[Applause]
one out of seven Americans are unsure of
where their next meal will come from
at the same time we waste 40% of all
edible food now remember food waste not
only squanders nourishment that could
feed people but also the resources that
it took to grow that food for example in
the last year 21% of all fresh water
went to irrigate crops that were never
eaten concurrently food waste is a
massive environmental concern if its
emissions would be aggregated and
measured as a country food waste would
be the third greatest contributor of
greenhouse gases right after the US and
China now I think it’s clear to a lot of
us that food waste is the dumbest social
and environmental problem of our day and
thankfully businesses governments people
like us have come together in the last
years to solve it I’m here because with
my partner Jordan Schwartz we created
one of those businesses that sees the
food waste problem as an opportunity to
do well by doing good
and I’m here with you to share our story
from underage home brewers baking loaves
of bread in a fraternity kitchen to the
global arena my goal is for you to feel
inspired to look out in the world and
find an area that you can make a
difference and take action and live with
passion now the company that we started
is called regrind and my shirt should
give you a little bit of an idea of what
we do there’s a quick poll of the
audience who’s ever had a beer be honest
alright now keep your hand up if you’ve
ever eaten a beer nice a few of you very
good
now we started this business that has to
do with food waste but that 40% number
that completely overlooks a lot of
edible byproducts in our case we’re
obsessed with beer waste now I know what
you’re thinking and no we’re not talking
about those wounded soldiers that are
left behind the morning after a party
what we’re talking about is the highly
nutritious incredibly delicious food
that is created during the beer brewing
process but left behind you see it takes
massive amounts of grand to brew beer
approximately 1 pound of grain per
six-pack and there is no way to brew
beer without using this grain yet only
the sugars from the grain are needed to
make beer all the protein the fiber the
micronutrients those are left behind now
this is a photo that we took outside of
a single brewery in a single day now
there are dozens of these breweries in
every city around the world every grain
we have invented a way of rescuing this
nutrition and turning it into what is a
highly versatile grain blend that
performs incredibly well across food
applications in essence we’ve created a
new kind of flour now some of you may
have heard that beer is liquid bread
what I’m here to tell you is that the
leftovers from beer can be turned into a
whole lot of gratis it’s gonna blow your
mind if we took a year’s worth of grain
from the nearly 6 billion gallons of
beer that we consumed in the last year
yes we drink 6 billion gallons of beer
and we regrind it into our flour we
could create enough bread so that every
American could have 34 loaves or to put
it in sweeter terms for all your math
nerds that’s a 1362 cookies give or take
a few for every american regrain does
assist
food brand built around upcycling this
super grain that’s left behind by the
beer brewing process we’ve started with
a line of snack bars and we’re going so
much further this is the circular
economy for food or as we like to call
it edible upcycling now the awesome
thing about upcycling is that it takes a
look at our planet’s resources and tries
to get them to the highest possible use
in the case of edible upcycling we’re
looking at our favorite food and
beverage products and taking what those
processes may leave behind and creating
more food now with our technology and
products we are elevating the secret
edible powerhouse that’s left behind by
the beer bearing process to the hero
status that it deserves we’re closing
the loop between the brewing industry
and the food system and if we’re
successful we’ll upcycle billions of
pounds of food we’re here to create a
new environmental and economic standard
that makes the right thing of how to
handle this waste or would be waste the
easy thing but the craziest part of all
is it if he would ask me this six years
ago when I was at UCLA I wouldn’t have
told you any of this back then and still
today Jordan and I were two buddies
united by a passion for entrepreneurship
for sustainability for food and for beer
and we stumbled upon an idea and we took
one small step after another we had so
much fun tinkering with regrind that
it’s now a passion that we share as a
full-time venture with a team of eight
we’ve had the privilege of launching a
brand that’s moving into national
distribution and we’re in the
discussions with some of the world’s
largest food and beverage companies to
explore partnerships it also blows my
mind that we have literally invented
technology with the USDA that were
filing patents on and we’ve had the
fortune of being able to tell our story
to millions as food waste
thought-leaders thanks to global media
coverage and platforms like Ted today we
are living the dream pursuing our
passions and
I am assured by some very smart people
that it’ll be a six year overnight
