Goodwolf Q and A
with Keenan Smith, founder and CEO of Goodwolf Feeding Company
Marlene's:
How does one find oneself ranching kefir for a living?
Keenan:
My family and I had been drinking kombucha for years, but had switched to sparkling water for something less sour, no caffeine, no sugar etc. Like a lot of people, we started buying tons of La Croix. The problem is, there are literally zero benefits to drinking no-nutrient, bubbly water. Then we heard about water kefir and that it had the probiotics of kombucha, but was less sour and more palatable as an everyday drink. We started making small batches in our kitchen at home, and as these stories tend to go, our friends loved it and said “Hey, y’all should bottle this!” So we rented a shared kitchen space in Portland and started very small and organically.
I had heard the popular legend about the two wolves inside each person, the good wolf and the bad wolf, and how the one who thrives is the one you feed. I thought... “That’s it! Goodwolf Feeding Company!” That’s how we got our name. This name also leaves the door open to potential new products that also align with that concept of making the right choices and feeding the better wolf inside of us.
Marlene's
:
Why should everyone want to drink kefir water, and in particular, Goodwolf?
Keenan:
If you like kombucha, you will like water kefir. If you like sparkling water, you’ll like water kefir. If you like soda, you will likely also enjoy water kefir. It’s a great tasting, light and refreshing drink that contains all the gut-healthy living probiotics and enzymes that our bellies crave!
Goodwolf raises the bar by having the most unique and thought-out recipes and flavor profiles. Example, our “Turmeric Gold” flavor uses organic turmeric, organic pineapple, cold-pressed organic ginger juice, cold-pressed organic lemon and lime and a pinch of black pepper. It’s a very tasty formula! All of our varieties are certified organic.
Marlene's:
Are you involved in any community building projects or have interests in supporting a particular cause or charity?
Keenan:
I worked in the natural food industry before starting Goodwolf. I worked for the first and only Certified B Corp brokerage, Yin Yang Naturals, where charity and “using business for a force of good” was deeply engrained the ethos of the organization. That experience helped to shape my views on good governance. As a broker, I launched plenty of brands that were mission driven, and some put mission before everything else. We didn’t want to lead with our mission statement. We chose to make a great product with a unique brand message... and decided we would take a thoughtful approach to our company’s social mission. With that being said, we’re currently in the process of articulating that message. We are aligning Goodwolf as, quite possibly, the industry’s first brand with a dedicated mission to drive mental health awareness. This has the added bonus of overlapping with current research that’s being done linking our gut-health directly to our mental health. Did you know 90% of serotonin is actually made in the belly, not the brain? Amazing!
Marlene's:
Can we get a peek into the future (new formulations, projects or aspirations)?
Keenan:
We currently have 4 flavors on the market, Turmeric Gold, Hibiscus Bloom, Coconut Lime and Ginger Lemon. Our fifth product, which lands this spring and was incredibly popular in our trial runs, is Habanero Fire! It’s loaded with spicy organic ginger, habanero and cayenne, as well as organic cold-pressed lemon juice and apple cider vinegar. It’s just the right amount of heat along with the brightness of the citrus (like a spicy margarita).
We also have some products under development using a great new ingredient: organic cold-pressed hemp juice. It’s not a CBD isolate or distillate, but pure, whole-plant hemp juice. It’s like wheatgrass, but loaded with amino acids and omega 3 fatty acids. We’re making a delicious “Hemp Mojito” with organic lime and organic Oregon mint!
