Charlotte Cruze transcript
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Hi, everyone. You're listening to The Future Of Food Is You, a production of The Cherry Bombe Podcast Network. I'm your host, Abena Anim-Somuah, and each week, I talk to emerging talents in the food world, and they share what they're up to, as well as their dreams and predictions for what's ahead. As for me, I'm the founder of The Eden Place, a community that's all about gathering people intentionally around food. I love this new generation of chefs, bakers, and creatives making their way in the world of food, drink, media, and tech.
Today's guest is Charlotte Cruze. She is the co-founder of Alice Mushrooms, a decadent, functional mushroom chocolates and lifestyle brand. Charlotte and I talk about the role that functional mushrooms play in the wellness space, how her master's in food studies came in handy, and also, all the adventures that come with being a CPG founder today. Stay tuned for our chat. Just a heads-up, we will be talking about medicine and science, and if you have any questions or concerns about whether Alice Mushrooms are right for you, please contact your doctor or a medical health professional.
Thank you to Kerrygold for supporting today's show. Kerrygold is delicious, all-natural butter and cheese made with milk from Irish grass-fed cows, raised on small family-run Irish dairy farms. Kerrygold's farming families pass their craft and knowledge from generation to generation. This traditional approach is the reason for the rich taste of Kerrygold. You can enjoy delicious sliced or shredded Kerrygold cheddar cheese, available in mild or savory flavors. The shredded cheddar is perfect for those who love making mac and cheese, and now that grilling season is here, the cheddar slices will take any burger or veggie burger up a notch. There's also Kerrygold's classic salted butter in the gold foil. It's perfect for slathering on corn on the cob, always a summer fave, and the unsalted butter in the silver foil is an absolute must if you're turning sweet summer strawberries into strawberry shortcake. Visit kerrygoldusa.com to find the Kerrygold retailer nearest you, and lots of great recipes.
Let's check in with today's guest. Charlotte, thank you so much for joining us on The Future Of Food Is You podcast.
Charlotte Cruze:
Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Where did you grow up, and what were some of the foods that showed up in your life?
Charlotte Cruze:
I was born and raised outside of Washington, D.C., until I was nine, and then I moved to Lexington, Kentucky, when I was nine years old. So, a little bit of big city and a little bit of small town are what make me up, and food-wise, I was the world's pickiest eater as a kid. Peanut butter, I ate a peanut butter sandwich every day until I was probably 18, and no jelly, just peanut butter on white bread.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Dang. Were the crusts still on the bread?
Charlotte Cruze:
No. You know what? I actually like crust. I never got the Uncrustables thing.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
There you go.
Charlotte Cruze:
Crust has always been for me. As I started to get a little bit more into food, my stepdad is one of the best cooks I've ever met, and we have a very secret family recipe for a barbecue sauce that we actually stole from another family a few generations ago, so that's really big. And then very good Southern food, I would say. We make burgoo, we have a lot of chili. It's really big.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
What's burgoo?
Charlotte Cruze:
It's like a stew. There's a lot of game, like venison, and dove, and duck.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Wow.
Charlotte Cruze:
Yeah, our dogs eat very well.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Nice.
Charlotte Cruze:
They eat a lot of wild turkey.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah.
Charlotte Cruze:
That's Kentucky for you.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
That's awesome. And were mushrooms something that you enjoyed growing up?
Charlotte Cruze:
No. Mm-mm.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Dang.
Charlotte Cruze:
As part of my picky eater thing, mushrooms were pretty far away, not part of my peanut butter sandwich regimen, and it took me a while to really get into culinary mushrooms, but now, I had a mushroom quesadilla last night, I eat mushrooms constantly. Very much when I was probably around 16, 17 is when I got sick of only eating the same thing over and over, and now I'll literally eat anything. Whenever I travel, it's pretty much about restaurants.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Big same here. Can you tell us a little bit about your first foray working in the world of food? I mean, before that you were at NYU, where you got your Master's in Food Studies.
Charlotte Cruze:
Yeah.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
What sparked the decision to decide working in food?
Charlotte Cruze:
So, I had been in media for a really long time. My first job out of college was actually in broadcast journalism, and then I went into lifestyle media. So, I was working at digital publishers doing branded content, and I got to a point where it just wasn't fulfilling anymore. I was in men's, and a lot of it was just like, "How do we sell this watch to Wall Street guys?"