success the thing is that regrain made a
longer be a hobby we truly have evolved
a lot but the key is is that we’re still
having just as much fun by starting as
recreational entrepreneurs we took a
vision and fuelled it with our passion
and overtime we have earned the eye
ability to professionally pursue this
opportunity to make the world a better
place now some of you may have seen this
video before and I’m here to tell you
that this is a party that everyone is
invited to the thing is is that there’s
no invitation there’s no map there’s no
instructions as to how to get there and
you’re guaranteed to be the first one to
show up but if you have the courage to
stay stoked
it will either build into something
bigger than it was when it started or
worst case scenario you might just lose
yourself to the music and have a great
time there’s no way to know exactly
where you’ll end up when you start it my
goal is to convince you to not wait for
an invitation that will never come but
to start the party yourself you might
not know what you’re doing when you
someone you’re doing a bit
isn’t that true with any pursuit just
like our friend here you might have some
first adopters that will come a team of
believers people that that are with you
that want to see this be successful and
together you’ll create so much buzz so
much enthusiasm then it might just build
into a movement and that’s all to say do
not let uncertainty get in the way of
taking action to block you from pursuing
your passions the most important thing
that you can do is to enjoy the process
so you will surely burn out before you
even get started okay
I get it maybe you don’t fancy dancing
that’s okay
maybe you prefer cards
it’s human nature to want this to be as
easy as this cards against humanity’
prompt instead I’d like to offer a
framework an idea that you use
recreational entrepreneurship as a
launchpad because the best part is is
that if you if your business or whatever
it is that you’re happy to pursue it
ever takes off if you’re loving what
you’re doing and still having fun you
can still make a difference and have an
impact on your own so the end of day it
all starts with an at the beginning of
the day actually it all starts with an
idea people ask us all the time how he
came up with ours and I have the
absolute privilege of being able to say
well here as the story goes as
undergraduates Jordan and I took to home
brewing our own beer which is a hobby
that our mothers were just as thrilled
with as we were now every time we made a
batch of beer we were left with pounds
and pounds of this grain it felt that we
weren’t just making beer that we were
making food we didn’t have anything to
do with the food besides throw it away
we certainly didn’t have farm animals we
didn’t have compost all we had was the
dump but you know what we realized we
hadn’t bountiful supply so I might be in
here in the room we had party animals
and they’re hungry and we thought that
if we could bacon loaves of bread maybe
we could sell them on campus our
original vision was literally to sell
enough loaves of bread that we just
might be able to brew beer for free now
I know what you’re thinking this isn’t
exactly as altruistic as that big
worldly vision I laid out earlier
forgive me but at scale what we’re doing
is we’re looking to build a platform
between the brewing industry and the
food system and if we’re successful
regrain super cream should be able to be
found in every aisle of the grocery
store both as our products and as a
signature ingredient and others from
savory to sweet we continue to be blown
away by how versatile and delicious our
grant is but the best part of all is
that every product that we come up with
every partnership
we strike every sale that we generate
sure it helps us grow our business and
this is crucial but it also brings us
one step closer to our mission
we’re simultaneously reducing waste and
feeding people the point here is that
it’s impossible to know where your great
idea will end up but it is easy to know
where it starts so keep your eyes open
keep your heart open recognize when that
moment is happening to you and take
action you got to do something about it
and along the way you can hold your
vision subject to improvement just like
we did and still stay true to the core
of your mission the core of our mission
has always been to creatively upcycle
waste over time we’ve just allowed our
means to evolve so next and most
important more important than take then
coming up with an idea is taking action
on it the hardest part is going from
zero to one and at the outset all you’ll
have to invest in your idea is emotional
currency your passion
look how stoked we are to be hand-making
granola bars in a home kitchen at the
time you know we’d be doing farmers
markets since I thought people would
tell us and that’s really your idea it
tastes like a good idea just not really
what you wanna hear when you’re making
food but all that we heard was keep
going dudes you’re onto something and we
kept pushing forward equally important
is to engage your community early you’re
not at this alone ask your friends for
advice find experts to give you feedback
surround yourself with advisors when
people are in a position to help we
