Chief Operating Officer (COO) Advisor -- GENamaZing® / NOoodle®

Job Description

FOUNDING COO ADVISOR — NOoodle® & GENamaZing®\n

NOoodle Inc., doing business as NOoodle® and GENamaZing®

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NOoodle Inc. started in 2009 because I believed konjac could be much more than a noodle.

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Through NOoodle®, we became the first Made-in-USA shirataki noodle and grew into a multimillion-dollar food company. We sold through grocery, foodservice, direct-to-consumer, QVC/HSN, and Costco. We worked with UNFI, KeHE, and DPI. At Whole Foods Deerfield, NOoodle® became the #1 selling item in the store for six weeks.

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Today, NOoodle Inc. is being rebuilt around two connected brands.

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NOoodle® is the food and ingredient platform that started it all.

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GENamaZing® is the co-branding platform designed to take NOoodle® into categories throughout the grocery store, foodservice, and beyond.

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One company. Two brands. One much bigger vision:

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FARM → FLOUR → FOOD.

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THEIR BRAND × GENamaZing® × NOoodle®

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But to understand where we're going, you need to know how we got here.

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FROM NOODLES TO FOOD\n

When NOoodle® started in 2009, shirataki was still a tiny category in America.

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I never saw NOoodle® as just a noodle. I saw an ingredient.

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We expanded into refrigerated prepared foods, including four fresh meals developed with Good Foods, meal starters, and other products.

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Then the big opportunities started coming.

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In 2012, QVC gave us an approximately $494,000 Food of the Month order.

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We couldn't fill it. We didn't have the manufacturing capacity.

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Later, NOoodle® appeared on QVC's In the Kitchen with David and sold approximately 50 ,100 cases .

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People wanted the product. We needed the infrastructure to keep up.

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SHARK TANK\n

In 2013, I stood before the Sharks.

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Lori Greiner offered $500,000 for 40% of NOoodle®.

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Kevin O'Leary offered a $500,000 royalty deal.

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I accepted Kevin's deal.

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Our episode never aired. We suspected A guest shark pulled out of his second episode, and the six companies that were on his second episode were cut, just like that.

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We had prepared substantial inventory expecting it to air, so we had to figure out what to do with it.

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We took it to Costco Roadshows and sold approximately $1.2 million of inventory.

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Costco later gave us another opportunity with our new soup and meal starters, manufactured with Tetra Pak, which made us look great on a shelf and were recyclable. Sales dramatically exceeded expectations.

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Again, we couldn't make enough because the supply chain was never in our control.

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That taught me one of the biggest lessons of my career:

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Creating demand and supplying it are two completely different things.

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WHY FARM → FLOUR → FOOD?\n

In 2013, I also traveled to Hubei Province, China, one of the world's major konjac-growing and processing regions.

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I saw the farms. I saw the processing. I saw where the flour came from.

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I came home thinking: Why aren't we doing this in America?

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Grow it here.

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Mill it here.

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Make the food here.

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Today I call it:

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FARM → FLOUR → FOOD.

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Over the next decade, the food industry changed.

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When NOoodle® started, most Americans had never heard of konjac. Then consumers started looking for lower-carb foods, gluten-free foods, plant-based ingredients, fiber, and alternatives to traditional pasta.

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The market was catching up.

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THEN CAME 2023.\n

For approximately 14 years, keeping NOoodle® Made in USA mattered to me.

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Then the California manufacturing infrastructure we relied upon shifted production to China.

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I had a choice.

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Follow the manufacturing to China, make finished NOoodle® there, ship it back to America, and keep selling.

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Or stop.

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I stopped.

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I said YES to NO™.

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Konjac noodles and my wet dough are mostly water. It made no sense to me to build the future of an American food company around shipping a finished product that is mostly water thousands of miles across the Pacific Ocean.

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NOoodle® didn't stop because consumers stopped buying it.

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The brand didn't disappear.

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The formulations didn't disappear.

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The relationships and knowledge didn't disappear.

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Our American manufacturing did.

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So now we're rebuilding.

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But I don't want to rebuild the same company.

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I want to build what NOoodle® should have had from the beginning.

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GENamaZing® × NOoodle®\n

GENamaZing® takes the original NOoodle® idea and scales it up.

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The model is:

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THEIR BRAND × GENamaZing® × NOoodle®

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America already has incredible food companies that know how to make pizza, pasta, prepared meals, baked goods, snacks, frozen foods, and refrigerated foods.

