MADE Blog Feed

Charley's take on sugar

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 10:39 -0600

My Take on Sugar

I have been out promoting MADE for over a year now. All across this great country, from Boston to Los Angeles, from Seattle to Raleigh, from Chicago to Austin. But before I get into this blog entry, I must admit to you, I like sugar. At first, I liked sugar in the form of soft drinks (I was a Coke fan) and now I like sugar in pastries , sauces and other delictables. It is part of my diet, just like vegetables, meat, dairy and grains. I do try and follow smart sense when it comes to nutrition. That said, I am a firm believer that moderation in diet is one essential truth, the other is eat what you need to be healthy.

Back to sugar. During all of these promotional events, almost everyone says how much they love the flavor/taste of MADE. That said, a lot of people said, “you have too much sugar”. Now, we originally formulated MADE to taste great. Many of us in our little company have foodservice backgrounds, and in foodservice – taste rules! But, we had to investigate. What we found out is that, in a cross-section of other drinks like MADE, is that our drink is in the lower 1/3 of sugar content in this competitive set. That was interesting to us. But it really didn’t explain all of these comments.

About 6 months ago, the light bulb goes off. There are many ways to look at consumers, but my light bulb was that there are diet drinkers and regular drinkers. Almost everyone in our little company is a regular drinker (in other words, we don’t drink “diet” drinks). Wow! This is why we heard so many comments. It just wasn’t that we had sugar in our drinks, it was that we had ANY sugar in our drinks. Let’s face it, many people like diet drinks.

When Allison told me about her attempt to go off sugar for a period of time, I thought it was a good idea for me too. I had done these types of things in the past (cleanses, going vegetarian, etc.). I sometimes just do it to see how my body will react. So, I decided that I would go off sugar for 21 days and take a daily log on how I felt.

I will not bore you with the details. I did not lose any weight and I did not feel any different. What I did learn is that sugar is in SO MANY products. Intellectually I knew how sugar is used in food production (I’ve been in the food business since my days at the University of Illinois). Emotionally, I had no idea. Take some time next time at your grocery store and look around at all the labels. It was fun and it opened my eyes.

I made it to 21 days. I am back on my regular eating/drinking habits. In other words, there is some sugar in it. Not too much, not too little. I could say the exact same thing for fats, grains and protein. I still don’t think I get enough fresh leafy greens, but I do try.

My take on sugar, I will consume in moderation just like everything else.

-Charley

Sugar, part one

Mon, 21 Mar 2011 14:34 -0600

For the last 3 years I have been a part of the MADE Drinks Company and spreading the word about MADE. Part of this work includes getting to know hundreds of people through various outlets – sales calls, tastings, demos, community events, sales calls, trade shows – you name it we’ve been there getting MADE into thirsty mouths. In these instances I have heard a lot of feedback on MADE. Every aspect.

“Oooo, I like the color!” “Oh, I hate it.” “It tastes great!” “Green tea? Eww.” “So refreshing.” “Why’d ya blend tea & fruit juice?” “Delicious.”

and the one that got to me a little over time “Why does it have sugar?”

That inquiry about sugar, though certainly not heard every time someone gave MADE a sip, got my brain going. My answer to the question was the truth. We added sugar because we tried it without and it tasted downright awful. Barely drinkable. Too tart. Like a fruit pie without sugar, if you can imagine such an atrocity. Regardless, I couldn’t help but consider the implications of sugar. Or at least contemplate what they might be. I am constantly trying to eat as well as I can while also feeding my family in the same manner. Sure, we watch sugar intake but tend to lean towards the “all things in moderation” rule of thumb.

I decided to do something drastic. I decided to eliminate added sugar from my diet. I felt like immersing myself in the issue would be the best way for me to learn more. For me, this was really drastic. As someone who grew up with a Sugar Daddy hanging out of my mouth, deciding to eliminate added sugar from my diet felt scary. But I felt compelled to try it. For at least 21 days. No added sugar. Not one iota.

It’s over now, and I learned a lot. I’ll add more thoughts over the next several days, I can’t wait to share some of the funny moments and sincere takeaways. Allison

Winnetka Current talks MADE

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 09:13 -0600

Winnetka man has it 'Made'

Resident's organic drink takes off

by Alan P. Henry

February 15, 2011 | 02:14 AM

Nestle USA executive Charley Snell was facing the same dilemma many successful North Shore executives are confronted with mid-career: play it safe and keep climbing the corporate ladder, or break away and follow the dream.

