Beyond Organic Review
Beyond Organic Review
Jordan Rubin of Garden of Life fame has founded Beyond Organic with a product line featuring "Green-Fed" meats and probiotic foods.
In the 1990's, Rubin suffered from Crohn's Disease, arthritis, diabetes, chronic fatigue, hair loss and anemia. After trying everything to get healthy, Rubin claims he turned to the Bible for answers. After healing himself with his Bible diet, he wrote 'The Maker's Diet' and went on to found Garden of Life, a vitamin and supplement company. (Conveniently, many of the supplements recommended in The Maker's Diet were sold by Garden of Life).
In 2004, the United States Food and Drug Administration ordered Garden of Life to stop making unsubstantiated claims about some of its products and supplements on brochures, labels, and in Rubin's book, Patient Heal Thyself.
Rubin sold Garden of Life to Atrium Innovations in 2009 for $35 million. Now he's back with Beyond Organic.
Anyway, enough back story - on to my Beyond Organic review:
Products
Beyond Organic's product line is an assortment of organic foods and beverages.
Beyond Organic's "Green-fed" beef comes from cows that are fed grass plus a variety of foods that Beyond Organic claims are more completely digested and suitable for a cow's diet than the feed given to traditionally-raised cows. Beyond Organic claims to let their cows roam free in organic pastures. The idea is that all of this natural food fed to the cows is, in turn, better for you.
All of Beyond Organic's Green-fed beef is "biblically slaughtered to kosher standards."
Beyond Organic retails their Green-fed beef in the form of ground beef, hamburger patties and sausages. Green-fed ground beef (either bulk or in patty form) will retail in a 1 lb. pack for $10 and the sausages come in a 12 ounce pack of 6 for $10.
Beyond Organic's Really Raw Cheese is made from the milk of Green-fed cows and they claim it is organically produced. Really Raw Cheese will be available in Cheddar, Cheddar Blue and Harvati varieties and will retail for $18.75/lb.
Amasai is a fermented milk drink that is supposed to benefit the immune and digestive system. Amasai will retail in a 6 pack of 16-ounce bottles for $37.50.
Reign is mountain-sourced spring water Beyond Organic claims is "up to twenty times more pure than other leading brands." It will retail in a 24 pack of 16-ounce bottles for $25.
There is also a flavored variety of Reign. Flavored Reign water, available in several different flavors, will retail in a 24 pack of 16-ounce bottles for $62.50. Yes, you read that correctly : $62.50 for 24 bottles.
Beyond Organic claims its probiotic chocolate is full of fiber, Omega 3s, and probiotics. It is only offered in a dark chocolate variety and will retail in a 12 pack of 1-ounce bars for $41.25.
Compensation Plan
The Beyond Organic Compensation plan is designed around a unilevel organization (unlimited levels deep and wide) along with an autoship or personal purchase requirement for its reps to remain active.
Commissions, along with remaining active, are based on product values. A product value is a percentage amount of the preferred customer price of their products. In order to participate in the Beyond Organic compensation plan, a Mission Marketer (Beyond Organic's name for their reps) must maintain either 150 PV a month (including their own orders and that of retail customers), or 100 PV in autoship purchases.
Direct commissions are paid out as a percentage of the PV of products retailed to either retail or preferred customers. There is also a direct commission paid out on the orders of directly enrolled Mission Marketers up to two levels deep in a Mission Marketer's unilevel organization. Generational Commissions pay out up to 4 generations deep within a Mission Marketer's organization.
Conclusion
Beyond Organic appears to be a legitimate network marketing opportunity. The Beyond Organic compensation plan is recruitment-based but is also tied into product volume, meaning there has to be a certain amount of product sold in order for distributors to advance. The monthly PV requirements seem a little high, but they are comparable to the requirements of other companies.
The biggest challenge Beyond Organic distributors are going to face is that the niche market that exists for organic products is only so big. Ultimately, Beyond Organic's products, whatever their health benefits, are expensive alternatives to products most people already buy.
It's going to be difficult for "Mission Marketers" to convince many people to change their shopping habits and start buying more costly products, especially with the economy in its present state.
On the positive side, however, there are certain areas of the country where people will gladly pay a premium for organic foods, and Beyond Organic products may be an easy sell there.
Also, I believe Jordan Rubin's back story will be compelling to some people. Despite his questionable academic credentials, he is a published author, which will no doubt add some credibility to the Beyond Organic opportunity.