And I hit a point with that, and I realized that food was really where I wanted to make a difference. I'd done my yoga teacher training, and I was just starting to connect with what is most basic to people, feeling good, and I explored that in my yoga training with breath, and movement, and then where I really felt like I could make a big impact was in food, which I think is the other most basic thing that is pretty essential to our lives that often gets overlooked.
So, that's when I made the decision to go back to school and went to NYU. And then my first time working in food, I started working as a director of operations for a short-lived but really fun startup in New York called Quinn, and basically, we made organic, on-demand meal kits, so think like Blue Apron, but you can order it on Seamless, and all of the ingredients are organic, and fresh, and local.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
You left Quinn, you started working at TBH, which is the hazelnut spread brand, led by Noah Schnapp of Stranger Things fame, is the face of the brand, and you were the head of growth there. What was the role like there, and did any of that part play into the success of building Alice, which we'll definitely talk more about?
Charlotte Cruze:
Yeah, 100%. So, it was kind of a funny point in my life where we had just closed Quinn, and I was looking for the next thing to do, and I met, literally at the same time, my current business partner at Alice, Lindsay, and then the CEO of TBH, Elena, and I wanted to take both jobs. I wanted to work with Lindsay, and I also wanted to work on TBH, and I told them both that basically, and TBH was like, "Great, why don't you work for us basically in whatever capacity you can? We know that there's an end date, but come on and be with us." So I kind of-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
That's really nice.
Charlotte Cruze:
It was really great. So, I split my life, and it was a way that I could support myself while getting this other business off the ground that was not generating any revenue yet, and it was incredible. TBH, it's founded by Noah Schnapp from Stranger Things, so from day one, there were a million eyes on the brand. So, what it really taught me was how quickly a brand can actually grow within a year, and how to handle that demand, because I think most startups, particularly in CPG, start and you're really bootstrapping it, right? You're really fighting for eyeballs. Whereas day one, Noah has 20 million Instagram followers, and most of them are deeply obsessed with him.
When TBH first launched, I flew down to Miami to help them, they had a launch event, and it was on one of the main pedestrian malls in Miami, and there were girls that started lining up at six in the morning, down the block. I mean, hundreds of people that would wait for hours and hours to come in for a meet and greet with him. So-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Just for a selfie and a handshake?
Charlotte Cruze:
A selfie and a handshake, and to buy a jar of TBH. So, it's like-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
I mean, it's good hazelnut spread. Yeah.
Charlotte Cruze:
It's incredible. And so, the fandom on that was really cool, and it basically just helped me understand exactly what's needed to implement for a high growth brand very early on. So, I think I came in to building Alice, understanding everything that we needed to put in place, to get us in a position to be able to scale.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
What sparked the conversation with Lindsay that made you decide, "Okay, I'm going to do this full-time. There's a really awesome idea that's going on here?"
Charlotte Cruze:
Yeah, I mean, it's funny, Lindsay and I met... If this isn't a pandemic story, then I don't know what is. We literally met over the phone, and we'd been introduced by a friend of a friend of both of us. She lives in L.A., I live in New York, and we talked on the phone, not Zoom, we didn't see each other, and she just told me about this idea which she'd been working on, and instantly, I was just so interested, and there was something that just clicked and felt right.
And then we kept scheduling like, "Okay, let's connect again next week," and we took it slow, but then I say we took it slow, but we decided to basically start working together in a co-founder capacity, three weeks after talking on the phone for the first time, and living across the country from one another. And we started working together, and didn't meet in person for probably about three months, when she came to New York to visit and we worked together for a day, and then got dinner, and kind of looked at each other like, "Okay, I guess we're doing it."
Abena Anim-Somuah:
"This is it."
Charlotte Cruze:
Yeah.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah, that's awesome. Can you tell us a little bit more about Lindsay, and sort of what she's bringing to the table?
Charlotte Cruze:
Yeah. She comes from a background in pharmaceuticals, so she was in-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Interesting.
Charlotte Cruze:
... pharmaceutical sales doing medical and medical device. So, she had been doing that for the better part of a decade, and just got really, for lack of a better term, over it, watching a lot of doctors sell things that were band-aids and not addressing root causes, or maybe only picking the drug to sell because it was sold by the company that they work best with, not necessarily that it's the best product, I think all the things that we see as consumers that happen in the pharmaceutical industry.
