Have you heard of the term functional foods? These are whole foods that you take in with nutritional and functional benefits to your health. Here to explain the concept better is Tero Isokauppila. Tero is the founder and CEO of Four Sigmatic, a functional foods company that wants to make the world’s most studied and nutrient-dense foods more delicious and easier to consume. Their goal is to bring healthy upgrades into America’s daily routine. In this episode, he joins Dr. Patty Ann Tublin to share the benefits of functional foods and how you can upgrade your lifestyle for better health and wellness. Tune in to know the different products they offer that will cater to your health needs without compromising taste. Plus, learn about the different benefits of healing mushrooms and fungi.
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Listen to the podcast here
Functional Foods And Their Benefits With Tero Isokauppila
I am so excited for you to know the unbelievable wisdom of this man that he is coming to us from Europe, but before we go any further, make sure you like, comment, share, and subscribe to this show. I can’t possibly share with you everything that this man has accomplished. He is a true thought leader in the field of coffee. One of my favorite vices or my only vice, if you believe that. Also, mushrooms which I cannot wait to know more about. Without any further ado because when this show is over, I know you are going to be googling this guy like crazy. Welcome to the show, our guest, Tero Isokauppila.
Thanks for having me on.
He is the Founder and CEO of Four Sigmatic. There is so much here to talk about, but I have to ask you this question because I find it hard to believe. You’re from Finland, correct?
Yes.
I heard it said that Finnish people drink more coffee than Americans. Can that be true?
Yes, more than 2 times, almost 3 times the amount of Americans.
What’s that about? How can that be? Are you guys as sleep deprived as us? No way. You’re one of the happiest countries in the world. I look at you and I feel happy.
Coffee is a happy thing. It’s demonized in many ways. It’s good for you. Finnish people drink a lot of coffee and there are reasons why that is, but coffee is good for you. There are great meta-studies, the studies of studies to show how healthy coffee is. It’s the number one source of antioxidants for many of us. It’s good for longevity. We use it mostly for energy, productivity, and brain power. It does have a couple of negatives. One of them, for some people, it’s tough for the digestive system. You get a little bit of uneasy stomach or whatever.
They have brown stuff at the bottom of the pot that comes into your stomach.
Yes, also about the acidity. Coffee is quite acidic and for some people, that can because a little bit of heartburn and these things like that. The other one is it can cause jittery feelings. It is a stimulant. It can be harsh on your adrenals and natural energy production, but there are ways to combat those two negatives, but coffee’s a happy thing. That’s why Finns are a few years in the running as the happiest country in the world.
You said there are many reasons why Finns drink a lot of coffee, but you didn’t tell us why. What are the reasons? You’re already happy.
First of all, it’s very cold. It’s a big thing when it’s cold, dark, and miserable, so a cup of coffee goes a long way.
As opposed to whiskey?
Less whiskey, believe it or not. Finnish people are somewhat shy and introverted. There’s an old saying, “The difference between an extroverted Finn and an introverted Finn is that the introverted Finn is so shy that when you have a conversation with them, they keep staring at their feet. Extroverted Finn, who is super outgoing, will look at your feet.
I’ve heard that, but not in relation to Finn.
Coffee is Similar to Sweden and Denmark. It’s a moment. Usually, at lunchtime, when you meet your friends or take a little break from work for a few minutes, you make coffee. It’s like a moment of socializing. It’s similar to whiskey. It can like loosen up the more shy people.
Does coffee do that? I didn’t know that.
Yes. It stimulates the brain in many ways and gets people going and people are more alert. That’s another reason. Finally, Finns are pretty hardworking and there was a lot of time in Finnish independence, we were a very poor country and people would work long days. You work hard and coffee does help a lot. For those reasons, that’s why it’s very popular.
You talk about hardworking people. Your family is the 13th generation of farmers. I don’t think we go back thirteen generations in the States. Maybe we do, but tell us about that. Those are the hardest working people in the world.
Everybody needs food. It’s a primary industry. When the world goes crazy, people still need to eat.
