Today, I’m joined by Lindsey Wilson, the founder of Owl Venice, a wellness brand specializing in handcrafted, organic broth elixirs and cleanse programs. You can think of this episode as a foundational course in all things bone broth. Lindsey shares her journey in creating Owl Venice, detailing how it evolved from a simple bone broth company into a comprehensive holistic wellness brand, and discusses the incredible benefits of bone broth for optimizing gut health, reducing inflammation, and healing your body from the inside out.
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*Unedited Transcript*
Jac: Welcome to the podcast, How to be WellnStrong. I’m your host, Jacqueline and Genova, and I’m excited to have you join me as I speak with some of the leading figures in the fields of wellness, integrative medicine, and mental health, as we discover what it truly means to be well and strong in both body and mind.
Get ready to be empowered, inspired, and motivated about being an advocate for your own health.
Today, I am joined by. Lindsay Wilson, the founder of Apple Venice, a wellness brand specializing in handcrafted organic broth, elixirs and cleanse programs. You can think of this episode as a foundational course in all things bone broth. Lindsay shares her journey in creating Owl Venice, detailing how it evolved from a simple bone broth company into a comprehensive holistic wellness brand, and discusses the incredible benefits of bone broth for optimizing gut health, reducing inflammation, and healing your body from the inside out.
Let’s get into it. Well, [00:01:00] Lindsay, I am really excited to connect with you. I’m a huge bone broth enthusiast. I’m excited to dive into all things gut health, um, and also kind of talk to you from an entrepreneurial lens about how you built this incredible company and obviously share with listeners who have not heard your story or heard about Owl Venice.
Amazing. Why did you start Al Venice and what were you doing prior to its inception?
Lindsey: Um, well, I feel like a lot of people don’t know this, but I initially started Al Venice as a skincare company because Really? Yeah. I. After going off of birth control, struggled a lot with adult onset acne and like hormonal changes, and I started oil cleansing and created my own line of skincare products and that was like initially what I did with owl and it never took off.
I feel like I only got. Few orders from friends and family, and then a few years into that, maybe like a year or two into that I was struggling with a lot of gut [00:02:00] issues. And even though I ate like all organic and thought I was overall healthy, I was still like having a lot of gut issues. And I just read all about bone broth and how amazing it was for the gut.
And was also following all of these like gut healing protocols that recommended eliminating a lot of common gut irritants, like garlic and onions and many of the calming ingredients in broth. And I was like, how strange this thing that’s supposed to be so great for gut health has all these ingredients that they say not to.
Have if you’re struggling with gut issues. And so I started making my own at home and it just was like really By accident.
Jac: I love that. That’s how most of the greatest stories start out, right? You start something mm-hmm. And you think you’re gonna go down one path and then it turns out to be something completely different.
I’m sure you’ve heard of the GAP Diet Lindsey? Yes. Okay. So that was kind of my first exposure to the bone broth world. I did this back in, I wanna say like 2018 or 2019. Mm-hmm. [00:03:00] And I did it. Um, I struggled with hives. For like several years in high school. Basically the doctors were like, it’s chronic urticaria, it’s idiopathic, you know, there’s no known cause it could be stress induced, you’re just gonna have to deal with it.
And then I started to learn more about leaky gut. I actually had the chance to visit, um, Dr. Alessio Fno, who worked at Massachusetts General Hospital when I still lived in Boston. So I was like, I just wanna go pick his brain. So I made an appointment and got a chance to speak with him, but I really dove into.
The world of gut health and similar to you, discovered the benefits of bone broth, um, through the GAPS Diet. But I did the GAPS Diet Lindsay for like six months hardcore. Um, and it was, yeah, it was definitely a challenge. And for listeners who haven’t heard about that, it’s basically an elimination diet, like an extreme elimination diet, but.
Bone broth is the foundation of that protocol
Lindsey: going through that as well. Um, like the GAPS diet, I was kind of like also lay layering in [00:04:00] low fodmap, anti-inflammatory diet and felt so, it felt so restrictive. That’s really how the OWL reset was born, was trying to create something like. Fun and colorful and like nourishing that didn’t feel like restrictive.