So, she got really into mushrooms, and started trying out all of these different supplements, and really realized that there wasn't a mushroom supplement out there that was delicious, and that was fast-acting, and the fast-acting thing, you can't really... Functional mushrooms, you have to take them daily for about three weeks, a medicinal dose daily, to start feeling the effects because the nutrients need time to compound in your body. That's part of functional mushrooms, right?
But a lot of these supplements out there, she was seeing, and I had also seen, didn't taste very good, weren't that easy to take, and then you didn't feel them right away. People are going to quit pretty quickly, and something that Lindsay learned in pharmaceuticals is the importance of delivery method, as it affects patient compliance. Basically, meaning if something isn't pleasant to take, people aren't going to do it. So, she really set out to be like, "How can we make this delicious, and how can we make it work instantly?" And the first answer was chocolate, the second answer was formulating the mushrooms alongside nootropics and herbal supplements that do work instantly. So, it's kind of our now and later approach to well-being.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
The name Alice, does it have anything to do with Alice in Wonderland? Because I was thinking, "Oh, mushrooms, it's very earthy. You're going down a rabbit hole," but I'm sure it's something else. Yeah.
Charlotte Cruze:
Yeah. Yeah, it's loosely inspired by Alice, the character, right? We love her curiosity. Alice has always been a big inspiration for Lindsay, and she just loves how open-minded, and curious, and fascinated about all of the mysteries of the world are, and also how she is so okay with not understanding everything. I think that's something that we as people struggle with a lot, wanting to know the answer to everything, and mushrooms present this really interesting field of we don't understand so much of it, and I think knowing that that's okay, and also exciting, is something that we love to take from her.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
You talk a lot about mushrooms, and obviously there's a, I don't want to say a stigma, but there's a reputation of mushrooms in society when you're not consuming them just for flavor, that there's a psychedelic element, but the mushrooms you currently have now are functional mushrooms.
Charlotte Cruze:
Yeah.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Can you talk about the distinction between functional mushrooms and psychedelic mushrooms? Yeah.
Charlotte Cruze:
Yeah, absolutely. So, I think the easiest way to explain this is to bucket mushrooms out into three categories. So, I'm going to throw another category at you, which is culinary, but you have your culinary, and then functional in the middle, and psychedelic on the other side. And so, culinary, that's what we're familiar with, it's our shiitakes, our oyster mushrooms. They have a great nutritional profile, are very good for us, but aren't necessarily going to change our state of being.
Then on the far side, on the other end of the spectrum, there's psychedelic mushrooms, and psychedelic mushrooms contain a compound called psilocybin, and psilocybin is what elicits a trip or a psychedelic experience. And then in the middle, we have functional mushrooms, and functional mushrooms don't have any psilocybin, so they can't elicit a trip or a psychedelic experience, but they have much more potent medicinal compounds than your typical culinary mushroom. So, functional mushrooms have the benefit to actually change your state of being, but not in a psychedelic way.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
What was the developmental process like, and how did you rely on science and experts into figuring out and making sure that you're creating a product that is safe and good to eat for people?
Charlotte Cruze:
Yeah. Well, everything. I mean, it was a process, right?
Abena Anim-Somuah:
I'm sure.
Charlotte Cruze:
So, Lindsay started when she realized that there were no functional mushroom products that she personally wanted to take. She started formulating for something that she could just use personally, which turned into her kind of playing Reddit mad scientist in her kitchen, and-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Great place to nerd out.
Charlotte Cruze:
Yeah, literally going to the Whole Foods and buying a ton of chocolate bars, and then ordering powders on the internet, and melting them down, and figuring out how to make it work. Pretty soon, she realized she needed help, so she brought in a homeopathic doctor who worked alongside her in her kitchen, what herbs to use to bring people up, put people down, didn't understand taste or texture. So, that's when we then brought in a team of professional biochemists, formulators, doctors, who then gave us a ton of research on every ingredient that we thought about using, and helped us prioritize. So, I still have tomes, basically, of research about all these different ingredients that we even tangentially thought about putting into these formulations.
And then we kind of landed on what we wanted based on a ton of Goldilocks approach testing, right? We had so many different formulations, and we would make these really ugly chocolates, and put them in little baggies, and deliver them to our friends and say, "Here's a Google form. Take this, and then fill out the form," and ask people about taste, texture, efficacy, when they felt it, how'd they feel six hours later, how'd they feel the next day, and just tweaking, tweaking, tweaking.
