From Farmer's Market to 16,000 Stores: Malk Organics' No-Filler Growth Story

0:00Jason Bronstad:Malk is a premium, organic, clean ingredient plant-based milk. We offer it in a lot of various bases, almond, oat, soy, coconut, cashew, as well as we have an incredible line of coconut creamers that we just launched. Are you guys located in stores throughout all of the United States? Very proud the team has us in north of 16 ,000 stores, all in the United States currently. We're in all 50 states. We're in most major chains. Do you have the steps that you went through or that you can guide us in order to be able to achieve that as a company? We are huge believers in data. You have to have the data.

0:32You have to look at the data, understand the data.

0:35Jason Bronstad:Any other ways that you're also able to maintain company culture? One of the things that we believe in is the dream culture, right? You have to have dreams that you're pursuing. What is it that you're passionate about? What are you actually pursuing in life?

0:52Jason Bronstad:Hey, everybody. Welcome to the show. My name is Andes Viguera, and I'm going to be your host for the day. This show is brought to you by the Global Talent Company, helping fast growing teams hire exceptional remote talent from Argentina, South Africa, and beyond. We connect companies with world-class professionals who bring skill, reliability, and a global perspective to every role. And just for our listeners today, we're offering an exclusive 10 % discount on your first hire. All we need to do is visit globaltalent.co, click start hiring, and mention the podcast listener discount when we reach out.

1:25Jason Bronstad:And today with me here, I am speaking with Jason Bronstad, CEO of Malk Organics, a company that makes premium plant-based milk with simple and organic ingredients. And with that said, Jason, it's a pleasure to have you on the show, man. Welcome. Adrish, thanks so much for having me on. I look forward to our conversation. No problem at all. We're so happy we were able to make this work. And Jason, just so that we can hit the ground running. Would you be able to tell us a bit more about your background, how you came to be CEO of Malk Organics, and even what Malk Organics is in your own words? Yeah, let's start with what Malk Organics is.

2:03Malk is a premium, organic, clean ingredient,

2:05Jason Bronstad:plant-based milk. We offer it in a lot of various basis, almond, oat, soy, coconut, cashew, as well as we have an incredible line of coconut creamers that we just launched. So super excited to have the opportunity to lead the team here at Malk because it doesn't happen without the team here. Personally, I'm a native Texan, proud of that. Went to University of Texas, so I'm a longhorn through and through. And what defines me more than anything is I've got an amazing bride, 21 years married this year. I've got a 13-year-old daughter and a nine-and-a-half-year-old son, and they are my everything.

2:39So they are what gets me going every day. They are the light of my life. I also am a jujitsu practitioner. Love that for a stress release. And it's all about doing the right thing, man. Waking up every day and making the choice to do the right thing.

2:55Jason Bronstad:Amazing. Now, it's beautiful when you're able to find those things that drive you in life and things so special, such as family and health and being able to also work at a company such as Mock Organics, which I feel is also a thing that they have very much at their forefront because it's mainly staying healthy and being able to come to find products that have what we people really need instead of all those other extra ingredients that can be found in other types of things, right? 100%. It's the clean, simple ingredients. We try to make sure that our products are as close to the raw ingredient as humanly possible without the gums, oils, fillers, and additives.

3:31Jason Bronstad:And Jason, just in order to also learn a bit more about Mock Organics, are you guys located in stores throughout all of the United States? Are you an international company that also has entered other markets or countries? Would you be able to tell us more about that? Yeah. So, you know, Malk is an incredible store. Originally founded, started at a farmer's market, you know, 11 years ago now. And when I joined in 2020, we were in around 1 ,200 stores in the United States only. And now I'm very proud the team has us in north of 16 ,000 stores, all in the United States currently. We're in all 50 states.

4:05We're in most major chains. So we're really excited about the progress they've made. And it's awesome because consumers continue to look for our type of product. They want the clean, simple ingredients without all the additives. And this has been a journey. And this is a beautiful journey at that of making sure people are aware and exposed to the opportunity that they can have something that they would make at home on their own available at the retail door.