Yeah. So yeah, it can, it can feel very isolating when we have to restrict ourselves.
Jac: Yeah, a hundred percent. When you first started making your bone broths. Did you pull from the internet? Did you pull from recipe books? Did you just experiment on your own? Like what did that process look like?
Lindsey: Yeah, I kind of was doing a lot of research online about how other people were making it, and I was doing some research into low FODMAP and really specifically trying to make it.
For gut health and they had recommended putting the bones in frozen and like the amount of time that you’re supposed to, um, cook it for. But on in terms of the ingredients, I just like went to the farmer’s market and just kind of like [00:05:00] picked a bunch of things that looked good. I was really inspired by herbs and including herbs in the broth.
So I was like, why does every broth only have parsley? And I had this, uh. Stand that I went to at the Venice Farmer’s Market that just had like every, or you could think of, and I would just, that’s the dream. Go and like kind of experiment. And honestly, the first time I tried making broth, I almost burned my house down and I literally like put broth on the stove and it was my friend’s birthday and I.
I don’t remember exactly what happened, but I must’ve like put it on high and forgotten to turn the oven down because I went downtown to an escape room and I remember going to the escape room and being like. I think I forgot to like turn down the heat on the broth and I ended up like leaving my friend’s party, going home to my house to make sure I didn’t burn my house down.
And the broth was like,
oh my goodness. A charred
Lindsey: thing of carcass on the bottom of [00:06:00] the pot. I’m like, surprised I tried again after that. But yeah,
Jac: it’s trial and error. I was just gonna ask you too, so you did it on stove top? I usually do mine in my Instapot. Which is awesome too. ’cause it, you know, once the pressure Yeah, that’s time.
I would
Lindsey: definitely recommend that if
Jac: you’re doing it at home.
Lindsey: Yeah. Yeah. I didn’t have an, uh, in instant, instant pot at the time. I, I just did it on the stove.
Jac: Yeah. Well that’s kind of like the best way to start, I feel like. And also too, Lindsay, so for listeners who, you know, are new to this whole concept of bone broth, can you just at a very high level explain to us like the benefits of bone broth for gut health and why it’s so great.
Yeah, so bone broth is
Lindsey: filled with minerals, branched chain amino acids, ingredients psychology and glycine like the building blocks for strong bones, joints, nails, hair, skin. Um, and because of that, it also like mimics the lining of the gut wall. So it’s really great for. [00:07:00] Preparing damage to the gut, and because it’s like liquid form, whether your gut is compromised or not, it’s just a very bioavailable way to receive nutrients and hydrate the body.
Jac: Yeah. And you also have, so part of this reset cleanse, it’s the bone broth, right? Mm-hmm. And then there are these awesome, what you call like milkshakes, and I obviously have not had the pleasure of getting like a made one in California. Next time I’m there, I’m gonna come stop by. But when you do ship, obviously they come in these little packets that we obviously can make on our own.
Mm-hmm. What was like the ideology behind the milkshakes, and how did you craft those? Because they’re so, so specific, each of them.
Lindsey: Yeah, so I was really inspired by chronobiology, which is the belief that it’s not just about what you eat, but when and the timing of different foods for different times of day.
Um, I was also just inspired by the idea of an all juice cleanse, like in terms of all liquid, because [00:08:00] when you. Lower the digestive burden on the body and switch to an all liquid diet. Your body spends that extra energy that it would normally spend digesting food, which is about like 60% of your energy after a meal.
It diverts that energy into repair and regenerating, you know, different parts of the body that need more attention. So I liked the idea of doing an all liquid for that reason and like really allowing the body to rest and repair. But I had tried juice cleanses in the past and they were so high in sugar and so low in calories that I always like felt terrible doing a juice cleanse and never really made it through.
And then I didn’t really receive any long-term benefits because at the end I would just like go right back and just be back where I started, if not like. Um, so the idea was creating something that was liquid, but at the same time nutrient, dense enough [00:09:00] calories to really feel nourished and get through the day full of fiber and like, um, keeping like the whole food.
