Founder Feature: Jessica Hamel of PlantChi

0:09I saw a stat recently that 62 % of people are just don't believe health claims anymore, right? And so it's just because everyone's overwhelmed. And when you're overwhelmed, you just either stress or you give up completely, right? And so with plant G, I'm not trying to say I'm going to make you a Greek god or whatever, right? I'm just giving people the opportunity to make themselves feel a little bit more nourished. They're microdosing nutrients, right? Nourishment a little bit, right? Like you're not trying to get all your protein in one meal, which I don't even know if that's good. But I'm just helping people feel a little more nourished without all of the pressure.

0:54Hey everybody, this is Caitlin Bricker, Managing Editor at Startup CPG. We are back with another founder feature. Today I'm sitting down with Jessica Hamill, founder of Plant Chi. Plant Chi is a new type of pantry staple. Think super seed blends mixed with flavorful ingredients that you can sprinkle on anything for effortless nutrition from real food. We're diving into why Jessica is targeting people who are sick of wellness as a performance and how she's building a brand focused on nourishment over optimization. Let's get into it. Enjoy.

1:29Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the Startup CPG podcast. This is Caitlin, and today I'm here with Jessica Hamill, founder of Plant Chee. Jessica, welcome to the show. Hi, Caitlin and everyone. Thanks for having me. Of course. I am so glad to finally have you here. This is going to be Plant Chee's year. There's a lot of buzzy things going on. Of course, protein is still here, but fiber, you have a lot to add to this conversation. So before we dive into all of the things, can you just tell our audience in a short and sweet way, what is plant chi? We're giving the middle finger to complicated wellness.

2:05Yes. Plant-she is a nuke type of pantry staple. It's a seasoning with benefits, super seed, foundation mixed with flavorful ingredients that you sprinkle on anything for effortless nutrition from real food. It's toddler approved. I want to say that. You sent me some samples. My daughter tried. She loved all of them. I love that. That's an incredible feat. That is not something that typically happens with toddlers. you know at the farmer's market there were tons of kids even just a few weeks ago at this vegan fest kids will come up and snap sample after sample and just keep coming back and i'm like what i mean i am in colorado and boulder so i'm like okay they like seaweed but it's pretty cool it is really cool and i really like that you're already touching on the farmer's market piece of your brand because I was very surprised by how many brands that I've spoken to who have just really struck gold at farmers markets.

3:08So talk to me about your experience with farmers markets. Great. You're like knocking it out of the park with kids, but like what else can founders learn from you about your experience with farmers markets? Striking gold is an interesting way to explain that. I don't think anyone is getting rich off of doing one or two farmers markets. it's a lot of work but I used it as market research basically I'm self-funding I don't have a lot of money so I'm out there talking to my customers and farmers markets were the perfect opportunity to do that as well as like making a little bit of money at the same time but you're out there and you're hearing you're getting to test messaging which how I'm describing it?

3:53Is it resonating with people? Is it resonating with older people, kids? I'm not going to continue being a farmer's market brand. It was always a plan to have it as one summer, but really, really important for if you fit in with farmer's markets for brands to kind of be there and just talking to their customers. Yeah, I think it's a cool vibe because you are in this environment that It is similar to being in a retail store, but you're the center of attention rather than these shelves full of product. So you get that opportunity to pitch your product, do it fast, do the live sampling without the distractions of aisles full of product.

4:33Of course, there's other vendors, but it's a unique experience. It's unique because a lot of people go to farmers markets these days to drink coffee, walk their dog and be seen. They don't even want to try new things anymore. Right. And so when they do and when you're putting something out there that is really catching people's eyes, it is a great achievement. I feel like if I was to walk up to a farmer's market and I saw a product like Plant Chi, I would be so excited because when I typically think of farmer's markets local to me, I'm thinking like handmade soaps, which there's nothing wrong with that.

