Yeah. Yeah. I'm pretty happy about that. So it's kind of incredible looking at the different starches that Hawaii has to offer in replacement for potato chips and wheat and all of those sorts of things. Yeah. What would you say are key health benefits or no other key things that someone should know about? Yeah, they're going to switch. Yeah. So I think number one is grown here. And it's not like we need to plow a bunch of land to grow this fruit tree. I mean, it grows in people's backyards, as you know, it's all over the place. So one, it's here already. We don't have to ship anything in. It's a sustainable. It lasts for years. It's anyway, there's that part of it. Number two is it's low to medium glycemic. So it doesn't like spike people's blood sugar levels like white bread or like rice or something like that. And then it has a lot more nutrients than rice. I mean, I love rice. Don't get me wrong. But at the same time, it doesn't have as much nutrients as Ulu. So Ulu has a lot more vitamins and minerals. It has a higher fiber content, higher protein content. So just all around nutritious wise, it's just a better product. And again, my favorite thing is it's grown right outside. So we don't, you know, there's no processing, like big processing that needs to happen off island. It's just done right here. So we really like that. And it holds a great future for diversified ag. Oh, yeah. So it's an agroforestry. Yeah. So you can plant different crops underneath it. And a lot of people are experimenting with that right now. What you can plant underneath like an Ulu tree that will really grow ground crops, things like that. So that's that's another great thing too. So it doesn't have to be just rows of Ulu. I can see rows of corn. It can just be agroforestry where it can mix in other varieties of plants and fruit trees or all different types of things. Yeah. Wow. That's so promising. Yeah. All right, well, we're going to go to break and we'll see you guys in a minute. Hi, I'm Rusty Kamori, host of Beyond the Lines. I was the head coach for the Punahoe Boys varsity tennis team for 22 years. And we're fortunate to win 22 consecutive state championship. This show is based on my book, which is also titled Beyond the Lines. And it's about leadership, creating a superior culture of excellence, achieving and sustaining success and finding greatness. If you're a student, parent, sports or business person and want to improve your life and the lives of people around you, tune in and join me on Mondays at 11 a.m. as we go beyond the lines on Think Back Hawaii. Aloha. Hi guys, I'm your host, Lillian Cumick from Lillian's Vegan World. I come to you live every second Friday from 3 p.m. And this is the show where I talk about the plant-based lifestyle and veganism. So we go through recipes, some upcoming events, information about health regarding your health and just some ideas on how you can have a better lifestyle, eat healthier and have fun at the same time. So do join me. I look forward to seeing you and Aloha. Hi, we're back with Lauren Schupe, founder of Ulumana. So we're just talking about all the different ways that Ulu can be used and the health benefits. So I wanted to expand on that. What else can be done with Ulu? Yeah, what are you guys thinking about? So there's a lot of things you can do with it. One, I really love fries. So the Ulu Koop, they make some fries. I believe you can purchase, you know, for your restaurant. Ulu fries are amazing. They're just so darn good. It's crazy. Like you would never know the difference between French fries or Ulu fries. They're just, they're awesome. So I absolutely love those. People make, you know, mash out of it like a mashed potato type. You can make that out of Ulu. Some people make Ulu Poi, which is obviously very simple. You use like a more mature fruit, mix it with water kind of like you would taro, right? Make Poi. You can do a lot of people make it like a mac salad kind, or it's just, you know, like chunks instead of potatoes. So there's almost endless possibilities and people make some awesome things out of fritters, just you name it. So there's a lot of, for chefs, there's a lot of possibilities to serve it in restaurants. Ulu mousse, they make Ulu mousse, desserts, just all the different types of things. Wow, the sky's the limit. Yeah, really. No, it's a very versatile fruit and it really sucks up all the flavor that you give to it. So if you want to give it a certain flavor, it really sucks it up and you that flavor like shines through. So it's really versatile fruit. So it's such a versatile fruit. What's needed to grow this industry? And what maybe what have been the challenges in the past? So again, the challenges is just like finding who's growing it, where's it at, how does it grow? It's very seasonal. So they're working on, they're working on like maybe different climates, maybe it grows better in certain areas or different times a year. So it'd be great if there was like a Ulu crop that came like in February or March when it's a little colder, but maybe on a certain side of the island or certain area elevation that that's possible. So that's working on that. But I think just a lot of partnerships, everybody