Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Quick Takes Tim Stinovic on Bloomberg Radio. Put this on
Speaker 1: your website. You can eat pancakes and burgers and still
Speaker 1: reach your goals. All right, I am definitely you've caught
Speaker 1: my attention. Sustainability in your diet, living a healthy lifestyle,
Speaker 1: building the happy habits necessary to do both. Our next
Speaker 1: two guests are all about that, so let's bring in
Speaker 1: JJ and Erica Peterson, their founders of Clean Simple Eats
Speaker 1: on the phone from Salt Lake City, j J and Erica, So,
Speaker 1: nice to have you here. What you folks are doing
Speaker 1: really plays into a bigger, broader conversation that we're increasingly
Speaker 1: having here at Bloomberg and among our different news verticals
Speaker 1: about kind of the food area and how it is
Speaker 1: among the latest and greatest to be disrupted and a
Speaker 1: lot of innovation is happening. So, first of all, welcome
Speaker 1: to Bloomberg. Nice to have you here. Thank you so much, Carol.
Speaker 1: We're excited to be with you. Thank you, appreciate the time. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's great, great to have you here. So first of all,
Speaker 1: I like to when I've got someone on just tell
Speaker 1: us little bit about the last year, because I feel
Speaker 1: like anybody who owns a business runs a business. You know,
Speaker 1: we've all kind of learned some new things. So tell
Speaker 1: me the last year, how it's been for you guys. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think that we can relate with a lot of
Speaker 1: those who have struggled over the last year and we've
Speaker 1: had to make some pivots in the business, um, but
Speaker 1: there's also been a lot of of life lessons learned
Speaker 1: from the last year and a lot of positive outcomes too,
Speaker 1: And that's something that we we like to look at.
Speaker 1: We like to look on the positive side of things
Speaker 1: as often as we can, right, So, I think some
Speaker 1: of the great things that came out of the last
Speaker 1: year were we were able to spend more time at
Speaker 1: home cooking in our kitchen, and that goes, you know,
Speaker 1: across the board, across the nation, for all of us
Speaker 1: team across the world. Right We we had to learn,
Speaker 1: I hope, so how to suspend more time inside the kitchen,
Speaker 1: and we really took a look at help in a
Speaker 1: different light. I have if you don't have your help,
Speaker 1: like what do you have? And I think once that
Speaker 1: was put in the question with the pandemic and things
Speaker 1: were uncertain for for quite a while and still are
Speaker 1: to some extent. Your your health became number one, which
Speaker 1: is what we preach every day. Well, tell us a
Speaker 1: little bit about what you guys are doing, because I
Speaker 1: find it interesting that you do on your website that
Speaker 1: you can eat pancakes, you can eat burgers, you know,
Speaker 1: but at the same time being healthy. So I think
Speaker 1: of my dad, my grandparents, you know, everything in moderation.
Speaker 1: So Erica maybe coming on and give us our listeners
Speaker 1: and our watchers on YouTube. Um, just what you guys
Speaker 1: are doing and what your mission is and how you
Speaker 1: came about. Yeah, Carol, So to be totally honest, I
Speaker 1: am a foodie. I love food. I love junk food.
Speaker 1: I always have. I love to eat that comes from
Speaker 1: my mom and um. But when I was a young mother,
Speaker 1: I struggled to feed my family hopefully, and I was busy,
Speaker 1: and I just found a hole in the industry because
Speaker 1: it just seems like you either eat junk food and
Speaker 1: whatever you want, or you're eating you know, chicken, broccoli, rice,
Speaker 1: just the boring, bland food that I wasn't into. And
Speaker 1: so I stumbled upon macros, which means you just fine
Speaker 1: foods that fit into a protein carbon fat split, and
Speaker 1: as long as those are all balanced out, you can
Speaker 1: still get results while eating food that you love. And
Speaker 1: so I've created recipes with lean proteins and carved and
Speaker 1: fats that are all balanced and so you can eat
Speaker 1: the foods that you love in moderation and see fantastic
Speaker 1: results at the same time. But it's not only just
Speaker 1: food plans, but you guys are actually creating food for people. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so that was another hole in the industry, Sauce. So
Speaker 1: once we created these seasonal mill plans, UM, we were
Speaker 1: calling out certain products like a protein powder for example,
Speaker 1: or or different supplements or even a nut butter for example,
Speaker 1: and we just thought, you know what, we can do
Speaker 1: this better. We can source better, we can control from
Speaker 1: the beginning to the end. We can we can deliver
Speaker 1: to the world a better product. And so we created
Speaker 1: our own um Way protein powder. We have a vegan
Speaker 1: plant based protein powder, and we have nut butter lines
Speaker 1: that um kind of take you outside of the traditional
Speaker 1: almond butters or peanut butters. And we have unique blends
Speaker 1: like we have a cinnamon bun in salted caramel and
Speaker 1: aloha which tastes like Hawaii and a jar. So we
Speaker 1: really wanted to disrupt the industry where we wanted to
Speaker 1: make clean eating fun again, where like Erica mentioned it,
Speaker 1: when you think clean eating, you think tilapia and brown
Speaker 1: rice and broccoli for every mental cardboard or cardboard and
Speaker 1: now that there's anything wrong with that, But I mean
Speaker 1: Erica credit. She is a She is a foodie, and
Speaker 1: so am I. She's turned me into one, and she's
Speaker 1: she's just like a kind of a genius in the
Speaker 1: kitchen and she's created these amazing recipes that everybody loves
Speaker 1: and um continues to flock to well on for a second,
Speaker 1: Guess I gotta do a little bit of news, But
Speaker 1: I want to come back because I want to talk
Speaker 1: a little bit and dig a little bit deeper into
Speaker 1: what clean eating means. Because people are increasingly looking and
Speaker 1: turning around a package and finding out what's in something.
