We recently connected with Mike Ash and have shared our conversation below.

Mike, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

Ten years ago was at a point in my life, where I needed a change. I was extremely negative, and seemingly going nowhere in life. I needed a project that I could pour all of that negativity into. During this time I had a very close friend that was killed by her husband, and decided to focus on supporting shelters for women and children. I started Attack Hunger with the intention to make granola bars, sell them, and for each sold, give one of them to someone in need. Without any prior baking experience and a ton of problems, I gave up making them. .
I started bundling two granola bars, trail mix and a bottle of water, and selling them for five dollars. For each sold I would give one to a local shelter. I did this for the first four years of business.
With the bundles, there was a constant struggle of selling enough to pay the rent of the shop, being able to afford the food promise and restocking the bundles. I found myself in a position where I had to change, or stop doing this all together.
I decided to print, and sell t-shirts. For every tee sold I would give five of the bundles. I was very fortunate to have really great artists friends to help me learn turn my design ideas into reality.
Soon after, I stopped selling the bundles all together and changed our format to 20% of each purchase will buy food and personal care products so that we could give a wider variety of supplies to the for the “ladies and babies” we help support. After being around for nearly eleven years I cannot believe what Attack Hunger has turned into. In addition to what we give through our apparel, we also hold food drives and fundraisers that have given us the opportunity to provide literal tons of food and personal care products to women’s shelters in Detroit.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

The need for a cause/purpose came before the idea for the business. I wanted to do something that would help people, but whatever it was I wanted to do it my way, and on my terms. I thought that if I just went and volunteered somewhere I would obsess about it for a month and eventually quit, knowing myself. Pushing through each stage of change through the years were some of the most difficult but most satisfying times of my life. Back when I was selling bundles, I was working in a warehouse during the day for 7.50 an hour, and delivering pizzas at night. Everyone thought I was crazy. Starting a “charity” while being broke. But I had a certain motivation that I had never felt before.
When I started selling t-shirts it felt a fresh start. Learning the the process involved from finding suppliers, how to design, and print them was like a project within a project that I became lost in. I ended up finding new skills as well as a new passion for creating artwork.
I am most proud of who I have become throughout the creation of Attack Hunger. I went from not really having any sort of direction in life to someone who has built something from nothing that helps others, and I get do do it by selling something that I created.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Establishing credibility was the single most important thing I had to do to build a reputation in my field. People needed to know that I was actually giving what I said I was giving, and the fundraising was going where it was supposed to. Since the beginning I have been posting pictures of our “food bombs” so that everyone is able to see what we gave and who we gave it to. I would even post them when there was an embarrassingly small amount of food. As I became more trusted, larger groups were catching on and willing to work with me.

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

As we progressed a pretty incredible thing happened. We started having fans. People that come and continue to support us. Having a purposed based business, a lot of our customers align with the cause as well as the product and it keeps them returning.

Contact Info:

• Website: attackhunger.com
• Instagram: @attackhungerdetroit
• Facebook: Attack Hunger

Image Credits
Mike Ash