REAL IS RARE EP 8 - Doug Miller and Dave Rynecki with Core Nutritionals + more

REAL IS RARE is back with another BANGER! On this episode, the team sits down with Doug Miller and Dave Rynecki, the powerhouse minds behind the brands Core Nutritionals, Unmatched, Merica Labz + more, for an inside look at what it really takes to build, scale, and evolve multiple successful companies in the supplement industry.

From early retail roots to managing a portfolio of brands, this conversation dives deep into the realities of entrepreneurship - navigating rapid growth, making tough decisions, and learning when to double down or pivot. The group breaks down everything from product innovation and licensing deals (including major collaborations like Transformers) to the challenges of inventory, distribution, and staying ahead in a competitive market.

More than just business, this episode highlights the importance of team, vision, and authenticity - why having the right people matters, how staying true to your standards builds loyal customers, and what it means to create products you actually believe in.

If you’re an entrepreneur, brand builder, or someone looking to understand what it takes to succeed in the supplement space, this episode offers a raw, unfiltered look behind the scenes of an industry that never slows down.

Massive thanks to Doug and Dave for making the trip across country and stopping by the LAB! Needless to say we're all excited for what's next...just a tiddy bit!

Transcript

Eric Simpson 0:08

Is that how we do it? That sounds like a Doug Miller intro. There you go. You guys take it away. I got it. Doug David, what's going on, guys? Got Core Nutritional, Unmatched, America Labs, America Energy, Crush It Gyms, Coliseum. It was enough. He did throw the America Energy in there to see that, which is foreshadowing. Maybe one day we'll bring it back. Maybe one day. It's so hard to keep track of all the brands. Yeah, there's a lot going on. It's great seeing you guys. Thanks for coming down. No, thanks for having us.

SPEAKER_02 0:37

This place is pretty sweet.

Eric Simpson 0:38

Oh, appreciate you guys coming down. Yeah, it's uh it's been a minute. We've known each other for so long. I see David occasionally. I see, you know, Dougie Fresh at the shows. But uh this is the first time Doug has stepped foot in Simpson Lab. So it's thank you. It's uh it's a true blessing.

SPEAKER_02 0:52

Thanks for having us. You guys have been great through the years and excited to keep growing with you guys.

Eric Simpson 0:56

Oh likewise, man. Likewise, for sure. So yeah, we've been doing business since 2019. So it's uh glad you knew that because I didn't even know I was before my time. I do my due diligence. So yeah, seven years ago. So it's uh amazing to see what you guys have done with all the brands over the years and where things have been going, and you know, we're just happy to be, you know, part of the team. So we appreciate it.

SPEAKER_02 1:16

We just got to see some of our products running, which is pretty cool. I mean, like I've seen a bunch of uh manufacturing facilities, but this one's up there, this one's gotta be at the top. Appreciate that. Very impressed with what you got going on here and excited about all the other things you have what you're working on. So that's pretty cool.

Eric Simpson 1:34

Thank you. Very humbling. Yeah, tip my hat to the staff every time. You know, we get kudos, you know, we we gotta give our thanks to them. You know, we would not be here without all their hard work and due due diligence and uh yeah um loyalty and just so passionate of what they do. So yeah, we're just uh happy that they're all aboard, and it's great that you know we're constantly growing, you know, more facilities, certifications, equipment, and just happy to uh, you know, continue excelling here in this cutthroat of an industry that we're in.

SPEAKER_01 2:01

So I mean, the first time I was here a couple years ago, it's just like, yeah, we're gonna be here, and then oh, we're gonna go over to this warehouse, and then it's like okay, and then it's this warehouse, and then it's Simpson Lane, it's coming.

Don Grace 2:10

I'm telling you, Simpson Lane, Simpson Wagner.

SPEAKER_02 2:13

In a much different way. It's coming. We're gonna own a block, which we it's it's about to happen. The biggest distributor down in Mexico uh we went to visit not too long ago, and they got a massive system going, but it's literally spread out throughout the city. There's like a random warehouse here, and this is this just holds like dime ties. Then there's a random warehouse over here that just holds raw, and they're just random leased facilities. They basically any open warehouse that opens up, I feel like they get it. And so literally it's like they're speckled across the entire city and they're just packed wall to wall with all this inventory. I'm like, how in the world? And I'm no disrespect to them. I'm sure they don't have the system you guys have to keep track of it. I'm like, how in the world do you know where everything is? Because it's literally in 30 warehouses, like, and everything is packed like you know, floor to ceiling. It was it was the craziest experience I've ever seen. It was wild how they keep it. And he, I think it's probably all just like here. Like, main guy just knows where everything is. What happens when that main guy is sick? Yeah, no. The right-hand man, I think, also knows, but it was it was crazy. What if they're together in the car and the same time?

SPEAKER_01 3:25

It's like the KFC secret formula.

Eric Simpson 3:27

Yeah, exactly. Well, the Coke, right? They don't coke. Two guys that have it are never on the same plane at the same time or some ridiculous thing.

SPEAKER_01 3:33

It's locked away somewhere or it's not deep in the earth. Is that real? Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. There's only two people, I think, in the world that know it and they can't travel, they can't travel together on the same, you know, in the same car or whatever, just in the event both of them die.

Eric Simpson 3:46

Coca-Cola. Yeah. I don't know how someone hasn't like took a picture of the batch record or something. This doesn't make any sense.

SPEAKER_02 3:52

Like there's people there that are making the product, right? I don't know. Who knows? Maybe it's bots. Who knows?

