More than 14 years ago, Zane Adams, Jeannine Buscher, and Sarah Schomber co-founded Buchi, a company that produces kombucha, kefir soda, and living energy drinks.

Kombucha is a living beverage made by fermenting sweetened black tea. Tea is the medium that helps the yeast and bacterial community unite themselves into one symbiotic beverage. The starter tea is called the mother, and the yeast eat the sugar creating alcohol, then the bacteria eats the alcohol. The byproduct is kombucha.

“A lot of people think that there is a mushroom involved in kombucha, but that is not the case, Adams said. “The process is similar to sourdough or friendship bread that requires a ‘mother’ starter. The result is similar to making grape juice into wine — it's a byproduct of fermentation.

The vision and mission of Buchi is to nurture life, according to Adams. He said the company is creating nutrient-dense beverages by harnessing fermentation, allowing them to be elevated for people to consume and enjoy while bringing prebiotics and soluble fiber into their bodies.

Buscher and Schomber met through a homeschool co-op, and Adams came in six months later when the team decided to go commercial. Adams said that after brewing kombucha at home for their families and selling the excess at local farmer’s markets, the team decided that their first name idea — Asheville Kombucha Mamas — wasn’t broad enough. The team expanded how they thought about what they were doing, and moved into a broad east coast perspective based on demand and continuing tradition.

Adams said North Carolina is an interesting place to create carbonated beverages. “With the history of Cheerwine and Pepsi, there is a lot of awareness of fizzy stuff that tastes sweet in your mouth in this state,” he said. “More people are gravitating toward kombucha from other areas of the market, and some are even learning how to make kombucha at home.”

WNC specifically is unique in that many area residents gravitate toward fermentation as well, according to Adams. He said there is a history in these mountains of fermenting pickles, vinegars, ciders, and even moonshine, so the jump from these to kombucha is not a big one.

“It’s a friendly climate for kombucha to be cultivated,” Adams said. “The path to manufacturing in Western North Carolina is better thanks to Blue Ridge Food Ventures that helps with various ventures in packing and co-packing. The array of breweries contributes to equipment being readily available. The water is great, the climate is great, and there are other great companies like Fermenti that produce various fermented products which brings an increased overall awareness of fermentation benefits.” 

Asheville-Buncombe Technical College and Appalachian State offer classes in fermentation, and Adams said these programs along with local brewing associations make the growth process easier with support, talent, and awareness, even in the non-alcoholic space.

The Buchi team also created Fed Up Foods, the holding company for Buchi and other brands with an average of 115 employees seasonally. Adams said this structure helps to make fermented foods accessible to all by growing and scaling up with more retail partners, more retail locations to sell their products at an affordable cost, and helps create momentum for their beverages. 

The momentum and opportunities boosted by Fed Up Foods’ growth strategy has led to the company serving customers in all 50 states, Canada, Central and South America, and even creating a sister facility in South Korea which serves the Asia-Pacific region.

“The South Korea facility is a similar brand with slightly different ingredients,” Adams said, “All of the beverages essentially came from the same original mother from the same genealogy pool.”

Through Fed Up Foods, Buchi moves approximately 30 million bottles or cans per year, though Adams said that in 2023 the number will likely be closer to 40 million or more, contributing to the growing $1.2 billion U.S. kombucha market.

Adams also serves on the Board of Directors for Mountain BizWorks, and said he likes to help teach and be a point of resource for the community. He said that Mountain BizWorks provides a way for developing a strategy for scaling a beverage company that makes sense as well as builds the local economy. 

“Lending and the money that the organization brings in can be deployed in a sophisticated way to build partnerships,” Adams said. “They are helping companies like ours as well as smaller companies growing in the craft beverage industry into a really good ecosystem that helps process ideas, engage with the local economy, and connect with other makers in the community creating camaraderie amongst them. This is a really valuable space that they are holding.”