S9 Ep69: The Urban Remedy: How Real Wellness Sparks Real Growth with Neka Pasquale
““I believe what we’re doing is based on something that’s good for healing people and healing the planet. So, we’re always organic and we’re always working with regenerative organic farmers. And we’re sticking to that mission and values, which is really important to me, because those are things that are always going to be good for you and for the…planet.” —Neka Pasquale
Sometimes, wellness feels like a luxury instead of a way of life. Between the stress of business, family, and bills, it’s easy to put health last until the cost of burnout catches up. What if the values that ground us—nourishment, balance, and purpose—were also the very things that drive sustainable success?
An acupuncturist turned entrepreneur, Neka Pasquale has built Urban Remedy from her kitchen into a movement by pairing holistic values with smart business. Her journey shows that growth doesn’t come from chasing trends but from honoring what genuinely heals and sustains people.
This week, Justine and Neka provide clear, usable lessons about product-first growth, sourcing, hiring leadership, bootstrapped problem-solving, pivoting retail models, investor trade-offs, and how to scale without losing the values that made you special.
Connect with Neka:
Neka Pasquale is the founder of Urban Remedy, a nationally recognized organic food company rooted in the philosophy of food as medicine. With a background as a licensed acupuncturist and practitioner of Chinese medicine, Neka has dedicated her career to promoting health and wellness through functional, organic, and healing foods. Since founding Urban Remedy over 13 years ago, she has grown the company from a local business in Marin, California, to a national brand featured in Whole Foods and other major retailers. Neka is known for her innovative approach to nutrition, her commitment to sustainability, and her passion for making healthy, fresh food accessible to a wider audience.
Episode Highlights:
00:41 Urban Remedy: First Store to Wild Growth
04:43 Developing the Menu: Chinese Medicine and the Power of Food Temperatures
08:41 Finding Food Balance and Early Entrepreneurial Spirit
13:35 Scaling Up and Facing Growth Hurdles (Money, Team, and Staying Afloat)
16:35 Major Lessons on Grit, Glitch, Growth, and Greed
21:13 Evaluating Opportunities and Choosing the Right Growth Path
23:01 Hiring Your First CEO— What Matters Most
28:16 Navigating Unexpected Success and Bittersweet Decisions
31:40 Urban Remedy: The Next Steps
Tweets:
Chasing trends fades fast, but staying true to your values builds something lasting. Hear how passion, simplicity, and problem-solving fuel real growth in business with @justine.reichman and @urbanremedy Founder, Neka Pasquale. #entrepreneurship #socialgood #inspiration #impactmatters #NextGenChef #EssentialIngredients #UrbanRemedy #BusinessGrowth #StayAuthentic #HealthInnovation
Inspirational Quotes:
02:10 "We are nature, and nature is us. Eating local and organic is important not just for ourselves, but for our environment.” —Neka Pasquale
03:49 "I never wrote up a business plan thinking I wanted this to be a national company. I just thought, this is going to be so fun to do locally." —Neka Pasquale
06:16 "Every food has a taste, a temperature, and a meridian associated with it. When you look at the qualities of any ingredient, they can be cooling or warming." —Neka Pasquale
07:24 "I always say, look at your environment, where you live, and the season that that environment is in, then eat according to that." —Neka Pasquale
14:01 "The question for so many: how do you grow from here? When you’re building something new, you make it happen, but at some point, you’ve got to go from scrappy to strategic." —Justine Reichman
14:40 "If this is what I’m meant to be doing, the answer will show up. With Urban Remedy, consistently, the answer has shown up at the right time." —Neka Pasquale
18:46 "When all these things are coming at you and you've got to make a decision, you've got to figure out where to start, because you can make a lot of expensive mistakes—and that’s part of the journey, too." —Justine Reichman
20:05 "Choose the path of least resistance, the most simplified path, and just start. The easier it is to execute, the higher the chance of success." —Neka Pasquale
23:02 "The most important thing is having somebody who believes in your mission and vision. If you’re hiring a CEO, you have to trust that person as you would trust a life partner." —Neka Pasquale
33:13 "I want to continue to be a leader, not a follower. A trend is just a trend, but what we’re doing is based on something good for healing people and the planet." —Neka Pasquale
33:31 “I believe what we’re doing is based on something that’s good for healing people and healing the planet. So, we’re always organic and we’re always working with regenerative organic farmers. And we’re sticking to that mission and values, which is really important to me, because those are things that are always going to be good for you and for the…planet.” —Neka Pasquale
Transcription:
Justine Reichman: Welcome to Essential Ingredients. I'm Justine Reichman. With me today is Neka Pasquale, and she's the founder of Urban Remedy. I'm super excited to have you here. You're someone that's local, inspirational, and built a business that I can't wait to learn about as you've grown. And it's so important to me, because I came from New York and couldn't find anything. And when I found you, I kind of felt like I was home again. So welcome.