Eric Simpson 3:57

It's all AI. It's AI. But yeah, we have a really great uh ERP system that we've helped uh implement into the into our um our all of our facilities, and it keeps track of every location, every bin, every this, every that. You could start tomorrow and work in our pre-way department, and it's gonna tell you exactly where every single ingredient is. You know, everything is FIFO first in, first out. It'll tell you um, you know, what's quarantine, what's in process, what's approved. Uh it's a whole thing. So um that system definitely helps keep things rolling around here for sure. But yeah, if you don't have good inventory management, what are you gonna do?

SPEAKER_02 4:31

I was saying to you, like we have a fraction of the space that you guys have. And it's just like there's always something, right? Like, you know, there's we're always off on something, I feel like, in terms of inventory or something, like something goes wrong somewhere, and so I can only imagine because you know, we don't have to carry all the raws and the finished product and all the you know, like all the crazy stuff you guys do. So it hats off to you guys, it's impressive.

Eric Simpson 4:53

Yeah, I appreciate that. And yeah, it definitely goes to you know our staging staff, they're amazing. I I walk through these tour staff. Stop. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 5:04

No, it's bad because I'm the one that looks at the inventory. It's nice too. It's all this guy, everyone's good except for this guy.

Don Grace 5:11

We have the Lajua system for the fulfillment side, and like he was saying with our ERP system, the Lajua, you you can hit your you know one finger and you're gonna find anything and everything you need from your computer. You don't need to come to our warehouse and you know meet with the team and go through everything. You can if you like, but the Lajua system is just you hit one button and everything's right there for you.

SPEAKER_01 5:30

That's what that's what the three PL uses now. Yeah, look at that. Yeah, interesting. I don't remember what they had before. They they upgraded from something, that's not better. Not logical, but it wasn't that sweet.

Don Grace 5:40

Well, that's perfect then when we integrate everything over. It's even simple. No charge hit one button again.

SPEAKER_02 5:44

I'm sure Sean is gonna be watching this. He's literally in our in our HQ every week. So when do we get in that core business? So what do we get in that core business? I was like, dude, you have unmatched, just be happy that you have unmatched. I mean, that massive gym that you want to that we want to put in. You could make this whole building a gym then, and you wouldn't have to worry about any of this stuff, any of the warehouse employees, and all that. It's like he's like selling me every week. I said, just be patient, I'll come to you one day, babe.

Don Grace 6:10

How do you guys do it with all the different brands that you have? Like it's it's you know, you're almost like a unicorn because you have core, you know, your main company that that that's core was the original brand, right? And now how many different brands do you have all together?

SPEAKER_02 6:24

Core was 2004, America Labs was 2017, end of 2016, beginning of 2017, right after Trump got elected. Has something to do with those sales, and then America Energy was 2018, but COVID ended up COVID and the rebrand and some political issues basically killed that brand. And it just the energy drink company is it business is one of those things. It's like if you really want to make money out of you got to scale to 50 to 100 million dollars very quickly, otherwise you're just gonna be bleeding. And to do that, you need to invest a ton of cash up front. And we just that's not what we wanted to do. We wanted to just treat it almost as another skew for America Labs, even though even though it was a separate company. Uh, and we did really well, but then COVID killed us. We had to throw out like I don't know how much inventory, and you know, because our distribution chain got destroyed overnight, right? We had beef sticks and stuff like that too. Yeah, we had America Snacks, we had the best beef stick ever made. I still stand by it, but those beef sticks would probably cost four dollars a stick to make these days. Wow.

SPEAKER_01 7:24

Well, the RD process for it was like you had to you'd basically invest in a whole cow.

SPEAKER_02 7:28

Yeah, you would buy the cows, like it was it was awesome. We were trying to extend flavors to hooked us up with some cow guy, right? And was it was amazing. Bruce has a couple of things. Yeah, so that was 2018, 2019 launched Arms Race uh with Julian Smith. Um somehow, so I sold I sold Arms Race at the end of last year. Congratulations. Sold that sold the whole company back to Julian, so he's the full the full owner now of the brand. Um somehow we acquired myoblox for a short period of time in some random thing, it just came across me sort of like sure, you know, like we'll do this. So that's that was with like Steve Salmon and all this. And we just found out very quickly that like why are we spending time here when we already have brands that are going here? So, like that's something probably why your question you're asking is like, how do you manage that? Because I get it a lot. And then two years ago, we launched Unmatched with Chris Gethin, which I knew was gonna be a phenomenal company out of the gate, you know, his experience with bodybuilder.com and then uh cage muscle and that which turned to cage, you know, he was one of the founders there. Um and so to basically for to help him build a brand from start to finish fully aligned with what he wanted because his previous brands didn't weren't aligned, um was a cool opportunity, and that's been really fun. And you know, we've made some mistakes out of the gate in terms of where we wanted to put distribution, but ever since we kind of pulled it back in and really focused on our D2C, our own Amazon and the international play, it's been phenomenal. And so it's really exciting to I literally had to stop them from formulating products because we have go fix two years old, and we already have 74 products. I feel like, and there's I don't know how many more we're launching. We're launching two more this month. We want lost launch one Monday. We I think we have three launches this month alone. That's great, and you know, so basically I was like, guys, and you got a protein bar, we got a functional drink, we got all these things coming, and I was just like, end of I said, we're we're done innovating through the end of this year. You guys, whatever you can innovate, do it, but like it's not coming out through the year.

SPEAKER_01 9:41

Which is which is fine because it's usually like uh we're always a little bit behind on what whatever is trends or getting product product out or whatever. So like trying to just be ahead of certain certain trends and have things done and then let the marketing team just kind of do their thing and slot it in when it makes the most sense.

