In the latest episode of the Plant Based On Fire podcast, Bryan sits down with Jason Bronstad, CEO of MALK Organics, to discuss his journey in leading one of the fastest-growing plant-based milk brands in the U.S. With over 20 years of experience in the food and beverage industry, Jason shares how his personal health journey, commitment to clean ingredients, and strategic leadership have fueled MALK's success. From humble beginnings in farmer’s markets to now being available in over 10,000 stores, MALK Organics is redefining plant-based milk with a focus on simplicity and transparency.
The Journey from Corporate Giant to Plant-Based Leadership
Jason Bronstad didn’t always work in plant-based foods. His career began in large-scale corporations like Sara Lee, Jimmy Dean, and Mike's Hard Lemonade, dealing with traditional processed foods and beverages. However, a turning point came in 2019 when he embarked on a personal health journey. As Jason became more mindful of his own wellness and the products his family consumed, his values began to align with MALK's mission: to provide consumers with clean, simple, and nutritious plant-based alternatives.
"This is the first brand I've worked with where I can wholeheartedly give my kids as much as they want, without any concern," Jason shared.
From Consulting to CEO: A Serendipitous Transition
Initially consulting for MALK in 2020, Jason quickly recognized the brand's potential and was offered the role of CEO in 2021. With his leadership, MALK saw tremendous growth. By 2022, MALK became the fastest-growing plant-based milk brand among leading competitors, expanding from 1,500 to 10,000 stores. Jason credits this success to MALK’s transparency and dedication to real ingredients.
“We only use three to six simple, organic ingredients in our products—no gums, fillers, or artificial additives," Jason emphasized.
A Personal Mission to Educate Consumers
For Jason, MALK isn’t just a brand; it’s a movement toward healthier, more transparent food choices. He’s committed to educating consumers about what they’re putting into their bodies.
“The average consumer looks at a grocery shelf for just six seconds,” he explained. “We want them to know why MALK is different. Our products don’t contain the fillers and oils often found in other brands, and we make sure that message is clear at the point of purchase.”
The Power of Owning Mistakes and Staying Authentic
One pivotal moment in MALK’s growth was in 2021 when the company tested a new vanilla flavor that contained natural flavors. Loyal consumers were quick to point out that this wasn’t in line with MALK’s values.
“We messed up, and we owned it,” Jason said. Within weeks, they reformulated the product using only organic vanilla extract, reinforcing MALK’s commitment to authenticity. "That experience solidified who we are as a brand."
Insights You’ll Gain from This Episode:
The importance of aligning personal and business values to achieve professional success.
How to handle setbacks and use them as opportunities to reinforce your brand identity.
Effective strategies for scaling a plant-based business while maintaining authenticity.
Insights into consumer behavior and how to stand out in the competitive plant-based milk market.
Product Innovation and Looking Ahead
Under Jason’s leadership, MALK has also embraced innovation with new products like their plant-based creamers, which use no gums, fillers, or oils—making them the cleanest option on the market. With MALK expanding into national chains like Whole Foods, Sprouts, Publix, and Albertsons, Jason’s goal is clear: to make MALK accessible to every consumer looking for a clean, healthy milk alternative.
The Future of MALK and the Plant-Based Milk Industry
Looking ahead, Jason envisions MALK growing sustainably while continuing to educate consumers on the benefits of plant-based eating.
“We want to expand MALK’s availability to more stores, but we’re not in a rush. Our focus is on providing high-quality, clean, and simple products that consumers can trust,” Jason shared.
With the rise of consumer interest in healthier and more transparent food choices, MALK is poised to become a household name in the plant-based world.
Jason Bronstad’s leadership at MALK Organics is a testament to the power of aligning personal values with business goals. Through transparency, authenticity, and a commitment to clean ingredients, MALK is leading the charge in the plant-based milk industry, showing that growth and integrity can go hand in hand. As more consumers seek out healthier alternatives, MALK is well-positioned to continue its rise as a leader in the plant-based movement.
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Episode’s Transcript
Please understand that a transcription service provided the transcript below. It undoubtedly contains errors that invariably take place in voice transcriptions.
