The Two Conditions That Paved The Way

At Planet Raw, the restaurant Juliano's uncle and mother founded, one of Juliano's responsibilities was ordering fresh food from their supplier, UNFI. In the three years I kept asking him to be my business partner, he never explained his fundamental understanding of the food business—how brutal it was and how, financially, it wasn’t a decision to take lightly.

What came out as "no" had valid reasons behind it, and who could blame him for wanting to prevent my dream from turning into a nightmare? Everything depended on margins, and there was just no way our startup could survive if we had to compete in the refrigerated or frozen space—it was just too expensive. On top of that, the product I was passionate about selling was already too costly. Nobody was asking for a berry that cost us $5 to10each, even if it worked like magic.

But here I was, fresh off watching Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead 2, and I refused to accept another no. Maybe he wanted to avoid a fistfight with his best friend, or maybe he saw potential in something nobody had ever done before. One thing was for sure—I had the passion he was looking for in a business partner.

Fine, he relented, but with two conditions I had to agree to.

First, we had to give the berry a shelf life so we wouldn’t have to compete in the refrigerated or frozen set. Second, it had to retain its purest form, be minimally processed, and be preserved chemical-free at peak potency. If we were going to do this, we were going to do it right from the beginning.

At the time, I didn’t realize how big of a challenge that would be—but I was too happy to care. I had the right guy for the job, and we would figure it out, whatever it took. All we had to do was the thing that had never been done before, and that’s where we’ll pick up next time.

My obsession with using the miracle berry on fruit had just begun. First, it transformed my lightly frozen fruit bowl into sherbet. Then, it turned my unsweetened yogurt with peaches and granola into something I actually craved. That’s when a childhood memory sparked my next experiment.

My grandad always put honey on my grapefruit so we could eat it together. I remember being five, watching him eat it plain without making a face, and wondering how he did it. I couldn’t do it then, and I couldn’t do it now… or could I?

The next time I went to the store for green juice ingredients, I picked up the juiciest grapefruit I could find. I had to know. Could the miracle berry make me love a grapefruit without honey?

As the pulp of the miracle berry was coating my tongue I admit I was nervous as hell for what was next. Then, the moment of truth. I took a bite and… my mind was shook. I could not believe how delicious this grapefruit was—it reminded me of Orange Fanta on the beach in Mexico. With every wedge, my mind kept getting blown. If it worked on this, what else could it work on?

Next week, I’ll share my next discovery—you won’t want to miss it.

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-Hank