Shroom Bar - The Bar Built for Fighters and Focus

Ramon Vela (00:02.338)
Welcome back everyone. I have an amazing show today. I have with me Tommy Walsh who is the founder and owner of Shroom Bar. Welcome to the show.

Tommy Walsh (00:28.341)
Hey Ramon, how are you doing?

Ramon Vela (00:29.966)
I'm doing fantastic. So thank you so much. I know we've had a lot of some changes in our, when we meet and I just want to thank you for your flexibility. I truly appreciate that. I know you're busy. You're building a brand, you're making your products. So thank you so much for that. And thank you for making time for us today. I think our audience is going to really love learning about your product. So thanks again. Yeah.

Tommy Walsh (00:36.095)
Of course.

Tommy Walsh (00:48.097)
Yeah, thanks for having me on. It's awesome.

Ramon Vela (00:52.974)
Well, okay, so I like to, there's so many questions I have about your product because I think it's, you know, not only is it trending type of product and an ingredient that a lot of people are really interested in. As a matter of fact, I just saw a news item that I'll tell you about in a second, but I like to start off our interviews with a question of gratitude. And for those who are listening, gratitude is a great way to relieve stress and anxiety. People are stressed out right now, the stock market's going crazy and all of that.

So, you know, gratitude is a great way to put things in context, reduce stress and anxiety. I use it. I've been an entrepreneur most of my life. I had some really, really terrible times where I had to close a business. had to shut it down. It hit me financially, emotionally, physically, all of the above. And gratitude is one of those things that actually helped me kind of pull myself out of a very dark place at that time. So I highly recommend it, but

I also want you the listener to know that there's real people behind these brands that we feature on this show. It's so easy to see a product on the shelf or online and just think like, it's just some other product. But let me assure you that there are real people who care deeply about the product, the product quality, the ingredients, all of the above, and who really just work really, really hard. And I want you to know some of those people and hence the show. but one way of getting to know someone.

is by knowing what they're grateful for. So Tommy, if you don't mind, can you share a moment or a memory when someone did something for you that just made you feel grateful because it meant that they believed in you, your vision or your potential?

Tommy Walsh (02:33.031)
Yeah. So for me, it's not as much one moment. I know I've hear about all kinds of founders, owners where when they're first starting, have all their friends and family doubting them. No one believes in and puts trust in anything like that. But luckily I haven't ran into that. All my friends, all of my family, everyone I know, they have tons of belief in me. They've all been very supportive. They've been, everyone around me very much believes in me, believes in the product. So

I'm just very grateful that I haven't gone through what it sounds like a lot of people go through where everyone around them is doubting saying you can't do this, that's stupid, go get a normal job, any of that. I've been lucky to have everyone around me to this point has been very supportive and very helpful and nice about the whole process. So that's what I'd say is the most grateful for rather than one singular moment.

Ramon Vela (03:27.694)
And that's actually critical what you just said because this journey of entrepreneurship is so difficult. I mean, I don't want to sugarcoat it. mean, it has its moments where it's fantastic and it's great. But there are moments where, know, challenges on the manufacturing or the packaging or, you all sorts of different things. it could be very difficult. You can have doubts at times. It's a harsh life to live.

Tommy Walsh (03:38.625)
You

Yeah.

Tommy Walsh (03:57.409)
Yeah.

Ramon Vela (03:57.946)
but it's also great and that's why we do it. it's kind of like that dual thing there, but, but it's really, really important to have like a support network. So I know people don't always talk about that in entrepreneurship, but the, the, the more people you have in your corner, the better it is because those people at different times will give you, you know, the encouragement though, you know,

Tommy Walsh (04:01.291)
Yeah

Tommy Walsh (04:08.52)
Absolutely.

Ramon Vela (04:21.814)
what I refer to as a transfer of beliefs. Sometimes if you're feeling down, they'll tell you like, hey, you you've done a great job. You've gotten this far. You can keep going, whatever it is. But sometimes just those small little moments are just really, really helpful. And like you said, just knowing that all these people are behind you gives you kind of like a confidence and a little energy boost. And it also makes you work harder because you think, wow, people believe in me and I really want to, I really want to make, show them that I can make this work. So.

Tommy Walsh (04:44.117)
Yeah.

Ramon Vela (04:50.018)
Thank you for sharing that. And like I said, it's crucial what you just said. Everyone should really think about that, building a network of people around you, whether it's family, friends, whatever, to do that. And of course, your partners or spouses and things like that. So thank you for sharing that. So I just read recently about the study about mushrooms. I don't know if you saw it. I saw it on one of the popular websites about how mushrooms help you calm, stay calm.

Tommy Walsh (04:51.413)
Yeah, of course.

Ramon Vela (05:18.126)
and it had other functional benefits. What I really love about some of those studies is that it's not always just about one study because science is really never 100 % sure on anything, but I always look at it and think, if there's a plethora of growing evidence that something works really well or something does something, I think that's an indicator that there's something there, right?

Tommy Walsh (05:43.989)
Yeah.

Ramon Vela (05:44.416)
You know, and I know that if you start trying it, like I've, I've tried, products with mushroom in it to help me sleep. I've had products with, mushroom that helped me, with energy and focus and things like that. And I could already tell from my experience that a lot of these things work. and I think that's what the, that's what the, the push has been in terms of the trend that's happening, that people are discovering this amazing ingredient. and then founders like you or.

formulating them into all sorts of different things. And in your case, you've had this shroom bar. So I'm curious, know, what was it about creating this product, this brand? What was it that motivated you to actually start? Was it the science? Was it a personal experience? Was it you seeing an opportunity in the market?

Tommy Walsh (06:35.945)
Yeah, I definitely say more of a personal experience. So like two years ago, two and a half years ago, I was very obsessed with mushroom powder. would take just mushroom powder, mix it into my drink every morning, every day before work, every day before going out. And I, I don't really know why, but I just started convincing all of my friends, everyone. At that point, I was living with like 10 guys doing a little sales team.

And I just started convincing everyone to take it. Everyone started loving it. And for some reason, it was very fun for me convincing everyone around me to start taking it and get all the benefits as well. And then at the same time, I was also taking protein bars like every single day. So I was taking like G2G bars, Clif bars. Every single day before work, I'd stop at a gas station and get a protein bar. And I hated having to mix in the powder into the coffee, into the drinks every single day. And so...

