[00:00:00] SPEAKER_??: you
[00:00:06] Ray Latif: Hey folks, I'm Ray Latif, the editor and producer of BevNET's Taste Radio podcast, and you're tuning to the latest episode of Elevator Talk, the series that profiles early stage and disruptive brands from across the food and beverage industry. Today's episode will focus on five food brands whose entrepreneurs will have an opportunity to hear feedback and advice from our co-host for this episode, that'is Beth Brown, the founder of S3 Connect. Beth, it's great to see you.
[00:00:34] Beth Brown: Hi, Ray, it's nice to see you too.
[00:00:37] Ray Latif: Yeah, I am kind of embarrassed to say this is the first time we've had an opportunity to meet like this, but I've heard so many amazing things about you from my colleagues. And I was like, we got to have Beth Brown Elevator Talk. And so I'd love for you to introduce yourself to our audience.
[00:00:54] Beth Brown: Sure, absolutely. Great to be here. Thanks for having me. Just a quick bit about my background. I've worked in CPG supply chain ops and procurement role for my entire career. And I really now am trying to sort of give back and share my learnings and best practices by launching my own business, S3 Connect. And I also am an advisor for a few accelerator programs. specifically in food and bed. So I founded S3 Connect mostly just to help brands scale smarter, helping them simplify supply chain and operations, which can be a bit tricky if that's not their area of expertise. And I like to focus mostly on planning and partnerships and helping them make connections together with cash, because that's at the end of the day, it's all about selling your product and making some money. And so I want them to be able to build a stronger foundation to help them avoid some of the chaos and firefighting and costly mistakes. And so that's a little bit about what I do and a little bit about my background.
[00:02:00] Ray Latif: Outstanding. As you mentioned, it's great. It's really important actually to have a strong foundation upon which to scale, particularly as it relates to your operation strategy. But what are those key pillars? What are those most important steps in creating that foundation so that you're prepared to scale?
[00:02:20] Beth Brown: Great, great question. And I want to say to me, it's it's three things. One is that you really just have to build and document simple but repeatable processes. A lot of founders are, you know, really optimistic, really the go-getters and they're out there doing, but they want to take the time to understand that there needs to be a process. Otherwise, you can't scale chaos. And so number two, I would say it's really learning and implementing basics, using numbers and facts to make decisions around how much you're going to sell, how much you're going to have produced, and managing your inventory and cash flow. Just connecting those pieces is important. And lastly, trying to build partnerships, because a lot of early stage founders are not you know, doing this on their own. They've got, whether it's a command partner or suppliers or 3PL, they need to build partnerships and not just look at things as transactions because your partners are part of your process.
[00:03:29] Ray Latif: I think that's outstanding advice. And I'm so glad that you're sharing it with our audience and our founders today. As I mentioned before we hopped in the mics, I think we have a stellar lineup of brands and the founders behind them. Ready to meet our first?
[00:03:42] Beth Brown: Absolutely.
[00:03:44] Ray Latif: All right, let's do it. That person is Angela Mualomfaut, who is the founder and CEO of Sohha Savory. Angela, it's great to see you again.
[00:03:52] Angela Mualomfaut: Yes, hi everyone. Thank you for having me. And it was wonderful seeing you at Fancy Food Rig.
[00:03:59] Ray Latif: Yes, it was wonderful meeting you at the show, and it was even more wonderful tasting your products because you have really, really delicious and differentiated foods. And I'd love for you to introduce Soha to our audience.
