We’re looking forward to introducing you to Kris Buchanan. Check out our conversation below.
Kris, a huge thanks to you for investing the time to share your wisdom with those who are seeking it. We think it’s so important for us to share stories with our neighbors, friends and community because knowledge multiples when we share with each other. Let’s jump in: What is something outside of work that is bringing you joy lately?
It’s all about golf for me right now. Trying to improve. In four years, I’ve gotten down to a 6 index, and my goal is to scratch. Which just means I will be incredibly consistent, and that will feel so good.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
GOODONYA is an organic food and beverage brand. We make the unique electrolyte powder that you add to water that has a completely different philosophy from other brands. GOODONYA started as a deli in Kearny Mesa in 2001.
Before I opened GOODONYA in 2001 I played on the USA field hockey team for 12 years and went to three different World Cups, three Pan-American Games, and won Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996. My athletic career was fueled by PowerAid and GatorAid. Lots of sports food, high carbs, and quite honestly junk food. People might be surprised to find out that athletes do not eat healthy because they can pretty much eat whatever they want when they’re working out for 3-9 hours a day like we did. Often athletes are younger, and Especially in the 90s. We weren’t that smart yet. Carb loading was a thing, and ingredient quality was never discussed. Obviously, if we were consuming hundreds of milligrams of incredibly processed salt in the form of sodium chloride drinks that are neon blue (those colors are made from petroleum and artificial sweeteners that have now been proven to cause cancer). All of these ingredients were created by synthetic chemistry by chemical companies and they’re in our food. It’s absolutely shocking we were able to perform as athletes Eating this junk.
Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. What’s a moment that really shaped how you see the world?
I basically had two lives: one as an elite athlete, and one as a restaurant owner and food maker. There was a moment when one of my employees came to me and showed me the back of our olive oil Bottle in our restaurant. She asked me why there was canola oil in our olive oil. I said I didn’t know, and I didn’t even know what canola oil was. This was Around 2009, She had printed out an article on canola oil and the history, and I was absolutely shocked. And I guess the algorithm of the internet created who I was because as I started to dive into food, I learned how absolutely Corrupt food studies were processed food was proven in University labs to be good for us. I learned that Big Food and Big Pharma fund a lot of these universities, and that the so-called science is absolutely flawed. I went back to school for holistic nutrition because, as a restaurant owner, I didn’t know enough. After being an elite athlete and consuming processed food, along with high-intensity exercise, I created a tremendous amount of stress on my body and developed Hashimoto’s, Celiac Disease, and Hypoglycemia. I simply had to learn more about food, especially as I was serving it to customers. GOODONYA Deli had five locations around San Diego. We really got to know our customers because they were located in corporate centers, so we saw them multiple times a day. I began to feel a responsibility to do right by them. If they were giving me money and I was making food that they would put in their bodies, I had to do right by them. In my studies, I watched a movie on Monsanto in the history of GMOs and artificial sweeteners and how those came to be. One of my favorite customers came in every morning and bought a Diet Coke. You might be shocked to find out that GOODONYA used to sell Coca-Cola products. Coca-Cola is the largest Olympic sponsor in the world, and I was enamored as an athlete with this company and even worked for them in San Diego, Chicago, and Atlanta. I remember thinking, “And the guy’s name was Bob. He shouldn’t be drinking Diet Coke.” Then I had another Moment and realized I shouldn’t be selling it.
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
Absolutely, when we started making products to sell in stores. We had a really difficult time. Taking our GOODONYA bar (where we made thousands a day by hand) and too large manufacturing so we could go nationwide with Whole Foods proved too difficult for my experience at the time. The contract manufacturer we used wasn’t a good person, and when he took a $100,000 deposit to make our order for the Whole Foods launch, he simply didn’t make our bars. We missed the launch and missed a massive opportunity.
I had also started to make an electrolyte drink at the time. We were selling in three regions of Whole Foods. But when Amazon bought Whole Foods, we got kicked out because we weren’t in enough stores to remain. We invested a decade into these products, years, hundreds of thousands of dollars, and I felt like we failed.
However, that electrolyte drink was one of the things that helped me finally be hydrated in my life without the junk of all the electrolyte drinks on the market. We created an “almost no sugar”, completely organic, and more importantly, totally natural electrolyte and mineral source.
I reformulated the drink into a powder so we could sell direct to consumer and not have to depend on stores like Whole Foods to make it. Unfortunately, the distribution system to get into grocery stores is corrupt. It makes it very hard for small brands to build their business, but selling something direct to consumer, we had more control. Ironically, we sell that powder now on Amazon, and it does very well. It’s called “GoodOnya Organic Hydration®”, and it is truly the highest quality electrolyte drink on the market.
Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. How do you differentiate between fads and real foundational shifts?
I’ve come to believe that real foundational shifts will only come from believing in nature, not fad diets. I have celiac, so I have to avoid gluten. There are some real issues that as Americans we have gotten ourselves into from eating processed foods. But in general, when you’re looking for the answer, nature has it. Our company slogan is “Any question you ever have, the answer you will find in nature.” That’s from an amazing book and movie by Bryce Courtenay called “The Power of One.”
These numbers are difficult to prove, but it’s been estimated that 60-70% of universities are funded by Big Food and Big Pharma. So when I see a food study come out, I’m incredibly skeptical because I know that Coca-Cola, for example, spent over a hundred million dollars in five years funding university labs. Of course, when an article on aspartame comes out that says it doesn’t cause cancer, people are going to believe that because Diet Coke is downright delicious, isn’t it? Our FDA doesn’t do studies. It doesn’t protect us. It depends on the brands to give them the studies to prove that their product is safe. It is an absolutely flawed system.
You can be a vegan and eat genetically modified soy products every day that are created by chemical companies. Or you can be paleo and eat factory-farmed meat every day. Neither of these diets are good for you.
As soon as people realize you can tap into nature, that’s the only place you will get a real foundational shift in your life. That goes from everything that you put on your body and in your body, to even the time we spend in nature.
Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. If you knew you had 10 years left, what would you stop doing immediately?
Delete social media and put my computer down.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://goodonyaorganic.com, https://goodonyaorganic.restaurant
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goodonyaorganic.restaurant/, https://www.instagram.com/goodonyafounder/, https://www.instagram.com/goodonyaorganic/
