- December 8, 2025
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Brandon Whitman, along with his kids Olivia and Diego, passed some cows swimming in a pond as they drove back from a New Breed jiu jitsu tournament in Port St. Lucie in October 2024.
It sparked a question.
“I said, ‘I didn't know cows could swim,’” said Olivia Whitman, who is 9.
Her father told her that they indeed do swim.
So she asked, "Can cows do jiu-jitsu?"
Her dad's answer was, "Probably.”
Olivia Whitman and her dad decided to create something to combine their love of Jiu jitsu and the cows. Olivia has training at Lakewood Ranch's Team Mastery Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for over three years.
After some thought, Olivia came up with “Moo-Jitsu,” which the Whitman's used to name their new spice company. Everything is themed around jiu jitsu and they created a fictional “Moo-Verse” with three special “defenders of great flavor” — Professor Moo, Professor Cluck and Professor Pork.
“We're building something bigger that we can have fun with and that the kids can grow up with,” Brandon Whitman said. “They get to understand not only the business side, but the fun and the humor and the cool story behind it."
Whitman is the founder and chief executive officer of Moo-Jitsu and works with his best friend Scott Wacha, who he has known his whole life. Wacha works as the chief financial officer. Whitman’s brother Ryan Whitman and father Russell Whitman are also part of the family business, working as the chief technology officer and the chief operating officer.
Wacha has their new business as an “untapped market.”
Moo-Jitsu currently sells four different spices. Rear Naked Gold is sweet lemon, herb and pepper. O-Moo-Plata Green is herb garlic and garden fresh. Arm Bar Red is smoky barbecue and chili heat. Ki-Moo-Ra Black is made of garlic, pepper and umami.
“We just started brainstorming, picking what we thought were the best combinations,” Brandon Whitman said. “When we landed on being the defenders of flavor, that really drove us and landed our brand. We have to do premium ingredients, no fillers, and that's what we landed on.”
Olivia said all four of their spices go well together and she prefers Ki-Moo-Ra Black on popcorn and Arm Bar Red on pizza.
Whitman said Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is where strength, flexibility, discipline and patience meet. He said that most kids learn to swim, but don’t learn how to defend themselves and others.
“You don't want them to have to learn that in real time at some point in their life,” Whitman said. “You would like them to be prepared so that they at least feel confident enough to know how to respond.”
Wacha said the amount of beneficial life lessons that people, especially kids, can learn in jiu jitsu outweighs what they can learn in more traditional sports like baseball and soccer.
“There's no excuses for the kid, because it's a one-on-one sport and that's why we wanted to get our kids into it young,” Wacha said. “If you lose in soccer, it's a team loss. If you lose on the mats, it’s you versus one other person. There's nobody else who can do anything for you. You're out there alone, and it's teaching these kids how to be independent. The work that they put into it is directly impacting their success or their failure.”
Wacha said along with the skills they learn in jiu jitsu, it is also important for them to have their kids be involved in the business and learn. They do extra "math homework" with them, tracking how much they earn from each sale and more.
They also practice geography skills together. So far they have sold to 31 states and the kids learn cities and states and mark off wherever orders originate.
Wesley Wacha, 9, attends Gene Witt Elementary School and brings stickers and business cards to help out his family business. He also helps work the booth at events such as the Market at Nathan Benderson Park.
“I feel like when people walk by, they're just, ‘It'll be mean to walk past this kid without even trying a sample,’’ Wesley Wacha said.
Wesley Wacha said he hopes that the business expands to include hot sauces and comic books about the Moo-verse.
Both Whitman and Wacha work full time jobs and have families. Whitman is a recruiting consultant at Dover.com and Wacha is an executive director at a pharmaceutical company. They didn't create Moo-Jitsu for the money.
Within the Moo-Jitsu brand, there is Moo4Kids, which takes the profits from the spices, merchandise and fundraising to sponsor kids to go to competitions.
"We want to sell enough spices to be able to have those kids go from the gym to the competition," Wacha said. "They work in the gym all the time but when you go to a competition, you're competing against other schools and other kids your age that are not in your area. It's beneficial for them. They can win, they can lose, but they still have a great time doing it and they learn a lot."
