We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Malacchi Esdale a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Malacchi, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?
. My co-founder and I come from pretty diverse backgrounds and two things that are most important to us is family and food, so that was definitely something we had in mind when we first started That Good Good Market. We wanted to make something that brought all different types of people together. Whether you’re vegan, non-vegan, short, tall, blue or purple, we just want all these people to come together to eat great food and have a good time. Our mission gave us the fuel we needed for the inspiration behind the market branding as well. We figured, “hey, if it looks cool and inviting it doesn’t matter who they are, they’ll come. We love the community we’ve create and stay true to it, but our mission has definitely evolved over time. We really try to show the most support to the vendors that take part in the market and realise that our market gives them a place to showcase their passions. Since starting the market we’ve had the chance to meet some of the most amazing people with some really cool ideas and we get to watch them flourish every time we have an event. Each one of our vendors is a small business and we want to see them reach their full potential even if our market is just a stepping stone for the next big thing. We love our vendors and feel the same way about everyone who comes to the market to support them. And that’s a message to everyone and anyone trying to pursue something they want to do in life. It isn’t always easy but on your journey you will find people who will support and help you along the way. So do that thing you dream about or start that business, and do it whole-heartedly. In the end it’ll all be worth it.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
At first glance you probably wouldn’t be able to tell what I do for a living outside of the market, and that’s ok. But I am an Olympic athlete and professional rugby player. Being an athlete, health is pretty important to me, so after doing a bit of research and trying it out I decided to go vegan. That was about 6 years ago, and guess what? I still haven’t died of protein deficiency lol who would have thought! Despite what some people think, I hardly ever bring up the fact that I am vegan. But when people do find out I get some surprised looks and some interesting questions. Most of the questions I get are genuinely just people trying to learn more about my diet and what I like about it, but some times people just can’t seem to accept the fact that I’m vegan. There’s a weird stigma around the “V” word, and sometimes it can be associated with being weaker than others, or weird, but that just isn’t the case. Ultimately it’s just a cruel-free diet, with some health benefits, and anyone can do it. This was definitely a motivator for when I wanted to start up the market. I wanted to show people that it doesn’t matter what you do or who you are you can still be vegan. I’m originally from Delaware and grew up in parts of Philadelphia and when I go home to visit there’s is always 1 or 2 new vegan places that pop up, which is crazy because a few years ago there was nothing. It’s getting more accessible to people who want to adopt a vegan diet and that is so exciting especially when I have hopes of bringing vegan markets to the neighbourhoods I grew up in.
We’d love to hear about you met your business partner.
So i actually met my cofounder online in the middle of the covid pandemic. We had a mutual friend and we ended connecting over a funny video i posted via instagram. My business partner and co-founder was all the way in Australia at the time, so we face-timed every day for about 5 months until the borders eventually opened up and international travel was allowed. In those 5 months we talked a little bit about business but mostly just got to know each other and ended up becoming really good friends. Such good friends that i convinced them to come to San Diego to meet in person. 3 and a half months later, we got married. Shortly after that we started That Good Good Market because we were both vegan and we both love food. So serendipitous I know. We also both shared a-lot of core values and thought it would be amazing to bring together the vegan community in San Diego and start something special. I think I’m the luckiest person on the planet because I get to do something I love with the person I love. Not everyone can say they get to do that, and I’m very grateful for that.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
Well first off we love what we do so it’s never a drag when we have to stay up late to make a social media post for the next day, or set up tents, or find a new location and I think that people can sense that. We are 100% our selves all the time so people know what they’re getting when they see us, and it’s always good vibes! Respect is a huge thing for us as well. Respect for people, respect for our planet, and respect for the animals on it. Our markets are usually in a space that belongs to someone else and they are gracious enough to let us use it, so we really want to make sure that respect we have shows with how we run things and hope that everyone else around us reciprocates it! I think another thing that definitely affects our reputation is the relationship we have with our vendors. They are the best and have the same values as we do so they always make the experience for the attendees amazing. If any of you are reading this, you already know how much we love you guys and couldn’t do it with out you all <3
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.goodgood.market/
- Instagram: @ goodgood.market
- Facebook: ThatGoodGoodMarket