Transcript

All right everyone welcome to the Food Founders Podcast. Today I am very excited to be talking about a product, that I am personally just very interested in, a category that I'm very interested in with a fantastic founder. We are going to be talking with Ruth Elnekave from Joya. Ruth, welcome to the Food Founders® Podcast.

Hi, Ainsley. It's great to be here. Great to have you on. I know a little bit about Joya, but I would love for you to take a moment and just explain to everyone listening, everyone watching, what exactly is Joya? What are you guys all about? Well, we are, what we like to call functional wellness brand. All of our products and really everything we do, whether it's our products, education is really about helping people feel their best with a focus on the functional aspect, right?

So cognitive function, digestive function, immune function. We're not. We don't dabble kind of in the nutrition space, although our products are of course, nutritious, but it's really, yeah, with a focus on our functional health and. Landing on that for me really came directly out of my, my journey and my journey with health.

I was a corporate lawyer for a couple too many years and really drove me and my health into the ground to the point that by the time I left my. I know hormones were so outta balance that in what felt like almost overnight, everything just stopped functioning. I was like walking around like a zombie.

My digestion wasn't working. I was getting sick all the time. My cycle was completely off. Everything just stopped functioning and was kind of a blessing in disguise as it happened to me. And I was really kind of the thick of it while I was studying holistic nutrition. And I say a blessing in disguise because, I didn't know all that much about the functional and holistic wellness space at the time.

And I did run to my GP and, all the tests were run and I was told I was fine. And of course I wasn't I literally could barely move. And so at the time we were learning about all these modalities of traditional medicine and all these powerful natural ingredients and ultimately that's what healed me.

And so having that experience, it's one thing to learn something just out of a textbook when you're in school, but to have such a personal experience and see the things you're learning work and work so powerfully, is really what kinda led me in that direction and made me feel like people need access to this.

There was no knowledge at the time about adaptogens or these herbs or mushrooms or anything that are, quite trending today. But yeah, people need access to these. The frustration for me at the time with what I was put on was everything was a very medicinal experience, right? You basically had the option of these tinctures, like very alcoholic, bitter tinctures, or there were powders, but they were just straight up medicinal, the individual herbs.

And so I forced myself through it because I knew how powerful and I knew it was working, but the average person, would not, and it was not a pleasant experience. So that's kind of when. My hat went off. I have a culinary background as well, so I'm a classically trained chef and that's kind of where I went, wait a minute.

This got to be a way to bridge kind of the gap between flavor and function and make products that, are as delicious and enjoyable as they are effective, that people will actually, not only stick to, but kind of wake up every day looking forward to taking. So that was kind of the gap in the market that, I set out to fill with Joya.

That makes so much sense. I mean, as you say that about taking all the tinctures and the powders and everything, and it's like, there was this huge opportunity there to actually bring flavor into it and make it something that is almost, doesn't feel medicinal, doesn't feel like, oh my gosh, I have to take a handful of vitamins, or I have to like, take this and it becomes this what's wrong with me feeling other than, when I experience Joya and see your brand and everything, it's more about I get to enjoy life. Like I get this real vibe of like revitalization and just like more powerful than oftentimes people don't feel that powerful when they're taking like a handful of vitamins.

Yeah. It's almost, I feel, stress has such a major control on our body, and it's funny, and I've experienced this myself, but when we're stressed about what we're doing or. If we're working with a practitioner and they give us this complicated protocol, it could be the most effective protocol in the world, but if following it stresses you out, it actually ends up having, cuz that stress, your experience saying literally counteracts the benefit.

And no one wakes up every day, goes into their kitchen, sees the five bottles of pills on their counter, and gets excited, right? If anything, they're like, ugh. And they either. Take it or forget to take it and it's right. And, but all these different, whether it's pills or tinctures or any of these, there's something additional that you need to do it, right.

It's like our days are busy and hectic and stressful enough and here's yet one more thing that I need to remember to do every day. And that was a big thing for me about, formulating our products even though they are actual supplement, like they're not food. They are actual efficacious dietary supplements, but formulating them in food format was such a conscious decision because that means this isn't something additional, right?

We're all eating and drinking every day. So it just, seamlessly fits into your routine because now your morning latte or your morning coffee, or your afternoon snack, just happens to be doing double duty. Right. So that was a major decision in kind of guiding the brand. Yeah. It's a no-brainer.