found that they often are you just have
to bring yourself to ask now to be sure
there’ll be many obstacles ahead but you
wanted the opportunity address any of
them if you never get going for us one
that we came up against was this idea of
appealing tortured to tradition this is
the concept of oh this is such a good
idea someone would have already done
this before therefore your idea well
that idea won’t work in our case they’d
say to us if turning beer waste into
food was a good idea wouldn’t we see
bureaus on the Shelf already
this line of thinking is so comfortable
for people but it’s completely wrong and
you can’t be discouraged on it we knew
that turning this stuff into food was a
good idea but we never argued it was an
original one we only started baking
bread because we found a community of
home brewers online that had a rich
history of doing the same and the brew
pubs all across the country had been
making pizza dough and burger buns and
all kinds of things just no one had
tried to tackle it in this way but still
why and got ahead of myself actually we
got to go way back because the concept
of waste itself predates human
understanding entirely what you see here
is a nurse log it’s a dead tree it
creates the fertile conditions for new
growth in the forest and it’s one of my
favorite examples of fact that in nature
there is no waste food waste itself is a
byproduct of the industrialization of
the food system we’re simply trying to
do for beer what way once did for cheese
what broth did for bones
what sausage does for less desirable
cuts of meat but still why hasn’t anyone
done this rather than be duped by the
appealed of tradition to tradition
instead we tried to define those reasons
and use them as goalposts to define bits
of our path forward and I’ll share with
you a little bit of what we found the
first thing was timing when we came up
with this concept craft beer was just
beginning to boom now we have more than
two new breweries opening per day many
in cities the thing is is that an urban
Brewer faces unique urban challenges
number two sufficient technology
infrastructure it just it didn’t exist
this stuff is wet it’s heavy its
unstable and processing it into food
required innovation third a market for
products made with this new ingredient
wasn’t just unproven it didn’t exist at
all this stuff is so far from being
considered food that it’s actually
technically called spent grant so we saw
an opportunity to build a brand to
educate the world about how incredible
this super grain really is so even
though we figured out fairly earlier
what we had to do that’s not to say that
we always knew
exactly how we would do it this can be
unsettling but it’s totally to be
expected you have to embrace the process
and trust that you will get through the
process is totally dynamic and all day
every day
you will find yourself making real-time
decisions with imperfect information and
when you’re in the moment this can feel
frenetic stressful scary turns out it’s
actually pretty fun and when you take a
step back there’s nothing more
meaningful nothing more fulfilling than
putting your heart into something that
you know matters now back to cards
against humanity’ we’re still in the
middle of this journey but I’d like to
offer a few reasons why I think that
we’ve been able to grow from
recreational entrepreneurs to where we
are today in the hopes of these are
something that you can take away first
we recognize that we had an idea that
could make the world a better place and
we took action on it we didn’t know
exactly how we would see our vision
through but we weren’t afraid to learn
by doing to take two steps forward even
if we had to take a half step back or a
full step back sometimes two steps back
we didn’t let perfection get in the way
of progress we embrace both success and
failure and tried to learn from both
number two we held our self subject to
improvement if your idea is good others
will follow competitors will emerge now
you have to be the best and these
followers should be validation that
you’re really on to something and keep
you from resting on your laurels
laurels it’s certainly how we see it as
we’ve been holding ourselves subject to
improvement internally we’ve also sought
input from others advice we’re not in a
silo it’s not us against the world we
seek to make the world a better place
and we recognize but we’re gonna be a
lot more successful in accomplishing
that if we bring others in third we have
fun where you get to put eat beer and a
t-shirt we get to have board meetings on
ski chairs we get to have business
meetings in breweries we get to rally a
team around a cause
just like with bicycling you got to
enjoy the process it’s not about the
destination it’s about enjoying time in
the saddle and pushing the pedals and
just looking around and enjoying it so
please get out there and do it take
action on your ideas do it because you
love it because the world needs it
because you believe in yourself and your
ability to pull it off you do not have
to start a business to build a career a
life of lasting meaningful value focus
on what matters and most importantly
please don’t be afraid to have your to
want to have your beer and eat it too
cheers and thank you
[Applause]
you
