Behind the Brand
Toto Foods was born out of founder Sydney Webb’s desire to share the incredible healing properties of adaptogens with the world. As a high school student and soon-to-be collegiate athlete, Sydney was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease and prescribed 20 different pills a day. Despite the devastating diagnosis, a fortuitous Starbucks encounter with a stranger — who later turned out to be Dane Johnson, a natural medicine practitioner specializing in Crohn's Disease — changed her life. Dane introduced Sydney to the concept of holistic health, and under his guidance, Sydney got off her medication and naturally regained her active lifestyle. Unfortunately, a few years later and at the age of 21, Sydney was diagnosed with colon cancer. The same week of her diagnosis, Sydney attended a wellness convention where she listened to author Liana Werner-Gray speak about curing her lymphatic cancer through food and adaptogens. Sydney returned home, immediately ordered a variety of adaptogens online, and began mixing them into everything she ate and drank. Three months later, to the utter shock of her doctors, she was declared cancer-free.
Inspired by the miraculous and transformational effects of adaptogens on her body, Sydney set out to incorporate adaptogens in her family’s favorite foods — starting with cookies. She spent a year and a half testing about a thousand different cookie recipes in her parents’ kitchen, finally landing on one that received positive reviews from everyone who tried it. Sydney proceeded to quit her full-time job, build a website in two days, and — with no money for ingredients — launch a presale for her cookies. Her first order generated enough revenue to cover her rent and supplies for production. For the first year, Sydney rolled cookies by hand in her apartment and drove to USPS to ship out packages everyday. A few years later, Toto Foods has introduced adaptogens to thousands of people across the country through its irresistible, delicious, and superfood-packed cookie products.