Today we’d like to introduce you to Madelyn Hadley.
Hi Madelyn, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I’m from Seattle, Washington and grew up with a mother who loves to cook. My brothers organized a low pull-out shelf for me in the kitchen and filled it with tiny toy utensils and food stuffs and play dough. We often were all in the kitchen together, cooking and I could participate too. I was in the way of course!
I’ve had a passion for flavor and creating foods (edible potions as I liked to call my experiments back in the day) for as long as I can remember. I also loved the time that good food created for my family. I really enjoyed the quality time at the dinner table and the family tradition of our century-old sourdough waffles on Sunday.
My interest in food’s direct effect on health started in high school and became even stronger in college. I went to UCSD and studied Public Health and Business. There I had the opportunity to work on research studies involving cooking and health education for youth as well as becoming a teaching assistant for Nutrition. After college, I began working with a Naturopathic doctor who taught me a lot about food’s ability to heal the body. It was clear to me that a whole food plant-based diet is essential for optimal health. I worked as a plant-based private chef for her patients as well as others in San Diego.
After working as a private chef for several years I wanted to make healthy foods accessible to more people. The long-term vision is to have a wide variety of foods available at the grocery store that make it easy to eat healthfully and deliciously! I needed to start with one product that would be simple to make, shelf-stable and appeal to a lot of people. I had been making my vegan coconut bacon for clients and at cooking demonstrations and people couldn’t get enough of it! It seemed like the perfect product to start my organic vegan food line with.
I had no idea what I was getting myself into! It’s funny because one might think that a minor in business would be helpful…but the reality is what I learned in school helped with about 10% of what it took to get this started. Every industry is unique and it’s impossible to learn everything before. So I started learning about food packaging. I did lots of research on the legalities of font size, mandatory allergen statements, nutrition facts….it was A LOT. Eventually, I found an amazing artist in Ukraine (through Pinterest!) and she did my artwork while I worked with a graphic artist to make it all fit together.
I’ve worked with a few contract bakeries to make the product for me and landed my first big break at Whole Foods Market. I used to work there in college and knew the store leadership. Several years later I ran into my old boss and told him what I was up to. He was kind enough to put me in touch with a buyer through their local program. I am now in almost every Whole Foods Market in California. I have to say Whole Foods Market is a great company and I am very thankful for the support I got while I worked there as well as now. I am truly grateful for the kind people there that helped a small business like mine get into their stores.
Today I also sell on Amazon, have a partnership with a close friend who makes avocado toast and sells it at several local markets (It’s called Smashed -highly recommend stopping by!), a few small local retailers and on my website. I’ve got several other flavors in the pipeline as well as completely different product lines so stay tuned!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It is not been a smooth road! I have had several issues in production, which caused me to have hundreds of bags of squishy products that I could not sell. After several disasters, I was fortunate enough to get connected with a bakery that told me I had to change my formula so that it would be easier to produce. After making over 10 samples at home I finally found a tweak that would work and it has been smooth sailing so far.
In addition to that it has been hard finding a bakery that would work with me. Because I was so small I couldn’t meet most of their minimums. Scaling a consumer packaged food product has been tricky because the product has an expiration date so I can’t order a bunch of wait for it to sell. The product has to have somewhere to go.
Madly Hadley is a family-owned company. I am very fortunate to have a dad who believes in me and has been an incredible help with getting this going, however, we are not backed my venture capitalist firms or big investors so cash flow has been tricky. We can’t afford a full-time social media person yet so that’s left me trying to cobble together content in between running everything else. It’s been a disadvantage in a lot of ways because I’ve had to keep working as a private chef at the same time as launching this business. It’s been a long three and a half years to get here, but it’s worth it! I know we are close to being able to hire the necessary people to continue growing.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m a chef and specialize in plant-based food. Many of my clients have allergies to wheat and soy so I became comfortable adapting many dishes to be gluten-free and soy-free. I truly believe that eating a plant-based diet can mean no compromises and no “food FOMO”. Being able to create foods that replicate the same (or better) flavor and texture experiences that we grew up loving is what sets my food apart. We can make amazing plant-based ice cream, pizza, cheese, bacon and any other food you can imagine. The possibilities are endless.
There are so many reasons WHY we should be eating a more plant-based diet. The environmental benefits, health benefits and not supporting a terrible industrialized animal agriculture industry. I love making healthy plant-based food for people to show them that you can still have AMAZING food and be making a change in the world around you.
We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
I love sewing! I got a new sewing machine recently, which has been a game-changer. It’s so creative designing something from nothing and having the end result finished is really satisfying.
Contact Info:
- Email: hello@madlyhadley.com
- Website: www.madlyhadley.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/madlyhadleymagic/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/madlyhadleymagic/