SPEAKER_02 9:57

So that was yeah, so there was basically then Unmatched came on two years ago. Um, and so we decided basically uh so I sold Arms Race. Uh I mean at one point in time we had how many brands did we have? Five poor, unmatched, arms race, America, MileBlocks. Right? And so there was some uh cannibalization across those. Some of them compete. So we looked at but took a very hard look at like which brands competed, which brands didn't compete, uh, and where we wanted to put our time, energy, and resources. And so we sold our shares back to Julian. We knew he'd do fine, you know, taking that brand and running. Um, and then obviously core has been with all the collaborations and all the innovations and all the cool stuff we're getting, like that brand's all you know, continues to grow, unmashes on a rocket ship. So we're like, this is where we're gonna be. And then we'll always have Merica because that's just a fun one-off brand that like you know, it's really kind of a pre work, pre-workout brand. You know, we can do some crazy things there that we wouldn't normally do under the core line. So it's really those three brands are the main or the supplement brands that we're running right now.

Don Grace 11:04

That's great. That's great. It's a lot to manage. It is a lot to manage. It's been uh it's been very, very, very, you know, exciting to see you guys scale it and the way you've been able to scale and and the team that you've been able to do it with.

SPEAKER_02 11:14

Yeah, I mean, it comes down to the people having the right people on the bus. And we just went through, you know, a pretty big big transition of some key players in our company. And you know, it's one of those things it's just like it's like not to speak ill on anyone, but this is more to speak positively on the people we did get. Really, it's just like, man, where were you guys three years ago? Because to step in and to change certain things up, and really what we ended up doing is bringing it. We brought in probably 40 years of industry experience and elevated per people that were already there, had had the experience to kind of jump up. So, you know, you know, Dave stepping up to have a major role in the company as director of RD, um, and then bringing on some outside people that have seen third certain things in the industry that we've never seen has really helped us and is kind of setting up the future for the you know the coming years.

Don Grace 12:06

Rocket ship, that's a great way to describe that that launch of that brand. Yeah, it's just you you two combining together, it's this you know, years of industry experience, what he's good at and what you're good at. Yeah, it's like the strengths are just it's like crypto.

SPEAKER_02 12:19

Yeah, I mean the unmashed is an interesting brand because you have an influencer because Chris is an influencer, but you have an influencer who actually knows what the hell he's talking about, which is rare, you know. Um, you know, in the supplement space, you know. Um, like he truly is just a complete science nerd, and he's he's involved in everything, you know. Like he and Dave in terms of the formulation, like like I don't like them sitting in a room together because you know what they come up with, I'm like it gets really quick. The stem cell product, like you're telling me you want to sell a product for $120, like that's but they only they want they they know what they want and they like demand that. And so that's the interesting thing about this brand is like you know, we found out when we decided not to continue to push for uh mass distribution in vitamin shop, you know, we can formulate differently now, right? When you look at the competitors, and that is that has resonated really well with the consumer for unmatched, they are a premium consumer, slightly older, slightly higher income, really concerned with health and longevity. And that the consumer is just like if you build amazing products, they'll pay whatever they need to pay to buy it, you know. So we don't worry as much about formulation with that brand and hitting targets, right? Because, you know, Chris is very picky, very, very, very picky.

Don Grace 13:37

Well, they want what you guys are taking and what you guys believe in, and they don't want that watered down version to fit that particular retail chain.

SPEAKER_02 13:45

Well, yeah, I mean, like we can talk about the greens that we're coming out with unmatched. There was there's literally like 50 ingredients in this product, and I think like four of them are non-organic. And basically we had to scrap the whole thing, and now we have to replace all of those just because that is what Chris has been preaching for years. And you know, like the average consumer would never know at all, nor would they care, but not Chris, not what the unmatched brother is doing.

SPEAKER_01 14:14

I think he told me it's like you know, when I look at the formula, it's like I wouldn't, like I wouldn't take it. How am I gonna promote it? It's like it's fair. He knows exact exactly what he wants.

Eric Simpson 14:27

Well, like you said, he he he's an influencer who understands the industry, he understands ingredients and formulations, you know. And you got some of these other guys that you know flex your muscles and everything and promote stuff but have no idea what's in it.

SPEAKER_01 14:40

Well, it's like uh when we did the multi-pack, and we had to go back and read you go back and reformulate it. It was just he gets questions all the time of these uh like I still I still laugh at.

SPEAKER_02 14:50

What was it like one of the incipients was not like magsterate and silicon dioxide?

SPEAKER_01 14:56

He he would get questions like, hey, why is this in why is this in here? Don't you know that that's bad, you know, it's has these detriments to it. So we had to go back and reformulate every single one of those.

SPEAKER_02 15:04

Well, it's interesting because we're not it it it really does, it's it's there's like a duality there. It's like the hardcore sports nutrition that is Chris, the bodybuilder, but also like that that um bio hacker that is Chris, right? So it's those two are kind of like it's colliding. And so we've chosen this year. We we we didn't do the Arnold this year, but instead we're doing all these health and longevity summits that are much lower crowds, much higher, you know. It some tickets to these events cost like two thousand dollars to walk the expo expo floor.

Don Grace 15:35

That's beverage floor, next week's just for a ticket.

SPEAKER_01 15:39

Yeah, he has his event next uh next month, and I think what what was that like 10 grand or something like that to just attend?

SPEAKER_02 15:46

Yeah, so like we're focusing on that, but we're finding a lot of our consumers are the 45 to 50 year old guy who wants to continue to perform like he's 25 or 30. Talk to me. Yeah, this guy, this guy, yeah. So it's interesting, and that brand is like, and where the core brand is more of your full lifestyle brand. Like literally, we have Transformers, because I'm a Transformers nerd, you know, like my kids love using the Transformers products. We have kids' multis, we have you know a ton of products that a lot of women love to use, and uh not that women don't use the unmatched brand, but it is definitely male heavy, it's more balanced on the core side. It is still demanding the core values that we started the company with, you know, very high level. I mean, it's a very premium brand, but it just you know, it I think it reaches more people, is really the the big difference there. And we use things like I love sucralose. I would put sucralose on everything. I tell Chris this all the time. When I travel, when we go on vacation, my wife and I bring a little bottle that is pure sucralose. Not that much. No, but so what we do is we'll put like a little, you know, like a little tiny. You know, just put that in your coffee.

