The Meat Mafia Podcast

In this episode, we sit down with Trevor Gibbs, the founder of MANBAR, to discuss his journey in creating a truly unique and nutrient-dense meat bar. Trevor Gibbs is an avid outdoorsman, hunter, and cooking enthusiast who combined his passions to create MANBAR. MANBAR's journey started in Trevors home kitchen selling to friends. In scaling production, Trevor has remained adamant in his continued use of regenerative, grass-finished bison and beef, along with a commitment to avoiding encapsulated acids and seed oils; setting MANBAR apart from many other meat snacks. Listeners will gain valuable insights into the importance of clean ingredients, the benefits of high-fat content in snacks, and the mindset behind building a brand that prioritizes quality over shortcuts.

In this episode, we dive into a range of topics, including the evolution of MANBAR from a meat and nut bar to a high-fat bison and beef stick, the importance of clean ingredients and avoiding encapsulated acids and seed oils, the challenges in finding the right co-packer and scaling production while maintaining quality, the concept of "man hands" and the pursuit of excellence in one's craft, the art of hunting and its connection to food appreciation and sharing meals, building a brand that prioritizes quality over shortcuts and staying true to one's values, the benefits of MANBAR's high-fat content for active individuals, supporting local artisans and the value of handcrafted, high-quality products, the role of authenticity and genuine messaging in building a resonant brand, the long-term vision for MANBAR and focusing on the journey rather than just the outcome, and other topics. 

*** LINKS***
 
Check out our Newsletter -
Food for Thought - to dramatically improve your health this year!

Join The Meat Mafia community Telegram group for daily conversations to keep up with what’s happening between episodes of the show.

Connect with MANBAR
Website
Instagram

Connect with Meat Mafia:

Instagram - Meat Mafia
Twitter - Meat Mafia
YouTube - Meat Mafia

Connect with Noble Protein:

Website - Noble Protein
Twitter - Noble Protein
Instagram - Noble Protein

AFFILIATES
  1. LMNT - Electrolyte salts to supplement minerals on low-carb diet
  2. The Carnivore Bar - Use Code 'MEATMAFIA' for 10% OFF - Delicious & convenient Pemmican Bar
  3. Perennial Pastures - Use CODE 'MEATMAFIA' 10% OFF - Regeneratively raised, grass-fed & grass-finished beef from California & Montana
  4. Farrow Skincare - Use CODE 'MEATMAFIA' at checkout for 20% OFF
  5. Heart & Soil - CODE ‘MEATMAFIA’ for 10% OFF - enhanced nutrition to replace daily vitamins!
  6. Carnivore Snax - Use CODE 'MEATMAFIA' Crispy, airy meat chips that melt in your mouth. Regeneratively raised in the USA.
  7. Pluck Seasoning - 15% OFF - Nutrient-dense seasoning with INSANE flavor! Use CODE: MEATMAFIA
  8. We Feed Raw 25% OFF your first order - ancestrally consistent food for your dog! Use CODE 'MEATMAFIA'
  9. Fond Bone Broth - 15% OFF - REAL bone broth with HIGH-QUALITY ingredients! It’s a daily product for us! Use CODE: MAFIA

Creators & Guests

Host
Brett Ender 🥩⚡️
The food system is corrupt and trying to poison us... I will teach you how to fight back. Co-Host of @themeatmafiapod 🥩
Host
Harry Gray 🥩⚡️
Leading the Red Meat Renaissance 🥩 ⚡️| Co-Host of @themeatmafiapod

What is The Meat Mafia Podcast?

The Meat Mafia Podcast is hosted by @MeatMafiaBrett and @MeatMafiaHarry.

We're two guys who walked away from the typical path to carve out something different. Based in Austin, we’re on a mission to figure out what it takes to live a fulfilled life in a world that often pushes us away from meaning.

We have conversations with people we believe can help us, diving deep into the pillars of health, wealth, and faith, as the cornerstones of our mission.

Whether it's challenging the modern food system, questioning conventional health advice, or building something from the ground up, we're here to explore the tough questions and share the lessons we’ve learned along the way.

If you're tired of the noise and ready to find meaning, tune in and join us!



themeatmafiapodcast.substack.com

Speaker 1:

Welcome back to another episode of the Meme Mafia podcast. My name is Harry Gray. I'm one of the cohost of the Meme Mafia alongside of my dear friend and cofounder of Noble Origins, Brett Ender. We are so excited for you to be here. If this is your first time, welcome.

Speaker 1:

We are putting our heart and soul into this show. This is episode 282. We've had done so many incredible guests. So if this is your first time here, I highly recommend you taking a quick scroll. I think you'll get a flavor for what exactly we talk about, but our core mission is to fix the food system.

Speaker 1:

We see a lot of problems out there in the world today, and one of which is the fact that we are getting fed lower and lower quality of food quality food. And our mission is to help support the ecosystem that is trying to drive change in this world in terms of putting higher quality food into our bodies and onto our tables. So with that being said, on today's episode, we had on Trevor Gibbs, one of our dear friends here in Austin. We met Trevor about a year ago, and as you guys will hear in the episode, legitimately one of the most authentic and kindhearted guys that we've met in Austin. And a year ago, we met him, and he was working on this concept called the meat and nut bar, or manbar.

Speaker 1:

And when Trevor was first starting the product, he was really in that iterative stage trying to get the formulation correct. And fast forward 1 year, this man is launching this product this week. Go check out trymanbar.com. You'll see everything you need to know about the brand in there and on this episode, but this is a healthy beef and bison stick that has 30% fat content and is sourced from regeneratively raised beef and bison. Incredibly tasty snack meant to be in the hands of people who are just doing the thing.

Speaker 1:

People who are out there climbing mountains, blazing trails, who are skiing down steep slopes and hunting elk and just doing all the things that you could possibly think of. So go check out Trevor's website, try Manbar. Support this man. He just launched his product. If you really feel compelled to buy his product, use code meat mafia for an additional 15% off.

Speaker 1:

This is this is a great story for people who are just looking to get that nudge in the right direction. If you're inspired to potentially start a product of your own, you'll hear Trevor talk about exactly what he's been doing over the past year to get this product to market. And I think you'll love the conversation around how he's going about sourcing this this product and the intentionality that he has around that, but also how he's trying to communicate the message. I think Trevor is trying to keep it simple and really just effectively convey that simple is better, and I personally love that. So this episode was incredible.

Speaker 1:

I hope you guys enjoy it. If you do, please share it with a friend. And before we get into the episode, I just have 2 more quick housekeeping items. One, we have our newsletter, the food for thought newsletter that goes out every single Friday. If you guys are so compelled, please go subscribe to that.

Speaker 1:

This is our way of being able to communicate with you guys, get out different messages that we aren't able to communicate on the show about fixing the food system, about living a healthier life. And, ultimately, we just try to share as many valuable resources that we come across as possible through that newsletter. So go subscribe to that. Hopefully, you get a bunch of value out of it. And, also, we have a Telegram group that is specifically designed for our podcast listeners so that we can stay in close communication.