And then once we got the efficacy to a point where we wanted, that's when we brought in our chocolatiers to then help us really nail taste. They're fifth generation chocolatiers, and so, we would go out and fly to see them, and do a lot of real time taste and texture testing, and then bring samples back and do the same iteration, feedback testing with our friends. It's a really long process.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
How did you think about the legality in that process? Well, because again, mushrooms are still something that as society, we're still trying to figure out. Even in its functional form, albeit not psychedelic, there's still a lot of, I guess skepticism, or people not feeling some type of way about it.
Charlotte Cruze:
I think a lot of brands, yes, we put a lot into marketing, and the way that we visually represent ourselves, but the product is so key to everything that we're doing, because we're working with ingredients that people aren't necessarily familiar with. So, if we can't stand behind our product or we don't have a product that works in the way that we say it's going to work, that just sets the entire mushroom conversation back. So, we take what we're doing pretty seriously in that regard.
Yeah, I mean the product just has to be good, because people need to trust us, and I think education is so important too, because regulation-wise, the mushrooms in our chocolate are regulated the same way as the shiitake is regulated. It's not necessarily that is something that would hold us back in any way. Obviously, when the time comes for psychedelics, that's another conversation, but in terms of the functional space, it's very standard. CBD struggles with more things than we would, because CBD is still regulated differently across state lines, and you can't sell it on Amazon, for example, but everything we're doing is like a culinary mushroom regulation level.
But it's important. People don't understand what functional mushrooms are, they think it might make them trip. It's always the first question I get whenever I introduce the product to someone, and it's really important to be able to give them something that tastes good, works, looks trustworthy, because we assess how trustworthy something is, the first thing we use is our eyes, and "Is this something I'm going to trust? Is it approachable? Is it accessible?" There's a reason that our branding doesn't look really trippy, because we want people to look at our product that maybe are mushroom skeptics, and we want to convert them.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
The legality is important, because you also want to create a good environment for other mushroom-forward brands to be able to enter the space, and not be met with that stigmatism. How do you think Alice currently serves now as a beacon for educating people on mushrooms, or I guess, the conversation of the shroom boom? I love on your website you have this glossary, which I took a look at last night, and it's just so interesting. I was like, "Oh, I didn't know these terms, or even certain terms about the techniques you can and cannot use to help grow the mushrooms that you use in the product."
Charlotte Cruze:
Yeah, I mean, that's so important to us. We worked on the glossary for a long time. That was my little pet project writing that, and it was so fun to put together, because during this process that I was just explaining where we were having our friends try things, we were just really noticing how people really don't know things about functional mushrooms, and we need to educate, because I think the more people know, the more the movement will be pushed forward.
And we are really staunch in our marketing about not making our product look psychedelic at all, and I think a lot of functional products out there have stepped a little bit into the psychedelic space in their marketing, not in their product, and I think that isn't doing the industry any favors. I think the more people understand what functional versus psychedelic means, the more they're not only going to be empowered to take functional products, and potentially take psychedelic products, but they're going to be able to then speak to that, and communicate it, and feel confident using it.
I also don't think that we need to convince people that functional product has psychedelic properties to get them excited about it, right? Functional mushrooms are pretty special on their own, and we want to educate people about that, and I think then building that trust is then going to open so many more doors for other functional brands for what psychedelic looks like in the future. Because once people trust you, and you show them the science, and you show them that it's real, then it's kind of a cascading effect.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Let's take a quick break, and we'll be right back.
Kerry Diamond:
Hi everybody, this is Kerry Diamond from Radio Cherry Bombe. The new issue of Cherry Bombe's print magazine is now available. You can subscribe via cherrybombe.com, and receive Cherry Bombe direct to your door, four times a year, or you could pick up a copy at your favorite bookstore, magazine, shop, or culinary store, places like Scout in Marion, Iowa, Porter Square Books in Cambridge, and the Joy Map in Albuquerque. For more stockist locations, head to cherrybombe.com, and click on the Magazine tab. Thank you in advance for supporting our print magazine.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
So, you currently have two products, Brainstorm, which you say is for sharp focus, and then Nightcap, for deep sleep.
Charlotte Cruze:
Yeah.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
What was the decision in picking those two as your premiering products?