Neka Pasquale: Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited.
Justine Reichman: Oh, my pleasure. I love to also just connect with other local people that are building good businesses, better for you food options, and accessibility for people here in the local area. But equally, that being said, as we learn more about this, and we'll get into it, see how you've grown outside the local Marin or Bay area. So for those that are not familiar, can you maybe just give a little overview of Urban Remedy?
Neka Pasquale: Yeah. Urban Remedy is a company that I founded. It's been like 13 years, which is so crazy. And as we were just talking about privately, I'm an acupuncturist, and my background is in Chinese medicine. I had a practice for many years, over a decade, and that's where I kind of really got into food as medicine, and really looking at how diet impacts our overall health. And when I had my practice, I kind of dove deep into detoxification, and really kind of looked at our farming system and where food comes from. How it's grown, how it affects our body, pesticides, and all that kind of stuff. And so I was so excited about all of it. It was so cool for me when I was in school, because I was like, wow. Everything has a medicinal quality to it. Everything that you eat or make, you could really think of it like, what does this do to my body? Or not in a way that's stressful or pressured, but just really understand how food is just like, Chinese medicine is based on, we are nature, and nature is us. So really looking at food in the same way, and how we're connected. Eating local and organic is really important. Not just for us, but for our environment. And the healthier we are, the healthier our environments are. So just bridging that all together. And then I started doing retreats with my patients that had different chronic illnesses, or people that just want to lose weight or just feel better. And that's kind of, honestly, really how Urban Remedy was born. People just started feeling so good in such a short amount of time. People were like, I can't make the food. It doesn't taste as good when you make it, and can you just make it for me? I love cooking, and so I started making snacks. And people just bought those like crazy. And then I thought I was just going to open my first store in 2011 or 12. I really thought this is going to be just like a niche thing for people like me that like to eat this way. And I just couldn't believe it. It just went gangbusters when we opened the door. There was nothing else really like it at that point. There was maybe like Jamba Juice at that point.
"We are nature, and nature is us. Eating local and organic is important not just for ourselves, but for our environment.” —Neka Pasquale
Justine Reichman: I don't feel like Jamba Juice is the same as Urban Remedy.
Neka Pasquale: No, no, no, no. Just from a juice perspective. If you want juice, there's a lot of little juice shops around, right? If I wanted wheat grass juice, if I was in New York or something, they were just talking about New York like, I would know that I could get a wheat grass shot when I went to Jamba Juice. It is definitely like a higher sugar, different kind of smoothie thing. But there weren't a lot of juice shops. I also did food, and it's just been such a crazy experience. Because like I said, I never really wrote up a business plan. I was like, oh, I want this to be a national company. I just thought this is gonna be so fun to do in Berlin where I live. A lot of people in the beginning were like, good luck. Your location is good. I don't know, but it was something that people really wanted and were craving. And so we grew 100% year over year for many years. And so it felt like when I look back at that time, I'm like, God, my life was so crazy. Because I was just an acupuncturist, so I was just figuring out like, how do you procure ingredients? Where do you store bottles? How do you ship? All of these things. And so I made so many mistakes, but it was so fun. I'm a really good problem solver, so I was like, I was constantly just figuring it all out. And yeah, it's been a journey.