Speaker 1:

We don't wanna necessarily let this, Telegram group get out to any social media platforms. We really want this to be the people who are listening to the show. So if you're a long time listener or this is your first time listening to the Meat Mafia, go check out our Telegram group. We've got about 60 people on there right now. It's been a great time.

Speaker 1:

We're only talking about it on the show, and I think it's a great way for us to keep closer communication with you guys and really develop a relationship where you guys feel like you can talk to us more. So go join that Telegram group and enjoy this episode. It's a great one. Without further ado, Trevor Gibbs. Trevor, what's happening, brother?

Speaker 2:

What's up, guys? Good to have me.

Speaker 3:

Good to have you here, man. It's been a long time coming.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. It has.

Speaker 3:

We have our, mutual friend, Kari,

Speaker 2:

to thank for this. We do. Shout out Kari.

Speaker 3:

Shout out Kari. She's the best. Incredible mom. Awesome person. Is she in Georgia now?

Speaker 3:

She's in Georgia. So she's no longer in Austinite. But,

Speaker 2:

Moved to Georgia with the with the fella. And, yeah.

Speaker 3:

She's she's amazing. So Definitely. And so why we're referencing Kari is, so she's our shared mutual friend. That's how we met and, super awesome mom based into, like, paleo lifestyle, cooks her meals, super healthy for her daughter too. And I remember getting a DM from her, and she was like, you have to meet my buddy, Trevor.

Speaker 3:

He's coming out with this awesome meat bar concept.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. And I

Speaker 3:

think you guys would get along really well, and he's amazing dude above anything else. And so I remember us meeting up for coffee little over was it about a year ago or maybe a little no. A little less than that because I think it was before KetoCon. It was before KetoCon. Was close to a year.

Speaker 2:

But it's I mean, it was early on. Yeah. So, yeah, it's been let's just call it a year.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. And you brought us some samples to try, and they were absolutely incredible. It was, like, one of the mess best meat products that we'd ever had. Yeah. And so we just stayed connected.

Speaker 3:

And now at the time of releasing this podcast, Manbar, which is your company, will officially be live Yeah. Which is incredible. It's an amazing, grass finished bison and beef stick. Is that the right way to describe it? Right?

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Yeah. So it's, so when we first met I'll do a quick backstory. When we first met, I was making a bison and almond bar out of my house Yeah. And it was something that I was making for me.

Speaker 2:

I had a bunch of meat in the freezer. Mhmm. It actually started with animals that I had hunted, so I was doing it with venison and axis and wild pig. And then once, basically, a lot of people, a lot of friends started wanting them because they tasted really good. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

And so I had to rethink of, like, why can't commercialize those those meats. So, went with the bison and almond bar, and then that's when we met. Yeah. And kind of long story short, I guess we can get into more later, but there's problem with the nuts having was having trouble finding someone who would introduce allergens into their facility. Mhmm.

Speaker 2:

And so, rethought the product and now have this very high fat bison and beef stick. Mhmm. It's big. It's all regenerative animals. There's a lot of fat.

Speaker 2:

Most sticks have 10, 15%. Ours has 30. Mhmm. And, it's really good.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. I was just about to say the fat content stands out. Right? Like, as opposed to like a standard, you know, meat stick or slim jim, something like that. Like

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Ours is yeah. I mean, ours is probably double to triple most in terms of grams of fat Yeah. Most sticks out there. So we've got 17 17 grams of fat in ours.

Speaker 1:

That's unreal. And for people who are, you know, active or, you know, just want something that has a little bit more sustenance than just like a protein bar, you're able to get that fat. Like, there really isn't besides, like, you know, like a pemmican bar, there really isn't anything else out there like what you guys have.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. The the formulation was very so I started this. It was basically the intersection of I've always been very active. Mhmm. I love hunting and I love cooking for people.

Speaker 2:

And so that's how it started but from the training side of things, yeah, I was just looking for like energy bombs. Yeah. It's my friend group and I, like like most people, especially here in Austin, I mean, we are snowboarding, we are surfing, we are rock climbing, we are training. So we are doing a lot of stuff and we are just tired of eating like 2 to 3 of the other sticks.

Speaker 1:

Right.

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

And so it's basically that that was kind of the as simple as it sounds, the the mentality of like, what if I just make a really big one?

Speaker 1:

A lot.

Speaker 2:

And then once you start with that, then you start getting into looking at the quality and the ingredients and and the formulation of it and all that. So but, yeah, it came from a very utilitarian perspective. Mhmm.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. It's amazing connecting the dots backwards, how everything works out the way that it's supposed to because I do very vividly remember meeting you and the initial, like, the meat and nut bar, the bison with the nuts was incredible. It tasted so good. But then as you know, like, the logistics of CPG and manufacturing and nuts, it's it's really fun digging into all that kind of stuff. And, you know, that ultimately didn't work out, but that led to what you have now, which I think is actually a better product.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. And it's such a unique concept of actually having grass finished bison and beef, but 30% fat

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

Which is massive because there's so many great products that are out there. But a lot of times I'll have a beef stick from, like, a reputable brand. And I'm like, this is great, but I probably need, like, 3 of these things to actually be hungry, and it's because the saturated fat is so low in most of these bars. Right. Right.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you you nailed it. It's yeah. The the re you know, kind of the dream of when you're in the kitchen of what you're gonna make versus the reality once you get started.

Speaker 2:

And and but I'm happy it happened because it forced me to look at kinda what was important. I was dead set against making a stick in the beginning. Yeah. Because I was like, man, everyone's making sticks. I've got a unique product.

Speaker 2:

And but through this process, when, like, with constraints, it's you start rethinking things and you look at it from a different perspective. And so, yeah, we came up with this and like you said, it's like it had to be satiating like it had to I wanted to eat 1 and keep going. Yeah. I talked about one of my buddies who's helping and just this idea of when you're doing stuff you wanna do Mhmm. You'd like, you don't necessarily wanna break to go eat lunch or dinner.

Speaker 2:

It's like you're you're in that if you wanna call it flow state, whatever it is. Yeah. But just if you're having fun, like, on a powder day in the mountains, I don't wanna stop and go get a bowl of chili from Yeah. You know, from from the resort area.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. It's

Speaker 2:

like, no, I wanna keep going. I wanna send send as much bird as I can that day. Yeah. You know, if I can have a couple couple sticks on me, like, perfect.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. And with the right snacks, you feel amazing too, and you actually get energy from your food. So many people haven't conditioned their minds to realize that, like, the right food actually is medicine, and it can also taste delicious, but give you the right nutrients to fuel your day and actually feel better afterwards. But I totally agree with you. I think the when I typically feel in the flow state is when I'm as strict to carnivores

Speaker 1:

as possible.

Speaker 3:

Like, even though I do enjoy fruits and vegetables and carbs and things like that, if it's straight meat, like, my mind, your mental acuity is amazing. So I feel like your bar just perfectly supports that where it's, like, I can just bang one quick for lunch if I can't eat, and

Speaker 2:

I'm good to go. Yeah. The the mental side of things is, again, from from the training world, it it I I let me just I I'll do a quick aside. So the the bison and almond bar was heavily influenced by Charles Poliquin's meat and nut breakfast. Mhmm.