working together. I see it is just a win win for everybody from the farmers to you know, manufacturers like us that can process the fruit to the people eating the fruit. I mean, there's just such a win win situation that I see a lot of people able to like join the industry if you want to call it, just kind of get their feet wet and get in there and get going. So there's a lot of farmers out there that maybe aren't using Ululu on the farms that probably could be going forward. Yeah. So I mean, right now, I think if my opinion there's an overabundance of Ululu to what's you know, what people are purchasing to use or eat. So I think just kind of get to that point where we're using all of it's a good start. But yeah, again, just working together different organizations kind of figuring out what's the best way to handle it, maybe store it for the off season, you know, incorporating it into menus restaurants. Yeah, just more menus, more people aware, more people. I think that one of the things to is like how to use it. You know, it is very versatile, but I may know that, but it may be, maybe you don't know that or someone chef doesn't know that yet where they can make it into so many things. So it's a small short learning curve, but I think that can be quick, you know, that people can learn about how to use it. Contact Lauren to find out. Yeah, that's awesome. Sure. So let's go to the business side. So how long have you been working on this? So the company Luma started in early to January 2017 as a company, but actually on store shelves, not just farmers market was midway through 2017, like June, July 2017. And then it was kind of like a slow burn until about the past year where we're really just being cranking. So some of our good accounts is like the military. They're a great place. We deliver there. And so that's been really good to us. We do like down to earth and food lands and we're kind of safe ways. Tomorrow's Wednesday that already a lot of different locations. So even just continuously growing. And now with the Ulu chips, that's where we're really seeing some like serious expansion or promise for the future, I should say. And so you were just the Ulu festival on Maui where I was. That was awesome. Yeah, there's so many different people again, doing, you know, different dishes with who I didn't honestly, I didn't really get a good chance to walk around too much. I was busy, you know, selling and talking and doing my thing. But no, there's so many people doing and they really care about the fruit. So I think the last one cool thing about who is people care, you know, it's not just a crop. It's not just a food. It's like people really care about it. So it's pretty awesome too. But yeah, no, on the business side, I think there's a lot of ways to expand, make new products. There's just so many things. It's crazy. Yeah. And so what have been helpful resources for you along the way? resources? I'm definitely a guy that asked questions. So I didn't do the whole school route or college or whatnot. It's on the guy that's just, Hey, so how did you? How did you get in there? How did you do that? You know, and I feel like people, maybe it's just why I don't know, but people seem to be pretty nice and you know, help me along the way. So just talking, you know, working with you guys obviously is amazing. You guys are open the door. So a lot of networking possibilities and people that, you know, have done bigger businesses before. Yeah, talking with like investors and things that we need to show for future growth, you know, what investors may want to see. And you name it a lot of schools. I mean, I'm working with like KCC food safety. They've helped. UH has helped. I know I'm missing so many people right now, but it's just, you know, I just ask everybody everything. So, you know, it's just endless the amount of great to be in that collaborative environment where people want to see the city. Yeah, yeah. No, because they yeah, they they want to see the item grow, right? So then they do see grow, then they're more willing to help again, you know, or help more. So that's really cool. So it's not something I'm just asking questions. And then we're remaining stagnant or growing with the help that we're getting. So that's that's what's going on. Really win win. Yeah, yeah, it's all win win for everybody in Hawaii and economy. The whole thing. And what about on the manufacturing side? You've grown your equipment. Have there been helpful resources on that side? Again, it's just kind of talking with, you know, we're obviously really small. We've been using a lot of used equipment, but just talking with people. Because honestly, with the chips, too, I was making with a meat slicer. That was that's why that was one of the main reasons why I didn't want to do the chips is because it was physically all the physical labor, you know, just me just going like this for hours. But then once I found like these new machines and I'm like, oh, there's stuff that already does this already, you know, this just opened my eyes to all these different things. So yeah, just equipment, salesmen, guys, or bar green, we've got a lot of equipment from them, too, like new, new stuff. And yeah, just