It’s not pretty trendy to be a farmer, but it’s funny if anybody who’s ever worked on a farm or worked on a farm realizes that it’s difficult, especially if your income relies on it. If you’re a hobby farmer, farming for the joy of taking care of the land, it’s a different story, but if your family’s livelihood depends on the yield, crop, weather, and next season, it is very difficult. My parents are the 12th generation, my brother and I are the 13th and then our kids will be the 14th.
Does your family do it to make a living? It’s all automated now because you’re in Austin as we’re having this interview, so you’re not tilling the soil.
Two parts, one of the benefits of farming independent is that the season is very short. It’s a few months. The negative is you have one crop depending on where you are and what you grow. You can have 2 or 3 harvests with fungi. You can even have more per year, but in Finland, farming is mostly one. Me and my brother are the first generations where our livelihood is not dependent on farming. Neither he nor I rely on our rent to be paid and get food on the table from farming. It’s a hobby that my parents were still relying on it and it becomes increasingly difficult to do that. It’s a lot of work. It’s very difficult in today’s world.
When I was young, our farm was big. Agriculture has grown so much that now our farm is a small farm, even though the farm has grown since I was a kid because the average size of farms has exploded and people do a lot of mono-crops. They farm one thing and they try to farm huge volumes too. The margins on agriculture depend on crop and location but tend to be like 3%. You make a 3% profit.
The farms are getting bigger. Is that the government buying up the land? How is that working? In the States, people are “farmers” but that’s because it has to do a lot with tax subsidies. I’m a city girl so don’t quote me, but there are some people who are being paid not to farm. It’s a whole conundrum going on here in the States. Why is it getting so much bigger and Finland as well?
It’s a global phenomenon. It’s not just one country. It’s derived from a few things. One positive is automation. The amount of land one person can farm is more, so that’s positive by using tools and modern technology. You can cover more ground, so there are efficiencies. Negatively, the margins are getting shrunken, so you make less money. To cover your overhead and fixed expenses, you need to farm more.
In many cases, farmers are in massive debt. The weather kills their crop. They don’t have money to buy next year’s crop. Here comes the seed company, Monsanto, for example, and says, “We’ll pay your seeds or you get a loan, but you need to use our seeds.” Now, you’re in their pocket. In many cases, farms have existed for many years on subsidies. That’s industry and country-specific. Certain countries subsidize different things, but the idea is that farmers have been losing money. If you make $100, your expenses are $120, but then you get $40 from the government, so you make $20 of profit, if that makes sense.
It makes sense in a governmental bureaucratic way only.
For example, there are countries that are trying to streamline farming. The thing is food supply and these buzzwords of people will not have access to food and calories, which is weird. In that case, the government must provide subsidies so that farmers don’t go out of business, but it’s not a sustainable model. If they don’t do it, then farmers will go out of business. Inflation will increase even more and food prices and then people will not have access to food. Who suffers the most? It’s pretty much always the lower-income people, including farmers, who will be in a dire situation.
We’re going to pivot and make this a little bit more positive, but thank you. It is so fascinating. One of my children, Brian, whom I talked to you about, went to the University of Wisconsin. His roommate grew up on a 400-acre working farm. I remember my son went out to the farm and it was an unbelievable experience. These people were literally the expression, “Salt of the earth.”
Brian asked the parents if they ever took a day off and the parents stopped and were like, “One Christmas,” because everything wasn’t automated yet and everything still needed to be done. To me, it’s amazing. I know you come from strong stock there. Give us a little bit of your background. Your mother was an Anatomy and Physiology Professor. I’m not sure about your dad. You have a Chemistry degree. You’re no dummy. It seemed like you married all the brilliance of your family into your food company, but tell us how you got here.
I grew up in Finland and my dad is an agronomist. That’s a fancy way of saying he’s an educated farmer.
What does that educated farmer mean?
Agronomist, agro meaning agriculture, and that means he has a degree in Farming. He’s like a professional farmer, a fancy word. He’s an expert in soil and growing food and forest. His real specialty is in trees, which is relevant to fungi as well, which I’m known for. My mom taught Physiology and Anatomy to nurses. I studied first Chemistry, then Nutrition. I then lived in ten countries around the world.
Did you study in Finland? Where did you study?
I’ve studied in five countries, but I started in Finland first. I then lived in ten countries. Several years ago, I started a functional food company that specializes in many of these “superfoods.”