I of started thinking of the idea of Shroom Bar. Like, hey, it'd be cool to get in a protein bar. But I've kind of my whole life, I've always had a bunch of dumb ideas that'll pass through my head and then just never do anything about it. And I kind of thought it was just one of those things. And then I was hiking up in the mountains of Slovenia with my family on a little family trip. And I kind of just decided, I'm like, all right, screw it. I'm just going to go all in and do it. And then I got back from that trip, got back from Europe and

I had saved up a decent amount of money from my previous job and basically decided to go all in on it. And that was about two years ago that I decided to go all in on it.

Ramon Vela (08:07.49)
Mm-hmm.

Ramon Vela (08:16.814)
So two years ago was, so in 2023?

Tommy Walsh (08:22.049)
2023, yes, I believe it was, yeah, was like October of 2023 is when that Europe trip was. So a little bit over two years, I guess is what that is. I think that sounds right.

Ramon Vela (08:39.442)
And so I'm always fascinated and we don't have to dive in too much about this, but I'm always fascinated because there's people listening to the show who love to listen to the show because they aspire to be entrepreneurs or they're, you know, they love to hear these founders and these entrepreneurial stories. And I always, to me, like, I always like to understand that moment, that motivation.

that gets someone who has an idea because like you said, you've had ideas and almost everybody has some idea where they look at a product and they think, this could be better or this could be, someone should make a product like this or that. And they think about it and sometimes they think about it a lot, but they never, you know, are moved to actually create it. What do you think moved you? I'm fascinated by this because I always think that, and this might sound controversial, but.

Tommy Walsh (09:26.241)
Mm-hmm.

Ramon Vela (09:37.836)
And it is not a bad thing. I always think that founders and entrepreneurs, people who build things from nothing, have a little bit of a chip on their shoulder. It's either because, you know, because someone said they can't do it or someone, you know, doubted them, or maybe they're just like testing themselves. Like, Hey, I can do this, you know, and I'm going to, I'm going to, you know, I'm going to try this and so forth.

Tommy Walsh (09:50.485)
Yeah.

Ramon Vela (10:06.178)
What was your motivating factor?

Tommy Walsh (10:08.681)
Yeah, so I think combination of those things you said, but I was working at the time at this, it was another startup company with two of the guys that run it. They're still some of my best friends. And I was at that time, I was running a sales team and they were kind of wanting me to bring me to the next level. So they offered me some equity in the company. They kind of wanted me to be partners with them. And I think it was a combination of, saw those guys, saw how well they were doing. I didn't want to just be.

running it as a manager. I basically with that path, I would have been essentially a sales manager for another three years. The opportunity was insanely good. I would have made a lot of money. Most people would probably say it's pretty stupid to say no to. It would have made me a lot more money than what I'm currently making. But yeah, I think it was just a combination of I didn't feel like I was living up to my true potential. I always had all kinds of creative ideas, always knew things that I wanted to try, but I just didn't have really the company to do it. And I felt like

all of my time was kind of going into just sales, selling the product, which I love. I loved that company. But I think it's kind of like what you said. I just wasn't reaching my true potential. I felt like if I just did that, I'd probably make a lot of money, live a very successful life, but I'd always kind of just be thinking like, what if? What if I just went and did my own thing? And for me, it's not about money or anything. It's honestly just about having creative ideas and being able to go and do it. So that's the way I view it is just...

Outlet for creativity and I felt like before I didn't really have that outlet. It wasn't pushing me quite hard enough so I just wanted something to go all in up put my full creativity on it and See if I could go all in and see what would happen Because I think like with even just like in high school some of the sports that sort of thing afterward I'm like man, like if I really went all in on it Maybe I could have done better. And so I want an opportunity to actually go all in on something

Ramon Vela (11:51.362)
Mm-hmm.

Tommy Walsh (12:04.117)
That way I don't ever have any regrets like what if I tried harder? What if I did this? What if I did that? So, an outlet for creativity and outlet to go all in on it I'd say.

Ramon Vela (12:11.618)
Yeah. And, and I love that. And that's a calculation that I've used in the past too, where you think, you know, do you want to live in regret? Do you want to, you know, there's an old, a book by I think Dostoevsky or something like that, where the character says something like, you know, I, I don't want to die with my music still in me. You know, it's like, you don't want to live in regret. You don't want to, you, and I kind of feel like it's better to try and to never try, even if you fail, even if it doesn't work out.

Tommy Walsh (12:32.48)
Yeah.

Ramon Vela (12:40.974)
I always feel like it's just better to try than to not try. even if things, and in that calculation, I always think sort of like, I refer to it as negative planning, but I always think that my calculation is what's the worst that can happen, right? I actually interviewed Ryan Bartlett from the True Classics.

And he said the same thing. He was like, you know, so what's the worst that can happen? So you lose some money, but if you're, you if you're young, you lose some money, you know, things don't work out, you know, you have time to build, rebuild. have time to do, you to do, you a new career. You have time to do all the sorts of things. Um, and so like, if you think about what's the worst that can happen, and then you think, can I survive the worst that can happen? Yeah, I can, I can probably survive this then.

Tommy Walsh (13:20.959)
Exactly.

Ramon Vela (13:35.878)
your risk calculation then goes for, you know, then it's not so bad. I can give it a try. So that's kind of sounds like, you kind of had that a little bit as well. So let's talk a little bit about the starting point. So many people have ideas about, you know, like we talked about, have ideas about a product. What were the first things that you did? Like, it doesn't sound like you had a background in creating products.

Tommy Walsh (13:41.193)
Exactly.

Ramon Vela (14:03.308)
Did you start Googling? Did you reach out to people? What was the first things that you did as you laid out your plan to create Shumbar?

Tommy Walsh (14:12.641)
Yeah, mean, kind of the way my brain works, think, is like, it's the concept of all in does a lot for me. So like, if I'm thinking like, oh, I just need to do this thing, whatever, whatever, then it just never happens. So I kind of just sat down. I'm like, all right, it's time to go all in. me just put, let me just start working all day, every day and see what happens. So I didn't know, I thought of, okay, I need to figure out the formulation. I don't know how to make a protein bar. I'm not a cook. I don't know how to make it taste good. I don't know anything about manufacturing.

So kind of my original plan was to get a recipe and then just start making it in my own kitchen and then scale up to the point where it makes sense to get a manufacturer. And so I started off, I did a bunch of research, just trying to find a chef, talk to some local chefs, talk to some chefs online. And I finally found this lady who lives in Lebanon actually, who is a really nice lady, super helpful. She made a few batches in Lebanon, sent them to me with all the ingredients I wanted. the...

the mushrooms that I really wanted in the bar. And that tasted really good. And then I went through a few batches of making in my own kitchen, which is a complete disaster. I don't even know how to bake or anything. was terrible at it. So I think I made like five or six batches in my own kitchen, got it to actually taste good. But pretty quickly I learned that it should have been obvious, but I didn't know anything that without, just the ingredients that you put into your home kitchen, the shelf life is like a week.

or less after a week it starts tasting terrible, which obviously is very not scalable. And it would take me all day making the bars, that sort of thing. So then I contracted with this manufacturer out of California and they're kind of a manufacturer and an innovation house. So I paid them a bunch of money to convert the recipe that I had into being compatible with a large scale machinery, because it's slightly different process obviously than making it in your own kitchen.