Speaker 2:

That got popularized. He would only basically, would forces his athletes to use it. But the reasons for it is because from mentally, that high protein and high fat targets neurotransmitters, it's acetylcholine and dopamine that are most associated with drive energy and focus. And so he wanted his guys to be mentally ready for these grueling workouts. On top of that, it's that combo is more satiating, so you don't have to eat as much.

Speaker 2:

You're not going into a workout just, you know, bloated and full and and all that. So there's also that aspect of it. So, you know, I'm not certainly not an Olympic athlete or a professional athlete but, you know, we're all very active. Yeah. We all like doing stuff and there's no reason those benefits can't transfer to us and especially I mean, I just turned 39.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. You know, anything I can do to help stay lean is It's an edge, baby. Because I wanna do it. Totally. There's a ton of benefits, like genuine benefits to it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Ton of utility to it and I thought there was no reason why we couldn't make it bigger and taste better. Mhmm. So.

Speaker 1:

We had a we had an awesome conversation over at our office. Was it a week ago now?

Speaker 3:

Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

And I feel like you were just dropping so many just like little learnings along the way Mhmm. That you have just iterated through and been able to, like, find resolutions for. You're still, like, kinda, like, percolating on some of them. Yeah. But one of the things that you've been talking about is just going from one product to the next.

Speaker 1:

And I'm wondering, for anyone who's listening, who's an entrepreneur,

Speaker 3:

is

Speaker 1:

there anything that you were doing in order to get feedback so that you could find the right formulation for these products other than just, like, your own, hey. Like, try these. Let me know what you think. Just because I feel like that feedback can be so valuable for people. And a lot of times, you know, you don't really know necessarily who to turn to to to give you that good good data.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Yeah. So there was you know, when when I first started making these, I was giving them out to friends, and and my friends were very quickly asking about them and what is this? Like, can you make me some? Alright.

Speaker 2:

We'll pay you. And I had probably a dozen friends say that, you know, within, like, 2 weeks because I was just having people over. When they come over, you feed them. Yeah. You know?

Speaker 2:

And so I was, hey, try these, you know, throw them on. And so it happened enough where I was, like, something's going on here. Mhmm. So that and that's right before we met because I went out after that. I made some samples and just went out and was just looking for feedback like you said of like, is this just my buddies gassing me up or do I have something here?

Speaker 2:

Yeah. And just was planning to do feedback but ended up doing about, I think in 4 days, I did in 3 days, I did 4 grand in presales. Wow. And this is old school walking up to people. Hey, try this.

Speaker 1:

Okay.

Speaker 2:

This is what it's about. You know, no nothing online, no ads, no marketing, no website. So I was just talking to people from the from the get go. Mhmm. And that that is essentially what I did the whole last year.

Speaker 2:

It's just every time I did a rate, I'd go out and I talk to people, have them try it, get feedback. What do you like about it? What don't you like? What do you what are you using it for to the people that I'd give samples to? So I think that yeah.

Speaker 2:

I mean I mean that I guess that I don't know if that's what you're asking, but that's my answer is is face to face conversations with people that are actually using it and not trying to, I don't know. There's there's a time for technology. I felt like that wasn't the time. Yeah. And so that was yeah.

Speaker 2:

That was my process. Just a lot of iterating and a lot of talking to people.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. You can't beat that that direct feedback from people that are

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Actually consuming the product. Like like you said, like, some people like, if you, you know, give it to your your buddies, maybe you're getting some, you know, authentic feedback, but just getting, you know, in person feedback on how they could use the product, what they think of the taste is huge.

Speaker 2:

Sure. Yeah. Absolutely. Trying to think yeah. And then, you know, and then you you get all that, you do all that work, and and this is probably where my experience came in.

Speaker 2:

It's just not knowing what you could and couldn't do Right. With with, like, on the manufacturing and co packing side. Mhmm. So I had all this momentum and then it was I mean, we went to KetoCon. You all you all very graciously let me sling some some bars from y'all's table before before I got shut down.

Speaker 2:

But, you know, I was talking to co packers and and manufacturers. It was just like beating my head against the wall for, like, 3 to 4 months. I I don't know how much of that y'all have done with Noble, but

Speaker 3:

It's tough. I mean, luckily, the supplement space is so much different.

Speaker 1:

I mean,

Speaker 3:

the meat the pure meat space is so much harder than the supplement space, but still, it's like you need to find a good co packer. Yeah. People don't realize that these great brands are all dependent on finding the right co packer

Speaker 1:

that can

Speaker 3:

really work with you and support you too. So obviously, that's something that you've experienced.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So so 3, 4 months of banging your head against the wall, everyone no one wanted to introduce allergens, no one wanted to do sticks, etcetera etcetera. Everyone was talking about sticks though. Mhmm. I was like, man, like I said, I don't wanna do a stick.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. There's a million of those out there. Yeah. But it got to the point, you know, by like that month 4 where it's like, man, like nothing is progressing. Mhmm.

Speaker 2:

Like, I gotta rethink this. And so that's kinda when I went back to the drawing board and just started thinking of like, alright, if you had to do a stick, what would it look like? What would it do? I already knew I wanted the bars were already larger size. So I was like, definitely, that's a definite.

Speaker 2:

What is the purpose of the nuts with the protein, you know, with the meat? Really you're just looking at high protein, high fat? Yeah. Alright. How do I formulate that?

Speaker 2:

Mhmm. Why does every steak have 10 or 15% fat in it? Can I get away with doubling that? And so I found a co packer who would work with me and within 6 weeks, I had product in hand. Wow.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. It was awesome.

Speaker 3:

How good of a feeling was that? Especially banging your head on

Speaker 2:

the wall for 4 months. Yeah. The best. So,

Speaker 3:

like, alright. This is why people tell are telling me to go sticks because it's just way faster to get up and running. Right?

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So so the first batch you sent me was was good. Yeah. I mean, it was it was it was good. It like, if we couldn't have changed anything, I would have been happy going to market with that.

Speaker 2:

Mhmm. But I went back to him and I was like, I need them bigger and like, what if we add more fat? And he was like, we never done that before. And I go, will it work from like a shelf stability and, you know, kinda all all that stuff that you gotta worry about too? Like, will it be fine?

Speaker 2:

He goes he goes, it'll be fine from a shelf stability standpoint. We've just never done it. I go, let's try it. Yeah.

Speaker 3:

I was

Speaker 2:

like, you know, you have got some meat there. And I went with I went with beef fat because, a, for cost, bison isn't cheap. Mhmm. And also, I thought that the beef fat would be a more bison fat can be a little more gamey. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

I'd I'd I'd I don't mind it at all. I'd I'd Yeah. Hunt and you know, I love game animals but I figured that'd be a more approachable flavor

Speaker 1:

Mhmm.