At the time you’re in Finland, you crossed the border and you’re in another country. Did you study in European countries or did you go around the world?
I studied in the US, Canada, France, UK, and Finland.
Which was your favorite place to study?
The educational systems are very different. In the French system, you don’t challenge the teacher. The teacher is always right. In the Finnish system, there is a lot of conversation. It’s much more open. Each one is different. I do like a lot of the British schooling system. There are a lot of beautiful traditions married with some progressive thinking, but it always comes down to who’s your teacher, the group’s quality, and the group conversation’s quality. It’s very school and profession-driven.
What about Canada or the States?
It’s beautiful in a way that it’s more commercially driven, but the negative is that it is a business. Universities have benefited. They’re very capitalistic, even stayed state-based universities. Student debt has grown much more than inflation. I don’t know if the quality of teaching has grown. The main quarrel I would have about North American education is that it’s a business and it’s a bad deal for the students. Education is way too expensive. A lot of education, therefore, is a bad deal. I will generally regard American students as narrow-focused and European students as broadly-focused. Student debt is one of the worst things about the United States and it’s a real issue. Universities have played tax players badly.
When you have unlimited access to loans and you can charge whatever you want. If any other industry could do that, it’s insane. You clearly have a very worldly education. When you were studying in all these different places with the mushrooms, how did you get there from studying your other types?
I always knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur as a kid as well. Was I un-hirable? I always wanted to start businesses. I started a few businesses early on that were not slam dunk successes. I needed to learn more and become a better professional. This was in my late teens, early twenties. I went to work in a few companies. I worked in management consulting and then I worked in the largest tech companies in the world at that time.
What tech company was that?
It was HP. I wanted to start my own business. Several years ago, I launched Four Sigmatic, which is one of the leading mushroom and adaptogen companies, but it’s functional foods. We make a better for you coffee and a better for you protein. We add these ingredients besides the protein and the coffee that have functional benefits to productivity, energy, sleep, and whatever.
How did you marry the passion for the mushrooms with the functional food? Are you always the salt of the earth? Were you always this organic? Did you never sneak a Hershey bar?
I was in my mid-twenties when I had my first Hershey bar.
Are you serious?
Yes.
Was it terrible because it was all sugar?
Yes. It’s bad chocolate. I had candy as a child, but it was different kinds of candy. Hershey’s is not tasty. Even if I would take the health aside and be like, “I want good chocolate,” I would not get Hershey’s.
What would you take?
I would make it myself. I make chocolate regularly, but if I would buy products, there are 100 brands that will make better chocolate than Hershey’s.
Food is such a difficult business. You’re creating functional foods to make them nutrient-dense. Take us along that journey. It’s fascinating to me.
These names and words are constantly evolving as society is evolving, but a functional food example would be that you a whole food, whatever the whole food is, and it would have a functional benefit for your health. You’re not eating it purely for flavor, but you’re eating it for flavor and nutritional value. That’s been my passion ever since.
About half of the best-selling drugs and pharmaceuticals in the world are made out of fungi.
Even before starting this company, I coached professional athletes in nutrition. As I mentioned, I studied Chemistry and Nutrition and saw the impact that certain compounds could have on your recovery, cognitive function, sleep, skin, immunity, and things like that. Having a business in them can be very challenging, especially as an immigrant in the United States.
There are positives. I feel like it makes me feel better and start with the good stuff. Everybody needs food. It’s a primary industry. Whatever’s happening in the world or the world goes crazy, people still need to eat. Everybody wants to feel good. Not just good, everybody wants to feel better. Wherever you are, you’re an avid health enthusiast or you maybe been busy with family or work, and that’s not been a priority, you always want to be better tomorrow, next week, next month, or next year.
Wherever you are in your journey, you’re thinking, “How can I be better?” Those are the beautiful things. Especially healing people and healing their bodies and minds. We have sold $100 million servings of these functional foods and we get people writing letters, emails, and social media and telling the journey and how they’ve done whatever they’ve done to heal their bodies and that’s beautiful.
