Meet Brendan Kotlus | Founder and CEO

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

Hi Brendan, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I grew up in a Jewish household that loved eating bagels and lox. However, I became vegan when I was 17 and that was taken off that menu.

I developed the Faux Lox recipe to enjoy vegan lox and share that with other vegans who missed their bagels and lox!

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
It was not an easy journey getting to where I am today. Launching Faux Lox meant I had to work a second job in order to pay for my life necessities at the same time putting in 40+ hours a week into my emerging brand. But with perseverance and great effort, I was able to to get Faux Lox off the ground and flying!

If I’ve learned anything, its that, anything is possible! You just have to research what it takes for your goal to come to fruition and plan the steps out accordingly. Ideas run the world and if you have a good one, someone else out there is going to appreciate it!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Asheville North Carolina is well known for its nature. I myself am a nature lover and a meditative yogi. So certainly I would bring my friend to many amazing waterfalls, rivers, and hiking trails. Perhaps we would go camping in boone and do a canoe trip.

I would bring them to some of my favorite Hindu temples and some of my favorite places to eat, like Dobra Tea West.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My friend Jeffrey Blair has been tremendously supportive of my food brand from the very start. He always believed in me and encouraged me to work as hard as I can to bring it to reality.

Website: www.fauxloxfoods.com