SPEAKER_00 16:55

We call that a key. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Like a little bit of a what do we do when we were sampling? Was it how much did we say just increase it?

SPEAKER_02 17:02

Oh, a little titty bit. Yeah, a little titty bit, a little titty bit. Yeah, just a little titty bit in coffee is perfect. Perfect. Whereas Chris wouldn't touch that at all, right? And so that was one of the things. When we were making on MASH, we were just like, I was like, all right, we have to make this taste good. I do not like stevia. And so I was really impressed with where it took us six months or a year to flavor naturally stuff and make it natural stuff and make it taste like it wasn't naturally sweetened. Uh, that was a huge ordeal. And I think at one point in time we were we were almost going to throw in the towel and mix stevia and sucralose. Oh I feel like at one point in time, because that's what Cage did. That was one of the big things that Chris really didn't like, which I never understood. You're gonna spend this really expensive money on monk fruit, uh like a lot of money on monk fruit and stevia, for what? And then throw in sucralose as your last ingredients, anyways. Like why? Like you one or the other, right? Like it doesn't make sense. So that was one of the battles that we kind of went back and forth on, and finally we were able to make natural stuff. I was like, we gotta make it so I want to drink it. And we did that. So it's been cool.

Don Grace 18:04

How did you guys get Transformers? How did that whole deal come together, if you don't mind me asking?

SPEAKER_02 18:09

Because that to me, that's Dave comes to me with like, hey, you want to do a license deal with Transformers? That was it.

SPEAKER_01 18:14

And I was just like, Hell yeah, I do. Yeah, um, yeah. I mean, we were so I think at that time we s we had moose tracks and I think we had fun sweets at the time. So, like I mean, I I spent a lot of days just looking at all other licenses that were available. Like, I was deep in it. Like, there were like I know we rattled some off that we were trying to get, and we got approached by some, and um just trying to go back to the authenticity of of everything and look at like he was like, Man, it'd be cool to do something with transformers.

SPEAKER_02 18:42

They were my toys, like I had all that was like my era, right? Like it started in the 80s, like that was my jam, and so I was like, Yeah, this would be awesome. And but one of the big things was how do we make a non-flavor licensed collab be authentic? And that's why every product has an actual metal transformer in here. Uh, kudos to you guys for helping us pull that off because I was like, I don't know how the heck we're gonna do that. Yeah, so basically you have probably still you probably still have 30,000 toys, tens of thousands of metal toys sitting somewhere.

SPEAKER_01 19:12

Well, because they I don't want to say they strong armed us into buying all of them, but they're not gonna be. Yeah, they basically made us spend $100,000 on metal toys.

Don Grace 19:20

We gotta put some new products together, boys, and get those toys out of here or something.

SPEAKER_02 19:23

Or Black Friday, everyone's getting a toys.

SPEAKER_01 19:26

Yeah, but what's funny is like people will reach out to customer service, they're like, hey, you know, I'm just missing the this one character. You guys just haven't it around. We gotta buy them all.

SPEAKER_02 19:35

We do I have collected all 32. Legitimately. Legitimately, that's how much I use the products. And so the kids fight over opening them, but we have all 32. Now we also have a jar full of all the dupes. So I think we probably had we probably have five times as many dupes, you know, to get all 32.

SPEAKER_01 19:55

See, I cheated. I just kept one of the sets.

SPEAKER_02 19:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:58

I don't I don't want to give the secret on how you can actually get the whole entire set, but you know don't give that Dave.

SPEAKER_02 20:03

Yeah, you can't give it Black Friday. There you go. Black Friday.

SPEAKER_01 20:08

No, no, but it was a super fun collaboration to work with. It's like it and like getting it, we had to work through a broker to get you can't just reach out to Hasbro and hey, you know, I want to work with this brand. We had to work through other people who had contacts.

SPEAKER_02 20:22

Um Hasbro's, you know, a multi-billion dollar company, so it's pretty cool for somebody our size to be able to work with a brand like that. Um and in fact, you know, the ability like each of our licenses have helped us get different additional licenses. I don't think there's been a license that's been executed as well as Transformers in terms of the authenticity, the branding, the labels, the everything across. Most people will put a little logo on it, and yeah.

Don Grace 20:49

That care package.

SPEAKER_02 20:51

Oh, yeah.

Don Grace 20:52

When you open it up, price blow from the first initial day that he opened that up, that just captured everybody. Yeah, yeah. Like it literally everybody wanted to get the box, everybody wanted to you know open it up, and everybody wanted to have that nostalgic feeling, right?

SPEAKER_02 21:04

That's one of our the the big things about when we do a license. The first question is how do we make it authentic? So we have another license that you guys are helping us work on. That's gonna be huge, um, which is also near and dear to my heart and my childhood and even my boy's childhood, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 21:18

That we've been trying to get for six years.

SPEAKER_02 21:20

We've literally been trying to get this deal for six years, and this is a little fact that most people won't know. They'll know what I'm talking about when it comes out, but uh, we were trying to get this for America Energy. I actually have the renders when we pitched to them originally back in 2019 because this was gonna be an energy drink. But the big thing with this license collab, they're as of right now, they're they don't want us to do caffeine. So all the products we're doing are non caffeine, which is the reason why we couldn't get it six years ago when we want or seven years ago when we wanted to do the energy drink. So I don't know. I'm hoping we're gonna break them down and we're gonna be able to do it in a pre workout, like a STEM based pre workout. Okay, or an energy drink.

