A South Carolina company run by two college students that landed a distribution agreement with a major international fish oil company has started shipping its products to retailers.
LYSI U.S. officially sent its first batch of cod liver oil to independent health food retailers in North and South Carolina this week, said Sean Edwards, one of the company’s co-founders. Later this month, the company plans to launch its own website as well.
Last September, Edwards and Ross Kunmann, students at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, South Carolina, signed an agreement with LYSI to serve as the company’s exclusive U.S. distributor.
LYSI is an Icelandic company that produces more than 70 fish-based and other marine-based products for humans. The company, which was founded 80 years ago, focuses on such products as cod liver oil. The oil provides multiple health benefits. It provides vitamins A, D, and E, and its omega-3 fatty acids help with brain development and have been shown to help with heart and blood pressure issues.
While the company has had success selling its products around the world, the concept of selling cod liver oil in the U.S. presents a challenge. Many Americans have a negative reaction to the product because of past products that had a strong, strange taste.
“If you're above the age of 40, odds are, you may have had a grandmother that tried to force feed it to you as a kid, and mix it with orange juice and whatnot,” Edwards said.
One thing that makes LYSI’s cod liver oil different is the taste, he said.
The company offers the oil in both lemon and lemon-mint flavors. Edwards and Kunmann conducted tests last year at such events as the South Carolina Women’s Expo, where Edwards said the products were well-received.
Edwards said the plan for now it to grow organically, focusing on independent health food retailers through the Southeast. They’re also looking at the possibility of expanding into Michigan and Wisconsin, with the goal of getting into a big box retailer like Whole Foods. While the company plans to sell online, Edwards said he encourages people to buy their product in stores, which he called “the backbone” of the supplement industry.
“It says a lot for your brand,” Edwards said. “Because they know what they're talking about and so the consumers know that it's not just some random product that we're charging more than USD 10.00 (EUR 8.14) for.”
Besides cod liver oil, LYSI U.S. is also getting ready to roll out a separate omega-3 supplement that provides a higher dose of those fatty acids. Eventually, they want to tap into vegan markets, but for now all their products will be marine-based.
