From Stage Four Cancer to the Brink of National Distribution | Russell & Julia Menez, Cozy

On this episode, we're joined by Russell and Julia Menez, husband-and-wife Co-Founders of RJ Naturals, makers of Nature's Candy Bar, the refrigerated, organic, whole-food snack bar made with grass-fed butter. The brand was born out of Russell's stage 4 cancer journey, when Julia started making bars from scratch to support his recovery.We dive into how those homemade bars turned into a SoCal brand now in some of most iconic retailers in the region, including Mother's Market, Lassen's Natural Foods, Clark's Nutrition, Fermentation Farm, as well as a growing presence on the East Coast. Russell and Julia break down the formulation behind a bar built on dates, sprouted oats, grass-fed butter, coconut, raw honey, cinnamon, vanilla, and sea salt, why they chose Deglet Noor dates over Medjool, and why most co-manufacturers resist butter.Julia  also walks through the role of coffee shops, gyms, and wellness studios in building community, and how a single networking event landed their anchor retailer and first distributor in the same afternoon.---------------Episode Highlights:🩺 The cancer journey that started the brand🧈 Why grass-fed butter is the hero ingredient🌴 Deglet Noor vs Medjool dates (and why it matters)🥶 Why most bar brands won't go refrigerated🍠 The next flavor in the pipeline (hint: ube)🏭 Interviewing over 20 co-packers to find the right one✋ Going from 600 bars a day by hand to thousands per run🎨 Evolving from RJ Naturals to Nature's Candy Bar🛒 Landing Mother's Market and a distributor in one room☕ Why gyms, coffee shops, and wellness studios still matter📣 Demos plus social as the velocity engine🚦 Saying no to shiny objects as you scale🎯 The Q4 Whole Foods regional plan---------------Table of Contents:00:00 – Intro01:13 – Origin story and the stage 4 cancer journey04:38 – Formulation and R&D06:30 – Why grass-fed butter08:00 – Deglet Noor vs Medjool dates08:46 – Flavor pipeline and the ube hint10:22 – Refrigerated by design, not by default12:49 – Home kitchen to commercial kitchen13:41 – Moving to a co-packer15:38 – Interviewing 20+ co-manufacturers18:09 – Sticking to the formulation at scale21:31 – Evolving the brand from RJ Naturals to Nature's Candy Bar25:11 – Landing Mother's Market and a distributor in one room26:43 – Coffee shops, gyms, and wellness studios as the community layer27:30 – Demos and social as the velocity engine28:53 – Saying no as you scale30:50 – Biggest risks and opportunities31:32 – Q4 Whole Foods regional launch32:30 – Trends and brands they're watching---------------Links:RJ Naturals – https://rjnaturals.us/Follow Russell on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/russellmenez/Follow Julia on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliahsuh/Follow RJ Naturals on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/rjnaturals/Follow me on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-martin-steinberg/For help with CPG production design - packaging and label design, product renders, POS assets, retail media assets, quick-turn sales and marketing assets and all the other work that bogs down creative teams - check out https://www.kitprint.co/.Shout out to my friends over at Glimpse, the go-to partner for automating retail-related back-office operations and unlocking margin trapped in invalid fees and manual processes.Are you in the market for a new flexible packaging partner? Check out HD Packaging. Third-generation, family-owned and built for the needs of category leaders like Newman’s Own and A Dozen Cousins. Faster launches, lower costs, and no artwork fees.