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Marise May | Chas Organics
71 Plays1 day ago
In this episode, I sit down with Marise from Chas Organics to explore her team’s commitment to organic, fair trade, and sustainable food production.
Marise shares how their mission is deeply rooted in providing high-quality, Ayurvedic-inspired products sourced from Sri Lanka.
She walks us through the values that drive their production—making organic food both accessible and affordable—while fostering a circular, regenerative approach to business with suppliers and farmers they’re proud to support.
We also chat about their 1% for Elephants initiative—a first on Aisle 42! Their work to reduce human-elephant conflict in Sri Lanka is a powerful example of business making this world a better place through conservation.
To learn more go to https://chasorganics.com/.
To learn more about who’s behind this podcast and how we help food and beverage brands grow faster, visit https://www.ethicalfoodgroup.com/.
Here’s a summary of this interview:
Chas Organics’ Mission – The company is dedicated to empowering communities through good health and great food, with a focus on holistic, Ayurvedic-inspired products.
Diverse Product Range – Their lineup includes coconut milk, heirloom rice, spices, curry pastes, canned tropical fruits, and warming beverages, all 100% organic and sustainably sourced.
Sourcing from Sri Lanka – The company partners with small-scale regenerative organic farmers, ensuring premium, high-quality ingredients free from heavy metals and contaminants.
Fair Trade Commitment – Most products are Fair for Life certified, supporting ethical wages and sustainable farming practices while fostering long-term partnerships with suppliers.
Retail Expansion – While maintaining a strong presence in independent health food stores, Chas Organics is also expanding its reach through Costco, Loblaws, and online platforms like Amazon.
1% for Elephants Initiative – The brand actively funds conservation projects in Sri Lanka, working to reduce human-elephant conflict by restoring wetlands and protecting migration corridors.
Ethical Coconut Sourcing – Chas Organics ensures that no monkey labor is used in their coconut harvesting, a cruel practice still found in some regions.
Consumer Education – Marise highlights the importance of consumer choice and awareness in driving demand for ethical and organic products, influencing retailers to prioritize sustainability.
New Product Innovations – The company is expanding into the U.S. market and rebranding its heirloom rice line, with more product innovations on the horizon.
Sustainability at the Core – Beyond organic certification, Chas Organics prioritizes regenerative agriculture, fair trade, and environmental conservation as key pillars of its business model.
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Transcript
Introduction to Aisle 42 and Chas Organics
00:00:00
Speaker
This is Aisle 42.
00:00:07
Speaker
In this episode, I sit down with Maurice from Chas Organics to explore her team's commitment to organic, fair trade and sustainable food production.
Chas Organics' Mission and Sustainable Practices
00:00:16
Speaker
Maurice shares how their mission is deeply rooted in providing a high quality, Ayurvedic inspired products sourced from Sri Lanka.
00:00:23
Speaker
She walks us through the values that drive their production, making organic food both accessible and affordable, while fostering a circular regenerative approach to business with suppliers and farmers they're proud to support.
00:00:36
Speaker
We also chat about their 1% for Elephants initiative, which is a first on aisle 42. Their work to reduce human elephant conflict in Sri Lanka is a powerful example of businesses making this world a better place through conservation.
00:00:50
Speaker
Thanks for being here. Thanks for listening because the future of food starts now.
00:00:57
Speaker
Maurice, I'm so glad we're able to finally have this conversation. Your brand, it's normally actually on my shelf behind me in my little, you know, product display here, but I needed a can of coconut cream for a meal I made last night, so I'm sorry I had to pull down the demo.
Quality and Future of Organic Food
00:01:13
Speaker
but You guys make wonderful products and you do so many wonderful, good things for people and the planet. So I'm looking forward to getting into it.
00:01:20
Speaker
And I want to kick things off to welcome you to the Owl 42 show with this question. And that is, if you could look into the future, what's the one positive change in the food system that would excite you the most?
00:01:32
Speaker
Well, thank you, first of all, for having me here. I'm really excited and happy we could finally make this work. I know we've had a little bit of back and forth on the timing, so I'll just jump right in. would excite me the most would be, I think, if people developed a mindset that where they were actively looking for options that would help improve their health and also the health of the planet.
00:02:00
Speaker
So I really think it comes to choices and mindset and that with that one positive change, a lot of other positive things would follow.