"The company wanted to send me to Switzerland," Snell said. "I recognized that if I was ever going to go for it, it had to be now. And I knew that if I didn't, it would be a decision I would have regretted for the rest of my life."

Snell went for it. Today, two-plus years later, the 39-year-old Winnetka resident's certified organic, all-natural line of beverages that combine green tea and fruit juices are sold under the Made label in 30 states and more than 1,000 outlets. In Winnetka, those include The Grand Food Center, Lakeside Foods, Conny's Pharmacy, D's Haute Dogs and TL Fritts. Treasure Island in Wilmette also carries the brand.

Snell said the creative process began on a walk up and down Elm Street, "where I do my best thinking." That's when he decided he wanted to create a new food product. Then came the revelation while standing in the shower, another breeding ground of genius: mix organic juices and green teas. Next there was the week holed up alone in the family's oceanfront cottage in North Carolina, writing a business plan. Later, the day-long jam session at a friend's kitchen in California, cranking out 29 prototype blends of organic fruits, tea, honeys and other ingredients, and whittling them down to eight.

"At Nestle this would have taken six months. We did it in a day," Snell said.

Eighteen months of operational startup time later, in January 2010, Tenaya LLC, the parent company Snell created, launched Made. First-year sales for the five distinctive drinks hit $500,000. Snell hopes to break even in April, and the goal is $2 million in sales this year. Flavors include blackberry peach, blueberry lemonade, pomegranate lemonade, raspberry peach and strawberry lemonade.

Snell is proud to be an entrepreneur, but said there is a lot more to the drink, and to him, than that.

It starts with his family: wife, Evelina; and three children, Michael, 13, Mark, 11, and Matthew, 9. Charley and Evelina went on their first date on Nov. 10, 1986, when they were classmates at Niles West High School. They got married 12 years later and ended up in southern California for Snell's job.

"We had three children and my wife said she wanted to raise our family back in the Midwest," he said of the move back.

Quickly, they settled on Winnetka, for the beach and New Trier.

"When you move outside this area, it is amazing how many people have heard of New Trier," Snell said. "I wanted my kids to go there."

In the meantime, the children are at Saints Faith Hope Charity School, "which we all love," and Evelina is on the school board there. Snell has also become involved in the community, as a member of the Winnetka Caucus Council and an assistant scoutmaster of Boy Scout Troop 20.

"It's all about family. They come first," Snell said.

He is also passionate about the product he sells, which contains 11-16 percent fruit juice.

"It is my belief that organic is better for you as a person and also better for the earth. That is not a line. That is how I feel," Snell said. "Our dream is to bring more organics to more people."

Tenaya LLC also strives for environmentally friendly production and packaging. The product itself is made shelf-stable with no need for preservatives or refrigeration, which reduces the environmental impact of shipping and storage. All bottles are free of BPA and are classified as #1 PETE, the most widely accepted for recycling. Partner Denny Cohlmia mixes and bottles the product in Kansas, while marketer Alison Cash creates buzz using Facebook and Twitter.

To find out more about Tenaya LLC and Made, visit www.madedrinks.com.

Being a Consultant (part time)

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 17:14 -0600

A big part of the entrepreneur journey is figuring out how to make ends meet. By "ends", I mean the normal "ends" - the "ends" like paying the bills. One of the ways that I do this is part time consulting. I leverage some of my past experiences from working at a big company as well as my education to help others out in their businesses. I recently did an engagement like this and realized that I am becoming a much better entrepreneur than strategy guy.

I have two great friends who are strategy guys. One is in a big company and runs a huge and evolving department. He is a super smart guy and knows his business how his customers interact with his products and brands intimately. The other friend is a managing partner at one of the huge management consulting firms. These guys went to schools like Michigan and Stanford. Now I find that they use really big words to describe events. What is amusing is that if I dig deep into the recesses of my grey matter, I recall what they are actually saying. This is really good because clients expect you to use big words. Whenever I get ready to do a consulting engagement, I read up on my Michael Porter, review some McKinsey or Bain documents and WHAM - I fall right back into the lingo. A quick call to these two buddies helps too. I just need to hear how they say "hello" to get me back in the groove.

I scare myself when I do this.

You see, most of my day is now spent on perfecting a few things: the sales pitch, quickly adding and dividing to get to gross profit margin, countless decisions on a daily basis that basically only effect one thing: the cash flow of our little company. So when I start using words that have more than 5 or 6 letters, I am now starting to get out of my day to day element. (Please note that their are only two very important words in entrepreneurship: : s-a-l-e-s & p-r-o-f-i-t).

