John Walls, left, Matthew Eaton, middle, and Ryan Kelley in the lobby of Sēkwl’s Arvada facility. (Max Scheinblum/BusinessDen)
At the beginning of the pandemic, Matthew Eaton stopped hearing out of his left ear.
Though he regained it days later, ringing was still a constant.
That is until he started incorporating turkey tail mushrooms into his diet. He credits the fungi for fixing the problem.
This month, he’s launching Sēkwl Beverage House, his toadstool-infused sparkling water brand, in the hopes of providing similar benefits.
“I’ve always talked about functional mushrooms and telling people there’s multiple different kinds. You should go try them. They’re all good for different things,’” Eaton said. “So this is my path to bring them out to the public.”
Arvada-based Sēkwl, pronounced “sequel,” tests, manufactures and ships out of the two-story industrial unit at 5545 W. 56th Ave., which public records show Eaton bought for $690,000 last November.
Through its website, the company sells five drink flavors that incorporate mushrooms like reishi, which Eaton said can reduce stress, and cordyceps, said to be an energy booster.
Sēkwl’s concoctions will also be available for pickup in Arvada, where it has a lobby with a tap of rotating flavors. (Courtesy Sēkwl)
Eaton and the founding team, which includes his husband Ryan Kelley and college friends John Walls and Shannon Eurich, use plant and fruit extracts made in-house to give the 10-calorie drink its flavor.
“It’s nice. You get this little subtle fruitiness in there with kind of this really nice, dry and astringent flavor from the hibiscus,” he said. “And it’s also a really pretty color because it’s just plants.”
Eaton has a background in corporate supply chain management, most recently with Autodesk. Though he and the three cofounders did not disclose how much they’ve put into the business, they said Sēkwl has not and doesn’t plan on taking any outside investment.
Customers can buy cacao, hibiscus, chamomile, lemon ginger and grapefruit cans in 12-packs for $48 or 24-packs for $96. Eaton said a blue spruce flavor will launch sometime in the next month or two.
Sēkwl also expects to sell in local spas, yoga studios or other health-centric establishments.
“Denver is our ideal market,” said Walls, who heads up marketing. “It is full of businesses that we want. They care about the environment, they care about their impact.”
Both said Sēkwl has more fungi per serving than the typical mushroom beverage, with 1,000 milligrams in its cans versus 500 in most others. The reason for the upped dosage is because some studies have shown that is the minimum amount you need to get the benefits.
Most others are also a blend of several mushrooms, they said, which takes away from the targeted benefits each kind can give.
“That’s really a point of differentiation for us, taking 1,000 milligrams…and then matching the flavor with the feeling of the expected benefit or the hopeful benefit,” Walls said.
But with limited knowledge on the efficacy of functional mushrooms, both he and Eaton said they are being careful not to overpromise.
“I am one of those people that if anybody tells you (a product) is going to deliver you something, run the other way,” Eaton said. “We’ve been very conservative on that with what we put out there, and the reason is there’s not a ton of research.”
“There are books and there are journal entries that literally go back millennia talking about plants, and there’s a lot of indigenous cultures who use a lot of different plants and herbs for the body,” he continued. “But there’s not a lot of science and true studies behind it. So we’ve definitely taken the approach of ‘This is what this (mushroom) has always been used for, it’s a great flavor and you’re gonna enjoy it.”
Matthew Eaton showcasing Sēkwl’s cordyceps farm, which requires a pink LED light for optimal growth. (Max Scheinblum/BusinessDen)
All of the mushrooms used in the first batch of 33,000 cans were grown in the Pacific Northwest, they said, though they do have some cordyceps growing in-house for future orders.
None of the founding team has a background in beverage production or mushroom farming, but Eaton’s mother Paula Goin, who made a career in food safety and manufacturing, has been advising their operation, which can make about 20,000 cans per month.
Sēkwl plans on beefing up capacity in the coming months and years, whether through building more in-house capacity, buying another unit in its building or outsourcing some production.
“We’ve had conversations with co-packers, which is the common way to grow, and we’ve struggled a bit to find some locally,” Eaton said. “But what I have found is there are some microbreweries who can and who have capacity. I would love to really find somebody that’s in Denver so we’re not having to ship our flavors out-of-state to a bigger co-packer to then ship our cans back so that then we can ship them out.”