That being said, there’s a lot of regulation from the government. There are a lot of high costs and very low margins. The margin of error is tight, especially in America. Americans spend the most in the world on medication and healthcare. It’s very difficult in America. People spend the least of all the countries as a percentage of disposable income on food. It’s counterintuitive to a lot of Americans to what Hippocrates already said, “Let food be thy medicine,” and that’s not obvious to a lot of Americans. That’s also a challenge.
Why do you think that? I’m surprised about that. Is it because the proportion is out of whack?
There are a lot of reasons.
I’m a die-hard American, but we’re not perfect. You can lay it on.
I love America.
I do too, but we’re not perfect. Our education is messed up. You watch what Americans eat when you go out to eat. You want to cringe. You probably want to go to the table.
American Constitution and American Founding Fathers created something that nobody’s ever created. The history that America’s had, although short, has been second to none. It’s one of the greatest success stories of all time in human history. That being said, it comes down to dollars.
We’re so focused on capitalism.
I love capitalism. It’s great. The challenge is when you give more power to certain industries, they can make more money and there are barriers. The fact is you make more money with people who are sick than with people who are healthy. It’s funny that there are countries where the doctor gets paid when you’re healthy. Every day you’re healthy, you pay the doctor. When you’re sick, you don’t pay the doctor because they didn’t do their jobs. Here, it’s the opposite. You pay the doctor every time you are sick. You don’t pay when you’re healthy.
Also, Americans don’t take responsibility for our health. Most of our diseases could be preventable if people ate better, knew how to handle stress, and all that stuff. Is that where you’re going with this?
It’s called functional medicine. There are MDs who are actual doctors and they are trained in all the things you need for Western medicine, which is very helpful. I played soccer growing up and I had two knee injuries. I got blessed with modern medicine for healing my ACL. At the same time, as an MD, in my opinion, as much as you want to prescribe pharmaceuticals, you should prescribe resting, meditation, exercise, walking, water, hydration, and proper nutrition.
Those are the bed stone of whatever is going on. Sometimes it gets left behind because there’s little to no money to be made in food, water, breath work, exercise, and walking. There is a lot of money to be made in diet pills, pharmaceuticals, and surgeries that will make you thin. It’s good to have options, but it shouldn’t be the result. That’s my opinion and I could be wrong.
I agree with you. I have a dear friend who’s a naturopathic physician. The first two years of his medical school education were regular medical school. The next two years were herbs, plants, and all that stuff. I’ve learned so much from him. He’s like, “Drugs are pretty much the synthetic version of most of what we have in nature.” I do think, though, there’s a paradigm shift going on where the East is meeting the West. I do believe that. I hope it’s true.
To your point, surgery, things like that, thank God, we’ve had those advances, but for the most part, the healthcare system, in fairness to the physicians and doctors, is not educated in functional foods. They can’t prescribe what they don’t know. To your point, you’re not taking them out to dinner if you’ve prescribed X amount of your functional foods like the pharmaceutical companies do, right?
Correct.
Tell us about your company.
Four Sigmatic is a functional food company based here in the US. We’ve been around for several years. We started overseas and brought it here.
You had to make money. In the States is about money.
It’s also culture. One of the most beautiful and underrated parts of America is you can go wherever and there are a lot of tastemakers and opinion leaders such as artists, musicians, actors, and actresses. Artists that impact global culture. This is the ground zero for a lot of trends globally. To have a global impact and to change consumer behavior, this is the place to be. We make coffee that has these functional ingredients. These mushrooms and adaptogens that people now talk about and didn’t talk so much about a few years ago.
This is your intellectual property. Did you create this formula for the coffee as a chemist?
In a way, yes, but we don’t own nature. Nobody can own nature for a good reason and we don’t want to, either. It’s more like a recipe. We are pretty open about what the recipe is. You can go to our website and find it out. We’re not trying to hide anything. Instead, we’re trying to educate and elevate people by making health fun and tasty.
We sell our proteins and coffees anywhere from Walmart to Target and Amazon. A big part of our journey has been podcasts. We’ve done so much podcast education over the last couple of years. That’s been a big part of our journey. We have hundreds and hundreds of thousands of happy customers. As I said, we’ve sold 100 million servings of these functional foods so far.
I’m glad to help here. You have different flavors of the coffee. You have like vanilla coffee. Did I read that correctly somewhere?
