Coffee, Cults, and Commerce; Lessons Learned Breaking Into a $465B Industry
Creating a product that transcends industry trends, and why trust and transparency are just as important in business as they are in life
What’s hot today might be out of the zeitgeist tomorrow. Are people still doing goat yoga? Are skinny jeans really the new mom jeans? There are so many trends to keep track of and so many “next big things,” it’s impossible to know what’s real and what’s just a passing phase. For a business, it’s important to understand the distinction, and it’s even more important to have products that will thrive regardless of the different cycles your industry runs through.
Lopa van der Mersch thinks she has that kind of product with her company, Rasa, which makes a coffee alternative with adaptogen blends. van der Mersch has a fascinating personal history which has led her to where she is today as an entrepreneur,trying to break into a 465 billion-dollar market with a new product.
“Adaptogens right now, it’s a $25 billion industry, but most of that’s in Asia and because they have a cultural context around using these herbs in daily life that we just don’t have,” she said. “And so we are actually bringing a cultural context for these herbs through the coffee ritual and coffee is a $465 billion market. So we like that [total available market] a lot better.”
The problem with adaptogens, though, is that in recent years brands have been slapping the word “adaptogen” on any and all herbs they think will add a benefit to the product. As a result, van der Mersch and Rasa are on a mission to bring a true, science-based product to people in need of an alternative to coffee.
“Exercise is stressful for our bodies but it’s in a good way, because we’re getting stronger, we’re getting more resilience, all of that, we’re getting more flexible,” van der Mersch explained. “And so adaptogens are literally doing that to your body’s stress response system. So they have to have that neuro-endocrine impact as well. And this is also really interesting, just seeing adaptogens trending so much, many companies out there, I think, do not understand that there is a scientific criteria. It’s not a marketing term.”
It’s also not just a trend. Van der Mersch is betting that regardless of where society moves next, adaptogens will be needed, so it was important to make sure that whatever Rasa put out into the market was good enough to withstand the waves of the market.
“This is an interesting case of an industry growing because we’re overstressed as a culture,” van der Mersch said. “And this was going back to one of your questions about did we know what we wanted to put in that cup? And were we aware of that? We want to put the best stuff ever in a cup and adaptogens are the best stuff ever, especially as a superior way to stimulate yourself that’s more sustainable. And I believe that they’re trending because people need them. That’s what’s happening right now. And there’s a pretty uneducated consumer base.”
To hear more about how Rasa is bringing this product to customers and how van der Mersch’s personal history influences how she operates now, tune in to Up Next in Commerce.
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