AKUA is a modern food brand on a mission to create food the right way: healthy, delicious, plant-based, and with a positive impact on the planet.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
#KELPJERKYISCOMING! UPDATE #9
almost 7 years ago
– Mon, Apr 08, 2019 at 10:52:24 PM
Hey Kickstarter Family -
Eating Kelp with MOM
One year ago today, we were successfully funded on Kickstarter. And what a wild ride it has been! Thank you so much to everyone who supported us then, and thank you for sticking with us until the end.
We are happy to report that the first dozen Kickstarter reward shipments have been sent to everyone who chose the “under-seasoned” Kelp Jerky. Today through tomorrow, we’re completing the re-seasoning process for everyone else. Then, Wednesday through Thursday of this week, we're shipping the next 300 reward shipments out while we await the next order of our packaging - which is expected by this Friday. From this week on and through the end of the month, we'll update you via email when your rewards have been shipped, and provide you with your tracking number through our fulfillment partner Backerkit.
Check out the punny beach tote that you're getting!
We are so incredibly sorry for the massive delays in getting your rewards to you. It's been two steps forward, one step backwards this past year, but it feels like we are finally coming up for air.
AKUA's journey is just beginning. As founders, like new parents, it feels so surreal to finally be shipping out our baby into the world, and we’re smitten that it’s all happening during April - which is Earth month! Without you - our amazing backers - none of this would be possible!
Just yesterday, we visited a nearby kelp farm on Cape Cod called Chatham Kelp. We toured their farm, ate sugar kelp together, and had the farmers try Kelp Jerky (they loved it). It was wicked awesome to hang with our farmer friends and talk about how we are all working together to create a consumer market for kelp in order to support a better way to grow food for the future.
With our new friends eating Kelp Jerky
Farms like Chatham Kelp are starting up along the shorelines from New England to Long Island, and even along California's coast as word spreads about the benefits of regenerative ocean farming. If you want to get involved, we suggest you check out Greenwave.org. They're an amazing non-profit who first turned us onto the economic, environmental, and health benefits of this crazy cool kelp world!
Chatham Kelp
That's it for now. If you want to stay up to date on kelp news:
#KELPJERKYISCOMING! UPDATE #8
about 7 years ago
– Tue, Mar 19, 2019 at 03:14:36 AM
Hey Kickstarter Family -
We are happy to report that we’re currently producing 20,000+ pieces of Kelp Jerky per day right now - for you!
We’ve had a busy month building out our team at AKUA as we prepare for launch. We recently hired industry superstars RodeoCPG to assist with our startup’s operations. They will focus on our upcoming Shopify launch as well as preparing for our successful presence on Amazon. We're working closely with the phenomenal Elena Guberman, someone who is equally passionate about bringing meaningful products into the world in a sustainable way. We've also welcomed a fantastic marketing intern to the team: Eve Palmer, who is a hardcore vegan and very talented writer.
Just last weekend, we created our first batch for you - 40,000 pieces of Kelp Jerky over two days! We planned to ship out the first wave of rewards this week, but unfortunately the current batch (in our opinion) turned out under-seasoned. We had issues with the ingredients getting clumpy in the tumbler, so our production team pulled back (a little too much) on the seasoning and EVOO application.
Thankfully, it’s a relatively easy fix as we can re-season the pieces for all three flavors (Rosemary & Maple BBQ, Sesame & Nori Sea Salt, and Spicy Thai & Spirulina), but it does cause additional delays due to increased labor needs and production scheduling in our manufacturer. This was our first batch mixing the flavorings at such scale, and we’re confident we can course correct moving forward.
That being said, we heard a few of your sighs through the computer speakers just now as you read those last few paragraphs. And we’ve noticed a handful of our backers are pretty upset about the delays already…. so if you’re hangry for your rewards, and prefer your Kelp Jerky with very light seasoning, we’re happy to ship it to you as soon as next week. Please email [email protected] to place this request.
Otherwise, if you’re OK patiently waiting until the first week of April, that’s our target date to ship out the yummiest Kelp Jerky you’ve ever had!
After months and months of work, we're proud to say that AKUA Kelp Jerky is 100% plant-based, vegan, non-GMO, free of all major allergens including dairy, eggs, soy, peanuts, and gluten; and will be the only high-protein, soy-free vegan jerky on the market.
We rebuilt the product over the past several months to achieve an incredible nutritional profile: one bag of Kelp Jerky (1.5oz/10 pieces) has 10g of protein, 10g of fiber, and 4g of sugar (maple sugar). It's also overflowing with vitamins, minerals, omegas, and antioxidants. In fact, one bag of AKUA Kelp Jerky has more than 100% of the recommended daily allowance of Vitamins B1 (1mg) and B2 (2mg), and 80% of Iron (14mg). Kelp Jerky is also high in Potassium, Calcium, Vitamin D, and Vitamin Sea (C)!