Speaker 2:

For some people. So that's why we use beef fat with it. There's also some stuff on the back regulatory and all that that I can not get around like in an illegal sense, but like get around like some extra cost and stuff. Mhmm. So yeah.

Speaker 2:

So that we did that. He pumped it full of beef fat and sent it back and they were the perfect size and the taste was unbelievable. And I was like, alright, let's do it. We got a product. That's amazing.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

And bison fat is hard to come by too. I don't think people realize how lean they actually are.

Speaker 2:

They're very lean.

Speaker 3:

I would be I would be curious if you could actually get bison fat from a grass finish bison. You

Speaker 2:

can. You can. Yeah. I've got yeah. Our our ranch that we source from is up in, Wisconsin.

Speaker 2:

Nice. All regenerative grass fed grass finished. They've been doing that for couple decades. Yeah. I've had them send me different, what's called ratios, you know, normally, it's like a 90 10, 85 15 protein to fat.

Speaker 2:

So Adam sent me a 80 20 one time and a 75 25 Oh, wow. Mix and and it's again, it was fine, but it's a little their fats a little waxier. Yeah. It's a little more gamey for lack of a better word and so.

Speaker 3:

And that's another thing too is I'm sure, like you were saying, you've got the hunting pallet.

Speaker 2:

So you

Speaker 3:

probably have no issues with the 7525. That's even with Noble, you forget you have to customize, like, if you think about the palate of the average customer, not like the extremist like you. Correct. Right? Where Harry and I were like, ah, we can make this thing less sweet.

Speaker 3:

We're like, no. But the average person that's probably not accustomed to organ meats needs something that's a little bit more sweet with Stevia. For sure. So you start to experience that stuff and kinda put yourself in the customer's shoes, which is interesting.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

It's like this healthy balance of bringing your own strong opinion to the table when it comes to formulation, but also understanding that, like, you know, us, they're already in a unique space where it's like Yeah. You know, most people don't love the gaminess of grass fed, grass finished beef,

Speaker 2:

which Right.

Speaker 1:

To me, I'm like, I I love it. Yeah. So, you know, you just yeah. You have to find that healthy balance.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Yeah. There there there's certainly I mean, you you just said it. It's like what are you willing to budge on and what aren't you? Yeah.

Speaker 2:

You know, the that to me was kind of a lower tier issue as long as I had the macros right and the taste right and the ingredients right, which, you know, we talked a little bit about, like, the process that we use and how it's different from the industry standard. Yeah. The lack of encapsulated acids and and all that. So we we can touch on that if you want.

Speaker 3:

You should talk about that because I neither of us knew anything about that until last week when you told us.

Speaker 2:

Okay. So most most of the industry uses what's called an encapsulated acid. It's simply encapsulated lactic acid or an encapsulated citric acid. That is derived from typically derived from like a GMO wheat or corn. The encapsulated part is they literally for lack of a better word, like, dip it.

Speaker 2:

You know, encapsulated in a hydrogenated seed oil.

Speaker 3:

Mhmm.

Speaker 2:

And the reason they do that is, a, it's cheaper. B, it allows you to cook things at a higher temperature. It's like a heat heat activated, and it's very stable. So it's, you know, if you're making a bunch of doing big batches, like, you're gonna get you wanna get the same results every time. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

It's an easy way to do that when you're introducing a higher temperature and and a lot of volume. So that's why they're used. Mhmm. Brings the cost of the, you know, lowers the cost to the end consumer. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Lowers their cost to make it, etcetera, etcetera. So that's why they're used. Most of the industry use that. That that's the standard. So I I I don't like that.

Speaker 2:

Mhmm. Yeah. For for your kinda lack of a better better term, it's just like that. I I didn't wanna produce something that had that in there because what happens is you mix it in with the meat, you throw it in the oven. As the temperature rises, that hydrogenated oil melts, exposing the acid to the meat, which then starts that fermentation process.

Speaker 2:

Well, that oil doesn't just evaporate. Right. So that goes into the meat. You are able to make these kind of the whole process is probably, I don't know, let's call it 3, 4 hour process. So pretty quick.

Speaker 2:

But again, you're even for the guys that are claiming grass fed and finished animals, pasture raised, whatever it may be, in my opinion, it's you're kinda messing that up by putting this stuff in there.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

So they can market that we're using this high quality meat and all that. But when you put that stuff in there, it's like, well, you should've just used the

Speaker 3:

the cheap poor quality meat because

Speaker 2:

what's the point?

Speaker 1:

Yeah. And you don't have to put on the label? Like

Speaker 2:

No. You you have their ingredients list will say encapsulated acid. Gotcha.

Speaker 1:

But that just, like, covers up the fact that you don't have to say, like, canola oil or whatever oil is gonna be kind of

Speaker 2:

No. They'll yeah. I mean, to my no. You definitely don't have to do that. It's I'm trying to think I I I can't recall off the top of my head if anyone's, you know, saying like no seed oils on their Yeah.

Speaker 2:

On their package with with that on their ingredient list but

Speaker 1:

Like, I've never seen anything like the encapsulated acid.

Speaker 2:

You'll see on the ingredient list, it'll it'll say encapsulated lactic acids on 9 out of 10 sticks that you pick up.

Speaker 1:

Gotcha. So

Speaker 3:

that's how you know if if it says that you should probably stay away from the stick.

Speaker 2:

In my opinion, yeah.

Speaker 3:

Based on what you've seen.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. In my opinion, yeah. I don't know, obviously, the details of everyone's business and what they're what they're doing, but, yeah. I'm I'm so so our process, how that differs is our processes, we use a starter culture and so that is just a different process. It's a slower process.

Speaker 2:

It's a more expensive process, but it allows you to it's it's from derived from a non GMO beat. And so you mix that with the meat and then you have this kind of low and slow fermentation process which now you're not getting the GMO stuff, you're not getting the, seed oils. Yeah. You're actually getting some probiotics in there. Nice.

Speaker 2:

And that's why it's so easy on the gut, you know, for I know you've had some some stomach issues and I've got several friends that have had stomach issues and they're totally fine eating eating our sticks whereas the other ones will have them curled up in a ball. But so yeah. So we we introduced the starter culture instead of the lactic acids That's a, you know, takes it from a 3 to 4 hour process to let's call it 16, you know, so so 4 or 5 times longer and it just makes for a better, cleaner product. That's amazing. I mean, I know you all had it.

Speaker 2:

It's just it's cleaner, it's tastier, it more most importantly, it doesn't tie your stomach up in knots, you know, if you have stomach issues. And so it's just for me, it's it's just if I'm gonna be selling something, it's the right thing to do. Yeah. I don't wanna give I don't wanna give the I'm I'm thinking of my friends, my family, and their kids. I I don't wanna give my kids 3 year old something that's not the best thing on the market and good thing enough, I've got several of them that have 3 year olds

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

And their 3 year olds love our sticks. Yeah. And their and their parents are happy because they know they're eating something, you know, that's clean of high quality.

Speaker 1:

Totally.

