Zeyad Moussa is a person blended from four cultural streams.
He is a first-generation American. Dad is Egyptian. Mom is Saudi. And somewhere flowing through his veins is ginger root.
His 2-oz Tulua Ginger Shots are produced using a cold-pressed method that keeps all the nutrients with the juice. In addition, it is made under high-pressure processing or HPP to extend the shelf life while retaining all the healthy goodness. And, it is free of all preservatives.
And if you aren’t familiar with the flavor of fresh ginger, it is slightly peppery and sweet, with a pungent and spicy aroma. Ginger is the spicy and flavorful root of the flowering plant Zingiber officinale. Often used in cooking, it also has a long history as a folk medicine treatment for multiple ailments.
A Passion for Wellness
Zeyad is trained as a biomedical engineer and has an MBA. He had an excellent career path in the biotech and med-tech sectors before founding Tulua/Ginger Shots. Z, as he is known has a profound passion for putting the power of personal health and wellness back into the consumer’s hands.
Z had a revelation thinking about healthcare that if you could get super powerful functional beverages into people’s daily regimen, perhaps they could avoid some of the dreaded challenges within the medical industry.
He didn’t come from the beverage industry, so he didn’t know the rules of how to launch a new product and a new category.
He did things differently.
Not realizing that most startups work with copackers, he developed his own certified organic and kosher facility. But his mission and north star was clear – put power back in consumer’s hands through an effective daily routine of wellness. He planted his flag on ginger root.
When it came time to name his product, he knew that Ginger Shots was too generic. So, he reached into his Arabic heritage to find a word that brought forth the brand’s essence. In Arabic, Tulua means to rise up.
If you knockdown one of his ginger shots, and you’ll experience the awakening.
Ginger Root Tea – My Passion
My interest in Tulua was sparked by my long passion for ginger root tea and another kind introduction to a foodpreneur from my good friend Mike Schall at Focalpoint Partners, LLC.
I have been drinking hot water and fresh slices of fresh ginger root for more than twenty years. I remember precisely when the habit started.
During a visit to the U.K, I worked with an amazing team creating some new commercials for the Slim Jim brand at Shepperton Studios, just outside of the city.
Steve Garbett, the creative director from our ad agency, North Castle Partners, mentioned to someone on our team who had an upset stomach that he always drank ginger root tea too if he had indigestion. I recall trying the concoction too and falling head over heels in love with the flavor.
Ever since I rarely travel without slices of fresh ginger root to quickly make a tea. And if (when) I overeat, ginger root tea is a gift from the gods outperforming Pepto Bismol or any commercial prescriptions.
Health Benefits
When Z started on his journey with Tulua, his wife, who works for Pfizer, realized the remarkable properties that ginger provides. She encouraged him to continue and decided to consume the shots daily too. She studied the research and was shocked by the long history of how ginger root has been used in ancient medicines and is finding a new awareness among health-conscious consumers.
According to WebMD, ginger root offers over ten distinct health benefits.
Keeps Your Mouth Healthy
Ginger’s antibacterial power may also brighten your smile. Active compounds in ginger, called gingerols, keep oral bacteria from growing. These bacteria are the same ones that can cause periodontal disease, a severe gum infection.
Calms Nausea
The old wives’ tale may be accurate: Ginger helps if you’re trying to ease a queasy stomach, especially during pregnancy. It may work by breaking up and getting rid of built-up gas in your intestines. It might also help settle seasickness or nausea caused by chemotherapy.
Soothes Sore Muscles
Ginger won’t whisk away muscle pain on the spot, but it may tame soreness over time. In some studies, people with muscle aches from exercise, which took ginger, had less pain the next day than those who didn’t.
Eases Arthritis Symptoms
Ginger is an anti-inflammatory, which means it reduces swelling. That may be especially helpful for treating symptoms of both rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. You might get relief from pain and swelling either by taking ginger by mouth or using a ginger compress or patch on your skin.
Curbs Cancer Growth
Some studies show that bioactive molecules in ginger may slow down the growth of some cancers like colorectal, gastric, ovarian, liver, skin, breast, and prostate cancer. But much more research is needed to see if this is true.
Lowers Blood Sugar
One recent small study suggested that ginger may help your body use insulin better. More extensive studies are needed to see if ginger could help improve blood sugar levels.
Eases Period Pains
Have they got menstrual cramps? The ginger powder may help. In studies, women who took 1,500 milligrams of ginger powder once a day for three days during their cycle felt less pain than women who didn’t.
Lowers Cholesterol
A daily dose of ginger may help you battle your “bad” or LDL cholesterol levels. In a recent study, taking 5 grams of ginger a day for three months lowered people’s LDL cholesterol an average of 30 points.