Bryan (00:00)
Hello everybody and welcome to the Plant Based on Fire podcast where we talk about plant based businesses and their inspiring stories to thrive in our industry. I'm your host Bryan and the best way you can support our podcast, click that subscribe button down below and tell us what you loved about this episode. Leave us a comment and joining us today is Jason Bronstad. He is the CEO of Malk Organics and a seasoned CPG professional with 20 years in food and beverage and
Welcome to the show, Jason. Thanks for being here.
Jason Bronstad - (00:32)
Bryan, thank you so much for what you do and thank you for the opportunity to share a little bit of time with you today.
Bryan (00:38)
I'm excited to talk with you and learn all about Malk and your journey here. Take us back in time and stuff. What was the starting point for Malk and how did you get to this point? What inspired you to create this?
Jason Bronstad - (00:52)
So I, I'm not the original founder. was brought in as the CEO to grow the business. The origin story of Malka is a fantastic one. Our founder wanted to transition her son from mother's milk to something other than dairy milk and started making almond milk at home. Then took it to the farmer's market and that then with the confidence and the excitement behind the farmer's market, a true startup story got into retail regionally and then started to grow from there.
So it's a fantastic origin story for someone that just has a passion to nourish their family with the right things.
Bryan (01:18)
I love it.
Yeah. And so you jumped in a little bit later and you were doing some consulting work and how did you, how did you manage that transition from CE from consulting into the CEO of the company?
Jason Bronstad - (01:38)
Yeah, it was, it's one of those serendipitous moments. back in 2020, had really in 2019, I'd begun a health journey most of my life. You know, if you look at my history, I've worked for gigantic corporations. I've worked in beverage, alcohol, processed foods, and I started a health journey in 2019. And then in 2020, I had the opportunity to step in and get to know the founder and get to understand what Malk was all about. And with that was. I fell in love with the brand.
I fell in love with the fact that this was the first brand that I've ever been a part of that my kids and I've got two kids are now 11 and a half and eight could have as much as they want it without any concern. I've been in frozen foods. I've been in beverage, alcohol. Obviously they couldn't have I've been in packaged meats, but to work for a brand that is as clean and pure and organic. I literally there's no, no barriers. Like you want some walk. Great. You want it in your smoothie? Great. Let's go.
Bryan (02:18)
Mm -hmm. Yeah.
Jason Bronstad - (02:35)
So to have that as part of our journey as a family and teaching them at the same time, why Malk is different than everyone else. And it's big. It's just become ingrained in who we are as a family. So that transition was one that just really uplifted my entire family. It got my wife kickstarted onto a health journey. she just got back from a run this morning, which five years ago would have been like, what someone in this family runs? That doesn't happen. So it's,
Bryan (02:43)
That's right.
Right? Right?
Jason Bronstad - (03:04)
The brand is clean, simple, pure ingredients that taste great. And that's just helped us to elevate what we do in our life.
Bryan (03:12)
I love it because it's that that thing of like when you start aligning, when you start aligning your core values with what you get to do every day, with how you make money, all those things like it's that Japanese icky guy kind of concept. If you got all four of these splits spinning at the same time, you just feel like this perfect moment of harmony. I find like doing this show and some of the things that I do create that.
that thing for me, like I blink and my whole day goes by and I'm like, I had a blast doing what I did all day long. And it sounds like you do too. I love what, what my research and stuff with, with Malk was just like your, your brand philosophy around simplicity and transparency is there. And I'm just like, how do you, how do you hold the line on that core value and maintain that? Or, and I'll talk to us a little about the simplicity and transparency that you, that I saw when I was looking at it.
Jason Bronstad - (04:09)
So, and I'll take you to a dark spot first. as, as we were transitioning, we were looking to scale up, we were transitioning from in -house manufacturing to co -manufacturing. And it took us a while to get the formula dialed in and we did consumer testing and we went out and the consumers came back that the consumers that we tested came back and said, Hey, we want more vanilla. I'm like, great. We'll just add some more vanilla flavoring. Launch got to retail and consumers said,
Bryan (04:12)
Sure.