SPEAKER_01 22:00

Hopefully. It took them six years to come around just to want wanting to expand.

Don Grace 22:05

Was that project then or no?

unknown 22:06

No.

SPEAKER_01 22:06

No, that's different. No, no, no, no.

Don Grace 22:08

That's a different.

SPEAKER_02 22:08

That's a yeah, that's the which we did.

SPEAKER_01 22:10

That's on the unmatched side. We did pitch that to them, but they it wasn't just caffeine, it was stimulants in in general. Yeah. Yeah. They didn't they didn't want. Makes sense.

SPEAKER_02 22:18

We can have another podcast after this because I think it's really absolutely about the what the product is. And yeah, that's a whole other conversation.

Don Grace 22:27

Have you guys thought about going more into the kids category with like the whole Transformers brand? Because I feel like there's a huge opportunity for that.

SPEAKER_02 22:33

No, but it is something honestly that we could talk about because the this this other license uh that we're coming out with, you know, we always put for 18 and over on our products. Really, that's just to cover your ass. There is especially some of these products like like hydrate. Like we don't need an 18 and over warning on this. There's nothing that the FDA says or anything on these ingredients that we need. That that's literally just legal cover your butt type of thing. And our boys and their friends use this product a lot. Yeah. Um, you know, but it's so for this license deal that we're about to launch, that was one of the big discussions because we were also about to we're working with a very big retailer on this as well. And when our first renderings had 18 and older warnings on it, but it's marketed towards youth. Yeah. So how does that work? And we're like, oh, well, yeah. So we went back to the drawing board, worked with legal a little bit, and figured out all of it. So, like, yeah, it will be marketed towards kids. That 18 and older warning is off of this the first product that we're launching in this big retailer.

Eric Simpson 23:29

I'm excited for you guys for this this collab. I think it's gonna be solid. Yeah, definitely when I brought it up to you.

SPEAKER_01 23:34

You were like, Man, that's the that's the type of stuff I like to get out of bed for.

Don Grace 23:37

Yeah, I mean if you do do a Twitter brand, your sons could be the next influencers for it as well.

SPEAKER_02 23:42

Hey, we're working working on that. Yeah, yeah. They were part of their homeschooling was they had to do what, uh, a marketing ad, a post uh like a podcast setting marketing ad for their they created a t-shirt and had to try to sell it. It was called Built Different. I love it. So they had to tell the story behind it and stuff like that. So we're starting to incorporate that.

Don Grace 24:00

I see they get the work ethic from mom and dad over here, it looks like.

SPEAKER_02 24:03

Yeah. Aaron and Dave are just a they just whatever you do, don't let Griffin come in and run the coming.

SPEAKER_01 24:11

He might give you that larger media room, Aaron.

SPEAKER_02 24:14

Yeah, he probably would. He's yeah, he went look at the budget, that's for sure.

Eric Simpson 24:19

So back back to uh the the license deals that you were doing, you know. We you we started off uh I believe Moose Tracks. Was that the first license deal we did? Okay, the the the moose tracks with the pudding. That was solid. That was a game changer because that was one of the first of its kind. I remember it took almost a year just to you know finalize because those inclusions literally came from them. Yeah, Denali. Yeah, Denali. That was a whole thing. Dave and I went back and forth for so much.

SPEAKER_02 24:42

Yeah, well, they first I think you wanted that you they they wanted you to take like five truckloads of 18,000 pounds.

Eric Simpson 24:48

I'm not gonna use 18,000 pounds.

SPEAKER_01 24:50

Yeah, there's issues with the with that specific ingredient, wasn't uh it was a discontinued blend that they were using. It was like the micro the micro cups and stuff like that. Well, they were like, Well, would you go up to this larger piece? And I was like, No, and because it I don't think it would fill properly. Yeah, it was just way too much. Yeah, but that was the only product that we or that I initially pitched to them was Putin. Like that was the reason why I reached out in the first place.

Eric Simpson 25:14

Yeah. Solid product, though. I mean, uh, yeah, that was a great, great collab. And then uh then later Fun Suites kicked off FunSuit's cotton candy, one of my all-time favorite flavor systems of anything that we've done.

SPEAKER_02 25:25

That's good in anything you put it in.

SPEAKER_01 25:27

Yeah, before then I didn't really know what Fun Suites was, to be honest. But I'll be honest, largest. But you no idea.

SPEAKER_02 25:33

It's funny, you didn't know about it. Under the radar, but then once you see it, then you start seeing Fun Suites everywhere. Yes, like it is the largest U.S. cotton candy brand. Like that's what that's what they do. They make cotton candy, and using the exact same flavor systems in products was and that's what some people might not realize. That's the exact flavor system that they use in their cotton candy that have been used in every one of your supplements that was so we just had to have them make a sugar-free version and a basically uh naturally colored naturally colored the artificial color. I remember that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:03

We like to make things difficult from a sourcing perspective.

Don Grace 26:06

Of course, of course. It's the core way. Exactly.

Eric Simpson 26:12

But yeah, core hydrates uh great, great. Uh the orange hydrates definitely my favorite for sure. Yep. And then uh yeah, off to transformers. I mean, the the amount of time and energy and detail that you guys put in is is phenomenal, just not just from the labels, but you know, the packaging of the sachet, the toys that are in the sachet, the induction liner that's on the lid, the actual embossed lid itself, and then you know, top it off the custom neck band. So that is a very, very detailed project that you guys put together. So kudos. And then yeah, your your promo boxes are are amazing, you know, making all the cool sounds and effects when you open it. Um, yeah, truly freaking awesome for sure.