Protects Against Disease
Ginger is loaded with antioxidants, compounds that prevent stress and damage to your body’s DNA. They may help your body fight off chronic diseases like high blood pressure, heart disease, and diseases of the lungs, plus promote healthy aging.
Relieves Indigestion
If you live with chronic indigestion, also called dyspepsia, ginger could bring some relief. Ginger before meals may make your system empty faster, leaving less time for food to sit and cause problems.
The Z & Jan Show
During raising some funds from friends and family, Zeyad met Jan (Yon) Remak and became fast friends and started working together to grow the business.
Jan understood Zeyad’s passion and goals for the business. He focuses on building out the commercial organization. He spent 8 years with Fortune 500 CPGs in brand management and new product development then 25+ years with high-growth start-up to mid-size CPGs.
Much of the past 20 years have focused on launching category leaders in new food/bev categories. Some of the new categories that he pioneered include non-dairy beverages (both soymilk and then almond milk), raw foods, low-carb pasta, premium tortillas. He literally created the category by defining it, then convincing IRI to report it.
Today Jan and Z focus on perishable health/immunity shots.
The Healthy Shots category has been, by far, the fastest-moving and most challenging category he has worked on. Innovations are happening with lightning speed. Z is the self-proclaimed crazy new product development wizard and the pied piper of ginger.
His enthusiasm is driven by his mission to spread wellness and joy. Like the bright, sharp distinctive shot of ginger, his confidence is magical. Together, Z and Jan have a small team and are building Tulua into a growing brand, one shot at a time.
Groundbreaking
Tulua is both a new product and a new category, so they go to the market having to convince buyers that functional beverage drinks are the next wave. With limited staff and resources, they are forced to be scrappy, leveraging social media and digital marketing to tell their story. Like many food and beverage companies, selling direct to consumers is essential both as a channel and a place to get immediate feedback.
The brand is expanding from its exclusive focus on ginger shots to a broader types of wellness shots. They have developed a tumeric/vitality shot and a new tumeric/probiotic shots too.
You can find Tulua in select Whole Foods Markets, Harmons, Central Markets, Huckelberries and Market of Choiceand to name a few. And, you can buy them direct here.
Sage Marketing Observations
After speaking with Z and Jon, I offered them several marketing observations that I’m sharing with readers based on my foodpreneur experiences.
- F is for Focus. One of the significant challenges for foodpreneurs is the distraction of line extensions. When another product captures their attention, entrepreneurs can quickly get distracted and try to take on too much. I always urge startups to stay focused and go deep selling into more channels and points of distribution. I reminded Z and Jan that when my wife and I built our brownie business, we sold one SKU for most of our fourteen years running the business.
- P is for Partnership. Growing brands often can use a scaffolding approach to growth where partnerships can bring quick expansion. Often these partnerships are from tangential relationships. As an example, when I reached out to Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield to sell Rachel’s Brownie Ice Cream in the late 1980s, it raised our brand awareness significantly. Sales of our broken brownies for ice cream was secondary to growing awareness through our partnership.
- S is for Sampling. In-store sampling can be expensive. I’m not convinced it’s a cost-effective way to get a trial, although some retailers require it. In 1982, we approached People Express Airlines to both sell them brownies and use their reach for sampling. We sold millions of brownies to consumers who could purchase our brownies through our mail order catalog. (this was pre-Internet, which is when dinosaurs roamed the earth). The lesson remains valid today – we sampled at a breakeven but made highly profitable sales direct to consumers.
- O is for Occasion. The simpler the message, the better for a brand. If you can own an occasion, you can teach people a ritual, a habit, and a way to integrate a product into your everyday life. Could Tulua’s messaging focus around a time of the day like to own 8 am wake up? Or, could it be promoted as part of a daily ritual – brush your teeth, drink your Tulua. When a brand can find an occasion that belongs to them, it can anchor primary usage. Do you remember Wednesday is Prince Spaghetti Day? Millions do and that call to Anthony in the streets of Boston still resonates more than five decades later.
Tulua Ginger Shots
Z and Jan’s challenges and opportunities are staggering to get a toehold in the multi-billion-dollar functional beverage space. They have a well-differentiated product with a natural story providing it with a headwind. If they can resist the urge to dilute their focus, focus on partnerships, and expand sampling,
I’m convinced that they have unearthed the root of opportunity.
Need help marketing your food or beverage start up?
I can help. You can set up a time chat with me about your marketing challenges using my calendar. Our initial conver?sation is free. You talk, I listen. Email me jeffslater@themarketingsage.com or call me. 919 720 0995. Visit my website at www.themarketingsage.com. Let’s explore working together today.
Photos courtesy of Tulua Ginger Shots
Note: I write about food and beverage companies that interest me. These are not paid product placements but represent brands that spark my curiousity.