Jason Bronstad - (04:37)
This is not what you are. This is not who Malk is. This is not what you're supposed to be adding natural flavors, even if they're organic, don't care. So in that moment, it codified who we were as a brand and it went, okay, we messed up. I messed up. own it. And that was the Monday after Thanksgiving, 2021. By that Friday, we had a new formula with organic vanilla extract, no natural flavors. And within six weeks, we're at retail with that.
Bryan (04:39)
Yeah.
Mm
Mm.
Wow, well done.
Jason Bronstad - (05:06)
And that moment where our loyal fan said, you messed up. We'll give you one chance to fix it. Codified who we are. So that is our stake in the ground is we will not make that mistake again. We will ensure that it is the cleanest, best tasting organic product that you can find in plant -based milks. And that was our rallying cry. I mean, at the time the company was eight people.
We're up into the thirties now. And I tell that story to every person that we interview, every person we bring on. It's like, this was our moment. This was our pivot point that solidified who we are. We will not go back.
Bryan (05:45)
Yeah, I love it. It's, it speaks to what I hope we get to educate our children on. And I hope as, as a society we're moving towards. So I commend you on your efforts to stick to that. And I'm curious, like what strategies are you using to educate consumers about this mall or milk alternatives in general and the benefits of that? mean, that's the thing that I get. Well, my milk is just milk and yours has got 500 other things that I'm like, no, I, I use the mall.
products are the ones that are similar to that, that I have those simple basic things. So I'm not in that, that mixture that, that I'm being lumped in with. So curious how you, how you helped define that as an industry leader.
Jason Bronstad - (06:28)
So as we look at it, it's all about being available. And that's really our mission is to make sure that Malka is available wherever people are buying plant -based milks. And we've got a long way to go. Four years ago, we were in 1 ,500 stores. Today we're approaching 10 ,000. There are over 67 ,000 stores that sell plant -based milks today.
Bryan (06:51)
Yeah. So that's a lot.
Jason Bronstad - (06:52)
There's a lot. So the consumers have the, they should have the right and the opportunity to buy a clean, simple ingredient version of plant -based milks. So for us, the education is, you know, we talk to consumers on social, be it Instagram, be it TikTok, be it, you know, Facebook. We also have a big communication dynamic through in -store. So when we're in store, that's the point of purchase, right? People make the decision when they're in the store.
The average person looks at the shelf for six seconds. They'd better know walking into it, what they're going to buy or have something that says I'm different and here's why I'm different. So as we've expanded, you know, like a lot of organic products, we started in the natural channel. We have a great partnership with whole foods. We've gone national. We're the number one plant based milk brand at sprouts. And at with that we've
been given the opportunity to expand. So back in 23, we launched with Publix, huge chain in the Southeast. We expand it nationally with Albertson Safeway this year. And for us, it's making sure that we communicate to the different consumers of the different chains and the way that they receive it. We know in the natural channel, organic is the lead domino. And what we're finding Bryan in the Mulo channel, traditional grocery, is taste. Tell me it's going to taste good.
Bryan (07:53)
Mm -hmm.
Yeah.
Jason Bronstad - (08:18)
Tell me why I should spend more money on your organic product. If it's just organic, I don't know. But if it tastes good, now you got something going, Malk. Let's see what you got. So really connecting with our consumers to understand how they will receive the message. What I tell my team, I tell my kids, it's not the message delivered, it's the message received. How are they receiving that message that's the most important to us?
Bryan (08:29)
That's right.
Yeah, that is a great tip for other entrepreneurs listening to this show right there is like, you know, this is what I said. What do you think I said? You know, like get that feedback loop going because, you know, I, I have a seven and eight year old too. So, you know, go clean your room and they didn't hear it. or they think cleaning the room is this and you and I think it's that. So yeah, exactly. I'm curious though, if, if we flip back to that innovation question, cause like obviously
Jason Bronstad - (09:06)
Yes.
Bryan (09:12)
The number one priority is growth, growth, growth. Like let's get you into those 67 ,000 stores. But the other side of it is I feel like, unfortunately we live in this capitalistic society where shareholders and consumers are like, I want something new. I want innovation. want, Malk has to do something else. So how do you approach that product development and innovation with the other things we were talking about?
