Innovative Sambazon

Sambazon took a once little known Superfood from Brazil and introduced it to America.

Welcome to The Lempert Report's Innovation Series, where we will bring you the most innovative ideas and cutting edge companies in the food world today.To be innovative is to introduce new ideas, devices, methods, to do something better, something different and something new. Take, for example, brothers Ryan & Jeremy Black who through their company Sambazon took a once little known Superfood from Brazil and introduced it to America. From production to packaging their innovative vision has driven success: 

RYAN BLACK: It started in 1999 when Ed and I went to Brazil.. we went to find waves and local flavor but in the end it was all about a tiny berry called Acai.  As a pro football player the nutrition and energy blew me away, we did some research and found out that this little berry could prove a case for sustainability and development in the Amazon, creating thousands of jobs while promoting conservation and environmental stewardship. We teamed up with my brother Jeremy who had marketing talents, and at 25 years young, maxed out our credit cards, dreamt big and set out to change the world. JEREMY BLACK: We built Sambazon on a Triple Bottom Line philosophy which means success isn't just based on financial performance but social and environment impact as well. 

PHIL: Processing Acai is not easy.  The fruit can spoil in less that a day, so it's becomes a race from the moment it's picked to when it's processed. The brothers behind Sambazon, showed their knack for innovation by building the most advanced Acai factory in the world and it's built at the source, on the Amazon to deliver the freshest Acai possible. 

RYAN BLACK: In the US Acai was completely unknown, breaking into the market was not easy, we did guerrilla marketing and literally handed out millions of samples. Today our business supports 10,000 small family farmers, and the nearly 2 million acres they manage in our organic, fair trade certified project….We've combined other Amazon super foods, like asero cherry and yerba mate and made the highest quality, most innovative products anywhere.