Product Overview and Ayurvedic Lifestyle
00:02:07
Speaker
I think that's wonderfully said, and it is it is a mind shift. It's a little bit of a culture change, a little bit of a personal mission, if you will, of people, what they're eating, what they're putting in their fridges and their cupboards. So yeah, that's wonderful.
00:02:21
Speaker
Why don't we take a quick spin, you give listeners a sense of what it is that you guys make. To be honest, I was surprised. I know you guys because of your coconut milks and creams. You're in my local stores.
00:02:33
Speaker
But you have a lot of other products than just canned coconut liquids. So why don't you give us the the rundown? The rundown. Well, ah first of all, as a company, we really do have this mission to empower communities through good health and great food.
00:02:48
Speaker
So food is really a big part of our lives. We're all foodies at Chaz Organics. We love food. And our products really center around sort of a holistic Ayurvedic lifestyle. We source our products from small scale regenerative organic farmers in Sri Lanka, where my partner Chaz comes from.
00:03:03
Speaker
And we really aim to highlight the unique and you know bold flavors of the region. So spices, we've got curry paste, we have all kinds of flavorful spices, but really bringing them to Canada with a little bit of a ah spin on them. And soon North America as we're expanding to the US, where we kind of you know present that to people here as options that they could use in everyday cooking.
00:03:26
Speaker
So to give you the rundown, we have our coconut milk, as many people know from Costco, our coconut cream. We've got our really innovative coconut whipping cream, which is a thick cream. There is no separation, no water. It whips perfectly every time straight out of the can.
00:03:40
Speaker
and That's a favorite in many households. We also have the light coconut milk and then the spiced coconut milks. Moving on to canned fruit, we've got our signature young jackfruit, which is great for vegan pulled pork and as a meat replacement. Then we've got our pineapple chunks, mango chunks, tropical fruit. We've got a sweet jack fruit.
00:03:58
Speaker
um So the whole line of tropical fruit. We have our spices, which is what we've been carrying the longest. I'd say the star of our spice line is our true cinnamon, also known as salon cinnamon, which is a really unique and beautiful variety of cinnamon.
Unique Products and Health Benefits
00:04:10
Speaker
Very hard to find in the market here.
00:04:12
Speaker
It's sweeter and it has no um high coumarin content like cassia does. So a very healthy and good for the liver and won't cause any health problems like cassia. So along with our true cinnamon, the stars of our spice line would be black pepper, turmeric, which is very high in curcumin and healing. And then we have a whole range of spices that you can use for sort of ethnic or South Asian cuisine.
00:04:32
Speaker
Then we have the curry kits centering around Thai flavors. We've got a green, yellow, red and a tom yum soup. Those are a curry paste that come with a herb pouch. We've got our heirloom rice, which is proudly grown by Sri Lankan organic farmers. These are traditional grains of rice that use less drops of water per acre and are really healthy for the soil, give back to the communities. We've got the red rice and the pearl rice and fragrant rice, which are both white rice varieties. Those are all short grain.
00:04:59
Speaker
and We've got the coconut rolls, which are a beautiful snack, and they blend together some of our favorite items like the coconut milk, the heirloom rice. ah They're very lightly sweetened, so under 8 grams of sugar per serving.
00:05:10
Speaker
We do use coconut sugar as well, and they've got some really unique ingredients like green banana flour that give them a little more fiber and nutrition. So those are tasty snacks for the lunchbox. We also have, let me think, what did I not cover yet?
00:05:23
Speaker
Oh, the oil. And this is actually one of my favorite products is our coconut oil. So we have a virgin coconut oil, which is a beautiful, has a beautiful light coconut scent. You can use it for cooking, but also body care, hair care, oil pulling.
00:05:35
Speaker
And honestly, my most used product is the deodorized coconut oil, which is by far what I use the most because I use it for all my cooking and replaced kind of while I don't use seed oils anyways, but you know, really replace all your cooking oils with that baking as well.
00:05:49
Speaker
Did I cover everything we've got the warming beverages that I don't have a list in front of me the chai tea. You're doing amazing, by the way. Chai tea. We do a lot of products. It can take up the whole podcast to just list all our products. But we love them all. So we've got our chai tea. And the chai is actually what we started with.
