Recap| Ep 53 w Ryan Lee | Mike Up In Your Business Podcast #MUIYB
In this episode of the Mike Up In Your Business Podcast, hosts Mike and Jeremy, joined by Kelsey and Amy, recap their recent interview with Ryan Lee, founder of Rewind. They discuss how Rewind transitioned from producing anti‑inflammatory snack bars to a line of functional drinks after supply issues halted bar production, emphasizing the importance of having a backup plan and staying true to the core mission of health‑focused products. The conversation highlights Ryan’s customer‑centric approach—loving customers over the product—and the creation of a community identity called “rewinders.” The hosts sample potential Rewind drink flavors (cherry, pineapple, peach) and debate which to try. Interwoven throughout are light‑hearted banter about weekly family food traditions (Taco Tuesday, Spaghetti Wednesday, Pizza Friday), vegetable preparation tips, and a nostalgic 80s pop‑culture trivia game. The episode ends with a call‑to‑action directing listeners to rewindco.com, encouraging reviews, and providing contact information.
Chapters
Foreign. There was a video I was going through this week. It was one of the podcasts, and it was funny. You said something with. With the. You've got this in the background. You're like, yeah. You don't want a friend to just be like, you know, you've got this. Like that. Yeah, yeah. You're like, you know, that's. That doesn't make any sense. Like, you need more than that. And, like, it's standing right in the background. I'm like, I should blurb that out.
Oh, you totally should do that.
Like.
Like a faux pot. Like Mike's. Mike's Bloopers or faux pas. Talk about football. I did with Ryan Lee. So, yeah, this is the funniest.
I laughed out loud.
What? Tomato Tuesday?
No, the. Say, the Segways. Where are you coming up with these?
He was the best. He's like, you know, he goes, Tuesdays. What do you think? And I'm like, tomatoes. Tomatoes. I know.
And I'm sitting there like, what?
I've never done a Taco Tuesday. I mean, I've eaten tacos on Tuesday at our house. We've never done taco Tuesday.
You must have had tacos on Tuesday once, even accidentally.
Well, you got to do real tacos, not American tacos.
Oh, the Mexican ones are the best by a mile.
Like Al Pastor tacos.
Yes, yes. Al Pastor is delicious.
So I went out with Ryan Lee for dinner recently, and we're out. And I said, yeah, I'm sorry that you closed Rewind. I said, I want to explore that on the podcast. He's like, close it. He's like, we're still in business like you are. Yeah, because they were making those bars. We were big consumers of those. And then the bar stopped one day, and you couldn't get more bars. I was like, oh, I guess he closed his bar business. Well, he. He transitioned. So then the rest of the conversation was how he made this transition. I'm like, oh, you got to come on the podcast now for sure, so we can talk about that. So listen in. Oh, and by the way, check out rewindco.com. so it's R E W-I-N-D C O.com while you're listening this episode to, check out what Ryan's got going on. All right, listen on in. I made a big faux pot with that. Huh? The Tomato Tuesday.
I. I was hilarious.
Pressure.
I'm talking about these tomatoes you eat on.
You're no good under pressure. You're like the best person under pressure.
I'm horrible.
Under pressure.
No, you're excellent under pressure all the time.
He goes, what are the whole thing on Tuesdays, I'm like, that's tomatoes. I got a rhyme. Spaghetti Tuesday. Oh, spaghetti Tuesday.
So I think it's spaghetti Wednesday. Just saying what's.
What.
What's. Do you have any other days of the week that there's something you're having?
Wednesday, I think, was, like, advertised as Prince spaghetti day or something like that.
Really?
Yeah.
And Friday, I feel like it's pizza Friday.
Yeah.
Pizza Friday.
We do pizza Sunday.
You do pizza Sunday?
Well, not our house. My. My parents did pizza Sunday. My mother say it's a cook. The chef's night off.
Gotcha.
I like that.
Yeah.
And so is pizza from Romas. I grew up on that stuff.
Do you have a specific vegetable for each night of the week, Mike?
We have tomatoes on Tuesdays. I had free. Free holies. Is that beans? Free holidays Friday. Clever, slimy Brussels sprouts. My mother used to boil Brussels sprouts. We had slimy sprouts on Saturday.
Ah, those are the.
Did your parents boil Brussels sprouts?
No.
Jeremy, your mom boiled everything, right?
