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Gagan Lasser | Lass Chance Beverage Co.
36 Plays1 month ago
In this epidote of Aisle 42 we sit down with a farmer! An orchardist in fact, and we talk about all things fruit and upcycling. Gagan Lasser is the President of Lass Chance Beverage Co. and you’re going to really enjoy they’re take on a bold mission to reduce food waste.
They transform unsellable whole fruit into juice, sparkling sodas and ciders made from things like peaches, pears, and even the dark horse of the farming world, the haskap berry.
We chat through the importance of sustainable practices, using AI to sorting produce, and some of the harder realities of managing crops exposed to the elements. We also talk about their farm-to-bottle journey, agricultural stewardship, and their zero food waste mojo.
Learn more visit https://www.lasschance.com/.
If you would like to get to know the people and the purpose behind this podcast visit https://www.ethicalfoodgroup.com/.
Here's the highlights:
Last Chance Beverage Co. transforms unsellable farm produce into high-quality beverages, aiming to reduce food waste.
Located in Keremeos, BC, the company is family-owned and operates on a sustainable farm that’s been in business since 1988.
The company started by upcycling excess apples into juice and now produces a variety of products, including sparkling sodas and ciders from peaches, pears, and haskap berries.
Last Chance employs advanced AI sorting technology on the farm to categorize produce, allowing them to upcycle "ugly" or misfit fruits.
They focus on sustainability, using integrated pest management to reduce chemical use and prevent waste at each stage of the farming process.
Their beverages are packaged in glass bottles, reflecting the brand’s premium image and commitment to environmental impact.
The company recently opened a 7,000 square-foot on-farm tasting room and production facility, offering a unique farm-to-bottle experience for visitors.
They are expanding distribution of their products across Western Canada, with plans to enter Eastern Canada soon.
Last Chance has a “zero food waste” mission, using every part of the fruit, including turning unused portions into animal feed and other by-products.
Lasser emphasizes the brand’s philosophy that “there’s no such thing as a bad apple,” symbolizing their commitment to upcycling and sustainability.
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Transcript
Introduction to Aisle 42 and Last Chance Beverage Co.
00:00:00
Speaker
This is aisle 42.
00:00:06
Speaker
In
Mission of Last Chance Beverage Co.
00:00:07
Speaker
this episode of aisle 42, I sit down with a farmer, an orchardist in fact, and we talk about all things fruit and upcycling. Gagan Lasser is president of Last Chance Beverage Co. and you're going to really enjoy their take on a bold mission to reduce food waste.
00:00:23
Speaker
They transform
Sustainable Practices and AI Integration
00:00:24
Speaker
unsellable whole fruit into juice, sparkling sodas, ciders, made from things like peaches and pears, and even the dark horse of the farming world, the haska berry. We chat through the importance of sustainable practices, using AI to sort produce, and some of the harder realities of managing crops exposed to the elements.
00:00:44
Speaker
We also talk about their farm to bottle journey, agricultural stewardship, and their zero food waste mojo. Okay, let's get into it. The future of food starts now.
00:00:56
Speaker
Gagan, thank you so much for doing this interview. We've wanted
Ideal Grocery Partnerships and Upcycling Process
00:01:00
Speaker
to talk now for a while and have been very intimate with your, ah we have been drinking intimate. That's very, that was very heartfelt, wasn't it? I love your i like product. I find it in my local nature's fair. And I've heard rumors that your cider is close by in a local liquor store as well. But of course I've been familiar with your brand and your family and your farm.
00:01:23
Speaker
and all these wonderful things you're doing. So excited to get into it. But before we do that, I have to ask the big question. And that is, if you could imagine the perfect grocery store, what would it look like?
00:01:34
Speaker
Ooh, well, first of all, thank you for having me on the podcast. I really appreciate it. It's always great chatting with you, Corwin, because very insightful. So the perfect grocery store, that's a great question, you know? I don't have one per se, but if I was to have one, I would want a grocery store that's a partner with me that works with me and growing my brand out on the store shelf. And in turn, I can help them obviously get sales.