one out of seven Americans are unsure of
where their next meal will come from
at the same time we waste 40% of all
edible food now remember food waste not
only squanders nourishment that could
feed people but also the resources that
it took to grow that food for example in
the last year 21% of all fresh water
went to irrigate crops that were never
eaten concurrently food waste is a
massive environmental concern if its
emissions would be aggregated and
measured as a country food waste would
be the third greatest contributor of
greenhouse gases right after the US and
China now I think it’s clear to a lot of
us that food waste is the dumbest social
and environmental problem of our day and
thankfully businesses governments people
like us have come together in the last
years to solve it I’m here because with
my partner Jordan Schwartz we created
one of those businesses that sees the
food waste problem as an opportunity to
do well by doing good
and I’m here with you to share our story
from underage home brewers baking loaves
of bread in a fraternity kitchen to the
global arena my goal is for you to feel
inspired to look out in the world and
find an area that you can make a
difference and take action and live with
passion now the company that we started
is called regrind and my shirt should
give you a little bit of an idea of what
we do there’s a quick poll of the
audience who’s ever had a beer be honest
alright now keep your hand up if you’ve
ever eaten a beer nice a few of you very
good
now we started this business that has to
do with food waste but that 40% number
that completely overlooks a lot of
edible byproducts in our case we’re
obsessed with beer waste now I know what
you’re thinking and no we’re not talking
about those wounded soldiers that are
left behind the morning after a party
what we’re talking about is the highly
nutritious incredibly delicious food
that is created during the beer brewing
process but left behind you see it takes
massive amounts of grand to brew beer
approximately 1 pound of grain per
six-pack and there is no way to brew
beer without using this grain yet only
the sugars from the grain are needed to
make beer all the protein the fiber the
micronutrients those are left behind now
this is a photo that we took outside of
a single brewery in a single day now
there are dozens of these breweries in
every city around the world every grain
we have invented a way of rescuing this
nutrition and turning it into what is a
highly versatile grain blend that
performs incredibly well across food
applications in essence we’ve created a
new kind of flour now some of you may
have heard that beer is liquid bread
what I’m here to tell you is that the
leftovers from beer can be turned into a
whole lot of gratis it’s gonna blow your
mind if we took a year’s worth of grain
from the nearly 6 billion gallons of
beer that we consumed in the last year
yes we drink 6 billion gallons of beer
and we regrind it into our flour we
could create enough bread so that every
American could have 34 loaves or to put
it in sweeter terms for all your math
nerds that’s a 1362 cookies give or take
a few for every american regrain does
assist
food brand built around upcycling this
super grain that’s left behind by the
beer brewing process we’ve started with
a line of snack bars and we’re going so
much further this is the circular
economy for food or as we like to call
it edible upcycling now the awesome
thing about upcycling is that it takes a
look at our planet’s resources and tries
to get them to the highest possible use
in the case of edible upcycling we’re
looking at our favorite food and
beverage products and taking what those
processes may leave behind and creating
more food now with our technology and
products we are elevating the secret
edible powerhouse that’s left behind by
the beer bearing process to the hero
status that it deserves we’re closing
the loop between the brewing industry
and the food system and if we’re
successful we’ll upcycle billions of
pounds of food we’re here to create a
new environmental and economic standard
that makes the right thing of how to
handle this waste or would be waste the
easy thing but the craziest part of all
is it if he would ask me this six years
ago when I was at UCLA I wouldn’t have
told you any of this back then and still
today Jordan and I were two buddies
united by a passion for entrepreneurship
for sustainability for food and for beer
and we stumbled upon an idea and we took
one small step after another we had so
much fun tinkering with regrind that
it’s now a passion that we share as a
full-time venture with a team of eight
we’ve had the privilege of launching a
brand that’s moving into national
distribution and we’re in the
discussions with some of the world’s
largest food and beverage companies to
explore partnerships it also blows my
mind that we have literally invented
technology with the USDA that were
filing patents on and we’ve had the
fortune of being able to tell our story
to millions as food waste
thought-leaders thanks to global media
coverage and platforms like Ted today we
are living the dream pursuing our
passions and
I am assured by some very smart people
that it’ll be a six year overnight
success the thing is that regrain made a