Speaker 3:

Well, that's amazing. It checks all the boxes where it's like, it's delicious, it's clean, it's nutrient dense, and that's the best feeling ever as a business owner. Like, when you truly have that confidence between the product that you're putting out into the world. Because if you're compromising on anything, it just comes across as, like, disingenuous why you're trying to sell it to people. But Yeah.

Speaker 3:

Like, for you, you're like, dude, I did. I mean, I spent almost a year trying to perfect this recipe. Yeah. And that blood, sweat, and tears comes through, and now you have something that you're super proud of. So it's like, yeah, there's there's a lot of effort that went to that process, but that's what makes such a great product that you can be proud of that other people are are picking up on and noticing too.

Speaker 3:

You know? That's what we noticed. Right?

Speaker 1:

Like Yeah. 100%. Yeah. Yeah. The quality of the bar was immediately, a differentiator Yeah.

Speaker 1:

In the flavor.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Thank you.

Speaker 1:

I'm curious if is there anything through this whole process that you wish you knew when you just were getting started just to, yeah, maybe maybe some of the the bigger learnings that you've learned, anything that you wish you knew from the get go?

Speaker 2:

I think that's hard because it's from like, my background is physics and engineering.

Speaker 1:

Mhmm.

Speaker 2:

So I came into it. Always loved cooking, so I I had that for me, but Yeah. The CPG, the the food formulation for a shelf stable product, all that, I was coming in, you know, very very ignorant.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

So I don't know. I mean, I'm I'm I, you know, kinda if you're starting from 0, it's been a really fun learning process.

Speaker 1:

Right.

Speaker 2:

And so there's there's been a ton of stuff I learned like the encapsulated acid stuff Yeah. For example. And, you know, you start looking at processing and manufacturing and labeling and I mean, all the stuff. Yeah. I'm sure y'all are going went through with Noble.

Speaker 2:

I don't know if I can, certainly, if I knew everything I knew now, it wouldn't have taken a year. Yeah. Yeah. So maybe the next one will take, you know, the I'm I'm starting to work on a hatch chili version of our sticks and so that that won't take a year.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. Well, there's something too also. You know, we had, the founder of KG Barbecue Yeah. Kareem on the podcast the other day. So good.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. Unbelievable. His story is even better than the barbecue, which is incredible. But there's he was saying that he wished he didn't have this fear around making the decision to leave his corporate job to go, pursue his passion. He kind of held this, this feeling of wishing that he had started sooner.

Speaker 1:

And I think a lot of times we have this, you know, feeling that, you know, we wish we started sooner. We wish we had this knowledge going into it, but there's something about just going through the process and and really, like, being the person on the journey to equip yourself to get to the next level or, you know, have the right set of knowledge and skills to continue to actually make those leaps and bounds. So it is important to just like take every step and go brick by brick.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. I mean, that, you know, I I I think I think once you find something that you wanna pour yourself into, it's it's easy to say, I wish I would've done this sooner. Yeah. But the reality is like all the stuff that happened sooner had to happen for you to get to that point anyways. Yes.

Speaker 2:

So like, yeah. Like, if I was doing this 10 years ago, that'd be great. You know, I'd have a 10 year head start but the reality is this 10 years ago, I wasn't hunting. I where what I mean, 10 years ago, you know, I was Probably in the middle of the year. Traveling the world.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. I was traveling the world 10 years ago. So, you know, it was a lot of stuff had to happen for this to kinda all come together for for me to be sitting here with y'all and Definitely. It's and then the previous stuff had to happen. Mhmm.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

It's cliche, but God's timing really is perfect. Right? It's like you did have to have all those collective experiences to be the exact version of Trevor that's ready to to start Manbar, which makes it amazing. Another thing that I love that you've said to me before is, I think one of the first things I said to you is, like, are you gonna bootstrap? Are you gonna raise capital?

Speaker 3:

And you were like you were you had a really unique perspective where you're like, dude, I'm not in a rush with this thing. Like, I don't need to build I'm not trying to build something and build, like, a $10,000,000 company that I can sell for 15 and well, you're like, I wanna do this. I wanna build something I'm so passionate about that I don't wanna sell the business. I wanna scale this thing over time and just make an amazing product that makes people healthier and taps into my community and everything like that. And I love that perspective because it just seems like so many new founders are just in this, like, relentless rush in this hurry versus, like, if you just build something that was truly your life's mission and just take your time and make it as good as it can possibly be.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. And and, I mean, maybe that's maybe it's just because I'm a little older now, you know. I I don't know what it is, but it's, yeah. The the perspective is certainly let's build something we're proud of. If it, you know, if it takes 5 years to get to the $1,000,000 like, okay.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. You know, but but you know, it it it I think it I think elongating the time frame allows you to obviously, a think longer term but also, if you're doing that, you're not cutting corners. And that's something that I feel very strongly about is is just doing things the right way. Yeah. And if it doesn't work, that's okay.

Speaker 2:

Mhmm. Like, it just there was something off about something. Product market fit, maybe it was too expensive, maybe, whatever. But if you're not cutting any corners, then it's gonna fail for the right reasons, if that makes sense. And so, yeah.

Speaker 2:

I don't wanna I don't wanna do something like, for example, these things would be way cheaper if I use encapsulated acids. Yep. It'd be way cheaper if I use a lower quality meat. It'd be way cheaper if I didn't use bison. Mhmm.

Speaker 2:

There's all these things I could do to make it way cheaper to produce and way cheaper to sell to to customers. I'm not interested in that because then I'm just playing the same game that all the other guys are playing. Mhmm. And it's not that they're bad or evil or anything like that. I just I I don't think I'm better than them at that game.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. I think I can build something really cool if I stay true to our messaging, not cutting any corners, doing things the right way, having any unique branding and messaging, and I'll create my own little something.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. Or I

Speaker 2:

won't or it fails and and that again, and that's okay.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. Well, I love that take because I think the food space and, you know, the CPG space in general, you know, there's a lot of, like, fake phony products out there, but the genuine ones tend to find the audience that really cares about what they're putting into their body Yeah. Or just, you know, cares about the same thing, similarly aligned, similar missions, you know, not willing to compromise on the little things. Yeah. And, I mean, in this food space, probably, like, 99% of companies are willing to make sacrifices.

Speaker 1:

And it's obviously tough. Like, you know, making product is not easy. But when you're lead with that, when you lead with the mission, I think that you're differentiating yourself just based on values alone, which, you know, I I think for an early company is huge. Like, you find your true fans.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. That's the hope. Yeah. Yeah. Something to knock on, but no.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. Not something mass market. Something that's actually very tailored to a certain customer base. People that, you know, care about sourcing and fat content and where it comes from and probably that are into hunting and the regenerative movement. It's kinda it always reminds me of that article that Peter Drucker wrote of, like, a 1000 true fans instead of trying to get mass market appeal, Find a 1000 true fans that are super loyal that will buy anything that you drop or promote.

Speaker 3:

And I think that's something that we felt with the podcast of, like, you know, we're 2 young meat enthusiasts, kinda weirdos talking about all this stuff. And it's, like, other people resonate with that uniqueness too. Yeah. You know?