Charlotte Cruze:
I mean, I think this brand, coming out of the pandemic, those were things that people really struggled with, and Lindsay starting to formulate these products in her kitchen, it was again, something that we wanted. How can we have help doing this? And it really just naturally came from there. I think there's also a lot of really great mushrooms for both of those things that you're looking to do. Reishi is incredible, firstly. Lion's mane and cordyceps is incredible for focus and energy. So, it felt like a really natural starting point for us.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
I think what's so fascinating, especially with creative brands, is it's always interesting to talk about the finances, and a lot of people who listen to our podcast are aspiring, they're thinking about what's next for them, and obviously, I feel like oftentimes, it's not even the creative that's the obstacle, it's the finances. So, when you and Lindsay were both thinking about, "Okay, we're going to take this out into the world," what was the conversation like on how to finance to be able to get the brand out there, and get the brand out there sustainably?
Charlotte Cruze:
By the time I had met Lindsay, she had raised a small pre-seed, which is what we basically used to get us to launch, and it was enough money for us to hire some good designers, figure out sourcing, get the packaging done, build the website, also keep ourselves fed, and a roof over our heads. It's hard fundraising, particularly before you launch a brand, it's really hard.
We took the pre-seed to a point where, okay, the business was ready to go, but then we needed to launch the business, and get our first production run in, and a lot of operations overhead, and that's when we decided to raise a seed round. Anyone who's looking to raise a seed round before you launch, I would say give yourself a year, because it's hard, you don't have numbers. In late stage, investors are betting on founders, and they're betting on people, but they're also betting on numbers, right? And before you launch, you don't have numbers.
So, you really are working your network, working friends of friends, friends of investors, whatever that is, and convincing them that you have what it takes. So, that takes longer than if numbers, you're just telling a story, right? But it's really important, because you do need that operating capital to get off the ground. I think the thing that I see most with companies that don't make it is not smart fundraising, or giving away too much equity, or not giving away enough equity. It's a tightrope walk, but in my opinion, money is pretty crucial. Raising enough is pretty crucial.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
What advice would you give to creatives or food people who are in that stage of, "Okay, we have something, but we just need a little more capital to get us going?"
Charlotte Cruze:
I mean, I would open up an early friends and family round. If you're going to take money, you need to really understand what that money is going for. So, we broke down when we were raising, "This is how much we're raising, 65% of it is going to marketing for the next six months. 20% of it is going to operations, and 15% of it is going to pay us, and our lawyers, and our PR team, and whatever that is." And so, getting really, really clear about exactly what you're using the money for, I think will not only benefit you, but will make people more confident in investing in you, and make you more confident in taking money from people.
I think as female founders, you're particularly wary of... I think it's a uniquely female experience to not feel confident in yourself taking money from someone, whereas men will just kind of be like, "Yeah, I earned this. Fund this for me. It going to be great."
Abena Anim-Somuah:
"I'm going to take some more." Yeah.
Charlotte Cruze:
Yeah, whereas every time we took money, we were obviously very confident, but it's scary. Someone else is trusting you with something, and I think the more confident you can feel about fundraising, the better it's going to be.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
And when you thought about your cap table, what were some qualities you were also looking for in your investors? Sometimes again, it's not just about money, you want to make sure you have investors who are offering good advice, good connections. If things do go to go south, investors that you know are like, "Great, you did your best, your best was enough."
Charlotte Cruze:
I mean, that's so important, and some of the best advice I've ever received is be so careful about anyone you bring on to your cap table, because you're getting in bed with them for a while, and you need to be pretty confident in them, and luckily, we haven't had any bad situations, but it's really easy to see how that can happen. But we really wanted to bring strategic people on, and I think strategic can mean a lot of things.
Strategic can mean, like you were saying, maybe someone who doesn't know that much about the industry, but really supports you, and is, at the end of the day, going to say, "You did your best. It's okay," and they're a cheerleader for you. Strategic can also mean someone who has a connection at Whole Foods. Strategic can mean someone who is connected with certain influencers. I think it's really about being open to everything that strategic can mean in that regard, and also knowing what your weaknesses are, and what you want from investors, and what holes that they can fill.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
I've loved following your journey on Instagram, but something that I really loved that caught my eye was your Mushroom Mobile. So, you were out on the West Coast, doing a mini tour, even at Coachella, which is like-
Charlotte Cruze:
It was crazy.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
... the festival, I would say, the music festival, especially in this part of the world. How did you and your team decide to come up with the concept, and what did that entail?