Justine Reichman: It sounds like super fun. I say that because I have a little bit of Chinese medicine experience. I would not say I have a lot, because I don't want to do that. But one of the things that they talked about in Chinese medicine that I learned was all about cooked foods, so I was curious and like heating things up. And I'm curious, where did that come into your thinking? And how does that play a role? What are your thoughts on that?
"Every food has a taste, a temperature, and a meridian associated with it. When you look at the qualities of any ingredient, they can be cooling or warming." —Neka Pasquale
Neka Pasquale: Actually, quite a few people ask me that question. Because in Chinese medicine, there's things like never drinking ice cold water. It's not good for your spleen. So your spleen is like your main digestive organ. So when you eat food, your spleen digests the food. It transforms and transports it into blood, into energy, into chi, into like life force. And so in Chinese medicine, they say, don't eat too many cold foods. In my own kind of journey and my own health journey when I was in acupuncture school, I actually developed PCOS, I was stressed out, and I was eating a not very healthy diet. And they were like, okay, let's put you on this medication. And I was like, I'm gonna do some research. Let me look into this. And I said, just give me six months. And so I started juicing. I started eating a raw food diet. But there's a way to do a raw food diet where you're not eating all cold food like ice cream cold out of the fridge, right? So every food, as you know, has a taste, a temperature, and a meridian associated with it. So when you look at the qualities of any individual ingredient, they can be cool, cold, cooling, warm, hot. Really, that's kind of the basics. Even if you're eating foods that are not well cooked, they can still be warming and support spleen function.
So if you look at something like ginger, you could eat it fresh. It's warm. When you heat it up, when you cook it, it actually is hotter. And so there are a lot of ingredients that are warming. I've really tried to take that philosophy and balance because you have to understand that Chinese medicine, when they were talking about food and writing about it, was thousands of years ago in a different climate where people had a really different constitution at that point in time. And so if you live, let's say, in Antarctica, and you're living in a really cold, damp environment, you do not want to be eating raw cold food at all. You want to be eating soups, broths, stews and things that are going to balance out your environment.
I always say, look at your environment, where you live in the season that that environment is in, and then you eat according to that. But there's things that are always good for you. You know what I mean? Green foods are always good for your liver. A lot of green foods tend to be slightly cooling. But our livers, especially in this day and age, tend to be stuck and hot. And so green foods are really good at cooling the liver, soothing the liver, and helping the liver to be able to do its job better. In the summertime, you might eat more like salads, and drink more green juices because it's likely to be hot. But if it's wintertime and it's cold, you could still have liver for cheek ingestion, and so you could still eat salads. You could slightly warm them. We have directions on a bunch of our salads about warming. You could also take a salad out and just not eat it cold out of the fridge. Just let it sit for like 45 minutes, and it gets to room temperature, and then it's not so cold. Or if you're choosing juices, you can choose juice with turmeric or ginger, or like cayenne or something spicy in it. Because when you're drinking it and it's warming, then it's supporting that spleen stomach function. And you could look at all foods in that way.
Justine Reichman: I love the way you break it down. Because for people like me that only got half an education in Chinese medicine, I go to that next step. I'm so curious and I'm like, okay, I want to know more, because this makes so much sense. I'm not sure how to organize the food and also connect into the dots. So for me, I thought that was really something interesting to ask you. But I do want to go back to the beginning, for those tuning in that are just really inspired by what you've built and how you built it, talk a little bit about that. My understanding is you went from having acupuncture to this. So as an acupuncturist, oftentimes, people are entrepreneurs. So were you an entrepreneur then? Or was this your first endeavor?
