Announcer: 0:00

The following programming is sponsored by Marc J Bernstein. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of this station, its management or Beasley Media Group. Entrepreneur, author and financial consultant, Marc Bernstein helps high-performing entrepreneurial business owners create a vision for the future and follow through on their goals and intentions. Ang Onorato is a business growth strategist who blends psychology and business together to create conscious leaders and business owners who impact the world. Founders' Forum is a radio show podcast sharing the real stories behind entrepreneurship as founders discover more about themselves, while providing valuable lessons and some fun and entertainment for you. Now here's Marc and

Marc Bernstein: 0:40

Good morning America. How are you? It's a sunny day in Philadelphia. We always start with that because they say it's always sunny in Philadelphia. Absolutely not true, but it is sunny today. It's a beautiful day, and I am in the studio but virtually am attached to Ang, who's with us today, and our guest, Juan, who we'll introduce formally in a minute. But once you understand what Juan does, you'll understand why this thought for the day is it, and my thought for the day is you are what you eat. Ang, comment on that.

Ang Onorato: 1:19

Well, it is probably one of our favorite topics, Marc, and you know you are what you eat has never been more appropriate for me. I've prided myself on being a fairly healthy, athletic, clean eating, fishitarian, as I like to say, for many decades, but having had recent surgery, I have been alerted to the fact that just really how important what we eat, the right vitamins, the right minerals, the right all of it in the right, you know, balance is so important because our bodies are the most important machine, because we don't have anything else without that. So I'm super excited to dive into Juan's story and this product. But, yeah, what you, what you are, what you eat the only reason why we're here is if we're healthy.

Marc Bernstein: 2:01

Right, yeah, me too, and you know I won't go into how I eat, but I'm mostly pescatarian myself. But I'm always conscious of it, always thinking about it, always trying to improve and get better, because it's difficult, particularly when you're on the road a lot and you're out eating a lot and you're traveling. It's the hardest thing. I'm pretty good when I'm stationary, but I'm not stationary too much of the time, and that's sort of still working on that. So, juan, tell us about your thoughts on that before we formally introduce you and get into your story.

Dr. Juan Salinas: 2:33

Hey Marc, how you doing guys, good morning, you are what you eat, man. How true is that? Right? Sounds like a really cool saying, but, man, I've been basically doing sports all my life, so what I eat is very important to my lifestyle, and eating clean, high protein, that's what builds muscle and that's what I need to perform better in sports. So I am what I eat.

Marc Bernstein: 3:01

So Juan has a product related to that and we're going to talk about that in a minute. I have been munching on some of it in the studio here as we've been prepping and I'm a big fan of it. But Dr Juan Salinas is the founder and CEO of Perfect Life Nutrition LLC, a manufacturer of peanut-based and other plant-based protein snacks right up our alley. A native of Honduras and now resident in New Jersey, he holds a PhD in food science from Rutgers University and a master's in sports nutrition from the International Olympic Committee, so he's obviously very involved with nutrition and sports. As he mentioned in his history, he started the company after spending over 20 years of working as a snack food innovator and product developer for several of the largest CPG food companies in the US. Combined with his passion for health and fitness and experience as a professional natural bodybuilder and amateur endurance athlete, he's on a quest to create snacks that are not only delicious but also nutritious.

Marc Bernstein: 4:02

And he can be reached I'll just tell you this at um, uh, pnuff crunch, p-n-u-f-f-c-r-u-n-c-h and at one p-n-p. At web, at one p-nuff. So, um, that's that's how you can reach him and if you want to email him, he's at one at pnuffcom, and pnuff is a great name, and if you want to email him he's at juan@pnuff. com. And PNuff is a great name I do want to start out with and then we'll go backwards. But Juan is somewhat famous for his appearance on Shark Tank, and it's one that you would remember if you saw it. So tell us about that experience and Ang can give her comments, because she saw it as well experience, and ang can give her comments because she saw it as well.

Dr. Juan Salinas: 4:49

Um, funny enough, man that was. That was just to put you in the time frame. You know like a time frame.