Jason Bronstad - (09:18)
Mm
You know, it, it, that is, it starts with having the right partners and innovation. So we've got a great group that we partner with and they understand are aligned with our mission, vision and values. And they're aligned with what we're trying to do. And we won't produce it if it won't taste good. So we just launched recently our creamers. Love these little guys. It took us forever to make these without any gums or fillers. Right. The only, only ingredient in here that, you know, we've got,
Organic soluble tapioca fiber, which helps it to sustain within the dynamic, acidic environment of coffee. But there's no other coffee creamer out there in the plant -based world that doesn't use natural flavors. It's us. We just launched it, you know, two months ago and we're seeing incredible attraction to it. A lot of repeat purchases already. So it speaks to when you launch a product that tastes good and meets a consumer need, they will come.
Bryan (10:36)
Yep, I love it.
Jason Bronstad - (10:37)
Our chief revenue officer the other day had a very, had a fun post. There was a retailer, that reached out to us, and from starting the clock on that day to 27 days later, we were on the shelf with them. That's when you know, you're starting to make the difference when the retailers calls you and says, Hey Monk want to be in your, we want you in our stores. How, how fast can we make this happen?
Bryan (10:52)
awesome.
Very cool.
I love, I love that. And it is that question in my head. Cause I, I talked to and helped mentor some of these businesses that are just getting started. And I see the challenges is like, how do I just get into one store to see if people like it? How do I get into the right place in the store? And then it's like, okay, great. I'm in the store. It's working. How do I take that data and convince other stores to let me in? So what do you think some of the key factors were for you and Malk to
be in my opinion, one of the fastest growing plant based milk brands, right?
Jason Bronstad - (11:37)
So I always tell the joke, it's a nine year overnight success. So people look at Malkin like they might've just learned about us a year ago or two years ago. What they don't see is the blood, sweat and tears over the seven years before that and the evolutions and the failures. Every success is built on a failure. And one of my favorite sayings is you can't have a solid foundation until you hit rock bottom. And that's personal, that's professional. But once you hit that rock bottom and you start to build with the right building blocks,
Bryan (11:40)
Right?
Jason Bronstad - (12:07)
And those building blocks, you've got to have a good brand, got to have a good product. And most importantly, you've got to have a good team and you've got to have a team that is aligned with where you're going. They're not just, you know, mercenaries trying to go out and make a dollar when they are mission aligned and the rock stars. That's when you start to make a difference. That's when their tenacity, their drive, their ambition really starts to aggregate. And that's where culture matters. When you have that.
Bryan (12:14)
Mm
Mm -hmm. Yeah.
Jason Bronstad - (12:37)
feeling within the company. had an all hands call yesterday and I would do those monthly just to make sure everyone knows what's going on. As we've grown, I can't talk to everybody every week anymore. I'd love to. But as we're growing, it's that connection point. It's what's going on. want to hear from, you know, and honestly, I talk as little as I can on those calls because it's the team sharing what they're doing and their successes that drives and inspires the balance of the organization.
Bryan (12:48)
Yeah.
Mm
I love it. Yeah, that is so true. Switching gears a little bit. Talk to me about the sustainability piece of it. Like us, us in the vegan category, you know, we're trying to save the animals. We're trying to save the planet at the same time too. So hit us with some sustainability practices that you've got going on.
Jason Bronstad - (13:25)
So as we partner and we look at partners across our supply chain, our manufacturing, we look at it in packaging, we get to choose now. We're at the point as in company where it's not like, Hey, anybody can provide us something. get to make those choices. So it starts with that personal relationship and understanding how do they view the world? What are their priorities? And in organics, which we're very proud that everything we do is organic, the yield
for an almond farmer that has organic fields is much lower than a conventional that can spray pesticides, can spray fertilizers. So the way they treat the earth matters. The same with our oat, the same with our cashew. So starting at that point, understanding what are their priorities to minimize water usage. We get that question a lot. Hey, almond growth is a lot of water. It is. And
We look to partner with people that are taking the proactive steps to minimize their water usage. They're out there, they're planning drip lines instead of just overwatering. There are steps that each one of our suppliers are taking that make a difference in the sustainability of our entire planet.