Charlotte Cruze:
We wanted to do the mushroom truck before we even launched the business. This was an idea we've had for a long time. We're like, "We're going to get an ice cream truck at some point."
Abena Anim-Somuah:
That's so rewarding.
Charlotte Cruze:
And yeah, and we wanted it around launch, and then we kind of checked ourselves and we were like, "Let's not get a truck and launch a business in the same month. Let's put it off six months." So, we got it in April, and it was a 1969 Chevy ice cream truck. I mean, it was a beater. This thing was unbelievable. No windshield wipers, no speedometer, no gas gage, rearview windows don't work. It was a whole situation, but it was exactly what we needed.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Did it have wheels, at least?
Charlotte Cruze:
It had wheels.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Okay. That's all you need.
Charlotte Cruze:
I got really close with the AAA people in Venice Beach, and everyone who worked at O'Reilly Auto Parts.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Did they get the mushrooms? Yeah, you should get them to do a review.
Charlotte Cruze:
Yeah. Oh my God, every time we called AAA and they're like, "Okay, what kind of vehicle is it?" And I was like, "A '69 Chevy ice cream truck that says 'Mushrooms' on it," they were like, "Okay?"
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah. You're like "Ah, we're there." Yeah.
Charlotte Cruze:
Yeah, but we got this truck, basically, to push forward our idea of accessibility, and joy, and indulgence, because that's really what the brand comes down to, and we couldn't think of anything more accessible than literally bringing an ice cream truck to where people are, and letting them taste our chocolates. In the course of 30 days, we did about 20 events, and we took it to a couple big parties at Coachella, and it was just a really cool way for us to get involved with the community, and build community. Particularly, we've been kind of an Instagram-y brand since we launched, and I think there's this subconscious feeling that people have when they see a brand really heavily advertised on Instagram that like, "What is this? It's not real. This kind of feels-"
Abena Anim-Somuah:
It's not tactile for them.
Charlotte Cruze:
Right, it's not tactile. So, we wanted to use the ice cream truck to be like, "Hi, it's us. We're real, and here's the product, and you can try it and taste it," because we don't have a store, so this is kind of like our store on wheels. And it was funny how many people came up and they're like, "I've seen this on Instagram," and we're like, "And now you're seeing it in real life."
Abena Anim-Somuah:
IRL. Yeah, the URL to IRL pipeline. I mean-
Charlotte Cruze:
I love that.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
... you went to such amazing places. You partnered with Venice Run Club, a dear friend of mine's a huge participant in that community. You were at Little Beach House in Malibu, Palm Grove Social, and even partnered with Aviator Nation, the famous sweats brand. Where do you think the Mushroom Mobile will be next?
Charlotte Cruze:
So, we actually only had the truck for a month. It was a rental.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Oh, cool.
Charlotte Cruze:
We thought about buying it, and then towards the end of the month we were like, "I don't think this is a business." Speaking of financials for your business.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah, don't buy a broken down truck.
Charlotte Cruze:
Don't buy a broken truck. So yeah, we gave it back to the guy we rented it to in Long Beach, and said a sad goodbye.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
I feel like I could see you guys in the Hamptons or something.
Charlotte Cruze:
That's the idea. I think our startup budget idea for doing this is kind of every summer, just rent a different truck, and we really want to be in the Hamptons next summer.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah. Well, obviously, I'm sure you have so many fun anecdotes, and I think what's really awesome about the podcast, especially for early founders, I always like to hear what was the funniest or silliest encounter that you had building this company?
Charlotte Cruze:
Yeah, I mean, there's so many. I mean, think the truck has so many weird stories, right? You take this thing out and you meet hundreds of people, and hundreds of people. We were just so scrappy with that truck. I took it to an event, I lived in L.A. for the month at Lindsay's house. I drove it down by myself one night to downtown L.A. for an event from Venice. By the time I was coming back, it was getting dark, and it started raining, and this truck-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Oh, and there's no windshield wipers.
Charlotte Cruze:
... doesn't have windshield wipers, and so, I pulled over into little side streets, and every two blocks, got out and wiped down the windshield, and then would get in and I'd make it two blocks, and then I'd have to stop and wipe the windshield down again. I mean, it took me almost three hours-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
To get home.
