Today we’d like to introduce you to Chef David Choi Jr.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Phyter Food grew out of a snack I created for myself in college. I had been raised in a household of Korean vegan chefs and served as head chef at my parents’ Korean Buddhist restaurant while I was getting an accounting degree. When I could not find an acceptable snack that I could eat on the go between classes, I began making vegetable-based food bars to fill the bill. Later, when I was teaching classes in plant-based eating, I created a version of those bars to serve as dessert. People liked them so much that my friend and now-business partner Gloria Athanis and I decided to bring them to market. The Phyter brand debuted commercially in December 2016 after a four-year sampling process at cooking classes, sports events, and health clubs. Today, our bars are distributed in Whole Foods’ entire 52-store Midwest region and a variety of other groceries and health clubs, and we are preparing to expand our footprint to other parts of the country.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Our two major challenges have been finding a manufacturing space that met our stringent specifications and educating consumers to look for Phyter bars in grocers’ refrigerated cases.
On the manufacturing issue, the hurdle was that we couldn’t find a rental kitchen, shared kitchen or co-packer that met our requirements for clean manufacturing. Although cross-contamination can theoretically be eliminated by proper cleaning of manufacturing equipment, we were not confident that undesirable ingredients from other products could be completely avoided in a shared manufacturing environment. We were grappling with this problem when we met Jeff Adeszko, who became the third partner/owner in the company in 2016. We built our own kitchen with Jeff’s financial assistance and later expanded it with the $1 million we received from outside investors.
On the refrigerator issue, the challenge involved steering Phyter customers away from store shelves where most food bars are sold as well as convincing grocers to stock our bars in open coolers with other grab-and-go products like health juices instead of in closed refrigerator cases where they would be hard to find. Both problems were solved by an active demo program that alerted consumers to the refrigerated nature of the product and proved to retailers that our bars sold well enough to earn open-cooler placement.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Phyter – what should we know?
Phyter provides the first food bars featuring farm-fresh vegetables and fruits as the #1 ingredient. Each bar contains pureed (never dehydrated) produce, other whole-food ingredients and nothing else. Our bars are also 100% organic, sweetened with low-glycemic coconut sugar, vegan, kosher, refrigerated for freshness, and completely free of GMOs, gluten, soy, dairy, chemicals, preservatives, and added oils and fats. The name comes from phytonutrients – the natural chemicals inside fruits and vegetables that help fight disease.
Creating the first bar made with fresh vegetables and fruits makes me proud every day, and so do three other achievements in particular. First, we have had strong support from Whole Foods Market that enabled us to secure our first shelf placements. Second, we received a $1 million investment last year that allowed us to scale our business by upgrading our kitchen. Third, even children like our bars so much that moms are buying them by the case. If you can pass the kid taste test with a healthy snack, that’s really saying a lot.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
Phyter would not be where it is today without the guidance and assistance of my father, my partners Gloria and Jeff, and Whole Foods Market.
My father, whose Korean Buddhist home cooking and vegan restaurant taught me everything I know about plant-based eating, taught me to believe in my vision of my product. It’s because of him that I didn’t listen to early investor candidates who wanted me to put protein in the bars or make them shelf-stable. He was and is my spiritual advisor, counseling me to “be the turtle” and proceed at my own pace instead of being pressured by people who didn’t understand my mission.
My partner, Gloria has been my marketing right arm, orchestrating our four-year sampling campaign and helping me spread the word about the benefits of a plant-based lifestyle in general and our product in particular both before and after our commercial launch. My partner, Jeff has been my business and manufacturing coach, teaching me how to run a plant and create a smooth supply chain. These skills are very different from those I needed to run a restaurant kitchen.
Finally, Phyter owes a huge debt of gratitude to Whole Foods and its policy of supporting local food producers. We met Whole Foods personnel at an event they were holding in preparation for opening a new store in Chicago. After tasting our bars, they encouraged us to bring them to market, counseled us on package design and certification needs, and initially placed the product in 10 stores. Sales were so strong that distribution was quickly expanded to all 52 stores in their Midwest region. They have been both mentors and advocates of our product and I can’t think of a better retail launching pad.
Pricing:
- Phyters retail from $2.49- $2.99 depending on the market and retailer
Contact Info:
- Address: 245 W Roosevelt Rd
Building 14-143
West Chicago IL 60185 - Website: www.phyterfood.com
- Phone: 630-206-3701
- Email: info@phyterfood.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/phyterfood/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/phyterfood/
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