[00:04:13] Angela Mualomfaut: Right. So I'm the founder of Sohha Savory. I'm going to take you back a little history. I grew up in Lebanon. I'm Lebanese. I grew up during the civil war, making food with my mom from our land. We have our own zaatar, our own olive, olive oil, cold pressed, et cetera. So we moved here to the States. And at the time, like late Around 2010 I had my daughter. I was married. I was a professor in New York City but I always cooked from scratch learning from my mom. You know my Lebanese background is very much into how I eat and what I believe in food. Simple real ingredients basically. When my daughter was born, I realized a lot of food on the market has, they have chemicals, they have substitution for ingredients. A lot of them don't even use real ingredients. So in 2013, I was the pioneer starting, I started making labneh yogurt, so Sohha Savory yogurt. I made, I was the first one putting za'atar in jars. Before that, you could buy za'atar sumac in only Middle Eastern stores, not Main Street supermarkets. So I started selling in farmer's markets, za'atar with extra virgin olive oil in jars and dry, labneh, yogurt, baba ghanoush, hummus. I had about 30 SKUs. I sold in farmer's markets throughout New York City. I was in Chelsea Market two years. I had a store by Columbia, et cetera. In 2018, I moved to New Jersey with my daughter, divorced, and working in my kitchen in Trenton, raising my daughter by myself. The only thing I could do, because back then I had kitchen in Brooklyn, I started in Brooklyn, then in the Bronx. So when I moved to New Jersey, the only thing I could do by myself as a single mom with really no money, was continue with the Baba Ghanoush. So I continued making the za'atar and the extra virgin olive oil and dry spices. Authentic za'atar just like we have in Lebanon. It's authentic Lebanese za'atar. It has earthy, wild thyme flavor with sumac. And also the baba ghanouj. I have three flavors. I have za'atar, baba ghanouj, Harissa and the classic Baba Ghanoush. I continued selling that in New York. I'm in Whole Foods with the Baba Ghanoush since 2018. I'm in other markets in the city like Union Market that also sells my za'atar spices. I also sell on my website. So basically that's my long story in a nutshell.
[00:06:57] Ray Latif: Well, that was excellent because I think you did in about two and a half minutes, which is not easy because you have such an amazing backstory in that of SOHA. Just a quick question before we get to Beth. What is the name? Where does the name SOHA come from?
[00:07:10] Angela Mualomfaut: SOHA is actually in Arabic. It means Saha, which means health. So when we started in 2013, as I said, even in my mission statement, we always said that we're not going to add any chemicals. We're not going to do the easy way out. No matter how tough it is, it gets financially and I wanted to continue and keep to my ethics, my background, that there'll never be unreal ingredients in my baba ghanoush and any products I make. So basically, it means health. And that's why the reason my baba ghanoush and zaatar, the reason it's really good. And when I started selling it in 2013, I was the only brand on the market in New York City. I sold at Ilili and other places. Sorry. So the reason my baba is very good and my zaatar is, first of all, it's my family's Lebanese recipe. There's no added dairy. I'm a certified vegan. No dairy, no oils, no gluten, no nuts, no added preservatives or chemicals. It's the way I eat it with my daughters, the same process. It's very, it has a rustic, a flavor, smoky flavor, as it should taste like. And it takes you back to the Mediterranean when you taste my baba ghanoush.
[00:08:36] Ray Latif: It really does. I mean, I've never been to the Mediterranean, surprisingly, but I feel like if I did visit, I would be transported just via the taste of your baba ghanoush. Beth, you know, it sounds like Angela has built a strong foundation for her brand with regional distribution. And a lot of it, correct me if I'm wrong, Angela, but a lot of it by yourself. I feel like the scaling potential from here is really based on ambition, but I could be wrong. What are your thoughts?
[00:09:08] Beth Brown: Yeah, I think certainly ambition plays a role, but a lot of it also has to do with in terms of scale, in terms of margin. So depending upon what channels you're in, and I know that you talked a lot about the authenticity, the healthy nature of your products, it's important to see as you're scaling if you can continue to manufacture the way you are today, or do you have enough capacity to grow? And do you need to reduce any of your costs for your ingredients, for example, or your packaging in order to start to scale? So if you're interested in growing to support larger amount of sales, you just have to make sure that you have enough capacity to grow and that you really understand what your margins look like and what your cost structure is.
[00:10:05] Angela Mualomfaut: Right, no, I'm at a point where I need to scale. I can't keep doing everything by myself, but I'll be honest with you, it's been very difficult finding the right co-packer, finding the right distribution. So it's not just co-packing and suppliers, it's also, everything has to synchronize, right? So I've had opportunities to grow, but I'm still in that situation where I need to scale with a good partnership, with a good co-man. you know, distribution channels. And also, eventually, I would like to get my product HPP, so that the shelf life would be longer than it is now, because I don't add any preservatives. And I would never add preservatives.
