EP 88: Newspaper Boy to Millionaire Entrepreneur. Jim Pakulis, CEO Boosh Foods
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This week on The Millionaire Choice Podcast, Tony talks with Jim Pakulis, CEO of Boosh Foods. Tony and Jim discuss healthy food, money’s effect on mindset, entrepreneurship in a world of corporate giants.
Jim grew up in a humble family with meager financial means. From walking daily two miles to and from school, to delivering newspapers in 3-feet of snow at age 8; Jim has always been a hard worker. Now a successful entrepreneur, he is the CEO and Chairman of Boosh Plant-Based Brands Inc.
About Jim Pakulis
Jim has over three decades of experience working with public and private entrepreneurial companies in a variety of emerging sectors and has developed a unique eye for identifying small emerging publicly traded companies and quickly scaling them. He has taken ventures from zero to $16 million in two years and now he is leading the forefront of the trillion-dollar shift from animal-based protein to plant-based protein.
He is passionate about being in the plant-based sector because simultaneously it helps individuals eat healthier foods, decreases the butchering of animals, helps the planet by re-structuring farming resources for sustainable purposes and helps to preserve the depleting water sources.
In Jim’s spare time he co-founded an animal rescue non-profit where he has helped save over 1,000 animals from being euthanized and found them loving homes.
Learn more about Jim Pakulis, https://booshfood.com
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Show Transcript
Tony (00:00):
Welcome back to the millionaire choice show. Today on the show, we're gonna be talking about food. We're gonna talk about food investments, and I'm sure we'll get a little bit of information on how you might be able to eat just a little bit healthier than the average person. We're going to be talking with Jim Pakulis of Boosh Foods, Boosh and Beanfields. I know you just acquired that company, so I'm sure you'll tell us more about it. Welcome to the show!
Jim Pakulis (00:24):
Thank you very much, Tony. Great to be here.
Tony (00:27):
Just for you people listening, you future millionaires, you're in for a real treat because Jim and I have been trying to get this show recorded for about three weeks now. For some reason we keep running into crazy technical difficulties. So, this is gonna be one for the books for you guys to get. We've worked really hard to bring you the information you're gonna hear today about money and also about health. Jim, I know we had a couple starts here. Let's talk about Bush and Beanfields, and what you're all about. Then we'll come back to your personal life and your story about what it was like in the early days of Jim Pakulis.
Jim Pakulis (01:02):
Absolutely. A couple years ago my team and I were looking for- we're agnostic. We were looking at a sector we thought was gonna have three to five or even 10 year growth to it. And, we did a lot of research on the plant-based sector and saw that there was a disruptive shift taking place. In our opinion, billions, if not hundreds of billions of dollars will be shifting from animal protein to plant-based protein over the next "X" number of years. We wanted to be part of that. So we started to look at different companies in the sector, looked at roughly 30 different companies. None of them met our metrics. We have relatively high metrics in regards to groups that we wanna work with; provide management, infrastructure, financing, long term commitment. We came across Boosh. Fortunate enough to be introduced to the founder, Connie Marples, and saw that they had a wonderful line of non GMO gluten free heat and eat family meals; six frozen, three refrigerated, two shelf stable.
Jim Pakulis (01:59):
We thought, "wow, this is a wonderful opportunity. So, we took Boosh public in May of 2021, and then just recently, less than a year later, we were fortunate enough to come across BeanFields. Beanfields is one of the leading bean based chip in the marketplace. They're in over 7,000 stores throughout the United States. So, we were fortunate enough to acquire Beanfields. We're still in the process of completing the audit. If we talk about numbers; they will be un-audited. But, again, it's a fantastic company. So, now we have Boosh with the frozen, the refrigerated, the shelf stable, and we have Beanfields, which is a snack based category. So, I think we are positioned perfectly for significant growth over the next 2-5 years.
Tony (02:46):
Food is a very interesting thing. I've just started becoming more serious about how I eat, not to be depressing or anything like that, but we've lost three family members to cancer since 2016. And, as I learn more about that and go, "why did my mom die at 67 of cancer? Why did my boss, that I used to work for, die at 65 of cancer before he even retired? Why did my mother-in-law die at 70? And, most recently, why did my brother-in-law die at 49?"
Jim Pakulis (03:18):
Oh my goodness. My condolences.
Tony (03:20):
And, all of those ages- people don't realize this, but all of those ages that I just named off are like 20 to 30 years earlier than the statistical average. Now, what I've noticed more recently is that the average for men- I believe- used to be listed at 82 years. The average age of a man that passed away is 82 years. For women, I believe it was 87. Maybe women carry a little bit less stress. Maybe they're just a little smarter about how they live. But, you're looking at ages there; the four people I just named that are close to me died 20 or 30 years before their time. And, that bothers me cuz that's beyond statistical anomaly.
Tony (04:08):
Most recently, I think the newer numbers that have been released is that the average age of adults living- pass away- is actually down now in their 70s. The numbers have come down in a short period of time; the last decade or so. And, that's just pretty wild to see those numbers drop like that. But, I believe food is a big contributor to that. The chemicals that people are putting in their foods. Most specifically, I'll name one; aspartame, it's in all the diet drinks. That was something that my mother-in-law and my mother both drank; diet drinks; trying to help with their weight. You think you're eating healthier or drinking healthier, but you end up putting carcinogens in your body. Of course, we all know about Roundup, And everything that was going on with Roundup. Most recently, I actually know some people whose parents passed away from Roundup; early age; but so, when you talk about Beanfields; we all know about potato chips. You're talking about bean chips. So, talking about food, I'm very familiar with potato chips, which are common to everybody, but I don't believe I've ever eaten a bean chip before.
Jim Pakulis (05:14):
You are in for a treat my friend. You are definitely in for a treat. So, commonplace potato chips, Doritos; they taste fantastic. They're addictive; the sugary, salty, wonderful, crunchy flavor. They're horrific for us. And, I grew up on that stuff, I'm in my late 50s. I love that stuff, but now here comes a brand. It started 2010, but here comes a competitor of that brand that's based from beans. In my humble opinion, it tastes just as good, if not better. So, consumers- we- us- have the opportunity to, have a well priced, tasty, substance that's healthy for you. What could be better? It's almost a righteous thing. Going back 15 to 20 years; you look at the different types of foods that the vegans and vegetarians were eating, and, no offense to the companies back then, but it tasted like warm cardboard- fast forward today;
Jim Pakulis (06:20):
You got some phenomenal products out there, including; and I'm very biased; all of the Boosh and the Beanfield line, they're magnificent, they're well priced, they taste great, and we