IAM2864 – Health Enthusiast and Founder Helps People Stick to Nutrition Principles

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Transcription:

Abraham Kamarck 00:00
Well, I guess, you know, for food, for interesting. If you're thinking about starting a food or beverage business, number one, understand you know, whether or not you're going to be a retail business or an online business. Everything's omnichannel now, so you kind of have to be both, but you need to be focused on one. For us, it makes sense to be a retail business because we are a low cost, heavy product, right? If you're a high cost, light product like say coffee or protein powder, beef jerky type of thing like that, then it makes much more sense to go online.

Gresham Harkness 00:59
Hello, hello, hello, this is Gresh from the I Am CEO Podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Abe Kmark of True Made Foods. Abe, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Abraham Kamarck 01:07
Great, thanks. Thanks for having me crush. I really appreciate it.

Gresham Harkness 01:10
No problem. I appreciate you for, for taking some time out and wanted to read a little bit more about Abe so you can hear about all the awesome things that he's doing. And he is a health enthusiast and founder of True Made Foods that makes ketchup, barbecue sauce and sriracha using veggies instead of sugar. He is passionate about helping people get beyond fat and hype in the diet world and stick to core nutritional principles. Abe, are you ready to speak to the I Am CEO community?

Abraham Kamarck 01:32
Let's talk.

Gresham Harkness 01:33
Let's do it. So I wanted to kick everything off with what I call your CEO story. So I wanted to hear a little bit more about how you got started and what led you to start your business.

Abraham Kamarck 01:40
Yeah, I mean, I think there's always two stories of why somebody started a business, right? You have to have the idea. So there's a story about why you're passionate about the idea and there's a story about like, why now, like why you decided to take this crazy jump. Why do you do this stupid thing? Right? So on the latter part, the why I did the stupid thing is because I, I was. When I'd been working overseas and I moved back to the United States in 2013, I was working for a charity and they hired me as an entrepreneur to help them watch products. So I Launched this coffee for them. You know, built up. We spent a year developing this coffee. I went to Uganda, you know, figured out how to import it, all this stuff. Learned the food industry, which got me out into true made foods, got me started thinking about it. And then right as a coffee, I was pouring my heart and soul into this because, you know, that's just unfortunately the way I am. Right. And it's like right as the coffee was starting to launch, we launched it. We made like first $20,000 in sales, start getting real big customers. And the charity ran out of money and they fired. Absolutely. That was kind of my impetus to kind of push forward and kind of start my own thing in food. Um, I was. I was not looking forward to. To, you know, I was just done this crazy. I launched a coffee company for a charity. Like who. What does that look like on your resume? Right? And so like I was not looking to interview, was not looking to do that. So, you know, I was really excited to kind of thought, you know, maybe this is time. Maybe I need to stop working for people. Like allowing other people to pull the rug out from under me. So I kind of put to something where I have more control. And so that kind of encouraged me to do this. Why ketchup and barbecue sauces? Because I hate ketchup is actually the crazy thing. I've always ate ketchup. I thought it was red sugar ketchup. Regular ketchup has more sugar than ice cream. Ounce browns. Wow. And regularly the typical barbecue sauce. Most people eat especially to like the leading brands. They have more sugar than a soda. Ounce brown smile like it's. These are probably the two worst things in your refrigerator. Except for sriracha. The hoi fun Sriracha actually is worse than ketchup. Like it has sugar and it's loaded with sugar. It's the second ingredient. If you read it, these are terrible items for you. They're terrible for people to ruining people's diets. You know, because they don't think about it. They don't think about how much they're using. They think it's condiment. It's not that much. If you have kids, you know, ketchup was a real problem. It's a staple in your household. And that was kind of what got me into this is because I was a starry eye parent thinking my kids weren't going to eat. And I failed miserably at making that happen. So, you know, my kids were pouring ketchup over everything and we couldn't find anything better. And so when, you know, kind of push came to shove, I thought, you know, this is a great idea. I think I can make a better ketchup. Like, guys, somebody told me, gave me an idea of putting veggies in it, and that just kind of set off light bulbs. I'm like, that's how I cook normally. We're always hiding veggies in food. My mom taught me a cook pasta sauce early on, which is kind of like the basis of my culinary background as a kid. You know, cooking with my mom in the kitchen and making sauces and using carrots as a sweetener. And so since I was always learned to use veggies as a sweetener, you know, if it works for these other tomato, like tomato pasta sauce sauce, why wouldn't it work for ketchup? And luckily it did. It worked for barbecue too. And, you know, we just kind of kind of built out from that. When we started working with Ed Mitchell, great pitmaster on the North Carolina, we started taking his classic recipes too, and just tweaking them with a little bit of veggies to make them a little bit sweet. And it's been amazing. So we have these great tasting products right now. They're fantastic. And because, you know, we use them at home and my kids eat them, and it's like just something we're passionate about. Kind of keeps me going through all the hard times.