I mean, you're gonna have a matcha or a cacao or chocolate or whatever it may be anyways. Why not get these added benefits from it as well? I am so happy that you've created this because I feel like so many people, like you're actually dealing, with such a big stressor. That so many people deal with and they're able to actually conquer it.

I know it has not been an easy journey to do that, though. A lot of people who, come across that same realization as you in terms of, first of all my adrenals are shot or my body is just shot from overstress and okay, maybe I'll take some, tinctures and different pieces for it.

And a lot of people just leave it at that. You went and created a whole business around that. I'm sure there's been a whole lot of ups and downs through that. Talk to me about where you are at right now in the business. And how that looks different from where you were two years ago. Yeah.

Where are we now? Spring of 2023. So right now we literally just relaunch the brand a few weeks ago. So it's a very exciting, it almost, and it's funny that it's spring cuz spring tends to right. Have this feeling of rebirth. And so the timing is kind of suited. But I'd say two years ago we were, if I'm recalling correctly, it was right when all these iOS changes were coming out and flipping kind of paid marketing on its head, which for us was a, a massive source of.

New customers and new drawing new people to the brand. And at that point we had been around for about a year and a half and still very new, but long enough to kind of start learning about our customer and start learning about the space. And so right around that time was kind of when I was having early thoughts of.

What can we be doing, better and different? I've always felt the product was great, but what in our messaging, in our communication, in our delivery and in just the brand we're building, what could we be doing differently? And I think again, that blip with paid media really was kind of what triggered that.

When you're suddenly seeing your success and results kind of drop and. That was kind of the initial impetus for that. And then, after a couple months of thinking it through with the team and mentors and colleagues decided that there were all these things that we could optimize just to make the brand itself stronger again, the products we were really happy with, but, to improve the brand.

So that's really what happened by the end of that year, 2021. We decided to just go full force on a rebrand and really shut off. All of our, other than our organic Instagram really shut off all marketing activities and just head down, started to work on really changing everything but our logo.

So we completely revisited our product names, our product packaging designed a whole new website. Worked on a whole new product line, which we just launched a couple weeks ago, which is our new line of functional chocolate, which we are so excited about because there is literally nothing like it on the market.

There's a little bit, I feel like, with our blends, as much as they're unique and they're formula and they're, the fact that they're chef crafted and all that, there's, there's other powders, there's other blends on the market, but I'm really excited about the chocolate because it's a, there's nothing like it.

And b I feel like for people who are just. Becoming familiar with this space, not, not quite sure about adaptogens or botanicals or, it's a great entry point and it's a great kind of gateway product for chocolate because at the end of the day, it's, everyone loves chocolate and it's better for you.

Chocolate that just happens again to be doing double duty and right, depending on which bar you're consuming. So really exciting time for us now in the rebrand. But also just the process, the rebrand. With just supply chain delays and various delays ended up taking so much longer than expected that.

So much has changed in the market and we really kind of disappeared for a long time. You know what, originally was gonna be this quick six month thing and come back and really now feels almost like we're launching from scratch in a way, just because of how long we kind of weren't out there kind of shouting joya from the rooftops.

So pros and cons with that, but it's kind of feels nice to have this clean slate. New kind of lineup of products, new approach, new strategy, and just, and a new team. Like I also for this whole process really hired my first kind of senior executive team member. So our VP marketing, his name's Andrew and he's amazing, and he's been along for this whole journey.

So now it doesn't also feel like I'm doing it alone. It feels we're still a tiny team, but it, it feels great to have someone deeply experienced and truly be doing this with that sense of team and having this kind of clear goals and yeah, kind of taking a second crack at it, but with the benefit of some, knowledge and learning and.

I'm curious, the chocolate lineup, which I'm really excited for you guys, because like you said, you're the only ones with that. And you and I were kind of talking before the drinks and powders, like when you first launched that we really didn't have any competitors. We had one competitor in the market and it has, we've started to see more. Now with this chocolate realm, you are the first in there.

Was part of your rebranding exercise, did it lead you to launching chocolate or did you have chocolate and you fit it into your rebrand? That's a really great question. Joya's path, there was a bit of a journey before we officially launched as the e-commerce brand we were today. So Joya was actually originally a restaurant concept that I worked on for almost two years before deciding to pivot.