As part of, as part of the shake. And so every shake is designed for different times of day and different functions. So, um, in the morning when we’re waking up, the body’s cleansing, it needs quick energy. So the magic matcha has fruit, it has plantains in it, it has matcha, spirulina, really like, uh. Detox, energizing, cleansing, ingredients in the morning shake.
And then is there charcoal
Jac: in that one too? There’s bentonite
Lindsey: clay. Thank you. Bentonite clay. Yeah, bentonite clay. And then the afternoon shake. The afternoon is when we have the most digestive energy, um, and the body’s ability to like break down food and like power through our day. Um, so that one has squash in it and it has.
Ginger, turmeric, cardamom, cinnamon. So that one’s like very nourishing and um, helps like [00:10:00] power you through the day. And also very like anti-inflammatory. That one has slippery elm, so that’s also great for regulating digestion. Then the bold be, um, at nighttime is traditionally when we eat root vegetables, fish, things that grow underneath the ground or in the water like that, we would traditionally gather around the fire and, and eat.
Um, those foods are like very grounding, nourishing. And the Bold Beet also has Rafal powder, which is, um. Also really great for regulating, regulating digestion, ginger, turmeric, so very anti-inflammatory and great for like heart health and um, circulation. So yeah, they’re all very functional and intentionally.
Timed throughout the day, and they’re paired with a broth. So you have like the protein and the nourishment coming from the broth, but also like a, a substantial amount of the program is coming from like those, [00:11:00] those shakes. Right.
Jac: Yeah. And one thing I love about it too, and I do, is I could even like pull off like the six day one and still not feel hungry because it is so nourishing.
Um, but yeah, for listeners who are like. I can’t just do a liquid diet for more than a day. You do have a list of owl approved foods, correct? Yes. And that really
Lindsey: came from like really wanting, like for me, when I shifted away from how do I heal my body, how do I nourish myself? It was like the inflammation, the weight just fell off, and that was kind of a side effect rather than when my focus was on losing weight or looking a certain way, it was just always impossible for me to get there.
So part of the reset is really like shifting that mindset and getting in touch with those cues from your body because at the end of the day. If we eat when we’re hungry, we drink, when we’re thirsty and we sleep when we’re tired, our body [00:12:00] works perfectly and it heals itself without, you know, any extra help from us.
And as long as we’re eating like actual food, it doesn’t even really matter that much what we eat, as long as we’re only eating. When we’re hungry. So the reset really is designed the intention to like get you back in touch with those cues. And that’s why it’s really powerful when we go through a day and we have the liquid and we’re like, oh, I’m not hungry.
It’s like, oh, well why was I eating at this time? Or like, it’s like maybe I wasn’t hungry but I was bored, or I was stressed, or I was tired and. You start to like, get back in touch with those cues that we ignore because we’ve been conditioned to believe that we need to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Or you prescribe to a different train of thought that says we should eat six meals throughout the day.
And so like all just taking away that inner knowing and connection with self that knows how to heal and stay in perfect balance and harmony. Um, so the [00:13:00] program. Is designed to add in food because it’s designed to, to engage that in, in that process with yourself of listening to your body and when your body says it’s hungry, and we say, no, no, no, I’m not gonna eat, then that’s when the body holds on.
To extra weight and inflammation because it doesn’t feel safe to let go because it doesn’t know that you will nourish it when you need to nourish it. So
yeah, that
Lindsey: is really like why the approved foods come into play there and are important. Yeah. Yeah.
Jac: That’s so true. Lindsay. I struggle a lot with stress eating, and I mean, a lot of people do, right?
It’s very common. But what I’ve found too, I mean you mentioned connection and. Sometimes, or a habit that I found that has been really helpful is if I’m working late at night, right? And it’s 9 30, 10 o’clock, and I’m feeling stressed out. I just find myself like gravitating towards my refrigerator. And what I am doing now is I’m stopping and I’m giving myself five minutes where I can’t eat anything and I will just sit right.
I’ll just [00:14:00] do some deep breathing. And then after those five minutes passed, I realized, you know what? I wasn’t actually really hungry. Like that was just kind of an impulse of mine out of a stress response. Um mm-hmm. And there was like a similar study done too on folks who were trying to lose weight too.
