From Classroom to CPG: How K.C. Sullivan Built a National Mushroom Empire
- Ximena Diaz Velazquez
- 3 hours ago
- 17 min read
What does it take to turn a high school science classroom into a national consumer packaged goods (CPG) brand? In our latest episode of Plant Based on Fire, we sit down with K.C. Sullivan, the founder and CEO of Two River Mushrooms, who has done exactly that.
K.C.’s journey is a masterclass in digging in and starting. Over the last decade, he has bridged his 21-year career as an environmental science teacher with his deep roots in the restaurant industry to build a highly respected organic mushroom farm.
The Overnight Success Myth
While Two River Mushrooms is now appearing on store shelves nationwide, K.C. is quick to debunk the idea of being an overnight success. His story began nearly a decade ago, initially growing mushrooms in his own apartment and testing the proof of concept at local farmers' markets.
"People look at you and they go, 'wow, he was an overnight success,' and they don't realize the 10 years you've been doing this out of your house, your garage, wherever you started...".
Filling the Functional Gap
Four years ago, K.C. noticed functional mushrooms like Lion's Mane and Maitake gaining massive popularity in categories like coffee and chocolate. Recognizing a gap in the premium broth market, he decided to create a differentiated offering.
To bring this vision to life, he secured a USDA Value-Added Producer Grant, an intense process that requires a vision for a product that can sustain its own margins.
The Science of Scaling CPG
Moving from fresh farming to shelf-stable broths wasn't without its hurdles. K.C. had to navigate the technical learning curve of retort processing: using heat and pressure to ensure stability without preservatives.
Clean Ingredients: Each box contains 2,000 milligrams of functional mushrooms paired with whole-food ingredients like lemongrass, garlic, and ginger.
Award-Winning Quality: The Lion's Mane broth recently took home the SoFi Gold Award.
Strategic Partnerships: The brand is supported by world-renowned vegan chef Derek Sarno, who serves as a brand ambassador.
Creative Retail Adoption
One of K.C.'s most innovative business moves was bucking industry standards for shelf placement. In some retail locations, Two River Mushrooms places its shelf-stable broth in the produce section alongside fresh mushrooms. This creative brand association has significantly helped with sales velocity.
Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs
K.C.’s teacher roots shine through when he offers advice to the next generation of food innovators:
Just Start: Don't let a great idea stay in the ideation phase; initiate the process.
Stay Passionate: Ensure you are passionate enough about the mission to keep plugging away through the ups and downs.
Network: Immerse yourself among like-minded people and utilize resources like USDA grants.
Listen to the Full Episode
Catch the full interview with K.C. Sullivan to learn more about the technical side of retort packaging, navigating national distributors like KeHE and UNFI, and the power of a mission-driven founder story.
Connect with Two River Mushrooms:
Website: TwoRiverMushroom.com
Find it at: All Sprouts nationwide, Amazon, and select retailers.
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Episode’s Transcript
Please understand that a transcription service provided the transcript below. It undoubtedly contains errors that invariably take place in voice transcriptions. Bryan (00:01.516) Welcome to Plant Based on Fire, where we talk about plant based businesses and their inspiring stories to thrive in the industry. I'm your host Brian. And today we're talking to a visionary entrepreneur who perfectly bridges education and innovation. He started as a high school environmental science teacher and built a highly respected organic mushroom farm, and then successfully scaled that expertise into a national consumer packaged goods brand. Please welcome the founder and CEO of Two River Mushrooms, Casey Sullivan. Welcome to the show, Casey. K.C. Sullivan (00:35.831) Thanks, Brian. Pleasure to be here. Bryan (00:38.888) I am so excited because I was just talking to my wife last night about how much we love mushrooms and I get to hang out and chat with you today. Tell us a little bit about how you got started and the beginning of building this reputation over nearly a decade, supplying fresh specialty mushrooms to the restaurants in your area. K.C. Sullivan (01:00.287) Sure, yeah, so as you mentioned, my day job is a high school science teacher. been at that. This is the beginning of my 21st year teaching predominantly environmental and sustainability oriented courses. And so I've always been into, I've always had a really strong foundation and passion towards sustainability. And also I have a pretty long history of the restaurant industry. starting off there when I was quite young, busboy to bartender, bar back, server, all the positions within the restaurant scene. The bridge was to see that there was no local organic offering of specialty mushrooms. That gap in the industry is where I started the exploration process of it. you know, initially growing mushrooms at the apartment where my wife and