Marc Bernstein: 4:52

Uh, that was in 2020, wow so that was kobe the year, yeah, so everything was kind of strange.

Dr. Juan Salinas: 4:58

Um, so if you guys look at that episode, which is season 12, episode 2, I think you will notice that the set looks a little different than what it normally does and you will see that the chairs where the sharks are sitting they look more farther out, and that's because they were trying to keep people more separated because of the COVID.

Marc Bernstein: 5:23

But you were live in the studio. I thought you were going to tell me it was of the covet, but you were alive in the studio. I thought you were going to tell me it was done virtually, but you were in the live in the studio though no we were like we were live, yeah but, as you remember, la was shut down, which is where the studio is.

Dr. Juan Salinas: 5:34

Yeah, so they had to move it to las vegas and they recreated the whole set in one of the hotels there.

Dr. Juan Salinas: 5:40

So, um, you know, a funny story there is that you know, when we got called out to go there, I figured I'll get to meet all the sharks, and I think that they normally do that. They have a day when you go and meet with them before you go on the show. But we didn't have any of that stuff. Obviously, they were trying to keep people isolated, and little did I know that I had to stay in a hotel without actually leaving the room for seven days before actually going into the show.

Dr. Juan Salinas: 6:09

Wow, I didn't know that part, so they kept us there for seven days and they will bring in the food. You know, like just knocking on the door and they will just pass a tray, close the door.

Marc Bernstein: 6:19

Wow, that was as much interaction I had with other people did they put you up for seven days at least, I hope. Did they put you up? Yeah, yeah, yeah, and it was a nice room and they fed you, okay so that part A nice view of the pool which I couldn't go to Right Unbelievable.

Ang Onorato: 6:35

Well, if anybody doesn't get a chance, they should go to YouTube and watch it. And I'm just going to say, Marc, to your point, before we get into the story that I was tuning in, because as a fellow Rutgers grad, I was supporting my alumni friend. We're not going to talk about the physique, so everybody can go watch it yourself and see how healthy eating and Dr Juan made a real impact on Mark Cuban in particular. I know you'll tell us a little bit more about that, but yeah, it was a great episode.

Marc Bernstein: 6:59

Well, I'll tell you, since no one else is saying it. So he came out dressed like the scholar doctor that he is and he's starting to talk about his product, the way I remember it, and then he rips off his shirt because he's a bodybuilder and obviously connecting health with nutrition and with the product, and he got quite a reaction, especially initially from the female shark or sharks, I forget if there were one or two at that time. Lori, I think, was one of them, if I'm not mistaken. Right, it's a pretty accurate description, right.

Dr. Juan Salinas: 7:30

Well, Barbara.

Marc Bernstein: 7:31

Oh, barbara, right Barbara, that's right, that's right, that's right. So, anyway, and check it out anyway, it was great, it was a really great feature on there. Was that a helpful experience to you?

Dr. Juan Salinas: 7:47

I mean absolutely. I mean it did so great for our business, especially online, because at the time, you know, because of the COVID situation, it was really hard to really do much in the retail space. So everything went online and having the show kind of put us on the map, you know where people could actually directly order from our website or from Amazon, where people could actually directly order from our website or from Amazon, and so we have this huge bump on sales. As the show was starting, we started seeing the numbers go up, which is kind of crazy.

Marc Bernstein: 8:22

And you did get Ang mentioned.

Dr. Juan Salinas: 8:26

I think Mark Cuban invested correct. Mark Cuban did. Yeah, we are partners still Still partners. Nice, we work with him on a weekly basis oh, do you?

Marc Bernstein: 8:32

do you speak with? Him are you working with his people or are you working with him? Yeah I mean he has a team.

Dr. Juan Salinas: 8:40

Yeah, so we work weekly with this team but, whenever we have more of a high level strategic. You know questions and you know we want to hear his his uh opinion. Then, uh, normally we communicate through email and he's pretty quick to respond.