And they like did that same practice and they found that the people who like stopped to pause and meditate, breathe whatnot, were more likely to lose weight because I didn’t, you know, IMB on that desire to, to binge eat.
Lindsey: Yeah. For me it was replacing that with bone broth. That would curb the cravings for me.
It’s like if I felt hungry, rather than having like a little bowl of ice cream or some chips before bed, I’d just have a cup of broth. And that helps cut the cravings too, because the cravings are typically coming from, you know, a nutrient deficiency if not an emotional place.
Jac: Yeah. What is your diet now, Lindsay?
Like, I’m so curious. Walk us through a a day in the life. A day in the life.
Lindsey: Um, you know, I like really do follow [00:15:00] chronobiology. I feel like, because for me that’s just a way to focus on whole foods and, um, not restrict myself. Like the whole mindset of it is what can I have instead of I’m not gonna have this or that.
So the mornings for me are more like fruit and nut, um, based. I have. Typically every day, a cup of coffee that I make with a cashew coconut water, milk, and fruit in the morning. Um, and then for lunch I typically have like, um, a salad, some kind of protein. I usually will make a salad with. Um. Kimchi and protein and you know, like I like to put seaweed and or chopped herbs and things like that into my salad.
I also really like sandwiches, so I do that too when I’m in the mood and um, for dinner. Sweet potato. And a protein. And a veggie.
Jac: Yeah. It’s so [00:16:00] interesting too because there’s so many different opinions right on like. When to like optimize your protein intake. And I know a lot of people are also of the mindset of, you know, breakfast should be your biggest meal, right?
With the most amount of protein and that’ll help stabilize people say that. Yeah. What’s your take on that, Lindsay? It’s just not for me. Like
Lindsey: I personally, again, like. I think it’s important to, to tune into your own needs rather than just like hop on the bandwagon of whatever trend. And maybe I would feel great if I like woke up and had a bunch of protein first thing in the morning, but I don’t know, I’m like not a morning person.
I really like to take my time and slowly wake up. And for me, like that ritual is, is important to take it slow and um. Yeah. I also am not anti fruit, so I think fruit is really great for women especially. And, um, a beauty food. And a super [00:17:00] food. And so I’m living in Kauai right now, so I have a lot of amazing fruit to eat, so I like to enjoy that.
I didn’t know that. Yeah.
Jac: Oh, that’s amazing. I was at, I visited Kona, uh, several years ago and I fell in love with Hawaii. It’s beautiful. Yeah, it’s super beautiful. I moved after
Lindsey: the fires in February, and that’s been great, but I’ve been coming back to LA here and there. I’m in LA right now, but. Yeah, I’m sure.
And and I also like, you know, I have two toddlers, so there’s times where I’m like, I’m gonna have a cheeseburger pizza. You know, I really believe that restriction should be temporary. Like unless you’re dealing with some kind of chronic condition that’s not going away and you need to eat in a restrictive way.
Like for me, like the year that I did of no alcohol and healing my body and really like. Just deep diving into that healing process was so that my body would heal so that I now can have pizza and [00:18:00] hamburgers and whatever when I want to in moderation. It’s not every meal, but it’s definitely not something that I don’t allow myself to have, and I think that is important and should be the goal of healing rather than to like.
Can, I’m not gonna eat gluten for the rest of my life because I felt better when I didn’t eat gluten. It’s like the ideas to like be able to bring everything back into balance and still enjoy life. Yeah, and I think the wellness, that’s like kind of what I dislike about some of the energy of the wellness industry can feel very mm-hmm.
Like, you know. On the verge of mental illness and not wellness. Like we’re here to enjoy life and to enjoy food. And when we, um, eat intentionally and, and with gratitude and in community, like, I don’t really believe in good or bad with food choices.
Jac: I’m so glad you touched on that too, Lindsay, and I mean.
Going back to like [00:19:00] reintroducing food, the Gaps diet. That’s the point of it, right? Like you do reintroduce food at certain points. So there’s a period where you eliminate it, but then the hope is that you would reintroduce them at some point.
Lindsey: Yeah, I think people feel better and get scared. To reintroduce.
Yes. And then that’s when they go into like disordered eating patterns of like Right. Restricting themselves for longer than the body needs.
