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 tasmanian pepperberry and chaga 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.
Our name might lead you to think we’re pretty casual when it comes to the ol’ rules and regs. But we actually hold ourselves to higher consumer standards than required. We literally have our own in-house lab and quality control system designed by a PhD in biochemistry, and we employ lab technicians with fermentation-science backgrounds. We were the first company to use what’s called a “qPCR instrument” – so we can do our own monitoring of yeast and bacteria genetics. We have a patent-pending process for ABV control, and we test batches every single day to ensure safety and alcohol levels. We believe so strongly in this stuff that we also verify our own results every three months with a 3rd-party lab. We do all of this because it’s who we are. And while it’s not our place to tell any other company what to do, if serving the consumer is a priority, we feel that food labeling, ethical sourcing and safe production must be treated honestly. And if that means going beyond the mandates of regulatory bodies, that’s what it means. Thank you for reading the serious stuff. Now back to the fun.
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 THE MER-PEOPLE
-
JAMBA
DUNNFOUNDER + CEO
Living Rowdy Since: 2013
Favorite Flavor: Living Ginger -
MELISSA
HAUSERVP OF SALES + MARKETING
Living Rowdy Since: 2019
Favorite Flavor: Lion's Root -
ERIN
PEASEDIRECTOR OF SALES
Living Rowdy Since: 2020
Favorite Flavor: Alpine Lavender -
DANIELLE
EBERLYDIRECTOR OF FOODSERVICE
Living Rowdy Since: 2020
Favorite Flavor: Lion's Root -
CHARLES
CONDONDIRECTOR OF MANUFACTURING
Living Rowdy Since: 2018
Favorite Flavor: Lion's Root -
BRITA
MINESDIRECTOR OF SALES OPERATIONS
Living Rowdy Since: 2016
Favorite Flavor: Rowdy Belly -
PHIL
CALABRESEDIRECTOR OF QA AND R&D
Living Rowdy Since: 2017
Favorite Flavor: Watermelon Bloom -
MICHELLE
DZIUBANMARKETING MANAGER
Living Rowdy Since: 2018
Favorite Flavor: Strawberry Tonic -
EMILY
PETERSENREGIONAL SALES MANAGER, WEST
Living Rowdy Since: 2019
Favorite Flavor: Watermelon Bloom -
NICK
MORRALLREGIONAL SALES MANAGER, ROCKY MOUNTAIN
Living Rowdy Since: 2020
Favorite Flavor: Lion's Root -
SEAN
MAKAUFOODSERVICE SALES MANAGER
Living Rowdy Since: 2019
Favorite Flavor: Lion's Root -
KREIG
JOHANNPRODUCTION MANAGER
Living Rowdy Since: 2016
Favorite Flavor: Flower Grow -
DAWN
HUNTCUSTOMER SUPPORT SPECIALIST
Living Rowdy Since: 2018
Favorite Flavor: Rowdy Belly