Marc Bernstein: 8:56

Is he nice, he, I, I, I'm with, I'm with Angie, I'm a big fan of his. I think he's a sensible, extremely bright guy. Um so anyway. So tell us about business.

Ang Onorato: 9:07

Sensible billionaire.

Marc Bernstein: 9:10

Um, our last show we did. We did a show this morning and we talked about the peaks and valleys of entrepreneurs, which there certainly are, and because we had a guest that didn't make it, he got confused on the date. As it turns out, Ang Ang and I just spoke and we talked about our own peaks and valleys as entrepreneurs, I'm sure you haven't had any of those right.

Dr. Juan Salinas: 9:40

I don't know. I'm a scientist and I used to work at a lab where we have an apparatus called a gas chromatogram. You guys ever heard of that?

TJ: 9:43

And if you look, at the output of that chromatogram.

Dr. Juan Salinas: 9:45

Really, what it's measuring is chemical compounds on a complex product, but what it looks like is ups and downs, ups and downs, ups and downs. That's a chromatogram and that's a very good picture of what the entrepreneur journey looks like. So I'm very familiar with that.

Marc Bernstein: 10:06

By the way, I realized before we get more into the journey we didn't really talk about your product, which is because I've got it in front of me in the way I realized before we get more into the journey we didn't really talk about your product, which is because I've got it in front of me in the studio. It's called P-N-U-F-F Crunch peanut puffs and I have the cinnamon, which Juan and I agree are our favorite flavor. It's really delicious and I had TJ, our engineer, try it, because I'm already a fan and, by the way, this is I just need to you, because I look for the healthy ingredients and try to eat very little in the way of snack foods. But this particular one has one serving of 130 calories, has five grams of protein and only three grams of sugar and three grams of fiber, which is really good as well. So you would think that doesn't taste very well, but TJ was hungry this morning, hadn't eaten breakfast, so he got to try it. And what did you think, tj?

TJ: 10:55

I actually really enjoyed it honestly. I'm not a big healthy food guy, but I did really enjoy it honestly.

Marc Bernstein: 11:01

I know you were kind of reluctant to tell me how much you liked it because I told you how healthy it was. So I get that.

TJ: 11:07

Yeah, I'm not a big healthy food guy, but I mean, it actually did taste really good. It doesn't even taste like it's a healthy food, honestly.

Marc Bernstein: 11:14

Right, that's the point, right Juan ? So let's talk about that, let's talk about how you developed it and who you're marketing it to, et cetera.

Dr. Juan Salinas: 11:22

Thanks, tj for that yeah.

Marc Bernstein: 11:24

I mean it's funny.

Dr. Juan Salinas: 11:25

It's the same thing, you know, products fell in the market because they have the right nutrition but they don't taste good. And my training and all these large CPG companies I used to work for their main focus was taste. And that's kind of like the opposite, right? Because they didn't care how much you know what was in it, as long as it tasted really good. And everything was based on do the consumer love it? Do they like it? Do they think it's tasty? And if they did, then they would launch it.

Dr. Juan Salinas: 12:02

My goal was to create the same you know feeling on people, but with good ingredients clean ingredients, you know good nutrition. With good ingredients, clean ingredients, you know good nutrition. So, you know, initially my guide rails were it's got to have high levels of protein, at least five grams. It's got to be low in sugar. It's got to be higher in fiber and actually lower in fat than most other snacks, right? So if you look at the fat, about half of what your normal typical you know potato chips and things are Also gut friendly, which I forgot to to say, which is really important as well right, yeah, right, exactly so.

Dr. Juan Salinas: 12:38

And especially now you know there's a lot of um diets, you know people that have uh restrictions on the diet. Excuse me, but I'm I wanted to make sure they're easy on the gut.

Marc Bernstein: 12:48

I wanted to chew it in the microphone just so people know. Meeting a couple as we're talking.