I and our son live. you know, it worked. I was able to grow some shiitakes on logs and, you know, started off at local farmers markets to kind of proof of concept. It worked as well there and kind of scaled it from there. Obviously, it's been a long journey and it's been filled with lots of ups and downs, but that's the short of it. Bryan (02:28.0) I love it. mean, what was, what was like the business driver that kind of said, now is time to go into this national brand. mean, I think you, you went down the path of creating a broth, correct? K.C. Sullivan (02:44.316) Yeah, that's right. you know, with the functional mushrooms, you know, going back to the origin of the business, it was I was growing lion's mane and maitake and shiitake and, you know, these specialty mushrooms and, you know, the consumer education, the awareness part wasn't there then. And then pretty much it's common, common knowledge now that it's. Bryan (03:03.288) Mm-hmm. K.C. Sullivan (03:09.585) you know, it's definitely they've had they continue to have their moments. So I guess it goes back maybe four years ago, I, I saw the functional mushroom is gaining popularity and working their way into all kinds of diverse categories, you know, with with brands like four sigmatic and mud water and rise going into coffee products and going into chocolates and the wellness space. And so my thought was, let's let's try to go into something where it hadn't gotten into yet, which to me seemed like the most logical space, which was just a premium broth offering. So we started off with a value added product grant from the USDA, working with Rutgers Innovation Lab here, our state university. You know, many years, iterations, trial and errors eventually landed with our co-packer who we're with now. That was after we got burned by a Copac or MPA that one hurt but anyway we're fully commercialized and scaled and distributed nationally yeah. Bryan (04:14.559) I love it. Congratulations. know it's, it's always, it's always one of those things like people look at you and they go, wow, he was an overnight success. And they don't realize the 10 years you've been doing this out of your, your house, your garage, wherever you started the thing. So kudos to you. I'm excited. I mean, you mentioned the value added producer grant for those that aren't familiar with that, like how grueling of a process is that? How much did you have to go through to secure that grant? K.C. Sullivan (04:28.497) Yeah, for sure, for sure. K.C. Sullivan (04:41.633) It was definitely, it took several months. The application itself is pretty intense. the product that we were proposing was differentiated. so I think that they saw that it had potential. They don't just get behind anyone. But if you've got a vision and a product that is going to create value and sustain itself in terms of margins and everything that goes along with bringing a CPG product to life, then you've got a really good shot at it. So I would definitely encourage anyone to look into it. Bryan (05:30.988) Well, congrats on securing that one. I have to say like, you know, it feels like to me, you know, I've been on my plant based journey for almost 15 years and it, feels to me like when I went to the markets a long time ago, there was just vegetable broth everywhere, but I feel like, you know, it was obviously beef and chicken and other broths like that too, but finding like a mushroom broth or, or of specialized broths in the, in the vegetable space was very few and far between. And when you did find one, was probably like 30 % sodium or something too. Like how long does it take to develop the broth that you did and making sure you, you tout the, flavor and the medicinal value, all the stuff you were talking about. K.C. Sullivan (06:18.797) Yeah, we were fortunate enough to one of my partners, Scott, his wife is actually a very prominent local restaurateur. And so she was able to really help us at the onset with crafting a formula. What I quickly learned, what we quickly learned is that, you know, coming up with a formula that tastes good outside of a co packer can fundamentally change different once it goes through the. the retort process, is what makes it shelf stable, subjecting it to heat and pressure. Our product has no preservatives, it's gluten free, it's vegan, of course, but it's definitely a learning curve in terms of the iterations that were necessary to really accommodate the technology of retort. So yeah, to answer your question, it took many years. Initially, we thought we were going to be packaging this into aluminum cans. Bryan (07:06.39) Mm-hmm. K.C. Sullivan (07:18.381) just to kind of do like a disruptive packaging type thing. But we couldn't find a coat packer who could cook it, can it and retort it in the same facility. So we went with Tetra, Tetra Recart. So yeah, it's, you know, we wanted to make sure that we included the functionality of the organic mushrooms and it seems like it's really, you know, Bryan (07:34.465) Mm-hmm. K.C. Sullivan (07:47.373) filling the gap in the industry and people are receiving it well. Bryan (07:51.63) Well, I have to say congrats. clearly is because I think your lion's mane broth won the SoFi Gold Award, right? And one other. K.C. Sullivan (08:02.676) Yes, in 