Speaker 2:

I mean, I think often sorry to cut you off. No. No. I think authenticity and just being who you are is probably pretty, people are drawn to that kinda no matter what it is. Yeah.

Speaker 3:

And the branding of what you're doing is really unique too. Obviously, with Manbar, you were talking to us passionately about this concept of, like, man hands and how we've kinda lost that as a society. I'd love to talk I'd love to pick your brain a little bit more about as you think about the branding and what you see around, like, the representation of man bar. So so the name came from, was a

Speaker 2:

placeholder name in the beginning because I was making meat and nut bars. Yeah. So that's where the name came from because I was just like, I was tired of saying meat and nut bars. Yeah. And so so that's where it originally came from.

Speaker 2:

But very quickly, when I started telling people that, I would the reactions I were getting were were a, overwhelmingly positive. We can talk about some of the negative ones in a minute but overwhelmingly positive and it was a lot of men that were when I'd say that, I would because I kinda said, I'd be like, it's a placeholder name but I'm calling calling them man bars and and they'd their tone would change and they'd be like, dude, you have to use that. Mhmm. Yep. Why?

Speaker 2:

And they're like, you have to. Like, basically, it's like and this was, you know, a year ago that kinda all that I don't know. All this gender stuff is we can talk about that too. You know, that that was a lot more in the headlines and I think it was guys were and women, I mean, Kari is a perfect example. You know, just really resonated with the name.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. And it was surprising to me how much yeah. How much they were resonating with it. Mhmm. Because originally, like I said, it was just kind of a funny placeholder thing.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Where I was like, oh, that might ruffle some feathers. Yeah. So, yes. So so from that, you know, when when I started getting that feedback, I I, again, face to face conversations with people and started working out what that meant, what it looked like, and all that.

Speaker 2:

So, yeah, the the brand is called Manbar. It's a lot of our so far, a lot of our market are just men and women but just people who are doing hard interesting things.

Speaker 3:

Mhmm.

Speaker 2:

They're spending a lot of time outdoors. Yeah. They're, you know, snowboarding, they're climbing, they're working on their craft. Our buddy Wyatt is a perfect example. Legend.

Speaker 2:

Just yeah. I can man crush on a 22 year old. But, you know, it's there there's just a very the the word support kept coming up and it's like, what kind of people do, what kind of customers, who do I resonate with, what kind of people do I wanna support, how can I support them? I think I've got the product that can support people. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

When they're crushing a workday, when they're going to the office, to this podcast, to whatever you're doing after to, you know, it's like we're all doing stuff. Yeah. We're all busy. We're all working hard, you know, and so that was the That started becoming more and more important is like I genuinely do wanna support people. And then with like the man hands and stuff, that kinda goes into the craft, the monotony of doing, of getting, of pursuing excellence Mhmm.

Speaker 2:

Like we were talking about, doing the same thing day in and day out because you enjoy doing the same thing day in and day out, not that you're looking for some specific outcome Yeah. Which ties into kind of the thoughts on what I've with the growing the business and my thoughts around it. It's I don't know what the outcome is gonna be, but I know if I if I do this every day, if I if I work on the product every day, if I work on the message every day, if I if I do those daily habits, something will come of it. I don't know what.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. I I like the consistency through the brand where you you have the name, the man bar, which I think meat and nut was the original intention of it. But, obviously, it's like it has a a masculine undertone because it's man bar. And then you have these, like, bigger sticks where it's like, you know Yeah. A little bit more, than what people bargain for.

Speaker 1:

So it's just like it feels very authentic to Good. Thank you.

Speaker 2:

Happy to hear.

Speaker 1:

Message and, like, who you're trying to reach, which I think is an awesome sign.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. I mean, the the look. The reality is is we could do a bunch of ridiculous stuff with the name Yeah. And and the product. Yeah.

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

There's so much there's so many directions, inappropriate directions. Yeah. Size matters. Yeah. There's so much

Speaker 3:

earth on the bars. Exactly.

Speaker 2:

Like, I I mean, there there, you know, we can all get very childish very quickly. And I've done that a lot with friends behind closed doors, you know, of of us riffing on different things. But, you know, at the end of the day, it's like for me, it resonates more to let's have a genuine product, a genuine message

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

And support people who are who are working hard, who are doing cool things. And I think that's a better long term Yeah. Long term strategy. I I don't wanna get in the you know, we've talked about this. I've I've largely avoided social media.

Speaker 2:

Yes. And, you know, now coming to this, it's I I I just don't wanna get in that race to the bottom of of doing silly stuff.

Speaker 3:

No. You don't wanna just feed the algorithm rewards to get views. You rather just take your time and accept the fact that it's gonna take me longer but I'm gonna do it my genuine way. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. I'll I'll I don't think I'd sleep well at night if I'd started going down that route. Yeah. It would just be so disingenuine for me that Yeah. I don't know.

Speaker 2:

My my sleep is more important.

Speaker 3:

Definitely. And I also think too, it's like when you're doing something as difficult as a task that you're doing, you're like, compete in this space. You really need to have a mission that's so powerful that really compels you to overcome the adversity. And I couldn't think of anything more compelling of, like, I'm gonna create the sustenance that's gonna fuel, like, the hardworking badass American man and woman. Like, that's a powerful mission to get you out of bed, dude.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Yeah. And I I mean, I love it. I I I can I give you all something?

Speaker 3:

Yeah. I'll be right back.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. That's kind of in in line with this. So Wow. This is Wow. I've been taking lessons from from our buddy, Wyatt.

Speaker 2:

Wow. Dude. So Wyatt for everyone listening, Wyatt is a stud of a human being. He works a 100 hour weeks and just makes pretty much makes a knife a day in in his workshop. And so this is something when we talked last week, I drove out to Dripping Springs and and he and I made this knife for you.

Speaker 3:

Wow. Dude. So this is Dude, this is unbelievable.

Speaker 2:

This is I wanna give Wyatt all the credit. Wyatt. I will say that I definitely, you know Brother, I I I did some hammering on it, dude. But,

Speaker 1:

this thing is

Speaker 2:

This is so sweet. Yeah. So it's a 1084 steel carbon. And, the yep. We got the Meat Mafia on there on one side, and then his his brand on the other side.

Speaker 3:

I promise you that's gonna go to amazing.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Let me see that real quick. Yeah. And then the, I don't know if they can see this. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Oh, yeah. So Things are work of art.

Speaker 2:

This is this is a Beautiful. Scorched cherry wood. Mhmm. And then the pins in there are actually a mammoth tusks.

Speaker 1:

Really?

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So Wyatt's got a really cool process where he didn't use any plastics so even in there you see shavings and all that, all wood but even the, you know, typically like a really nasty epoxy is used as a glue. Yeah. So he actually found a way to do a it's a pine resin, charcoal ash and beeswax.

Speaker 1:

Wow.

Speaker 2:

And so that's the glue that holds us together. Wow.

Speaker 1:

Dude.

Speaker 2:

And so yeah.

