Today we’d like to introduce you to Bob Goldberg.
Bob, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Follow Your Heart was inspired by a need to fill the void in delicious, high-quality products for consumers looking for healthier options. I, along with Paul Lewin and two other friends, Michael Besancon and Spencer Windbiel, came together to create Follow Your Heart back in the early 1970’s. We began as a restaurant in Canoga Park serving vegetarian soups, sandwiches, and salads to an increasingly health-conscious community.
The restaurant’s need for a good tasting, egg-free mayonnaise alternative (something which was unheard of at the time) led to the creation of Follow Your Heart’s flagship product Vegenaise®, the preferred sandwich spread for vegetarians, vegans and anyone seeking a healthier mayo. After more than 45 years, we’ve expanded the Follow Your Heart product line to include salad dressings, sauces and a broad range of dairy alternatives.
Today, Follow Your Heart branded products, now available throughout the U.S. as well as in more than 30 foreign countries, are made in our state-of-the-art, solar-powered Chatsworth, California facility which we call Earth Island®. All products are sustainable, plant-based, Non-GMO, and many are also Certified Organic and Kosher.
Incidentally, the Follow Your Heart Market and Restaurant continues to thrive, 49 years later, on Sherman Way, just East of Topanga Canyon Blvd.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Since we began as a restaurant, we have always enjoyed both growth and popularity, but as anyone who has ever been in the restaurant business knows, it’s rarely a smooth road. Growth entails lots of learning experiences, and learning often comes with pain.
We’ve had our share over the nearly five decades we’ve been in business, but for the most part, we have been blessed with lots of love from our customers and staff members, and a few good breaks at just the right times. Once we expanded into manufacturing our own products in the ‘80s, the challenge turned to creating groundbreaking new ways of satisfying consumers’ demand for superior products made in sustainable ways.
The biggest challenge has been creating alternatives that rival the taste and texture of their dairy or traditional counterparts. Follow Your Heart products are inspired by everyday basic ingredients. We just seek to make them in new ways that conform to the desires of contemporary shoppers. Our company really looks forward to continuing to wow consumers with more plant-based options that appeal to everyone.
Please tell us about Follow Your Heart.
Follow Your Heart doesn’t believe that a plant-based diet is just a trend, but that as consumers realize the benefits of a plant-based diet, plant-based products will continue to grow and become more mainstream. We’ve noticed that consumers are excited by the variety and availability of plant-based alternatives and see that excitement continuing to drive innovation from companies like ours.
Today we are the market leader in Egg-free Mayo and Non-dairy sliced cheeses. We also make vegan cheese for pizzas and pastas, a line of creamy, salad dressings, dairy-free yogurts, cream cheese, and sour cream alternatives and even a VeganEgg® product which replaces scrambled eggs.
All in all, we make around 60 different products which can be found in over 20,000 natural and conventional stores in the U.S.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://followyourheart.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/followyourheart/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FYHProducts
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