Pic, Javier Toscano (Toscano Farms), and Adam at Marin Farmers Market
A walk in the woods leads to Burgers and Sauces and more...
Having spent close to two decades in the environmental movement, I had dedicated my life to preserving and reveling in wild places. Most recently, as Executive Director of the Alliance for Climate Education, I had helped to build a network of educators teaching hundred of thousands of young people about climate change and the impact they could have leading the next generation. The work was amazing, but I was growing tired of the constant travel and missing days upon weeks with my young kids. I was burnt. I wanted to be local. I needed a change. So, as I often do when i need to make a change in my life, I sought out friends and open space.
Taking walk-a-bouts in the majestic beauty of the Marin Headlands, my friend Adam and I often took new routes up Mt Tam and dreamed of new business ideas. It became a weekly ritual as we both grew impatient with what we had and wanted more. For Adam, it lead him from owning his own restaurant to working with the Center for Eco-literacy helping to re-think school food systems. For me, it turned to desire to start my own business and eventually to becoming a partner in Farm Burger, bringing this grass-fed burger joint that makes ethical eating easy from the southeast to the west coast.
As a partner in Farm Burger in Berkeley, I had an opportunity to meet many of our farmers and vendors. One of these vendors, Sosu Sauces, stood out as a product our customers loved and wanted in their own pantry. I slowly began to build a relationship with Sosu's founder, Lisa Murphy. Lisa was often running out of inventory and our customers often asked why we were out of our signature sriracha. Meanwhile, Lisa herself was looking for a change and wanted out of the business. This brings me back to Adam, with his extensive experience in the food business, an aligned value system, and an extremely refined palette he was the perfect fit to help take over Sosu.
Its been an amazing learning journey since we launched into production a year ago. Starting with working with local farmers, learning the art of fermentation, and running a consumer product business, we learned by asking. Asking how we expand and maintain the art of small batch production, how we build and simplify, how we create an everyday expression of what's important to us in a brand. And most important, Why?
These days, for a lot of people, the act of eating isn't an act of values or quality. We wanted to change that. We want to take simple and fresh ingredients, use the ancient artisinal methods of fermentation and barrel aging, and provide an easy way to get excited about food. Great cooking starts from the soul, and great flavors can be created in anyone's kitchen. I hope you'll join us in our journey as we continue to experiment with new fermented flavors and sauces to help you reinvented your own kitchen.