Bryan (14:42)
That's right. Yeah. I love that. And, finding the companies that got the right way to try to recycle that water, all that stuff. So I'm glad to hear you're looking at the full value chain of what you're tackling. I'm, I'm curious on the marketing side a little bit. mean, some of your competitors are obviously taking some very bold approaches to billboards and shaking, shaking the tree pretty hard against the dairy industry. What do you see as some of
the strategies that have worked most effectively for Malk and your vision for marketing.
Jason Bronstad - (15:14)
So here's what I love about when the bigger brands, want to go pick a fight, David versus Goliath mindset. Hey, that's great. You can pick the fight with dairy. And as people come over to plant -based milks and we'll let them know why you should be buying Malk instead of that brand. We don't have the budget to go fight, you know, big dairy. We don't have the budget to go fight the biggest plant -based brands. And guess what? We don't need to. That's not our approach.
Bryan (15:21)
Yeah.
That's right, yeah.
Yeah.
Jason Bronstad - (15:42)
We want to talk to consumers about who we are. What makes us unique? Why we only need three simple ingredients for unsweet almond. Why we only need three simple ingredients for original oat. Our vanilla's only add organic vanilla extract to those bases. How can we do that? Well, we don't add the gums, fillers, additives, oils. And guess what? It still tastes amazing. So what do all those other ingredients do to you? not a doctor, but there's a lot of research on
the negative impact of the gut biome that those have. So we like to talk about the positives.
Bryan (16:14)
Yeah, I...
Yeah. I think, I think that's the core thing. I'm curious your stance on like, I, and I've been asking a lot of people that have been on the podcast, it's always good to see everybody's perspective on it. Cause there's the vegan or no vegan label on it and how big it should be. Should it be on the front or the back and that kind of a thing? Do you have a thought process to that?
Jason Bronstad - (16:41)
I love our loyal consumers and I want to welcome everybody into the brand. So this brand is for everybody. And what's interesting, and I just was, had some data review with our director of category management yesterday. And as we're looking at brands that are adding incremental consumers to the plant based milks, we're leading the charge with Malk. And I guarantee you that is not just vegans or vegetarians that is omnivores as well. So if we can make a difference in
Bryan (17:01)
I love it.
Jason Bronstad - (17:11)
everybody's health, we're all in. We want to be there to support that. We have no problem, you know, recognizing we love the fact that we're vegan and we make intentional choices, right? We don't use honey. We use maple syrup in our holiday nuk. So there's choices that we make because we believe that is the right path for our brand. But it's not the, it's not the leading blunt force object that we're going to go hit people with because it does turn other people off.
Bryan (17:37)
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I agree with that. We've got to change the whole world first and we'll get them to we'll get them to the vegan state sooner or later on that front in my mind. But but yeah, it's very true.
Jason Bronstad - (17:49)
And can't we do that by introducing products that they begin to love? Right. It's like, I can drink mock. Yeah.
Bryan (17:54)
Yeah, absolutely. And it comes back to exactly like what you said, right? Like certain everybody has their different key values. Like I'm looking for the organic thing, but I'm looking for it to also taste good. Like I have to hit two or three things and, and, and do that. So I think you're on the right approach. I'm curious what you see as like the plant based beverage trends for the future and how, how you see things growing over the next few years.
Jason Bronstad - (18:05)
Mm -hmm.
So it's really interesting. If we look back just a year ago, we saw a big decline in oat consumption. within plant -based milks, people walked away from oat for a few minutes. They're starting to come back now. And it was about the same time that people really started talking about oils and the impact that oils have. And a lot of the leading plant -based oat products have oils. But what's interesting is, where are consumers pivoting to?
Bryan (18:27)
Okay.
Hmm.
Jason Bronstad - (18:49)
We just launched this spring, a cashew milk. So we brought that back. was one of the ones that I had to make a decision on early on to skew rationalize. We were able to bring it back. And what we're seeing is people are shifting from oat to cashew. People are also shifting from oat into plant -based creamers. So as people were using oat as their coffee creamer, they're going, well, if it has oils in it, maybe it's not the best for me. And that's what we're.
crediting some of the rise and early acceptance of our creamers with, because people want that decadent drink. They want that decadent coffee. Whether people want to admit it, not, Hey, we're in a recession, right? It is a tough financial world that we're in. So are people leaving QSR quick serve restaurants, you know, big coffee chains and starting to make it at home. Well, if we start to look and dive into the uptick on creamer consumption, there's an argument to be made for that.
