We were lucky to catch up with Derrick Snodgrass recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Derrick, thanks for joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

I came up with the idea of creating these bones because my wife and I were completely plant-based eaters, for an entire year. During this time we tried a lot of different plant-based meat substitutes. We thought they were good and they were helpful, in helping us transition into a plant-based diet. This is important because the misconception is that vegans eat grass, vegetables, and bland foods. One day in prayer I heard the Lord say design a vegan bone. This was almost audible it was so clear, and immediately I could see in my minds eye what the product was supposed to look like and exactly what it was for. Having a vegan bone would assist with grabbing, handling, and the visual appeal of the meat substitute. The objective of the plant- based meat industry is to emulate animal products. Since all chickens, pigs, and cows have bones, plant- based meats need them too! This is how the idea was born!

Many people ask the same questions, why does someone who doesn’t like to eat animal products make food that looks, tastes, and smells like what you don’t like? It’s because people like to eat food that tastes like what they’re accustomed to eating, most people don’t go vegan because they think meat is nasty. Faux Bones is the name of our company and it is on the leading edge of revolutionizing the plant based industry. These bones give you the ability to grab and handle your vegan meat and it makes it nearly impossible to distinguish an animal product from a plant based product. This gives a higher conversion rate from meat eaters to plant based eaters. For years people have used cinnamon stickes, sugar cane sticks, uca root, celery sticks and so many more bone place holders, but they don’t capture the look or texture like Faux Bones can.

Derrick, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’m a pastor at Willow Church of Lake Jackson, Texas. I’ve been pastoring for over eight years, one of which has been at Willow. I have a passion for healthy eating and enjoy a mainly plant based diet. Veganism is on the rise and many people are looking for sustainable healthy alternatives to the animal products they are used to and love.

I have been married to my beautiful wife, La Toija, for 11 years. Together we share two wonderful children: Jackson, 9, and Khloe, 6. We also have an awesome German Shepherd puppy, named Kingsley. Life is great!

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

When I initially rolled out the idea of the vegan bones it didn’t seem like I would find a manufacturer. Every single company in the US quoted me astronomical prices. It was so discouraging! I couldn’t believe that it was so expensive to carve a little piece of wood. I was thinking this is not going to ever happen or get off the ground if the people are charging this amount of money to carve these bones. I refused to be denied, and I continued to look and prayed for direction. Suddenly, I came across this site called Alibaba and needless to say it connected me to producers overseas that quoted me a price that was feasible and that would give us the profit needed to get the business up and running. Since they partnership, we’ve seen this product go all over the world!

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

This is interesting, we’re still building our audience. However, we’ve garnered the partnerships of plant- based social media influncers, and collectively we have gone viral more than 20 times, and we have over 40 million views worldwide between the platforms of Instagram, Tiktok, Facebook, and Youtube. These influencers, who already had millions of followers, picked up our products and started creating amazing content, and caused a wave of traffic that has ignited our company and put us on the map! Initislly we were rejected by everyone and no one wanted to work with us. So we started by sending free product to whatever addresses we could find. We sent product to micro influencers too. We also ran Facebook and Google adds. The first main influencer who picked up our product and got us out there in a major way was Candace, also known as “The Edgy Veg” she is a major influencer and her videos of Faux Bones was our first viral video where she made vegan fried chicken. From there it was one person after another. We are deeply grateful for everyone’s contributions to the success of Faux Bones. We’re excited for our next breakthrough into restaurants!

Contact Info:

• Website:www.fauxbones.net
• Instagram: Faux Bones
• Facebook: Faux Bones

Image Credits
The Edgy veg, Mike Trabert, Petiole Cafe