I just kinda had this moment where I realized that I live in Toronto and I just realized I didn't want to only impact people in Toronto. I wanted to do something, that I could just impact a greater group, so pivoted from that restaurant concept to where we are today. But at the time, we had already developed this chocolate for the restaurant that wasn't functional.

It was just super, super clean, pure, healthy chocolate. And we sold it at a farmer's market, that, that summer while we were working on the restaurant and just got such great feedback. So it was a product that we just, even though it didn't really fit with Joya at the functional wellness brand, we kind of kept on because people just loved it and it was selling well and didn't wanna just, pull it out from under people.

So for the first couple years of the brand, we had this call it just plain chocolate. And then while we started working on the rebrand, That was where the idea came and the pieces all fit. It was like, we don't wanna, we just don't wanna completely get rid of this product, and we have such an incredible, again, clean, nutritious, nourishing, chocolate bar.

Let's really bring it into the brand and kind of, discontinue that line and turn it into this. Amazing, functional, chocolate that's not only nutritious, but also, giving you the functional boost that you need throughout the day. So yeah, it was, that base chocolate was already there.

But it just made so much sense to really kind of stop selling this other product that didn't really fit. With who we are as a brand and make it our second product line. And that's why we always refer ourselves as a functional wellness brand. We're not a latte brand. We're not a right. Like our first line, happened to be lattes.

We had teas at one point that we discontinued. Like it allows us, I think to just keep launching products that as long as they support right functional wellness. It's true to the brand and I love that because I, yeah, I wouldn't wanna be pigeonholed. I didn't want people to think of us right out of the gate.

Again, as a powder brand or a latte brand, that's just not what we are. We may do the restaurant one day still, right in the it's very much, I think of joy as this platform, functional wellness brand to support you along your wellness journey. And we're gonna do that. In any way we can. That makes sense for the brand.

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And like you have a very narrow focus, but that can go very broad, which allows you to bring in the products that make sense. But you're never gonna veer from this like north star of what you guys stand for. How you wanna bring functional products that are. Delicious to people.

Those guardrails actually make it really easy for you to make decisions. Yes and no decisions, as to what to launch, but gives you opportunities still. You're not just like laser focused into one piece. Yeah. And to be fair, one of the biggest mistakes I made. I attribute it to being, a first time founder and not realizing how important focus really is in this business was, because I had developed already all these recipes and products for the restaurant when it came time to launch e-com.

I made the big mistake of not picking like either one product or one line for the launch, focusing on that, launching and building Joya on that and then growing. And so we launched, this is gonna sound so ridiculous and I laugh when I think about it, but we launched with three product lines.

Not even three products, three product lines. So we had the blends, that plain chocolate that I mentioned, and adaptogenic herbal teas. It was insane. Like we, we couldn't, even when you think about, your marketing budget as a startup, like it's tough enough to properly market one line of products, but when you have this relatively small budget and now you have to use it.

To drive market, brand awareness for I forget, what would we have had, we had 5, 6, 7 different skews right out of the gate. That was by far one of the biggest mistakes I made. And we ended up, discontinuing the teas because we just couldn't compete price point wise with the really big tea companies that have grown and scaled.

And tea is just such a saturated relatively the old market. But that was, if I could turn back time for sure, laser, focused. And we're in a way obviously doing that again, but this time around, like of course the blends have been around for a while, and again, there was just that really, strategic decision behind launching a second product line that is just accessible to more people.

At the end of the day, this kind of functional wellness space is still very niche in the wellness world. It feels like it's, big and been around, but it's funny, I say even in the wellness world, everyone uses the terms, but when I ask people if they know what the word functional means or function, it's like there's still this, so it's still very new and I'm just really excited about having this product line that, even if you know nothing about these ingredients, it's like, sure I want chocolate for focus or chocolate that's gonna calm me in the evening or, right.

So it's this approach, this new approach we're taking is to, the ingredients are there and we'll tell you about them if you wanna know, but it's really more about the benefit. And that was a big part of our rebrand too. Like all of our old packaging and the product names. Our blends used to be called like Matcha, elixir Blend, turmeric, elixir Blend.