Jac: Right. And yeah, orthorexia people are, you know, being like scared to go out to eat at restaurants with friends, and then yeah, you eliminate like that. Social connection, which is so, so important.
Mm-hmm. Um, and there’s certainly two research about, you know, being stressed when you’re eating, right? So if you are like eating a healthy food, but your body is stressed while you’re eating it, like that’s really not the best situation. Versus just going to have a pizza with some friends where you’re in a relaxed state, your body is, you know, yeah.
You’re socially connected. Like, there’s just so many different factors and I think that’s so important and. Yeah. I, I agree. I think that gets lost a lot in the, in the wellness space. Yeah, [00:20:00] I agree. Going back to the actual business, Lindsay, I don’t talk too much about the business aspect on this podcast, but I love, um, guy Raz is how I built this.
I love that podcast too, isn’t it Great. So I’m gonna channel my inner guy, Raz, but what advice would you give to your entrepreneurial self and others looking to start their own company, particularly in the wellness space? Wow. There’s a lot. I feel like it’s been such, uh, give us your top
Lindsey: three such a journey.
Um, I mean, staying true to yourself and your values I think is important. There’s many, um. Opportunities and points and turns in the road where you have the opportunity to really like, uh, compromise on that. And many people do. And for me, that like takes the joy and the passion out of what I do. And when I stay in integrity and, and aligned with like, you know, what’s important to me, [00:21:00] like, I feel like that keeps the soul intact of the business and people feel that, um.
So don’t be afraid to trust your gut and, um, listen to yourself in that way. And like, just also as somebody who started a business by accident and really had no clue what I was doing, I feel like my biggest mistakes or regrets have been all of the points in my journey where I’ve handed over control or trusted someone else who, um.
Was more confident than I was and. Certain aspects where I was like, okay, I’ll trust you instead of myself. Those are all the points where like I’ve, I’ve run into trouble, like when I, um, trust myself above anybody else, like, regardless of whether ha I have the experience or not, I feel like I always find my way.
And when I. Hand over the [00:22:00] reins or like trust someone else above my own inner knowing is when I feel regret or run into issues, um, not being afraid to ask for help. I think that’s really important and hard to do as like an entrepreneurial person. You know, we’re like often self-starters and very independent.
Um, so like not being afraid to talk about yourself, to share where you’re at, to open yourself up. To support and, um, like have all of the passion, like I don’t think it’s possible to, um, grow anything successfully without just like being able to really, really persevere and keep picking yourself back up and like, keep going even when you feel like you can’t.
And there’s like a very similar. Energy and feeling to that, like similar to parenthood, I think where it’s like if you knew how hard it was, [00:23:00] you’d never do it. So you just have to make sure you’re doing something that you really care about and believe in because it, it will like test you in that way, I think.
Jac: Yeah, I’m sure. Yeah. And you mentioned that Elephant has started as a skincare company, but even prior to that, Lindsay, like what is your background? Like what did you study, what did you want aspire to be like? In your younger years? Um, I think I
Lindsey: was all over the place in ideas that I had of what I wanted to do when I was older.
Like a teacher, a artist, a music theater person. You know, like I had all sorts of ideas. I ended up going to college for interior design. I graduated and started working, like doing graphic design, web design. I launched a music website, worked a and r, like booked bands, had like a whole music chapter in Chicago and then I moved to LA, was [00:24:00] doing marketing for a footwear company.
Did that for a couple years and then I kind of went off on my own and did. Photography, web design, graphic design. Started training with my friends, started working as a private chef. I was just kinda like. Doing all sorts of things and, uh, started the skincare company as I like, had a blog and I was all over the place.
I had like a million jobs. Everyone thought I was crazy. But then when I started Owl, I was like, oh, now it makes sense why I have this experience and that, and I was really able to like, kind of like do everything needed to launch the business without having to hire people. And I don’t think I would’ve been able to launch and be successful without that.
Like really layered. Background and and skillset.
Jac: Yeah. Lindsay, I was just gonna say that like, God, God weighs nothing and even with me, so my background is in economics and finance. I went to a business school right outside Boston. They’re known for entrepreneurship, small school, but I worked in finance for the past eight years and actually left my job in December to pursue well [00:25:00] and strong full-time.