Charlotte Cruze:
... to get home.I mean, we've had so many other ridiculous things happen too. Before we started the brand, and we've always still been playing around with this as Alice as a character. Whenever someone meets Lindsay or myself, they're like, "Are you Alice?" And we're like, "No, Alice is a different person that we kind of have guiding us." So, we really always try to make her a character. So, we had this idea to basically build a text message pipeline where when someone would get a box of their delivery of Alice, there'd be a QR code in the box, and they'd text it, and they could text directly with Alice. I wrote this whole pre-programmed conversation, almost like AI, but it was me, right?
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah. You're the AI.
Charlotte Cruze:
And they could text you and forth. I'm the AI. When we were testing it out, I had the QR code drive to my phone number.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Oi.
Charlotte Cruze:
And my understanding of QR codes has always been that they're dynamic, right? You can change it to a URL, but once you make a QR code that goes to a phone number, you can't change it, so PSA. So, we printed 16,000 boxes with a QR code that drove to my phone number, that we couldn't change.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
So, is your phone still blowing up?
Charlotte Cruze:
No.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Okay.
Charlotte Cruze:
Thank God we went through those. So, you'd scan it and it would create a text to my phone number that said, "Hi, Alice," and once we caught it, it was to the point where I was like, "Okay, we could print a bunch of stickers that we put over that with a different QR code, but at this point, I'm going to take my punishment, and I'm going to stay close to the customer."
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah.
Charlotte Cruze:
And-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
You were the most popular girl there.
Charlotte Cruze:
I was very... I mean.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah. Well, Alice was, yeah. Yeah.
Charlotte Cruze:
Yeah, but I mean, it was nuts, but it was actually really helpful, because I got to talk directly to almost all of our customers and figure out what they liked, what they didn't like. More than once, I got voice notes from people. I mean, it's crazy being that close.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
"Alice, I'm struggling." Yeah.
Charlotte Cruze:
Yeah, it was really fun, but also, I'm glad that time in my life is over.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
What has been something that you've struggled with, and how do you think you've overcome it, especially as you've been growing the business?
Charlotte Cruze:
I mean, I think there are so many things, right? Just day to day. Literally, in the car ride over here, I had a moment where I was like, "We're doing so well. We're taking this to the moon," and then 30 seconds later I was like, "We're going out of business."
Abena Anim-Somuah:
That's how I know you're a founder.
Charlotte Cruze:
Right, you have these fluctuations within a 10-minute span, and so, knowing that you're going to be okay, and grounding yourself, and also being able to manage who you are with the business, but also that that isn't all you. I think Lindsay and I both struggle because we have let Alice consume us so much, and we have consumed it back, and it is this thing that we live and breathe, but at a certain point, we also have to be Charlotte and Lindsay, and that's really hard, especially when we don't always want to do that. And so, it's separating yourself in a way that feels okay, and knowing that this isn't your whole identity, and that one weird day in the business doesn't make you a failure, and one good day in the business doesn't make you a success.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah. I think you and Lindsay do a good job of not having too much of yourselves out there, or I guess, I think especially for brands, it's important, what's the balance between your brand existing, but also not being the face of the brand? I feel like especially as we've seen, a lot of the times when female founders are the face of the brand so prominently, and things go south, it's like your entire reputation is squashed, right? So, even if that business is long gone and we've all forgotten about it, it's still going to show up anytime you come out and do something. Yeah.
Charlotte Cruze:
Yeah. The intermingling of the identities is a tricky thing.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
I'm curious to hear, obviously you're a wellness brand and a lifestyle brand, how do you and Lindsay think of ways to create balance for yourselves as you're working on the company?
Charlotte Cruze:
I mean, me personally, go to therapy. If you're a founder-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Shout out to therapy.
Charlotte Cruze:
... go to therapy, because there's a lot of things that you're going to face, and having someone to talk about it with is pretty helpful. I have a pretty strong meditation practice. Shout out to my car right over here. I also meditated in the car on the way here.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
There you go.
Charlotte Cruze:
I think just being able to sit with yourself in silence is more powerful than almost anything else. I think movement also, right? I come from a yoga background. Being able to take time away from your phone and move your body is the most important thing that anyone can do. And I think just practicing kindness with yourself and with others. There's something special about having a co-founder, and that you get to practice kindness on them, as well as with yourself, and I think sometimes you can look at the kindness that you're giving the other person and then be like, "I should also give that to myself."