Speaker 1: So I want to talk a little bit about that
Speaker 1: and kind of diggle attle bit more into how you
Speaker 1: develop kind of a lifestyle or healthier lifestyle for everyone.
Speaker 1: I want to get right back to our guest with
Speaker 1: us JJ and Erica Peterson, their founders of Clean Simple eats.
Speaker 1: We were talking about clean eating. What does that mean
Speaker 1: in the world of food. When you say organic, there
Speaker 1: are rules around it. When you say natural, there are
Speaker 1: no rules. So what does clean eating mean? And the
Speaker 1: protein powders and the various you know, food products that
Speaker 1: you guys put on your product, what goes into them? So,
Speaker 1: clean eating to us means whole foods, minimal ingredients, no
Speaker 1: additive no no artificial sweeteners, no preservatives, and and and
Speaker 1: all things in moderation. I think you mentioned that, Carol.
Speaker 1: But we're not the craziest people on the planet when
Speaker 1: it comes to our food. But we we we do
Speaker 1: believe in clean eating because we think it's important. Well,
Speaker 1: and what's interesting is you are providing kind of a
Speaker 1: way of life for people. You're providing the products. You
Speaker 1: also really tap into social media in order to get
Speaker 1: it done. And that is something that we've seen certainly
Speaker 1: take off big time, whether it's et commerce over the
Speaker 1: past year, whether it's fitness, whether it's tele medicine. Tell
Speaker 1: us about you know, your social media methodology and all
Speaker 1: of this. Yeah, So our community is huge there everything
Speaker 1: to us because our business is wild widely word of mouth,
Speaker 1: and so we run challenges, which creates a very great
Speaker 1: community aspect. So we have a challenge every quarter and
Speaker 1: everyone gets the mill plan and we all eat the
Speaker 1: same recipes for a full seven weeks and that has
Speaker 1: been a great way to build community, build our brand,
Speaker 1: and really build our Instagram followers. And it makes a difference, right,
Speaker 1: because community is an important thing. I feel like in
Speaker 1: this world that you know, you see it at you know,
Speaker 1: with workout companies where there's Peloton, there's a workout community.
Speaker 1: You know, weight watchers are formerly weight watchers. WW Like,
Speaker 1: they create communities. It makes a difference, right, huge difference.
Speaker 1: They create that accountability and that partnership. You know. I
Speaker 1: think anyone that has a buddy system will just be
Speaker 1: more successful in their goals. And especially with the pandemic
Speaker 1: where lots of us were stuck at home, we kind
Speaker 1: of were reaching out to that digital community and that
Speaker 1: was really helpful for us to have that. So we're bloomberg.
Speaker 1: Oh go ahead, please j J. Sorry. There's something powerful
Speaker 1: and being um part of something that's bigger than yourself,
Speaker 1: you know. I feel like everybody needs to be part
Speaker 1: of a community and a family and just fill those
Speaker 1: those bonds and those ties and the CSC community or
Speaker 1: family that we call them, where the squad we call them,
Speaker 1: they really show up every single time and they've been
Speaker 1: so supportive over the years and we could not have
Speaker 1: done what we've done without our community. So that's everything
Speaker 1: to us. So one thing I wanted to ask you,
Speaker 1: and we are Bloomberg and when there's a company like this,
Speaker 1: we are interested in the metrics and the growth. Remind
Speaker 1: us how long you guys have been doing it, what
Speaker 1: kind of growth you've seen when it comes to revenues
Speaker 1: and the business model. Yeah, so we officially incorporated in
Speaker 1: so we're just in year five and year over your
Speaker 1: growth since inceptions since we incorporated has been two hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty six year over year growth and so we've
Speaker 1: we've seen phenomenal growth um even during the pandemic, we've
Speaker 1: continued to see that same growth pattern and we've even
Speaker 1: seen an uptick during the pandemic. So it's been phenomenal.