5:08Or like fresh fruits and vegetables, but not this very prettily packaged Plant Chi product. So I would be jazzed if I walked by and saw your product there. Yeah, people love the packaging. And that was the test. It was eye-catching. And then from the farmer's market, I did, you know, people, I know this, the branding, Dandy Wild, I call, really caught people's eyes. But people didn't, they didn't understand what it was. And they didn't see the flavor or like the blend name. And so I took that feedback and I changed my packaging or updated it. so it was research that was actionable it makes a lot of sense and I think a lot of people do resonate a lot with when they can see the product I know I'm that way with cookbooks I like to see a picture of the finished recipe before I cook it yeah I don't know why cookbooks would have recipes without sorry don't cancel me for that I know it's expensive I'd be right there with you.

6:09So yeah. Okay. So you talked a little bit about the people that are coming by at the farmers markets, their ages. What's your target market for plant she? It's really people who are sick of all of this messaging to optimize every aspect of your life. And maybe they've tried a bunch of trends and they realized it's not working. And that's kind of the market. That's who I'm trying to find. The people who know that health and wellness is not a performance. Is that an age range? Maybe people with a little bit more of lived experience. But I think a lot of the younger generation is coming to that perspective earlier in life.

6:52I am kind of at a loss for words. What you just said about not being a performance is what a perspective to have fun things seriously because I think a lot of times people do have that facade that we're given on Instagram that everyone has the perfect body or everyone has the perfect meals or recipes or even the perfect grocery store accessible to them and it is all a performance at the end of the day because why can't I just like make my meal eat it sit at home in silence and not share it with the world. Yeah. Do you feel good? Does your body feel good? You know, like, cool, you're doing it right.

7:34There is no optimization. Like, what are we working towards? What is this perfect being we're supposed to be? And as long as like you are feeling good, I know like my body doesn't feel good when I'm not eating well. Right. And I'm not nourishing myself. A lot of people are wearing all those like rings and stuff. I am not. This one with my daughter's name and my engagement wedding ring. And people are getting stressed out looking at all of that data and all of those numbers. It's just overwhelming and it's not like a joyful way to live life. And what are we trying to achieve, right? I totally agree with you.

8:14I've stayed away from the things like the rings. And I was monitoring my glucose levels for a while because I had gestational diabetes when I was pregnant. And then I had blood sugar issues in postpartum leading up to the past few months, which miraculously knock on. This is definitely not wood, but I'm going to knock on it anyway. I haven't had an issue in the past few weeks and I don't know like what the breakthrough was. But I do think that when I stopped looking at my blood sugar levels all the time, stopped wearing the continuous glucose monitor, I think it gave me the sense of relief of like, I know there might be an issue there, but it's not hitting me in the face every day.

8:59Yeah. And what is that stress doing to you? I'm not hitting my numbers. What is that actually doing to our mental well-being? Yeah. The realization that I had to come to was, what is the outcome that I'm looking for every time that I'm looking at those numbers? Because I don't want to be on a drug. I don't want to be I'm taking a pill. I don't want to like solve this issue with some kind of medical intervention. So I have to put it on myself to try and solve this before somebody has to come in and help me. Yeah. And let's say I'm not a doctor. So if there is like a serious medical, something that you're dealing with, obviously, and you need to tracking something more in detail, obviously do that.

9:42I'm not saying go live free in the world, but most of us, it's just causing us stress, right? Exactly. Like the sleep thing, for example, that's something I hear about often is, oh, my sleep score was X number and it should have been around X number. And it's like, do you feel like you got good sleep last night? Or maybe you were getting your period or you were like a little hot at night or whatever it may be. There's an explanation for everything. Sometimes I like a little mystery, though. I saw a stat recently that 62 % of people are just don't believe health claims anymore. Right. And so it's just because everyone's overwhelmed.

10:27And when you're overwhelmed, you just either stressed or you give up completely. Right. And so with Plant G, I'm not trying to say I'm going to make you a Greek God or whatever. Right. I'm just giving people the opportunity to make themselves feel a little bit more nourished. They're microdosing nutrients, right? Nourishment a little bit, right? Like you're not trying to get all your protein in one meal, which I don't even know if that's good, but I'm just helping people feel a little more nourished without all of the pressure. I really like that. And tell us a little bit about your background.