Ramon Vela (15:44.002)
Mm-hmm.

Ramon Vela (16:02.786)
Mm-hmm.

Tommy Walsh (16:07.841)
So I paid them a bunch of money. came up with, one day I was just driving, I kind of came up with the logo, which you can see on my hat is gorilla meditating while holding a protein bar. Came up with that, paid a graphic designer to make the logo, paid a graphic designer to make the actual packaging, make it look good as a protein bar. And then as always, everything took way longer than it was expected. I was originally planning on having,

the first 10,000 bars ready last June. So almost a year ago now. And then as always, way more testing, you another five grand here for efficiency testing, another five grand here to legally state the protein. So it's basically, I think around six to seven months of going back and forth, going through rounds of prototypes with the manufacturer, going through all the different legal testing and stuff you can do to, cause you need all kinds of different legal certifications in order to.

make a protein claim, make all those different package claims. And then I finally got put in the order for the first 10,000 bars. Originally, again, I thought that was going to take like three months, ended up taking six months. And then finally those 10,000 bars got ready. And then it's been basically just exponential growth ever since it started.

Ramon Vela (17:19.307)
Wow.

Ramon Vela (17:29.262)
And during that time, you know, while you're waiting and you're going back and forth, what kind of marketing sales things that you do, because that sounds like that's kind of your, like your background. I once interviewed a woman's, don't know what you call it, but you know, they, sell women's bras and underwear and things like that. And they, they took about a year or a year and a half, you know, with the research and then, and then design and then the manufacturing and stuff like that. And one of the things she said to me that, uh,

I always remember she says when they were finally ready to like launch, they didn't have any emails or they didn't have any, know, like they didn't build an email list or anything like that. And so she said that was the one thing they wish they would have done in the past, which is even if it was just to create like a simple landing page about what the product is and then start gathering people's emails and things like that. So that when you launch, you have at least something like some database to go after.

Did you do anything like that? you think about like how are you going to go to market? Did you start researching retailers or you know how you're going to sell it, whether it was going to be DTC? Were you working on that strategy as well while you were waiting?

Tommy Walsh (18:45.095)
Yeah. So, it's, and it kind of bringing up what we talking about before. It's kind of like the whole, all right, I'm going all in on this. And then you're, really excited, new product, new company, everything. then without, without the business actually having started yet, it's kind of all about keeping the momentum through seven, eight months where it's kind of waiting. And so I tried to do as much as I can. I created a website, made eligible for pre-orders.

And then I mainly just started sharing, just trying to share the message as much as I could over the internet. So I created a YouTube channel, just kind of started making a bunch of YouTube videos about the process, about what I was up to that point, talking about the benefits of the bar, that sort of thing. I think I made like around 10 to 15 videos. I learned how to like edit videos, learned how to do all that sort of stuff. And then I made a few Reddit posts.

And I basically was just trying to get as many pre-orders as possible. That way could get more money, obviously more revenue that I could spend once the bars were actually here. And then, like you said, start collecting all the email addresses, start collecting all that sort of stuff. it was a combination of it was all just organic posting. I had like a Reddit post actually did really well. It got like 300,000 views or something like that. Got a bunch of people to pre-order there.

Ramon Vela (20:00.035)
you

Tommy Walsh (20:03.553)
actually got a lot of people reaching out to help there, like some website designers, stuff like that. A few people made videos on like advice for the website. And then just through the YouTube organic growth, got a bunch of pre-orders there, collected a bunch of email addresses. So that way, once it actually was ready to start, I kind of already had the foundation of the email addresses. I already had a bunch of pre-orders that way right when I contracted with the 3PL, I was able to initially send out.

I think it was about a thousand bars that I sold during pre-sale. And yeah, so those are the things that I did before it actually started.

Ramon Vela (20:42.316)
Yeah, and I think those are all smart things to do because you obviously when you launch you want to keep that momentum going and have something there. Do you sell your products through retail as well or is it just direct to the consumer?

Tommy Walsh (20:59.167)
Yeah, so right now it's mainly D2C, it's Ecom. We're in a few, so we kind of, we're mainly focusing right now on the MMA niche actually, the fighting niche, which we can go into in a second. But then we also are, yeah. Are you familiar with Mr. Checkout by any chance?

Ramon Vela (21:16.334)
No, I'm familiar with MMA but not with that particular person.

Tommy Walsh (21:20.993)
Okay. So it's, it's, it's actually a company called Mr. Checkout and, uh, and they're really great for getting into retail. they're, kind of a, a product broker. So basically what they do is they already have a huge list of contacts. They're already have great relationships with a bunch of wholesalers, a bunch of distributors. And so what they're doing for us is they're contacting 4,000, 4,000 independent grocers.

Ramon Vela (21:23.618)
No, okay.

Tommy Walsh (21:48.565)
to try to get the bar in as many of those they can. And then basically they get it with me and then I tell them about the product, get the bar in their stores. And then if that works and they upgrade it to the bigger wholesales, bigger distributors, that sort of thing, as long as it works. And then as of right now, we're in just a bunch of random, like fighting gyms, a bunch of different climbing gyms, a few independent gas station chains. But the majority of our revenue is definitely e-com right now. But in the future, it'll be...

Ramon Vela (22:02.786)
Mm-hmm.

Tommy Walsh (22:17.909)
hopefully a pretty even split where we'll have distributors all over the place. It'll be in a bunch of independent grocery trains. Obviously, eventually we want to get into the big chains, the Costco's, the Walmarts, all that sort of stuff, which I think there's a pretty clear path. then it'll be, e-comm will kind of just be supplementary and just for getting the brand image out as in marketing as well.

Ramon Vela (22:19.618)
Mm-hmm.

Ramon Vela (22:30.594)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Ramon Vela (22:40.428)
Yeah. Well, you know, there's all sorts of different strategies. You know, for instance, we did an interview with Chomps, my cohost did it and it's really, really good if you haven't listened to it. They talk about how they were mostly DTC, you know, the Chomps, the meat sticks. They were mostly DTC for I think like four or five years or something, somewhere around there. And then they went into retail, they went into Trader Joe's.