Neka Pasquale: I would say I'm kind of an entrepreneur at heart, because my mom had her own business when I was growing up. And same with my dad. They never had jobs. Same with my grandparents. That's a great question that I have never really thought about. But when I look back at my acupuncture practice, it takes a good year and a half to really get in your flow and get people coming. And probably, when I was three years into my practice, I was very busy. I was just telling my boyfriend that I forgot. I used to have three treatment rooms, and I used to, at some of my busiest parts of the day, treat three people at the same time and try to manage putting needles in one person, talking to another person. Wendy, blah, blah, blah. How do you do that? And so I was very busy. And maybe in retrospect, I did that so I could squeeze in as many people as I could. Because when you're a practitioner, your time is everything because that's a different thing when you have your own business when you show up and be there, and you're giving the service. And so over time, as I got more interested and learned more about functional medicine and detoxification, I wanted to incorporate that into my practice, and that is when I started doing retreats. And so I was like, okay, I'm gonna get this together. I'm gonna get, probably like 13 people. There's men and women. I'm gonna take everybody out.
We started at Stinson Beach, and there was this huge house there that I used to rent. It had, like, I don't know, 11 bedrooms or something. I just brought everybody there, and I'm like, all right, we're gonna do yoga, meditation, infrared sauna. Obviously juicing, all live raw food at that point. And let's just see what happens. Because these are things that I found to be really helpful for people. And it was just so incredible. People felt so much better after. And so that was probably my entrepreneurial spirit of like, oh, I'm out. Let's try this. And it's a really cool way to do something different, but also do what I incorporate like, all the things I love. I love food so much. When I first started, I should have had pictures, I do have pictures of like, I would just make the most beautiful food. Everything that I would play, it was just so colorful and just vibrant. I would do all the different colors of the rainbow, and it was so fun and creative for me during that time to be able to do that. And then I just started doing that quarterly. And then people kept wanting food and wanting the juice. And that's really, really how Urban Remedy started.
And there's a funny story when I started doing the juice. I had one person working for me, and we would deliver people, mostly my patients, juices. It was like once or twice a week, and somebody called me from Gilt. I don't know if you remember Gilt, it was like a shopping platform. And hey, we heard about what you're doing. Can you offer a juice cleanse to people in San Francisco? And I was like, oh, that sounds so cool. Sure. But I didn't even really know much about what it was really and I was like, yeah, sure. And so I had no website. I had nothing. Maybe I actually did have a website that was just Urban Remedy with a phone number or something. And I remember one day, and I was pregnant at this point, my phone started ringing off the hook. I had forgotten that I said I would do it. It was like a month before, and I was answering the phone and people were like, oh, I want to schedule my juice order. And then Gilt was like, you guys sold out in like five minutes. Do you want to do more? And I was like, yeah, sure. Then people in San Francisco started hearing about what I was doing, and then things started really going gangbusters. I didn't have the infrastructure at that point to understand how to really have a back end system that tracks all the orders and has people sign up online. And so I literally had a notebook, and I was writing people's names down and their addresses. Then I would eat and people would call me and be like, I need my delivery. That's kind of how the whole Urban Remedy thing came to be.
Justine Reichman: I love that it's so organic and so authentic. I'm an entrepreneur too, and I feel like, as you said, you like to solve problems. Me too, so it really resonates with me. Because we have so many that are tuning in, I can imagine that they're also thinking the same thing. They're like, wait, I did that too. It makes them feel like, okay, I can do this. I can get to the next level. So my question is, how did you go to the next level? Because that's the question for many people, that all came together. You're making it happen, but you've got to go from scrappy to strategic at some point. So what was that?