No, we do have vanilla protein and vanilla creamer. We use real vanilla instead of natural flavors. Natural sounds good, but it’s not that good. We have coffees for thinking, so they help you think better. There’s one for balance if you’re stressed. There are decaf products that support your natural relaxation. Again, for different states where you are, there are different kinds of products.
Have you found that you do market different products to different states in the States?
No. Surprisingly, very little difference. When we sell to Whole Foods or Walmart, there’s not a lot of difference. The old way of thinking is like, “Somebody in Indiana is so different than somebody in San Francisco,” and because of the internet and things, it comes down to more hobbies. These are called psychographics but like behaviors or interests. People who are into Four Sigmatic, my company, tend to be into holistic health. They might read books and listen to podcasts about holistic health. They might enjoy things like walking or forest bathing.
What is forest bathing?
It’s the concept from Japan, but it is popular around the world where you go to the forest and walk in the woods, which can make you less stressed. Being surrounded by nature, you are less stressed.
In a book by Steven Kotler, The Art of Impossible and he coaches high-performing athletes and talks about going out in nature. It distresses you. It’s probably a similar type of concept.
Yes.
I’d never heard it before. I learned that. What tends to be your most popular product? For someone that’s like, “Who is this guest Dr. PattyAnn has on? She’s off her rocker.” What’s a functional food that you would recommend for someone to try first?
We have top five often, number one best-selling instant coffee on Amazon. We have one of the best-selling instant coffees on Amazon and it tastes way better than normal instant coffee.
I heard instant coffee. I’m like, “Ew.”
The most important way people learn to change their minds or behavior is to get noticeable benefits in their own life.
It’s delicious and loved by hundreds of thousands of people, but it also doesn’t give you the jittery feeling that other coffees have. It only has half of the caffeine of normal coffee. People who are sensitive to caffeine can enjoy it. It’s a better way to drink coffee. Our ground coffee is a top ten ground coffee in the US as well. It’s organic, fair trade, and elevated coffee, and that’s one of the most popular.
Is it called Four Sigmatic Coffee?
Yes.
I want people to be able to get it.
Our plant-based protein is a top fifteen protein in the natural protein channel and that’s also very popular. It’s a much cleaner protein than most plant-based organic. It doesn’t give you tough digestive issues like some proteins make you feel yucky, but it gives you the benefits of protein for health and longevity.
Is that a powder or a bar?
It’s a protein powder.
Do you have bars? I know so many of the protein bars, you might as well have a Hershey bar.
Yes, we don’t do bars. They’re very difficult to make clean. Most protein bars are not good for you. We have these like plant-based creamers and then we have coffee pods if you’re a Keurig pod user. Those are also very popular and sold by Walmart. We try to meet the consumer halfway, so if you’re early in your health and wellness journey, you’re like, “What are these freaking mushrooms and adaptogens? I don’t even know what that word is.” We try to make it easy by having equal recyclable coffee pods you can put in your coffee machine. You use it the same way as anything else, but it makes you feel much better.
Let’s talk about mushrooms. I went to NYU, so I lived in Greenwich Village for several years back in the day when everybody was off their rocker. I was a nerd, so I wouldn’t go near a mushroom with a 10-foot pole. I do understand it’s very maligned, so enlighten us.
The kingdom where mushrooms live is called fungi. One of the 5 or 6 kingdoms in biology, so it’s debatable. Similar to plants and animals, fungi have their own kingdom and they’re everywhere. From Antarctica to the stratosphere, you can find fungi and they’re on our skin, in our gut, and in our digestive system. We have all kinds of fungi.
Whether you want it or not, you will consume fungi. Fungi are also needed for every plant and tree to collect water. We use them for yeast, which is a type of fungi to make beer, wine, bread, and cheese. You use them in fermented products, also like Sauerkraut and kombucha. About half of the best-selling drugs and pharmaceuticals in the world are made out of fungi. Penicillin is the most well-known, but they’re everywhere, but the in Anglo-Saxon culture, unlike the Latin or some of the Asian or Slavic cultures, there’s a fear of fungi because there are also bad mushrooms.