Yeah, my mom. Yeah. We just had a conversation about this. I went over there for lunch last week or the week before, and she had army green broccoli. And I was like, oh. I was like, do you have any broccoli? I'll cook some up. She's like, I got some right there. I was like, that's not broccoli. I was like, I don't know what that is. She's like, oh, stop it. I didn't overcook it that much. I'm like, you did. Like, it's mush at this point. I don't want that.
That's what. My nanny always overcooked vegetables until they were, like, disintegrating.
Yeah.
Which I love. Yeah.
Little bits. Yeah. I don't mind it either.
I think the two most abused vegetables were Brussels sprouts and asparagus, at least at our house. So Brussels sprouts were boiled, and asparagus was almost like, pickled or something. My mother would just saturate it with. With Italian dressing.
Ew.
After, I think, boiling them and saturated Italian dressing, and you bite into it. It's like a stringy mush with vinegar. How could people eat such disgusting meals?
No wonder.
No kids like vegetables.
I know, right? Preparing them correctly.
That's. That's my theory is that, like, people would eat vegetables. Food is, in general, more. If. If they ever had it prepared properly, they just they. They just haven't had it prepared properly.
I agree.
Broccoli roasted is phenomenal. If you don't.
I think most vegetables roasted are really phenomenal. Salt and pepper and some.
And they're so easy. I don't understand why we didn't always have roasted vegetables.
And salt and pepper. To Amy, 99. Of the spices you need are the salt and pepper.
Salt, pepper, exactly.
Anything else? Put that cayenne pepper away. Ditch the paprika.
See my salt and pepper? I'm good.
Salt and pepper. A good steak. Salt and pepper.
Yeah, that's true.
Right. Rosemary dusting over some bread. That's about it.
A dusting. Oh, thank you. Very hungry.
So let's talk about Ryan Lee. Any. Any thoughts or things that you took away from this?
I have.
I did.
Go ahead, Jer.
Oh.
Hands raised.
I went first last time I read between the lines, sort of when he was talking about how the lead time on the bars was too long. And so then they transitioned to drinks. And so basically what I got from that is have a backup plan. Have plan B. Yeah, yeah.
I like the evolution in general and having that grace to keep evolving.
Which brings me to what I wrote down, which was fall in love with your customers, not your product. I love that one. I thought it was really smart because it's the importance of not being swayed into bad business decisions by this love you have for your business, baby. And I can imagine it's probably quite intense, this love you have for your business, baby. Yes, Mike, you can speak to that as the entrepreneur in the room.
I can speak to that.
I like.
They call them rewinders to his community.
Yeah.
So they had a name to own. And throughout, he was totally integral and honest. Like, he was explaining the changes not just to us, but he shared it with his audience as he's going through it, and therefore they became invested. I love that they're making their own recipes.
Yeah, yeah. And I went on his website. Those look like some darn good. Should we buy some?
We should buy some.
We should buy some.
Yeah, yeah.
In the office. Yeah, yeah. There's cherry, pineapple, and peach. Peach. The peach like, peach. Should we do peach? Should I buy whatever?
I don't know. I'm not a big cherry fan.
Okay.
Well, ironically and.
Yeah.
Right here in my hand. And I love cherries in a drink. I'm just not a big cherry. Like anything bright red. No, I mean, it's more the dye than the flavor. And his was green, so maybe we should try it.
Yeah.
I do feel like his desire to stick to the mission superseded, you know, his love of the product as well. So the mission wasn't to create bars. The mission was to create anti inflammatory foods. And so I think that's another way to position your business so that you don't get stuck in that position.
That was smart.
Yeah.
I love those bars, though. I want those bars back. We were firing through those things.
I think we still have them. So I don't know.
I was stealing them out of somebody's drawer. I was going over there pilfering.
Well, this is back the old place.
Yes. I think the bottom drawer here has some still.
Bottom what?
The bottom basket Kitchen.
The draw.
Draw, Draw.
I don't even have fun saying it's.
Right near the Toyota. Yeah, Mike.
Toyota.
Toyota. Right near the Toyota.
I also like that he talked about having something tangentially aligned with your business. So, like having the 80s stuff.
Yeah, yeah.
I think that is really a cool phenomenon.
And then I asked him, I said, you know, but what about people who aren't into it? And he said, people love people with passion.
I like that point too.
Me too.
So just be passionate about your thing and people will enjoy just the fact that you're passionate about it.
Agreed.
All right, let's. Let's get out here.
We.