Tommy Walsh (23:00.875)
Mm-hmm.

Ramon Vela (23:08.428)
Yeah. And then they stood there for a couple of years until they kind of got a feel for the whole retail wholesale aspect of it. And then they started launching in other places and now you can find them pretty much everywhere and they've been selling like crazy. I think when we did the interview, he mentioned that they were one of those data services that they were like the fastest growing snack company in the country and whatnot. And I believe it. see that I see them everywhere now. Like, you know, Trader Joe's, see them in 7-Elevens and all sorts of other places.

Tommy Walsh (23:28.737)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, they're huge.

Tommy Walsh (23:36.353)
Walmart too, they're over Walmart now too. Yeah, they're huge.

Ramon Vela (23:38.114)
Yeah. And so they had their strategy. And then there's a guy that I had on the show who I follow on LinkedIn. And what you're doing kind of sounds like also what he's doing. He doesn't do the mushrooms and the protein bars, but he does do some other types of bars. And he did something I thought was really interesting. He created his own manufacturing. And...

was able to control costs that way. And then it's mostly direct to consumer for him, but he sells directly to these stores, like these individual stores, health food stores or places like that. And he likes it because he's able to maintain quality, but he's also able to maintain profitability.

Tommy Walsh (24:31.222)
Mm-hmm.

Ramon Vela (24:31.874)
He's not growing as fast as some other brands, but at the same time he's profitable and he's, you know, it's, it's a, it's a good business. what I, what we talked about earlier when we were, asked you about tariffs. I thought that was really interesting in terms of, manufacturing here, here in. In the United States, given what's going on. mean, obviously, you know, building your own manufacturing plant is, is a whole other ball game. And there's a lot of, there's a lot of really good stuff, but it's hard. It's like hard upfront.

Tommy Walsh (24:50.293)
Mm-hmm.

Tommy Walsh (24:56.32)
Yeah.

Ramon Vela (25:01.516)
And then you start seeing some benefits like a couple of years down the line. the real serial company, for instance, I interviewed them not that long ago and they did the same thing. They built their own manufacturing plan, but that takes a lot of investment. the, the good choice that I felt like you made was to have it made here in United States, given now the climate with all the tariffs, like today, the stock market's going crazy and people just don't know what's going on. But it feels like that's something you avoided because you you could have had it made in Mexico or some other place.

and having the United States, think it was just, it turns out it's a really good idea.

Tommy Walsh (25:37.789)
Yeah, yeah, a little bit lucky there. Yeah, obviously I didn't know any of the tariff stuff was going to be coming, but definitely glad it's in the States, in the States now that all that's happening.

Ramon Vela (25:46.828)
Yeah. Yeah. well, and then the direct to consumer, think really helps in terms of, maintaining, well, getting the feedback from your consumers, right? In terms of flavors, in terms of, you know, what it's like and whether you should, you know, change the recipes or whatever. It just kind of helps you get that feedback. And it's so helpful before you start launching more deeply into retail.

because obviously, once you go into retail, it's harder to really communicate with that end user customer. But if you have data from direct to consumer, then you can actually use that data to help your retail and wholesale business much stronger. And you can actually go to them, I think that's what like Chomps did, which is they went to the retailer and said, of course, the retailer is gonna help them, but they can help the retailer in understanding

Tommy Walsh (26:23.68)
Yep.

Ramon Vela (26:45.112)
who the kind of customer is, what they're all about, gather all that data and understand what pockets of the United States, whether their product is doing best and all of that. So there's a tremendous advantage for doing the direct to consumer, I think in the beginning and then move into wholesale or retail. So in terms of your target market, you mentioned MMA and by the way, that company, after you mentioned that, I think I do remember someone else mentioning that.

Tommy Walsh (27:01.387)
Yeah.

Ramon Vela (27:13.134)
the same company. I think I have heard of them, but in terms of the demographic, so you're going after, is it like gym people, MMA or what, what does that, what does that demographic look like?

Tommy Walsh (27:27.185)
Yeah, and kind of attached on to what you just said, that's one of the other big reasons our main focus is D to C at first is just because you can actually control the brand image. Obviously, you can control the avatar that you're speaking to. You can select people's perception of your brand. You can kind of control that. Whereas in retail, obviously you can do an extent, but a lot of it is just the packaging. The packaging is pretty much the only, know, it's just random people walking through a grocery store and they see the packaging.

Ramon Vela (27:54.327)
Yeah.

Tommy Walsh (27:54.497)
And unless they know who you are, then that's really all they have to go after. And so with D2C, we wanted to actually control the brand image. And so kind of our thoughts, at first we were doing just general, like making videos, making ads with all the general benefits. But kind of what I realized pretty fast is if it's, okay, so our benefits are, you know, focus, clarity, energy, protein.

Ramon Vela (27:57.827)
Yeah.

Tommy Walsh (28:19.263)
All right, now who's our competition? We have every energy drink company in the world. We have every mushroom coffee. We have all these things. So if that's what our value proposition is, is those benefits, then why would anyone choose us over one of these big companies that have all this marketing, all of that? And so we basically made the decision to go as tight of a niche as possible. And so I'm already very into MMA myself.

been obsessed with UFC for a few years. I trained myself in jiu-jitsu, Muay Thai, all that sort of stuff. So basically we made the decision rather than just having blank send out the benefits into the void. It's very much where we're branding ourselves as kind of the bar built for fighters. And that's because the mushrooms are very, like the benefits of the mushrooms are very applicable to fighting. A lot of fighters in recent years from amateur to pro have already started using different supplements.

Ramon Vela (28:50.126)
Mm-hmm.

Tommy Walsh (29:14.741)
Like Cordyceps is obvious that increases your VO2 max, increases your endurance. And then Lion's Mane actually produces a bunch of nerve growth in your brain. And so obviously fighters want it for the focus, but especially when they're getting nerve damage, when they're getting brain damage from getting hit in the head a lot, it helps prevent any potential loss in memory, that sort of thing. And so, yeah, about a month ago, we made the decision rather than just doing general benefits to basically target that niche first.

And then later we'll be able to expand out further. The analogy I always like to think of is you can either go an inch deep and a mile wide, which just waters everything down, or you can go an inch wide and a mile deep. So that's kind what we're trying to do at first. So we started off, I sourced a bunch of different MMA podcast emails and then downloaded the CSV, put that into an outbound software. And so we started off, got a ton of

Ramon Vela (29:47.042)
Mm-hmm.

Ramon Vela (29:55.554)
Mm-hmm.

