Today we’d like to introduce you to Travis Walter.
Hi Travis, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Since I was a child, I’ve felt a deep connection to animals of all types. I had all sorts of pets growing up and was the kid always stopping to pet and talk to neighborhood cats and peering under stones after the rain to see what magical tiny animal worlds existed. So it should come as no surprise that as I got older and eventually learned of the horrifically unsettling treatment of animals in the animal agriculture industry, I did the only caring and logical thing that made sense to me, I became vegan.
I’ve always considered myself an entrepreneurial person. I’ve started a number of small ventures over the years – mostly tech-related, as that’s my background – but nothing that ever really panned out, and definitely nothing anywhere near the food or packaged food industry.
Years ago, I started making a vegan nacho cheese sauce. I really liked it, so I started bringing it to get-togethers and offering it to friends and family when they’d come over. Everyone seemed to love it and after a while, friends started encouraging me to package and sell it.
Feeling the itch – more and more in recent years – to start my own business, I was on the lookout for ways to combine my deep respect for animals with a viable business idea that could benefit those animals. Coming from the tech world, I always thought that business would be tech-related. But the more that friends encouraged me to turn my nacho cheese into a real business, and the more I thought about the massive potential for a food business to benefit animals that might otherwise be exploited and subjected to tremendous suffering – all for a few fleeting minutes of pleasurable taste – the more I realized that this was the business that I needed to start. With that, I started Iron Crow Food Co., a company that produces delicious plant-based alternatives to traditionally animal-based foods.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I wouldn’t say it’s been a smooth road so far, but not a particularly treacherous one either. It’s a road of constant learning, a road of stepping out of my comfort zone and trying new things. I didn’t know anything about the food industry or about producing and selling a physical product before starting this business. So it’s been a lot of taking it one step at a time and learning as I go. I know there will always be the next challenge in front of me that I have little to no experience in or knowledge in how to solve. And I’m OK with that, it’s just a part of being an entrepreneur.
One challenge for me has been having enough time to work on the business. I still have a full-time career as a software engineering lead, and so I’ve had to be diligent about dividing my time and trying not to let one interrupt the other. Having very limited time myself, one of the next problems to be solved is figuring out how to remove myself as the main bottleneck in some key processes, mainly the production of the product. Stay tuned for how that goes.
We’ve been impressed with Iron Crow Food Co, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
My mission with Iron Crow Food Co. is to help animals and humans by providing delicious and natural plant-based food options. If we can make products that people love and that they choose over the conventional animal-based products, then we’ll be reducing the demand for the sentient animals who are used and abused to produce those products by way of reducing demand for the products themselves. The result, I hope, is an overall net reduction in suffering.
For the humans out there, I want to give them a delicious product that they can feel good about eating. Whether it’s for personal health, environmental health, or simply being against animal abuse, there are numerous reasons why more and more people are trying to incorporate more plant-based foods into their diet. I speak with people all the time who are excited to find a new cheese sauce that’s made out of real food – and that’s even plant-based. Iron Crow Food Co. is here to give those deserving people a better option.
It’s also worth mentioning that we’ve committed to donate a percentage of all sales to organizations who have a proven track record of helping farmed animals and bringing to light the abuses and propaganda attempts of the animal agriculture industry. I sincerely hope to build Iron Crow Food Co. into a brand that people can truly get behind. Not just for the tasty products we provide, but for our mission and the larger goals of the company.
We just launched our first products this year! A thick and creamy, savory and slightly spicy, nacho cheese sauce – 100% plant-based. There’s a Classic version with the traditional flavor of nacho cheese that we’ve all come to love and a Smoked Chipotle flavor which has a smokier and spicier taste. Both have been received fantastically by our customers – vegans, vegetarians, and meat-eaters alike. We also plan to continue launching delicious new flavors and new products.
We’re at the Little Italy farmers market on Saturdays and plan to expand to additional markets, grocery stores, and online in the near future. On that note, I’m super excited to announce that we’ll soon be selling at a new store in North Park called Vegan Regional Goods (VRG) located at 30th and El Cajon Blvd.
So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
I think a lot about why I’m putting in so much work for this business to succeed, especially during those long nights in the kitchen when I’d rather be sleeping. 🙂 For me, my compelling “why”, is simple. It’s to try to help the millions of innocent individual animals who are needlessly being hurt every hour of every day to supply food for us humans. I think that system is broken and unnecessary – and I think there’s a better way.
Contact Info:
- Email: hello@ironcrowfood.co
- Website: https://www.ironcrowfood.co/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ironcrowfoodco/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ironcrowfoodco/
Image Credits:
Travis Walter