And I started well and strong back in 2020 as a blog. Um, started the podcast two years ago, but. It’s just wild to me that this is now like my full-time thing. And it’s funny because I was not always in the wellness space, but kind of similar to your story, looking at my background, like everything comes into play, like mm-hmm.
My, you know, entrepreneurial training and marketing, you know, classes that I took as an undergrad and certainly with you with graphic design like owl, like your, your website’s. Beautiful. Thank you. Um, I love everything about, you know, the design of it. It’s so fresh, it’s so clean, and I can certainly see you in all of that.
And I think that is very, very important, you know, especially in building your own brand. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. You’re in the school of life. Yeah, exactly. And did, did you have a partner or you just did it on your own? I did not have a
Lindsey: partner when I first started. Uh, I was with somebody in the early years of [00:26:00] starting the business for two or three years.
That was very helpful and integral in, in some of those early phases. Um, and we’re no longer together. But, um, now I am, I’m running it. Myself with my team. Um, but yeah, no other co-founders. I think that’s something that at different points in the road, I’ve felt, you know, could have been a nice thing, but also have seen other people that have like lost their businesses over disagreements and that sort of thing as well.
So.
Jac: Yeah. Yeah. Do you have any type of advisory board? Because that’s something I have been considering even with well and Strong. I find that I have myself and my notepad and all of my ideas that I find that would be really helpful to have a group of. Perhaps more perhaps wise and mature individuals who have, you know, taken the path that I have to kind of offer guidance in certain, uh, situations.
I don’t have an [00:27:00] advisory board. I
Lindsey: feel like it’s better to just constantly be reaching out to all sorts of people that inspire you and getting advice. Like I think, um, you know, an advisor is gonna be only as in so involved with the business and help is only so helpful when. They are giving advice from a place of like not knowing everything that you know, you know?
Right. That’s where like a co-founder would be nice. ’cause it’s like they’re in it with you and they know. Right. And when you’re getting advice from people that like, don’t fully understand everything, then it’s like the advice is only so, yeah. Helpful. You know? So in that sense, the advisory board, like the way that it’s structured feels a little like detached.
From the day to day where I just don’t always feel the advice is valuable, mostly from them not having as much. Insight is, is needed to [00:28:00] really advise.
Jac: Yeah.
Lindsey: If that makes sense. Okay.
Jac: No, it does, it does. Now, going back to the early stages of building Al Venice, how did you get your name out there? How did you like accrue your first customers?
Like what did that whole process look like?
Lindsey: Um, well I was making broth for myself, was telling my friends about it. They were asking me ’cause I was like losing a lot of weight, like inflammation in my body and. Physically noticeable. Um, I had a friend with a friend who had gut issues who needed bone broth, and she was like, Hey, can you make bone broth for my friend Rob?
He’ll, he, he will pay you. And I was like, oh, okay. Sure. So I made him some broth. I had some leftover jars and I put up a. Post on a Facebook women’s group and I got like a hundred orders in a week and like 600 people were liking my posts and I was like, I think I just, there’s something here. We started a business and I was really just like posting like every [00:29:00] week like, Hey, I have this available this week, and like it was just got really crazy really fast where.
People were like coming over to my house at all hours of the day or like meeting me in the Whole Foods parking lot and I was like, I gotta get a website up and got the website up and it just really, um. Didn’t have to do a lot in the beginning. It just really was very organic, quick growth. That’s how I knew I was onto something.
Yeah.
Lindsey: Um, and we also did a lot of, uh, still do a lot of unpaid partnerships, gifting with people locally and, um. Also did at the time, farmer’s markets demos in stores like Pre COVID. We were like in air once, like once a week and doing our own distribution. And we were at the Largemont Farmer’s Market, the Hollywood Farmer’s Market.
And um, yeah, really just kind of real grassroots efforts. We didn’t start paid media until like [00:30:00] three years into. Starting the business.
Jac: Wow. And looking at the actual products. So you have a few things outside the actual cleanse, like you have these digestive bitters, which I love to take. How did that initiate
Lindsey: that happened in COVID?