11:03How did you get into creating Plant G and then sharing it with us? the world. My background, I am a funny individual. I'm a very curious individual, and that leads me down a lot of paths. In terms of health and wellness and just food in general, I grew up in a family. It was the weird food house when I was younger, and that meant my mom made squash pasta, which was weird in the 90s, but my friends loved it. My grandpa, he's 87, still calls me to this a day. It's like for dinner tonight, I took the garlic and I did like food is really important to my family. And so is health, right? He's still walking miles a day and going to the gym.

11:49So I've always just followed, like I've always lived a pretty healthy lifestyle. I run really far distances. Don't wear a running watch, right? So that's like a little bit about just the environment that I was raised in, in terms of just like a more professional background. I went to school for marketing that's why branding is very important to me 10 years ago I had a natural frosting company made out of coconut oil and that was my first introduction to CPG again being curious there was no natural frosting out there actually a lot of ultra runners some of the top ultra runners in the world like Claire Gallagher, Kat Bradley they were winning races eating my frosting.

12:33Oh, no big deal. Yeah. So I don't have a background that's like, of course she did this, right? The inspiration for Plant She really was, I've been on and off vegetarian since 11. I've had struggles, right? Like getting enough B12, keeping my iron up as any runner does. Any runner, even who eats meat, has struggles with iron. And so a doctor was like, no problem. Sprinkle hemp seeds on everything you eat. Wow. Innovation. Are they taking any new patients? I know, right? And she made me feel really good that I didn't have to, first of all, do something that I was uncomfortable with of eating meat.

13:13No shame against people who eat meat. Just my value, right? and it was just like such a simple thing to do I didn't need to buy all these supplements or like change everything in my life and so I just wanted to help other people experience that or be able to give that opportunity to other people and I just made it a little bit more fun with the flavor forward ingredients. I really like that and I do resonate with what you're saying because I also have been on again, off again, vegetarian and vegan. I was vegan for like seven years, I think, and started the vegan dining program at the university I went to.

13:51This was like way back when soy milk wasn't even a thing in coffee shops. But I relapsed and started eating meat, dairy, eggs again. And now I'm just I keep saying to my husband, I'm like, I just don't know if I can do the meat anymore. Just like I have such a love-hate relationship with it. And then I look at these plant products and I'm like, they're perfect. I just need to balance it more in my life to get what I need. But you see a product like Plant Chi. I mentioned this at the beginning of the episode. You have these buzzy things right now. Protein fiber is predicted to be like the biggest thing for 2026.

14:33Your product has it all. But I think what you are doing from your perspective and your angle with Plant Chi is that you are not trying to be a functional product. You are just presenting something that is already perfect in its original form and making it fun for people rather than focusing on that functional aspect. It just so happens to have function. Exactly. Yeah. Seeds are not revolutionary, right? Real food. And we're getting into trouble these days because we're trying to, like all of the fake meat products, they're like, why doesn't anybody want to eat them? Because it's all processed food.

15:14I want to know what the ingredients are. And there's amazing food out there that is already super nutritious. Beans. Beans are amazing, right? Right. Low in fat, too. Yeah. And so the answer doesn't need to be complicated all of the time. Sometimes it's just simple. Seeds are incredibly simple, incredibly nutrient dense. Right. And it is offering protein, fiber, minerals, all of that goodness. Do you know how many people lie on their labels? They're like, this has 10 grams of protein in it. You have to eat a half a cup of whatever it is to get that 10 grams of protein. right? And it's from a poor source of protein that doesn't have all the essential amino acids in it.

15:59And that's what confuses the consumer, makes them distrust food companies and the food industry as a whole. And so if anything I do with Plant G is to help people change the way they think about food and the food industry. I like that too. I like everything that you're saying. I think a lot of what you're saying is resonating with me because you're like the person that I wish I had in my circle 15 years ago, just like telling me all these things. But you're here now and that's great. I got you. Thank you. Thank you. I think a lot of people, too, are just fatigued by what's being thrown at them and being told how they should eat, what they should eat, when they should eat.

16:43And it's like, OK, first of all, we are very much privileged in the fact that we have access to the food in the first place, don't tell me how to eat my food. You know what I mean? And it's just like, if you have these perfect things available to you and accessible to you, take advantage of them if you can. It doesn't matter when you eat them or how you want to eat them. If you wanted to sprinkle plant tree on your ice cream, great. Yeah, exactly. A little ice cream never hurt anybody, right? It's just, maybe I should take that back. But I can think of scenarios just like overthinking now. And yes, that's the whole thing about Planchi is that it's easy and it's effortless and you can add it to anything and feel like you're doing a little something extra for yourself.

