“I liked the idea of knowing when it would end,” says Dave Forbes of the now-defunct Monkeyboy Consumables. “Most entrepreneurs don’t know when to give up; I’ve done that, too.” Forbes, a software and UX designer who created multiple apps—including one starring an angry monkey (hence the name)—decided to end the primate brand when his lease ended last year at his Falls Church pop-up of the same name. He’s still on the hunt for a new space.
His line of vegetable-based condiments and sodas is the same—and still growing. Under the new name of Snack Kraken, find Kalechup (patent pending), a kale-based sauce thick like ketchup and tangy like barbecue sauce; Mayonot, a mayo-substitute with less than 5 calories per serving made with cauliflower; and Yumchup, a barbecue sauce born from cabbage.
Forbes is still toying with his carbonated veggie drinks, Veggie Pop, what he calls a “weird, odd, savory soda” made from the potlikker (reserved boiling liquid) of kale and cabbage, and comes in flavors like cherry-lime, lime-pepper-mango and habanero-fig-lemon. He says he wants to make something “artful in soda” without the extra sugar. He’s also been toying with prosciutto made with tofu—tosciutto—another idea furthering his mission of “super delicious and super healthy.” At 55, Forbes says he’s “not motivated by wealth creation.” Instead, he wants to “do good,” and that could just be soda in the form of crucifers.
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