And it's first of all, if you don't elixir, I mean, right. It's kind of more of a marketing word. And if you, and then we listed all the ingredients and all, and if you don't know what these ingredients do and you're not sure what an elixir blend is what's the benefit here? So now we're really focused on all the product names, call out the product's main benefit.

We still list the ingredients, but it's really about what will this product do for you. And that was a really important decision, not only just generally for the brand, but we also just kicked off retail efforts in the states. And, the reality with retail is, as compared to e-commerce, like the customer doesn't have all that information that's on your product page, right?

With e-commerce if it's not clear and bold in those first, two seconds on the shelf, you've lost the customers. So that was a big driver for the changes we made as well. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I'm really happy that you guys made that pivot because yeah, we're all buying everything for that end benefit, right?

And it's hard sometimes when you're in it all the time to to kind of step back sometimes, which is so great when we do those like larger branding exercises to get to that, to be like, okay, why are people really buying us? How, why would they want these ingredients? And really focusing on that to make it easier for the purchase from the consumer.

Talk to me a little bit about you've mentioned E-com that was kind of like a big piece, still is a big piece. You're going into retail right now in the U.S.. Talk to me about your balance between E-com and retail from a strategic perspective and how you guys are growing. Yeah. So it's a lot to take on.

I think, again, in an ideal world, just especially given the size of our team and budget and all that, I think a lot of companies in our shoes might have, made the decision to just focus on e-com for now. But I think for us, well part of it was actually tied to the chocolate. So these are our new lovely chocolates.

And that was actually a big driver in the rush to launch retail because the reality with chocolate and e-com is, you can't ship it in the hot summer months, right? It's gonna melt. Even Amazon, the largest right retailer stops shipping chocolate in the summer. This isn't a seasonal limited edition product line.

This is a core product line for us. And so if we were to only do e-commerce, literally people would, fall in love with this product and then not be able to get it for a whole bunch of months every year. The kind of the urgency to launch retail was really tied to the chocolate and, getting that in store so that people wouldn't lose it for a few months every year.

And then the secondary piece is, was really about strengthening the brand. And I think giving consumers, especially for people who, Joya is a new brand and they don't know much about us yet, really that layer of trust right at the end of the day. Everybody and their grandmother can launch an eCom brand and eCom brands do launch every second day.

But only so many of them, end up in retail and only so many of them. And that's, it's not just about the work, right? On the brand side, it's when a prestigious retailer or a trusted retailer makes room on their shelf for your brand, that's a signal right, of trust to the market. And so for us it was also, both a matter of access and, how do we take Joya from just another e-commerce brand to, a legitimate brand, that it's not just us telling you to trust us, these, retailers trust us in urban.

So yeah, it was this double kind of two reasons that made us wanna, do it now despite, obviously, again that it's a lot for a tiny brand. But we're, yeah, super excited with our partners on this journey and really excited about showing these retailers. Especially with the rebrand, right?

How we're doing things differently, how we've created a product that is more accessible to the consumer. And yeah, so that, that piece is really exciting. We went I went down to LA for Expo this year, and honestly for me, it was great to see people and it was great to walk around, but for me the best part of that trip was, walking the floor and seeing, kind of what other brands in our space were doing. And that was really validating for me because I was, able to see, okay, like this new direction we're heading in, it's definitely different and it feels right as compared to what a lot of the other brands in the space are doing. 

Yeah, it makes so much sense.

I'm really happy that you are going retail because you get to get in more homes in some ways .Everyone thinks e-comm, it's like we get to go directly with consumer, which is fantastic, but so many people are going to their Wholefoods, to their Targets, to their Sprouts, their Erewhon, whatever it may be.

And your brand it looks, the rebrand looks fantastic. Like it looks like it belongs on those retailer shelves. Thank you. When people see it, it becomes a really easy Ooh, what is this? Let me pick it up and buy it on an ongoing basis. And you do get this kind of like trust halo from being in a retailer that gets applied automatically and it can help you grow a lot faster.

And I know just from speaking with you, it's like, this is a big business like you've mentioned a few times oh, like small team. Like it is small right now, but it is not, you have a really big goal to impact a lot of people with this and I can see that very clearly with everything that you're doing and all the strategic elements that you're doing.