17:29Whether that's pizza on Friday night, store-bought sushi, an ice cream cone or whatever, you could put it on anything. Sushi is a very good example. I would go for veggie sushi, but damn, that would be a great topping. You got me there. sushi and then you're just adding it to make it a little bit more nourishing you're getting a little bit more protein it's like microdosing a multivitamin throughout the day it's something that i should look into a little bit more i haven't done any research on this you know you see these videos they're like 100 grams of protein in one meal or like all your fiber what is the benefit of actually eating small amounts of nutrients throughout the day right that's my theory.

18:17I mean, I'm not a physician, not a nutritionist, dietitian, but having had blood sugar issues, I would assume that it's better to eat incrementally throughout the day so that you're stabilized throughout the day because you don't want to eat just once and call it a day. Like personally, for me, fasting does not work. Like I need to feed myself. So I don't know what the benefit would be except for maybe convenience and like doing other stuff except for eating. But I enjoy eating. So why wouldn't I want to do it more than once? It's natural to eat. We've been doing it since humans existed. You don't need optimizing.

18:59You just need feeding. So how has your product been perceived by retailers? What has their feedback been for you? What is the strategy looked like to getting into retailers in such a crowded market. Yeah, again, this goes back to me being a small brand, self-funding, and that's like a whole other discussion about what you can do with little funds. And so I've been mostly focusing on independent retailers at the moment, so nothing that's like a big chain or anything. And I have been pleasantly surprised with the perception from retailers that. Being willing to bring in something new that people don't quite understand yet.

19:47They love the branding, stands out on shelf. I'm very proud of that. But the use case is very difficult to see just when you see the package on the shelf. And so just all of the retailers that have already been willing to just give me a chance, you know, give Plant She a chance has been amazing to see. and like happier grocer in New York as one of my first retailers. I was like, what? You like my product? Right? It was really cool and it felt really good to get my product in there. And Lever's Locavore in Colorado, it's been doing so well there. And I'm getting repeat orders from these retailers.

20:28These first few quarters of 2026, taking a little bit of a backseat, I'm pushing, I'm not getting rid of any retailers, but I'm focusing more on just building my online community because there is that education aspect. And I really want community to be strong and understanding to be there so that when I start reaching out to bigger stores, bigger chain stores, it's an easy sell-in and the velocity will be there. People will be buying it. So I'm thinking of it very strategically. the stores that it's been in already it's been really cool to see i'm so glad that you brought up lever's locavore because that is the first retailer that i saw your products on the shelf at and what a cool shopping experience that is the best retail shopping experience i've ever had been in a lot of stores in my life used to work in one also a very great store but there was i don't even know how to properly explain it, but the community vibe was like unmatched in there.

21:33People had their babies strapped to them. They were in there grabbing drinks, grabbing snacks, doing whatever, hanging out in a grocery store. I was like, OK, can grocery stores now be the new club, please? Or like new bar? I would much rather go hang out at a grocery store. It has great neighborhood charm, but it also has a great selection of products because sometimes smaller stores that maybe have a good Neighborhood vibe, don't really have. You can go in and pick up a few items, but you can do a full shopping at Lever. And it felt like it just kept going and going the more that I walked to the store.

22:09In terms of grocery stores being the new hangout, love that idea. When I first moved to Boulder a lot of years ago, this was before Amazon bought Whole Foods. They had$7 fajita night on Mondays. My friends and I would like go and we'd hang out and we'd get dinner there every morning. Like people would always go and eat in the food, not the food court, but like the hot bar. It was somebody actually making the fajitas every night, right? Imagine that. I know. I'm like, I really, every time I go in there, I'm like, I really miss when Whole Foods was like this way back then. It's like this community kind of hub.

