Sometimes accidents make great inventions.
Other times, like in the case of a Wichita entrepreneur, market research helps to find a niche.
Six years ago, Tate Hancock invented Wall Nanny, which is a baby and pet gate accessory that can be purchased at both Walmart and Target stores. Last year, Hancock and a partner came up with Money Brew, a nutritious morning beverage that he believes can replace coffee.
After his first child was born, Hancock, a former wide receiver at the University of Montana at Missoula, thought there might be a need for a child gate that didn't mark the walls and was stronger on impact. After discovering others also wanted an alternative child and pet gate, he went into action, figured out how to manufacture the equipment and began marketing. Soon it took off. That's when he reached out to Walmart.
"I pitched them, kind of like a 'Shark Tank' deal, and they put us in 1,400 Walmart stores," Hancock said. "That was in 2019. We're still in Walmart."
In early 2022, Brady Sherman spoke to Hancock about starting a mushroom-based hot drink. Hancock researched the market and found an opportunity.
"Market research tells us what demand is for certain things," Hancock said. "I look at the market before I try and think of an idea. And if you find demand for something, you know you can create a product for it. I think a lot of people do it the opposite way."
Creating a mushroom-based hot drink product
After figuring out there was a market for their mushroom home brew, Hancock and Sherman started formulating a recipe in Hancock's kitchen.
"We were mixing stuff together and researching ingredients," Hancock said.
They knew they wanted mushrooms, but they also wanted other ingredients that might help with inflammation and joint repair. They thought of herbs, including turmeric and ashwaganda. In addition, they wanted the product to taste good, so they mixed in some peppermint, cinnamon and cardamon.
Eventually, they came up with the recipe.
Next they did some blind testing. Hancock was already at Groover Labs, a downtown Wichita coworking facility geared toward startups and product development, so he asked many of his cohorts to taste his new drink.
After some tweaking, they settled on what is now called Monkey Brew, which contains four varieties of mushrooms: lion's mane, cordyceps, turkey tail and maitake. Eventually, the partners want to introduce coffee into the beverage, but for now, they are keeping it mostly caffeine free.
According to Grand View Research, the mushroom coffee market was an almost $3-billion business in 2022, with profits expected to rise by more than 5% by 2030.
Why the name "Monkey Brew"?
Knowing they were creating a health drink, Hancock and Sherman threw around a lot of ideas for naming the beverage, eventually settling on Monkey Brew.
"We kind of played off the term 'monkey mind.' Monkey mind is basically our inability to quiet the mind," Hancock said. "It's an anxious mind. It's an overstimulated mind with racing thoughts."
Because so many people use coffee to stimulate themselves and then crash, Hancock thought a brew that takes away the jitters might be a fun name.
"So this basically has almost zero caffeine in it," he said. "We just thought if you could introduce a different morning ritual, it's a win-win for everybody. You're not going to have the jitters, you're not going to have the crash, but you're also going to have the focus concentration to help with memory."
In addition, Hancock said the brew, which is certified organic and produced in the U.S., could possibly help boost immunity, muscle strength and energy.
"Add in turmeric for joint inflammation or any inflammation in your body," he said, "and it could possibly offer many benefits."
Where is Monkey Brew available?
Along with selling the product online, Monkey Brew is offered by the cup, iced or hot, at GROW Giesen Plant Shop, off Market Street in downtown Wichita. The shop is serving up Monkey Brew lattes with dairy, almond, oat and coconut milks.
"When we make it cold, it gets really frothy and it has a nice foam to it in the shaker," said McKayla Williams, the bar lead at GROW.
Williams said they hope to carry the 6-ounce packages soon. Until then, the brew is available at drinkmonkeybrew.com.
In addition to drinking it straight up, consumers can add honey or sugar or use the powder to make deserts.
"We're going to develop and put up the whole recipe page of latte monkey brew on the website," Hancock said. "Brady (Sherman) made Monkey Brew peanut butter chocolate balls and cookies. There's so much you can do with it."