SPEAKER_01 26:50

I'd like to like to spare uh no expense on the spare no expensive.

SPEAKER_02 26:56

He was gonna say it, then he was just like gotta look over at me.

SPEAKER_01 27:00

Yeah, well, I mean, but but then the the experience of it all, it's just like you know, you could like Doug said, you could just make a generic core label and put the Transformers logo on it, but it's like how do you like how do you kick that up a notch? And as if you were a consumer, what would you want to have out of that collaboration?

SPEAKER_02 27:15

Yeah, I mean, at the end of the day, we look at it all as a marketing expense on it, right? So, like the license deal, there's a number to it, there's minimum guarantees, ongoing royalties, but when you're evaluating a license deal, you just gotta understand, okay, take the minimum guarantee and divide it across the month of the the the license deal. And like, are you willing to spend this much every month in marketing? You know, is that part of your marketing budget? Is it worth it, right? Um, and that's really how we evaluate whether or not we take on a new license or not. Nice, smart.

Eric Simpson 27:45

And then yeah, uh, then we do the first blood, the uh the collab with core no America labs, excuse me. That was that was cool. Which had which had the sunglasses inside of the yeah, that was super fun. First of its kind, first of its kind.

SPEAKER_02 28:01

I'm all about doing things that other people are not doing.

Eric Simpson 28:03

Well, you guys told me that. I'm like, yeah, what?

Don Grace 28:05

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:06

Crazy.

Don Grace 28:07

Everybody loved it again. They did, they did. As soon as they got the boxes, oh, we couldn't wait to open it, put their glasses on, and talk about exactly what you guys were offering. So that's the that's the way you do it. You guys definitely know how to make things go viral.

SPEAKER_01 28:18

It's super fun. And then uh, what was it the three-pound pre-workout? Three pounds.

Eric Simpson 28:23

Oh, 1776. 1776. That was the weight. That was dope. Yeah, I'm like, when are you launching this?

SPEAKER_02 28:30

It's funny. Like, I usually rip through pre-workout. I still have the exact same thumb that when we launched it, and I use it quite a bit. It's it's a heavy hit. It's not the best business decision pre pre-workout. But it was fun, but it was cool. Yeah, but it was cool.

Eric Simpson 28:44

Well, David called me. He's like, Yeah, I want this pre-workout. It has to be 17.76 grams per serving, and it has to be 1,776 grams per container, and it has to uh what was it, 100 servings? Uh 100 servings, yeah. I'm like, what? Like, I didn't get it. And then he's gonna be able to do that.

SPEAKER_02 28:59

Did he tell you about the one that we decided not to do? I guess we call it here. 250. 250.

Eric Simpson 29:03

He he brought it up, but we didn't get 250. We fought it. We gotta put something together. We called it 250. 250 of everything.

SPEAKER_02 29:15

Which every ingredient was either like 2500 milligrams or 250 milligrams in it. There's gonna be like 25 servings of like the 250s.

SPEAKER_01 29:24

So like it had vaso drive in it, so I was gonna put like 250 and then in like a little parenthesis, like four. You know, I like it. I like it. I actually think we put it on paper and you quoted it.

Eric Simpson 29:35

Probably so.

SPEAKER_01 29:36

So, like the the marketing team or the sales team was like, no, we don't need to do anything else for America Labs this year. So I said, okay, we'll just do it next year and we'll just make it 251. 251. There's what it is. There you go. Every year you can update 252 the formula a little bit. Yep. A little bit more extra, one extra gram. I'm pretty sure that falls within the the error uh range. Yeah, kind of like 1776. Yeah. Oh man. That's fun. No, super fun.

Don Grace 29:58

And you guys have a pretty good, well mapped out plan for everything you want to do strategically for the next year or so, it seems like with all the different brands.

SPEAKER_02 30:05

Yeah, for sure. Unmatched is pretty much completely locked down all the way through Black Friday, end of the year, all the launches. We've gotten much better about getting ahead of all of these launches and making sure that they go seamless. And um, you know, we're just way more organized now with the marketing launches because we have so many across so many brands, it's hard to keep track. Of course, there's still some asterisk out at the end of the year, but we have some big big lines of product that we're gonna be dropping hopefully this year for international market and some other big things coming. So that's not all as finalized as the unmash on the unmash side. Uh but for the most part, we're pretty locked in. Way better than we were a couple years ago, where it was a little more flying by the seat of your pants.

Don Grace 30:47

Yeah, it's nice though, when you have everything all planned out, it allows you to get it.

SPEAKER_02 30:50

Yeah, it's way less stressful. I mean, sometimes things happen and they get pushed off, and we're we don't move the launch, and then the product's coming in late, and you know, it's just for one reason or another, but we try to avoid that as best we can.

Don Grace 31:01

Now, what what makes would you say is domestic and international your business? Is it like 90, 10?

SPEAKER_02 31:07

I don't have that exact number because it is changing. Yeah. Um we used to be really big in Australia on the core side, but the Australian market's dead. It's just dead. It's all how it's all Australian brands and the exchange rate and all that pretty much killed that. You know, we still ship to the Australia, uh, but it's smaller, it's not big distribution. Um but our big play for us is Middle East, South America, is where there's a lot of expansion happening. Uh Ryan Keller, who came on board, uh, is driving a lot of that. Um so we're growing a lot in the in those areas, and that's a big focus. Like we have an employee that's over in the uh um in the Middle East that works for us, uh, who's growing out the whole MENA region, uh, the Middle East and North Africa. So I expect the mix will change a lot over the coming in the next year or so because there's a lot of expansion going on internationally.