00:06:06
Speaker
It's a beautiful blend of orange pico black tea with true cinnamon, cardamom, clove. We've got some little bit of black pepper in there. It's a really nice blend. Ginger. And you can use it instead of coffee. You can have it as a nice afternoon tea, make a latte with a non-dairy beverage.
00:06:22
Speaker
And then our turmeric latte, which is anti-inflammatory. It's very soothing, very flavorful. You can make a really nice warming turmeric golden latte in the winter and just, you know, help soothe the senses and also fight inflammation at the same time.
00:06:37
Speaker
i do think I covered everything. We do have some new products coming out soon as well. Oh, do tell. i'm i'm go to You just stay on a roll. If you've got new stuff, then let it fly. feel like I've named them all, but if you think of something else, let me know. Like I said, I don't have a list in front of me. I'm just rattling off all the all the items. And yeah, a lot of people know us for coconut milk, but we do have a lot of other products that um really complement each other well. So you can make like a really nice meal, for example, with the coconut milk, the rice, the oil, the spices, you know, curry kit, and maybe add some jackfruit in there.
Challenges and Retail Partnerships
00:07:08
Speaker
You've got yourself a whole full dinner.
00:07:11
Speaker
I love it. That's where I came across your brand was the Costco you know box of coconut milk and started to kind of explore you guys your brand a little bit more. And I think I've seen you at a trade show or two.
00:07:23
Speaker
And what's remarkable to me is that you guys have maintained the organic across so many or all of these, all of them, 100% organic, which is wonderful.
00:07:34
Speaker
And I'd love to learn a little bit more about that. What has that been like for your team and for your suppliers and farmers to maintain such a high standard of farming and and processing?
00:07:45
Speaker
Yeah, well, I mean, we don't have an easy path, I would say, you know, we could have just become another kind of one of those junk food companies that sell a lot of food. A lot of really unhealthy food you can produce real cheap and sell it at high margin. We kind of do the opposite.
00:08:00
Speaker
We get the most premium food that you can possibly find in the market. I mean, Sri Lanka does really, really, really export some of the highest quality foods in all of these ingredients, much higher quality than...
00:08:12
Speaker
any other country in the region. And so we really have picked the most premium, most expensive and really highest quality with virgin soil, no heavy metals and all the good stuff that we want to bring to the world.
00:08:24
Speaker
And then we have to package that for the consumer in a way that's also affordable. you know, for people who are just trying to get by here most of the time and have to afford their groceries. So that in itself is a challenge for us. And with a lot of organic foods is maintaining that premium quality that we want to offer and the organic, and then also making that affordable for Canadians. And that's where I think where we really are happy to have great partners like Costco that have really done an amazing job of taking that premium product and they just, you know, they cut all the middlemen and they cut their margin and we're able to offer that at a great price to Canadians.
00:08:56
Speaker
So that's been, that's been a big win for us, but we really don't depend on that. I mean, we really built our market with the health food community, with the independence, that's our core. And that's where you'll see all of our products, you know, not just one SKU.
00:09:09
Speaker
And it's really about partnership. It's about going, you know, to each store, knowing each store manager that we, will at least all, you know, all the ones we've been able to meet or, or can meet, visiting them, seeing them at trade shows, um meeting with our distributor reps to to highlight what our brand is all about and pass that education along all the way down to the consumer, as well as doing consumer shows, being really active on
Ethical Practices and Consumer Impact
00:09:32
Speaker
social media. And for us, it's really about cutting out all the middlemen to get that affordable price that that people, you know, where people can still enjoy our products and and not feel like it's a luxury item because we want people using them day to day, but then really also educating people about why they would choose our products. And sometimes it does come down to a choice. you know
00:09:50
Speaker
I had a friend when I was in university who who really didn't have much you know income. I still remember her. she she really was Everything was so minimal in her house, but she would always eat organic food.
00:10:02
Speaker
You know, I just think of her as an example of, you know, the choices we can make. So, you know, rather than going out and spending money on booze or cigarettes or, or, you know, junk food or whatever it is, people can choose health and they can choose organic. So for us, it's about educating people as to why our products are, are the ones they should choose. And that comes down to um a lot of things, you know, the organic agriculture, the climate aspect, the fair trade, which goes back to women in communities and, Yeah, I was just going to ask you about that. You guys have doubled down with fair trade.