[00:10:54] Beth Brown: So yeah, it's I mean, it sounds like to me that, you know, if if you're not able to continue to scale on your own, you're looking for a partner, the most important thing is making sure that the cost structure will work. So it's asking you know the list of questions around. It's not just about their capability but it's about their you know ability to support your ingredients. Do they have additional relationships that they you know you can. What's one thing to buy your ingredients at the rates that you are today. But it's important to understand what that looks like. Do you need to change suppliers? Can your suppliers support your growth? As well as when you're looking for partners, you want to make sure that they really understand your process for making your product, which is so critical, as you described. You don't want to stray from that, but you want to make sure that you're able to achieve some savings as you continue to scale, because the cost for distribution actually go up. And that's what a lot of people don't realize. They think that they save a lot of money by scaling. But the reality is that the costs for marketing trade spend and distribution are actually go up even though sometimes the ingredient cost can go down.
[00:12:12] Ray Latif: It is a very difficult catch-22 kind of scenario, and actually it leads to a good question. And obviously, CPG founders are always looking for money, maybe like one-tenth of 1% aren't looking for money. But is it important for Angela to consider a fundraise now before she starts looking for another co-packer and before she starts to expand distribution, Beth?
[00:12:37] Beth Brown: Not necessarily. I would say I mean typically you know you want to make sure you're comfortable with what you have personally that you have a projection of your to really it's about understanding your cash position. So without seeing numbers it's too difficult to say whether or not somebody should be raising money. I mean certainly you have to be able to afford production at a copacker. and versus doing it yourself. So there's that simple comparison about getting an idea of what it would take to produce or actually to secure ingredients and do a first production run. But if you have the ability to leverage your own cash flow to do that, investors really want to make sure that you've got your foundational processes in place. So it's not just a matter of, I'm going to go secure investment. You have to make sure that you've got a repeatable process, that you've got facts, that you're making your decisions and your investments in your production and inventory in a sustainable way. I don't know that it's an easy answer to your question, Ray, because I think that that's always top of mind. I would say most companies will struggle to secure funding if they don't have their best practices at least start to document them. Understand how much they're planning to sell and how they're going to support those sales.
[00:14:04] Ray Latif: Yeah, something you mentioned at the outset of our conversation or our episode, Beth, and I think that's a really important thing to consider is, is your process as buttoned up as it can be before you start taking that next step towards scaling or looking for investment? But one thing you do have buttoned up, Angela, is your products, the flavor of your products, the ingredients. It's all so amazing. And I was really thrilled when you, uh, were able to join us there or when you, because you're able to join us today. Um, I really feel like it would be a benefit to people to try your products. And if anyone's in the New York area, you should definitely look for a Sohha Savory.
[00:14:47] Angela Mualomfaut: Thank you.
[00:14:49] Ray Latif: Thank you. Well, please stay in touch, Angela. We would love to help you along your journey. If there's anything we can do, any introductions we can make, please let us know and we'll do our best.
[00:14:57] Angela Mualomfaut: Thank you.
[00:15:00] Ray Latif: All right, great start to the show. On to our next guest for this episode of Elevator Talk. We have Clara Venyard, who is the founder and CEO of Coro Foods. Clara, it's great to see you.
[00:15:12] is Beth: Great to see you and great to meet you, Beth.
[00:15:15] Ray Latif: Yeah, Clara, I completely missed you at the Fancy Food Show, and I'm so sorry. It was a whirlwind affair, and I was so bummed out, but I was on the elevator, not to make a big story out of this, but I was on the elevator or the escalator to go up there to that second floor, and then I realized I was gonna be completely late to another meeting, and the whole thing got thrown off. But I'm thrilled that you're here with us on Elevator Talk, and I love Coro Foods and what you're doing. Please tell us all about the brand.