help like that. Have there been some key lessons you've learned along the way? A lot more than a few. Yes, key lessons. I would just say personally, I just I think I have like a crazy amount of belief in whatever I guess I'm doing at that moment in time. And that being said, I've done things. I've had fish businesses that didn't succeed. And, you know, food trucks that didn't succeed. So this isn't like just a first home run. Like that's that's not like I always love the thing when people think it's like success, success, success, failure, success, success. I'm like, no, no, it's not like that. Maybe you it's like failure, failure, failure, success, failure, failure, success, you know, so you got like two good ones and all the bad ones. So that's kind of been my story. That's failure, learning, failure, yeah, that's really that success. Yeah, so you could even swap out the word failure for just learning. So it's like learn, learn, learn, success, learn, learn, learn, you know, so this isn't definitely not my first crack it, you know, business, I guess. But it's important not to be afraid of those failures. Oh yeah, no, it's just the only way to learn is just do it. You know, I mean, it's so cliche. Just do it, right? But I really think that's the way to go just get it done, get in there, see what's going on. You know, if it doesn't work, hey, it doesn't work. There's a million other things to do. But if it does work in it, you know, everyone's happy. It's a win-win like let's let's do it. You know, so and I don't key lessons. I don't know. I just say just do it. You know, just believe, just have a crazy amount of belief and you'll know pretty soon if it's a good or bad example of the farmer's market, right? That you have that validation. And I come from a technology background where we talk about the lead and startup. And how are you getting your product out there and getting it validated by real customers? Yes. And that's what you were doing. Yeah, awesome. The foundation to grow. Yeah, without that, I again, I don't know what we do because like, yeah, I'm instantly like we do like up to 12 farmers markets a week in all different locations, all different demographics and different brackets, you know, income brackets, things like that. So we see like who's really buying it, you know, and we really get a good idea of where on the island and that's like Hawaii's like a microcosm of what's going on anywhere else, right? So you get to test all these different areas really, really fast. So honestly, without that, I really don't know what we would have done. Yeah, farmers markets in a grid. Yeah, yeah. So we're coming to the end of the show. I would love to know what's the future of Lumana. I mean, we just definitely want to continue to grow, make connections, work with everyone in the new industry, I guess I'm going to call it. So we want to again, expand our hummus, expand our chips, maybe come out with some new products. We really like the shelf stable aspect of the chips. We've been dealing obviously the hummus is, you know, needs to be temperature controlled and that for a small business these days with the food safety, it's it's very hard. I mean, we're doing it, but it's definitely not easy and it's not cheap to do. So maybe explore like the shelf stable aspects of Lulu. But yeah, just continue to work with everyone we can possibly talk with. And I'm trying to talk with everyone I can possibly talk with right now, you know, just get different ideas. So yeah. So expand within Hawaii through stores, hotels, restaurants. Yep. No, all of the above. Our game is definitely the retail market. We make ready to eat Lulu products. So our game is basically I want you to grab our products and just eat it right now. You don't have to heat it up or cool it down or cook it or whatnot. So that's kind of what we're up to. But yeah, maybe expect people do that made in Hawaii people were buying it and eating it right on the spot. Yeah, yeah. So I love that. You know, like here's hummus, here's a bag of chips. Go eat, you know. So yeah, you don't have to do too much to it. But yeah, that's our game is ready to eat products. So expand on that, expand on stores, get into larger places, you know, obviously the Costco's and places like that, you know, that'd be future. And what about mainland expansion? Are you looking at that? Absolutely not. So that's the thing with our hummus is it's much harder because obviously we have to ship a frozen or a chilled product, which is not the best thing. If we're making it, you know, it's really expensive to make still here in Hawaii. So yeah, that's why our Ulu chips. Yeah, we can go online with it now. We have e-commerce. We can ship it to stores in California, which I'm sure we'll be working on soon. But right now it's Ulu season. I'm absolutely just bombed down with I was cutting 400 pounds of fruit right before I came here. So that's what I'm doing right now is it's Ulu season. So I can only do so much. So make it now. Yeah, make it now. Yeah, sell it later. That's awesome. Well, Lauren, thank you so much for joining us on the show. Thank you. And we'll be back with more stories of entrepreneurs in future weeks. Thank you so much.