ØRIGINS THE ROWDY MERMAID STORY
We started living Rowdy back in 2012 when our founder Jamba Dunn began brewing kombucha in his own garage. He had a hunch that kombucha didn’t have to be so “kombucha-y”. He felt it could be less sugary, less vinegary, less acidic and safer. And his then three-year-old daughter challenged him to craft something superior to the existing products on shelves.
And that’s really how our story began. Just a full-time dad with a doctorate in philosophy, fresh from a fateful corporate downsizing, out in his garage home-brewing kombucha. Flying by the seat of his pants, leveraging trial and error and following his intuition. While also taking to heart the requests of his irresistible daughter who wanted the herbs and flowers they grew in their garden to be in the bottle too. So that was his goal. Lower sugar. Lower acid. Lower alcohol. Caffeine-free and herb-infused. And after two scrappy years of self-funded R&D with industry specialists, he had it. A scientifically controlled, function-forward kombucha done different, brewed by doing the right thing across all the things. Subtle. Sophisticated. More crisp and refreshing. A 2,000 year-old beverage, reinvented to suit the palate of a toddler. And in so doing, suiting the palate of pretty much everyone (including our planet). Today, Rowdy Mermaid is a company committed more than ever to giving people sustainably sourced deliciousness that’s also infused with functional plant medicine.
As for the name Rowdy Mermaid? Let’s also say that his rambunctious, water-splashing daughter provided some inspiration there too.
INSPIRED INGREDIENTS
If you truly love this gorgeous planet that we roll around on, then you must gather from it respectfully and responsibly. Which is exactly what we do when sourcing our ingredients. We forage our wild local environment with as much symbiotic intention as we possibly can, aiming to give back as we take. The functional botanicals, roots and mushrooms that we source are always organic, and regenerative whenever possible. We aim to remain as conscious and appreciative as a bunch of fortunate modern-humans can be as we work to provide you with the healthful benefits of fresh herbs, fruits and flowers. And we craft our creative flavors around the beautiful and off-beat, like juicy yuzu and lion's mane mushrooms, so you can better experience the rare and uncommon that this majestic planet offers.
UNMISTAKABLY ROWDY
We’re flattered when folks tell us that our kombucha is different. Because that’s exactly what we set out to do. We created a safer, more delicious, more healthful kombucha. But we’re more of a functional plant medicine company than a kombucha company. One that’s on a mission to bring as many functional plants to as many functional people as we possibly can. Using only the fruits, roots, mushrooms and botanicals that nature created. While continuing to blend this pursuit with our reverence for science. That’s right. We’ve always depended on the lab to help bring to life our fresh and sophisticated approach to natural, plant-medicine elixirs. Because that’s a big part of what makes us eccentrically Rowdy. And we’re going to do our absolute best to make sure that never changes. No matter what we brew up in the future.
WHY SCIENCE? BECAUSE SCIENCE RULES.
While we might live for Rowdy Fun, nothing is more important to us than the science, safety and quality of our products. We hold ourselves to a higher standard than required because we care about doing things right for our consumers. With a full quality control and research lab on-site, our team ensures we create the safest and most delicious products you can find on the shelf. Every batch is tested for alcohol, sugar content and acidity to ensure that you can trust the safety and consistency of Rowdy Mermaid products. You can feel assured that our products are safe for kids and people of all ages seeking healthier products. We even double check our results and methods with third party lab testing because we care about every single can that goes out the door. Transparency is a core value here at Rowdy, and if you have any questions about quality please do not hesitate to reach out to us. We love hearing from you!
HEALTHY SYSTEMS WHAT WE STAND FOR
Healthy Systems is the guiding philosophy for everything we do. It’s a holistic approach that begins with the recognition that everything is connected and works in coordination. And it mandates that every part of that system – from a botanical extract to a type of ink on our label – has to fit a standard for what’s “healthy.” At Rowdy Mermaid, we define “healthy” as that which explores the boundaries of food science and fermentation while also upholding certain aspirations. Such as designing a safer approach to production, rediscovering functional ingredients and flavors, cultivating sustainable practices, and embodying all the qualities necessary to enable a society characterized by inclusiveness. Healthy Systems says these are the standards that we simply cannot betray at any point.
Our commitment to Healthy Systems means that we must support the plants, the processes, the people, and the communities along our supply chain. All must be vetted for sustainable, ethical, and inclusive qualities. That’s the only way to ensure that by brewing scientifically controlled, function-forward kombucha, we’re actually building a more just and healthy society for all. Here’s an example. We are committed to organic farming and production practices. Great. But to uphold our Healthy Systems approach, we’ve further committed to only using regenerative organic teas from Teatulia. Teatulia’s 3,000-acre regenerative organic tea gardens employ more than 600 Bangladesh women and support over 1,700 community members with a farming co-op dedicated to ensuring women have an empowered role in the Bangladeshi community. But the point is that our partnership with them was driven by our commitment to Healthy Systems. And it’s a prime example of what it means to be guided by this philosophy.
ØUR ACTIØNS
We use our Healthy Systems approach to guide every action we make.
Because talk is meaningless. But actions are meaningful.
SUSTAINABILITY
"Sustainability" is a big-ass word (come on, six syllables?!). But what does it really mean? Good question. For us it means holding to our Healthy Systems approach at every point in the process, brewing based on the "pure, sustainable ideal" of new Nordic cuisine. It means using sustainably sourced ingredients through the entire supply chain and working with small farms and suppliers so our customers benefit from adaptogenic plants picked at their peak. It inspired us to obtain full organic certification in 2019. It fuels our goal of becoming the first fully regenerative kombucha. So basically, it means a lot to us, and the world. Oh, and it's also why we switched from bottles to cans. To save on both gas and power.