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We don't need to become experts at manufacturing every one of them.

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We partner with companies that already are.

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They bring what they do best.

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We bring NOoodle®.

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NOoodle® wet dough becomes the ingredient platform.

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Think 50/50 pasta. Gluten-free pasta. Pizza. Prepared meals. Baked goods. Snacks. Restaurant foods. And foods we haven't even thought of yet.

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The long-term vision is potentially thousands of co-branded SKUs across grocery and foodservice.

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At the same time, we rebuild the supply chain underneath NOoodle®.

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FARM → FLOUR → FOOD\n

FARM: Develop commercial konjac agriculture in the United States.

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FLOUR: Develop American processing and milling so domestically grown konjac can become a functional food ingredient.

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FOOD: Work with American manufacturers that can turn it into NOoodle® products and GENamaZing® co-branded foods.

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Will we need to import konjac flour while we build the American supply chain?

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Most likely.

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You don't build an agricultural and manufacturing ecosystem overnight.

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Importing an ingredient while building domestic capacity is very different from permanently importing finished ready-to-eat food.

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Long term, this could require tens of millions of dollars across agriculture, milling, equipment, food science, and manufacturing.

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That's why I need the right operating person now.

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THE ROLE\n

This is a Founding COO Advisor role during the pre-funding stage.

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It is currently unpaid.

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I'm not looking for someone who wants an advisory title and a quarterly phone call.

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I need someone who wants to help build this.

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That means identifying Made-in-USA manufacturing partners, structuring co-branding relationships, mapping the supply chain, understanding manufacturing capacity and economics, building financial models, and preparing the company for financing.

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It means evaluating konjac flour suppliers while we develop American agriculture.

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It means helping commercialize NOoodle® wet dough, 50/50 pasta, gluten-free noodles and future GENamaZing® products.

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It means helping put systems in place for food safety, quality, logistics, and regulatory compliance.

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It means finding grants and other non-dilutive opportunities in American agriculture and manufacturing.

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And eventually, it means helping build the team.

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I want someone who can sit down with a farmer, food scientist, manufacturer, retailer, investor, or founder and understand how all the pieces connect.

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I know product.

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I know food.

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I know consumers.

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I know retail.

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I know how to create something people haven't seen before and get people excited about it.

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And I know what happens when opportunity arrives before the infrastructure is ready.

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I need someone whose experience complements mine and who knows how to build the operating side underneath it.

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WHOM I'M LOOKING FOR\n

Master's degree required.

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Your experience might be in CPG, food manufacturing, operations, supply chain, agriculture, business development, strategic partnerships, retail, commercialization, finance, or entrepreneurship.

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Maybe you've worked across several of them.

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I don't care about an arbitrary number of years.

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I care about what you've built.

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What you've fixed.

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What you've led.

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What you've learned when things didn't go according to plan.

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Whether you can make decisions without having all the answers.

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And whether you can see what this could become before everyone else does.

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No giant corporate team is waiting for you.

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There isn't a finished playbook.

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We're building it.

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COMPENSATION & WHERE THIS CAN GO\n

This is an unpaid advisory role during the pre-funding stage.

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That's where we are today. It isn't where I intend for the role to stay.

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The goal is to raise capital, rebuild NOoodle® and develop GENamaZing®.

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For the right person, this can transition into a paid Chief Operating Officer position as NOoodle Inc. is funded and grows.

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There is also an opportunity to earn up to 3% equity in NOoodle Inc. , based on contribution, responsibilities, milestones, continued involvement, vesting, financing, and final agreements.

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That equity isn't for putting your name on an advisory board.

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It's for helping build the company.

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If we do this right, the future COO isn't simply helping run a noodle company.

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You could ultimately help lead a company connecting:

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FARMS → FLOUR → FOOD → MANUFACTURING → CO-BRANDING → RETAIL → FOODSERVICE

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An American konjac supply chain.

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American processing and manufacturing.

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NOoodle® as an ingredient platform.

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GENamaZing® partnering with American food companies.

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Potentially thousands of products.

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NOoodle® already taught me what happens when demand arrives before the infrastructure is ready.

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I won't make that mistake again.

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This time, we build the infrastructure.

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Then we scale.

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NOoodle Inc.

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NOoodle® + GENamaZing®

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FARM → FLOUR → FOOD.

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THEIR BRAND × GENamaZing® × NOoodle®

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Made in America.

Let's build it. \n

"It's Your Life. Use Your NOoodle®"- Chef Terri Rogers