Dr. Juan Salinas: 12:53

Because I know so much I like them. I got a funny story about crunch as well, because that was. You know, flavor is one thing. Texture is something that complements that flavor and there's a lot of scientific evidence out there that for a snack, having that crunch is essential. It has to have it and there's a lot of reason for it. But basically, uh, that was another another thing.

Marc Bernstein: 13:17

My wife is very cognizant of that. She'll say I have to have a snack, that's crunchy, and I was like you're crazy. But but through your right there there's a thing you know that's the thing about that there are.

Dr. Juan Salinas: 13:29

There are methods of actually measuring the crunch as well, where you put sensors here right behind your ears, and then you chew on the product and it captures the sound and you can measure as you're developing the product, you can measure how much sound it's making and when it's the right level of crunch.

Marc Bernstein: 13:49

So I'm very auditory and my wife knows this. But food sounds can drive me crazy, so she loves eating the loudest food. She can find the crunchy foods is great, so we've adapted to that over many years. But anyway, I'm sorry, just adding a little humor.

Dr. Juan Salinas: 14:08

There's a lot of science behind these products that we make in terms of making sure that it does provide. You know what people are looking for, not only from a satisfaction, but also from a nutrition, and that's how you know we came out with this product so you have a great product.

Marc Bernstein: 14:24

Um, how's it going from a marketing and business point of view?

Dr. Juan Salinas: 14:29

yeah, well, I mean, I'm happy to say that we're now on Whole Foods. We're in Wegmans. Ah, yes, I didn't know that so we're in the Northeast so we're in some of the local retailers like ShopRite. There's some Kings down in Philadelphia, but I believe there might be some Balducci's Ah, high-end Balducci's, high end Balducci's. So we're expanding as well as online. Right, that's kind of been a bread and butter, especially after COVID. We have our own website and Amazon dot com. You know where we can sell directly to the consumer as well.

Marc Bernstein: 15:07

I believe I bought them it was either your website or Amazon before they were in stores, so and I bought a lot of them, so normally I ask bags, so I'll stop at Whole Foods later and get some. Is it all all Whole Foods? Is it all all of the stores, or Northeast so all the Whole Foods in the Northeast Nice.

Marc Bernstein: 15:26

Um, so I'm, you know, we. We were starting to talk about peaks and valleys before and we need to take a break right now. So let's come back and talk about peaks and valleys and where you are and some of the strengths you've built from being an entrepreneur.

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Marc Bernstein: 16:34

We're back on Founders Forum, by the way that commercial from Plant a Seed Foundation was a foundation started by Gene Rice and his wife, a former guest, a very successful guy in the executive recruiting business, who basically is dedicating his you know, his next phase of his life to the cause of helping young children get educations that wouldn't otherwise be able to get them. So pretty cool foundation, if you want to check it out. So, anyway, we're talking about peaks and valleys. Pretty cool, yeah, it's really cool, check it out. So what kind of challenges have you had and how have you dealt with those in business?

Dr. Juan Salinas: 17:18

Oh, yeah, I mean, the list of challenges goes on and on, but I tell you one of the biggest challenges that maybe some of our audience you know could relate to, and that's the manufacturing side. You know, every product requires specific manufacturing equipment to be made, and finding companies that have that equipment is the first challenge. Second challenge is to make sure that you know how they do, it is high quality and consistent quality, and then you know. The third is to make sure that what they're doing is not, you know, something that could hurt. You know, the consumer. In our case. You know we were searching for companies like that for the longest time, but we have in our product. We have peanuts, and peanut is considered one of the list of allergens here in the US and therefore it needs to be monitored and a lot of the companies that actually had the equipment that we needed, which is not that many in the US already.

Dr. Juan Salinas: 18:29

they, you know, were making other products in the same line and they didn't want to have a peanut-containing product in there because of the possibility of a cross-contamination. So that's when the challenges started for us. I mean, we've been in business for almost 10 years and we have moved manufacturing facilities about five times in 10 years, so you can imagine every two years moving out of your house.

Marc Bernstein: 18:58

But now you have a solution it sounds like We've talked about. I want to ask you about that. And I also want to ask you if you're thinking about any non-peanut products, because these allergies do seem to be prevalent, at least by perception, in the US.