00:02:04
Speaker
So it's an equal partnership. you know They help me and I can help them and we can grow
AI Sorting and Vertical Integration Benefits
00:02:10
Speaker
together. In a perfect world, that's what I would like. If you're asking me for one particular store, that would be really difficult. You don't have to name one. I wouldn't want to do that to you. that's yeah that That'd be mean. But I want to you know echo that the the retailers that are passionate and excited about working with local food makers and food producers and food growers and where there's a
00:02:37
Speaker
mutual kind of you know um a relationship that can be fostered and some trust can can be built. I mean, from everything I know of the produce industry, it sure does seem like a dog eat dog world where the players and the you know the chips are changing constantly. And that sounds really difficult. And so when retailers lean into a trusted relationship and and it is a true partnership, I think consumers can really benefit from that because they not only can get consistency in what they're buying,
00:03:07
Speaker
But then they can start to go a little bit deeper about where things in your case, where things are growing or how they're treated or where they're transported from or what their process is. And there
Perception and Freshness of Upcycled Products
00:03:17
Speaker
are certainly, you know, many consumers don't care about those things, but for those that do, it's an important part of their experience at the grocery store and in their homes. So, yeah, I think you're right. I think partnership is a great way to frame it. Absolutely.
00:03:30
Speaker
Yeah, for the listeners that don't know who you are and and where you come from, like what what your guys are making, why don't you give everyone sort of like the short version of what you guys are doing and what you're making? So what we're doing and what we're making, that's a great question. We do a lot of things, but ah Last Chance Beverage Co., that's my company. i'm The president is a family farm-based beverage company. It's located in Carameas, BC. So that's out in the Okanagan if anybody knows where that is.
00:03:58
Speaker
My family has been farming since 1988. We grow a wide
Sustainability and Future Expansion Plans
00:04:03
Speaker
variety of fruits and ah the one thing that we kept seeing over and over again is all the fruit that was never good enough to be sold in store. So millions of pounds of this produce would go to waste each year on our farm alone and we decided Hey, there's something that we can do here. We can vertically integrate and solve this food waste problem. And that's where Last Chance ah started. We took apples and we upcycled those into apple juice and that was our first product we ever sold and we still do that today.
00:04:34
Speaker
And then we have after we got great traction after that, we moved into other fruits, so peaches and pears, for example. And then we had a line of fruit sodas and sparkling juice, and now we sell cider. And it tastes delicious. I don't know if I've had every skew that you guys have put out there, but I've certainly drank or sampled many of them. They're fantastic. The sparkling sodas are just remarkable. I love them so much. So fresh tasting. Thank you.
00:05:03
Speaker
Now let's just talk about upcycling for a second. So the idea of ugly fruit being turned into juice, that's not new. That has been done for a long time, but you guys are sort of leaning into this even more. So yeah, can you explain sort of like, where's the difference between like BC grade fruit, not BC as in British Columbia, as in B grade or C grade? or like lower grade fruit being turned into juice versus like that food waste piece of the puzzle. Like where's that tipping point and and how hard is that true upcycling piece of the puzzle? That's great. You asked that because you are right. this is What we're doing is nothing new. I think ah the messaging and the branding behind what we do and explaining that to consumers is new and we're making different types of drinks as well.
00:05:50
Speaker
but It all sorts it back at our farm where we grow all this fruit and then we actually package and process this and sell it to retail stores where consumers can buy this. And at that point is where we actually grade and sort the produce. So apples, peaches, for example, they all get sorted through actually goes through a high tech machine and there's AI involved and actually sorts and grades and you set the parameters of, uh, what size shape you want, what's considered good and what's considered bad. And then it sorts sort that all out for you. And yes, there is your A gray, your
Collaborative Product Development
00:06:28
Speaker
perfectly perfect apple, for example. And then there's smaller sizes, you know what you're allowed what you really want and what the retailer ultimately wants. And then there's fruit that's just, it's wonky. It's too small. It's got a bump on it. It might've gotten scarred during a storm when it bumped into a branch.