23 we took that and then most recently when we were in Denver for Newtopia at a trade show we took the Retailers Choice Award. Bryan (08:13.397) Kudos to that. So if that's not speaking to your hard work for years there, how have you seen some of those industry accolades translate into sales and other distribution opportunities? I think you got into sprouts, correct? K.C. Sullivan (08:27.871) Yes, we're currently with Nationwide with Sprouts on their Innovation Nile and that was for the months of September, October and the current month we're in now, November and we're hoping to graduate to the main set. So the feedback's been great. We've been very fortunate also to partner up with our brand ambassador who's a real monster in the vegan mushroom space who's Derek Sarno. It's been everything's starting to hit and flow really well, so we're happy. Bryan (09:01.837) Congrats. I know you mentioned in the very beginning, like those sustainable regenerative methods are our key as part of those core principles that you're trying to embody. Um, how, how did you go through the decisions on, you know, communicating that kind of commitment and stuff? It's the question I ask a lot of the CPG companies that I, that I speak with, like, do you say plant-based or vegan? Do you like, how do you really put it out there and resonate with the right audience to make sure sales skyrocket? K.C. Sullivan (09:35.146) Yeah, mean, our biggest challenge, but also like what we're really trying to convey to the consumer is our founder story of the origin story of the idea that we're not just some new emerging, jumping on a bandwagon of mushrooms. Like we've been farming these organic mushrooms, crafting our trade for the better part of a decade. So we're really trying our best to let that message translate and come across in our messaging, but also in the quality of the product itself. So we were very adamant about being flavor forward and being differentiated from the other broths like you were mentioning, being kind of watered down and lackluster. Bryan (10:22.955) Yeah. I love it. And and it's that, that savory umami flavor that I know I hated as a kid, but I absolutely love it as an adult. Is there some secret to pulling that flavor out? I know you've got some, some new broths coming out with coconut and Thai inspiration. You know, can you talk about some of the new products you're rolling out and, and how you pull in that flavor? K.C. Sullivan (10:49.307) Yeah, so we use each one of our boxes. We're going to be putting in 2,000 milligrams of the functionality of the mushrooms. And we also have a commercial viable extract of the mushrooms that we grow. So you really get that strong umami flavor. And then we've partnered it up with 20 other really clean whole food ingredients, words that you can pronounce. you lemongrass and garlic and ginger and, you know, the maitake skew is going to be coming out in the next week. That's a wild foraged mushroom from the boreal forests of Canada, sustainably harvested, know, third party tested for bioavailability of the medicinal value. And then the maitake, like you mentioned, is going to be a Thai inspired skew with with lemongrass. Bryan (11:51.038) Awesome. I can't wait to try some of these. I'm going to make sure I place my next Instacart order with sprouts and make sure that I get those into some recipes soon. I think part of the secret is those brand ambassadors. I know you mentioned Derek Sarno before. He's joined you as this kind of ambassador, right? How did you see having his sort of high profile chef orientation help your brand? And how did you go about securing that? K.C. Sullivan (12:00.912) Cool. Cool. K.C. Sullivan (12:21.37) Yeah, so this goes back probably about three years ago. Derek was over in the UK after he had left the States with his time being at Whole Foods. He went over there working with Tesco and really developing their vegan program. So I had reached out to him back then and he had said that, know, when and if he came back to the States, he'd be more than happy to the broth. like them and get behind them that we could have a conversation. So we sent him some and he really fell in love with it. So it's been just an honor working with him. He crafts these recipes on YouTube and does these long form videos where he's got such a loyal following. So it's just been really great to help drive sales on our e-commerce platforms. with Amazon and direct to consumer off our website. So it's been just spectacular. Bryan (13:24.535) you've, yeah, it's amazing. So with you, have you unpacked that secret to like those little communities like that? Like you have, you have his community. You have obviously the mushroom lover community. Like how do you turn this into this ongoing, you know, two river mushroom brand loyalty? You know, there's, there's still cheaper alternatives out there, but I guess they have to try yours and they'll fall in love and be coming back over and over and over. Right. Is there some secret to the brand loyalty equation that you found? K.C. Sullivan (13:58.041) Yeah, that's a really good question and it's one that we're always working on. So I haven't figured it out totally for sure. But we're definitely premium. It's not for everyone, but