Neka Pasquale: I've really thought about that a lot over the years, because I've gone through lots of different periods where there's been times where I'm like, oh, my gosh, how are we going to make payroll? All of a sudden, I'm renting a new space. Or I'm like, I can't catch up with this, and dealing with employee things. And I would say very honestly that there's been so many times where I couldn't figure out how to get to the next level. And I would say to myself, what if this is what I meant to be doing, and this is what I meant to do? The answer is going to show up for me, because I really don't know how to do it. And I would say with Urban Remedy, consistently, the answer has shown up. There's been so many times when I eventually hired a CEO, people, and we had a team. There's just been so many times, because it takes a lot of money to grow. We've had all these opportunities to have a kiosk in Whole Foods and prove that out. And if we could prove that out in California, we could go to other states. But all of these things take a lot of money.
And once you start shipping nationally, and then you have to have a whole nother distribution system, people to pack the stuff and infrastructure, and software to track the orders, all of these things take a lot of money. And so part of the issue with having started the way I did, if I were to do it over, I probably would have done it differently. But everything is perfect. So I'm grateful for where I am. I would always tell people now when they ask me, take as little money as you can as you grow your business. Even if you grow slower, it doesn't matter because you're going to mess up. I have a friend who's starting a little food brand on the side, and she wants to have everything perfect. I'm like, no matter how perfect you think it is, things are going to mess up, and there's going to be an ingredient that you can't source, or that's not going to be this, or the packaging. The first two years, you're just going to be learning and making mistakes. It happens to every single person, and that's how you hone in and get things going in a flow, in a smooth way. And so you have to just know when you start that there's going to be a lot of things that need to be worked out. And so I would just say that luckily, I was able to be in a flow, and grow in the flow the way that it was meant to go. That just sounds like I just made a rhyme or something.
Justine Reichman: There were a million things you could have done differently, and I know it's turned out perfectly right now. It is how it should be, and you're all excited. But when you think about it intellectually, and you think about how you do it differently today, what would you say to those listeners tuning in today?
Neka Pasquale: I would say, if you're starting something new, first of all, the number one thing is make sure you love what you're doing, and you're passionate about it, because that's the most critical thing. I really do feel like there's a difference between having a passion for what you do and loving it. And having an idea that you want to do because you think it's on trend, and it's going to make you a lot of money. Those are two different things, and not that either is necessarily. It's not wrong to do something just to make money. But a lot of times, there's just a different energy behind it than when you're so excited about doing something that you really feel is going to change the world, or help people's lives, or make you do something that you're just super passionate about. But I would say that either way, when you're starting your business, it's best to try to make your own mistakes in the beginning and really figure out your kinks, which is what I was kind of saying before. And take as little money as you need, because it does take a lot of money to grow a business. But once you take investment, then there's these expectations on you a lot of times to grow really, really fast. And sometimes, to do things that maybe you don't really want to do, or grow in a way you don't really want to grow. And I've been really lucky because my investors are all very supportive and mission driven aligned, which has been a great experience for me. But I've talked with so many other women founders that have had different experiences depending on their investor or how much money you take. Because the more of your business that you give away, then the less kind of power you have over those decisions.
Justine Reichman: Wow. It's interesting because as you're coming up with these ideas, you come up with so many, and you want to do them because you get excited. It's exciting, and you're like, okay, we're growing. We're doing this, we're doing that. And it seems like the path forward. It seems like the way to grow. So for those folks that are tuning in and are like, okay, so how do I figure that out? How do I figure out where I want to go next when all these things are coming at me, and I have to make a decision. I'm just getting started, and they all look great. But really, gotta figure out where you're gonna start. Because as you said, it's really expensive. You can make a lot of expensive mistakes, and that's part of the journey too. So of course, I will go back to it. What would you recommend to them?