4:31Jason Bronstad:That's amazing. And from 180 to 16 ,000, that's a lot. But was there any, I want to say secret formula, but do you have the steps that you went through or that you can guide us in order to be able to achieve that as a company? We are huge believers in data. You have to have the data. You have to look at the data, understand the data. And when you are a product that is at a retail store, you're basically paying rent. You're not outright paying rent to the retailer, but you have to deliver profitability back to the retailer for the space that you're taking up on their shelf. And as you pay attention to that, as you look at the data and understand, there's one component there.

5:12The other component is listen to your consumers. What is it that they want? So when I stepped in, we scaled it back to three SKUs that we offered to be able to make sure we had those three SKUs right. We had our unsweet almond, our vanilla almond, and our original oat. And today we have over 17 items that we're offering across stores between different product bases, different extensions. We've got a couple of seasonal SKUs. We've even launched a shelf stable SKUs as well. And that goes back to listening to the consumer saying, hey, I want this accessible, but I want to be able to stockpile it.

5:46I want to be able to have some in the pantry because I don't have that much fridge space. So we launched our Tetra product a few years ago. With our creamers over my shoulder, we're really excited. We relaunched these this year. We launched it as a coconut creamer that actually whitens the coffee. A few years ago, we launched an almond-based creamer that had coconut sugar. And because of the natural color of coconut sugar, it was a brown creamer. People want to whiten their coffee. We weren't giving them that solution. So we are discontinuing those old ones. We're relaunching these new ones here.

6:19We've got a sweet cream of vanilla and an unsweetened and early results. We're just back from Expo West, which is the largest natural products show in the world last week. And the results and the feedback was amazing. People are so excited about what we have in front of them today.

6:34Jason Bronstad:That is so cool. And it's crazy how something as simple as changing the fact that it was a darker color to a white color that people want their white coffee. It's crazy how much that can change in the balance of is somebody's going to choose your product or not. And it's so nice that you were able to notice that. And it's so true what you mentioned that, yeah, data is everything. Because if you're not leaning on the data to understand what happened and why something worked, are you actually able to replicate that result once more? Because it's all about being able to reiterate the processes that go well.

7:06100%. It's the repeatability of the product. It's got to be the consistency of the product. If you have one or two bad product runs, forget it. It's over. You've lost trust with the customer.

7:18Jason Bronstad:It's true. It's true. And Jason, also, I'd love to know in terms of you guys, You're just catering then to the U.S. market. Are you planning on taking your product somewhere else or are you okay where you're at and you're trying to just dominate the U.S.? So, I mean, dominate is a strong word. The way we think about it, we have consumers today in America have the option to buy a plant-based milk in 67 ,000 doors. We're in 16 ,000 of them. So we want to make sure that our home base, where we're at, we are offering to consumers the product that they would make at home if they had the time and as many doors as possible before we start on the journey of national expansion and going outside of the U.S.

8:03Jason Bronstad:And in terms of the team in Malk Organics, how big are you guys? Because 16 ,000 stores and having scaled to that level, I feel it really does require a pretty big sized team to help you out. We are right around 40 employees today to direct answer the question. And our team has evolved over the years. I mean, when I came in, we got as small as six people. When we shifted over to co-manufacturing, which allowed us to have the continuity and consistency in our product that we needed to be able to scale, we started to scale up and we've gone through iterations. There are humans out there in the consumer package goods space that are great from zero to one, some that are great from one to five, some from five to 10.

8:48And, you know, whatever those numbers equivalize to in your world, there are different steps in the journey. And understanding that and having that reality check, like, are we set up to go to the next level with the team we have?

9:00Jason Bronstad:In terms of the way of work that you guys have, Jason, is Mark Organics a remote first company or do you have some headquarters where everybody meets up at? Like, how does that work for you guys? You know, when I came in during the height of COVID, the one conversation that was, you know, absolutely paramount is we have to hire the best available people, no matter where they are. Now, we have a small office here in Austin, Texas. We've got a small office in Houston, Texas. But by and large, 80 % of our workforce is remote first. Okay, that's so cool. And are you just hiring within the states or are you outsourcing talent as well?