Oh, we gotta play a game. But also you, our listener friend. What did you learn from this episode? We want to hear that too. Would you do us the privilege of rating our show? Go to rate our podcast.com and put your thoughts about this specific episode. We would love it. And make sure you subscribe too. So thank you for considering that. All right, what do you got, Chase?
All right, we got 80s pop culture noise.
Oh, Amy, if you and I don't.
Dominate this, and it's very possible I won't, but we will try. I don't know, Kelsey. 80s girl.
I will say this. They get progressively harder.
Okay, let's do this. Go.
Okay. What was the most popular?
How is that helping me?
I will say this. Yeah.
Okay.
I will tell you this.
I will tell you this.
You're about to get reamed.
Yeah. Because you know the next one's going to be harder. Whatever. You guys can, you know, shut up.
I will tell you this. Galaxy don't have a chance.
What was the most popular video game in the 80s? Was it Duck Hunt, Tetris or Super Mario Brothers? All right, question.
Doug Hunt.
Yeah, Doug Hunt.
Sexy Doug.
Yeah. Doug, you better run fast. They're coming for you. Okay. What was the candy that became popularized by the movie. ET Was it MMs, Reese's PCs or Skittles?
Reese's Pieces. Jeremy, you think we're not going to call you out on Reese's PCs? What?
What's wrong with that?
Okay, what did I correct someone like that?
Reese's Pieces.
Oh, I don't.
Sorry. I don't need them that much.
But, Jeremy, it's Reese's Pieces.
Fired up here. That was great.
I know. Long ET Fingers to grab the candy.
What was the third option you just gave this. Oh, wait. Reese's Pieces.
I said that Kelsey made the noise that E.T. made in the movie.
It was the voice for E.T.
Eliot, girl.
That's funny.
That was great.
Okay, in the beginning of the series, Roseanne, where did she work? Oh, was it a canning plant, a plastic factory, or a car manufacturer?
I didn't think she worked at those places.
She works at the Reese's Pieces factory.
The Reese's Pieces.
Reese's Pieces.
Reese's Pieces.
All right, you guys ready for the answers?
Yes, sir.
All right, what was the most popular video game in the 80s?
Tetris.
I think Tetris was. Was 90s. And I think Super Mario was lately 80s. May, early 90s. I'm gonna go with Duck Hunt with the video game.
So it actually was Super Mario Brothers. Tetris was close behind. Tetris was. Was. Is older than you think it is. Tetris was 80s.
Oh.
But it wasn't the most popular 80s.
And. And duck Hunt, it was tough because there was for. I think they. It was two games in one. So I think that that's why it was.
It was split in half.
What was the other game?
Like Leaper or something like Frogger?
No, it was Mario Brothers. It was Mario Brothers and Duck Hunt. Yeah.
Oh, okay.
Oh, well, yeah, Duck Hunt was awesome.
You got the gun. The gun. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. What was the candy that became popularized.
By the movie ET Reese's Pieces.
Yeah, I put Reese's Pieces and I changed his Skittles.
No, I put M. M's. But I should have said Reese's Pieces because I think 99. Sure it was that.
Yeah, it was Reese's Pieces. Yeah. Thank you. It's true.
He didn't pronounce. How can you guess? It's true.
She became right there. That's exactly.
Outside her door at her office.
Sparkle's new name's E.T.
All right, in the beginning of the series, Roseanne, where did she work?
Car manufacturer.
Canning in the cars.
Oh, I put a canning plant.
I'm gonna say canning.
It was a plastic factory.
None of us got it right.
No, we all got it wrong.
Like, what is she doing? I vaguely remember her being like an assembly line or something, wasn't she?
She was making plastic.
Well, I thought she was a waitress. Was that her sister? That was the waitress. Was somebody.
That was her daughter, I think. Right. But there you go, 80s trivia.
Thank you.
Got one right.
Yeah.
Got one right.
I got zero. Right.
Who are you? We even know you?
I don't know me. I continually disappoint myself. I'm like, oh, this is going to be so easy.
You come in too cocky.
I get way too, way too cocky. Way too cocky. All right. Hey, I just want to remind folks, go to rewind co.com right now. Check it out. We're going to order some of his product, too. And I really do appreciate if you would review the show. So go to RateHourPodcast.com any questions you have, I want to answer them. So go to or email ask mike mikehallis.com so I can answer them. We're out of here.
Right?
Wishing you.
Wishing you good time.
