Hello! My name is Kyle and I am one of two co-founders of Tally Foods Inc. The other co-founder is Jon. He's busy working on the formula somewhere. We have brought our unique experiences together to create the most nutritious plant-based milk on the planet. A zero-sugar whole milk substitute for kids, powered by chickpeas, under the brand name Tally. 

We chose the name Tally because we tally up the nutrition to cow's milk and then we add more. See below! We started with chickpeas as the protein base because they have a wonderful taste and creamy texture while being packed with protein. We then sought to match the same 8g fat of Whole Milk for young children, so we added 8g of healthy monounsaturated fats from High Oleic Sunflower Oil. For sweetness, we sought to avoid adding sugar completely and instead chose Monkfruit for some all-natural sweetness on the tongue, but that doesn't need to be processed as sugar by young bodies. 

Susan Marie Fluegel, Ph.D. designed our stellar vitamins and minerals package. Tally Kids Original has 21 added vitamins and minerals, and Tally Kids Chocolate has 23 added vitamins and minerals! We are proud to offer 440mg Omega-3, 60mg Choline, and ALL B-Vitamins balanced specifically for early childhood development. Dr. Fluegel balanced the quantities of each vitamin for them to work in harmony with one another, and at levels appropriate for small and growing bodies. 

My background (Kyle): I have worked for organic dairy brands (Horizon Organic), grass-fed organic dairy brands (Maple Hill Creamery), plant-based milk brands (Silk, Ripple) and dairy yogurt brands (Dannon, OIKOS) over the past 12 years. My passion for animals and the planet has led me to working exclusively for plant-based brands since 2019 (Ripple, Tally) and achieve a Masters in Environmental Management from Western Colorado University (2020). 

When I met Jon, he was busy working on his Simply Eggless brand which he formulated, owns, and most recently expanded into Trader Joes stores nationwide (Go Jon!) We struck a chord immediately over our desire to create great tasting and absolutely nutritious plant-based products.

I arrived on plant-based milk being "the way" after my time working for those organic and grass-fed dairy companies. I learned a lot about animal husbandry and the high nutritional value of organic dairy milk, but I also learned about the practices of repeatedly impregnating female cows to force them to predictably produce that milk while immediately separating them from their calves upon birth. Furthermore, dairy cows are sold for slaughter when their milk production declines.

Learning this, the veneer of happy and healthy cows displayed prominently by Horizon Organic & Maple Hill Creamery slowly faded for me, and in the end, I found that veneer to be pure marketing and anthropomorphism (humans projecting their emotions onto animals). 

Because in the end, it's simply not an equal exchange. The dairy business is using the cow for its body: first, the milk, for resale as a commodity, then its actual body for resale as meat. Proper animal husbandry and kindness prevails in the organic and grass-fed dairy operations, but overall, it's not a fair exchange. And I have yet to visit a conventional dairy farm.  

The greenhouse gas emissions of dairy milk are already well documented, and sufficiently staggering as you well know. That, to my heart, is a close second to the animal welfare piece, but either could be at the top of your list for why dairy should continue its decline in American diets: do it for the planet, do it for the animals. 

The timeline for my ultimate switch to plant-based is: Horizon Organic dairy milk 2011 - 2015, Silk plant-based milk 2016-2018, Maple Hill Creamery grassfed organic dairy milk (2019), Ripple plant-based milk (2019 - 2022), and now Tally Kids plant-based milk (2022 - ?). 

So you see that I have gone back and forth between dairy and non-dairy brands, ultimately setting the cast permanently with non-dairy, and now launching Tally Kids, the most nutritious non-dairy milk on the planet. 

I launched Tally Kids to bring forth a plant-based milk brand that provided superior nutrition to dairy milk, because I know that only with superior nutrition can a plant-based brand become a long-term viable competitor to dairy milk. The chickpea is the key to unlock that taste and nutritional combination, as it provides a rich and creamy texture base for our plant-based milk to layer on all of our added fortifications for early childhood development. #teamchickpea!

90%+ of plant-based milks on the market offer very little nutrition, and much less than dairy. You can read my other post showcasing this here.  Most plant-based milks have little protein, are high in sugar, and are not fortified with a proper vitamin & mineral package. There are only (3) sources of plant-protein to create a true milk substitute: the chickpea, the yellow pea, or the soy bean. Of these three, the chickpea offers the best taste and it's also Big-9 Allergen Free!

Before launching Tally Kids, I told co-founder Jon about these observations and dissatisfactions with current plant-based milk nutritional levels. He shared my desire to create a nutritious plant-based milk for the perfect audience - kids. 

It would need to taste great, be nutritionally tailored to childhood development, and be packaged & branded specifically for children and their parents. 

We launched Tally Kids in Fall 2022 to finally focus on these core milk drinkers (kids) with a delicious product (chickpea based) that is loaded with nutrition and ships to doorsteps in a convenient, fun, shelf-stable package. 

The rest of the story is up to the consumer. We will first ship Tally Kids in 2 flavors from this website, www.drinktally.com, in January 2023. 

We cannot wait to serve the world this most nutritious plant-based milk.

Most importantly, we are honored to be serving a delicious, zero sugar, dairy-free option to kids, who need it the most.

So, we will see where this goes! But wherever it goes, I believe I have found my life's work: to scale a nutritious plant-based milk brand for an audience I truly care about, kids, and to never ask a thing of my old co-worker, the sweet dairy cow, ever again.