we're just really kind of double clicking on the people that it really resonates with. We're fortunate enough that before we entered into the CPT world that we did have almost a decade of brand development. Trust in the brand USDA Organic certified and in good standing with our certifying agents for the better part of 10 years. I think people are, the trust is I think a big piece of it. Bryan (14:46.199) I love it. What is, I'm just curious, what is your favorite recipe to use with your mushrooms and your broth? K.C. Sullivan (14:55.214) think with the broth, Derek's first video on YouTube, is, I think it's an amazing one, the ramen approach. I think the broth just really lends itself quite well for that kind of an approach. It's just really, really great. Bryan (15:14.137) I was, I was just having that talk with my wife last night about ramen and she just thinks that the 99 cent ramen that we all grew up with in some fashion. said, but if you've had really amazing ramen, like you'll, you'll just be craving it over and over and over. So that's an awesome. I'll have to check that. I'll make sure we link that video in the show notes for everybody to check out that video. and we'll, put that out there. it's interesting to me cause like, K.C. Sullivan (15:28.685) Yeah. K.C. Sullivan (15:35.213) Cool. Great. Bryan (15:42.466) When you say like, hi, let's go make some money and change the world. you know, I say you're, it's a challenge to say you really want to get into the CPG space. It's such a hard market. And as you mentioned, like you perfect the recipe and now we got to figure out how do we get it out through these distribution channels where it sits on a shelf for two, three, five months till it's bought and consumed. talk to us about some of the challenges you faced with getting that. shelf stable product out to the market. K.C. Sullivan (16:17.1) Yeah, it's been, well, luckily now we're partnered with a national broker who's really been instrumental in helping us with the sales channels and setting up promotions and things of that nature. yeah, getting coded and set up with the national distributors like Kehi and UNFI is a full-time job and it's just really... is extremely challenging. I think the numbers speak for themselves in terms of brands that try to go into this and ultimately don't make it. We're still just in the infancy of this. It's been very eye-opening. I was listening to another podcast and I can't remember who it was or what platform but someone said, when I walk into a supermarket, Bryan (16:55.277) Hmm. K.C. Sullivan (17:12.258) Every single product that you see is essentially like a miracle. Bryan (17:16.417) Yes. Yeah, exactly. Unless you're one of those big brands that's already established itself 50 years ago. Exactly. Yeah, you really are. K.C. Sullivan (17:23.039) Yeah, yeah, it's extremely, it's extremely challenging. think like the biggest part for us right now is trying to get the world to understand who we are and why they should try the broth. know, we demo efforts in the stores have been a big part of our formula, you know, because we feel that once people actually try this broth, they'll find that they really enjoy it. And so, you know, just really trying to bridge together all these different pieces, the ambassador, the sampling and distribution. It's fun though, I'm a teacher so I'm a lifelong learner. Bryan (18:03.597) That's right. Well, it is like, it's the ultimate mystery, right? I mean, I knew I grew up playing with Legos and other, other building stuff. then building a business is just like a giant Lego kit. You know, you really have to just go through all these little steps and there's no manual to help you out. There's lots of advisors and cool people, but I think it's probably challenging too, to find especially, I mean, yours is probably. pretty rote and you want to get it in the same section of the supermarket as the rest of the broths per se. But are there any tricks to other places? Like, do you want it in the plant based section? Do you want it hiding on the end cap? Is there other strategies you've been testing out to see if you can raise the adoption of it? K.C. Sullivan (18:51.05) Yeah, so like we're also, you we've been supplying our fresh organic mushrooms in a lot of retail since we've started. You know, for example, Wake Fern, some of the shop rights in New Jersey, you know, were placed in the produce with the fresh mushrooms. And some of the produce managers have tried the broth, you know, to kind of, you know, for brand association with the mushrooms fresh and the broth there. That's actually played out quite well, interestingly enough. It's not so industry standard to have a shelf stable broth in produce, but people do go to those locations and they pick up the fresh mushrooms and then they pick up the broth as well. So that's helped to kind of help with some of the velocity. Bryan (19:39.827) Yeah. I, I encourage you to keep experimenting where you can. And the stores will let you do that because there's, there's definitely some keys to that, that piece of it. think another, another angle I was reading about a little bit was your decision to bring on some partners. And I, I have a love hate relationship with, with business