DIVERSITY AND INCLUSIØN
Together we’re better. Our unique experiences create our unmistakable Rowdy culture. We believe that people with different backgrounds and identities experience the world in different ways. As we build our team, we aim to bring breadth and depth of perspective to the products we’re building, and to the challenges we’re facing. Our goal is to create and nurture an inclusive culture with the team we have. And to enhance our team by attracting those with backgrounds unlike our own. We recognize that talent and potential are equally distributed, but opportunity is not.
To build an inclusive and diverse culture, we start with these steps:
- Provide unconscious bias training for all managers.
- Provide company-wide diversity training.
- Ensure that all employee manuals and documents are built with gender-neutral language.
- Share diversity & inclusion goals during onboarding.
- Encourage employees to identify and suggest community-specific volunteer activities for company-wide volunteer days.
- Host employee-led “Lunch-and-Learns” to share experiences and interests.
- CEO pledge for diversity and inclusion.
As we grow, we’ll revisit this list semi-annually to ensure that our commitments evolve to meet the growing needs of our team and society.
PRIDE AND GENDER EQUALITY
Each of us having the freedom to be uniquely who we are is what makes the world go around. So we can’t imagine a more worthwhile pursuit than an intention to challenge assumptions. Our own, the industry’s, the world’s. Which is why we’ve committed to Gender Equality at HeForShe. Because a commitment to pride and gender equality has to be comprehensive. Pronouns matter. Learning has to be constant. As does the motivation to challenge ourselves, our behaviors and our beliefs so that we’re making realistic changes, and enhancing those changes annually. It’s not enough to ensure that our employee documents use gender-neutral language or to publish our stats annually on gender, race and age. But it’s a start. It’s measurable. And we can build on it.
WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT
We are a proud signatory of the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) established by the UN Global Compact and UN Women. The Women's Empowerment Principles offer guidance to businesses on the promotion of gender equality and women's empowerment in the workplace and community. Being a WEPs signatory is a clear message of our support for fostering practices that empower women in the workplace and community including:
- Equal pay for work of equal value.
- Supporting women in leadership roles.
- Gender-responsive supply chain practices.
- Zero-tolerance against sexual harassment in the workplace.
MEET OUR MER-FOLK
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JAMBA
DUNNFOUNDER + CEO
Living Rowdy Since: 2013
Favorite Flavor: Hello Ginger -
Arielle Madilian
SENIOR MARKETING MANAGER
Living Rowdy Since: 2021
Favorite Flavor: Ashwagandha Blackberry Sparkling Tonic with Adaptogens -
BONNIE
CRAMERSR. MANAGER OF FOOD SAFETY + QUALITY ASSURANCE
Living Rowdy Since: 2018
Favorite Flavor: Savory Peach -
CHARLES
CONDONSENIOR DIRECTOR OF MANUFACTURING OPERATIONS
Living Rowdy Since: 2018
Favorite Flavor: Roaring Pineapple -
Dan Olson
VP of Sales
Living Rowdy Since: 2022
Favorite Flavor: Watermelon Bloom -
Drake Skippers
BREWING MANAGER
Living Rowdy Since: 2021
Favorite Flavor: Hello Ginger -
Heather Fornarotto
BREWER
Living Rowdy Since: 2021
Favorite Flavor: Alpine Lavender -
Jami Schamel
CELLAR PERSON
Living Rowdy Since: 2021
Favorite Flavor: Grapefruit Rise -
JOSEF REDMOND
PACKAGING TECHNICIAN
Living Rowdy Since: 2022
Favorite Flavor: Strawberry Tonic -
Kalie Gustafson
DIRECTOR OF RETAIL SALES- EAST
Living Rowdy Since: 2022
Favorite Flavor: Alpine Lavender -
Kayla Seligmann
FULFILLMENT ASSOCIATE
Living Rowdy Since: 2022 Favorite Flavor: Rowdy Belly
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Kendra Price
QUALITY LAB LEAD
Living Rowdy Since: 2021
Favorite Flavor: Roaring Pineapple -
KREIG
JOHANNPRODUCTION MANAGER
Living Rowdy Since: 2016
Favorite Flavor: Flower Grow -
LYNNEA BOLIN
SR. DESIGNER
Living Rowdy Since: 2021
Favorite Flavor: Alpine Lavender -
MATT OPPERMAN
CFO/COO
Living Rowdy Since: 2022
Favorite Flavor: Grapefruit Rise -
NEEL
COLEBREWER
Living Rowdy Since: 2018
Favorite Flavor: Roaring Pineapple -
Rachel Luna-Victoria
HR & CULTURE MANAGER
Living Rowdy Since: 2022
Favorite Flavor: Savory Peach -
Rachel Martin
OPERATIONS COORDINATOR
Living Rowdy Since: 2021
Favorite Flavor: Savory Peach -
REED SITLER
DIRECTOR OF SUPPLY CHAIN & OPERATIONS
Living Rowdy Since: 2022
Favorite Flavor: Hello Ginger -
Ryan Laundrum
PACKAGING MANAGER
Living Rowdy Since: 2018
Favorite Flavor: Roaring Pineapple -
Sara LaFevre
QC ANALYST II
Living Rowdy Since: 2022
Favorite Flavor: Chamomile Lime -
Sierra Mitchell
QUALITY ANALYST I
Living Rowdy Since: 2022
Favorite Flavor: Ashwagandha Blackberry Sparkling Tonic with Adaptogens -
Sosha Gochanour
WAREHOUSE TECHNICIAN
Living Rowdy Since: 2022
Favorite Flavor: Watermelon Bloom
