Ep102- Strengthening Communities in the Amazon + Ohio - Evan of Peaceful Fruits
Episode description
Evan Delahanty is one of the few people I know who has lived in the the middle of the Amazon Rainforest. I mean taking a canoe 3 hours UP river. As a Peace Corps volunteer in Suriname, he learned a language that only 26,000 people speak (Saramaccan)!
After completing his mission, he was looking for a way to stay in touch and help the community. He choose Açaí as the vehicle to accomplish that.
Evan founded Peaceful Fruits, a snack company that makes delicious organic fruit snacks that create jobs for people with disabilities in Akron while helping to protect the Amazon Rainforest. I LOVE how he is helping two distinct communities!!
Peaceful Fruits is currently in about 50 stores and working hard to scale up. Evan shares his journey:
- How he got his company off the ground
- Sourcing in Suriname / wild harvesting
- How to maintain consistency with an artisan product
- The joys and business advantages of working with the developmentally disabled
- All about Açaí, the superfruit
- How to scale up when working in a remote part of the world
- Why timing is crucial to success
- When to involve a famous celebrity from Akron, Ohio (hint: he's very athletic)
- The two types of people in the world
- The Crowdfunding campaign coming up
- Plans to scale up the company in U.S.
Selected links from the show:
Peaceful Fruits
Cleveland Culinary Launch
Kuli Kuli Foods
Saramaccan language
Lebron James Foundation
Cornell University Food Lab