[00:15:41] is Beth: Yeah, so Coro Foods, we're a female-founded company. We're shaking up the salami and pepperoni category with uniquely delicious, all-natural premium meats that we make to specifically meet the needs of young consumers. Before I tell you more about our product, I'll also maybe start a little bit with our founding story. because it's kind of, I think, gives you a sense of how this whole idea got started. We started with this very famous deli in Seattle, which is where I'm based, called Salumi, which if Anthony Bourdain listed it as one of his top 10 restaurants in the world, he said it should become a UNESCO World Heritage Site. very, it's like there's a pilgrimage in Seattle to salumi. And one of the things that made us so famous was we were having a lot of fun making very uniquely flavored salamis in the back. And I knew we had something when I started getting letters from people. I got a letter from a woman saying that she wanted to marry our cocoa and chipotle mole salami. It's inspired by Mexican mole sauce and it has cacao, cinnamon, and chipotle in it. Other people telling me how they had proposed to their partner over our salami. So I was like, oh, there's something here. So what we're doing is we took that idea and we launched right before COVID, Coro Foods, and it is a very delicious salami. We have a lot of a wide variety of flavors, like a lemongrass salami, a super spicy hot soppressata salami, orange cardamom salami. So we have a lot of fun with our flavors. But even beyond that, we also, I really like to think about what I would want to feed my family and my friends. And so we have a lot of, we make sure all of our ingredients, we have all natural ingredients, clean label made with humanely raised vegetarian fed pork. We manufacture everything in-house so that I can ensure that it is made with the highest quality and standards, and the standards that I know no one else can meet anywhere else. I use no co-packers for any step of the process. A lot of people love also, I mean, it's also reflected in our packaging, very beautiful. I always get a lot of people commenting on how beautiful it is. So yeah, so now we started mostly focused in the first few years. I felt like if we wanted to really make sure we were nailing the salami the way I wanted, that we focused just selling in the Northwest. So today, a few years, fast forward a few years, we're sold pretty much everywhere in the Northwest, Whole Foods, New Seasons, if you're from up here, PCC Community Markets, Metropolitan Market, QFC, Fred Meyer. And then in the last year, we started to get notice a lot across the country. And so we really are in kind of expansion mode. We're getting expanded into all the Murray's locations all across the country and many more opportunities beyond that. So it's kind of an exciting year and it's been a fun ride.
[00:19:02] Ray Latif: Well, this is such a cool brand. I mean, you've got this incredible backstory. Anthony Bourdain, I mean, I just wanna go to Seattle just to go to Salumi, like right now. I'm gonna buy my ticket just to go there right now. But I mean, I would love to have Coro in my refrigerator all the time. And just the different flavors you have, the lemongrass, the orange cardamom, the mole, my mouth is watering, my cardiology is gonna kill me. But like, this is all pretty amazing stuff. I guess the one question I have, and Beth, if you can weigh in, you know, I always think about Salami and, you know, as being, I guess, kind of a tough category sometimes, because it is, you know, there's just so many, there are so many brands, and I don't know if there's a brand loyalty in that space, but, you know, what's your evaluation of is Beth? What's your evaluation of Coro and how you assess the opportunity for it to go national?
[00:19:57] Beth Brown: That's a good question. I think that your initial thoughts, you know, there haven't, I don't think, been, you know, a lot of sort of standouts or brand loyalties in this category per se. But if you seem similar, I don't say similar, but it's as close to similar in the respect of Jerky. I mean, I think that, you know, obviously Jerky is a bit more shelf stable, so it doesn't require the refrigeration as much. But there is becoming a lot more protein focus and a lot more loyalty and a lot more interest in brands that are standing out with flavors. Flavors are just becoming something that you can add a really unique spin on traditional protein. I think there's really a lot of opportunity from what I've seen, just the flavor space itself in foods. international flavors unique flavors that you know Cora talked about her products just sound like you said I'm ready to go make a trip myself. Like it sounds amazing. So I think there is a lot of potential and I don't see other brands you know in the outside of the jerky which is not the same. I don't see other brands you know standing out or really competing in this space.
[00:21:17] is Beth: Actually, two little things to call out is one is actually we are shelf-stable. It's just like jerky. Amazing. Refrigerated. That is a common misperception, but that's actually not true. Our salami is sometimes sold refrigerated, sometimes not, but it is shelf-stable. Stores have a lot of flexibility in terms of where they put it in the store. The other thing actually is because it is a highly regulated category, because it is fermented meat, and so with good reason, it's highly regulated. Actually, it is a category that doesn't have, if you compare it to other headers, it does not have a lot of brands. When I remember, we were first thinking, well, do we go into this space? We looked at jerky and I had a list of 450 jerky brands. I was never able to compile a list of more than 35 brands in salami. And once you look at pre-sliced, it's actually much smaller. So we typically, even with us, we only have three or four brands that are doing, that are make premium sliced salami that are available in grocery stores. And then they're all doing the exact same. There's been very low emphasis on doing anything beyond just very traditional, conventional, with a lot of crap in it. salami of the same flavors. I went into a grocery store and I counted 19 of the exact same product on the shelf, 19 genoas with a lot of crap in them. And so that's where I was like, wow, there's something really here because there are, there's very few brands and they're all trying to do the exact same thing. And they're all serving sort of not really thinking, okay, what do young consumers want? What do they care about? Even beyond, you know, flavors, they care about the ingredients, they care about the processes, they care about is the brand being intentional with how it treats its workers, how it treats the environment? Is it Can I trust that they're making the right decisions, even from a food safety perspective? And so we see, is the packaging, is the sizing, is the flavoring, is it really meeting my needs as a young consumer? And so that's when we're like, oh my gosh, there's actually a huge white space.
