Gut Check #1: Why We're Starting a Yogurt Company

Kiki and I both dread emails so we promise to keep this ~3 mins, and (hopefully) informative and engaging. Expect a deep dive on one story, followed by a rapid-fire list of what’s top of mind for us. Here it goes: 

Why We’re Starting a Yogurt Company

As a society, we’ve normalized bloating, indigestion, and irregular bowel movements. Yet these are fundamental issues with our health, taking root in our gut, and can lead to unexpected side effects like brain fog, hormone imbalance, and chronic inflammation. Why do we accept not feeling 100% everyday? 

I used to be one of those people. A few years ago, no matter what I ate, I’d feel bloated afterward. It was uncomfortable but I didn’t think it was a huge deal so I ignored it. When I finally started digging into my health, I learned something shocking: daily bloating was a sign of chronic inflammation, a condition linked to diseases like diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and cancer.

This sent me down a rabbit hole, and I became obsessed with gut health. I learned that trillions of tiny bacteria in our gut control everything—from our energy and mood to our immune system. Unfortunately, the modern lifestyle (think processed foods, antibiotics, and stress) destroys these bacteria, leaving two-thirds of Americans with gut issues. It’s unsurprising the Standard American Diet is shortened to SAD. 

I began researching ways to heal my gut and learned that you can create a strong microbiome by eating probiotics, ideally through fermented foods like kimchi, sauerkraut, kombucha, and yogurt. Great! I love yogurt. 

Yogurt can be an incredibly beneficial food - it’s high protein, low carb, and depending on which carton you grab, often low sugar and contains essential vitamins and minerals. However, when I dug into the science of yogurt, I learned that most conventional yogurt doesn’t actually have probiotic benefits. There’s a few reasons for that:

1. Many yogurts are pasteurized AFTER fermentation which extends shelf life but kills off all the good bacteria.

2. The bacteria used for making yogurt is really good for making yogurt but not necessarily really good for your gut (especially in comparison to other probiotic strains).

3. Even yogurts that do claim to have added probiotics, don’t have enough to make a significant impact on your gut. Our gut has 100 trillion bacteria in it, probiotic yogurts that claim to have millions of bacteria still won’t make a dent in your overall microbiome. 

So I started making my own yogurt, specifically cultured with probiotics that are beneficial for gut health and enough of them. I could get my daily dose of probiotics simply by eating a food I love instead of spending hundreds of dollars on pills. 

I was shocked by how quickly I saw the benefits. My bloating went away, I felt mentally clear, and my skin looked great.

Fast forward to 2024: after years of working in tech (me) and private equity (Kiki), we started wondering if we were creating the impact we wanted to make in the world (more on this in the next gut check). One early Saturday morning, I had a lightbulb moment. What if the yogurt I was making to heal my gut could be available to everyone?  

I pitched the idea to Kiki the next day, and we were all in. After 50+ user interviews, 100+ recipe experiments, and countless meetings with CPG founders and industry experts, Beny Yogurt was born: a high-protein, low-carb yogurt packed with the probiotic benefits of a supplement—no pills required. And the best part? We're foodies. It tastes amazing.

We’ve learned a lot from our current jobs and are really excited to apply that knowledge to a new industry. Stay tuned for edition #2 on why we're quitting our jobs to work on Beny full time. 

Top of Mind

🧢 First ever Beny merch: “lactose tolerant” hoodies and “I’m quitting my job in private equity to start a yogurt company with my best friend” hats. Order here and it will ship before x-mas!

🥣 Yogurt drop sales: we’ve gotten a ton of requests to buy Beny, so decided to do a few more drops before the new year. First one happening this week - signup here. 

📸 Socials: yes the “I’m quitting my job in private equity to start a yogurt company” hook is an ear-worm, but it’s also extremely intentional for our social strategy and reaching our target audience. Kiki is new to socials and constantly experimenting to grow engagement, so we would love to hear what you want to see more of! DM Kiki directly (@couchwoman) or Beny (@eatbeny) with thoughts anytime. 

✅ Lesson: setting a launch date was the best decision we made for getting Beny off the ground. If you’re stuck behind the start line we recommend choosing a date then working backwards. You’d be surprised how much you can get done if you have a deadline :) 

👀 In-the wild: we were lucky to partner with a film director on a short showing the behind the scenes working on Beny - watch it here. We were also featured in Brandscape’s newsletter on why you should build your business publicly.  

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😋Yogurt inspo: yogurt with homemade pumpkin granola, blueberries and honey or try a savory yogurt scallion dip as an app for your next dinner party.

💙Design: huge shout out to Charlotte Cooper for our brand design and Iman Shanawani for our incredible IG illustrations. These two have been instrumental to bringing Beny’s visual identity to life, reach out to us if you want an intro :)

🥹You: it’s been less than one month since our family and friends launch and we’ve been totally overwhelmed by all the love and support from our community. Can’t wait to share Beny with the rest of the world. 

Much love, 

Elan and Kiki (aka the yogurt girls) 

P.S. What would you like to hear? Reply with your thoughts so we can make Gut Check useful to you all!