Dr. Juan Salinas: 19:12

Yeah Well, yeah, I mean, I got to say that. You know, in terms of peaks and valleys, every time that we move from one location to another, it seems things have been improving. So we haven't gone back. That we moved from one location to another, it seemed to things have been improving, you know. So we haven't gone back, which is good. So from the beginning to now, now we're in a position where we think it's our last move. Finally, and you know, we feel very great about the quality of the product and the consistency of it and everything else. So you know, that's kind of where we of, that's kind of where we're standing today.

Marc Bernstein: 19:45

Well, your solution, if you don't mind me saying this, is really a collaboration, and I bring this up cause we've had I've done a lot of work with manufacturing and we've had a guest on the show named Lois Sonstegard who's worked with a lot of manufacturers and she talks about collaboration amongst them. You know, if somebody has a strength and you need that strength, you work together and, in essence, that's what you're doing right now, correct?

TJ: 20:08

Yeah, exactly.

Dr. Juan Salinas: 20:09

I mean we were talking before, Marc that it's really hard for startup companies to be able to sustain a full manufacturing facility. You know it's a lot of payroll that goes into it maintenance, equipment maintenance you know rent right, which is very expensive, and so if you don't have enough volume to cover all those expenses, you're basically on the negative at all times. So finding our solution was to find a partner where we can, you know, put our machines in their facility and then work together in terms of developing new products and utilizing those equipment to manufacture not only our product but also new innovation, innovation that we can present to other companies or retailers for their own private label retail products.

Dr. Juan Salinas: 21:02

So that's kind of the solution that we found and it's been working great for us.

Marc Bernstein: 21:08

What's your future look like we talked about. If this were a year from today and you and I are talking which hopefully we will be and you're looking back on the last year, what would have to happen, Juan, for you to feel like that was a successful year in your business and your life? Yeah, I mean.

Dr. Juan Salinas: 21:28

I think for our business, for PNF, we were looking to expand more, especially here in the Northeast. As I mentioned before, we're starting with some retailers we have a list of other retailers that we're talking to for 2025, and that's going to be a success year for us. We're looking into potentially starting a whole couple of new flavors also next year, just to keep the flavor rotation fresh.

Dr. Juan Salinas: 21:54

And personally for me, you know I'm I'm more of a, a creator. I love creating new stuff, especially with protein. That's my thing, um, so I always have all these new ideas that I want to create, um, which now, with this new partnership, you know, they are going to become possible, because they do have, uh, different sets of equipments and and other machines that create different types of products and, and so the opportunities now man to me. I just analyze, I feel so excited, like a little kid, you know, in a playground and be able to just, you know, try different things and see, you know, I can't wait to come up with something that we can present to some of these retailers and get them excited and get some really cool products out there to the market.

Marc Bernstein: 22:43

Nice, I was starting to ask you before do you see any non-Peanut products? So you have people with allergies. You'll have something.

Dr. Juan Salinas: 22:52

Yeah, I mean, I think for the Peanut brand. I mean, that's the basis of our business, that's what made us different is because we have Peanuts on that. So for this brand we'll stay with it. However, you know we're looking to create other products that don't have peanuts in it, that might have, you know, a similar form of a similar texture, but without the, without the allergen.

Marc Bernstein: 23:16

Maybe different kind of nuts, something like that.

Dr. Juan Salinas: 23:20

Yeah, I mean that looked a couple other nuts. The main thing is to come up with plant. You know, for us it's just plant-based proteins are great, and what I want to make sure is that whatever plant-based protein I put, the combination of it gives you a what we call a complete protein profile. So it's a protein that you can actually utilize, that your body utilizes, a protein that you can actually utilize, that your body utilizes. So there's, you know there's so many sources of protein that are plant-based, like peas, beans, you know all kind of legumes, and so we're experimenting with so many of them that don't necessarily have to have a knot in it, for instance.