Tommy Walsh (30:12.033)
That's what we've noticed with very targeted messaging. The response rates are way better. So we sent that off to a ton of different MMA podcasts. We got a bunch of response rates there. We're advertising on a bunch of different MMA podcasts. And then we started, there's a fighting production company in Pittsburgh called 247 Productions. And we're the main sponsor for them. So our logo is gonna be on the canvas. They're gonna be selling at all their events, that sort of thing. And then we kind of branched out and we started

Ramon Vela (30:16.813)
Mm-hmm.

Tommy Walsh (30:42.025)
hitting up a bunch of the local fighters. Now we're sponsoring a bunch of them. And now we've started getting bigger and bigger names. There's now it's kind of weird how fast it happens, but now there's a bunch of like UFC guys reaching out to us for sponsorships. Now we don't even have to do that much outbound. And so I think it's working pretty good as far as growth being very targeted in the MMA niche. That way we're not, we're kind of one and one in far as we're the only mushroom bar built for fighters rather than.

competing with every other mushroom company in the world or every other energy drink company in the world. So I think it's positioned us very well.

Ramon Vela (31:14.956)
Yeah. Well, I love what you just said. And I'm wondering too, do you have any data on how much of your sales are going to people who are not MMA, like just regular folks? know, because theoretically you can, people who watch MMA podcasts or YouTube channels or whatnot, or even, you know, watching live events and so forth, many times they're not necessarily MMA fighters, but they're...

they aspire to be, right? They want to practice or they love seeing it. And then of course, as they know, and that's the I guess the theory around sponsoring individuals, because if they love that individual, even if they're not necessarily an MMA fighter, they're like, he eats shroom bar? I want to try a shroom bar too. Do you know what I mean? It's like, they want to try the product as well. Even if they're not technically MMA per se, they want to be a part of that.

Tommy Walsh (31:44.991)
Mm-hmm.

Tommy Walsh (32:05.086)
Exactly.

Tommy Walsh (32:11.337)
Right.

Ramon Vela (32:12.684)
And then the other thing that I see so, so much opportunity in what you're doing is, the trend around protein, the trend obviously around mushrooms, those benefits that you mentioned. Yes, they're fantastic for someone who's, who's an MMA fighter or whatnot, or trains that way. But you know, that, that, could be potentially a lot of people. I, just had an interview with a brand called a cure hydration and, she started her brand mostly for.

Tommy Walsh (32:24.139)
Mm-hmm.

Ramon Vela (32:42.144)
endurance athletes. That's who she thought was going to be the core audience, but after several years, it's turning out that it's a much wider audience that really appreciates those things.

Tommy Walsh (32:54.623)
Yeah, yeah, 100 % exactly like what you said. think it's, for me, think it's, I've noticed just from running a business, very much just, a big part of it is just having like a focus. gives direct SOPs as far as like who you're gonna reach out to, but that's really just the platform. So like obviously, know, like Prime Energy or Monster, whatever, they're on the UFC map, but not all of their customers are people that fight themselves, but it's really just.

Ramon Vela (33:10.626)
Mm-hmm.

Tommy Walsh (33:23.295)
the avenue that we focus on and then anyone that's a fan of MMA themselves and people. it's kind of two different things. It's all the amateur jiu-jitsu guys, amateur MMA guys. There's hundreds of thousands of them. But then there's also just people that are fans of the UFC, fans of MMA. So I think it's definitely everything. And I think the real power is just associating with the brand. rather than...

Ramon Vela (33:41.613)
Yeah.

Tommy Walsh (33:49.855)
you who you associate with controls the brand image. So if it's, if people associate Shroom Bar in their mind with a bunch of pro fighters, then that's obviously a very different brand image than if it's just a bunch of random influencers on the internet. So it's also just people's perception of the brand. Like I think Red Bull is obviously more successful than any other company ever of controlling that as far as when people think of Red Bull, they almost think of all the Red Bull athletes and the Red Bull events more so than the energy drink.

Ramon Vela (34:06.274)
Yeah.

Ramon Vela (34:19.928)
Mm-hmm.

Tommy Walsh (34:19.969)
So I think it's kind of a micro version of what they're doing.

Ramon Vela (34:22.924)
Yeah. Well, you know, and you, and this strategy is, has, can be very successful. I had a brand on the show called VMI. they do like protein powders and stuff like that. And, and his whole, his whole, like, he was that person, right? Like, just like you were that person who wants to train. He was that person in the gym every day. And so his first initial sort of like,

Tommy Walsh (34:32.124)
Mm. Uh-huh.

Ramon Vela (34:45.834)
demographic where those gym bros or whatever you call them, like the people in the gym, like those were his people and he knew how to talk to them. He knew how to appeal to them and so forth. So yeah, I think it's a great strategy. And in terms of the branding, I love the gorilla with the meditation. It's like, it's so memorable and it's kind of cool and like I'm into meditation myself. So when I see that I smile, I think it's kind of fun. Yeah. And so let me make sure people know before we continue.

Tommy Walsh (35:10.081)
Thank you.

Ramon Vela (35:15.424)
If you want to take a look at what we've been talking about, so if you want to take a look, you can go to eatshroombar.com. Eatshroombar.com is the website and we're going to give the social media handle a little bit later. if you want to take a look, we're going to talk about the website in a second. yeah, no, I think this is a fantastic strategy and I love your energy and I love what you're doing in terms of the branding. Did you come up with a grill yourself or did some designer?

Tommy Walsh (35:42.081)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, I came up with the idea of everything, and then I just paid graphic designers to actually make it. Because I don't know.

Ramon Vela (35:49.442)
Yeah, no, it's a great idea. I love it. So what have been some of the challenges? So we've talked about what's gone, what's been keeping the momentum going, but what are some of the challenges you face?

Tommy Walsh (36:04.381)
I think the biggest, I think this is probably an issue for every CPG company is it's kind of a race between cashflow and economies of scale, because at the point where we're at, the costs are not anywhere close to sustainable as far as long-term growth. And so it's kind of, it feels kind of like it's a race between reaching the economies of scale where we can have very cheap manufacturing costs, very cheap packaging costs.

very cheap shipping costs. And so it's kind of getting the brand image out first before we're profitable and then the profits will start coming in. So I think it's a cashflow issue as far as, you you have to order all the bars from the, or put in the order for the manufacturer. And then you have the lead time and it's kind of balancing. I'd say that's the biggest problem is all the costs are very high. So the manufacturing costs are very high.

So our profit margins aren't great yet, but once we get the brand image out there and the economies of scale are there, then the profit margins will be very, very good. So I think that's the biggest thing is getting the brand image out there first while we still have the money, while before we run out of money, pretty much.