9:39You know, currently we're just within the states today. And we do with great intention have at least one, this year we'll have two all-hands meetings. So historically, every December, bring the whole team together, talk about the year behind us, where we're going for the next year. And what came out of our December 2025 meeting is the team's like, I want more of this. I want more connection. And when we have employees in 14 different states, that's hard. You have to do it with great intention to say, I want to bring everyone together. We have to have a clear plan. What are we trying to achieve?

10:15What is the intent of the meeting? Who are we bringing in? And how long are we going to be together? And there's got to be an element of fun. We had a beautiful element of service. We actually partnered with a company called Day One Bags back in December, where we were able to support children that had aged out of foster care. So Day One Bags, their mission is to make sure that those children in foster care don't go from one home to another with a trash sack, which is unfortunately extremely common. So their mission is to provide actual good luggage and suitcases for them to be able to transit amongst homes.

10:50And what was really touching was understanding how many team members were impacted either directly or indirectly by foster care. We've had multiple adoptions within our team in doing that. And in conversation with the founder of Day One Bags, they said the forgotten foster children are those that have aged out. Those students that are in college that don't have a family to go to. So we were actually able to go to the University of Texas and say to those children that have aged out of foster care, but are a product of foster care and say, how can we serve you? How can we show you we care? So we went and got a wish list and we fulfilled some incredible Christmas wish lists anywhere from Legos to tennis shoes to Nintendos.

11:37And we had a great opportunity to connect, wrap presents and really give back to those people and let them know that they matter.

11:44Jason Bronstad:That is so cool, man. And I find it's just beautiful being able to include an activity that works as a service and help somebody else. And it also helps to connect with your team as you're all doing this together. And you can see what each person is made of and how they respond, how they feel, how they act according to what's being done. So I think that's amazing, man. And Jason, any other ways that you're also able to maintain company culture with a workforce that spread out in 14 different states, as you mentioned? Any other tips or anecdotes you have in that regard? You have to do it with intention.

12:22You have to be intentional in everything you do. We have Slack, which is popping off all day long, every day. One of the things that we believe in is the dream culture. You have to have dreams that you're pursuing. It's not, people work to achieve dreams. People don't dream to go work. So if you simply frame it up to say, what is it that you're passionate about? What are you actually pursuing in life? Then tell us when you did it and let us celebrate with you because we know that Malk is helping you through your paycheck, through the opportunity of bonus, is giving you that opportunity to pursue these dreams.

12:58Let's celebrate them. I've had people buy land and build their own homes. I've had people get out of credit card debt. I've had people take their kids on dream Disney vacations, going on cruises. You know, there is a myriad of different things that have occurred in our, and we literally call our channel on Slack, Dreams Wins. And they go out there and they're celebrating. And we want to be a part of that. We want to understand what motivates and drives people. So that with great intention, we have two all-hands calls each quarter. And we now do two in person each year. that will no doubt they'll ask for a third choose probably the realistic number just for budgetary reasons and and then we have some virtual happy hours we have games we have you know caboodles a fun dynamic to be able to engage remotely and challenge competitive we are a competitive group so if there's a competition out there we're going to have fun with it and jason in terms of i know

13:52Jason Bronstad:you mentioned that your team is like 40 people big at the moment you work remotely in the states But now, whenever I talk about teams, I always then just use a segue to start talking about AI because I feel it's something that is so connected nowadays. So seeing as you're a consumer good company, how are you guys leveraging AI in your day to day if you are or I'm not sure if you need it or if you're finding any peculiar or different methods to utilize it? So we have a subset of the organization that is utilizing AI and it's, it is to accelerate who we are to move faster. There are different use cases.

14:31There's, there's automations that we've built in across multiple teams that allow us to do things faster. And to help us evaluate ourselves, we keep read AI on, and then we'll go back and like, okay, how did we do on this? How did I, as a leader perform? What was my tone? What was it like? Am I delivering the message? I had this conversation last night with my son. There's the message delivered and the message received. And that message received has to be the paramount focus on everything you do. You can think you're delivering the message, but as you start to peel back the onion and go, okay, I said all these things, talk, talk, talk, you know, leader talk, everyone tunes out.

