Founder Spotlight: Kortney Chase (Pecana)
Meet Kortney Chase:
Pecana is the industry’s newest plant-based nutmilk, featuring two shelf-stable flavors – Unsweetened PecanMilk and Unsweetened Vanilla PecanMilk. Both are naturally rich, buttery, and smooth and made with simple, clean ingredients, no artificial ingredients or fillers, and 100% all-American pecans.
Location:
Austin, Texas, USA
When did you launch the business?
2020
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Startup Stage?
Bootstrapped
What led you to where you are today?
Kortney Chase is no stranger to the pecan industry. As a proud third-generation pecan farmer, she has been in and around the nut industry since birth, helping run Chase Pecan which is now the leading manufacturer of pecans. After discovering there was a gap in the market when it came to all-natural, great-tasting pecanmilks, Chase set out to transform the market by combining her passion for farming with her deep knowledge of the industry to create Pecana.
What do you wish you knew before embarking on your entrepreneurial journey?
Patience, patience, patience! Starting out, I thought that all of my experience in the pecan commodity business would translate into beverage... surprise, surprise, it did not! I had to learn so much - one task would then lead to 10 more steps. Mentally I have had to prepare for the marathon and not the sprint in a lot of scenarios.
What is the most difficult decision you've had to make regarding your business so far?
The most difficult decision is honestly when it comes to ensuring my product stays true to my values without cutting corners. I could easily put in natural flavor vanilla, but I don't - I source very high-quality vanillas and I don't add in inflammatory seed oils like a lot of other nut milks do. I have recently been on a very extensive health journey and I just didn’t feel right or authentic to create a product that I wouldn’t buy for myself, but I’m also very human and seeing high margins for cutting corners is intriguing but my integrity is more important.
What can you help the VEGPRENEUR community with?
I can help expand VEGPRENEUR's reach by engaging with the Chase Pecans community.
How can the VEGPRENEUR community help you?
VEGPRENEUR can help open new doors to customers focused on healthy, plant-based lifestyles who may not know about Pecana yet.
Fun fact about you:
If I was not running a family agriculture business or starting my own CPG company that is Pecana - I would be a facialist. I absolutely love making other women feel beautiful and healthy - my healthy journey the past two years has taught me so much about the connection between what we eat, gut health and skin health. I geek out over all things skincare.
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