La Republica Mushroom Coffee - How Mark Merthe Built a Multi-Million Dollar Brand

WEBVTT

00:00:05.033 --> 00:00:26.495
This is the Beyond the Story podcast, a show that goes way beyond the story. And now, Sebastian Rusk Mark, welcome to the show. Hey, thank you so much for having me.

00:00:26.535 --> 00:03:00.068
I really appreciate it. Hey, thanks for taking some time out of your busy day to hang out with me for a few minutes. I appreciate your time. I know we connected through the great Dan Martell's elite business coaching group. I met a lot of great humans through that group. Really grateful for that community and what Dan puts out in this world. So great to finally meet you here via podcast interview, but podcasts are my jam. So it's not uncommon that I'm meeting new faces on a podcast, but I love what you're up to. I'm excited to talk about your story on this show. I love telling people's stories and for context purposes, for our listeners, I always like to go back to the beginning of the story. The beginning is different for everyone. So you decide what that beginning is, but bring us back. to where this all started and let's unpack what brought you to present I love it. Thank you so much for having me. And I, I have been Dan's teachings been life changing and just meeting people like you has been one of the best parts about it. So, um, my story is kind of interesting. I'm a video editor for 25 years in Hollywood started at the Simpsons and went over to Nickelodeon cartoon network and then Disney and spent a lot of years at Disney going, what the heck am I doing here? I didn't love working for that company and and i knew i had a greater purpose and i moved to los angeles because i'm a songwriter came out here the long-haired band in the 80s and um as well so about 15 years ago i got a publishing deal to write music with a bunch of the american idols the voice and all those type of people i write with a big reggae One of the biggest probably the biggest female reggae artists currently have written six of her singles So we're writing music always been into health and wellness and I found this four sigmatic product through my brother That was mushroom coffee. And at the time it wasn't organic. It just come out from Finland and I was like man this stuff really gets your brain on fire, but I don't love the taste to be honest and I And it's not organic and we try to eat mostly all organic so i look there was no other products at the time so we. Me and my brother talked, I said, can we make this, you know, but make it organic, add more mushrooms and really get this focus going. Cause now we're doing all these music sessions and everyone's like, where's the mushroom coffee. Cause it really helps your synapses, the lion's mane. And it really helps you think and focus. And, uh, so we. Sourced super premium coffee.

00:03:00.128 --> 00:03:07.230
And I found this incredible brand of seven mushrooms on Amazon. They're still on their excellent brand. And I said, can I buy some.

00:03:08.276 --> 00:04:05.365
Mushrooms off you. It took me about six weeks to convince him to sell me some wholesale mushrooms and we blended it in our kitchen and came up with this product and, and, uh, launched it on Amazon. It was us and four sigmatic. Now there's about a hundred brands and all the big boys that kind of gotten into the game. And, um, but it was pretty cool to, uh, to just start that product. And within two years, I was able to quit my editing job after 25 years. And, uh, that was a pretty high paying job and that dream of getting out of that office and just sitting under fluorescent lights and working on five screens is basically what you're doing. It was realized because of this mushroom coffee and COVID hit and that's when it really kind of blew up because people were looking for health and wellness shelf stable products and stuff that was going to build immunity of which we tick all those boxes.

00:04:05.405 --> 00:04:43.312
So that's kind of the story of how La Republica became a brand that's the only family-owned non-corporate brand that's in tons of your favorite stores, like Erewhon in Los Angeles, the hardest store on the planet to get into. We're in Erewhon and we're just got in Gelson's, which is again, another LA brand, but we've been private labeling for some other major chains that are around the country as well. And this year we're going to go the full United States. So that's kind of the whole story of where we Very cool. So you can essentially tell people that you quit your Hollywood job.

00:04:47.512 --> 00:04:54.458
100% my new, I'm going to an expo and I just put, I tried shrooms and loved it. Right. That's like on the back of my thing.

