Mighty Mudita is a new producer at the Vermont Food Venture Center (VFVC) who has utilized most of the resources and services offered by CAE to food producers. Owner Andrew Wild began working in VFVC kitchen this summer after consulting with Daniel Keeney and Colleen Crist of the CAE Business Resources team. He now operates Mighty Mudita full time and has one employee, Jennifer Cornelius. They have been working in the kitchens to create plant-based deli products with basic ingredients, some of which are organic or local. The four products they offer are Original Seitan, Sun-Dried Tomato and Basil Seitan, and two chickpea and pea protein-based products: Smoky Beet and Spicy Chipotle Carrot mini-loaves. We talked to Andrew and Jennifer in the kitchen this month while they were making the Original Seitan and Sun-Dried Tomato and Basil Seitan loaves.

Mighty Mudita began about two years ago in Andrew Wild’s home kitchen when he and his wife, Rachelle Gould, were experimenting with ways to create seitan at home. They wanted to reduce the plastic waste from the seitan slices they were purchasing from the store, which were small (5 oz.) packages and shipped from national producers. With a background in science education, Andrew was inspired by his middle and high school students’ passion for reducing their carbon footprints and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Andrew’s friends also encouraged his homemade seitan, wishing for local and tastier options. These motivators became the driving force behind Andrew’s venture into the food industry.

Mighty Mudita original seitan produces 75% less greenhouse gas emissions than turkey meat (conventional US numbers, not local). MM Seitan produces 50% less greenhouse gas emissions than the Beyond Burger by weight. (Beyond Burger is a popular meat alternative product that can be found in grocery stores.)

*Findings from a life cycle assessment by a University of Vermont Advanced Ecological Design class. Learn more at the Mighty Mudita website: https://www.mightydelislices.com/
 

Andrew began working with Colleen Crist and Daniel Keeney of CAE’s Business Resources team in May of 2023. In early conversations, Andrew asked about the common pitfalls of producers who don’t make it, and one of the biggest challenges noted by the CAE team was entrepreneurs who don't go all in. This clearly resonated with Andrew, who has built up a unique brand around Mighty Mudita and can often be found wearing his branded superhero costume to promote the joy and mission behind the product. (Notably, mudita is a sanskrit word meaning vicarious joy.) Andrew admitted that he becomes very invested, almost obsessively, in his endeavors, though he was surprised by how much he enjoys the creativity involved with the marketing aspects of his business. He worked with the local designer, Tara Lynn Clayton, on branding and design, and even offers branded merchandise on his website.
 

Consultations with Colleen and Daniel were invaluable for the progression of Mighty Mudita: Andrew scaled up production from his home kitchen and worked with Colleen to create a food safety plan for working at the small commercial kitchen located at the Burlington Friends (Quaker) Meeting. When he grew out of that kitchen, Colleen helped him scale up again to produce out of CAE's VFVC kitchens. Colleen and Daniel also worked with Andrew on pricing and scaling up ingredient purchases as well as selling his product at different locations and venues. 
 

In June, Andrew started producing out of the Vermont Food Venture Center kitchen. At the same time, he began shipping his products with Farm Connex, CAE’s critical and reliable freight service for small farms and food producers, and sourcing local beets and carrots from Just Cut, CAE’s in-house, prepared produce kitchen team. Working with Just Cut was particularly appealing because of the labor savings in using pre-peeled beets and carrots. Andrew’s innovative seitan recipe uses tofu as well as wheat gluten as the main ingredients. He sources his tofu from Vermont Soy, which is located right next to the Vermont Food Venture Center. (Vermont Soy owner, Andrew Meyer, is a founding member and past board member of CAE, who rallied behind CAE’s original and ongoing vision of creating a sustainable local food economy expanding from Hardwick.) Andrew is now able to walk the tofu from Vermont Soy to the VFVC on production days. By moving his operation to the VFVC, he has further reduced the food mileage of his product by putting him in immediate proximity to Farm Connex, Just Cut, and Vermont Soy. 
 

Better equipment and facilities at VFVC have provided vast production efficiencies, cost savings, and the ability to scale up the batches of product significantly. The supportive community of resources available through CAE have also been hugely advantageous for expanding Andrew’s business, which is now a full time operation with one employee, Jennifer Cornelius.
 

Working out of VFVC has given them the opportunity to meet other food producers and come up with new and better ideas. Their use of the VFVC auger filler to fill sous vide bags for the chickpea-based products (Smoky Beet and Spicy Chipotle Carrot) came at the suggestion of Just Cut’s Team Leader, Josh Peets. Andrew recalled, “Josh suggested the auger filler, and that was a big breakthrough. It’s just a major time saver, so that’s another way that being around Just Cut has been super helpful.”

Jennifer, who lives in the Northeast Kingdom and has a background in food catering, decided to join Mighty Mudita because of Andrew’s energy and passion for sustainability, and the element of fun he brings to the business.

“Colleen (CAE Business Advisor) deserves a special shout out, certainly for the support and troubleshooting in the kitchen and helping us use the equipment, but also, she really took a lead in drafting our food safety plan, which was immensely helpful. I learned a lot in the process. I think that's something that's been a through line: it's a huge lift off of my shoulders. She also supports learning, which I really appreciate.”
-Andrew Wild, owner of Mighty Mudita
 

A current goal for Mighty Mudita is working towards financial stability to support his and Jennifer’s hourly work and pay the loans he took out to start the business (including a new producer loan from CAE). Another goal is to find a balance between the sales and weekly production rate.
 

Jennifer and Andrew are both excited about engaging with and fostering the food community in Hardwick and the greater NEK region. CAE is proud to welcome a new VFVC producer who is enthusiastically and actively engaged.
 

Learn more about Mighty Mudita at their website: https://www.mightydelislices.com/