[00:23:39] Beth Brown: Yeah, I would completely agree. And it's not just young consumers. There is growing. importance in protein. You know we're sort of regardless of age and consumer type. I think that there's a lot of opportunity right now. Just protein forward products that stand out that are like you said healthy all natural and that you know have a clean label is probably more important than ever.
[00:24:09] Ray Latif: Absolutely. And Clara, I think, you know, you hit the nail on the head with younger consumers, but Beth is totally right. I mean, I wouldn't necessarily call myself a younger consumer these days, but you know, this is something that I would buy, you know, six days a week and twice on Sunday. I think the question for you is the sky seems to be the limit, but where do you put your resources? Where do you think about where your best time, where best to spend your time and money?
[00:24:36] is Beth: Yeah and actually that is one of the big I think questions for for us and challenges is that we're in a moment right now that we have so much growth opportunity we have I mean I have most major grocery stores now asking for our product on the conventional side, on the natural side. How do we, small stores, how do we prioritize? And then also, I also think it's very important because I want to tell my story and say, I know that when people try our salami, they can taste the difference. Figuring out how to tell the story beyond just the grocery store and where should we invest even from a marketing perspective, because we have so many opportunities as well on that front, that's the big challenge right now. You know, I'm a huge believer that as a small brand, if we really want to do things well, is we have to make some choices and figuring out how to do that effectively is the thing that keeps me up at night right now.
[00:25:45] Ray Latif: Okay, well, maybe Beth can help you sleep better in the very short time that we have left. Any suggestions on where Claire and her team could maybe should prioritize their time and resources?
[00:25:56] Beth Brown: I think it's just making sure that you have capacity to support whatever opportunity that you're intentionally looking at right now, that's the most important, and that the margin is there. Because what you don't want is to put yourself in a position where there's a good opportunity, but you're not quite where you need to be from a cost perspective. And then you want to obviously take some of your cash and your resources and apply that to the marketing side.
[00:26:27] Ray Latif: Excellent advice, and this has been an excellent conversation. I wish we had more time. I always complain to our producers that they never give us enough time on this show, because I feel like we could spend hours, and it would be fantastic. Even if we had some coro, if we had like a spread of coro and we were eating the salami while we were talking, my mouth is watering again. Anyway, Clara, thank you so much for being on the show. Congratulations on everything that you've achieved to this point. I am going to your Salumi restaurant or store in Seattle. It's going to happen this year. I'm going to make that happen. But in the meantime, please stay in touch. Let us know if we can help in any way.
[00:27:06] is Beth: Thank you so much, Ray. Thank you so much, Beth. And yes, you have an open invitation to Seattle.
[00:27:11] Ray Latif: OK, I'm coming. All right, great start to the show. Two for two, I think, Beth. Let's go three for three with Phoebe Zhao, who is the founder of Lapeche. Phoebe, it's great to see you.
[00:27:25] and producer: So nice to see you guys. Thank you so much for having me on the show.
[00:27:28] Ray Latif: Really appreciate it. Yeah, you're right down the street. Where in Boston are you based?
[00:27:33] and producer: So we are actually... We actually... We're self-producing in a Commonwealth kitchen, which is a food incubator. But we recently actually moved to a co-packer over near the Hudson Valley in New York. But our headquarters office is still in Boston.
[00:27:53] Ray Latif: Outstanding. Well, anytime you are in the Newton area, because we're just down the street from downtown Boston, please stop by. We'd love to have you. As long as you're bringing bags of LaPesh. If you bring like a handful of them,
[00:28:06] and producer: boxes of Lapeche for you guys.
[00:28:08] Ray Latif: Okay, well then come on over today. For sure.
[00:28:13] and producer: I will take you up on that.
[00:28:15] Ray Latif: Thank you so much. Lapeche is an incredible brand. Please tell us all about it.