When we started this journey in late 2016, we never could've imagined all the challenges and roadblocks we've faced in the past two years. If we had set out to make caffeinated chocolate protein bars and had this much trouble, we probably would've tossed in the towel by now. But we're on a mission that inspires us every day because it's bigger than just building a business. We're building AKUA because we believe that every morning, more and more consumers wake up and care more and more about what they put in their bodies, and how their food choices make an impact on our planet.
Look out for another update with shipping information from us soon!
#KELPJERKYISCOMING! UPDATE #7
about 7 years ago
– Mon, Feb 04, 2019 at 09:49:10 PM
Hey there Kickstarter fam! In our last update, we told you we’d not send another one until we are finally sending Kelp Jerky to you. However, a few of you have asked for a mid-term update (and we aim to please) - so here it is!
WE ARE FEELING FINE, WE’VE NEVER BEEN CLOSER TO THE FINISH LINE!
A sample of our Kelp Jerky BBQ flavor using our new molds
Our latest samples are receiving rave feedback!
We just finished an exhausting but rewarding two weeks serving Kelp Jerky at multiple events. Spicy Lebo and I handpacked over 500 bags to send sample packages to all the newly elected female members of congress and to serve at the Wingable pitch event in NYC (both at the request of our amazing lead investors!). Then last Friday, we served Kelp Jerky with tongs out of glass jars at a local sustainability event in Williamsburg, Brooklyn hosted by Sustain the Mag (who wrote this awesome story on us recently).
Just this past weekend, we served Kelp Jerky as a much-loved apres-ski snack on Summit Powder Mountain. Feedback has been awesome on our new recipe and these final samplings are necessary before we ship Kelp Jerky to you!
CBM is very proud of our new sign
So, what's taking so long? Mostly - reformulating our Kelp Jerky recipe to achieve a great taste, a great texture, and a great nutritional profile.
Our early nutritional tests showed too much sugar and not enough protein and fiber. Since last spring, we’ve worked from 7am to 5am multiple days a week to adjust our Kelp Jerky recipe to bring a new product into the world that we can all feel great about eating.
We completed the new recipe in late December (under the stewardship of our co-founder Spicy Lebo!), and received our latest nutritional panel in January that we couldn’t be more proud of printing on our first run of packaging (recyclable of course!).
New packaging!
With 10g of protein and 10g of fiber, Kelp Jerky is the perfect snack! And we’ve also made a few necessary adjustments to our three flavors under the direction of our food scientist: Rosemary & Maple BBQ, Sesame & Nori Sea Salt, and Spicy Thai & Spirulina.
Our 100% vegan snack is free of all common allergens like gluten, soy, and nuts, and is packed with important micronutrients like Vitamin A, Vitamin E, Thiamine (B1), Riboflavin (B2), Iodine, Calcium, Potassium, Magnesium, Iron, and Zinc. Check out our nutritional information on our shiny, new packaging here.
Back of Pack
After we completed the updated recipe for our forthcoming Founder's Edition Pack, we had to tweak a few elements of our process too - things like timings and temperature settings in dehydration rooms, testing different kinds of enormous mixers, creating custom molds, and awaiting the delivery of equipment like giant tumblers to evenly apply our new spices.
What remains...
It’s been a mission but everything is falling into place so that in just 1-2 weeks, all of the equipment will be with us, thoroughly tested, and ready to make Kelp Jerky to fill our final packaging (which also arrives in 1-2 weeks!).
Then, we head into full-time production. We estimate that it will take about three weeks to mix, dehydrate, and package the almost 7,000 bags of Kelp Jerky to fulfill our Kickstarter.
Our goal is to start shipping out Kelp Jerky to funders as soon as the first finished pieces come off the line (therefore, some of you may receive Kelp Jerky before others).
We’re very grateful for your patience, and very stoked to get your Kelp Jerky to you. In the meantime, make sure to follow us on Instagram and join our Kelp Club on Facebook!
With love,
CBM & Spicy Lebo
#KELPJERKYISCOMING! UPDATE #6
over 7 years ago
– Thu, Dec 20, 2018 at 09:04:23 PM
This is your Captain speaking, buckle up and enjoy the ride!
We told you we’d ship your Kelp Jerky in July. Then September. Then October and December. So you may now be reasonably asking, dude, where’s my Kelp Jerky?
We’ve seen your frustrated comments. They keep us up at night with visions of hungry wannabe jerky eaters holding pitchforks and torches outside of our windows. But we’ve also seen your loving comments, too. Your support warms our hearts on the most frustrating of days.
Hold me!
As we reflect on 2018 —a rollercoaster by any measure— we made some first-year mistakes and had to roll with unforeseen setbacks. But our biggest mistake (one rooted in good intentions!) was creating timelines that even top food scientists and chefs have identified as extremely ambitious.