partners. Some of them worked out really well and some of them haven't. How did you decide that like, that was the right time. These were the right partners. It would help you unlock the growth you were looking. Was there any. K.C. Sullivan (19:48.415) Mm-hmm. Bryan (20:09.748) Any method to the madness as you went through that? K.C. Sullivan (20:13.235) Yeah, I mean, I'm extremely fortunate. Scott, you know, who I mentioned before, you know, his wife being a restaurateur in Maryland, Sloshback, very great chef in the area helped us with the value added, you know, and Kurt Cavano is who's my my other partner has been absolutely instrumental in helping scale the business. He's a retired software exec. incredibly successful and has some farming in his roots from when he was younger. And so he's been just an incredible, you know, business coach and partner and friend. So Scott, Kurt and I all together, the three of us, we're very, very lucky. It's been been a great team. We get along well. We go to the trade shows with each other. And, you know, it's been it's been fun building building it together. So You know, I started the business off growing out of a friend's barn, which I quickly outgrew and Kurt helped me get into a 40 foot shipping container growing on site at a restaurant, which we quickly outgrew from there. And now we're on 25 acres of farmland preserve in historic Millstone, Western Monmouth County, New Jersey. Bryan (21:39.681) Very cool. Yeah. Just some of those different twists and turns of bumping into somebody and how you get to know them and they help you unlock to the next level. I think that's what a good part of entrepreneurship is about is getting out there and networking and getting to know who's going to help you along the journey. Cause there's a lot of people that have already made it to a degree and just want to help see you and me as other entrepreneurs succeed. So K.C. Sullivan (22:02.812) Mm-hmm, for sure, for sure. Bryan (22:05.266) You so back to your teacher roots a little bit like if if you were talking to a science class today about people that want to start their food business, a sustainable food business, what's the one thing you would tell them to make sure that they focus on first? K.C. Sullivan (22:22.587) At some point you just have to dig in and start. I think a lot of people just have great ideas but they're reluctant to initiate the process for a lot of reasons that are understandable. I would just say make sure that you're passionate enough about what it is you're about to start and to what you were saying before about networking and There's plenty of resources out there, going back to the USDA with the grant. Just try to immerse yourself amongst like-minded people. You just got to keep plugging. I guess that's my advice. I'm not sure if that answers your question. Bryan (23:14.046) No, it is. mean, half of it is just, you know, making sure you have the follow through. Like you said, you just, got to dig in and maybe you wind up only being able to hit the farmer's market or you, you, you continue on the path and bump into the right players that gets you into sprouts or some of these other cool places or you get bundled as a gift basket item. Like there's so many different paths and twists and turns that your business can take. So K.C. Sullivan (23:25.166) Mm-hmm. Bryan (23:38.996) encourage people to at least try. I failure is part of life too. So if your first one doesn't work, maybe your second one will. And I'm sure you've had a few bumps along the way too. yeah. K.C. Sullivan (23:47.998) yeah, I, yeah, for sure. Bryan (23:53.084) That's a story for your book when it comes out in 10 years, right? So Casey, I really appreciate you being on the show. Like hit us with how do people get in touch? Where can they find your products? How do we get, get some on the way to give it a try, especially as we, as we head towards the holiday season here. K.C. Sullivan (23:56.097) Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. K.C. Sullivan (24:12.801) Yeah, great. yeah, so all sprouts nationwide, you know, direct off of our website, Amazon, and then, you know, a bunch of other retailers, Wake Furnish operates West Coast Market of Choice. So, yeah, we're really excited. Heinen's soon to be, you know, Texas, there's a bunch of retailers down there. So our website is going to be updated. regularly with these as we continue to activate new doors. So yeah, appreciate everyone's support. Bryan (24:51.998) that website one more time. K.C. Sullivan (24:54.132) No problem, it's TwoRiverMushroom.com Bryan (24:58.91) Awesome. TwoRiverMushroom.com. Again, all those things will be in the show notes down below. So take those out, check those out, and make sure you give Casey and Two River Mushroom a try, especially during this holiday season. That is all the time that we have for this episode of the Plant Based on Fire podcast. Thank you again, Casey. It was so amazing to have you join us and share your insights and tips and tricks with us and the rest of our community. K.C. Sullivan (25:27.924) Thanks for having me, Brian. I really appreciate it. Bryan (25:30.613) Until next time everybody, keep that fire burning.
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