Ramon Vela (37:06.179)
Hmm.

Ramon Vela (37:19.598)
Yeah. And what do you think are like, what is, what do you think is your moat? Because just from listening to you and seeing what you've done, like on YouTube and then sponsoring MMA and so forth, I kind of feel like you have a prime opportunity to really build a community. I mean, maybe there's one even around organically, but what are you doing to kind of like build that moat? You know, people say a lot of times that if you

you build a community around your product, you more or less kind of create a mode of people who love your product. even if, know, inflation happens or whatever, these people are not going to stop training and they're going to want some product. They're going to want to continue and they love your product. So they're going to want to keep buying it. What are you doing to like build that community?

Tommy Walsh (38:08.865)
100 % yeah, it's really just trying to scale the social media as I very much think of that as an asset every every video you make every everything it's just like putting your money into a Roth IRA it slowly grows exponentially and that you know, obviously it's free and the bigger that your social media following gets it's more people that you can access for free So you don't run into that money problem as much whereas if you know, if you only stuck to paid ads or whatever then it's kind of just a

You're running on a hamster wheel. You're kind of just always razor thin margins. You're barely staying afloat, but we're putting a lot of my focus and a lot of our focus is in building the social presence, building that. We've been focused on Instagram. We've been having pretty fast growth there. We're doing more YouTube. trying to get, we're getting a bunch of these different fighter affiliates. have doing little skits, doing stuff to build the brand image. have.

Kind what we started focusing on the last week is finding guys that are not necessarily like top of the line fighters, but there's a lot of guys that are kind of just like amateur pro level, but they make really funny videos, like funny, relatable jujitsu Muay Thai videos. And so we're getting a lot of those type of guys to make videos for us. And then we're trying to just consistently put out content that way we can grow the asset of social media. Cause like I said, I think that's the biggest thing is once you have that following, once you have that core group of people then.

then you always have that and everything else is just gravy. So yeah, we definitely, we have a good core group of people right now that are big fans of the product and big fans of the social media. And then it's just all about growing that from here.

Ramon Vela (39:38.776)
Yeah.

Ramon Vela (39:50.028)
Yeah, no, I agree with you. It really is an asset. And it's great the way you look at that because I think more and more people obviously look at it that way because of just the growth and what's ongoing. But there hasn't always been that way. But I think that you have to go into a company as a CEO, I think, and as a leader to really look at your social media as an asset versus just like another channel or something like that. You really have to look at it as part of the

Tommy Walsh (40:16.758)
Mm-hmm.

Ramon Vela (40:20.418)
What is it where I'm looking for? Like the Goodwill or, you know, Goodwill is a brand or whatever. That might be credibility. Yeah. So I want to talk about the products, but before I do that, I would like to ask people in this journey that you've had, what are some of the lessons you've learned? I think you've already given some potentially good ones when you talk about the challenges and so forth, but what are some of the, like if someone comes to you, which...

Tommy Walsh (40:24.639)
And credibility, credibility too.

Ramon Vela (40:46.552)
probably is already happening. Someone comes to you whose earlier stages, who has an idea, what are the things that you tell them? mean, what insights or lessons you learn, what, I don't know, maybe pitfalls. By the way, I'm asking this question, I just remember someone, when I asked them this question, they were like.

Yeah, I always tell people like, don't do it. but you know, like the naivete in the beginning, I think it's helpful. Like if you don't know, if you don't know how hard it is, you know, it's not going to stop you. But joking aside, what lessons and insights have you learned that you can share with others?

Tommy Walsh (41:10.593)
You

Tommy Walsh (41:21.985)
You

Tommy Walsh (41:26.079)
Yeah, I think the biggest thing is just, I keep going back to it, but being fully all in, I think is the biggest thing because, and I think you really have to commit to it for a long time, regardless of the results, because a lot of things are like such low percentages that you need to put out so much output to even see if it works. Like a lot of, think founders, including myself, I think everyone's susceptible to shiny object syndrome.

Ramon Vela (41:55.022)
Mm-hmm.

Tommy Walsh (41:55.359)
where you start doing something that's not working the best and then you hear about some other methods, some other thing on a podcast and you immediately jump to that. And I think it's pretty easy to fall into the trap of just jumping to, new methods, some new AI software, new this, new that, but you didn't even give the original thing enough time to work. So I think that's what I've learned is like, you you send out 50 outbound messages and no one responds. Okay, that's just like not even close to a big enough sample size. You need to really...

do something for several weeks to even see if it works, to even get that data where I think it's very easy to do something for a few days, know, focus on one little channel of something for a few days and then it doesn't work. But in reality, you just did not do nearly enough of whatever that thing is. So I think it's choosing your goals, choosing your plans and then sticking to them regardless of whether they work. So like we try to now come up with a plan and give at least

you know, a month and a half of full force effort on that. So that way can get data, see if it's actually something viable rather than trying something for a few days that doesn't work, trying something else for a few days, whatever. think it's very important to really put your full effort into whatever SOP you're actually focusing on on that time to see if it works or whether it doesn't rather than chasing a bunch of different strategies all over the place.

Ramon Vela (43:16.11)
Yeah, I think that's a good suggestion because I know from a marketing standpoint that that could drive people crazy. Because if you're the CEO and founder and every few weeks you have another shiny object that you want to try, it can drive your marketing team or if you outsource or whatever, but it can drive them crazy because they're just constantly changing strategies, changing tactics and things like that.

Tommy Walsh (43:24.661)
Yeah.

Tommy Walsh (43:40.587)
Yep.

Ramon Vela (43:43.33)
But when you were saying that, I was just thinking also like around the podcasting, which is I see podcasts come and go. Like I'm very supportive of people and I will give people who do podcasts my time. Like sometimes I'll meet with them over Zoom or whatever and I'll share whatever I can. And I remember someone asked me like, you know, there's only so many podcasts someone can listen to. So aren't you like giving too much info to competitors?

Tommy Walsh (43:49.375)
Yeah.

Ramon Vela (44:12.776)
And, and I don't look at that way, because I know that podcasting is a long-term thing and it ha and you have to give it time. You have to give it time and you have to be consistent and you just have to keep going at it and going at it and going at it. And if you give up too quickly, which is what most people do, like people start off fantastic. They've got really great graphics. They've got all sorts of stuff and they do it for a while and.

six episodes in, then they're kind of like done. Like you don't see them, you know, putting out content and so forth. And this is our business because you're constantly having to put content out. But it's the same thing with like what you just said. You have to give time to these strategies and these tactics to make them work. And you will start seeing it, unless it's a hundred percent terrible tactic, which, but you'll see, you'll notice, you'll find out too, but.