00:10:31
Speaker
Sorry, that's not new. I know you've done it for a while. Can you speak to the fair trade aspect of of the business? i mean, what does that look like from farming perspective and from a supplier supply chain side?
00:10:43
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. For us, it's such a big part of what we do. And you'll notice that most of our products are Fair for Life certified, and that includes all the coconut milk cream, whipping cream, all the spices, except for couple SKUs we don't source from Sri Lanka, which we still do ethical trade out of India. But really all the Sri Lankan ones and as well as the coconut oil and these the other products that we don't have the certification on doesn't mean that they're not fairly traded. We just haven't been able to bring our partners to that level of of obtaining the certification yet. Although we are in process right now with the rice, they are in a
00:11:16
Speaker
process right now. So for us, it's really about creating win-win situations. We don't believe that commerce or trade or especially around food should be extractive. you know We really believe in partnership and always giving back to the community where we source from.
00:11:31
Speaker
And it makes sense because if you if you just look at this linear progression of just using extractive policies to go to other countries and take whatever we want, as a Western country with means and and leave them kind of depleted is not a very regenerative model. And in the end, you can see that it will bring about so many issues down the road.
00:11:53
Speaker
It's not sustainable by
1% for Elephants Initiative
00:11:54
Speaker
any means. And so for us, it's about doing the right thing. It's about respecting people, planet, you know nature, animals, everyone who who has to live on this planet, who lives together, we think that all life should be respected, especially human life.
00:12:07
Speaker
And we also believe that it's a better model, you know, that when we give back to our partners, and we invest in them, that they invest in their own communities, and then they're able to continue bringing us this, these beautiful products that we love, you know, so it's really, it's really a more circular and regenerative model that we believe in. And it comes down to respect. And also, we just think it makes sense.
00:12:28
Speaker
And let's talk about elephants for a second. You guys, it's right in the brand. It's i discovered that you have a 1% for elephants initiative. And I hadn't really come across that. I've come across a lot of things in the food space, a lot of 1% for things, a lot of you know wonderful programs. But this one stood out to me as something very special. And I have spent some time around elephants. ah The respect for those animals is ah is a great pretty serious thing. I really enjoyed my time. i was in Kenya a few times.
00:12:58
Speaker
I was able to sort of observe elephants nearby and they are wonderful. But talk to me about elephants. What is it about 1% for elephants that is important to your team?
00:13:10
Speaker
ah Why do you guys lean into that and that initiative? So for us, elephants are a big part of our brand, as you'll see on our packaging. We put it right there in our logo.
00:13:22
Speaker
You may not know our brand Chaz Organics is is sort of the face of our company, but our corporate name is actually Sahana Ayurvedic Products. And Sahana is a word that It's kind of like a namaste meaning word um in Sri Lanka.
00:13:35
Speaker
And the philosophy behind our products really does go back to those ancient times where respect for all of the planet's creatures is such a big part of the culture.
00:13:46
Speaker
You know, going back to ancient Buddhist philosophies and Ayurvedic philosophies, elephants are ah very revered animal. They're very um almost worshipped, you know, and some and some are like, for example, in Ganesha, the elephant god.
00:14:01
Speaker
So for us, the elephant is such an important animal, such an important creature. And sadly, in Sri Lanka, the elephant population is at risk. They are considered endangered Asian elephants.
00:14:11
Speaker
And it's not because of hunting or poaching at this point in Sri Lanka, though the population did decline heavily under a colonial rule. ah when the British were hunting elephant for sport.
00:14:22
Speaker
Right now, sadly, there's a human elephant conflict in Sri Lanka. And what that looks like is very impoverished rural communities living on very little, you know, that have a small plot of land where they grow some food for themselves and maybe to sell and sell into their community.
00:14:38
Speaker
and elephants who are seeing their land encroached on um and who need a lot of room to graze and have migration corridors. And those two communities are at risk and they're almost fighting for space at times.
00:14:51
Speaker
So an elephant can come and raid a village, raid the crop, Maybe even break down a house if it's a very, you know, just a mud hut or a house that's sort of not that solid. Raid the kitchen.