Bryan (19:23)
Mm -hmm.
I love it. And my favorite is the cashew milk. I'm right there with you, but I probably go back and forth between cashew and oat, depending on the week, just to mix up the flavors, but my favorite is the cashew. So I'm glad to hear that's making a comeback in your neck of the woods there. So I, I, when I talked to other companies and I think you've hinted at a few of these earlier in our chat here, what are some of the challenges in scaling?
what some of the ones you've already faced or are there some that you're looking to overcome right now? Obviously getting to 70 ,000 stores is a challenge, but just in production, a whole nine yards, there's, there's these certain hurdles that everybody has to go through.
Jason Bronstad - (20:27)
There are, and it's, the evolution and we could pick a microcosm. If you want to talk about truly impacting the environment, you want to talk about shipping product, how efficiently can we transport product to the end destination? That makes a big difference and CO2 and everything else. So that is one of things like, let me back up. Our operations team is amazing and everything they do is to optimize.
Bryan (20:38)
Hmm.
That's right.
Jason Bronstad - (20:56)
How do we make sure we've got the highest quality of ingredients? How do we have the most efficient production to avoid waste? And how do we efficiently make sure we get it out to our end customers? That focus right there, there are challenges day in, day out that they face and they overcome. So on the operation side, know, they are the unsung heroes of most brands. And when you, the opportunity for startups invest in your operations team.
Bryan (21:16)
Mm -hmm.
Jason Bronstad - (21:27)
They will make or break you. They are the ones that will give you the opportunity to reinvest in the brand. Then you've got the sales team. You know, we're approaching 10 ,000 stores. We want to be, you know, is it 70 Bryan? We know there's 70 selling plant -based milks. Hey, let's be honest. Is it 50? Is it 60? We're going to aim for the 70 because we believe Malk should be everywhere, but that takes a lot of work.
That takes a lot of nose. It gets the door slammed in your face a hundred times before they call you and say, I want you now. And that tenacity is that's one of the biggest challenges. And that's where the mindset comes in. And that's where culture matters. We celebrate failures and loss and successes. A failure can be celebrated because we know the effort that those people put into it.
Bryan (21:58)
That's right.
Awesome. And I have to say congratulations. think, just a little bit earlier this year, you closed another round of funding to continue the expansion. I think people that aren't familiar with the investment community, like maybe you and I are to a degree, you don't understand the complexities of all this, but we need more capital to expand and grow. Like you were just saying, distribution channels and marketing channels and stuff.
How is this additional funding helping in unlocking your continued path on one of the fastest milk brands out there?
Jason Bronstad - (22:51)
So we're, very fortunate to have a very engaged board of directors and as investors in the brand, what my job is, is to make sure we're going to have a return at some point for their investment. But ultimately, how can we smartly invest the money to get more places and where they have, I'm very conservative in my approach to hiring people. I want to make sure that we're not spending too much in advance. And that's where they challenged me back. Like, Hey,
No, you need to go invest in this function ahead of time because when you actually need them, you want them in full speed with you. a big, yeah, having a prime room ready. Cause if you wait until you need them, it's going to take someone six months until they're acclimated and truly contributing. Seldom do you see someone walk in in day one and just make a huge impact. So with funding, we're able to invest in our people ahead of the curve.
Bryan (23:31)
and ready.
Jason Bronstad - (23:51)
We're able to invest in the marketing to have the conversation with consumers and let them know why Malk is different. And that is such a difference maker for a brand of our size to be able to have the team put together that we need for the next 12 months, not the prior 12 months. And at the same time, we still have the resources to be able to invest and talk to our consumers and our customers.
Bryan (24:08)
Mm
Very cool. Very cool. I agree completely and I wish more companies had the ability to do that and get out in front of that curve a little bit. So take advantage of that and continue growing that. What advice do you have for the people that want to follow along behind you? What advice do you give to entrepreneurs looking to start their plant -based food and beverage product industry, all that kind of stuff?