Yeah. Yeah. No I do. And it's a two-way I honestly think it's a two-way thing with e-commerce and retail. It's not just about, obviously retail, helping e-commerce, like the fact that we are, already running ads. And I mean, so excited about that because, you get into a retailer and then you're able to focus digital ads to consumers right, in that neighborhood.

Like they really do support each other. It's a very two-way. So again, as much as it's a lot of work, being in two channels at kind of this stage of the business I really do feel like they support each other and they're beneficial for each other and it'll, it's kind of that early pain, right?

Long-term gain. It'll be tough and challenging now, but I do feel that it'll help grow the business and propel the business faster in the long run. Buckling in for the ride and yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Okay. I have a kind of like veered left question. Yeah, go for it. Because there is a lot going on.

And you mentioned that, one of the catalyst pieces that led to creating Joya was burnout in a way at work and your body not. Starting to cooperate anymore because of that and I think we all underestimate the impact of stress, which why you created this product. From a founder perspective, how do you manage, other than enjoying Joya, of course, how do you manage balancing your overall wellbeing while also having this, drive to grow this business to impact as many people that I know you're aiming to impact?

Yeah. I'm not perfect, or at least not, I not every day. I'm where I'd like to be, but I think because I had that really bad experience, I think that's helped. Me as a founder in the sense that I never wanna go back there again. I think, and I'm a little bit, I was say old, but like a little bit older than a lot.

I feel like a lot of founders that I'm meeting their, in their early thirties are kinda, I was in my early forties kind of by the time I started and, different health implications at that time or, especially being a woman and, a lot of things changing hormonally at that time.

And I think, again, just having experienced the burnout and really been there. I approached, the entrepreneurial journey and being a founder just with guardrails and not wanting to get there again. So again, they've absolutely been peaks where, it's sleepless nights and there's a massive delivery the next day and deadline and it's not perfect.

But I just, I think there's a few key things that. I try not to ever sacrifice and that's, sufficient amount of sleep and I'm kind of one of those people that actually needs I don't do well on even seven, sometimes eight. Like I need like minimum eight hours of sleep to feel normal.

So I really try to prioritize that. I. I really try to prioritize movement breaks. And again, I mean, I love working out, but it's not always as much as I'd like, but that's okay. Right? It's kind of not feeling, I'm not putting that pressure on yourself and not being disappointed with yourself.

Again, that stress doesn't help. So there's days where, it's shorter little bursts and there's days where I can really get a work good workout in, but that piece is massive. And. I'm not I go in and out of like actual, like meditation and things like that, but I've become very mindful. So for me it's more around, not shoveling food in my face while I'm typing an email and just, taking the time to truly enjoy what I'm eating and Actually savor it and actually pay attention to the fl, it's that kind of mindfulness or having my, my latte or whatever in the morning.

And just again, taking that moment to enjoy it as opposed to just diving right into work and not even notice what I'm drinking. And I do love very specific, I kind of go in and out of deep breathing practices and meditation practices and I love them when I kind of, when I'm in that zone, I just, Again, with the life of an entrepreneur, I, it's kind of in and out.

But yeah, those kind of sleep and movement and just those, key and they are so powerful. Like it's not it's not just stuff you read about. Right. And what I, I don't think it's almost anything as powerful and important as sleep. And moving our body that again, there's so much stress on the body around sitting all day and not moving.

So yeah, I'd say that's kind of the trifecta for me. Sleep, nourishment and movement. And then everything else is gravy and important. And and of course in the nourishment, obviously like our, it's, the herbs and the ingredients in our product like, The doses I was taking when I was sick were therapeutic.

That's not, our products are super efficacious, but they're designed to be long-term, right? Maintenance, right? Helping everybody keep strong. And so I, of course still till today, use our products and the ingredients and our products regularly to help support that. Because at the end of the day yes, I'm, I live in a hectic, fast-paced city.

I will, we will always be exposed to stressors, whether it's environmental stressors, things you can't even escape. There's the stressors you can control right in your life. Whether it's tied to, relationships to that, like it's a little bit more in your control, but, you live in an urban environment.

There's just, there are gonna be so many stressors, biological, chemical, environmental, right, that we can't can't control and can't escape. And the beauty of, having a lifestyle practice and having products that can help your body kind of build a bit of a resiliency to the effects of those stressors is super important.