Gresham Harkness 05:14
Yeah, I think, and definitely that's what I hear from what you're saying too, is that sometimes when you have a strong mission with what it is that you're doing, you know, with the roller coaster ride that his entrepreneurship, a lot of times, you know, you need that mission to kind of, you know, help you to kind of go through that. And I'm obviously sorry to hear, you know, about the whole, you know, coffee, you know, organization working with that. I too, have been laid off, and that is definitely not a fun experience. So a lot of times when those things happen, when you put your heart and soul, are you the type of person that puts their heart and soul into something and then that's kind of, you know, taken away from you or taken from you, it changes your perspective. So I appreciate you, for one, you know, going out and doing that for two, you know, creating something that helps make the world a better place and having, you know, those bad kind of things that we have in our.

Abraham Kamarck 05:55
In our fridge have it.

Gresham Harkness 05:56
Have a healthy alternative to that.

Abraham Kamarck 05:58
Yeah, that's exactly right. I mean, we are. You get you. It's weird because you do. You pour Your heart and soul to something and then you realize it's not really yours, you know, at some point. And that can always be a problem. And so that's why I, you know, I founded True Made Foods and kind of flocked to keep this going even through some hard times. I had, I had a co founder early on that we had to get out of the company just to make, make it through here. He was not helping, he was hurting the company. And then, you know, I think people have been through that yet. Be careful with these statistics. Yeah, so it's very interesting and we have a very, well, we have a. What keeps me going throughout this and through those types of difficult situations of like, you know, really when, when I realized like I really needed to get rid of my co founder because he was damaging the company beyond all belief. We, we, you know, the thing that kept me going was the fact that the products were so good. And you know, my, my kids loved them and their cousins love them, their friends love them. People were telling me every day that they love these products and, and I also felt like, you know, you can have a food company where they go, oh, your stuff tastes so good, everything's really rice. But when you're, when your stuff tastes good and you're doing something radically different, that's much better for something. I feel like that's the thing where our products were so good. Like I can see us replacing ice on the table, right? Because. And the impact that that could have like the average, if a family, if an average American family eats like a bottle of ketchup a month, you know, it doesn't seem like a lot like 12 bottles a year, a 20 ounce bottle, that's about $144 of sugar that they're eating. Krispy Kreme donuts worth of sugar that they're eating a year, almost a donut every other day. Right. And so if we could replace that with our products and instead of that sugar, putting in, you know, four or five pounds of vegetables and fruits instead that they're getting through our product. Yeah, that's a huge win. I think so. Yeah. That's kind of thing that keeps us going. That's our secret sauce too, you know, that drives it forward. And it's funny. Even like my kids, even though they're super passionate about the product, they wonder why I work so hard all the time. I brought them to one of our kind of smaller shows, a customer facing show, and my oldest son was standing there and he was listening to everybody talk about the product. As they came up and tried it and he goes, oh, dad, now this makes sense. Everybody really loves this. Like, yeah, it's like, we got a job, we got something here, man.

Gresham Harkness 08:18
Yeah. He puts everything in perspective. And I love the fact too is how it kind of, it sounds like it organically kind of grew just because, you know, you created something that was just for your family. A lot of times you start doing that because you're looking for a healthy alternative. You can't find that healthy alternative, so

Abraham Kamarck 08:33
you decide to create it.

Gresham Harkness 08:34
You create it, you start giving to the kids, they probably, you know, start giving it to their family, friends, cousins, things like that. It starts to just kind of organically grow from there. And it's like a lot of times, you know, when we're starting businesses or organizations, we're trying to think of a huge idea to take over the world. But a lot of times those smaller ideas that are, we don't know, are having such a negative impact on us if we solve those small problems, they start to create a incredible amount of energy for us to have a better world and a better overall healthy environment as well.

Abraham Kamarck 09:03
Right. And can you get to find your kind of niche in this? Like. Right, right. For us, early on it's condiments because you know, most of the other food areas, even though there's a lot of need throughout the packaged food industry to, to change even in the better for you space, I still think like we found a nice niche that's difficult to warp in because it's low term category, but it's, you know, it's not, doesn't have as much competition as like beverage or you know, salty snacks and things like that. So it allows us to really kind of stand out.

Gresham Harkness 09:33
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. If you could definitely find that niche and then create a great product like you guys have been able to do, that definitely helps out as far as building that momentum and creating, you know, that healthy environment. So I definitely appreciate that and I wanted to switch gears a little bit and I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app, a book or a habit that you have. But what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

Abraham Kamarck 09:54
For me it's, it's a really stupid thing but like I use these like constant sticking post it notes. I've tried like every type of like task manager system and you know, things like this and to do lists things and honestly if I can just focus on and why, why I like post its is because I can't Write a ton of stuff on it. Like you, you have to write three or four things on it. And that kind of keeps me focused on prioritizing the most important things to do. And I just kind of, I'll stick. And if it's going on too long, I'll stick it on my laptop there. I'll stick it, you know, something's close where I'm going to see it constantly. And so I have to get that these things done today, you know, today, tomorrow, et cetera.