Neka Pasquale: I think it's good to have good counsel. Somebody who can help you really look at every different way, every different opportunity that's in front of you and then be like, okay, so if you choose to do X, Y or Z, how much capital is that going to take? How many employees are you going to need to employ? What is the cost benefit ratio of each of your ideas or each of your opportunities, and really evaluate? I think one of the most important things is keeping everything as simple as possible. Because the easier it is for you to execute, the higher chance of success you're going to have. Things that are very complex just burn you out, and then take a lot of resources. And so I always think, choose the path of least resistance, the path that is going to be the most simplified path that makes sense. At least just start, because nobody wants to be stuck in something that's very complex and difficult. And even what we do at Whole Foods is, even though we've been doing it for a while and we're good at fresh, what we're doing is really difficult. Because it's very difficult to scale fresh food that has a lot of a short shelf life. That's why people don't do it, because it's not easy. Look at the biggest food companies, their shelf life on their products are years, not days or months. And so it's very difficult. The shorter the shelf life, the more purge you have. And who wants to throw away a beautiful organic food? So our complexity is really figuring out that balance between keeping our kiosks full, which is still a challenge for us, but having enough product in there so that when people come to buy the product, it's there. You're not disappointing people. And so it still is a complex business. But without the other pieces, we're able to address our complexity in a more sustainable way.
Justine Reichman: I think that's so important to share. Because I remember when we were arranging this, I was like, I can't wait to taste the food, because I remember how fresh it was when I would go down to Larkspur in my town. I could walk there with my dogs and get it, and it tasted like I made it this morning. I was skeptical because I said, okay, how can you produce so much and still have fresh? It's not going to be the same. I was just curious, and it came in, and both my partner and I, and my friend, we were tasting it, and we were really impressed with just how fresh it tasted, and how it tasted like you had just made it in front of me.
Neka Pasquale: Oh, thank you so much for saying it. That's so great, because that's really what we want to do, and how we want people to experience our products. I just said, fresh food at your fingertips that's ready to eat, that's easy to get from your local grocery store. I'm so happy that you had that experience. And I feel the same way. I'll go and get something and I'm like, God, it's so good. I'm so proud of our team. I'm so proud of us for being able to execute in this way where you're not going and getting a wilty, warm salad.
Justine Reichman: I want to go back to a couple of things that you mentioned so that we could tap into them for those folks that are building businesses or in the process. So when you found your CEO, or you found your counsel that was going to be that person to help you grow, what were some of the things you looked for? For me, I'd look for the things that I can't do or I don't want to do, but I also want to pay attention to the skills that you need. What were the top three things that were really most important to you that you think people should be mindful of as they're recruiting for this role as they grow?
Neka Pasquale: Well, I think the most important thing is having somebody that believes in your mission and vision, and what you're doing. That is absolutely the top thing. And if you're hiring a CEO, you have to trust that person the way you would trust a life partner, like a husband, or somebody in your life. Because in the end, the CEO is the person that you're hiring. That's the final decision maker in a lot of times over the Founder. So you have to be really clear that when you hire somebody to take that role, that they are taking the lead role in the company, if they're really a true CEO. My experience was interesting because I opened my store in (inaudible), and a friend of mine, Keith Belling who started Popchips. One day, he was like, hey, I really want you to meet this guy, Paul Coletta. And I was like, oh, okay. So I went to the city and he introduced me to Paul. And I was like, oh, he's nice. He's like, you guys are both Italian. He's working at the Melt, that old Grilled Cheese Company. I remember going to his office, and it was this really fancy office in downtown San Francisco. And I was kind of intimidated, like, wow, this is so fancy. They obviously had so much funding behind them, and blah, blah, blah. And then he came to my store in San Rafael, and we had the funkiest office. We had card tables for desks. And my son was probably one and a half or two, and he was running around all over the place. It was not a professional environment, so I remember being really embarrassed. He loved the food and the juices.
