Insuring the Impossible

I was nervous about hurricanes but I was electric with excitement about my freeze-dryer en route.

I genuinely believed that a freshly picked miracle berry, preserved at peak potency, was the key to making this a consistent, crave-worthy product. I just needed to prove it and I felt like I took the long way to get there.

The best part was that excitement all came bundled with worry because when hurricane season rolls in, the stakes get real.

The headlines weren’t exactly soothing: insurance companies pulling out of Florida, policies being dropped, premiums skyrocketing for those that weren’t. It felt like we were standing at the edge of a cliff holding lightning in a bottle… with a storm on the horizon.

But I couldn’t live with that kind of anxiety, not if I wanted to get any sleep! So I got to work. It felt like I called every broker, chased down every lead and after too many “no’s” to count I finally found a “yes.” Not just liability coverage—but a policy that protected our equipment, business income and even covered the people we supply if disaster shut them down. Hurricane winds? Covered. Freeze-dryers? Protected. Business interruption? Secured.

Just as it seemed I’d have to accept no for an answer, this protection presented itself like a reoccurring theme. This time it was peace of mind for that worst-case day that let us go all-in early on.

Now I could focus on what mattered: the berry. The faster we could preserve the farm's perishable berries and get them out of Florida, the lower the risk would be to the overall supply if the worst-case scenario happened. We were officially playing a role in creating a new miracle berry supply chain (demand sold separately).

Next week, I’ll tell you what happened when the freeze-dryer finally arrived—and why our first test batch almost ended in disaster.

One of the traditions we have in Los Angeles is heading up to Park City as a group of filmmakers in late January each year to spread the joy of Sundance Film Festival. Even in the 2013 to 16years my miracle berries would have to go frozen, I wouldn’t leave them behind.

For the nights that went the longest, the next day we would brew some warm lemon water and stir in a little cinnamon and nutmeg. We called it Sundance Cider and gave it to our friends. After I added apple cider vinegar, I think I got it just right.

Make sure you do as I do and chew your Nature’s Wild Berry for 30 seconds and let the berry pulp coat your tongue all over before you swallow. That sweet aftertaste is our way of letting you know it's ready to go!

Next week, I have a game-changer salad from CAVA that I’m dropping on you, you won’t want to miss that. Plus a potential guest who knows her way around health!?

And as always, your hidden 48 hr 20% off alphanumeric code is hiding in plain sight. Look closely at the text—did you spot a word that’s formatted oddly? Enter it exactly as shown!

– Hank