Launching our Kickstarter in March with a kitchen-made product and expecting to ship 5,000 bags of Kelp Jerky in a production facility 3 months later was a moonshot. We’ve heard the phrase “everything takes longer than you think it will” more times than we can count over the past few months. But know this:
We can now see the finish line!
In addition, we’ve officially closed our first fundraise with the support of some of the most incredibly talented investors in the CPG space, many of whom are food entrepreneurs themselves who will help guide us in the coming years.
We’ve bought 15,000 pounds of kelp and have already placed orders for more in the coming harvest season. We’ve spent more than 500 hours in our new manufacturing home (a single run takes 20 hours). We’ve done more than 25 full-scale test runs of Kelp Jerky on all three flavors in addition to countless kitchen tests and seasoning applications. And now, we’re mastering the art of flavor application at scale.
Final flavor testing!
We’ve debuted samples of Kelp Jerky at the greatest gathering of influencers in the world: Summit LA. We’ve even placed orders for our final (recyclable) packaging! (Waiting on this to arrive is our biggest current delay!).
We’ve launched our first round of "Beach Marketing" tactics (like field marketing but on the sand), which involves chasing down hungry surfers to get their feedback. (Hint: hungry surfers love Kelp Jerky!)
Beach Marketing
On Kickstarter, we are creators. And in backing us, you chose to help support our journey to launch a new creation, including our development process - with all of its obstacles and setbacks.
Janet = Our new favorite backer
In December 2009, James Cameron released Avatar, which blew our minds, opened our hearts, and changed our cinema-going lives forever. Cameron then announced that Avatar 2 would launch five years later in December 2014. Then he pushed it back to 2017. Then 2018. And now Avatar 2 is set for release in December 2020 - 6 years after the initial delivery date promise. And now, there are three more Avatar films to follow until 2025 (!!!).
Kelp Jerky is rumored to be spotted in Avatar 3!
While we are all still waiting for Avatar 2 (and 3, 4, & 5!), no one should email James ticked off that Avatar is delayed. Creation is a process. Packaged food, much like film, needs to go through multiple rounds of editing before you feel comfortable showing the world.
The only thing worse than shipping late, is shipping a bad product. This is why 70-84% of Kickstarter projects are delayed. It’s a lot of pressure to deliver something so exceptional that it hasn’t existed before.
We know that Avatar 2 is going to be amazing. And we want Kelp Jerky to be amazing too (without bathing it in 10G of sugar per serving!) so that meat-lovers and non-meat lovers alike will have a new favorite snack that they can feel good about buying. And we want AKUA to release Kelp products 2, 3, 4, and 5 too!
While we don’t yet know our exact delivery date, we are now working with all of our partners on an 8-week timeline to launch (including working over the holidays!). We’re going to keep our monthly updates happening here on Kickstarter, and we fully expect our next update will be our last —telling you that your Kelp Jerky is on its way to you (with all of your other great rewards - like these dope eco-friendly, made-in-the USA water bottles too!)
#KELPJERKYISCOMING! UPDATE #5
over 7 years ago
– Sun, Nov 11, 2018 at 06:00:48 PM
All smiles after our first scaled test run!
Our co-founder and CEO "CBM"
Last weekend, at Summit LA - we debuted the first ever batch of our Kelp Jerky from a scaled production run in sample packs. In short, it was a huge hit!
Our Rosemary BBQ was the crowd favorite, followed by Sesame & Sea Salt and then our High Thai'd - which came up short on spice so we know exactly what we need to do to make it better next time.
With a beard like that, he must eat Kelp Jerky!
Now we're full speed ahead. Our new Ops Manager Pete and COO/CFO Spicy Lebo are buying the equipment we need to make our processes even more efficient (like a giant Robot Coupe!). Then, they're finalizing our processes for applying flavorings (this last batch was our first ever scaled attempt!).
We're noticing the ladies love Sesame & Sea Salt!
We're also putting the finishing touches on our packaging and working on our new website unveil. We're hoping to have our nutritional panel ready to go shortly so we can order the final packaging. From there, it should take about 4 weeks until we're ready to ship out Kelp Jerky to you!
We're getting close! We can see the finish line! It's been quite the journey to launch, and we're so grateful for everyone who is reading this today who's been along for the ride!
With love,
TEAM AKUA!
*** PSA: One for Neptune has one week left on Indiegogo! ***
In the meantime, we'd love to introduce you to One For Neptune: our sea-worthy jerky friends who have one week left on Indiegogo! Their Sea Jerky is made from US wild Pacific rockfish - fish that tastes better than beef jerky! With 20g protein, High Omega-3, Selenium, Vitamin D & E - it's sure to be a big hit for any non-vegans reading this!