And then once a week, he just kept coming. He would be like, hey, I really crave this. Or, God, I love what you're doing. And he would just sit and ask me a lot of questions. And I was like, this is interesting. What is he really hanging around here a lot? And then one day we were talking, it's like, you know what? I've just been thinking about it. I really love what you're doing, and I really would like to be your CEO. And what do you think about it? And I remember that I was thinking, God, I don't know. Because I was thinking, this is really my business. It's my baby. Do I want a partner in what I'm doing? And so it took me a while to really get to the place where I was like, you know what? It's probably going to make my life really a lot easier. I had taken a small amount. I think at that point, I raised a million dollars, which I thought was so much money. But in the scheme of things, it's really not. But when I first took that million dollars, I was like, I'm never going to need any more money. They can build out my San Rafael kitchen. And then with that growth, we outgrew that kitchen within six months. Then I was like, oh, my gosh, I do need more money, because I need to have another facility and blah, blah, blah, the whole story. And so things were starting to get complicated. I was like, oh, it's gonna be so great. Let's go. And I already had this trust with him because we'd known each other for a while now, and he asked all the right questions. And like I said, he was like, you will always be the decision maker when it comes to product branding, we will work together as a team. And so we did for all of those years, and so I feel really lucky.
I've had so many people come to me that have, I won't name their brands, but have come to me that have local businesses. Women that are like, I want a Paul. His name is Paul. How did you get a Paul? How did you find him? And I was like, it's just kind of destiny. It just kind of happened in a really wonderful way. I think it's not common, right? I think more than not, people are in a different situation where you'll start something and you'll hire a CEO. And a lot of times, the CEO's vision for a company can be a lot different than a founder's because they might be trying to get to profitability faster, or have pressure from the investors to have a certain amount of growth and a certain amount of period. I just would say, if you're looking to hire people in a leadership role, you just really need to make sure that they're aligned with your mission and your values, and the way that you want to grow the company. And sometimes, things come up and you might be wrong. You might think, I want to grow the company in this way. And then all of a sudden, something you never dreamed of could come in front of you, and there could be a different opportunity. And then being willing to pivot and being like, oh, my God, I never thought of that. And that's actually how theWhole Foods kiosk happened. Paul was on a bike ride with, I can't remember his name, one of the heads of Whole Foods at that time in California. It was like, hey, what if we had an Urban Remedy kiosk in one of your stores in Berkeley? And he was like, yeah, that could be cool. And they talked, and then he was like, I'm gonna give you three kiosks. And if you could do $80 a day, it would work. And then we'll both make money and let you see. And so we went to the kiosk. I don't know if it was $80.
Justine Reichman: It might have been for conversation purposes.
Neka Pasquale: And so we did it, and we did like, $170 a day or something that we didn't expect. And then he was like, wow, this is a huge success. Let's do it in Southern California. And I remember people in Marin know us just because we've started in Marin, we've been here for so long and San Francisco. And I was like, I don't know how we're gonna do. People are very health conscious in LA, and there's zero brand awareness. Several repetitions in LA. There's a lot more competition. But anyways, we did it, and we launched, I think we started with like, I don't know, 8 or 10 kiosks. And it was so crazy, because that really launched us in a different way. There were a lot more influencers there at that time, and so there were not a lot of other brands like us, especially in Whole Foods. And so I remember just being online and just being like, oh, my gosh. This person is posting about us, and that person is posting about us. And it happened very organically, which was so cool that a bunch of awareness came about. But it wasn't through paid social media or anything like that. People really liked the product, and were excited to find this kind of product in Whole Foods at that time. So we ended up opening stores in that area, in Southern California as well, when we had stores. Sometimes, things like that happen that you wouldn't even think of. And now, that is our one channel that we're doing. So it's very unexpected.
Justine Reichman: That was a big decision. Was that scary when you made that decision to be like, okay, we're cutting the stores. We're doing this. Or was it just like a relief? You're like, wait, this is working. We're gonna pare down.