00:15:02
Speaker
ah Sometimes there are casualties. Often people are killed in these and these attacks. And then on the flip side, these villagers will retaliate. And if they've got an elephant coming in, you know, putting their family at risk, well, sometimes that elephant might get shot or it'll have a bear trap or something, you know, andll and so they'll find ways to get rid of that problem.
00:15:20
Speaker
You know, one of the ways to approach that is really by finding solutions that help those communities and empower communities so that they're not as vulnerable and in the same time educate them about the importance of respecting elephants and find ways and find solutions where those elephants are no longer put in the village at risk and then people won't put the elephants at risk.
00:15:38
Speaker
Another problem with elephants is trains. So they'll get hit by trains. um Often they'll but you know the train track might cross a migration corridor. And what we found out is that why elephants are crossing those tracks in this particular area we're working in right now is that they're just looking for food.
00:15:54
Speaker
And so one to two elephants, I'll give you an example in this area that we're working in right now, is being hit by a train per month. So one to two elephants are being hit by this train per month, because they're just leaving ah this protected area where they're where they're supposed to be and kind of crossing the track to go look for food.
00:16:10
Speaker
And for them, food is is green, it's, it's grazing, and it really goes along with water. So one of the reasons why elephants migrate is, is just really they follow the water, the rain pattern in the country.
00:16:21
Speaker
And a solution that we've um been very proud of partnering on that we're working with the ah Buddhist community in Sri Lanka to implement is just to restore the wetlands. So in this protected national park that we're working in right now, we've contributed, um i believe the amount now is up to $30,000, something like that.
00:16:37
Speaker
And we've basically dug out a wetlands habitat where there had been a lake and that lake had been drained and the dam that was holding it had been broken. restoring the dam, restoring the wetlands, restoring the elephants' access to food and water.
00:16:52
Speaker
And with the wildlife experts and the government wildlife um committee there that are working with us, they estimate that we can reduce elephant casualties by 50% just by restoring that wetlands habitat, which is also just a great thing for the ecosystem.
00:17:06
Speaker
So that's just one example. You know, there's putting around electric fences around villages. There's some sometimes we'll just donate farming equipment and school supplies and and things to that village we're working with to gain their partnership and their trust. And so they can actually be less impoverished. And there's all kinds of solutions, but it's one thing that we're very proud of is finding ways to not only help the elephants, but to help the people also to to live peacefully with them.
00:17:28
Speaker
That's so great. It's remarkable work. Appreciate you doing that. Yeah. Watching, just being around elephants is, it's almost mystical to be honest.
00:17:39
Speaker
No, they're very intelligent too. They're highly intelligent. Where did you spend time with elephants? In Northern, in Kenya, mostly Northern Kenya. Oh, wow. It's African elephants. I haven't seen those ones yet. Yeah, they're they're just incredible. And, you know, you hear these stories about elephants and, and and you know, for example, how they give birth and how the females come around. and They're basically like midwives, you know, and stories of elephants rescuing people in Sri Lanka during the tsunami. And I don't really condone elephant riding, but it is a thing. And apparently some tourists were actually rescued by elephants who died.
00:18:10
Speaker
you know, took them to safety into the jungle.
Ethical Sourcing and Market Expansion
00:18:12
Speaker
I guess they were also running, but they, you know, they had that foresight to know and they're very, very, um you know, they're spiritual in a way and we need to protect them.
00:18:20
Speaker
Obviously as a plant-based company, we also really believe in protecting wildlife and animals and animal rights. One other thing that we have been less vocal about, but we're starting to make a little bit more, um,
00:18:32
Speaker
I said we're communicating a little better this year is that none of our coconuts are picked by monkeys. The first time you hear it, you know, people think it's a joke. They laugh, they go monkeys, but then you realize it's not a joke. And it's actually really sad.
00:18:43
Speaker
a lot of coconut in other countries, you can look this up on the PETA website. They have a lot of information about it, but basically what happens is that monkeys will be a kidnapped from the wild. Baby monkeys will be taken from their mothers and and put into basically slavery. They're chained around their neck. They're kept like on heaps of garbage or in cages and they're basically starved. So the only time that they get food is when they go and pick coconut.
00:19:07
Speaker
And a monkey can pick a lot of coconut. You know, it it is a very, um I'd say, productive way to pick coconut. They probably really increase their profits that way by not actually paying people and Monkeys can probably pick 10 times more, you know, so you get all this cheap coconut milk.