longer be a hobby we truly have evolved
a lot but the key is is that we’re still
having just as much fun by starting as
recreational entrepreneurs we took a
vision and fuelled it with our passion
and overtime we have earned the eye
ability to professionally pursue this
opportunity to make the world a better
place now some of you may have seen this
video before and I’m here to tell you
that this is a party that everyone is
invited to the thing is is that there’s
no invitation there’s no map there’s no
instructions as to how to get there and
you’re guaranteed to be the first one to
show up but if you have the courage to
stay stoked
it will either build into something
bigger than it was when it started or
worst case scenario you might just lose
yourself to the music and have a great
time there’s no way to know exactly
where you’ll end up when you start it my
goal is to convince you to not wait for
an invitation that will never come but
to start the party yourself you might
not know what you’re doing when you
someone you’re doing a bit
isn’t that true with any pursuit just
like our friend here you might have some
first adopters that will come a team of
believers people that that are with you
that want to see this be successful and
together you’ll create so much buzz so
much enthusiasm then it might just build
into a movement and that’s all to say do
not let uncertainty get in the way of
taking action to block you from pursuing
your passions the most important thing
that you can do is to enjoy the process
so you will surely burn out before you
even get started okay
I get it maybe you don’t fancy dancing
that’s okay
maybe you prefer cards
it’s human nature to want this to be as
easy as this cards against humanity’
prompt instead I’d like to offer a
framework an idea that you use
recreational entrepreneurship as a
launchpad because the best part is is
that if you if your business or whatever
it is that you’re happy to pursue it
ever takes off if you’re loving what
you’re doing and still having fun you
can still make a difference and have an
impact on your own so the end of day it
all starts with an at the beginning of
the day actually it all starts with an
idea people ask us all the time how he
came up with ours and I have the
absolute privilege of being able to say
well here as the story goes as
undergraduates Jordan and I took to home
brewing our own beer which is a hobby
that our mothers were just as thrilled
with as we were now every time we made a
batch of beer we were left with pounds
and pounds of this grain it felt that we
weren’t just making beer that we were
making food we didn’t have anything to
do with the food besides throw it away
we certainly didn’t have farm animals we
didn’t have compost all we had was the
dump but you know what we realized we
hadn’t bountiful supply so I might be in
here in the room we had party animals
and they’re hungry and we thought that
if we could bacon loaves of bread maybe
we could sell them on campus our
original vision was literally to sell
enough loaves of bread that we just
might be able to brew beer for free now
I know what you’re thinking this isn’t
exactly as altruistic as that big
worldly vision I laid out earlier
forgive me but at scale what we’re doing
is we’re looking to build a platform
between the brewing industry and the
food system and if we’re successful
regrain super cream should be able to be
found in every aisle of the grocery
store both as our products and as a
signature ingredient and others from
savory to sweet we continue to be blown
away by how versatile and delicious our
grant is but the best part of all is
that every product that we come up with
every partnership
we strike every sale that we generate
sure it helps us grow our business and
this is crucial but it also brings us
one step closer to our mission
we’re simultaneously reducing waste and
feeding people the point here is that
it’s impossible to know where your great
idea will end up but it is easy to know
where it starts so keep your eyes open
keep your heart open recognize when that
moment is happening to you and take
action you got to do something about it
and along the way you can hold your
vision subject to improvement just like
we did and still stay true to the core
of your mission the core of our mission
has always been to creatively upcycle
waste over time we’ve just allowed our
means to evolve so next and most
important more important than take then
coming up with an idea is taking action
on it the hardest part is going from
zero to one and at the outset all you’ll
have to invest in your idea is emotional
currency your passion
look how stoked we are to be hand-making
granola bars in a home kitchen at the
time you know we’d be doing farmers
markets since I thought people would
tell us and that’s really your idea it
tastes like a good idea just not really
what you wanna hear when you’re making
food but all that we heard was keep
going dudes you’re onto something and we
kept pushing forward equally important
is to engage your community early you’re
not at this alone ask your friends for
advice find experts to give you feedback
surround yourself with advisors when
people are in a position to help we
found that they often are you just have