00:04:54.497 --> 00:06:08.107
So it's, it's funny because, uh, as a non-drug user, of course, that's the first question everyone says is like, Oh, what kind of mushrooms you put in functional? And they all think they're the first one that said that, which is the funny part. They Yeah. I've been, I got on the, uh, I haven't, I haven't tried any, um, like notable brands, but I tried, I found a couple random That's, I'm so glad you said that. That's what we only do coffee and mushrooms. The mushrooms we're using are super high extracts, so they don't taste like it tastes like coffee. And that's what we get when we go to these expos, which have, you know, 20,000 of the new best organic products that you've ever seen. We're sitting there pouring and we keep hearing over and over, Oh, is it like rise or mud water? I've been trying, I've been trying to drink rise, but I I don't like the taste. And so it's sitting in my shelf and we pour it and they're like, Oh my gosh, this just tastes like coffee. And then they come back about 20 minutes later and like, Oh my gosh, I feel the focus that you, you know, you're not kidding when you say this stuff actually works. And that's really one of the only supplements I take a lot of healthy supplements.

00:06:08.767 --> 00:06:33.574
It's the only one I actually take that you actually feel it 20 minutes later or less and you for two hours and you know, it's working. You don't have to wonder, do I, do I have enough milligrams or, you're taking your B12 or your D3, you don't really ever know if it's doing anything, but you just hope it does. But this is a real deal product and my best pitch for it is I feel about 10% better every single day on mushroom coffee.

00:06:34.875 --> 00:08:59.779
So do you drink regular coffee at all? It is still regular. I mean, it is instant coffee with mushrooms. I also do a ground with mushrooms, and we're going to launch a whole bean with mushrooms soon. So it is real coffee. Instant has a bad name, but it's actually the most um, consumed across the world. It's really just America that it doesn't as much, but that's changing too, because higher end brands are starting to do instant. We might have a partnership that we're going to work on with Verve and Verve is a great brand in every store. And, and they just started, they launched their own instant. They're really known as a whole bean brand, but instant can be excellent. If it's processed properly, if the coffee's good in the first place, and then it has to be processed properly. And our, We have a product called the Elite, which really is the best instant coffee on the planet. I promise you that you'll never find a better one, but it does not taste like instant at all. Like it's literally as good or better than any brewed coffee and super smooth. It's also low acid, easy on the gut and all So I just pulled up my Amazon orders. I've ordered your So I'm completely hilarious. We were that little brand and Yeah. Yeah. We, um, that's the label that was designed by the reggae artists that we were writing with. And she loved it so much. She wanted to sell it on tour. Her name's Hyrie. And, uh, yeah, so I've written a bunch of her singles and it was a great little mix up. She's now got a deal with monster energy drink, so she can no longer promote ours monsters a little bigger than we are. So, yeah, no, she, she's doing great and she's a wonderful, wonderful artist and person. So, uh, but yeah, that's the tie dye look. You know, that's that one. But generally, I was like, man, that looks familiar. I'm like, why does this look familiar? Like, I feel like I love it. And I hope you loved it as much as as I do. We we just I mean, I never get sick. I always feel I never get jitters. And generally, to answer your question about do I drink coffee? We're like the biggest coffee nuts on the planet. So this stuff didn't taste Yeah. So without giving away the secret sauce, how does one get mushrooms to taste like traditional coffee?

00:09:00.796 --> 00:09:43.692
Well, it's coffee with mushrooms. So that's the key. Um, you know, it's, it's, uh, the majority is coffee and what the dirty secret out there, which you'll be able to find out other than four sigmatic, which is the guys that started this. We're like the only guys using real mushrooms at high extract. So what that means is there's a ton of fake mushrooms. They can grow it on a big block of grain or Brown rice grow about that much mushrooms. And then they grind that whole block. And then that's why, if you look at the back of Mudwater, you'll see other ingredients, oats, or stuff called Milo, which is cheap grain given to cows. It says sometimes even humans eat Milo.

00:09:44.152 --> 00:09:51.517
So, it's like literally they're grinding that and calling it lion's mane. So, what we're using is called full-fruiting bodies, just mushrooms.