Tommy Walsh (45:06.176)
Yeah.

Ramon Vela (45:09.986)
You know, you have to give things time to work. mean, even Joe Rogan, for instance, it took him 10 years before he really started becoming, you know, successful and so forth. so it takes time. He was an early adopter and he, he, put in all this time. and I think it was at the 10 year marker somewhere around there where he finally signed that deal with Spotify and whatnot. So it takes time. It takes time to build, build these things. So yeah, I.

Tommy Walsh (45:19.051)
Yeah.

Tommy Walsh (45:30.847)
Mm-hmm.

Tommy Walsh (45:34.621)
Yeah, I think it really seems like everything in life and in business, everything is compounding, everything is exponential. So if you put a thousand hours into one thing, then it's going to have a thousand hours of compounding versus if you put 10 hours into a hundred different things, then you don't even get off that, you know, beginning of that exponential graph. And so I think, yeah, for all those same reasons, it's just very important to choose a few things and then give it time to compound, give it time to get.

to hit that part of the graph where you're in the exponential point. And I think people that start companies, everyone wants it to happen instantly happen. You you want, obviously you want it to be a big, massive company first, but that's just not, not the way it works. You really just got to focus and let the compound effect take in.

Ramon Vela (46:06.594)
Yeah.

Ramon Vela (46:19.372)
Yeah, I don't know if someone told me this or if I read it somewhere, but someone said that when you start a business, you basically have to commit to at least 10 years and commit to really thinking about this business constantly for the next 10 years, like talking about it, thinking about it and so forth. Because if you think things are going to go fast, they don't always like happen in your timeline the way that you want it to. So yeah.

Tommy Walsh (46:39.606)
Yeah.

Tommy Walsh (46:47.786)
Yeah.

Ramon Vela (46:48.11)
I 100 % agree. Let's start talking about the product. Let's go. Everyone out there, you can go to eatshroombar.com, eatshroombar.com, take a look at what we've been talking about. Tommy, why don't you walk us through a little bit about what people are going to find on the website? What different shroom bars you might have or what different things that you want them to know about the website, especially if they're new.

They're listening to this and they think, ooh, that's pretty cool. Protein, mushroom bar. Where do you want them to start? Is there any particular sample, a skew? Is there any particular product that you want them to try first?

Tommy Walsh (47:30.721)
Yeah, so right now we're keeping it pretty simple. We're coming out with a new flavor, most likely in a few weeks. But right now we actually only have one flavor. This is what the box looks like. It's an eight count box of shroom bar. it's peanut butter chocolate flavors, the first flavor, the first skew. And each bar has 12 grams of protein and four different mushrooms in it. So each one is the recommended daily dose for each mushroom.

So I'm kind of addicted to them. eat probably like three or four of these a day, but even if you just eat one a day, then you get the benefits that you need. So it's got Lion's Mane. That's obviously, I'm sure everyone has heard of Lion's Mane at this point. That's kind of gone pretty mainstream, but it increases your focus, increases your memory. Your brain produces something called NGF, or nerve growth factor in your brain. It's one of the few...

non-drug items where it actually crosses the blood brain barrier. So it actually affects your brain. It actually gives you focus, gives you memory. I'd say Lion's Mane, definitely like the first day that you take it, you'll feel a little bit of focus, but to really get the benefits of it, you need to be taking it for three, four weeks to really have, to really actually notice better memory, better that sort of things. And then it's got cordyceps. That's the one that's huge for fighting.

Ramon Vela (48:29.582)
Mm-hmm.

Tommy Walsh (48:54.657)
It allows your body to increase to produce or to intake more oxygen, which gives you a higher VO2 max, which actually increases your endurance. It increases your blood flow. A lot of people call it Himalayan Viagra because it actually increases your libido by quite a bit just because it increases your blood flow. was originally found, I think, in the Tibetan mountains where they basically noticed a bunch of yaks would eat it and then they would get

Ramon Vela (49:10.446)
you

Tommy Walsh (49:24.161)
really horny and start doing their thing. So then they tried the same thing. And then it's got Reishi, which decreases the amount of cortisol in your body. So you feel more calm, less stress. kind of a side benefit to that is cortisol is the main inhibitor to testosterone. So guys, if they take Reishi, then they'll actually have an increase in testosterone as well. And then it's got Turkey Tail, which is a immune booster. So it'll...

Ramon Vela (49:25.08)
Thank you.

Ramon Vela (49:42.51)
Mm-hmm.

Ramon Vela (49:47.49)
Mm-hmm.

Tommy Walsh (49:52.627)
increase your gut health, increase your immune system. Each one of these bars has a lot of fiber. So if someone's constipated, which a big problem for a lot of people, then it'll help help fix that problem as well. And then each bar has 12 grams of protein and it's peanut butter chocolate flavored with with tree nuts in it. So it's got a little bit of crunch. It tastes kind of like a salty, crunchy brownie is how a lot of people describe it.

Ramon Vela (50:20.11)
Thank

Tommy Walsh (50:22.111)
So it also tastes very good.

Ramon Vela (50:24.78)
Yeah, and I'm looking so everyone out there you can go to eat eat shroom bar.com eat shroom bar.com shroom is shr oom so it's eat shroom bar.com and I'm looking at the nutritional facts on there and

And I like what I'm seeing, you know, the, terms of the, my big issue with like products that have like protein, it's like, want protein and I have others, I have sources to get that too, but I like to get extra protein because I'm, I'm actually mostly plant-based. do have a fridge, but I'm mostly plant-based, but that my, my issue is always like the fiber, like there's not never enough fiber in some of these products. And I like the fact that you have nine grams of fiber.

Tommy Walsh (51:03.809)
You

Ramon Vela (51:14.248)
in the nutritional profile there. And then also the sodium level is pretty low, which I appreciate too, just as someone who chose to maintain a healthy level of sodium. But this is fantastic. I love the nutritional panel here. I'm on the website, so EatRoombar.com. And then it looks like you can also subscribe. Walk us through that.

Tommy Walsh (51:20.853)
Mm-hmm.

Tommy Walsh (51:39.329)
Yep, yes, you get a 15 % discount and then you can either do weekly or monthly deliveries. So that way you can just get a bar a day and eat it consistently.

Ramon Vela (51:51.79)
Yeah, and it just seems to me like this, I mean, I know that your focus is MMA and those type of folks, but I kind of feel like anyone really, like we talked about, anyone can benefit from this, especially if you're an active person, right? Like for instance, I love to take bars with me when I go hiking. So, if I go early in the morning, I don't eat breakfast, I like to take a couple of bars with me to go hiking.