Don Grace 31:57

Great. Any shows planned or anything like that?

SPEAKER_02 32:00

Or the Olympia, but we're not doing um we've decided to not do the booths on the floor. We spent all our money inside because on the basically at the Renaissance, basically getting a ballroom because that's where we meet with a lot of our international partners.

Don Grace 32:17

That's where all the business happens.

SPEAKER_02 32:18

And so that's where all the business happens. And so last year we did both, and we were just like overwhelmed in the meeting room. And like, and we had to bring a full team to do the booth as well. So we're just like this year, we just got we extended the meeting room. Uh, it's a uh longer time. We get three days instead of two days in the meeting rooms, and we're already booking up meetings for there with a lot of our partners. Um, so that's gonna be our big next big show. We'll always do the Arnold in some fashion, but like you never really see a return on their shows. There's there's more just to kind of go and you know, say what's up to the people that support you and you know, stuff like that. Possibly. And there's some, like I said, there's some long uh the longevity, the biohacked uh shows that um are more along the lines. That would be an unmatched play. So we do have a couple of those lined up for the end of May.

Don Grace 33:09

That's what you're saying earlier.

SPEAKER_02 33:10

Yeah, so we have a big one at the end of May. Uh just a different crowd and who's been buying and supporting a lot of the products. So we're gonna see how that uh goes as opposed to the bigger trade shows. Um, but again, most of our business is done in the meeting room, and so the we'll have a big presence at the Olympia, you know, at the Renaissance.

Eric Simpson 33:28

So I got a question. If you're gonna do expo with a match, are you gonna have a tattoo booth again?

SPEAKER_02 33:32

I mean, we should. You should. We totally should. Absolutely. But I mean, the people go into that, are they getting tattoos? Well, I mean, I guess you never know. That was a hit. We were booked out the entire time. That was something. There's always though, you gotta get sanitation certificates and you gotta do this and that.

SPEAKER_01 33:47

We had to turn people away. Like, I think well, he was maybe to do like one every 30 minutes or hour, but then he needed to break and rest.

SPEAKER_02 33:54

I know there were people that didn't need to clean the needles and lice a lot.

SPEAKER_01 34:00

Spray it down a little bit. We could just bring Merrica again and just just do haircuts. Like that was a product.

SPEAKER_02 34:09

That that works. So we did we were giving away mullets and American flags, haircut. I actually wasn't at that one though. For a pre for a pre-workout, though, it's like you get a bowl cut or you get a mullet. You stand in line and they get a bowl cut and a mullet. The problem is our barber that who we love it, who we had, she was doing like way too good of a job. The idea behind it was you come and you get and you literally just do like a bowl cut, like an ugly, dumb and dumb or bowl cut, or just like a mullet where you literally just shave it off quick and call it a day.

SPEAKER_05 34:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:38

Um, but she was like fading it up and it was all looking good. So we didn't get as many, like there were we couldn't get through them all. The line we could have been cutting hair for three weeks from what we saw.

Don Grace 34:49

You've got to do supercuts next time.

SPEAKER_02 34:51

Super cut.

SPEAKER_01 34:52

Yeah, is it like two or three years ago? It I think we gave away it was Trump or Trump pre. I think that was the one that we gave out. Yeah, it was the launch of the Trump pre.

Eric Simpson 34:59

Oh, the burning, burning, yeah, yeah.

Don Grace 35:02

Yeah, yeah, it's Sleepy Joe. Sleepy Joe. Sleepy Joe, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:05

Man I think the F tyranny, which I got kicked off Alibaba for.

SPEAKER_02 35:10

Dave on Alibaba is no longer Dave Renickey. He's Michael Scott. He's Michael Scott.

SPEAKER_01 35:15

That is fantastic. Funny, the DHO driver, he he he cut he came by because I had a sample come by for Michael Scott, and uh he's like, he's like, You're not Michael Scott. I was like, because I had another package for actual me, like actual Dave. Yeah. I was like, Oh, I think I have another one there. He's like, Oh, I didn't know this because they said Michael Scott. I was like, Yeah, it's me too. He's like, You're on Michael Scott.

SPEAKER_02 35:35

Well, the lady, Dave was trying to message her on Alibaba, and then she started WhatsApp and him, like, stop contacting me to shut down my business. Oh my god. So we were trying to print big posters of the labels for F Tyranny, which one of them had uh the president of China getting drop kicked in the or punched in the face, and he was in a Winnie the Pooh uh costume, which is like this massive, I guess apparently, who knew, uh, massive insult. And so, like, I guess somehow they were getting in trouble for this. They printed the sample though. I don't know. They printed us samples and sent them to us. Like, you didn't know, you made the decision, it wasn't us. Yeah, that was there was a lot going on in that label. They probably didn't get a magnifying.

SPEAKER_01 36:16

Well, so we we were also trying to print uh samples of the 1776 label on a big uh which we do it's like a 24 by 56 poster. Whoa. We have the samples, we just never ran. I think I do. Yeah, we actually have them. Send them down, send them to them.

Eric Simpson 36:29

I would love that.

SPEAKER_01 36:29

Yes, put it with the collection list. Yeah, they might actually be stickers too. So you could peel them off, paste them somewhere, no problem. That's great. No, so yeah, I got kicked off by Alibaba for America Labs. Shame on you.

Eric Simpson 36:39

That tyrant, that was a great, that was a great launch.

SPEAKER_02 36:42

It is great. That's that's really kind of like the flagship product right now for America Labs. Oh, yeah. Like it's a great value for what you're getting, and that does really well. And yeah, international markets are liking that one too. America Labs. America, not of my back. Yeah, there's no A.

