We recently connected with Molly Stiles and have shared our conversation below.
Molly, 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?
Fifteen years ago, Chef Stiles, suffered a massive stroke. The stroke would rid him of his ability to speak. Within 4 years, he made a full recovery. During the research for his cookbook, he sought to answer the question, “How do people get sick?” The answer, of course, started with the things we put into our bodies. This includes pesticides from growing the produce, and preservatives put in products to make the products last longer. He also discovered things like smoking, radiation; use of transportation & use of artificial flavoring agents cause damage to our bodies. Chef Stiles found, due to the western diet, that many Americans follow, (starch based, high in sodium/refined sugars) also causes an increase in the number of diagnosed diseases; Cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease & stroke.
Raising awareness regarding health & wellness, triggers consumer interest for plant-based snacks. Incidence of obesity, cardiovascular ailments, and other chronic disorders is increasing and so has consumers’ exposure to information. Consumers are increasingly seeing the benefits of a plant-based diet. In turn fueling the demand for plant-based snacks or healthy snacking has become very popular.
Meatless jerky is also medically beneficial for consumers as compared to traditional jerky as it- provides better digestion due to high fiber, contains high levels of vitamins and minerals and energy.
Likewise, the Chef Pure Fruit Candy Chews (Just like mass produced fruit leather) contain only pure ingredients. This includes real fruit and is a healthy snack that is better for you.
This same concept is true for the company’s veggie snack line! The products start with raw vegetables and are packed with nutrients like fiber, minerals, phosphorus, calcium and iron. Interestingly, over 50% of millennials are trying to incorporate more plant-based foods into their diets. A 2015 survey by Mintel showed that 77% of consumers prefer prepackaged, ready-to-go snacks. Vegan snacks (like the companies Egg Plant Bacon and Zesty Zucchini chips) fill this need and plant-based gap in this category.
The potential market is driven by an increase in health awareness coupled with rising consciousness towards animal welfare and environmental sustainability. Vegan products are medically beneficial for consumers providing better digestion due to high fiber content, high levels of vitamins and minerals, and minimal energy content.
Chef Pure Foods products are produced with no fillers or chemicals and are soy-free, gluten-free and free of the top nine allergens affecting people today. They are also cholesterol-free, packed with fiber, potassium, protein, vitamins, and iron. The company has recently launched a line of soup mixes with these same health claims.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Research Chef, Kurt Stiles, has 30 years of experience in the food and beverage industry. His background includes work in chain and independent restaurants, stadiums, business and industrial foodservice and hotels. Chef Stiles also owned the “Moosehopper” bistro and coffee cafés in New England. Additionally, Chef Stiles has worked with dozens of small-to-medium volumes ($5M-$100B in sales) food and beverage manufacturers and major retail brands. Some of these companies include household names like General Mills, Sara Lee, Marriot, Subway, Cocoa-cola, Caribou Coffee, Land O’ Lakes, Jennio Turkey, AMG Sports Marketing and NASCAR.
In 2004, Chef Stiles became the, first ever, Director of Research and Development for Caribou Coffee, a large coffee chain based in Minneapolis, MN. He created Caribou’s ‘Bou Gourmet line of products and drinks. His product lines brought Caribou to a level where they were profitable and able to be a publicly traded company! Many of Kurt’s products remain in the Caribou line up today.
Chef Stiles left Caribou Coffee in 2006 to start Good for You Ingredients. It was at this time that people were becoming more frequently diagnosed with Celiac Disease and discover that food allergies were making them sick. It was his intent to develop food products that were Gluten Free, Low Glycemic and free of the top 9 food allergens. During this time, he continued to consult with large companies to create new products in line with the industry trend and necessity (creating allergy free products to remain competitive). Kurt was in high demand and sought after for his expertise and ability to predict trend and create products. Kurt launched a line of gluten free bars and cookie mixes on December 1, 2008.
What happened next will forever change his life and that of his family and close friends. On December 17, 2008, at the height of his career, Chef Stiles suffered a massive stroke. The stroke would rid him of his ability to speak and do simple tasks- like cooking! Through the power of prayer, determination and a team of amazing people, he made a full recovery. He used his stroke as a way to inspire others and motivate people to overcome adversity. He also made it is mission to educate and help people who have been affected by a life altering disease.
During his recovery, Chef Stiles wrote a book, “Cooking to Save Your Life.” The book chronicles his recovery and tells his story as a survivor. It also contains 100 classical recipes designed to for the reader to customize and make according to their dietary need. This book took classical recipes and taught the general public how to alter these recipes to conform to their health need (i.e., low glycemic, gluten-allergy free, non-dairy, etc.). Chef Stiles gave lectures at hospitals, offices, non-profits and small business on the topic of “Let your food be your medicine.”
