Plant-Based
Founder Spotlight: W.E. Da’Cruz (Cruz Burgers)
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Meet W.E. Da'Cruz
Company:
The Mushroom Angel LLC DBA Cruz Burgers is a consumer packaged goods company specializing in producing alternative meats made from mushrooms. We use simple and fresh ingredients that everyone can pronounce.
Startup Stage:
Bootstrapped
Location:
Detroit, Michigan, USA
When did you launch the business?
May 2020
What led you to where you are today?
It was a pandemic pivot. A few months before the pandemic, our family started a Daniel's fast. It's a spiritual fast where we remove meat from our diet and focus on prayer and our faith. During the fast, we created a recipe that we decided to share with the world.
What do you wish you knew before embarking on your entrepreneurial journey?
We wish we knew more about how raising capital worked and had developed a larger network of people who do. We also wished we were more versed on the power of mushrooms. We would have launched much sooner!
What is the most difficult decision you've had to make regarding your business so far?
Dominique leaving his full time job during the pandemic. It was a big sacrifice that needed to be made in order to manage homeschooling our children during the pandemic and diving head on into the new food business.
What can you help the VEGPRENEUR community with?
Education on mushrooms and how to leverage technology to launch a new CPG company.
How can the VEGPRENEUR community help you?
Network of food specialists navigating building a food company. Community.
Fun fact about you:
Dom and I met at an entrepreneurial conference. I was 19 and he was 24. After 13 years together, 9 of which married, we're finally in business together! Full circle experience that we're enjoying!
Anything else you would like to share?
This is a family business! We want to thank our little one's Autumn Eve (7), Geody (4) and Jubilee (7 months) for helping us build this in the middle of a pandemic.
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