Abena Anim-Somuah:
That's so beautiful. Well, obviously, we're huge manifesters on the podcast, so I would love to ask, where do you hope to see Alice?
Charlotte Cruze:
Oh my gosh. I hope that we are in a store in every city and town in this country. I hope that we're international. Our big goal is for Alice to become synonymous with mushrooms. So, we want, when people think, "Where do I go for trusted mushroom information? Where do I go for the best mushroom products? Where do I look? It's Alice." Five to six years from now, who knows what the regulatory landscape will look like? But I hope that we not only have more functional products, but we are also able to have a psychedelic product on the market.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
And obviously, you guys were featured alongside Kourtney Kardashian in the Poosh gifting suite at Coachella. Congratulations, that's huge. Are there any other celebrities or people you're huge fans of that you'd love to try some of Alice?
Charlotte Cruze:
I mean, if I could get Alice into Harry Styles' hands, I think you could just bury me right there.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Definitely seems like his vibe. Yeah.
Charlotte Cruze:
Right? We honestly take a lot of brand direction inspiration from him. I think-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah, and his brand, Pleasing, is that the-
Charlotte Cruze:
Yeah. We love Pleasing.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah, the nail polish?
Charlotte Cruze:
Yeah. Last August, I went to his run at MSG, and I was taking so many videos and photos of everything they had there, because I was just so inspired. I think everything he does is perfect.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah. Most people are taking photos of Harry's house and you're like, "Let's look at that balloon," or something.
Charlotte Cruze:
Yeah, exactly.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
No, I love that. Well, Charlotte, we are going to do our Future Flash Five.
Charlotte Cruze:
Yeah.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
How does that sound?
Charlotte Cruze:
Great.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Cool. The future for female founders?
Charlotte Cruze:
Bright.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
The future for CPG products?
Charlotte Cruze:
Niche.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
The future of wellness?
Charlotte Cruze:
Psychedelic.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
The future of mushrooms?
Charlotte Cruze:
Chocolate.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
And finally, the future of lifestyle businesses?
Charlotte Cruze:
Accessible.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Amazing. Charlotte, thank you so much for joining us.
Charlotte Cruze:
Thank you.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
If we want to continue to support you, where are the best places to find you?
Charlotte Cruze:
Www.alicemushrooms.com, and you can find us on Instagram, when we're not taken down, which is something that happens all the time, at @alice.mushrooms, and our backup account is @mushrooms.alice.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
I love that. Cool. Thank you so much.
Charlotte Cruze:
Thank you.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Before we go, our guest is going to leave a voicemail at The Future Of Food mailbox, just talking to themselves 10 years from now.
You have reached The Future Of Food Is You mailbox. Please leave your message after the beep.
Charlotte Cruze:
Hi, honey. Please don't immediately exit out of this. I know that voicemails are Boomer technology and your worst nightmare, but this one is special. I can't believe that you're already 40 years old. I want you to remember what it's like to be me right now, less than a year into a new business and a marriage, and on the cusp of getting a dog, and also finally seeing your lord and savior, Taylor Swift, in concert. I hope that you still love her as much as I do now. I'm so jealous. You have 10 more years of new music from her already. What a frigging gift.
I'm wondering, have you used the last 10 years wisely? Did you find success with Alice and use it to lift your family up? If not, did you pick yourself back up and keep pushing forward? Did you take a Spanish class, or go to culinary school, or do another round of yoga teacher training? It's okay if you didn't. We still have a lot of time. How many pets do you have? I hope it's at least five, and I hope the cats were sweet when they met the new dogs, and didn't poop on the bed out of spite, even though I know they probably did. I wonder if you have kids, and where you live, and where you spent the last decade, but mostly, I hope that you never took anything too seriously, and kept having fun, and eating really good food. I also hope that your husband still has a mustache. Anyway, thanks for listening to this. Go take a nap, because I'm sure you deserve it.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
That's it for today's show. Do you know someone who you think is the future of food? Tell us about them. Nominate them at the link in our show notes, or leave us a rating and a review, and tell me about them in the review. I can't wait to read more about them. Thanks to Kerrygold for sponsoring our show. The Future Of Food Is You is a production of The Cherry Bombe Podcast Network. Thanks to the team at CityVox Studios, executive producers Kerry Diamond and Catherine Baker, and associate producer Jenna Sadhu. Catch you on the future flip.