Tommy Walsh (52:08.704)
Mm-hmm.

Ramon Vela (52:18.49)
And also I going to mention to you like the price for that box is I think really, really good. Like that's it seems like it's a very good economic value for the bars, for the box and so forth. I like that pricing. I think that's very, very generous. expected it to be a little bit more. Yeah, I mean, and that's even at the one time purchase, I think the price is pretty good. And then of course, if you subscribe and save,

Tommy Walsh (52:37.473)
Yeah, well thank you.

Ramon Vela (52:48.29)
you get an extra 15 % off. So I think that's pretty good. You're being, like I said, very generous. On the website, obviously there's a shop now button on navigation, but there's also a button there that has what's in the bar and it goes through everything that Tommy just mentioned in terms of the breakdown and what it is and so forth. And of course, the subscription. You mentioned that there was gonna be some new flavors coming down the line.

Have you also thought about like in terms of the future, are you going to do any other type of format for instance? Like for instance, I've heard of people moving to powders and things like that. Does any of that look like it's gonna be in your guys' future as well, any other formats?

Tommy Walsh (53:38.293)
Yeah, I think in the future we might experiment with everything. The powder space is definitely very saturated. That's a big reason I thought the idea of doing it in a bar is very good at the first place. Because I think most people take it either as like gummies, pills, or in coffee. Obviously mushroom coffee is huge. So we might in the future do that. But one thing we've been kind of talking about lately is like little protein balls. Like we'd call them like gorilla balls or something like that.

Ramon Vela (53:50.286)
Mm-hmm.

Ramon Vela (53:58.414)
Thank

Ramon Vela (54:06.646)
Yeah.

Tommy Walsh (54:08.585)
little protein balls where it'd be probably similar, similar substance to the protein bar, but have it in a bag and then have little protein balls in it. Because I don't think anyone's ever done that before. So that's probably the most likely for the future. But at least for like the next six, seven months, we'll probably just come out with a few other flavors and then just stick to the protein bars. But in the future, who knows? Well, there's probably a good chance we come out with all the different powders, all that sort of stuff as well.

Ramon Vela (54:36.332)
Yeah. Well, I like this idea that you have and the name is, I think it's pretty funny. Gorilla balls. That would be fun. So yeah, this is fantastic, man. I love this profile and I love your story. And I think you're what I always refer to as a, what I always look for, which is a brand with a product worth buying and a brand we're supporting. So I love your story and I,

Tommy Walsh (54:46.048)
Yeah.

Ramon Vela (55:06.262)
Automatically just listening to you. feel like I want to support you in terms of your in terms of this So everyone out there definitely go take a look. It's eat shroom bar comm eat shroom bar comm so I want That's right Okay, fantastic. I want to be respectful every time anything else you want to leave with the audience in terms of what you're doing any new events any new Promotions that you're doing any new

Tommy Walsh (55:10.081)
Thank you.

Tommy Walsh (55:19.009)
And the Instagram is the same. It's it's Eat Shroom Bar on Instagram.

Ramon Vela (55:36.024)
things that you want them to look out for, like any new sponsorships and things that people that you're sponsoring.

Tommy Walsh (55:42.409)
Yeah, so we're working on a couple massive sponsorship deals right now with I don't want to drop any names yet just in case they don't go through whatever, but there's a few top level UFC guys that we're looking at that we're we're probably going to land over the next couple of weeks. So I think that'll be huge. Some guys that are in like top top five, top 10 in the weight class in the world. So we'll announce what obviously we get those will blast all over Instagram. Instagram is kind of our main channel, just kind of starting up the tick tock. But

I would say check out the Instagram if you want to follow along. It's EatTrimBar.

Ramon Vela (56:13.024)
All right. Yeah, well definitely. We'll make sure to put those links to the website as well as the Instagram and anything else on our podcast description, which you could find at Apple, Spotify. Those are our two main places that we like to push people to. But you can listen to this podcast pretty much anywhere you listen to podcasts. Simply type in the story of a brand show. There's so many of those players that take in our RSS feed and you can find it pretty much anywhere.

But thank you so much, Tommy. I truly appreciate you making time for us. I think this has been a great conversation. You know, it's been an hour, but we've covered so much. I mean, we've talked about your challenges. We've talked about your origin story. We talked about your lessons learned. We talked about the nutritional profile. We talked about your strategies, your marketing strategies. And so, wow, we've covered so much, man. Thank you so much. Yeah. Well, this has been great.

Tommy Walsh (56:44.0)
Yeah, of course.

Tommy Walsh (57:05.601)
Yeah, it's gone by fast.

Ramon Vela (57:10.089)
Anything else you want to leave with the audience?

Tommy Walsh (57:12.521)
No, think that about covers it. Thank you for having me on. This was fun.

Ramon Vela (57:14.35)
All right. Yeah, no worries. Well, you always welcome back. You're an alumni now, the story of our brand, and you are welcome back anytime to give us updates. So if you ever, if you come up with those gorilla balls or you come up with something else, please let me know and you can come back. do a quick update episode just so that people know what's going on. But I appreciate it. And I'm going to encourage our listeners to go check you out. So thank you so much for that. Thank you for making time, man.

Tommy Walsh (57:42.151)
Awesome. Yes, sir. Thank you.

Ramon Vela (57:43.72)
Yeah, and you're welcome. everyone else, we have just had Tommy Walsh, who is founder and owner of Shroom Bar. And again, that's eatshroombar.com. It's a website. It's also the social media handle. You should be able to find it. And again, we're going to have those links on our podcast description. Beyond that, everyone, I always tell you, stay safe, stay sane, stay healthy. And one way of doing that is by checking out Shroom Bar, the nutritional file.

Especially if you're an active individual, whether you're MMA or whether you just love to work out, you love to run, you love to walk, you love to hike, all that good stuff. It's summertime is starting. So, you if you're going to get more active and you want that focused, you want all those benefits that he mentioned, definitely go give it a try or at least go take a look and then let them know that you heard it here from the story of a brand show. I definitely look forward to any feedback that you guys might have. So please send me that.

I'd love to pass that on to Tommy. Beyond that, everyone, let's just, you know, one last thing. We've all been going through a lot of stuff lately. The stock market is going up and down, whatever. There's so much stress and anxiety going on out there right now. Let's just do ourselves a favor. Let's stay calm. Let's be kind to each other because I know if we can understand that everyone is kind of going through something, everyone has a little some stress in their life. Let's just be kind to each other. And I know we can make this human experience a better one.

Beyond that, thank you from the bottom of my heart for listening to another episode of the story of a brand.