Neka Pasquale: Honestly, it was both because I was so attached. Because I was like, I could go to my store in the city, or I could go to my store in Mill Valley or whatever. It was just so fun to have a different relationship with the customer. When you have a store, you can really have a different conversation with your customer because they come in and they're like, oh, this is my favorite, or I like this, or you hear their stories. I'd be in the store and people would be like, my mom has breast cancer, and this is the only food and juice she ate while she was doing her chemo. And then you're just like, oh, my gosh, this is why we're doing what we're doing. This is exactly why I wanted to launch Urban Remedy. And so it turned into really just the kiosk, you're not getting that direct feedback all the time. People write reviews, but it's a different way of communicating with the consumer or the customer. And so it was sad. So yes, it was a good idea. And also sad because then, we were missing out on that piece of the puzzle. But I think retail, especially right now, is just very difficult. It's so hard. We were having trouble finding people to work the hours. There's a lot of complexity with retail, and so it has made it a lot easier not having to like, if somebody doesn't show up for work with the kiosk, that kind of stuff doesn't matter, so it does make it easier.
Justine Reichman: And if they're sick and like three hours away, who's going to open the door? We need somebody to open the door. So now that you're in Whole Foods and Mollie Stone and a variety of other stores, what do you see for the next 5 to 10 years?
"I want to continue to be a leader, not a follower. A trend is just a trend, but what we’re doing is based on something good for healing people and the planet." —Neka Pasquale
Neka Pasquale: I see that we're really going to just continue to grow into as many Whole Foods as we can, and so that we could offer this food to as many people as we can. I think there's a constant evolution of what people want, and so it's just continuing to offer the healthiest, using the most functional ingredients, and just keeping our mission and vision, and just expanding it, and keep the consumer interested, keep innovating new and exciting products. And I think that's where the challenge comes in. It's really staying relevant and staying true to your mission and values, and not having people get bored. It's really interesting in the food space. We look at trends a lot. And a lot of the time, people will tell me a trend. Somebody that works for me might be like, this is trending, so we should do it. And a lot of times I'm like, I don't care if that's trending. If I don't believe in it and believe that it's good for you and have those properties that I believe in, I don't care. I don't care if something's trending if it's not something that I really believe in in terms of innovation. It's always interesting.
But every year, you'll go to Expo and everybody wants to know what's the trend. Sometimes, it's like fermented food, which is great. But I'm always trying to bring it back to like, yes, that might be a cool, interesting trend. But how does it fit into Urban Remedy? How does it fit into our mission, our values? And I want to continue to be a leader, not a follower. And so not turning into a brand that's trying to keep up with every trend, and because I think that's kind of how you just jump the boat. You just try to be everything to everybody. And a trend is just a trend. But I believe what we're doing is based on something that's good for healing people and healing the planet. So we're always organic, and we're always working with regenerative organic farmers. We're sticking to those missions and values, which are really important to me. Those are things that are always going to be good for, like I said before, when it's really good for you, and you're eating seasonally and locally as much as you can, it's really good for the planet. And so just staying within those guard rails is really important to me.
Justine Reichman: Awesome. Neka, thank you so much for joining us today. It's good to see you. It's a great conversation. I've learned so much. I want to thank our listeners for tuning in. And if you guys have any more questions, shoot us a note, or leave us a note on our social media, or on YouTube, or wherever you listen or watch your podcast. But for those that are curious about learning more about Urban Remedy, Neka, what's the best way for them to dig in a little further?
Neka Pasquale: You can go to urbanremedy.com, it is our website. And we have all of our locations listed there under locations. We also have Instagram, which is just Urban Remedy. LinkedIn, I believe, is just Urban Remedy. And we don't have YouTube like you. I think we might have a couple things on YouTube. But anyways, our website or Instagram are probably the best ways to learn more about Urban Remedy.
Justine Reichman: Awesome. So thank you again. Don't forget, we will throw the links in the show notes for Neka and for Urban Remedy, so you can do that. And if you're not following us or watching us on YouTube, we are at Essential Ingredients. And if you want to tune in wherever you listen to podcasts, we're on iTunes, Spotify. IHeart Radio, at Essential Ingredients with Justine, so thanks again for tuning in. And I want to thank you again for joining us. Thank you. You get to expand our family each week with our new guests and our new friends that are tuning in and joining us for these conversations.