Chef Stiles is a proud member of the Research Chefs Association (RCA), Culinology Program and volunteers his time with the Research Chef Association. He serves with a Key Contact in St. Louis/KC regional area. Chef Stiles earned a Masters’ Degree at St. Louis University (SLU) called Master of Science in Nutrition and Dietetics, Emphasis in Food Innovation and Entrepreneurship, graduating winter, 2018.
Molly Stiles is the President/CFO of this women owned business. Mrs. Stiles serves as the financial officer & HR officer. Mrs. Stiles currently works as an HR professional for a large financial firm in St. Louis. Prior to this she was an HR Manager for 17 years with a large cosmetic company out of New York.
Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?
Throughout my career, 65% of my work has been developing food products with the other 35% has been creating beverages. I have a unique ability for quickly matching the right flavors and ingredients to the needs of the customer and achieve the industry gold standard for products. For example, I created Caribou’s ‘Bou Gourmet line of products and drinks. My product lines brought Caribou to a level where they were profitable, and able to be a publicly traded company! Many products remain in the Caribou today!
I was also instrumental in creating an energy drink line using botanical fruit oils and organic tea flavors . My job was to create gold standards of finished foods and beverages to aid in flavor creation projects as well as develop finished product formulations using various liquid and dry flavor delivery systems.
Industry colleagues and my peers often see me as a true visionary. They can rely on me to be ahead of the trends and forecast trends in the food industry 1-2 years before they are reported. One chef commented, “Chef Stiles has an ability to bring intellect, culinary and art along with his passion to any project, leads the industry toward boundless limits.”
I am also proud to have won several prestigious awards in the industry for my work on various projects. One of these projects was a flight of “Drinkable Desserts” that I created for Caribou Coffee. This won Best Product at the IFT conference. I was also awarded the Research Chef Association’s-(RCA) President Award for 2010. This award is given to members whose contributions to the association or industry have made a significant impact.
I have strong innovation skills and have throughout my career. I am proud to be a leader in predicting trends and creating products ahead of the trends, so we were launch ready when the trend hit. This included creating, many “first of its kinds”. Today, this includes my line of fruit and veggie snacks as well as my newly developed soup mix line up! This is such a new category. To ensure my high stands of quality, I am manufacturing all of our products myself. I do have vendors who supply me with key ingredients and may eventually use a co-packer- I am “just not there yet”. No matter how good your Co packer is, you’re going to be hard-pressed to find somebody who cares as much as you do about your business and the quality of your food as you do. That said, in my past work, I work with a lot of co-packers so I know what they can do to help my business.
What is a co-packer?
A co-packer, also known as a contract packager, is a company that packages and labels products for clients. Co-packers in the food business are also co-manufacturers — that is, they handle the full-service cooking, processing, and blending of food products as well as the packaging and labeling. Some co-packers also offer the option of producing the product, and then shipping it back to your facilities for packaging and labeling.
Using co-packer allows you to scale and meet the rising demand of product without needing to invest in industrial infrastructure. This infrastructure typically includes production-grade kitchen machinery, warehousing facilities, and the technical expertise and certifications necessary for operating and managing large-scale food production processes. However, because co-packers are taking on such a significant part of your business, it comes with a relatively big price tag. If the demand in your products is high enough and you have the capital to and a partnership with a co-packer, then this investment will save you money, time, and resources in the long run. Plus, making use of the bulk-manufacturing capabilities of a co-packer result in a lower cost, per unit.
We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.
Kurt and I have been married for 18 years! We met at a NASCAR race, May 2003, in Charlotte, NC. I was there, with friends, for the NASCAR race. We were staying at the Duke Mansion and Kurt was our chef for the weekend. It truly was a God thing because he was helping a friend that weekend and we only needed one meal prepared for us that weekend and he did not normally work at the mansion. I happen to come down to the library, mid-afternoon, to read my book. He was there, on break between prep work and making dinner. We struck up a conversation, I had a serious boyfriend at the time so it was purely business reasons that we exchanged business cards!
One thing led to another and pretty soon I could wait to talk to that guy on a personal level every night! We traveled back and forth, seeing each other for 6 months. Then he moved to Minnesota, where I lived at the time, so we could “see what happened”.
Two sons later and a whole lot of life in between, I am so excited to be on this life journey with Kurt!
I might be the CEO of the company but he is the worker. I do the financial side of the business and selling at some of the markets but he is definitely the brains behind the products, ingredients and development.
Contact Info:
- Website: chefpure.com
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/molly-stiles/ & https://www.linkedin.com/in/kurtstiles/