Marc Bernstein: 24:00

You know, I'm curious because you're a bodybuilder are you plant-based yourself, or do you also eat animal products, or yeah, no, I'm not.

Dr. Juan Salinas: 24:09

I'm not plant based. Okay, um quickly. However, I have been, I've known a lot of plant-based bodybuilders.

Dr. Juan Salinas: 24:17

I know that it's sustainable. You can, you can do it. I've heard that. Yeah, uh, probably it's a little more challenging, I think, just because you got to find the sources of protein. You know, you got to think a little harder maybe, but it's doable. And, um, there's some great products out there that are just plant-based, you know. So I'm excited to where it's going, because I think at some point maybe we'll all become plant-based so ang and I are excited about that as well.

Ang Onorato: 24:49

Ang, you have any questions. We have only a few minutes left and I've been talking a lot. Yeah, no, I was just going to kind of put a summary on. You know we started out talking about you are what you eat and so your Shark Tank experience about getting that messaging out. But I'm kind of curious for you what are you seeing now, one as you're moving forward, to get people to share your passion in this way, specifically for protein right, because there's so much out of the market. How do you help people kind of cut through that and say, hey, getting the right protein, this has, you know, incremental effects on your health. Is there things that you do to help that messaging?

Dr. Juan Salinas: 25:18

Yeah, I mean we're trying different things Right now. I came up with a yeah, I mean we're trying different things Right now. I came up with a fitness plan. So this fitness plan I kind of help promote, you know, healthy eating as well as exercise, and we're actually using these almost as an add-on benefit to anyone that purchases our products. It's almost like not only are you purchasing a healthier product, but here's some ideas of how you can establish a good diet regimen that is more healthy and also get into doing some exercises. I show different routines on how to get more. You know, more exercise during the day, so that's one way that would help me.

Marc Bernstein: 26:06

Is that on your website? How do people access that?

Dr. Juan Salinas: 26:10

Yeah, that's on the website. If you scroll on the first page halfway through, you'll see my picture there with a little book.

Marc Bernstein: 26:17

Oh nice, by the way, I think, in branding, I think that's like a newer thing that's happening. I, as an example, I drink matcha tea and I order it from a company called Rise. It's, you know, made with mushroom products, R-Y-Z-E, and I started getting all these things from them, where now I actually journal daily with them. They give you thoughtful questions each day and it keeps a running tab and a secure site, and I've got like 154 days, I think I'm up to of, of journaling with them, and so I'm always going to buy that product. Because of that, I thought it was brilliant because it, you know, connects your healthy mind and spirit to the tea and it makes sense to, you know, attach journaling to it, and I think yours's a great idea too. I'm going to check that out as well. Exercise with Dr Juan. I want to check that out.

Dr. Juan Salinas: 27:10

That was one of the first things, I want to get people to be active, so that's one of my passions, that's one of my goals.

Marc Bernstein: 27:17

Nice. That's great, Given that, because you're doing some important work. What? Are your thoughts about your legacy.

Dr. Juan Salinas: 27:27

So, in terms of legacy, I mean, you know, the whole Shark Tank thing is giving me a little bit of celebrity thing, I think. You know, sometimes I walk into places and some people recognize me. That's not what I want really. If I had to leave a legacy is more about you know. I think you know, be cool to have created a product that people could resonate and know that they could make their life better, you know, reach their goals, their fitness goals or their, you know, help lifestyle goals. Um, when I, when I hear people send me messages, you know, on on email or instagram saying, hey, I just discovered a product, I'm, oh my god, love it and it's done so great for me and all this stuff, that's that's kind of what that makes me feel great. That that's the kind of legacy I want to leave.

Marc Bernstein: 28:20

So you're doing good while building a business, which is great. Listen, I think we're out of time today, so I really appreciate you being here. It took us a while to get together, dr Juan Salinas, but great story, great product. Wait, before we go. I got to, I had to crunch. I don't usually push products, but I love this one, so I needed to say that. Have a great week. See you next week on Founders Forum.