00:19:21
Speaker
But the cost of that is these enslaved monkeys that are basically being put through torture. And when they're used up and spent, they're thrown to the wild where they can't fend for themselves and and basically die. So it is really a horrible practice. I think it will become more common knowledge and you'll probably start to see this more and more. I know a lot of retailers have already made commitments to eliminate monkey labor from their supply chain. And that's one thing we can be really proud of is that not only are our coconuts fair trade, so the people who are harvesting them are actually paid fair and equitable wages, and they have safe living conditions, but also like we are never and never have used any slave monkey labor.
00:19:56
Speaker
That's a very dark part of the food system, isn't it? It was when I chatted with Ben Man when he was over at Harmless Harvest. We explored a little bit around that as well. And it's um it's haunting. It's a dark thought, dark reality. And and one I think consumers and retailers can have a lot of influence on just saying we're not going to stock those items that are done that way and if they can't be validated as such and consumers I think can speak loudly and say that's not what we want in our home so yeah it's it's a powerful thing.
00:20:27
Speaker
Exactly and we've seen that for example I mean don't I'm vegetarian I don't eat tuna but we've seen that happen in my lifetime at least around tuna you know where there was dolphins being caught in the nets and then the dolphin safe tuna became ah priority for people. And now that's common knowledge. And I kind of see it having that progression.
00:20:44
Speaker
I'd say in fair trade as well. Sadly, this, I don't think we're there yet. I think a lot of people are still not aware, but especially, you know, we're in coconut and it's important. I think it's important for us to be a fair trade because we do want to give back to the farming community.
00:20:57
Speaker
But the real like human rights violations that you'll see in something like cocoa production, you know, and chocolate in like in African countries, it's just It's really heartbreaking. You know, it's, it's children, it's child slave labor.
00:21:10
Speaker
It's horrifying. And another, another thing that people don't always see, you know, behind the scenes or don't always think of a lot of retailers have made commitments to fair trade, or at least, you know, some kind of certification to show that their chocolate or their cocoa products aren't, aren't coming from those areas.
00:21:25
Speaker
But, um, Yeah, the food system really, like I said, you know, there's so many things you could change. So it's hard to say there's one thing, like obviously there's the ecological aspect, there's the human rights aspect, there's the animal rights, there's health.
00:21:36
Speaker
But I think again, like coming back to mindset, when people start to realize those things and and want to make that effort, it doesn't mean you're always gonna be perfect. You know, you might go and buy a chocolate bar or coffee or whatever it is, but like,
00:21:47
Speaker
To have that mindset, to look for those products when you're out at the grocery store, if you have a choice to make that choice, I think that's so important because it supports the brands that are making those choices, that are making a difference in people's lives or in animals' lives.
00:22:00
Speaker
And it also sends the retailer a message that consumers want this because... The worst thing would be if, you know, we get all of our suppliers on board and everyone's going organic and everything, and then retailer doesn't buy it because the consumers aren't there, you know? So the consumer choice is so important to to really want to see that change in the world that we want to see.
00:22:18
Speaker
And education plays into that. you know As a consumer becomes more aware of the good, the bad, and the ugly, they they want to choose good. And ah the more they do that, the more available and more you know the the prices get lower as ah as more consumers jump on board with things that are important to them. So think the the extension of values and the change in consumer behavior and not just preferences, but also you know that that morality,
00:22:45
Speaker
of ah of a consumer, I think it can really move the needle on important issues like this. I agree. And that's why I like having some of those mass retailers on board. and And as much as our core really is the independence, the health food community, and that's where you'll find the biggest range of our products, but not everyone shops there and not everyone has access.
00:23:03
Speaker
So sometimes being in some of those mass and discount retailers is really ah is really a great thing for an organic brand or a fair trade brand, because it just is a more inclusive model for some shoppers where they actually can access, you know, maybe ordering online or getting it you know at a more affordable rate or whatever whatever advantage they see.
00:23:21
Speaker
That's why for us as a brand, we really want to be everywhere where the consumer shops at the best price. We always offer great deals seasonally throughout the year with all of our retail partners. And I'm really helping consumers make that choice. That's kind of what we're all about.
00:23:34
Speaker
And by the way, I'm very curious about your spiced coconut milk. That totally lines up with the whole bunch of, like the way the way that we cook in our home. I'm like, yeah, i would I would go through a few of those without without question.