I feel like I'm often asked, especially by kind of slightly older generation, are supplements really really, I never used to take supplements. Like our supplement's really important. And this really sad reality is we are exposed to completely different things than our grandparents were.

Right? Like life has changed. I mean, there didn't used to be a name for organic produce because there weren't pesticides. Everything was organic, right? So we're just, again, whether it's pollution or pesticides or just, I mean the last few years with the pandemic is just, we are exposed to so much. And at the same time, food doesn't have the same level of nutrients that it used to because of all these changes, because of the changes to our soil.

And do I like that we have to supplement just, a healthy lifestyle with, I mean, it's kind of unfortunate, but it's just the sad reality of where we are today compared to 50, 60, 70 years ago. Yeah, that is a really good point that I think we forget, we're not in the same world from a food perspective, from an environmental, from a toxic perspective.

Like we just aren't. It is really an entirely different world and we need to find pieces to help our body to defend it, to detox it from all of these pieces so we can at least try to get it back to this place of homeostasis, of where it is naturally meant to be. And unfortunately, with the world right now we need to take that extra piece on us.

And your products really do help people do that in a simple, in a really simple way, which I think. People are really craving, right? Like, how do I get more simplicity while also having these added benefits, right? One of the big things with, people even cooking at home and, eating healthy is, oh, so much work.

And it's but yeah, it's, it is our body, right? We have one body let's try to nourish it and your products really do help people with that. Thank you. Yeah. That complication, and again, it's that whole, we don't want it to add even more stress to your day. And the reality is you know, not everybody's gonna work with a healthcare with, with a naturopath or a kind of functional healthcare practitioner who's gonna give them an exact combination and formula.

And you end up in this space where people are just being hit with what they're hearing on social media, on the media. This ingredient's great and this adaptogen is great in this, but then they don't know what to do with that and they don't know which one to take and how much to take. And can you even combine these two and right, and then, so this thing that's supposed to be helpful again suddenly becomes stressful and complicated.

And so that's part of it is really. Helping people kind of removing that confusion and complication for them, and delivering it in a formula that makes sense, right? These are ingredients that they've been paired because they are synergistic and work together and compliment each other and.

This is a formula that it's a very specific, right, intentional formula. It's not just, okay, well these three ingredients are trending right now, so let's just mix them together, right? It's taking that work and that complication away for consumers. So it's almost kind of doing double duty on the stress, right?

It's like the actual stress fighting ingredients and then, hopefully a product that's also helping to remove that little bit of stress from your day. One less thing you have to think about is the way I like to think about it. Absolutely. That is such a great way of doing it. Again, I love the relaunch.

I love what you guys are putting out there. I want people to go experience Joya. So where can they find you? Honestly, the best place right now, wherever you are, North America, so Canada or the United States, is our website and it's thejoyalife.com. Our Instagram handles the same, @thejoyalife

And yeah, I mean, again, hopefully we'll be in retail sooner rather than later, but for now, that's the best place. Yeah, definitely to go, we still have to kind of update our Amazon presence again with all the new products and everything. So I'd say that's not the best place right now because it, it still has some updating to do and might even be out of stock. But yeah, our website's definitely the best. And with the chocolate, again, since we're not in retail, it's only around literally for another few weeks before we sadly have to stop shipping it for the summer. So stock up. Yeah, definitely stock up. But yeah, and again, lots of recipes, lots of information.

 It's a massive focus for us. It's not just about, here take these products, it's even if you don't use our products, how can we support you on that journey? So there's a lot of great Informational articles, blog posts, a lot of great recipes. So our website's definitely the hub, Ruth, thank you so much for sharing your story and for creating Joya. You really did take a difficult situation and a pain that you experienced and that people experience all over, and you decided to turn that into a purpose to help serve. The wider community and I personally am grateful that you created this and I'm just really excited for this to continue to grow and for more and more people to just put this into their daily life and see the benefits and the true effect that can come from that.

So thank you for all that you do. Thank you so much, Ainsley. I know especially coming from you, like you've seen the gamut and I know you work with so many brands, and so that really means the world, especially coming from you and Yeah. I'm wishing you guys lots of success and we are definitely gonna see you guys in a lot more stores.

I, I know that for sure. Thank you. All right, Ruth. Thanks so much.