15:13I'm checking email while I'm doing this. the real question is, did I convey and did they receive the message that I really wanted them to receive? Do they understand where we're going? So through, you know, feedback loops, one-to-ones, we have the opportunity. I take the opportunity to say, okay, what did you take away from this all-hands meeting? What was the highlights for you? What did you receive? And at that point, I can go back and double check and say, okay, well, my transcript said this. People are receiving this message. Now I need to refine my message in the future to make sure that I'm more pointed and it's clear on what we're conveying.

15:51Jason Bronstad:Okay. I love that. So it's more like then editing yourself, making sure that you're properly conveying what you want said. And we also are evaluating how are we communicating with our retail partners, with our supplier partners. So communication in a remote organization, Andres, is paramount. So if we're going to get one thing right first, it's going to get our communication to be better ai nowadays it's being used more than for generation it's more for optimization because it's not there yet to just do things by itself you need to just tweak it see what it puts out then use that to make it better and add the human touch but seeing as you're using it to like really see what you're saying and make sure that what you are actually conveying is efficient towards your company i think that's amazing man i hadn't heard of that you skay specifically before.

16:40Jason Bronstad:So I really like that one. And Jason, another topic I believe we should also address is, do you have any stories, anecdotes of campaigns that Malk Organic has run in terms of marketing or advertising you've done that really helped separate yourself from your competitors and really helped elevate and drive sales? Are there any stories you can tell us in that realm? You know what I love about our marketing team is they refuse to ever be satisfied. So everything that we do is like, how can we do that better? The one thing that we've done expressly over the last six months. So with any beverage product, the key saying is liquid to lips wins consumers.

17:23Right. To get them to try it, to get them to sample it. And that's really challenging as the grocery shopping trip has evolved. So many people are having their groceries delivered. They're having curbside drop off with their groceries. So you don't have the foot traffic going through the store where you're paying a couple hundred dollars to have someone stand in the store and say, would you like to try my product? So with great intention, our marketing team said, well, we know that's not working. So we are now being more intentional about activating socially at events. So we recently did the Miami Food and Wine Festival.

17:57Last week, we were at Natural Products Expo West. There were 70 ,000, 80 ,000 people out there last week. when there are big crowds that give us the opportunity to talk to consumers, engage with them, because we know once they try it, if they're a plant-based milk consumer, even if they're a dairy consumer,

18:13Jason Bronstad:they try it, they're like, wow, that's really good. I'm going to buy that now. But you have to be intentional about where you're engaging that consumer, where you're meeting them to make sure you have A, the right consumers in the space, and B, that you have the right messaging to convey, to engage and draw them in. Now, and I love how sure you are of the product you guys are creating because it's like, just get them to try it. It's not the product. It's just the fact that they haven't been able to try it yet. Look, we're not the cheapest. Why are we not the cheapest? Because we're organic and we don't have anything that dilutes the product with gums, oils, and fillers.

18:45Those things are cheap compared to almonds and oats and coconut and soy. When it's actually like our unsweet almond is filtered water, organic almonds, and salt.

18:55Jason Bronstad:That's it. And that really places you in the premium product, which you guys are vouching and making sure you are positioned as because that way the consumer knows they're actually paying for what they need. It's not like, oh, I'm just I'm just saying a few bucks and getting all these extra ingredients, as you mentioned, that nobody wants. And that really helps also to set the brand aside from other competitors that may be in the markets or just trying to compete with you guys. And Jason, in terms of the, what's it called? Forecast of what you want to do and your goals for 2026, which I was saying at the beginning of this year, but we're already in March halfway through.

19:35Jason Bronstad:So the first quarter is practically done already. But what are your goals for the end of the year, man? What do you want to accomplish or what do you want to keep accomplishing with Malker Gannings? You know, the sales team has very clear goals of what SKUs they want to get into what retailers. And I'm very proud of the progress they've made year-to-date so far. You know, we're, what, eight, nine weeks into the year. And they're making great progress on that. We've met with some, had some great retailer conversations last week. And with those, amplified by the marketing efforts, we're well on track to achieve our annual operating plan for 2026.

20:09Growth is just what we do. We grow, period. We won't accept a flatter down year. That's not in our vocabulary, given the upside potential and what consumers are looking for.