Meet Mac Marsh | Founder/C.E.O

We had the good fortune of connecting with Mac Marsh and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Mac, what’s something about your industry that outsiders are probably unaware of?
Most people who are outside of the culinary industry are not aware of the “running water method”. This method is used to thaw frozen food quickly and safely. Most operations do not have the time or the space to let frozen food thaw out in a refrigerator for days on end. To avoid this time and space constraint, they will run cold water on the frozen food until it is fully thawed. The USDA states that for every pound of food the water needs to be running for an hour to safely thaw the food. So, imagine a single operation having to thaw 5lbs of food in a day. That means the faucet is running for 5 hours! This unfortunately happens all the time across the United States because up until now it was the only approved method to rapidly thaw frozen food. It’s estimated that over a half of Billion gallons of water get wasted everyday across the United States using this practice. Alarm bells should be going off. This wasteful practice has a huge impact on our limited freshwater resources. As a culinary industry we can transform this practice into a sustainable one. A big misconception about frozen food is that the food is not fresh. However, the majority of culinary operations freeze their fresh food to preserve it so they can cook it at a later date. This helps keep the food fresh when its ready to cook.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Boss Defrost is an NSF-certified kitchen appliance used to thaw frozen food. It mimics the USDA’s approved running water method, however reduces the water waste by 98.5%. It does so by recirculating the water within a held system ensuring that the food is thawed in a safe and effective manner. As a company we are most proud of the positive impact our community is making on this earth by helping preserve our fresh water. We are well aware of the limited fresh water that is available to us and it is imperative that we use our water resources wisely. We have a Boss Map on our website to highlight all the culinary operations who are taking the step to make a positive difference. They are the real Bosses who are transforming a wasteful industry practice into a sustainable one. All of our efforts go unnoticed unless the Bosses are there implementing Boss Defrost into their everyday food prep process.
Boss Defrost is currently in 32 states and has expanded into Canada. We launched in 2020 right before the pandemic hit. I don’t think starting any business is easy, however launching a company who is geared towards culinary operations amidst a pandemic was extremely challenging. That being said we wouldn’t be where we are at today if we didn’t face those challenges. We are addressing a previously unaddressed water waste-stream. Building education and awareness around how culinary operations thaw food is key. It’s important to highlight and address the issue because most people don’t know it actually exists but also provides a real-time solution to prevent this waste from happing. The beauty behind Boss Defrost is that it’s a plug-and-play device with no installation necessary. Along the way we learned that persistence is key to success and if you believe in something enough to follow your vision and see it come to fruition. Stay true to your values as a company and remember anything can happen in a day.
We would like the world to know that Boss Defrost was built on a foundation to help conserve our freshwater resources. Our mission is to give food service operations everywhere the power to make a positive impact on the world by preserving fresh water and transforming a wasteful industry practice into a sustainable one. Imagine instead of wasting a half a billon gallons of water per day we are conserving that water. Imagine how impactful that can be not only to the kitchens but the world around us. That’s what drives us. The Boss community is the change that will be seen for years to come.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I am a big sports fan. So depending on what time of year they came I would either take them to a Broncos, Nuggets, or Rockies game. Being a Colorado kid, I love the hometown teams. I would also like to take them up to the mountains to go camping. It would be great to show them all the beauty Colorado has to offer. Denver has also become a huge food town, so you know I would bring my friends to the great restaurants in this community. I would have them choose from any of the restaurants on our Boss Map. They all provide high-end quality food. They would also be supporting restaurants who are geared towards sustainability and making a change. What could be better?

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would like to give a huge shout out to Chef Michael Wright. He allowed me to use his kitchen to test prototypes for Boss Defrost. I bought a 3D printer and started creating prototypes to make the vison come to life. The chefs and cooks in the kitchen would use it day-in and day-out. Watching them using Boss Defrost allowed me to make improvements and different iterations on the device and we brought Boss Defrost to market we were confident it able to withstand everyday kitchen use. Boss Defrost was built for chefs and cooks in mind. We realized that the power behind Boss Defrost is the people who use it, so we wanted to make sure this would be a great tool for them to utilize. I would also like to give a shoutout to the Boss Defrost partners Diana Lopez Starkus, Chris Starkus, Debra Shires, and Austin Fedewa. I’m forever grateful for my partners. Without them the company would not be where it is today. They took a huge chance on me and Boss Defrost. They were able to see the vison. We all spent countless sleepless nights, made sacrifices, and put in the hard work necessary for this dream to become a reality. I’m so proud of them and grateful that they stuck by my side through some very challenging times.

Website: www.bossdefrost.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bossdefrost/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mac-marsh/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/bossdefrost

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bossdefrost

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg4zWmXdNI1mdA3PUH7EKTw