Putting whole foods made from mushrooms on wheels in Detroit
We took a leap of faith and moved from the east coast to the motorcity to create new opportunities
A decade into our marriage and three children later, our biggest fights were about food until we realized it wasn't limited to our household
That’s before Wendy, who initially didn’t like mushrooms in a twist of events, inspired the first veggie burger made from mushrooms recipe, Cruz Burgers, and Dominique perfected it. They realized that there's a larger fight between processed foods and whole foods, even in the plant-based foods category. They give customers an opportunity to be flexible with healthier food choices without sacrificing taste, texture, and time. Their products cut and bite like meat, but they are true plant-based products made from mushrooms that taste like veggies.
A temporary family fast to remove meat from diet turned into a permenant plant-based lifestyle in a new city: Detroit
In 2016, the Da’Cruz family took a leap of faith and moved from the east coast to Detroit, Michigan, with no family connection or relatives in the area, to create a new life for themselves. As they settled into Detroit, Dominique built a successful career as a business adviser; while W.E., became a passionate global entrepreneur as the cofounder of a thriving digital tech company called Virtual Global Consultant Group (VGC).
During a normal yearly Daniel’s fast at the beginning of 2020, W.E. took a trip with her business partner to Kampala, Uganda and Lilongwe, Malawi to teach digital tech and eCommerce to African-based entrepreneurs as part of the work she does at her tech company VGC. While in Malawi, she stumbled upon a chickpea meatball dish that she loved. She befriended the chef during her stay and made an unreasonable request for him to turn the dish into a chickpea burger patty.
Excited about her new found dish, when she got home from the trip, she tried to recreate the dish and share it with the family. While making it one day, she ran out of chickpeas and decided to use mushrooms, an ingredient she didn't personally like to eat. Dominique loved it so much he proposed the idea of taking the recipe to market.
And so the journey began at that moment. Just months into the pandemic, with outbreaks in meat packing plants, scarcity of supply and an increase of compromised immune systems, they thought it was the perfect time to introduce a wholesome made from mushroom burger patty that could help address these health issues. Again, they found themselves at a crossroads taking a leap of faith. Amidst the global pandemic, it required that they make a lot of pivots concerning the future of their family ie. homeschooling their children, work life, etc. Dominique resigned from his 6-figure job and dived into building the idea alongside his wife to produce whole foods made from mushrooms.
Today, they have secured regional distribution and are selling in more than 30 locations including restaurants and grocery stores across Michigan.
Whole foods
made from mushrooms
There’s no need to engineer food in the lab when we’ve figured out
taste, texture and time. This is what makes us different.
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