00:06:47
Speaker
There's nothing wrong with it, but there is a large volume of that. I mean, almost 20 to 30% of the fruit from our farm is actually falls into that category. So that's millions of pounds of produce that would be thrown away and we decided to do something about it.
00:07:04
Speaker
And would it be thrown away because, for example, let's just say, i
Product Availability and Conclusion
00:07:08
Speaker
mean I know you guys process like right on site, being that close to the to the trees that has its its upsides. For those that are growing but don't have that, it means that they have to set that fruit aside and then they have to find someone to deal with it or or somewhere to put it or someone to process it.
00:07:26
Speaker
If they can, if they can't, then that's where it just gets thrown out. Or if it takes too long for those things to happen, then the fruit doesn't last that long and then it spoils. You use the word vertical integration. Is it that integration between the orchard and being able to process it quickly or when you need to? Is that part of that sort of perfect storm where upcycling really sort of makes sense because of the proximity of the processing to the orchard?
00:07:53
Speaker
Absolutely. That's where the upcycling actually makes the most sense because we grow it right on our farm. We process and sell what is good and we take all the misfits per se and right on the farm we process that into juice, cider, ah sparkling juices. so it has It all happens at one central location and we have essentially control over it, right? So there is no storing and waiting or um only picking certain fruit off the trees. For example, some farmer may not pick a block or retire acres because it's hail damage. It's not worth anything. So they won't pick it, right? Versus us, we'll pick everything because we'll bring it to our facility, we'll process it, and then what's not good enough to be sold and stored, we'll just take it and make it into this other product, for example.
00:08:45
Speaker
Well, and you mentioned sort of the the marketing behind it and the messaging behind it. One of the things I think upcycling struggles with as sort of a category of food making is that it also kind of sounds like it might be tired or old fruit, or it might be a little bit unpleasant, but guess what? We made something out of it. It's sort of, for those that maybe don't fully understand it or it might be very specific to certain categories, upcycling can also sound a lot like recycling. And it doesn't sound as appealing. Whereas you have very fresh fruit that just, like you said, isn't fit. And and very quickly you're able to make something out of it, which really does come out in the product that I've tasted. And so on that note, I have to ask,
00:09:26
Speaker
of the products that you guys make. If you wouldn't mind listing um all of the products, because I think it's helpful for people to know everything that you guys are making, then you have to tell me which is your personal favorite. Oh, that is, oof, that's a lot. We have 16 skews, I know. so Sorry, I thought you had eight or nine, sorry. No, so for a company that is only two years old, we do have a lot of skews. And and again, that all stems from the fact that we want to we rescue everything. We generally do not throw anything out, even if it doesn't make standards for juice or a soda or a sparkling juice or even a cider, for example.
00:10:05
Speaker
you know We'll ferment it, we'll make an alcohol out of it. If that alcohol doesn't meet standards, that's okay. We can ferment it straight to vinegar and that can actually be used. Or we can sell it to a distillery who will distill it and make it into an apple brandy.
00:10:20
Speaker
for example. So the reason why we have so many skews, and I'll answer your question, but is because of the fact that we genuinely do not waste anything. Even when we process the fruit, you're left with the pulp afterwards, we actually upcycle that and sell it as animal feed. So the goal is obviously to get to net zero food waste, hence why we have so many skews.
00:10:44
Speaker
Oh man. Okay. Well, how about we, the SKUs that are readily available in local grocery stores. How about that? Yeah. So my favorite is actually, we have a two 500 mil glass bottles. We do a sparkling apple juice. It's Ambrosia apples. One's just straight Ambrosia apples. And one is actually a blend of Ambrosia apples and has cap. So,
00:11:08
Speaker
That is my favorite, personally, is the has cap and the ambrosia apple juice in the 500 ml glass bottles. My second favorite, I would say, is actually in the fruit sodas, which we have four flavors. We have a peach pear, a plum and apple, and mine is actually peach. And we call it life's a peach. So, you know, life really is a peach when you live on a farm. Well, also sounds like a lot of work. You might be glamorizing it a little bit. Maybe I am a bit disattached.
