Years ago, I was asked to develop a health and wellness brand built entirely around branded ingredients.
The concept was simple: Create a series of single-serving stick packs that consumers could conveniently add to smoothies, shakes, yogurt, oatmeal, or virtually any meal.
I developed products for focus, digestive health, cardiovascular health, sleep support, and several other categories.
The investor wanted to create an unflavored turmeric product that could be added to one’s morning coffee to make-spicy coffee. An idea I hated until I tried it. It was surprisingly good.
To support the formula, I evaluated a number or premium branded curcumin options, all backed by extensive research, clinical studies, with a strong reputation within the industry. Off we went and product went to market.
Weeks later, I noticed my contract manufacturer had become strangely distant. My film cost for the stick packs went up along with a 20% hike for filling and an email informing me that future orders could take an extra 4 weeks turn around time.
That wasn’t all – No more Friday lunches, my birthday was skipped, but most disappointing of all was no Thanksgiving basket. The one filled with enough cheese, crackers, and salami to feed a small village. The same one you probably send to your customers.
When I finally asked the million dollar question, he didn’t hold back.
Apparently, he hated running my turmeric product.
According to him, curcumin yellow found its way onto everything. The equipment, the floors, the walls, the production room, the hallway, even the Dunkin’ Donuts bathroom across the street.
To hear him tell the story, the cleanup process required an archaeological excavation team and several industrial-strength pressure washers.
Am I exaggerating?
A little, it didn’t reach Dunkin’ Donuts across the street!
Was there still a legitimate problem?
Absolutely.
We all understand that traditional curcumin is famous for many things. Its bright yellow color is one of them along with the added time it takes to break down a job and thoroughly sterilize the equipment and everything else in the room.
While consumers may associate that color with authenticity, manufacturers have to deal with the costly extended cleaning, changeovers, and additional production headaches which is why every manufacture tends to have an issue.
That experience led me to ask a question I had never considered before. Are there alternatives that solve the problem and keep me in the good graces of my manufacturer?
That’s how I discovered Curcumin C3 Reduct® from Sabinsa – a tetrahydrocurcumin. An ingredient category that approaches the curcumin conversation from a completely different perspective.
As a result, the product evolved. Rather than relying on a traditional curcumin ingredient, the formula was rebuilt around a curcumin-derived ingredient composed of tetrahydrocurcuminoids—the colorless metabolites of curcumin. What immediately stood out was how different the material was from the curcumin ingredient I was previously using and other curcumins. It was off-white rather than bright yellow, virtually tasteless, non-staining, and significantly easier to work with from both a formulation and manufacturing perspective.
The product failed to gain an acceptance equal to that of the other products and the spicy turmeric experience transitioned into a much cleaner and more versatile formulation while still maintaining its connection to the curcumin category.
The happy ending? Once I made the switch to Curcumin C3 Reduct®, and there was no more staining everything-my relationship with the manufacturer improved dramatically.
We started going to lunch on Fridays like the old days. Birthday gifts reappeared. Most importantly, the annual Thanksgiving basket, now with 5 types of cheeses, once again arrived at my doorstep.
While I cannot scientifically prove that Curcumin C3 Reduct® was responsible for restoring the friendship, emperical evidence support this hypothesis.
Visit the Curcumin C3 Reduct Ingredient Page to LEARN MORE