Melting Forest moves roughly 10,000 cans a day with a team of fewer than 10 people.

Sean McDonald, founder and CEO, and Nancy Pineda, who runs operations, joined Richard Wang on In the Mix with NuLiv Science to explain how that actually works. We covered the parts most founder interviews skip: what velocity a grocery shelf really demands, why they added cost to the can instead of cutting it, and how a full-spectrum cordyceps ends up dispersed in a beverage instead of sitting at the bottom.

Melting Forest is a food-based functional beverage brand now in just under 8,000 stores, including Target, Sprouts, multiple Kroger divisions, Ralphs, Stater Bros, Bristol Farms, and World Market, with a recent launch in Canada.

In this episode:

Putting unapproved prototype cans on a Bristol Farms shelf to watch shoppers react

Why the mushroom branding scared off national buyers, and why that was the point

The real velocity bar for an RTD: three to six units per store per week

Fail fast, and why 20 strong stores beat 2,000 weak ones

Solving mushroom solubility instead of hiding behind extract ratios

Cordyceps at 20 microns, caffeine held at 150mg

Why Senactiv® was formulated for truck drivers and warehouse workers, not athletes

Glow Up: 15g collagen, 5g fiber, no caffeine, and why it isn't sold as a protein drink

FODMAP certified fiber, and the cost of not bloating your customer

How Astrion® made the cut, and why supply reliability decided it

Saying no when a national retailer wants to change your formula

Robik Samborsky built Apollon Nutrition without a website, without distribution, and without ever meaning to start a supplement brand. It began as a smoothie bar in his New Jersey gym. Fifteen years later, it's a multiple-time Brand of the Year winner.

In this conversation with the NuLiv Science team, Robik talks through his path from immigrating to the US to buying Apollon Gym on a shoestring, why he's turned down chasing mainstream retail, how he thinks about athlete loyalty and long-term trust, and where he sees the supplement industry heading.

This conversation includes personal experiences and opinions shared for discussion purposes. NuLiv Science does not promote or endorse the use of unregulated products.

What does it actually take to build a supplement line worthy of a 60-year legacy?

Kenny Carter, Director of Product Innovation at Gold's Gym, breaks down the full

formulation philosophy behind the Gold's Gym supplement line — from why citrulline is dosed at 8g, to why creatine belongs in a gummy instead of a pre-workout, to the role AstraGin® plays in making every other ingredient work harder.

In this episode, Kenny covers:

→ The "gold, silver, bronze" dosing framework — and what most brands get wrong

→ Why AstraGin® is in the pre-workout (and why most brands skip gut health entirely)

→ The creatine gummy: why it exists, and the pH-stable pectin process behind it

→ Natural caffeine vs. synthetic — and what it means for how you feel mid-workout

→ The "less is more" philosophy for younger athletes

→ Where the Gold's Gym supplement line is headed: RTDs, protein snacks, hydration

→ What it was like to walk into the Mecca for the first time — and never leave

Kenny trained at Gold's Gym Venice Beach for a decade before moving into product development. He's been formulating for science-first sports nutrition brands ever since. This conversation goes deep on what separates ingredients that belong on a label from ones that actually move the needle.

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NuLiv Science is the maker of AstraGin® — a patented ingredient derived from

Panax notoginseng and Astragalus membranaceus, shown to support amino acid

absorption in the gut. Learn more at nulivscience.com.

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Chapters:

0:00 Intro & flavor tasting

2:15 Rapid fire: fitness questions with Kenny

9:00 Gold's Gym Venice — The Mecca experience

18:45 From personal trainer to Director of Product Innovation

26:00 The clinical dosing framework: gold, silver, bronze

33:30 Why AstraGin® is in the pre-workout

38:00 Creatine gummies: the science and the manufacturing challenge

46:00 Natural caffeine and the "no crash" design goal

52:00 Younger athletes and the "less is more" philosophy

58:30 RTDs, format expansion, and what's next for Gold's Gym

1:04:00 The genesis: "How could this fail?"