00:23:48
Speaker
Yeah, we've got the the curry one, the lemongrass ginger. They're not as common, a little bit harder to find. And I mean, I i can't guarantee we're going always have those on shelf either. That might be one of those fringe skews that, you know, we have a lot of skews. Sometimes we look at them all and we go, hmm, you know.
00:24:02
Speaker
Yeah, skew rationalization. It's regular, it's the way it goes. Well, maybe I'll make sure I get it before it's gone. Yeah. It breaks my heart. You know, I guess they're all like, they're like babies for us. Like we love them all. I bet. I'm compelled to ask what's next for you guys. Shouts Organics, you know, i feel like said, obviously in Costco, i get the milk, but I feel like there's a lot of the products you've outlined earlier that I've never seen out here in the West. Do you guys have expansion plans into the West or into other places and spaces?
00:24:29
Speaker
Yeah, well, the great news is we are actually making some really good grounds in the US. Like we are expanding our SKU selection. Some of our great retail partners there, like Fresh Street Market, Choices.
00:24:40
Speaker
Whole Foods is always a great place to find all of our products. And um I would say we're always interested in doing more with Costco. We have conversations with them regularly just to see what other SKUs might fit. Of course, those have to be really like massive build products. So it won't always work for Costco.
00:24:56
Speaker
Like the spicy, for example, or even the whipped cream. we We really did want to bring that to Costco, but it is a little bit more of um a niche product, you know, so that you will still find at Whole Foods and a lot of your local grocers. The great news is that Loblaws now carries that product.
00:25:13
Speaker
And they've got a lot of banners. You've got London Drugs out there as well, which we're really excited ah partner with on on some of those products. So you can find more and more of our products, especially out West. um I'd say we've had a ah big increase in SKU selection this past year.
00:25:28
Speaker
And you can also order online from chasorganics.com. We offer free shipping with orders of $150 and more across Canada. And now the Canada post-trike is over. it's ah It's a lot better. Yeah.
00:25:39
Speaker
to order online. But we will also be looking at bringing some more of our products into the Costco online platform, which is a great way to reach Canadians all across the country who don't necessarily have access to make into a big city.
00:25:50
Speaker
And we are currently working on completely revamping our Amazon listing as well. So you'll find a greater selection of products there. And for our American listeners, we are heading to the US this year.
00:26:02
Speaker
Very excited about that. and We won't have our full range of products yet because there's a lot. So we kind of have to take a reasonable steps. I don't want to say baby steps, but just reasonable steps. So we'll launch about 10 SKUs into the US this year, starting kind of on both ends in California and the New York region.
00:26:19
Speaker
and then extending into the rest of the country. So we're definitely busy and we've got a few new products ah in the works that we'll be announcing soon. We also have, I know your listeners can't see probably unless I'm to show this, but we're excited to announce our rebrand of our rice.
00:26:34
Speaker
Our heirloom rice is getting a total rebrand and we love the new packaging, very convenient, user-friendly, and we've got some nice storytelling in the back here. So yeah, we've got a lot going on.
00:26:45
Speaker
Pearl rice is beautiful. i love it. Have you tried it? Not yours, but I have had others. Yeah. Oh, yeah. We'll send you some. Yeah, that's awesome. Well, I'm so glad we could connect and thank you for sharing the story. And Shaz Organics is a beautiful brand. You guys make beautiful products. I can't wait to get my hands on even more of it. I think I wrote down cinnamon on my notepad. I'm like, get this cinnamon. Yes. Well, we'd love to send some your way. Send me your address. We'll send you a nice care package to sample. Lucky us. That's
Conclusion and Gratitude
00:27:15
Speaker
wonderful. Well, thanks for everything you do for people and the planet and you make beautiful product and all the best to you and your team.
00:27:22
Speaker
Thank you so much. This was really a pleasure, Corwin. Thanks for inviting me on the podcast and hope to catch up with you again soon. Thanks for listening to this episode of ILE 42. Follow Chaz Organics on social and pick up one of their products the next time you're at the grocery store.
00:27:38
Speaker
That's it for me. I'm Corwin Hebert from Ethical Food Group, and I'll see you in the future.
00:27:53
Speaker
Bye.