John Walls, left, Matthew Eaton, middle, and Ryan Kelley in the lobby of Sēkwl’s Arvada facility. (Max Scheinblum/BusinessDen)
At the beginning of the pandemic, Matthew Eaton stopped hearing out of his left ear.
Though he regained it days later, ringing was still a constant.
That is until he started incorporating turkey tail mushrooms into his diet. He credits the fungi for fixing the problem.
This month, he’s launching Sēkwl Beverage House, his toadstool-infused sparkling water brand, in the hopes of providing similar benefits.
“I’ve always talked about functional mushrooms and telling people there’s multiple different kinds. You should go try them. They’re all good for different things,’” Eaton said. “So this is my path to bring them out to the public.”
Arvada-based Sēkwl, pronounced “sequel,” tests, manufactures and ships out of the two-story industrial unit at 5545 W. 56th Ave., which public records show Eaton bought for $690,000 last November.
Through its website, the company sells five drink flavors that incorporate mushrooms like reishi, which Eaton said can reduce stress, and cordyceps, said to be an energy booster.
Sēkwl’s concoctions will also be available for pickup in Arvada, where it has a lobby with a tap of rotating flavors. (Courtesy Sēkwl)
Eaton and the founding team, which includes his husband Ryan Kelley and college friends John Walls and Shannon Eurich, use plant and fruit extracts made in-house to give the 10-calorie drink its flavor.
“It’s nice. You get this little subtle fruitiness in there with kind of this really nice, dry and astringent flavor from the hibiscus,” he said. “And it’s also a really pretty color because it’s just plants.”
Eaton has a background in corporate supply chain management, most recently with Autodesk. Though he and the three cofounders did not disclose how much they’ve put into the business, they said Sēkwl has not and doesn’t plan on taking any outside investment.
Customers can buy cacao, hibiscus, chamomile, lemon ginger and grapefruit cans in 12-packs for $48 or 24-packs for $96. Eaton said a blue spruce flavor will launch sometime in the next month or two.
Sēkwl also expects to sell in local spas, yoga studios or other health-centric establishments.
“Denver is our ideal market,” said Walls, who heads up marketing. “It is full of businesses that we want. They care about the environment, they care about their impact.”
Both said Sēkwl has more fungi per serving than the typical mushroom beverage, with 1,000 milligrams in its cans versus 500 in most others. The reason for the upped dosage is because some studies have shown that is the minimum amount you need to get the benefits.
Most others are also a blend of several mushrooms, they said, which takes away from the targeted benefits each kind can give.
“That’s really a point of differentiation for us, taking 1,000 milligrams…and then matching the flavor with the feeling of the expected benefit or the hopeful benefit,” Walls said.
But with limited knowledge on the efficacy of functional mushrooms, both he and Eaton said they are being careful not to overpromise.
“I am one of those people that if anybody tells you (a product) is going to deliver you something, run the other way,” Eaton said. “We’ve been very conservative on that with what we put out there, and the reason is there’s not a ton of research.”
“There are books and there are journal entries that literally go back millennia talking about plants, and there’s a lot of indigenous cultures who use a lot of different plants and herbs for the body,” he continued. “But there’s not a lot of science and true studies behind it. So we’ve definitely taken the approach of ‘This is what this (mushroom) has always been used for, it’s a great flavor and you’re gonna enjoy it.”
Matthew Eaton showcasing Sēkwl’s cordyceps farm, which requires a pink LED light for optimal growth. (Max Scheinblum/BusinessDen)
All of the mushrooms used in the first batch of 33,000 cans were grown in the Pacific Northwest, they said, though they do have some cordyceps growing in-house for future orders.
None of the founding team has a background in beverage production or mushroom farming, but Eaton’s mother Paula Goin, who made a career in food safety and manufacturing, has been advising their operation, which can make about 20,000 cans per month.
Sēkwl plans on beefing up capacity in the coming months and years, whether through building more in-house capacity, buying another unit in its building or outsourcing some production.
“We’ve had conversations with co-packers, which is the common way to grow, and we’ve struggled a bit to find some locally,” Eaton said. “But what I have found is there are some microbreweries who can and who have capacity. I would love to really find somebody that’s in Denver so we’re not having to ship our flavors out-of-state to a bigger co-packer to then ship our cans back so that then we can ship them out.”