Speaker 1: And where do you go from here with it? Is
Speaker 1: there other products that you plan to add in terms
Speaker 1: of the product line, other services? How do you see
Speaker 1: it going in the future. Yeah, we have a big
Speaker 1: bucket list of items of products that will fit organically
Speaker 1: into our mail plans and into our product line. Also
Speaker 1: new flavors, so we have seventeen different protein flavors. We've
Speaker 1: started just with our chocolate and our vanilla, and that
Speaker 1: branched out to seventeen different flavors that are new. Community
Speaker 1: really love. You know, it's interesting. You really are trying
Speaker 1: to make it kind of one stop shopping, as you
Speaker 1: we said, you know, creating a healthy lifestyle, and and
Speaker 1: part of doing that is have it. I know it
Speaker 1: in my world, whether it's a workout, whether it's how
Speaker 1: I eat. Like, once you do it for a certain
Speaker 1: amount of time, it just becomes something that's a part
Speaker 1: of your life and that you want to do. And
Speaker 1: you know, your app kind of allows it. And it
Speaker 1: also your app allows people to kind of customize what
Speaker 1: they need and what they need to do, correct because
Speaker 1: you can put in your gender, your h your height.
Speaker 1: I mean that's all part of the process. Yeah, So
Speaker 1: the app, you put in all your information that will
Speaker 1: customize a plan for you. And then from there you
Speaker 1: can either follow a customized guide that I have put together,
Speaker 1: or you can create your own by plugging and playing
Speaker 1: your own meals here and there. And it will customize
Speaker 1: the grocery list for you and create a menu plan
Speaker 1: straight from the app. Yeah, that's amazing because there's over
Speaker 1: seven d fifty different recipes. But eric commentioned this earlier.
Speaker 1: Every single recipe minus a few, but most of them
Speaker 1: them are at thirty macro balance split. So I mean,
Speaker 1: you could have waffles for dinner and it's the same
Speaker 1: as if you had a salad. So you don't have
Speaker 1: to question whether or not these balanced mills are appropriate
Speaker 1: for you. They all are, and so it kind of
Speaker 1: takes the question out of it. It takes like the
Speaker 1: heartache and the headache out of mill planning. It's just
Speaker 1: it's really really simplified. So what's the hardest part of
Speaker 1: what you guys are doing right now? Oh? Boy, um,
Speaker 1: I would say I would say balance, but also supply
Speaker 1: chain is very disfical right now, I think for all
Speaker 1: businesses really, but trying to run faster than we can
Speaker 1: based on our limitations on supply chain. Yeah, and that
Speaker 1: is certainly something we've heard from small, mid size and
Speaker 1: certainly some of the larger sized easily large as businesses.
Speaker 1: What do you think about too, when it comes to
Speaker 1: pricing and so that you can make it as accessible
Speaker 1: to as many people as possible. You know what, It's
Speaker 1: funny as as we've seen exponential growth year over year,
Speaker 1: we've decreased our prices every year as well, and so
Speaker 1: the the at the end of the day, Carol, we
Speaker 1: we want to impact as many lives for good as possible.
Speaker 1: That's kind of the mission of Clean, Simple Eats. And
Speaker 1: so when we first started this, the milk pans were
Speaker 1: seventy five dollars. Now they're thirty five. You can get
Speaker 1: a discount code and they're down to twenty five, and
Speaker 1: so we've really really tried to decrease the costs of
Speaker 1: or the barrier to entry. We want everybody to be
Speaker 1: able to experience this, because once you do, it's sticky,
Speaker 1: Like this is a sticky, sticky lifestyle. You you begin
Speaker 1: to feel how good it is to feel good in
Speaker 1: your own skin and to be healthy and to be active,
Speaker 1: and you just live this vibrant life. Eating healthy affects
Speaker 1: every other aspect of your life in a positive way.
Speaker 1: And so it just if there's this trickle effect, it's
Speaker 1: with your relationships, and it's with your colleagues at work,
Speaker 1: and it's with with your kids and the way that
Speaker 1: your parent it trickles into every other area of your life.
Speaker 1: We just cannot focus enough on the nutrition aspect, so
Speaker 1: we want we wanted as many hands as possible. Well listen,
Speaker 1: great to check in with you guys, and I'd love
Speaker 1: to do so later this year and find out how
Speaker 1: things are going, especially as the kind of the world reopened.
Speaker 1: Uh and love to hear a little bit more about
Speaker 1: some of the new products that are that are coming
Speaker 1: down the line. JJ and Erica Peterson, thank you so much,
Speaker 1: founders of Clean Simple Eats. Joining us on the phone
Speaker 1: from Salt Lake City,