So yesterday I was making ends meet, today I am back being an entrepreneur. That means I am back in my element. Perseverance in the drink business to bring the best damn drink to all of you. And that is f-u-n. And that is the best word to describe being an entrepreneur, at least for me.

Charley

Snell's Shower Moment

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 19:02 -0600

Great article about the birth & life to date of our little drink, MADE!

Winnetka's 'Made' man: Snell's "shower moment" leads to fast-growing organic drink (http://www.pioneerlocal.com/winnetka/news/3036556,winnetka-made-012711-s1.article) January 24, 2011 By MICHAEL SEAN COMERFORD For Pioneer Press Charley Snell says he was naked when a life changing idea came to him.

"I had a shower moment, the light bulb went on," said Snell, who was literally in the shower at the time. "Mix fruit juice with green tea and make it organic."

Days before, at 38 years old, he decided to leave his job as a top California-based Nestle's executive to become his own man. But he didn't have an entrepreneurial idea yet. He wanted to take some time off to think about it.

Until he took that fateful shower.

The idea blended his personal concerns about the environment and personal health, with tastes he could sell. Such was the genesis of "Made," a line of organic fruit juices and green tea blends packaged in an environmentally friendly, recyclable bottle.

Officially one year old this month, his company is already in 30 states, with the core markets being Chicago and Los Angeles.

First year sales were in the range of $500,000, he said, but he expects to quadruple sales this year alone. His growth expectations are such that he one-day foresees being able to attract talent away from neighboring Northfield-based Kraft Foods Inc. or Downers Grove-based Sara Lee Corp.

"I truly believe that organic is better for you and for the earth," Snell said. "But the most important thing about this drink is it tastes great and happens to be organic."

Snell took a leap of faith when he and his wife Evelina, sweethearts since his days as a football star at Niles West High School, packed up their family and moved back to the Midwest.

He once oversaw a $600 million operations for one of the world's top drink makers, now he's taking on a $4 billion a year fruit drink market, as estimated by MarketResearch.com, which follows the industry.

Snell says he and about five others were the only taste testers for the flavor choices. Because it would taste freshly made, he later decided to call his organic fruit juices and green tea selection "Made."

Partner Denny Cohlmia mixes and bottles Made in Kansas. Broadview-based Central Beverage is a Chicago area distributor. Marketer Alison Cash is in charge of creating a buzz for the product through social networking -- Facebook and Twitter -- events, festivals, sampling and "good old word of mouth," according to the company.

Made has yet to break into the big chains, but it can be found in downtown Chicago Walgreen's, 7-Elevens and sundry shops. Independent grocers have been receptive, including Garden Fresh Markets, Joe Caputo and Sons Fruit Markets, Lakeside Foods, Sunset Foods, Treasure Island Foods and others.

Snell is starting with markets he knows.

"He's got a great following in Winnetka with our customers," said Kevin Salus, owner of Grand Food Center, in Winnetka, which carries several 'green' products. "He's our customer, our neighbor and our vendor."

These days Snell walks to his basement office at the Winnetka Galleria. The parent company he set up, Tenaya LLC, is named after a canyon in Yosemite National Park.

He's not all green but tries to shop green. He walks, bikes or trains most places around Chicago. His hobbies are fly fishing, hiking and photography. Driveway snow is shoveled and there's a push mower for the lawn, -- 'green' energy supplied by their three sons.

However, Made isn't just about its 'green' theme.

"We market on taste," he said.

Charley makes the Daily Trojan

Tue, 02 Nov 2010 14:59 -0600

Charley's Story

Dinner with Friends

Thu, 07 Oct 2010 09:20 -0600

On October 4, we had the privilege of attending Dinner with Friends at the home of Abby Wolf-Weiss & Daniel Weiss in beautiful Hancock Park, Los Angeles. Dinner with Friends is a fundraiser for the Alliance for Children's Rights and NextStep for Transitioning Youth in Foster Care. The Allliance provides free legal services and advocacy to protect the rights of impoverished and abused children and youth so that they have safe homes, health care and the equitable education they need to thrive. The NextStep Program provides education, resources and mentoring to the nearly 1500 youth that "age out" of the foster care system every year in Los Angeles.