Gresham Harkness 10:34
Now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. So this could be like a word of wisdom, a piece of advice. It can be anything from the food industry industry. What advice would you kind of give for other like entrepreneurs, business owners, people

Abraham Kamarck 10:45
that are thinking about starting their business? Well, I guess, you know, for food, for interesting. If you're thinking about starting a food or beverage business, number one, understand, you know, whether or not you're going to be a retail business or an online business. Everything's omnichannel now. So you kind of have to be both. But you need to be focused on one. For us, it makes sense to be a retail business because we are a low cost heavy product.

Gresham Harkness 11:06
Right.

Abraham Kamarck 11:06
If you're a high cost light product like say coffee or protein powder, beef jerky type of thing like that, then it makes much more sense to go online direct customer through Amazon. Realize there's no easy wins here. Everybody, everybody thinks one way or the other is easier. It's just what they're more comfortable with really at the end of the day. But there's no easy wins and there's no real cheap wins. Amazon's expensive grocery stores are expensive to, to play in. So you know, pick the thing that makes the most sense for your product. But if, when you're first starting out, everybody should go online first. And that's just because the starting costs are that much lower and it's easier to make mistakes.

Gresham Harkness 11:43
I definitely appreciate those nuggets. And now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different quote, unquote, CEOs on this show. So Abe, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Abraham Kamarck 11:55
Being a CEO means me responsibility. Right. So a former Navy, maybe the. It's inside Navy pilot. I do. So that means you are. If I'm flying my aircraft, I'm, I'm, I'm in charge of everybody's lives in that aircraft. The air crewman, my junior pilot, things like this. And the same with being a CEO. I'm in charge everybody's lives here. Like, people are working for me. It's my job to make sure that they're getting paycheck, we're getting the suppliers that we're buying from. It's my job to make sure that they get paid. It's job to make sure the customers are happy. You know, it's just that responsibility that comes with having to make sure, you know, the bucks, not the buck sucks. But like, you know, the responsibility stops here. So things, if things go well, it's usually the people who are working here for me that do a good job. If things go badly, it's my fault.

Gresham Harkness 12:41
Like, yeah, that makes so much sense. And you know, having that responsibility and that awareness, just as you talked about is of course, you know, thank you for, you know, all you did for the country as well too. Because a lot of times we forget about how much and how important that is and how, you know, anytime we have a responsibility or we're in a leadership role, like how many people we are affecting. So, you know, like you talked about, you know, as aircraft carrier as well as, you know, being a CEO, you definitely, you know, have a lot of responsibility and I appreciate that, that definition and I appreciate your, your time even more. And what I wanted to do was pass you to the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you want to let our readers and listeners know and then of course, how best they can get a hold of you. Get the, get the, all the, the great things you guys are creating and everything else you're, you're doing.

Abraham Kamarck 13:24
Yeah, I mean, I think one, one thing I think is very important that people don't think about like when you're working really hard and you're, you're running your business and this is, it's in my bailiwick. So this is one of my soapboxes. But you know, focus on your nutrition and health more than anything else. People don't realize how much that affects. I think a lot of the mental and emotional problems we have out there a lot are a lot of due to poor diets. Sugar does not just affect your teeth or your waistline. It affects, can affect your emotional and your mental health as well. And like, I think these are important things. I think you can get away with doing, working so much harder and getting through so much if you are taking care of your body and, you know, feeding it the right thing. So I, I mean, I think that's a little Bit of a hack that people, they, they know is important but it doesn't get enough attention. I don't think so. I think that's important. That's kind of my, my soapbox there. We had to. And then. Yeah. Forgetting touching me on LinkedIn. I'm the only Abraham Kmark in the entire world. So there's, there's no other. Nobody else has my last name or first name. So weird thing. Yeah. We've a, we have a meet up last name. Not only, you know, anybody who has my last name is related to me no longer than like a second cousin or first goes on my dad's cousins first. Yeah, yeah, that's it. Yeah. The only one with an Abe. So it works out.

Gresham Harkness 14:49
Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, we'll definitely have that information, those links in the show notes so that everybody can follow up with you as well. And definitely I appreciate you reminding us. They say the sayings health is wealth. And I think a lot of times I appreciate people like you that are bringing awareness because I think a lot of times people don't realize things like ketchup, things that we think are not as bad as they can be. And you creating awareness around that to understand how we can take control of our health and do those things so that we can, you know, run our businesses, you know, care for our families and all those things for, you know, a very long period of time and do it in a great way. So I definitely appreciate that.

Abraham Kamarck 15:24
That's great. Yeah, yeah, no, I mean check your 80% of all packaged goods in the grocery store have added sugar in them and over 50% of those are like savory items. Things that you wouldn't expect, like non desserts, like you're thinking like even salsa, hot sauce, you know, things like that. You need to be checking the labels on those types of things. Uh, yeah, it's very important. And yeah, also to get in touch, obviously go to truemadefoods.com, check it out and follow us on Instagram or connect with us on Instagram @TrueMakeFoods.

Gresham Harkness 15:51
Awesome, awesome, awesome. And those links as well will be in the show notes. But thank you so much again, Abe and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.