Here’s the main kicker, animals and fungi shared ancestors. You and I are up to half mushroom. We share half of our DNA and 85% of RNA with fungi, which means we’re very similar. The good news is fungal medicine is bioavailable. Bad news, we’re prone to fungal diseases. The idea of fearing fungi is irrational because we don’t fear plants and there are way more lethal plants in the world than lethal fungi.
We don’t fear animals the same way, even though there are way more animals than can kill us that are household pets, but we have this fear of fungi because they’re smaller and very individual. Bacteria and fungi have suffered from this food racism. There is a lot more focus on plants and animals and not as much focused on bacteria and fungi, even though all the evidence is very clear on how they impact our wellbeing or potentially our disease.
How did it get gets such a bad rep?
It’s not globally a bad rep. It’s very specific to Anglo-Saxon heritage and there are two theories. Nobody knows for sure because it’s a long time ago, but one is around mold. Mold is a bad type of fungi and there are many kinds of molds. In England, there’s a lot of moisture and people got sick. That’s one theory.
The second theory is what you were referring to with your NYU is psychedelic mushrooms. There is a small group of psychedelic fungi. By the way, there are also psychedelic plants. Very few people stop eating tomatoes because there are psychedelic plants, but for some reason, people don’t want to buy mushrooms because they’re psychedelic mushrooms. They’re an exception, not the rule.
There are psychedelic fungi that are a part of our heritage, particularly Christianity. Christianity and psychedelic mushrooms have a shared lineage. When men were hunters, women were gatherers, and women had a lot of herbal knowledge for healing and psychedelics. The burning of witches in medieval times could have been linked with the use of fungi. Fungi for the psychedelic purpose could have been scary for governments. Therefore, there was a lot of like fear around them. For a sad reason, Anglo-Saxons, including North Americans, particularly, Americans, are afraid of fungi for no reason.
Do you have to consistently overcome that bias for your company to grow?
Yes.
How do you do that? I’m picturing the little mushroom with the hood doing a little dance.
Different people react differently. Some people want to hear the science. I’ve written books about them. Some people want to hear the hardcore facts. I’d say that’s still a minority, at least in America. People don’t want to hear the facts. They want to be entertained or edu-tained, where they want entertainment and education together.
Those dancing mushrooms, telling stories, and jokes help, but the real answer is the most consistent and eventually the most important way how people learn to change their minds or change their behavior is to get noticeable benefits in their own life. Trying something like a mushroom coffee and feeling so much better and then you’re converted.
In order for people to give it a chance, most commonly, one of their friends or someone they trust will say, “This sounds absolutely crazy, but you need to try this mushroom coffee.” They’re like, “I don’t know. That sounds sketchy.” The friend, relative, or someone you trust will say, “No, trust me. It’s weird, but it’s legit. It’s not psychedelic. It’s tasty. You’re not going to even taste the mushrooms. Try it and you’ll feel amazing.” When they finally do, they feel amazing and then go and tell the next person. It’s a slow way. It’s not fast. It’s not like becoming a massive company overnight. For us, it’s been several years of journey, but that’s the most consistent and reliable way for people to change their minds and try something new.
I’ll give you a little hint. Not that you need my help. You need to find that one woman connector in every organization, neighborhood, and school. There’s always that one and all she’ll say is, “You have to try this coffee.” Don’t talk about mushrooms. Don’t say anything. “I’m telling you, you have to try this coffee.” After they try it, then you say, “How was it? Good? Have another cup. Do you know what’s in it? It’s mushrooms.” That’s the way you do it. It’ll be a game-changer overnight. It’s like, “Where’d you get that purse?” “You have to try it” Your wife would tell you that. That’s how it works.
The good news is the mushrooms are super trendy now. There’s a documentary on Netflix called Fantastic Fungi. That is very popular.
Are you starring in it?
No, it’s more around how much it was growing very slowly, like time-lapse videos. Beautiful videography, but with some education in it. The main point is there are those books now that are very popular around this topic, including mine. I got married and we got a gift card to Anthropology. I went on the website. I have no financial interest in the business, but I found hundreds of products that have fungi in them, from kids’ products to cups and this and that. There is a growing interest in mushrooms and people are very interested in them. It’s very of the moment right now. More and more people are mushroom-friendly and fewer people are micro-phobic. That’s positive.
Tell us about your book.