’cause we were like, oh gosh, everybody like I. Is all of a sudden wanting all of these supplements. People like went crazy during COVID for health stuff and like, you know, makes sense. So people were like, I’m gonna take this seriously. And that was great for, um. For us at the time, like we were able to stay in our retail location and like get through COVID because everybody was very like connected to being home and being in a routine and now it’s like a little different and people are getting back out there and and enjoying life, which is also great.
Jac: Are you in retail stores, Lindsey?
Lindsey: Yes, we are.
Jac: Which ones?
Lindsey: Um, we are in a ton of stores in [00:31:00] California, like Mothers Jimbos, er one, uh, lazy Acres, Bristol Farms. Uh. Uh, a, a lot of like the chain Natural Grocers and then a ton of like little juice bars and little shops here and there. And then, um, we have a few locations like in Austin, New York, Miami, scattered, but not much outside of, uh, west Coast.
Gotcha. We’re, we’re hoping to expand. How about packaging change and expand into more wholesale national wholesale accounts
Jac: in terms of new products or product lines? Lindsay, have you ever considered dabbling back into the skincare bit now that you do have, you know, a name? We did have
Lindsey: our skincare up for, it might still be up on the website.
You might be able to stack like a few more bottles, but we’re discontinuing it. We’re currently shutting down retail, shutting down all of our like, um. Anything outside of our top performing [00:32:00] skews like broths, shakes, and supplements we’re discontinuing so that we can really like focus on, on where the business is performing and, um.
Yeah, get, get things moving in a better direction. I think. I just love the idea of retail and, and meeting people in person and there’s something about it that just feels so on brand for me and um. I wish that it was something that we could continue to do, but when I take a bird’s eye view on the business, it’s like retail takes up probably 75% of our energy and it’s about 5% of the business.
So I had to have that hard conversation with myself, like, does this really make sense? And yeah, as we grow and it. Ultimately, as you get bigger, I think things get harder and you have to make harder decisions in order to, [00:33:00] you know, stay in the game. Right. And that’s kind of where we’ve been at.
Jac: Yeah. And keep the original vision.
Yeah. Yeah. So with that, Lindsay, where do you see Owl Venice in let’s say five or 10 years? Do you see yourself like. Just, you know, continuing to expand within the areas you already are. Do you see new product lines coming? What does that look like?
Lindsey: Definitely new products is something I wanna get into.
We’re working on three new shake flavors right now, but I’m hoping to introduce soon. Um, so that is like probably, uh, first. Order of business, but I have a lot of ideas for new products. Um, a lot of ideas, um, for national wholesale and, and moving into, um, more retail. Um, but for right now we’re just like really focused on, on getting the business model D two C, like in a really healthy place.
Um, it’s been a challenging two years, as you can imagine with all of the. [00:34:00] You know, um, there’s a lot been going on in the world and it is affecting people’s, uh, purchasing patterns and, and health habits and, and all of that, you know, so it’s been affecting the business. Um, and the. Structure of how we’ve done things has had to change quite a bit.
We’ve had to like really let go of a lot of things and pivot and you know, keep up with the algorithm, so to speak. Yeah.
Jac: And Lindsay, for the listener who has never tried bone broth before, they are super excited about giving the Al Venus reset a shot. What do you recommend they start with? Because I know you offer, it’s like two, four, and six days, right?
We offer four, six, and eight days.
Lindsey: Yeah, we have launched the two day here and there, but. Um, really the day one and two are the hardest, [00:35:00] you know? Yeah. You kind of like have to push through day one and two, and then day three and four is when you start feeling really great. Would you agree? Yeah. Like when you do it, so That’s true.
Yep. Yep. I kind of try not to get people on the two day, not that it’s not impactful, it’s just that like. You don’t kind of get over that hump and start feeling really good. So I feel like the customer experience and just like the impact of the program is just, it’s really designed to be a minimum of four days.
So,
yeah.
Lindsey: Um, yeah, we have the four, six, and 8:00 AM I think I lost track of the question. How, how often do you, how often would you recommend they do it?
Jac: Oh, and how often do you yourself like to do it?
