Written by Taylor Carmody
Between the growing bacteria, yeast combination and sweetened tea, kombucha possesses a unique flavor that can sometimes defer potential customers. But according to Matt Cone, founder of Chattanooga Culture, after enough time, kombucha can turn into not only something that benefits consumers, but also something they can enjoy.
“My buddy out in Colorado brewed a lot of kombucha for himself personally, and I always thought it was a very interesting drink. I was turned off by it at first, like everybody is. It’s kind of an acquired taste,” Cone said.
After tasting some of his friend’s kombucha, Cone began doing research on health and wellness. This led him to pursuing further education within that field; Cone ended up getting his degree in Health and Wellness at Life University in Georgia.
“I learned as much as I could in that realm and just kind of figured out how to pull all of these pieces together and build a business out of it, so that’s what Chattanooga Culture is,” Cone said. “It’s not just kombucha. It’s not just fermentation. It’s all of the years of experience.”
The idea for the Chattanooga Culture came in October of 2022. From October to March Cone was struggling to find a place to brew the kombucha since it has to be made in a commercial kitchen. Cone reached out to the Kitchen Incubator of Chattanooga who had a space open for him to work in.
“The difficulty since then is convincing a store that this random guy who just started making kombucha officially has a product that they should sell in their store,” Cone said. “Luckily it’s been somewhat easy in this community because people really support small businesses, but that’s still a lot of work putting together a product that I can actually talk about in a way that people will trust what I’m saying.”
Cone now has his product in 11 stores from Red Bank to Ocoee such as Southern Squeeze, Bread and Butter and Real Roots.
He also sells his kombucha and more during the Chattanooga Market on Sundays and the Main St. market on Wednesdays.
“The farmer’s markets are by far the best way to get some sort of local product like this into the market, into people’s hands,” Cone said. “Even if I don’t sell a person a kombucha, just meeting them one time, giving them my business card, and putting a face to the name is the best way to get out there.”
However, now that the farmer’s markets are over for the season, Cone hopes to focus more on the research and development side of health and wellness. He wants to explore other fermentations that he has little experience with.
“I’m gonna do a lot of research and create a whole new line of products so that next spring when the market’s picked back up again, I’ll have much more than just kombucha,” Cone said. “I’m looking to do a couple different branches of Chattanooga culture. So it’d be like the kombucha and fermentation branch and then the supplement line.”
While in his slower season, Cone wants to dive into local herbs and supplemental plant medicines.
The end goal for Cone is to try to take people away from the modern medical system of just taking a pill for whatever problem or symptoms a person may be having and getting them to the root cause of what minerals and vitamins they may be lacking.
“There are herbs that people have bad raps about because they can be used recreationally, and I’m trying to rewrite that script to make them actual medicine,” Cone said. “That’s what they’ve been for thousands of years and we just kind of have misused them and mislabeled them for a while.”
Meet the Storyteller
Taylor Carmody is a senior at UT Chattanooga majoring in communication with a minor in child and family studies. Carmody is hard-working, compassionate and possesses a passion for visual storytelling. Outside of her studies, she serves as a part-time volunteer leader for Chattanooga Young Life. Once she graduates, she hopes to continue to share the unheard stories of those in the community. To connect or collaborate with Taylor, email her at ccb729@mocs.utc.edu.