I’ve written a few books, but my latest book is called Healing Adaptogens. Adaptogens are super herbs and super mushrooms that help you combat stress so they can help you think better and make your skin better, all by bouncing stressors in life. Some of them you know, things like turmeric, real cacao, or ginseng. Some of them are and some of you might not have heard as much like ashwagandha or lion’s mane, but these are things that have been used by hundreds, if not thousands of years that also have hundreds of credible research papers to back for their benefits and how they help balance our body in a safe, natural holistic way.
You are in Walmart, Target, and Whole Foods. Those are two at least very different price ranges. What is your price and is it affordable? The joke is Whole Foods is a whole paycheck. Walmart’s very different. Where is the price point?
We’re pretty affordable. Being organic and fair trade is more expensive than your Maxwell House and Folgers, but we’re not any more expensive than the other specialty products. At Walmart, for example, a lot of the pricing was aligned with the other products on the shelf. You don’t have to pay a premium, but you can go to Amazon and see prices or whatever.
A common misconception is that Whole Foods is very expensive and why they do carry some more expensive items, but ever since Amazon has owned them, a lot of the prices have gone down. People think Walmart is selling only sugar and white flour. While that does exist, you’d be surprised at places like Costco and Walmart how many clean products are now available.
More consumers or regular Americans are also seeking healthy, better-for-you solutions that have a clean label and are not full of ingredients you don’t recognize or high amounts of sugar or processed ingredients. While that’s still a minority, more people are asking. Walmart, Target, and Costco are all in the business of having happy customers. If customers are enough asking for products, even weird products like mushroom coffee or plant-based protein powders, then those retailers want to carry those products.
I would never want you to disparage your competitor. Although I don’t think these are competitors. What’s the difference besides the fungi between your coffee and Starbucks?
Starbucks is a big company and they have a lot of products. It’s hard to say one product. You can buy a Frappuccino with 40 grams of sugar, but let’s focus on the coffee beans and not a prepared drink. Most of the products are not organic. First and foremost, what you’re consuming is pesticides 100% of the time pretty much. They don’t test the micro toxins, so coffee beans easily gather mold. You might be getting these things that are not good for you and then they’re fair trade. Coffee is one of the most sprayed crops for pesticides but one of the most abused from a supply chain. Those are the reasons.
Challenging times create strong people. Strong people create good times.
What do you mean by abused by the supply chain?
That would be a whole another show, but long story short, the coffee farmer and the people growing the coffee bean, don’t get a living wage, depending on the country and the environment. There is a lot of coffee that is sold mainstream market that is not fair trade or not that sustainable. I’m not saying that that’s Starbucks specific, but I’ve most company products I’ve seen from Starbucks are not certified organic and neither fair trade. Those are commonly what I’ve noticed, but again Starbucks is a huge company with hundreds of products. It’s very diverse.
To my taste, they are very burnt coffees. Depending on the coffee you buy from Starbucks, ours is also 100% arabica. There are a couple of varieties. Some of them Starbucks coffees use this lower quality bean, but that’s more flavor and preference. People have different flavor opinions. Some people swear by it, but personally, I don’t think Starbucks tastes that good, but that’s my opinion.
What’s next for you?
I’m about to have our second child. That’s the first thing on my mind.
Congratulations. Let the games begin.
I’m all for it. I have this new book called Healing Adaptogens that’s available wherever books are sold, in bookstores and online. I’m focused on my company, Four Sigmatic, where I’m the Founder and CEO. I’m trying to hopefully learn more about fungi and grow as a person. That’s important for me.
What is the most difficult part of your business?
Everything is difficult. Selling and formulation are difficult, but for me and most entrepreneurs, it all comes down to people. The best moments about having a business are people and the hardest moments that you will ever face are people. There’s nothing easy. It’s like farming, but different. I’m exhausted in different ways. If I work on the farm, I’ll be differently tired but equally challenging. The stress is different.
As a farmer, you think you don’t have stress. You stress about the weather all the time, especially during the harvest season. You’re looking at the weather forecast that changes every hour. You’re panicking if it’s going to rain or not. As a business owner, you’re worrying about other things. It’s the way of life. I firmly believe that challenges and challenging times create strong people. Strong people create good times and that’s the journey I’m on.
