Our tonic started as an accidental business for my Father in Law, Jay Maness, back in 1994. While he was rummaging through boxes that had been in storage for years he stumbled upon his Grandmother's recipe for her TONIC. He remembered her vividly saying that it was “her daily tonic that helped what ailed her.” Jay decided that if it helped her live to be the age of 99, then maybe it could help others as well.
He learned all he could about the herbs, apple cider vinegar, and decided to put his college degree to work. Jay formed a business plan, he started out giving samples away to his friends and family. He was called the “snake oil” salesman and the moonshine maker. After the name calling, he started receiving some great feedback. He decided to put his marketing skills to work to figure out the best way to market this “good for what ails ya” herbal tonic.
Our tonic started out as Kentucky Mountain Tonic, however Jay quickly realized he would not be able market this product outside of Kentucky with that name. Jay had a really good friend who helped him come up with the name Yoder’s Good Health Recipe. And now after Jays’ passing, we are paying homage to him as Tonic Man Old Fashioned Organic Wellness Tonic. After a lot of trial and error with bottle types, labels and marketing plans, here we are almost 28 years later with a new look, new name and an incredibly positive outlook for this product.
Now on to me (Jayme) and my family.
Jason is Jay’s youngest son. Jason began working for his dad in 1994 as the manufacturer, labeler, delivery driver and whatever else needed to be done for the product. When I came into the picture Jason still did all of this and worked a full-time job.
I met Jason in 2001. I was working as a client service representative for an investment firm in Indianapolis. In early 2002, Jay and I came up with a brilliant plan to market this product into Health Food Stores across the USA. In 2 years, we accomplished our goal of having at least 1 store in every state in the USA. By 2007 we had reached sales volumes that could not be met with just our family alone. Jay reached out to his friend and found a manufacturer and distributor to help our sales volume. In 2013 Jay was diagnosed with Stage 4 Colon Cancer, in 2014 after numerous chemotherapy treatments he decided to stop treatment. At that time, he asked that Jason and I become more involved with the business again and make sure it continued to grow as this was his family legacy. He wanted to ensure that he left something to his wife and grandchildren.
On January 16, 2015, we said goodbye to the great man we called dad. Many of our valued customers had no idea that he had passed, and that was the way he wanted it. Jay was a great man, an innovative thinker, a remarkable businessman, and an outstanding DAD!!! He is greatly missed by his family and friends.
Since Jays passing, Jason and I have been working on the tonic as a brand, we want our product to be the best product it can be without changing the recipe. In that process, we decided to find a new manufacturer.
Our manufacturer uses the best ingredients we can buy. We are USDA Organic Certified, non-GMO and Kosher Certified. We use Organic unfiltered RAW Apple Cider Vinegar (with the Mother); Organic Apple & Concord Grape juices. Our herbs are all certified organic. Because we use an FDA approved and GMP certified manufacturer we follow all the FDA guidelines and Processing Authority rules and regulations.
Jason and I work 7 days a week to make sure that we get you the product you know and love. I love talking to our customers and hearing what a difference our tonic has made in their lives. We are active on FB and now Instagram with pictures our customers send to us.
I hope you enjoyed getting to know a little more about where it all began and where we hope to go in the future.
He learned all he could about the herbs, apple cider vinegar, and decided to put his college degree to work. Jay formed a business plan, he started out giving samples away to his friends and family. He was called the “snake oil” salesman and the moonshine maker. After the name calling, he started receiving some great feedback. He decided to put his marketing skills to work to figure out the best way to market this “good for what ails ya” herbal tonic.
Our tonic started out as Kentucky Mountain Tonic, however Jay quickly realized he would not be able market this product outside of Kentucky with that name. Jay had a really good friend who helped him come up with the name Yoder’s Good Health Recipe. And now after Jays’ passing, we are paying homage to him as Tonic Man Old Fashioned Organic Wellness Tonic. After a lot of trial and error with bottle types, labels and marketing plans, here we are almost 28 years later with a new look, new name and an incredibly positive outlook for this product.
Now on to me (Jayme) and my family.
Jason is Jay’s youngest son. Jason began working for his dad in 1994 as the manufacturer, labeler, delivery driver and whatever else needed to be done for the product. When I came into the picture Jason still did all of this and worked a full-time job.
I met Jason in 2001. I was working as a client service representative for an investment firm in Indianapolis. In early 2002, Jay and I came up with a brilliant plan to market this product into Health Food Stores across the USA. In 2 years, we accomplished our goal of having at least 1 store in every state in the USA. By 2007 we had reached sales volumes that could not be met with just our family alone. Jay reached out to his friend and found a manufacturer and distributor to help our sales volume. In 2013 Jay was diagnosed with Stage 4 Colon Cancer, in 2014 after numerous chemotherapy treatments he decided to stop treatment. At that time, he asked that Jason and I become more involved with the business again and make sure it continued to grow as this was his family legacy. He wanted to ensure that he left something to his wife and grandchildren.
On January 16, 2015, we said goodbye to the great man we called dad. Many of our valued customers had no idea that he had passed, and that was the way he wanted it. Jay was a great man, an innovative thinker, a remarkable businessman, and an outstanding DAD!!! He is greatly missed by his family and friends.
Since Jays passing, Jason and I have been working on the tonic as a brand, we want our product to be the best product it can be without changing the recipe. In that process, we decided to find a new manufacturer.
Our manufacturer uses the best ingredients we can buy. We are USDA Organic Certified, non-GMO and Kosher Certified. We use Organic unfiltered RAW Apple Cider Vinegar (with the Mother); Organic Apple & Concord Grape juices. Our herbs are all certified organic. Because we use an FDA approved and GMP certified manufacturer we follow all the FDA guidelines and Processing Authority rules and regulations.
Jason and I work 7 days a week to make sure that we get you the product you know and love. I love talking to our customers and hearing what a difference our tonic has made in their lives. We are active on FB and now Instagram with pictures our customers send to us.
I hope you enjoyed getting to know a little more about where it all began and where we hope to go in the future.