Today we’d like to introduce you to Ryan Harvey.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
My dad passed away at 39 years old of a heart attack. No warning signs. My grandfather wasn’t much older when he passed. Aside from genetics and the uncanny ability to light up a room with their presence, they both had something else in common – poor diets, zero exercise, and smoked like chimneys. Determined to turn off bad genes and turn on good ones, I turned to nutrition and exercise and committed myself to a life of health and wellness in hopes that I wouldn’t succumb to the same fate.
I realized that while I cannot control my genetics, I can control how I fuel and treat my body. Something I am convinced can change genes and add quality and longevity to life. When I joined the military at age 19, I became obsessed with exercise, eventually discovering CrossFit and subsequently the paleo lifestyle.
A big part of paleo is eating foods that are local and in-season, just as you would if you still had to hunt, raise, grow and harvest your own food. Humans evolved eating this way – specifically learning to hunt animals that roamed freely on open lands. This way of eating and viewing food just made sense to me.
Humans wouldn’t be as intelligent and evolved as we are if it weren’t for millions of years of consuming healthy animal proteins and fats. I became fascinated with food, and enrolled in culinary school post-military, going on to earn an internship at Nine-Ten Restaurant & Bar in La Jolla, California.
I quickly realized the chef life is not for me. I loved working with local farms and ranches, always using the best seasonal ingredients and pastured meats. But the crazy hours, egos, and poor diet left me undernourished, stressed out, and deflated. The greatest thing happened during my time in the restaurant. It dawned on me that chefs, the very people who created and live the farm-to-table movement that I love, are some of the unhealthiest people on the planet.
To them, it’s not about health or food as fuel; it’s about flavor. It’s about taking ingredients when they are at their prime and telling their story on a plate. They eat, sleep and breath the farm-to-table movement, but almost none of them approach food with an emphasis on health and nutrition. Chefs drive the trends we see in food. They create trends that make their way into the packaged foods we buy each week at the market.
Chefs have the biggest voice in influencing the way people interact with and consume food. Yet, none are telling the story in a way that will inspire people to eat for health and longevity, despite having all of the ingredients right in front of them (pun intended). I decided I wanted to tell a different story. And what better way to begin my story than to take the base of all cooking (stock) and reinvent it.
What if I take this timeless staple, used in kitchens around the world for generations, and breathe new life into it not just as an ingredient, but as a source of serious nourishment, while simultaneously telling the farm-to-table story so important to the health of our food system.
Stock making is the oldest and most widely taught tradition in cooking, so we honor and embody this tradition in everything that we do, taking absolutely zero shortcuts.
Has it been a smooth road?
Not at all. It’s been harder than we ever could have imagined. I don’t if knowing how hard it would be would have deterred us from ever getting started, but it just may have. The consumer packaged good business has a very steep learning curve, and there’s no school, no degree, and no playbook that shows you how to succeed in this business.
We’ve struggled with everything from product consistency and quality to packaging, to setting our pricing correctly, and even in hiring team members. The hardest part of it all has probably been managing our personal relationship. Katherine and I married the same year we started the business, so marriage and business have been intertwined since day one and it’s been challenging to separate the two with healthy boundaries.
We also wrote a book that first year and relocated the business to Oregon temporarily to scale our production, so it’s been a wild ride. It’s taken us a few years, but we’re finally in a healthy place both professionally and personally. All of this to say that relationships, both inside and outside the business, are arguably the most important element in maintaining your sanity and finding balance while growing a business.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Bare Bones – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
At Bare Bones, we make bone broth. Bone broth, like stock and broth, is a high protein, meat-based liquid that has long been used in cooking for added flavor, richness, and nourishment. The difference between regular broth and stock and bone broth is the presence of collagen and gelatin. Our bone broth is made with a high concentration of bones and joints of grass-fed and pasture-raised animals like beef, chicken, and turkey.
We look for bones containing a high amount of connective tissue and cartilage, as this breaks down into an easy-to-digest and highly bio-available source of collagen. We simmer the bones for over 20 hours to extract the protein, collagen, amino acids and other compounds that are essential to healthy skin, hair, nails, bones, and joints, and can even repair our gut and digestive system.
In addition to bones, we added fresh organic vegetables, herbs, and spices for flavor and added plant-based nourishment. The end result is a flavorful broth that is rich in nutrition that can be sipped like a tea or coffee. Broth and stock are nothing new, but this idea of drinking it daily as a source of energy, whole-body nourishment and satiation are making a heavy comeback – as are other traditional foods like kombucha and sauerkraut.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
The diversity and culture. While the weather is fantastic, we really love the different pockets of culture throughout San Diego. Interested in the military, we have plenty of that. Love the outdoors, check. Want the best ramen in the country; we have that. Want to surf and ski in the same day, or hit the trail for a challenging hike. yup.
The cost of living is definitely our least favorite attribute. We get it, it’s beautiful here, and should cost more. However, it’s pretty much impossible to own a home here on the average income.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.barebonesbroth.com
- Email: hello@barebonesbroth.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/barebonesbroth/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Barebonesbroth/
Getting in touch: SDVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