to bring yourself to ask now to be sure
there’ll be many obstacles ahead but you
wanted the opportunity address any of
them if you never get going for us one
that we came up against was this idea of
appealing tortured to tradition this is
the concept of oh this is such a good
idea someone would have already done
this before therefore your idea well
that idea won’t work in our case they’d
say to us if turning beer waste into
food was a good idea wouldn’t we see
bureaus on the Shelf already
this line of thinking is so comfortable
for people but it’s completely wrong and
you can’t be discouraged on it we knew
that turning this stuff into food was a
good idea but we never argued it was an
original one we only started baking
bread because we found a community of
home brewers online that had a rich
history of doing the same and the brew
pubs all across the country had been
making pizza dough and burger buns and
all kinds of things just no one had
tried to tackle it in this way but still
why and got ahead of myself actually we
got to go way back because the concept
of waste itself predates human
understanding entirely what you see here
is a nurse log it’s a dead tree it
creates the fertile conditions for new
growth in the forest and it’s one of my
favorite examples of fact that in nature
there is no waste food waste itself is a
byproduct of the industrialization of
the food system we’re simply trying to
do for beer what way once did for cheese
what broth did for bones
what sausage does for less desirable
cuts of meat but still why hasn’t anyone
done this rather than be duped by the
appealed of tradition to tradition
instead we tried to define those reasons
and use them as goalposts to define bits
of our path forward and I’ll share with
you a little bit of what we found the
first thing was timing when we came up
with this concept craft beer was just
beginning to boom now we have more than
two new breweries opening per day many
in cities the thing is is that an urban
Brewer faces unique urban challenges
number two sufficient technology
infrastructure it just it didn’t exist
this stuff is wet it’s heavy its
unstable and processing it into food
required innovation third a market for
products made with this new ingredient
wasn’t just unproven it didn’t exist at
all this stuff is so far from being
considered food that it’s actually
technically called spent grant so we saw
an opportunity to build a brand to
educate the world about how incredible
this super grain really is so even
though we figured out fairly earlier
what we had to do that’s not to say that
we always knew
exactly how we would do it this can be
unsettling but it’s totally to be
expected you have to embrace the process
and trust that you will get through the
process is totally dynamic and all day
every day
you will find yourself making real-time
decisions with imperfect information and
when you’re in the moment this can feel
frenetic stressful scary turns out it’s
actually pretty fun and when you take a
step back there’s nothing more
meaningful nothing more fulfilling than
putting your heart into something that
you know matters now back to cards
against humanity’ we’re still in the
middle of this journey but I’d like to
offer a few reasons why I think that
we’ve been able to grow from
recreational entrepreneurs to where we
are today in the hopes of these are
something that you can take away first
we recognize that we had an idea that
could make the world a better place and
we took action on it we didn’t know
exactly how we would see our vision
through but we weren’t afraid to learn
by doing to take two steps forward even
if we had to take a half step back or a
full step back sometimes two steps back
we didn’t let perfection get in the way
of progress we embrace both success and
failure and tried to learn from both
number two we held our self subject to
improvement if your idea is good others
will follow competitors will emerge now
you have to be the best and these
followers should be validation that
you’re really on to something and keep
you from resting on your laurels
laurels it’s certainly how we see it as
we’ve been holding ourselves subject to
improvement internally we’ve also sought
input from others advice we’re not in a
silo it’s not us against the world we
seek to make the world a better place
and we recognize but we’re gonna be a
lot more successful in accomplishing
that if we bring others in third we have
fun where you get to put eat beer and a
t-shirt we get to have board meetings on
ski chairs we get to have business
meetings in breweries we get to rally a
team around a cause
just like with bicycling you got to
enjoy the process it’s not about the
destination it’s about enjoying time in
the saddle and pushing the pedals and
just looking around and enjoying it so
please get out there and do it take
action on your ideas do it because you
love it because the world needs it
because you believe in yourself and your
ability to pull it off you do not have
to start a business to build a career a
life of lasting meaningful value focus
on what matters and most importantly
please don’t be afraid to have your to
want to have your beer and eat it too
cheers and thank you
[Applause]
you
Please follow and like us: