Food Entrepreneur - August 30, 2022 - 7

debuted two and a half years ago, prior to the initial onset of
the pandemic.
" The first two months were really quiet, " said Mr. Thalakotur,
who works a full-time job to support his family and the
business. " By the time May and June of 2020 rolled around,
people started focusing on ways to strengthen their immune
health. That's when it took off. "
Today, Mighty Gum is sold online at mightygum.com
and in several hundred retail outlets, as well as coffee shops,
juice bars and wellness labs. The brand has become popular
among the biohacking community, feeding a rising interest
in self-experimentation to improve health and vitality.
Later this year, Mighty Gum will add a second offering,
with a ginger mint flavor, focused on aiding digestion. The new
product, inspired by conversations with consumers, " is going
to take Mighty Gum to the next level, " Mr. Thalakotur said.
" I want to continue to expand into functional spaces, " he
said. " Immunity, digestion, and then we'll continue to focus
on areas that are relevant to people's lives. What are products
people lean on today, and what are they trying to solve with
those supplements? Those are the spaces into which Mighty
Gum will evolve. "
Chewing gum sales have slid recently, driven in part by
the impacts of social distancing and nationwide stay-at-home
orders. Mr. Thalakotur believes the category has struggled
to meet evolving consumer preferences. His product is free
from allergens and artificial sweeteners, flavors and colors,
ingredients many shoppers seek to avoid.
" Chewing gum can be a pathway to wellness, both in
terms of what we put in and what we don't put in, " he said.
Happy trails
In the early days of the pandemic, newly unemployed
Cattie Khoury hunkered in her Austin,
Texas, apartment, anxiously devouring packaged
snacks.
Years earlier, she had adopted a healthy lifestyle,
healing her tumultuous history with food.
However, she admitted, " all of that went out the
window " as the world descended into lockdown.
" One of the things I was gorging on was trail mix, "
Toodaloo trail mixes
combine sprouted nuts
and seeds, chewy fruits
and functional herbs and
mushrooms.
Khoury
'I want to show that food can
be functional without being
medicinal.'
- Cattie Khoury, Toodaloo
be regenerative organic certified, but then there were like,
five ingredients on the market that I could use, " she said.
" The goal is that if we support enough farmers, then we can
start to reap the benefits of that supply chain. "
Each trail mix contains adaptogens, used in ancient
medicine and believed to regulate the body's response to
she said. " I was looking at the back of the packaging one day,
and I realized there were hydrogenated oils, highly refined
sugars and artificial dyes ... when it should just be nuts and
seeds. "
Her revelation triggered a newfound purpose to blaze
a trail in nutritious snacking. Months of tinkering in her
home kitchen led to the launch of Toodaloo, a line of trail
mixes combining sprouted nuts and seeds, fruits and functional
herbs and mushrooms. The products are baked with
coconut oil or olive oil and sweetened with organic apple
juice and organic coconut sugar.
Over the past year, the brand has gained distribution in
more than 500 specialty stores, including Sprouts Farmers
Market, Erewhon and Central Market. The products also are
sold online at toodaloo.com.
A self-described " plant lady " with a bachelor's degree in
sustainability studies, Ms. Khoury has committed to investing
a portion of sales to advancing regenerative agriculture.
The startup has helped restore hundreds of acres of farmland
through its partnership with the Rodale Institute.
" When I started Toodaloo I wanted every ingredient to
August 30, 2022
TOODALOO
Food Business News
47
http://www.mightygum.com http://www.toodaloo.com
Food Entrepreneur - August 30, 2022

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