Today we’d like to introduce you to Justin Mares.
Hi Justin, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I got my start by launching Roommate Fit, an eharmony type service that matched college roommates based on personality to prevent the classic “crazy random roommate” problem, I spent a few years in growth and marketing roles before launching Kettle & Fire in 2015. Along the way, I wrote a book called Traction, launched a couple of online courses on growth hacking, acquired a couple of Shopify app-based businesses and co-founded a second company, Perfect Keto, in 2017.
At Kettle & Fire, we’re building and scaling the fastest-growing bone broth brand in the US. Today, we have over 30 employees and sell a range of products across bone broths and soups. At Perfect Keto, our team has built a collection of food and supplements to serve as a launch pad for people going keto. The mission across both companies is simple, to produce and sell products that make people healthier.
Most recently, I noticed the non-alcoholic drinks category really on the rise. More so, I noticed a larger societal shift of “let’s go get drunk” to maybe going out for 1 drink and respecting a healthier lifestyle. So, I launched Surely Wines, a non-alcoholic wine intended to cater to people who enjoy wine. The wine is sourced from various natural ingredients that are low sugar, keto, and gluten-free, available under flavors such as sparkling rose, enabling consumers to avail themselves a healthier wine alternative drink without compromising with the taste.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
There has definitely been ups and downs. When I launched Kettle & Fire with my brother, Nick, I knew nothing about retail. Like a lot of entrepreneurs, we just set out to make something we couldn’t buy—in our case, an organic bone broth made from grass-fed, grass-finished animals, with no additives, and cooked for a long time. In 2015, after Google Trends and Keyword Planner showed us that other people were also searching for something like this, we introduced our first product.
We found this group called PaleoHacks, which had some 800,000 members at the time, and these people were into all the health benefits. Once we let the group know about Kettle & Fire, we did $1,000 in sales in two days. By the end of the first full year, we’d done about $3 million and made it into Whole Foods. It was insane. In 2018, our biggest problem was going out of stock.
And then we made a mistake.
That year, we decided: “Hey, we’re so great at making broth… let’s go into soups! And we should buy a whole year’s worth of inventory so we won’t go out of stock!”
What we failed to realize was that “bone broth” and “soups with bone broth” are very different markets. We didn’t appreciate the importance of having a team in place to do the necessary analysis or the folly of entering a new market without studying it and testing the waters.
Spoiler alert: It did not sell well.
What we learned was that people typically buy soup because they want a quick, cheap meal. Through that lens, our soup was expensive. Our original customers, on the other hand, consume bone broth multiple times a week for health reasons. So they’re willing to pay more for high-quality nutrition, but also more likely to say, “I’ll just make my own soup with my Kettle & Fire bone broth.”
One of the key advantages of being a startup is that you can move fast and iterate, but we ended up sitting on a massive amount of inventory with our cash tied up for over a year. Ultimately, we took the necessary steps to improve the product and it worked, eventually (they’re still selling!).
But our biggest gain came when we channeled our learnings into a new line of Keto soups, which you better believe we tested and launched on Kickstarter to make sure there was demand. In process, we realized many things, but most importantly, we realized the importance of our brand values are. Because of that, we recently came out with regenerative bone broth—not necessarily because it will be a huge seller, but because we want to take a stand in pushing for a more sustainable food system. Not surprisingly, our customers are with us. The response has been amazing.
As you know, we’re big fans of Kettle & Fire. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Kettle & Fire is the #1 bone broth in the country and was the first shelf-stable bone broth in America. We bring the functional ingredients that were in bone broths back to the American diet.
Our mission is to bring bone broth back into the American diet to nourish both our bodies and heal the planet. If you look at American diets today vs. 100 years prior, a lot of people are missing key amino acids, collagen and other nutrients within their diets that are key for gut health, joint health and skin health so we’re trying to bring bone broth, which when made correctly is rich in all of those nutrients, into Americans diets.
To us, well-made bone broths are made with 100% grass-fed, grass-finished or free-range bones and organic ingredients that are slow-simmered for 14-20+ hours.
We also want to build a brand and a company that nourishes people and the planet. Health in the U.S. is at an all-time low. Healthcare costs are rising, and we’re getting sicker as a country. A core reason for that is that the average consumer when they engage with our food system, they eat something and it makes them feel worse. We want to make products that heal and help, rather than harm.
Four things go into making a great bone broth: great bones, slow-simmering, acid, and clean ingredients. We believe we’re able to deliver the best quality for all four of those things.
Great bones (sourcing) — have ingredients that are high integrity is the start of a great broth.
Slow Simmered (process) — long cook times allow the bones to break down into collagen, glycine and other nutrients.
Acid source (process)– make it easy for the bones to break down
No BS ingredients– you will recognize the ingredients you’re putting into your body.
One of the things I’m most proud of is our foray into Regenerative Agriculture. Regenerative is the new standard for human health and planet benefits, and as a company, it furthers our mission of making nourishing foods for people and the planet. We always look to stay at the forefront of the latest innovations in food and environmental practices. For example, we were the first bone broth to launch a grass-fed, grass-finished product.
As people are becoming more health and environmentally conscious, we’re seeing a new category emerge where the impact on the planet matters as much as how it affects their own health. Our hope is this new line kickstarts a bigger push for farmers to adopt regenerative practices/ supply.