Don Grace 37:04

I I I can't believe it's had the staying power because typically brands like that they come and they go, you know what I mean? Yeah, I mean, and it's one of the for staying power.

SPEAKER_02 37:14

That brand trust does does go like this. Yeah, it's never gonna be like just the constant steady growth, it's always gonna be like this. Yeah, and that's just kind of where what we've decided to do with the brand. We don't spend a ton of time on it. We don't, you know, we don't have full social media plans, you know, and all of that.

SPEAKER_01 37:29

Um, it's more of just kind of that fun it had products like it didn't probably really need to have, like like Maha probably doesn't fit. But I really wanted to do the label because the label was awesome. Yeah, we had Full Metal Jacket, which is uh uh natural anabolic. There was like Sleepy Joe, and they always did really well in our retail stores.

SPEAKER_02 37:47

Like America was always a big seller in our retail stores.

Don Grace 37:50

Well, that's the interesting part about yourself is you pretty much come from the retail background. Yeah, which I don't know if I don't even know. Well, that's why a lot of people even know that, right?

SPEAKER_02 37:58

That's why America started, is because we were seeing products with like snakes and skulls and like just shitty formulas with like you know, these crazy labels that people will come in and buy, and then they wouldn't come back and buy it again because they had a bad experience. And so that was the whole idea behind America Labs. Stick to the same core principles that core uses, but go a little more edgy on the labels, spark a response, try to get an emotional response out of the labels, whether you hate it or you love it. Um, and then you'll continue to come back because it's a great product. That's the whole that was the whole idea. When we first launched it, we launched it in our stores and we didn't tell anyone that we were involved in it. It was just literally like top secret. Right. It wasn't until we were on the market for about six months that we let people know. Yeah. Yeah. That first product. That was when DMHA was still the glory days. It was so good. That's still Philly. The original Red, White, and Boom is still the name was great, Red, White, and Boom.

SPEAKER_01 38:55

Undeniably. I had a sample packet that was probably like two years expired. I still have it. I gave it to him. There you go. You haven't used it yet? No, I just can't. It's the last one.

SPEAKER_02 39:04

It's like one of those things.

Eric Simpson 39:07

Dodger game tomorrow. We're going to Dodgers. Doug's first Dodger game. It's true. I'm excited for you. It's true. Excited for you. Against the Cubs. Fuck the Cubs. Fuck the Cubs. Go Yankees. It's gonna be a good time. Yankees. Yeah, let's go Yankees. How many games do you go to a year? Probably about 30, 33, and then usually we do all the playoffs in the World Series, so 40, 45, 52 last year. Anyway, yeah, yeah, I think it was about last year. We did a lot of games. A lot of games last year. Because you know, I'll usually book 20 to 25 per season, which is a quarter um season ticket holder. But then we have you know customers, partners, you know, um whatever it be, uh suppliers, people come in town last minute, we'll we'll grab a game at the last second, so that starts to add up. So we appreciate it. I'm excited for it. Yeah, I'm excited for you.

SPEAKER_02 39:59

Yeah, we didn't tell we didn't tell our 12-year-old son that we were coming. Luckily, this is after the game. Well, we were gonna try, but he has fly he has Friday night lights, which is a uh on so they big tournament on Friday night. It's once a year they or once a season they'll play one Friday night tournament. So like this is this is yeah, and it's his 12-year season, so like they kind of don't like it's his last time playing on the smaller fields and all you know that stuff. So it's just like danger. So we didn't tell him because if we told him we were going to a box seat at the Dodgers game, as much as he loves baseball, I think he would have bailed on his own team and been here why didn't he come?

Don Grace 40:32

We'll schedule another time, yeah. For sure next time, definitely bring him out.

SPEAKER_01 40:36

Yeah, that would be awesome. Eric's been trying to get me out here for six years since we first got the business.

Eric Simpson 40:42

So long. Yeah, finally finally made it happen. So yeah, super stoked. But yeah, glad you guys have come down, you know, finally take a tour, see where stuff's being made. You know, kind of give you a better uh feeling and aura and understanding of our operations and our personnel here. But uh yeah, as always, we appreciate the opportunity.

SPEAKER_01 41:00

It's a very smooth operation, I'm gonna say like it's pretty seamless. Yeah, seems seems like that, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_02 41:06

It's I can only manufacturing baby. All I'm thinking is the chaos in the background. Like I'm just thinking about, like I said, just like how do you keep track of that little box right there?

Eric Simpson 41:17

For the most part, things go smoothly. We'll take care of that part for you.

Don Grace 41:21

Yeah, but it is it is controlled chaos. Yeah, absolutely. I'm sure it is chaos. I'm sure it is. But really, really appreciate you guys making the trip out here today. Um, can't thank the wife enough for letting this actually happen because I never thought it would happen. So thank you, Steph. She's just excited the kids aren't here. As much as we love him. I see how interactive you guys are with your family and stuff like that. And like he's never gets a break, that's what I'm saying. He's got his Friday night lights, and for like you guys to actually come out here for all this. Thank you guys. Really appreciate that. Appreciate you having us. And thank you for letting him come out here.

unknown 41:53

Cool.

SPEAKER_02 41:54

All right, thank you guys. How do you end this thing? Do you guys do you guys have a you want to get crazier? See you later. I don't know.

Eric Simpson 42:00

We've been talking about that for a while, and I just we haven't come back. Where everything's made up, and the prices don't matter.

Don Grace 42:05

There you go. Yeah, you can say whatever you want, we'll let you close it out. Till next time, keep crushing it.

Eric Simpson 42:11

Wait, let's see the let's see the guns. Real is rare.

SPEAKER_02 42:14

Right. There you go. Oh, there you go. I like that. Right. There we go. That's till next time, keep crushing it.