00:09:52.653 --> 00:10:48.214
only the mushrooms, not the roots, not the thing it's grown on. And we're using an eight times dual extracted, which is water and alcohol extracted. So what they end up with is a really fine, fine powder that's hyper concentrated. So it adds a little earthiness. and a little creaminess, but that's amazing. And coffee, it literally makes instant coffee or regular coffee tastes better than without the mushrooms. Um, as long as you, you know, don't mind a tiny bit of earthiness Yeah. So, um, sounds like you got a lot, you said you had a, just an absolute banner year and it looks like 2026 is, is on deck to, to, to, to supersede that as well with all of the moving parts you got going Oh, definitely having it bless the family and other people. Like we have amazing workers.

00:10:48.654 --> 00:11:06.236
Um, we've got several family members that now work for the company. Um, Even my partner, who's the manufacturer, he's like got at least five or six family members, you know, including the brothers-in-law and stuff working for his company, which gets, you know, we give him business.

00:11:06.297 --> 00:12:58.046
It helps their, you know, hire more people on his end. So I think the ability to create jobs for others is probably my favorite thing and to make people healthier. I mean, I guess to tell you my whole story, it comes down to one simple thing. I don't want cancer. So for 30 years, I try to eat right, eat organic. I take supplements and do everything I can. And I've never had a sickness and illness, you know, and I thought it was med forms. It's like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Uh, I've been to the doctor just for regular checkups three times in my life. I'm 55 and I started at 45, you know, going to the, I better go get a checkup. I've never run to a doctor. So, you know, that's the whole goal. And so I love that it creates jobs and that we can have family. Um, we have a stay at home mom that didn't want to go back to work. So now she's doing part-time for us. Raising her kid at home instead of having to go leave her kid and go to work so those are huge benefits for us and then making people healthier when they call me up and say hey i've got stage four cancer and i only drink your coffee or i haven't been able to drink coffee for years cuz my gut health and i finally found a coffee that. I can drink and I feel amazing on it. So it sounds I'm not pitching at all. It literally is what I hear every single day. I've got text messages. I've got emails to prove it. And I Yeah. Well, I mean, you're very mission based here and very focused on the impact that it's making both internally and externally with both the product and the people that you're working with. And that's so important to be dialed in to that mission. You know, Mark, it's been so great to finally meet you, but also get to know more about your business and your brand. Being an existing customer where I didn't even realize I was an existing customer is even more exciting.

00:12:58.566 --> 00:13:22.443
For those of you listening, I'm going to put a link in the show notes. That's the description of this podcast episode. It's going to bring you right to LaRepublicaSuperfoods.com where you can pick up some of this product. I'm sure you're probably curious about what it tastes like and what the experience is like now that Mark's talked about it and I've raved about it as well too. So be sure to pick some up and and give it a shot. I'm sure you'll like it. Uh, or take a shot, shot of mushroom coffee.

00:13:22.464 --> 00:14:54.751
That's exactly what I was going to say. That was great. And I will say do for people that don't drink coffee, we sell just the mushrooms. We do matcha, green tea, black tea, and, uh, other products, hot chocolate. So yeah, it's, uh, it's not just coffee. It's really just mushrooms, but we're hiding it in different things that people want to enjoy every day. So thank you so much. Your, an amazing host, made it so easy. For my first podcast, I got my feet wet. Let's go. Thank you so much, Sebastian. Any final thoughts for our listeners, Mark? No, just stay healthy, man. Don't get cancer. It's totally preventable to an extent. I mean, obviously, there's weird things that happen, but just educating yourself on all the crazy stuff in our foods and all the, you know, living too close to highways or on golf courses with all the glyphosate. I mean, those It's amazing when you educate yourself a little bit and realize that you can avoid so many bad things by just being just a little more aware of it. And once you get on that path, you know, the algorithms feed you more. So yeah. So love Have a great day. You too, man. Until next time, friends. Thanks so much for tuning into this episode of the Beyond the Story podcast. We sure do appreciate it. If you haven't done so already, make sure you're subscribed to the show. This way you'll get updates as new episodes become available. If you feel so inclined, please leave us a review. We sure do appreciate it. Signing off from the podcast, launchlab.com studios.