How Alissa Miky harnessed red algae to create functional beverage brand Oomee

Alissa Miky is quite the multi-hypenate, TV anchor, serial brand founder and cancer survivor. The last title is largely what inspired her to launch her latest venture, Oomee, a functional, gut-healthy beverage powered by the restorative properties of seaweed, more specifically red algae. As Miky told Inside Retail, she set about to launch Oomee, a word play on the Japanese word for ocean (‘Umi’) and a sense of excitement, as in “Oo, mee!”, to provide a more accessible and delicious way to access the digestive health benefits of seaweed. “I believe that food is medicine. We want to bring medicinal-like benefits to the people with Oomee.”Oomee officially launched onto the retail scene this May, with several SKUs, including single cans (US$3.50 each), 12-packs (US$34.99) and a 30-day supply of nutritional powder (US$60).In addition to the brand’s thriving DTC site, Oomee’s products are stocked in almost 1000 physical stores across the US via multiple local and national grocery store chains, like Bristol Farms, Raley’s and Sprouts Farmers Market. But in order to get the full story about Miky’s lightbulb moment and journey to launching Oomee, we need to rewind a little.How Oomee’s brand journey was built on duality and difficulty Oomee is just one of several brands that Miky has launched throughout the course of her professional career.At just 21, Miky launched a flower shop in Tokyo, before later going on to become a newscaster for Nippon Television Network and launching a rather successful sweets brand Misaky Tokyo in 2019.Similar to Oomee, Misaky Tokyo’s premium hand-made artisanal treats made to look like crystals,  incorporate the beneficial power of seaweed to provide consumers with a healthier, yet tasty alternative.After learning that a friend wasn’t able to indulge in sweets, as many weren’t vegan or gluten and additive-free, Miky was determined to create a product that those with a sweet tooth, like her friend, could indulge in, while still having a yummy, sensorial experience with each bite. Today, Misaky Tokyo boasts an impressive 1.4 million follower count on its TikTok account alone, with customers gushing over the brand’s satisfying crunch and colours. While still running Misaky Tokyo, Miky, who grew up between New York and Tokyo, ended up moving back to the US and began experiencing one health issue after another. Gaining 40 pounds in three months due to the unhealthy nature of American cuisine, Miky was also diagnosed with uterine cancer, which she was in treatment for up till last year.“At that point, my body, my mental and my soul were separating.”In moving back to Japan, Miky realised she had become accustomed to the healthy nature of her country’s diet, such as the incorporation of seaweed, which she hadn’t realised was a privilege in itself until residing in the States as an adult. “Having some distance [from Japan] and coming back, I realised that as a Japanese-American, it was my dream to bring both cultures onto one page. So I was like, let me try this, and created the first American-based, red seaweed-powered company, Oomee.”Oomee has trademarked the term ‘seabiotics’ to describe the brand’s sustainability-focused, marine-derived prebiotic ingredients, primarily agar-agar, a natural, plant-based gelling agent derived from red seaweed, that supports gut health and helps provide a sense of fullness to curb unhealthy cravings. Although the product is at a more premium price compared to your average canned beverage, at US$3.50 a pop, through further retail partnerships and continued expansion of the brand, Miky plans to drop the price to make it as accessible as possible to consumers.Oomee’s overarching retail goals Without revealing exact figures, Miky disclosed that Oomee has already brought in seven-figure revenue within the first year of business and has raised eight million in funding to date.While those are more-than-impressive figures for a brand in its first year of business, Miky stated that she has plans to amp up the brand’s growth in the next 4-5 years to hit $400 million in revenue.While she said that some may view the figure as “crazy”, especially for a brand so new to the market and introducing a relatively unexplored beverage ingredient like seaweed, she explained she has full confidence in her team’s ability to build the bridge between food and tech.So far, working with natural-food retailers has been the key element in Oomee’s brick-and-mortar expansion. By next year, Miky stated that the company will be partnering with more famous retailers, bit by bit, to make the brand as accessible to as many consumers as possible. Further reading: Seoul Tonic’s founder Sophie Hood on building a next-gen wellness brand.