Our role was simple, provide MADE to the guests at the event. In fact, it was a true honor to attend this event. We heard the real life stories of young adults who have had their lives transformed through their working with the Alliance and NextStep. Willie Garson, of Sex in the City & White Collar, was a tremendous Master of Ceremonies. To Everyone at the Alliance and NextStep, thank you for your dedication, mentoring and love to the children of Los Angeles.

Thanks for having us over

Tue, 05 Oct 2010 08:32 -0600

Nice invite from Heather @ Insights & Ingenuity to contribute a post on how our little company is surviving in the massive beverage marketplace. We accepted the invitation and here is the result: http://insightsandingenuity.com/small-business-ingenuity/

MADE is a drink. That really is it.

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 10:44 -0600

If I had a dollar for every time someone asks me if I am related to Johnny Cash, I would truly be rich (no relation, darn it). I'm Allison Cash. That really is it. No famous relatives. Just me. I started hearing that question as soon as I got married, over 12 years ago now. But two years ago, I started thinking about this frequent question differently.

Now that question always makes me think of MADE. And I smile.

MADE is a drink. An organic drink. The best refreshment I know. MADE doesn't have any famous relatives, or mother ship. Just a crisp blend of organic ingredients - green tea, fruit juice and cane sugar - that is delicious. That is it!

Charley, MADE's founder, created our drinks in an honest-to-god kitchen, using a short list of invigorating, organic ingredients. Then he decided it was tasty enough to share. So we are sharing it now.

I feel like our world is burdened with symbols, claims & stamps. I can't deal with any more "stuff." Sometimes I just want a great tasting drink. It can be confusing to sort through what is good, bad & ugly. I just get overwhelmed with all the directions - eat this, not that - and just want refreshment. That is MADE. A drink. An organic drink.

I think MADE is bottled goodness and I hope you do too.

-Allison Cash (no relation to Johnny)

Cooking sounds so easy, why is it so hard?

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 16:52 -0600

The last Food Rule that I have been observing from Michael Pollan's recent book is #63, Cook. At first glance this rule sounds simple. Cooking your own food tends to make it more healthy than consuming dishes prepared by a restaurant. I can buy that tidbit of trivia yet it becomes irrelevant because cooking is the problem. Health benefits aside, cooking doesn't come easy. Let me rephrase that - it isn't the cooking that is difficult it is finding the time to cook.

I guess I have officially joined the ranks of most middle aged Americans. Maybe I was in denial for a period of time. Maybe it is the fact that the kids are now 5 and 10. Maybe I was trying to will my way through the anguish of fitting it all in. I am a working mother of two with a jam-packed, never ceasing crazy family schedule. I know literally millions of moms can relate. It is important to note that I don't mind to cook when I can find the time.

I am certain I am not alone. I don't have enough fingers and toes to count the number of friends and family members who are in the same boat. I think almost every parent is in the same boat. And it certainly feels like it is sinking sometimes. My husband and I want to continue to educate our kids on their diet and the importance of food choices yet are challenged to do this daily. I can see clearly why convenient, heavily processed foods are so much a part of the American way.

Here is the brain teaser. How do you cook dinner when you get home from work at 5:30 and soccer practice starts (20 miles away) at 5:30? Do you begin to prepare dinner at 7:30 when you are home from practice? (and the other parent is with the other child at t-ball until 7:30) And by the way, you want to get the kids in bed at a decent time so they will be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for school the next day.

Do you succumb to the urge to just grab something? The answer for us is serial simplicity. You might call it boring. We almost always pass up the grab and go option. It is difficult but a flashback to Food, Inc. usually works to get me through the moment. The serial simplicity is a succession of standard meals that are truly easy to prepare and somewhat well rounded.

Last week, I called on one of our basic favorites, Fettucine Alfredo.

Fettucine Alfredo gets a bad rap because it is rich. But I think everything in moderation is the key. We do not eat cream sauces every night. Maybe 1-2 times a month. To make it a more than just cream, butter and parmesan I added some squash and spinach. So, so easy. So, so good. A nice way to get a serving or two of veggies in as well. This is a dish I will do at 7:30 because it only takes 20 minutes. That is less time than to drive to a restaurant and pick something up. Maybe a tad bit more effort but I certainly feel better about what my family is eating.

Cooking. I try, that is we try to cook more often than not. It is not easy, but it is the better way. I have often read about households that can plan meals a week at a time and even prepare meals ahead and freeze them. I may tackle that strategy this summer and see if it works for us. In the meantime, it is serial simplicity for us.

-Allison