Greenwich man develops chewing gum in his kitchen
GREENWICH — Ryan Stafford had a lot of time on his hands back in 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic disrupted his college studies and made him look around for new projects to occupy himself.
Stafford, 24, said he has always had an interest in cooking and food, and he studied economics and entrepreneurial business at the University of Vermont. He's also been a lifelong chewer of gum.
All three of those interests came together, and now Stafford is the founder and CEO of an all natural gum company, one he developed in his home kitchen in Greenwich.
Refresh, a plant-based gum in a distinctive square paper package, was released to stores in April.
“I had a ton of free times on my hands” when he was home from college studying remotely in 2020, he recalled during a recent interview in his hometown.
“One day, I was looking at the back of the pack of chewing gum, and thinking twice about the ingredients. I learned it was comprised of forty-plus synthetic ingredients, plastic and other things most consumers aren't aware of. Artificial flavors, artificial colors, sweeteners, preservatives. You understand that it's a fully synthetic product,” he said. “I've been chewing gum my entire life, and I had no idea.”
Stafford decided to delve deeper into his taste for chewing gum, researching the history of the product and its roots in the sapodilla tree of the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico and Central America. The Mayans have been chewing the sap of the sapodilla tree for centuries. The sap is called chicle, and Stafford got his hands on a block from Mexico via a specialty importer.
His goal was to make his own chewing gum with all-natural ingredients. Maybe a fun home cooking project, he imagined, could be more than just a hobby.
“I've always loved to cook, anything culinary I'm interested in. So this started off as just another recipe in my home kitchen. I had no idea how to make gum. So it was me researching. Trying to figure out: How do I start off with base that's not plastic, how do I put ingredients that are natural into it?” he said.
“I just wanted to explore and see what I could do with it, and that was the first part of starting this journey. A ton of research went into this, and my whole family was there in the kitchen, too, because of COVID,” he said. “I'd be cooking up gum in the kitchen, and they'd be making breakfast and lunch beside me. I finally came up with a good first recipe.”
Stafford considered working with food scientists to bring the product to market, but decided to do the work on his own, given his interest in becoming an entrepreneur. There are other all-natural chewing gums on the market in the U.S., but Stafford, a Greenwich native who went to Brunswick School, thought he could do better in terms of “appearance, flavor tonality and longevity of flavor.”
With his recipe perfected, he went to Hamburg, Germany, to find a manufacturer to turn out the gum to his specifications. A consultant then got him through the U.S. regulatory process and how the product had to be packaged.
Stafford placed special emphasis on the design of the project, as the look of the gum had to convey a clear message, he said.
His message appears to have been loud and clear. The Dieline magazine, a trade publication, said the product stood out, and its “minimalistic design is representative of the clean ingredient” after calling its packaging “both dynamic and modest, balancing robust typography with soft colors beautifully.”
Stafford also has earned his business chops, having carried out research and development, sales, marketing, logistics, regulatory review and inventory control to bring the product to market.
Now it's a matter of driving hundreds of miles a day in his mother's Mercedes-Benz to make sure stores have all the stock they need, and to seek out new venues for Refresh, he said.
Juice Press, a chain with more than 80 stores around the country, carries Refresh gum at its locations in New York City; you can also find it at Westside Markets and Brooklyn Fare in the city. Stafford said the gum is also available at locations in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and California, and he hopes to have it for sale in Connecticut in the near future.
The confectionery entrepreneur said he thinks the time is just right for his product.
“I think it's a new wave, a new movement, as people become more health conscious and really care about what they put in their bodies,” he said. Stafford sees himself in line with other food creators taking a different path, “innovating, making new products and aligning with health conscious consumers.”
It's been an arduous process, but a rewarding one, he said.
“Seven days a week, 12-hour plus days,” he said. “I've always wanted to be an entrepreneur my entire life. I've always been fascinated in how companies started from point A, and how they got to point Z, and every intricacy within it.”
Now, he says, he knows firsthand. “Even though my days regularly consist of ups and downs, I've learned more than I ever could've imagined and have met some great people along the way,” he said. “Each day is a new and exciting challenge that I continuously look forward to.”