00:11:38
Speaker
That's awesome. And then you have ciders as well. Yes, absolutely. So when we get into the world of ciders, so the alcohol side, my favorite flavor was actually, it's called Golden Child. There's a can right back there actually. Oh yeah, I see it behind you there. Yeah, yeah it's it's it's called Golden Child. It's named after me, a part of the family. We have four.
00:11:57
Speaker
ah We have four flavors. We have a golden child, which is just your classic apple. That's me. We have a family fave, which is a peach. That's my brother. And we have a next gen, which is a has cap cider. And not many people know about has cap or anything. So we called it next gen. We dedicate that to my brother's kids. Hopefully they are the next gen.
00:12:20
Speaker
And then we have a ah pair and that's ah called Second Cousin and we dedicate that to my second cousin. So it's a family theme going on. Man, that's some clever naming. I love it. The marketer in me is like, Oh yeah, that's fun. I love that. I know you'll be all over it. Yeah, that's, that's good. Let's go back to the glass jars because I feel like we're seeing a lot less of glass jars. We're seeing a lot of aluminum cans and Tetra packs and other formats and other materials. What is it about the glass jars that you guys feel like just fits the product, fits the brand, fits the experience that you want consumers to have?
00:13:00
Speaker
So as you know, glass on the retail, there's not a much products that are in glass versus there's a lot of cans. And like you said, Hetripex, for example, but there's not a lot of products in glass. And generally when people see products in glass, they think, oh, this is a high quality or premium product.
00:13:18
Speaker
And so what we wanted to produce is obviously this is a high quality product. It's premium product. It's not just um something that is your everyday thing because for example, the has cat berries is very unique, very rare. So we wanted to put that in, in a nice glass bottle and be able to sell it to consumers at a fair price point. Nothing that's outrageously expensive. I want it to be the entire purpose of the brand is an affordable approachable price point.
00:13:46
Speaker
That makes sense. And um certainly, glass recycling is a very common ah piece of the puzzle in most municipalities. It's pretty rare to find an area that can't handle glass recycling, so so that's really good. You know, I've been on your website many times over the last couple of years, especially on the lastchance dot.com site, where your number one value, at least the first value you list, is sustainability.
00:14:13
Speaker
And when consumers care about sustainability, or many do, not all of them, many do, and for those that do, it's it's important. but you know things understanding where that lands for people, it it varies. But as a producer, as a ah manufacturer of beverages, but you guys kind of boldly saying, hey, sustainability is like the first value we're going to talk about. What does that look like from a farming perspective? I mean, we've talked about the end result of the fruit that you sort, but what are some of the other ways that you guys are focused on on your production and your growing as being as sustainable as you can? And what are some of the things that you guys want to do in the future?
00:14:52
Speaker
Absolutely, that's a great question. So yeah, sustainability really is a key part of not just last chance, but also my family's farm. So it goes all the way back to the orchard. And we always have sustainable farming practices. So and what What does that entail, right? So that's using, for example, not over watering or under watering your water usage. What pesticides or herbicides are you using, if any? And how are you taking care of your orchard? So for us, we use an integrated approach. Obviously, we want to use the least amount of chemicals possible for us. And the way we do that is using an integrated approach. So we always look at prevention.
00:15:34
Speaker
We look at ongoing monitoring and then we look at action threshold and then a treatment and then follow up evaluation. So prevention is literally where you want to spend most of your time and that is making sure you're not, there's no no broken water lines in your orchard and there's water pooling and it brings in insects and animals which will change the biodiversity of your farm.
