Abraham Kamarck, 39, True Made Foods' co-founder and
CEO, is also an ex-military man, a Naval aviator for eight years.
He earned an MBA from the London Business School and later
worked as an entrepreneur in emerging markets in the Middle East,
Bulgaria, China, and Africa, helping to develop Coexist, direct trade
coffee from post-conf lict countries.
Kamarck 's business acumen and interest in nutrition dovetailed
with Kevin Powell's ideas when they met in 2013 in Washington
D.C. at Patriot Boot Camp, sponsored by TechStars, a technology
incubator that invests in and mentors new companies. The weekend
was devoted to helping build startups founded by active duty mili-
tary members and veterans. The men happened to sit next to each
other and hit it off.
"When Kevin told me about his idea for a healthy ketchup, I
fell in love with it right away," Kamarck says.
Refining the Recipes
When Powell met Kamarck, he and Abbey still hadn't gotten the
ketchup recipe quite right. They cooked tomatoes with spinach, car-
rots, butternut squash, and some brown sugar—for too long. "We
ended up thinking, 'This is pretty good barbecue sauce and terrible
ketchup,'" Powell says.
Kamarck still recognized its potential. "I'm extremely healthy
and follow a very focused diet," he says. "My wife and I are trying to
raise our kids (they have four, ages 9, 8, 5 and 2) the same way, but
we'd lost the battle over ketchup. It's this red sugar sauce that's ter-
|
2013
Kamarck and Powell meet at Patriot
Boot Camp in Washington, D.C., an event
helping startups founded by active duty
military members and veterans.
|
2014
Teamed with Food-X, a food
innovation accelerator; developed
recipe; hired co-packer.
|
2015
True Made Foods launches
with three SKUs—ketchup, hot
sauce, and barbecue sauce.
Winter Fancy Food Show Booth 1186
HIGHLIGHTS
WINTER 2017 63