22:48I like that. Yeah. We need to make that the vibe. I know. Independent grocery stores, listen up. I love an independent grocery store. I'm like, I shop at Whole Foods multiple times a week, but I love an independent store. I really do. Boulder is like this mecca for natural food and everything, or even Colorado in general. It doesn't have a lot of independent grocery stores, which is fine. Like, you know, I shop at Whole Foods and everything. But we have Ideal Market, which is Whole Foods, National Grocers, like a billion King's Supers and Safeways. But there's in Boulder in particular, there's not really any independent grocery stores.

23:27the independent factor for me is just like you know that there is one person or a small team that's making these very intentional decisions to like curate the vibe in the store that's not going to be cookie cutter everywhere you go which there is something to be said for the cookie cutter vibe too because you know exactly you're going to get no matter where you are in the country or the state, but love the independence. I know. And also it's great for tourism because grocery store tourism, every single place I go, I have to, I'm like, we need to go to the grocery store. I found this really good grocery store on Google Maps or whatever.

24:09We have to go check it out. I'm literally the same way. So yeah, we're kindred spirits here, I think. Yes. Yeah. All right. Before we go, I have two questions for you. One is for any retailers that are listening to this right now who are interested in carrying Planchi or want to learn more, what can you tell us about Planchi versus any other products that may or may not be on these shelves already? Why would they want to incorporate Planchi? So Planchi is a new pantry staple, right? No one is, I know we were kind of shying away from the word function before, but Planchi is actually adding function to the spice category, right?

24:53It is a joyful, friendly product that is going to nourish your community. And so it helps to feed your community without pressuring them into health optimization. I love it. And I love the voice too. and what would you say to listeners about your product right now listeners who are considering buying plant chi how has plant chi changed your life i would just say join me in giving the middle finger to complicated wellness i know we're all sick of it so let's just do it let's just nourish ourselves instead of stressing ourselves out and i think that's how it's changed my life right is I can make a salad and the salad just needs a little something I sprinkle it on again I eat ice cream sprinkle a little on I know I'm getting a little bit of extra nourishment with that sprinkle and so it just kind of has relieved a lot of the pressure of wellness from my life and I hope it does that for you as well I love it and of course we have many founders who are tuning in too.

26:03I know I said I had two questions. Really, I have three. What advice do you want to give to any founders listening after being on this journey with Plant Cheese so far? Follow your heart, right? And don't just listen to you have to grow as fast as possible and quickly as possible. If your motive is to make as much money as possible in the littlest amount of time, don't do it. Just like don't even start a business and don't start a food business because you're ruining the industry. Like, you're what's wrong. Sorry to put it bluntly. That's true. But yeah, so really say true to your heart and try to put good into the world.

26:43Follow your values. And hopefully that's to make more money. You make it sound and look so easy too, so. And also experiment and be curious. I started Plan Sheet with not a lot of money. And I'm still doing it with not a lot of money. And it's not growing as rapidly and as quickly as maybe Forbes wants me to to put me on cover, right? But I'm proud of it, right? And I'm proud of what I've done and how resourceful I've been. And so part of being a founder is being super resourceful and just experiment and see what you are capable of. I love it so much. This has been such a great conversation. For anybody who's looking to follow along more with Plant Chi and with you, where can they find you on social and online?

27:31Drop your handle and your website. The website and my Instagram handle is plantchi.life, P-L-A-N-T-C-H-I dot life. Hopefully going to get TikTok soon. I mean, it's a fun place. It is a fun place. But yeah, email me any questions. Love your feedback. Great. Hopefully we can get Bethany Frankel's attention finally. I know. Her super, I mean, she's putting everything but the bagel on like, this is exactly like everything but the bagel, but it's actually nourishing. So why wouldn't you just replace it? I don't know. Bethany, have your people call my people. My people are just me. So pretty easy to get in touch with.

28:15I love it. Jessica, this has been so fun. Thank you so much for making the time and can't wait to see you at the next event. See you later. Bye.

28:27CPG BFFs, we've now arrived together at the end of another episode of the Startup CPG podcast. As you may know, we're not just the top globally ranked CPG podcast. We're a community of tens of thousands of CPG founders and experts. And you should join us if you haven't already. Head to startupcpg.com to sign up. You'll get an invite to our Slack community, hear about events near you, and get access to opportunities that connect you with buyers, investors, and other brands. It's free. So what are you waiting for? I'll see you in Slack and in real life. Thanks for listening.