00:15:58
Speaker
And then it's always maintaining weed control, cutting in the grass, maintaining just a proper good orchard. And then those kind of things are what can prevent a lot of bugs essentially to enter into your orchard and cause chaos.
00:16:15
Speaker
And you always have ongoing monitoring. So we have a horticulturist that just walks in our orchard regularly and looks, hey, this is what I'm seeing. These are the kind of bugs I'm seeing. Oh, we found this bug. He's not good for your orchard, but it's not an issue right now because, for example, there's a ladybug. I found a whole bunch of them and it's a predator to that guy. So nothing to be concerned of until it actually reaches an action threshold where we would intervene.
00:16:40
Speaker
And intervention can not always be chemical. It can actually be, hey, we can release these kind of insects because there are predators to those and change biodiversity. So those are the kind of things that we do right at the farm level. And that's where a lot of sustainability happens because you can do a lot of other things which are not sustainable and also very expensive.
00:17:03
Speaker
And there's just, there's so many ways to approach sustainability. And I love the way that you guys are doing it. Let's talk about your tasting room. Is that what it's called? The new facility you've opened up. And I love the fact that you guys have grinded this one to the, like you have fought the good fight and now you have a beautiful space where consumers get to have an experience with the product that you make and the people who make it and the proximity to where it's grown and everything and and produced. So talk to us about the new facility that you guys have. Absolutely. So the new facility is it's actually just not just a tasting room. It's a 7,000 square foot facility we built. There is a tasting room in there. And there's also, as a matter of fact, a restaurant, which we are applying to open next year. We built this as, it was a legacy.
00:17:50
Speaker
to my yeah family's roots essentially and it's a testament to my family because you know they my parents and their parents came to Canada back in 1986 and started farming in 88 and they have been so since then so this was ah very much a legacy project that we wanted to do and wanted to showcase hey This is a building that's right on the farm. You can see everything happen. You can see where everything comes from and experience it right here. It's a destination for consumers to come and connect with where the produce is actually grown.
00:18:28
Speaker
so Along with that, there is a production in the back as well. This would be our second production facility. And then we obviously have some staff offices upstairs as well. But it really is a building we wanted to stick out and draw people in.
00:18:45
Speaker
And it's close to the like town of Keremius, or is it right in Keremius? It's right in Keremius. So if you were traveling from Vancouver, headed to Asoyes, you would drive right past it, and I promise you, you won't miss it. I love it. It's a good roadside. And roadside stands are nothing new in the Okanagan, but one that you actually has... Is there is there air conditioning? is Yes, there is.
00:19:11
Speaker
There you go. that's That's your lead magnet right there. We have air conditioning. We have air conditioning. you ah Funny enough, yeah anybody that comes to our tasting room, if they're sitting there having a drink, you can actually look directly across to my family's first original produce market that the they started back in 1988. So it still exists and it still operates, and you'll see it directly across the street. It'll say Lassler Produce, and you can see exactly where the produce came from for yourself.
00:19:40
Speaker
That's awesome. So if you guys are running low on peaches, like go across the street. Exactly. Go get some go get some fruit. Notice the upcoming BC Food and Beverage Awards. You guys are up for a Sustainability Award, which is very cool. And Ethical Food Group is playing our role in in that award. So it's exciting to see you guys being celebrated in that way. And again, I think that vertical integration is such a key piece of the puzzle.
00:20:05
Speaker
to reduce food waste. We need a lot less food waste in our food system. And I think fresh fruit and fresh vegetables is one of those areas that it's an opportunity and you guys are leaning into it. So really appreciate everything that your family and your team are doing.
00:20:20
Speaker
Thank you. I really appreciate it. And we're excited to be nominated as one of the top three finalists. I mean, I was over the moon and my team was over the moon about it as well, because like I said, sustainability is important to us and upcycling generally everything. I mean, we will hold an entire team meeting before we throw anything out, because sometimes you just got to get a little creative and think about, Hey, how can we just save this? And chances are you can.