Jason Bronstad - (24:40)
Embrace the failures and believe in yourself. At the end of the day, when you make a product that you love, your friends and family love, and that random neighbor that tried it one time goes, man, that's really good. Right. It's not. Remember to expand outside of just your core group of people that are going to love you no matter what, but go out there, get people to try it. Take the feedback. Had we not taken the feedback on the organic natural flavors? I don't know where we would be today.
Bryan (24:53)
Great.
Jason Bronstad - (25:11)
But we were willing to be humble enough to say, yeah, I messed it up. I will fix this. And, you know, I talked about product development partners. I talked to them on that Monday night and by Thursday I had samples to my board and by Friday it was approved. That's the difference in being willing to be humble and say, I messed up. But at the end of the day, Bryan, it, the most exciting part is the entire journey.
It is the journey through it. It's the ups and downs. And I love the infographic that, you know, people think success is just a straight line up and they don't see the valleys and they don't see the caverns. I don't see you climbing up. They don't see you falling and breaking a leg and putting a cast on. They don't see the failures because you know, as humans, we just want to see the success. And what I want people to know is embrace the failures, embrace them and learn from them. Cause if you turn a blind eye to what someone's saying,
Bryan (25:49)
For sure.
Great.
Jason Bronstad - (26:10)
That might be the one nugget you needed to just change the trajectory of your organization.
Bryan (26:14)
Yep, I agree that is some great advice. What's your long -term vision for MOLG? How do you plan to continue to grow and keep your relevance in the market?
Jason Bronstad - (26:27)
You know, it is clean, simple, organic products that tastes good. As we stay focused on that mission, clean, simple, organic products that tastes good. We can take this brand so many places. We're not in a rush. There's no clock ticking. There's no, you know, there's no fun saying, I need you out in X number of years. No, this is a long -term hold. This is something we want to grow and truly develop.
and do the right thing for consumers. That's what excites me. That's the belief in our board. That's the belief in the organization is we know what we're doing here. It's not going to go from zero to 500 million overnight. Let's build it towards a sustainable growth where we can actually go make a difference in the community with our consumers.
Bryan (27:16)
That is great. I love that vision you're laying out there and speaking of community though, how can we help you and what are some of the best ways to get in touch with you and the company and where can we find your products? Tell us all those cool details.
Jason Bronstad - (27:32)
Absolutely. So on our website, we've got a product locator pop in there. We update it weekly. You can punch in your zip code and it'll tell you the closest stores. If you happen to live in what we call the unfortunate Malk deserts, because there are some in the U S right now, I've got a friend in Tulsa, Oklahoma that gave me so much grief said, I can't buy Malk unless I drive to Oklahoma city. We're now on Amazon with our Tetra package or shelf stable. So it's shelf stable until you open it. And we've got our unsweet almond and our original oat. And my challenge is go try it.
Bryan (27:51)
Right.
Jason Bronstad - (28:02)
Go see what you think about it. I promise you it'll make a difference in the way that you feel. And the one thing, know, there's new consumers to our brand. And one of the things that we have on all of our caps, it says shake your mall quill. So just a little shake like this. We don't put gums, oils, fillers. That's what binds product together. So there is natural separation. Before you open your mall, just give a little shake and enjoy.
Bryan (28:27)
Yep. Yep. I think, I think we're spoiled, spoiled as consumers when we drink a drink and it hasn't needed to be shaken. And that just goes to show there's probably some stuff in there. You shouldn't be eating in first place. So yeah, shake them up. that is awesome. And it's Malk organics .com. So go check out that website.
And like Jason said, it is got a store locator and I hope you can go and get some of that and give it a good try if you aren't already a big huge fan. And so thank you, Jason. We really appreciate you being on the show.
Jason Bronstad - (29:05)
Bryan, thank you for everything you're doing and continuing to spread great news about the vegan lifestyle and the benefits that come from it. I've enjoyed listening to your podcast over the last couple of weeks and really honor what you're doing there.
Bryan (29:18)
Cool, I appreciate your support and that's all the time we have for this episode of the Plant Based on Fire show. Thank you again, Jason. We appreciate you joining us, sharing your insights and experiences. I know you've given out some great tips and tricks that are gonna help other entrepreneurs start their journey. Until next time everybody, keep the fire burning.