Why Selling Miracle Berries Wasn't So Simple
To recap, when you let the pulp of a miracle berry coat your tongue for 30 seconds, the following 30 minutes unlock a sweetness you've never experienced from anything sour, tart, fermented, or pickled. It also curbs bitterness and makes umami more savory, but we hadn't figured that out yet. What we knew at the time we learned about the berry in early 2013 was that you could buy miracle berries as tablets or raw, perishable berries. Since Juliano did the ordering and his family's restaurant was called Planet Raw, he chose the perishable berries for a few reasons—obviously, you could see they were berries and the vegans would approve, but they tasted way better than the tablets and took 30 seconds to work instead of 10 minutes to dissolve.
In case I need to back up and clear any confusion, my co-founder and best friend is a son to Cara, who co-founded the restaurant with her brother, also named Juliano. So two Julianos, but I really only associated with the nephew, Cara's son, who grew up in the family business. After we proved the berry worked, he had two problems with selling it.
First, he saw the risk of selling a perishable product that already didn't make sense financially and lost its flavor-changing magic in two days if refrigerated and two weeks if frozen. When you did the math, each berry would cost five to ten dollars when factoring in weight, dry ice, and overnight shipping. It simply cost too much for people to pay on top of dessert, even if the berry delivered on its miracle promise.
The second problem was me. Not that I had a problem per se, but that I was his best friend, and he honestly didn't think I had his work ethic—and that would come between us. So what did I do? Every six months, I'd keep asking him, even though I got the same answer: no. Even when the family restaurant closed by 2014, the answer was still no. I kept asking. 2015came and went, but every time I asked, it was still no.
Was I discouraged? No. Even though he had his reasons, I knew that he would be the only one I could count on, so I stayed persistent. Also, I wholeheartedly believed that I had found my calling since I had completely reversed my pre-diabetes diagnosis. During those years, I was using the berry multiple times per day, satisfying my sweet tooth, and more impressively, keeping the weight I lost from coming back. In LA, that type of thing doesn't go unnoticed, so everyone was asking me what my secret was. When I showed them the demo and blew their minds, they all said I needed to make this a thing.
Furthermore, I was convinced that one of the major brands would begin selling the berry, but every time I Googled it, nothing. To my surprise, zero major brands embraced it. I began to see that the same issues we identified with the berry, they did as well. On top of those, educating the consumer and promoting a product that changed consumer behavior was a liability to them. To me, that was my opportunity. I knew it worked on everyone I gave it to, and if people got multiple payoffs from changing their behavior, they would do it just as I did.
I still hadn't convinced Juliano yet, and I knew I couldn't do it without him, so next time, I'll tell you about the moment that changed Juliano's mind and the challenge he gave me that led to Nature's Wild Berry.
In case you're new to the blog, so far, I've shared the two things I began using the miracle berry with—healthy green juice for nutrients that tasted like Jolly Ranchers and lemon water, which was sweeter than any lemonade I'd ever tasted, kept me hydrated all day, and, oh yeah, was free wherever I went. I was still trying to figure out more ways to reduce sugar from my standard American diet, so I began experimenting. The first non-beverage I tried the berry on was unsweetened tart yogurt. It blew me away so much that I began trying all the unsweetened yogurt brands, seeing how each tasted on the berry, and it was so much fun!
As you'd expect, they all had a unique taste, and I enjoyed satisfying my curiosity and feeling like a connoisseur at the same time. I quickly confirmed that honey wasn't necessary, but fresh fruit with the sweetness of the tart yogurt had me flavor-trippin'! Next week, I'll share one of my favorite fruits from my yogurt experiments that became my go-to movie night snack.
Don't forget, there's a hidden alphanumeric discount that gives you 20% off, and it will work for the next 48 hours, just like every blog will have, dropping every Wednesday! Enjoy and see you next time.
Hank