00:20:48
Speaker
Well, everyone else in the Okanagan seems to be making jams and syrups. so you guys are Hey, maybe you're going to do that. I don't want to knock that at all. That's a wonderful way to deal with with fruit. But I love the beverages that you make there. I love sparkling beverages. They're refreshing in the flavor. you know being and I grew up in BC. so i've you know I've had a lot of apples in my life. I've had a lot of pears. I've eaten a lot of tree fruit over the years and had a lot of different kinds of beverages. And um so many of them kind of just just taste sweet or just taste kind of benign. And you guys have a flavor punch that just feels very fresh and very natural and beautiful product. And it's the ciders I haven't had as much experience with, but certainly love the sodas.
00:21:34
Speaker
And I decided to see it fill shelves in Western Canada and beyond very, very quickly. Yeah, absolutely. we're We're excited to be ah in the market in Western Canada and I guess for the next 12 to 18 months for Last Chance, it's really focusing on brand growth and brand recognition, not just in Western Canada, but also expanding out to Eastern Canada as well and moving outside of its borders as well. So we do have an ambitious plan and
00:22:08
Speaker
Again, it all stems from trying to save as much fruit as we can. So that was that was the whole purpose of the company and we're just sticking to the mission. Good deal. And maybe you guys will grow so much, you'll have to help rescue all the fruit growing around you guys, like all the other farmers. We would love to. I mean, it's ah funny enough. That's actually how the has cap flavor sparkling juice and cider came about is because there was a farmer down the street who grew these berries and he says, Hey, can you do something with these? And I'm like, I've never heard of this thing before, but sure. Let me, let me take it and let's do some R and D and see what can be done.
00:22:44
Speaker
year later, here we are with ah two skews of it. And a haskip is a it's a odd looking fruit, very blueberry taste like I would almost say it depends on it. Sometimes if it tastes just like a blueberry and other times it's a sort of blueberry. I don't know how you describe it, but it's it's it's one of those fruits that I think is perfect for what you guys are doing. Great flavor. And yeah, it's wonderful.
00:23:07
Speaker
Yeah, it's like an elongated blueberry. ah Some people say they get notes of strawberry and blackberry. It's packed full of antioxidants, a lot more than a blueberry. It tastes really great. ah The only issue with it and a lot of consumers why they've never heard of it before is because it doesn't have a shelf life. It's only about two days max before it starts to essentially, it's very soft and it tries to break down. So you need to process it in a way after you harvest it in order to to actually be something.
00:23:38
Speaker
Where can consumers find Last Chance beverages? So that's great. So for the non-alcoholics, we are in ah BC and Alberta currently. We're in Stongs, Fresh Street, IGA, Nature's Fair in Alberta. We're in Sunterra and Prison Bros. So you can find us in a lot of stores. Obviously, we're working hard to get into more stores and expand out to Eastern Canada as well.
00:24:05
Speaker
So that's for the non-alcoholic drinks. For the alcohol side, we are in over 200 liquor stores in British Columbia. So private liquor stores. We're also in Alberta as well. So chances are you can find us at most locations. That's awesome. Yeah. And I know you guys are growing quickly, so it's ah it's a wonderful thing.
00:24:25
Speaker
Really appreciated this chat and appreciate your family and your team and everything you guys are doing for for the planet and for delicious beverage making and filling our fruits and vegetable keepers as well. Thanks for this. Absolutely. Thank you. Always at last chance. There's no such thing as a bad apple. Good tagline. good Love it. Thanks again. Thank you. coren Thanks for listening to this episode of aisle 42. Do yourself a favor and grab some of their sparkling fruit sodas or ciders the next time you see it on your grocery store shelf. And plan a getaway to the South Okanagan of beautiful British Columbia. That's Canada's Napa Valley. And you got to visit their tasting room. I'm going to do that this summer for sure. Road trip. OK, that's it for me. I'm Corwin Hebert. We are Ethical Food Group and I'll catch up with you in the future.