Do you have a co-partner or it’s just you? Is your wife in the business?
No, she has her own business for sun protection. A lot of skin damage is created by the sun and she has UPF-proof clothing and visors, which are separate. I have a founding team with Four Sigmatic that has been with me since the beginning. We have given employees equity, so they feel the ownership in the business as well.
That’s awesome. They feel like they’re a part of something. What’s the last book you reread and why?
I reread a lot of books. I read very few new books. That’s for the disclaimer. I have multiple bookshelves, but one of them is always by my desk, where I look at books that I go back to. The last one was Damn Good Advice by George Lois. It’s for creatives. It’s more around how to think or operate as a creative. That’s one of the things that I went through.
That sounds like you. My last question is, what’s the one song that you can’t live without?
That’s a high barrier. There are a lot of songs I love. I was in a concert with my wife to see The Lumineers and then James Bay was the opening act. That was great. I don’t know if there’s a song that I could not live without.
How about wouldn’t want to live without?
It’s Somewhere Over the Rainbow.
Why is that?
It’s a happy song, especially since there’s this Hawaiian ukulele version from this Hawaiian guy. He passed away quite a few years ago, but particularly that version. It’s a happy song and there’s something about the circle of life, but in a happy and positive way and perspective and being in the know. That song feels good, but there are so many great songs to choose from.
What was your wedding song?
When we got married, we had two of our friends play who are professional musicians. One played the cello and one played guitar. We got married in the redwoods. We were in a circle of redwood trees that are the oldest and tallest trees in the world. We played different songs. When my wife entered, it was the Beatles’ Here Comes The Sun, which is also a beautiful song.
She has her skincare product. That’s so poignant. Tero, how can people find out more about you? Where can they order your product and your book? Lay it all on.
Book is wherever books are sold. You can go to your bookstore, big or small, or Amazon. Same with the products. You can find them increasingly many places. As I mentioned, you can go to Walmart, Target, and Whole Foods. Although with Walmart and Target, there are a lot of locations. Online, depending on where you live, is the easiest way, but you find us more in different retail stores. You can follow my company Four Sigmatic on all the social channels. We have fun little education about these things. I’m not that active on social media, but on Instagram, it’s @IAmTero.
I know that because I LinkedIn with you. When I LinkedIn, it said, “I will not be responding.”
I got to work on that eventually, but there’s so much to do and think about. Time is a precious resource and got to be mindful of that.
It can be such a distraction. That’s true. Thank you so much. This was so great. I hope you get a ton of new clients. I would be surprised if you don’t. Thank you so much for being our guest. That concludes this episode.
Important Links
- Tero Isokauppila
- Four Sigmatic
- The Art of Impossible
- Healing Adaptogens
- Damn Good Advice
- Amazon – Healing Adaptogens
- @IAmTero – Instagram
- Healing Mushrooms
- Santa Sold ‘Shrooms
- @FourSigmatic – Instagram
- Four Sigmatic – Facebook
- Four Sigmatic – Twitter
About Tero Isokauppila
Tero Isokauppila is the founder and CEO of Four Sigmatic, a functional foods company that wants to make the world’s most studied and nutrient-dense foods more delicious and easier to consume to bring healthy upgrades into America’s daily routine.
Tero’s roots (or mycelium, if you will) are in Finland, where he grew up growing and foraging natural foods on his 13th generation family’s farm. He later earned a degree in Chemistry, Business, and a Certificate in Plant-Based Nutrition at Cornell University.
An expert in all things related to nutrition, health, and wellness. Tero is the author of two previous best-selling books: Healing Mushrooms, an educational cookbook from Avery Publishing, and Santa Sold Shrooms, a children’s book for adults about the magical origins of Santa Claus.
Tero was chosen twice as one of the world’s Top 50 Food Activists by the Academy of Culinary Nutrition and has appeared in Time, Forbes, BuzzFeed, Vogue, Playboy, GQ, Harper’s Bazaar, and Bon Appétit. He is also a sought-after speaker, featured at Summit Series, Wanderlust, WMEIMG, Google, and the Fast Company Innovation Festival. Tero splits his time between Austin, Texas and their family farm in Finland.
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