Speaker 1:

So safe.

Speaker 2:

We saw we saw the Meat Mafia logo and figured wanted to make sure y'all get one of these.

Speaker 3:

This is easily the best gift

Speaker 1:

we've ever gotten. I'm serious, man. So much. This is incredible.

Speaker 2:

So so I bring that out now. The like, there was a reason to bring that out now, and it's based on what you just were saying about wanting to support people like Wyatt who are doing, again, hard, interesting, cool things and Yeah. He's a great guy. Head down and, you know, puts his head down and works. Brilliant.

Speaker 2:

Brilliant. And, you know, and it's like if I can if I can support people like him, then, you know, I the

Speaker 3:

that's what it's all about. Yeah, man. It's, it's funny that you say that because Harry and I have been digging into this theme more about, like, the the desire to kinda support the local artisan

Speaker 2:

Mhmm.

Speaker 3:

And how we've kinda gotten into this Starbucks globalist mentality of, like, just opting for the cheap convenient thing. Okay. And there's all these amazing artists and like, local artisans and business owners and people like Wyatt that are, like, so proficient in their craft. And you're getting a knife like this where it's like you guys molded everything by hand. You're not compromising on anything.

Speaker 3:

And, like, the obligation to be able to support someone like that and then, like, treat your friends to a gift from the product that your buddy created, like like, that's the type of economy we wanna support. It used to be like that, and I think we can bring it back too. We've just lost our way a little bit, but gifts like this are, like, the perfect example of that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Y'all are starting to get into hunting. Right? That I'd We we want to. Harry went

Speaker 3:

on a hunt. I still never been on a hunt. But

Speaker 1:

our toes in. We need to be more intentional about it. But, yeah, big plans to make it happen this year for sure.

Speaker 2:

We can chat more about that after. But but that I had that in mind for how heavy it is. Yeah. Is that that's sturdy enough to break down animals. Wow.

Speaker 2:

Most of the time, I'm sure it'll be chopping up sticks and sticks in the kitchen, but Dude. That that is I I made we made it heavy on purpose so you could get through some bone and and all that when you start breaking down animals.

Speaker 1:

I love it. It's, like, truly a incredibly thoughtful gift. And just, echoing what Brad was saying, it's like we kinda have this, just in the modern world, like, low time preference, we really or sorry, high time preference where we we just, like, want things immediately. Yeah. The artist has I I I just feel like their artistic pursuit has been diluted.

Speaker 1:

You know, there are very few people who are truly making things with their hands anymore. And then, you know, we talk to these regenerative farmers, like, fairly frequently on the podcast. Best. It's an art. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. Like, you know, they're doing things in a way that takes more time, and there's there's more skills and knowledge that goes into it. And then I'm gonna bring up KG again. Yeah, it's like it's an art. It took him 10 years to figure out how to make this amazing restaurant concept come to life, but no one really knew no one has he launched KG, like, 2 years ago, a year and a half ago, and he's blown up since.

Speaker 1:

But it's taken him iterations and iterations in this deep heartfelt pursuit to make it all happen. And, yeah, I just I I think the idea of being able to support those types of people is just incredible. And, you know, yeah, the mission of wanting to support and sustain Yeah. The life of of these people who are doing truly awesome things is, is awesome.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. I I I think I was very fortunate because I had several friends that very close friends that I just feel that it's like how can I support these guys that are doing such cool stuff? And, so like my muses for this was, you know, 2 of my me, 2 of my best friends, you know, then I met Wyatt.

Speaker 2:

Wyatt instantly became one, you guys, and, you know, it's just you start when you kinda make that connection, you start meeting people and it's like, oh, man, this is like principally, this is it doesn't matter what you're doing. It doesn't matter what the application is. Just if you're getting after it Yeah. Here's some fuel.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. Definitely.

Speaker 2:

You know, and then it and it's that simple. And again, it may not work. I don't know. But if it doesn't, the the messaging feels right. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Product is right, and, and we're gonna give it our best shot.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, man. It's such an amazing story, and we feel lucky to just have gotten to meet you just when you're first starting this journey out. And I think there's like, I think you get the sense of, like, when you when you launch it, you're thinking to yourself, I think this tastes good. I think the branding is good, but I really don't know. And then you start consistently getting this feedback from the marketplace, and you're like, I know these people aren't just gassing me up.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. Whether it's the branding, the taste of the product, the name Manbar, I think you just start getting enough affirmation where you're like, damn, this there's really something special here.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. There's legs on this.

Speaker 3:

And I think Harry and I both just saw it, and then we tasted it, and we were like and then also meeting you as the owner, you're just like, there's some this guy's got something special here. Thanks. And I think other people see that, and, I just can't wait to see what you end up going up go on to accomplish this year. And like you said, we can take our time. We can go as fast or as slow as we wanna go because we're in this thing for the long haul too.

Speaker 2:

No. I I I appreciate it. I I can't you know, y'all have been we met very you and I met very early on and you've been incredible since then. And and then Harry, when I met you at KetoCon. Right?

Speaker 1:

Yeah. KetoCon. Yeah. It was

Speaker 3:

for somebody

Speaker 1:

who linked up.

Speaker 2:

No. Yeah. Y'all have been great. And so that that, you know, that gift is not just because I'm on the podcast, but it's really all the behind the scenes stuff that we've done Yeah. Last year or 6 months, however long it's been.

Speaker 3:

Dude, well, it's greatly greatly appreciated. And we're gonna we're gonna get after it this year together for sure. We're gonna we're gonna sling some man bars.

Speaker 1:

We're gonna have to, we're gonna have to save this nice first use for a straight steak, I think. Like I love it. We'll have to grill out

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

One of these meats and

Speaker 2:

I've been I've been doing some, I

Speaker 3:

really wanna use them. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Some mean reverse seared, cowboy steaks lately.

Speaker 3:

So you're a good chef. Right? Because you love to you love to cook.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. I mean, I I don't know if it's chef's a a fair word, but I I definitely love cooking. Yeah. And it's, you know, from the hunting, I'd say if I did have one skill coming into this is I did know how to make food taste good. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

So, yeah. I mean, that part of my love of hunting is not just, you know, a lot of people hear that word and just think about like the killing of an animal. Mhmm. But it really starts from, I mean, you preparing, getting ready for a hunt with your with your friends Mhmm. To getting out and excuse me, getting out in nature, to sitting out in nature usually by yourself, to watching the woods wake up and go to bed, to seeing these animals so close.

Speaker 2:

Some of my fondest memories of hunting is like I didn't even pull my bow back. Really? You know, it was just like I had 10, 15 deer around you and you're hearing them chew. Mhmm.

Speaker 1:

You

Speaker 2:

know? And so you you get really familiar, intimate with the animals. You learn a lot more about them. I know infinitely more about whitetail and axis and pigs than I did 10 years ago. And then after the hunt, you get back together with whoever you're hunting with.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Y'all share stories. There's camaraderie. There's all that. If you get something, then there's the break down of the animal, the processing, the I do a lot of my own butchering.

