When Kayvon Jahanbakhsh had a flare up and was subsequently diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease ulcerative colitis in 2016, it made an indelible impact on his life. In the wake of his diagnosis, Jahanbakhsh teamed up with his high school friend Mike Lombardo to develop an iced tea brand that addresses gut health. The result is Blackwood, New Jersey-based Halfday Tonics.
Launched in late 2020, the young brand is already in 1,600 stores and expects to be on the shelves of around 2,000 come January. That includes big retailers like Giant, Target and Publix.
It has already generated over $1 million in sales and expects to have produced roughly 1 million cans by the end of this year.
Unlike other health-focused brands, theirs is intended to “make digestive health more accessible and fun,” said Jahanbakhsh, 25.
The founders are currently undertaking a $3 million seed round to further propel growth, which is up 45% quarter over quarter. The round – which they expect to close in November – will add to the $1.7 million they previously raised.
While the genesis for Halfday was born of Jahanbakhsh’s diagnosis, it underwent some iterations before taking its current form. In the wake of that first flare up, Jahanbakhsh began researching gut health and ways he could alter his diet. That led him to specific teas, which he began cold brewing at home. He discovered certain teas like green rooibos, calendula or marshmallow root could help ease the symptoms often associated with ulcerative colitis.
Ulcerative colitis is a chronic disease in which “abnormal reactions of the immune system cause inflammation and ulcers on the inner lining” of the large intestine, according to the National Institutes of Health. It can develop at any age but most commonly develops in those aged 15 to 30. It affects approximately 600,000 to 900,000 Americans, according to NIH.
While Jahanbakhsh knew about the broad world of tea thanks to his Iranian heritage, most of his tea references came from the sweetened sips sold in convenience stores and on grocery store shelves.
Growing up in the 1990s, brands like Arizona, Snapple, Brisk and Lipton were favorites of Lombardo’s and he was intrigued by Jahanbakhsh’s concoction.
At the time, Lombardo was undertaking his own health journey, trying to shed some of the weight he’d gained at Rowan University. Fitness was something of a shared interest given the pair met while swimming on the Highland Regional High School team.
Heading into his senior year of college, Lombardo was eager to add something to his resume before graduating and together the pair decided to try their hands at creating a business based on Jahanbakhsh’s tea.
Their initial concept was dubbed Topos. It found middling success, but when the Covid-19 pandemic struck, it quickly became clear that their idea wasn’t scalable.
Around that same time, Jahanbakhsh – also a Rowan grad – had another flare up that landed him in the hospital. He spent months recovering. Paired with the timing of Covid, they used that period to reconceptualize. During that time, the pair were accepted into New York-based accelerator BeyondSKU, where they were able to develop a new idea.
When he was pondering what that would be, Lombardo began thinking about the gap between popular iced tea brands and their initial “super niche” concept, Topos. Nostalgic about his childhood in the 90s, Lombardo was also inspired by summer days by the pool sipping his favorite iced teas.
“How do we recreate those Arizona, Snapple, Brisk moments from when we were kids?” he said.
More than a low-sugar, low-calorie approach, they are distinguishing their brand by making it not just health-friendly, but in the way it’s being marketed and packaged. The goal of Halfday is to be a “fun” brand that evokes 90s nostalgia. As such, their target demographic is young adults and their parents.
“How do we speak to that millennial mom? They grew up in the 90s so that kind of 90s retro vibe is really fun and nostalgic to them. But also there's this element of playfulness…,” said Lombardo, 26.
With a focus on gut health, they created Halfday Tonics and its signature iced teas – currently lemon, green and peach tea flavors.
To aid in gut health, their teas contain prebiotics and are sweetened naturally and with sugar substitute stevia.
After going through BeyondSKU and reconceptualizing in 2020, the pair pitched retailers and landed their first big wholesale agreement with grocery store Giant in early 2021.
At the time, they didn’t even have a product in hand but were able to work with a co-packer in New Hampshire to deliver that order.
They’ve come a long way since, having largely outgrown that co-packer and moved most production to one in Philadelphia.
Today the brand is carried in stores in about 15 states, largely concentrated on the eastern seaboard. Its retailers include Target, Wegmans, Giant, Kimberton Whole Foods, Stop & Shop and Weaver’s Way Co-Op.
At 90%, the vast majority of sales are wholesale and its biggest retailers are Target and Publix. The remaining 10% of business comes from direct-to-consumer e-commerce sales.
As they look ahead, the pair are planning to add seasonal flavors with a goal of having one for each season. They also hope to grow to five core flavors, an expansion on their current three, something they hope to launch this fall or winter with it hitting retailers come spring.
In addition, they want to reach more consumers by increasing where their product can be found. That includes big retailers but also convenience stores.
They’ve been judicious with the stores they’re targeting, wanting to ensure Halfday can be found at a number of accessible retailers since a segment of their demographic is younger and has less disposable income.
Do you foresee partnering with ‘90s icons?
ML: I like to lean into the celebrity investor side of things. ... I always think of it as, how do we get a genuine, authentic person behind this? Are they a fan of the brand? Are they a fan of the product? Does it actually speak to them as a core person? And if that's the case, we would love to entertain some investment opportunities with them, because then they're a part of it, they have skin in the game, and it makes sense. Now they're endorsing it authentically. That's the biggest thing for us. It's having a genuine message with all that. I can't say that we'll necessarily get anywhere with that in the next month or two, but over the next year, couple years, it's probably something on our radar.
What’s the meaning of the name?
KJ: We wanted something that immediately was a fun name that sparked a positive connotation in people's minds. It all came from when we were little kids and we had a half day from school – it was always the best time. It was leading up to summer, we got to go out, it was beautiful weather and we would go home and drink iced tea…. We wanted that to be a really positive thing when you pick up a Halfday you feel good about it.