Lindsey: Yeah. I recommend it seasonally. I think it’s great to do seasonally. But at least once a year. And then the products can also be just kind of incorporated in your day-to-day routine.
Like I incorporate a jar of broth into our weekly routine as a family. I will make rice with bone [00:36:00] broth like and add herbs and have that with our meals. So that’s a great way that I like to continue to use it. Even if I’m not feeling like drinking a cup of bone broth, I’ll use it to reheat up leftovers or I’ll make.
Grains or that sort of thing, soup and, and make sure I’m still kind of like incorporating it into our diet.
Jac: Right?
Lindsey: I was never a fan of bone broth. So our broth, uh, is definitely designed as more of a sipping broth, tastes more like a tea, very herbal and not so like. Gamey as some of the other broths, and I think some people that are really going for that like thick gelatinous, gamey broth, like it’s not us because I was so like not into that.
And I wanted something that I could drink at day because for me, I experienced the benefits of bone broth when I incorporated it into my daily routine.
Jac: Right. And I love that. So I love, I love finding recipes to sneak it into. Have you [00:37:00] ever made, I’m sure you have bone broth, hot chocolate, Lindsay. Yeah, it is good.
That’s like one of my all time favorite things and I make it every single year and people always look at me like I have three heads. They’re like, did you say bone broth in your hot chocolate? I’m like, yeah, you actually can’t even really taste it. Yeah.
Lindsey: No, you can’t. I’ve been thinking about making coffee with bone broth.
Like I was
Jac: just, I was gonna ask you that, you know?
Lindsey: Yeah. Because. The reason that I have it is because my partner’s vegetarian and we make our coffee together. So, but I’ve been like, I feel like making a Chemex coffee with chicken broth would just be like, great. So I gotta try, try, try a report back. Yeah.
Jac: Let me know how it is. Yeah, that’s. Sounds really great. That’s a staple. Yeah. Do your, are your kids bone broth fans or have you gotten them on that train yet? They love the bone broth. Rice, like, love it. That’s awesome. It’s one of my
Lindsey: favorite things, so, yeah.
Jac: I love that. That’s cool. How old are they? They don’t just like
Lindsey: drink it on its own, but they are, uh, my youngest is [00:38:00] turning three very soon and my oldest just turned four.
Oh, those
Jac: are fun ages. Oh my goodness. Well, that’s awesome. Yeah. That they are already having that in their diet. They’re gonna have very strong guts. Yeah. Well with that, Lindsay, where can listeners find you? Learn more about Owl Venice and pick up a reset.
Lindsey: You can find us on owl venice.com. We’re also Owl Venice on Instagram and TikTok.
Um, and then right now we are shutting down our retail location and we’re moving all of our pickup to home delivery, so you’ll be able to order. Fresh reset shakes delivered to your door. If you’re in the LA surrounding areas, we have delivery options all the way down to like Orange County, um, and like all throughout the valley.
And um, so we have a pretty like wide delivery range. And then otherwise you can get it shipped nationwide as well.
Jac: Awesome. And also too, I wanna point out, um, for listeners that you guys have some [00:39:00] really awesome recipes on your website that I just like to go to, even if I’m not doing the reset cleanse.
So I’ll be linking that in the show notes as well. Thank
Lindsey: you. Yeah, I feel like we do have some amazing recipes. There’s like a Turkey burger recipe that is so good under Yeah, to look through that one.
Jac: I’ll, I’ll be linking all of that. Um, my last question for you, Lindsay. This is always my favorite one to ask, and that is, what does being well and strong mean to you?
Being well
Lindsey: and strong I think is just. Again, being able to tune in and listen to your body and listen to yourself above anybody else, cut out the noise of TikTok or whoever it is that’s telling you what you should do, what you shouldn’t do, and, um, being well is just, is being. Quiet enough in your own body and mind to be able to hear it speaking to you.
Jac: I love that. Awesome. Well, [00:40:00] Lindsay, I’m really excited to share this with listeners and I hope to have you on again at some point soon. And you gotta let me know next time you’re in Greenville. Yeah, that would be awesome.
Lindsey: Thank you for having me. Let me know when you get to Kawai,
Jac: hopefully soon. I hope you enjoyed this episode.
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