Speaker 2:

Mhmm. So there's all those skills that are involved, all those nice skills. Yeah. And then really the kicker for me is let's make this let's respect the animal. Let's make this taste really, really good.

Speaker 2:

Mhmm. And let's bring friends and family over and have a cookout too.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

You know, let's have these big meals. So a buddy and I last year did a did a big outdoor cookout at at his place. We did access deer and wild wild pig, 2 or 3 different ways each. Yeah. And just invited, like, 30 people over.

Speaker 2:

And we just had this amazing day of cooking out on an open fire, eating well. People were bringing homemade sourdough bread and, you know, my mom brought these hockey puck like super dense pumpkin and chocolate chip, you know, muffins that that just like, you know, every Sounds insane. Just crushed everyone in a

Speaker 1:

good way, you know.

Speaker 2:

And so that that's the stuff that I mean, that's kind of what life's about.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Do hard stuff with people you like and then find ways to enjoy it.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. It's just simple. I don't know if there's anything better than just like a workout or a hunter, like and then just sharing, like, a great meal with someone.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely.

Speaker 3:

Like, just good charred meat over the open fire. Absolutely. You would love our buddies, Miles and, Morgan Weeks. Okay. Miles Snyder.

Speaker 3:

He's like an open fire chef. He just moved to, where's New York.

Speaker 2:

He just

Speaker 3:

moved to but he was a long time Austin guy, early thirties. And then Morgan is the head chef at Force of Nature. Okay. And so Miles kinda taught Morgan how to cook. Amazing.

Speaker 3:

And, they both just thrown out on the open fire. So next time Miles is in town, we'll have to do something because I thought that would be a pretty epic collab.

Speaker 1:

Oh, yeah.

Speaker 3:

Let's do it. He's the man.

Speaker 2:

I've got my my buddy Nick is, does like high he's a chef and and does like high end, catering. Nice. That's who we that's who we did it at. We did it at his place. And then, this this lady, chef chef Allison, she's been helping me.

Speaker 2:

She she's a rock star. She's been helping me kinda behind the scenes with this. And, same thing. She's just she's just a beast. And, her and I have been talking about getting some dinner parties and stuff together too.

Speaker 2:

So I'll let you all know about that.

Speaker 1:

Dude, a good cookout is just like it awakens the spirit.

Speaker 3:

It's the best. It's like yeah.

Speaker 2:

It's the best thing ever.

Speaker 3:

Those are some of the best memories ever. Yeah. Just shared meals with people that you care about and love.

Speaker 2:

And it's and it's heightened then, you know, kinda all that. And it's even heightened more when when you killed the animal, you processed it, you butchered it. You you know, when there's been mills where, like, literally, I'm the only person that's ever touched the meat that's on people's plate, you know. That's crazy. And they're like, that's that's always cool to say.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. That's as good as that's

Speaker 1:

as good as it gets. Yeah.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. It definitely totally rewires your relationship with food. Right? Absolutely. Yeah.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. So at the time of releasing this episode, the new website is gonna be live. You'll be pumping. Will be live. So what's the best way for people to, connect with you and Manbar if they wanna order some of your amazing product to try?

Speaker 2:

So, try manbar.com. Yep. T r y, Manbar. We will be doing presale orders from now until fingers crossed May 1st, we should have product in hand and start shipping. Nice.

Speaker 2:

So we're in the pricing mode. Yeah. So people can go on there, They can, prepay for packs of 10. Nice. We're gonna sell them in packs of 10.

Speaker 2:

A little bit of discount if if you wanna do a monthly thing and then Instagram, the same thing. Try man bar. Nice. I think that's about it right now. That's awesome.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Well, we're excited to continue to watch the journey too as it unfolds as you release the product. And hopefully, in a few months, we can get you back on, and we'll we'll do another deep dive into what's

Speaker 2:

That'd be great. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Up with the brand and things that have happened. I think it'll be a cool story for our audience to follow. You know? Yeah. We're huge supporters be awesome.

Speaker 1:

Of what you're doing.

Speaker 2:

So you. Yeah. Yeah. I think yeah. I think doing coming back and saying, alright.

Speaker 2:

Here's how

Speaker 1:

the first 6 months went. Right. I

Speaker 2:

might be bald from stress and,

Speaker 1:

you know, bags

Speaker 2:

under my eyes, but It's like talk about something.

Speaker 3:

It's like the picture of the president, like, year 1 when they get in versus year 4. They've, like, aged 30 years.

Speaker 2:

I I think, Abraham Lincoln was the first one I saw that of. I don't know if you've seen that before in the year, but Is it crazy?

Speaker 1:

I'm gonna have to Google that.

Speaker 2:

Dude's, like, 30 before and 70 after. I do. Like, in those 4 years, it's insane.

Speaker 3:

That's crazy. And then he got shot, like, right after the civil war ended, I think, too. Like, a week after the civil war.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. They basically just they just signed the emancipation property.

Speaker 3:

Oh, do we have the goods right here?

Speaker 2:

I forgot my second second product Dude. Or present for y'all.

Speaker 3:

Knives and man bars?

Speaker 2:

These are them.

Speaker 3:

Look at the size of those things.

Speaker 2:

They'll be individually wrapped for everyone, but there's a 3 packer. Dude. I I'd be more generous, but I'm I'm on I'm having to be not generous right now until we get our Yeah. Get our first production run-in. Dude, we're gonna.

Speaker 3:

Those are gonna go to good use.

Speaker 1:

The first one you gave us went and, like, it was gone in the like, within the hour. So Our

Speaker 2:

our buddy, Robert, Sykes

Speaker 3:

He's a beast.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. I sent him 5 of them, and he called me the next day and he goes, dude, I I crushed all 5. I was like Alrighty? What? Like, in one sitting, he was like, yeah.

Speaker 2:

I couldn't stop.

Speaker 3:

Well well, that's how good they are, man. And that's why we appreciate you doing this. Like, one of the things Harry and I talk a lot about on the show, especially with products like this, is having the mindset of, if not me, then who? You know? And I think back to, it's like that famous web of, you know, it's the all the products in the inter aisle of the grocery store that are really controlled by, like, 10 companies, and they're all just, you know, Mondelez, Pepsi, Coke, the, you know, Procter and Gamble.

Speaker 3:

And they're just combining these cheap industrial ingredients and poisoning people for lack of a better word whether Sure. That's intentional or not. And, really, the the antithesis of that are, like, people like you and products like this, and, you know, it's more expensive to make. It's harder to scale, but, like Yeah. What else would you do if you didn't do?

Speaker 3:

Like, someone's gotta fight for for our health. You know? So we're grateful that there's people like you that are just laying on the line and just creating a badass product to help people get healthier, dude.

Speaker 2:

Thank you. Thank you.

Speaker 3:

Thank you. Appreciate it. So, we appreciate it, man. Thank you so much. We appreciate you, and, yeah.

Speaker 3:

We'll do this again very soon.

Speaker 2:

Sweet. Stoked. Love it. Thanks, Trav. Yep.