[00:28:19] and producer: So the journey of La Pesce really started because as a dietician and someone with celiac who has an insatiable sweet tooth, I was really frustrated with what gluten-free snacks were available on store shelves. It seemed they were either like really functional protein bars, kind of keto granola, fiber-added products. or aimed at kids' lunchbox snacks, aimed at kids' palates and visuals, or produced by these big brands with low-quality ingredients. And there was nothing truly elevated in the gluten-free snack space that didn't compromise on ingredient quality or eating experience. And that's really how Le Peche was born. So Le Peche is a category-defining cookie company at the intersection of indulgence and wellness. And we really wanted to combine just the Taste Radio texture above all else with the clean label, high-quality ingredient list that customers are looking for right now. So we craft naturally gluten-free and grain-free French-inspired cookies using, again, clean, wholesome ingredients and globally inspired flavors. Our flagship product line is our take on the French Sablé cookie. It's a rich, buttery, melt-in-your-mouth, shortbread-style cookie. But our version is made with 100% almond flour, pure butter, and other nutrient-dense ingredients based on whatever the four flavors that you're eating are. And the thing we pride ourselves the most on is that We hope that we aim to be not just a good-for-gluten-free cookie company. We really hope to be just this delicious, sumptuous, high-quality cookie that just happens to be gluten-free. And so our beginnings were super scrappy. Like I mentioned, we launched the product just over a year ago. I was working still as a dietician at the time, and self-producing in a shared kitchen, literally knocking on local stores in the Boston area, pitching to the managers and buyers, and really just testing the market. Luckily, we got a pretty positive response. And in just about a year, we've moved from self-production to partnering with a co-packer and working with distributors. So we've grown to now, I think, more than 60 specialty retailers across the New England region, which is still very small. But we are preparing to grow Now that we have a much better production and logistics operation, we're preparing to expand into the New York area and the southern states next year, and also hoping to launch exciting new product lines in the next year as well. And really, the hope is this is only the beginning, because every step we take brings us closer to my mission, which is to transform the way people experience healthy snacking. My goal is, with LaPesh, to build a category leader in the wholesome indulgence space. So really, to prove that better for you can be every bit as craveable and joyful and satisfying as the real thing. And ultimately, we hope to not just be making cookies. We really hope to reinvigorate indulgence for the modern day snacker and to combine the best of both worlds when it comes to quality nutrient-dense ingredients and that kind of decadent, really exciting snacking experience.
[00:31:51] Ray Latif: I am so happy in my notes here it says that you recently partnered with Rainforest Distribution, which is going to be bringing La Pesce across the East Coast. Rainforest is a remarkable distributor and so congratulations on signing with them. Beth, I'd like to just get your perspective on this because I love the idea of eating delicious and eating healthy and then having them be pretty much one and the same. And I think that is the holy grail, right? For CPG brands is nobody wants to compromise on either. So have them both. I think the question is where, where does this, where does this Brad Avery permission to be? And Phoebe talked about being in specialty stores right now, but, you know, is, is sort of retail an open opportunity for her right now? Do you see Lapeche's being sold just as easily in specialty stores as it is at say a natural or conventional retailer?
[00:32:48] Beth Brown: It's a great question. I am definitely not the expert in this space, but I will tell you from my experience working with brands, there's definitely opportunity. I actually, like Phoebe, I am all about sort of the, you know, how do you find healthy indulgence? Very focused on using even, like you said, almond flours and ingredients that I try to bake with at home. Although my family always questions, you know, is this going to taste healthy or is this going to be like indulgent and really good? So I'm always on the look for that. I think you're seeing more and more brands in, you know, not to always call out Whole Foods, but in, you know, that type of, a natural grocery. I think there's probably the most opportunity in natural grocery although most of the grocery stores at this point have a natural section. So I think there's plenty of opportunity to expand it's really just about expanding in a smart way and that you're not moving too fast, too quickly, because as you start to scale and expand, costs actually go up quite exponentially, specifically as you look to manage natural manufacturing and distribution. So I would just say, I think there's plenty of opportunity to just be more strategic about thinking about the channel and the margin structure in each channel, and then you can make best decisions on where to scale first.
[00:34:25] and producer: That's great advice, Beth. Thank you so much. That's really like you said, where we're trying to focus our energy on. So not just looking at each opportunity with an emotional lens, like, oh my gosh, wouldn't it be great to see my product on shelves of X, Y, Z, but making sure it makes sense right now through a financial lens or through a sustainable growth lens. So really trying to detach the emotional aspect of decision-making with the data-driven side, which is sometimes hard because it's like, this is a passion project at the end of the day. It is driven by emotion. So really leading, leading decisions through data and through margins and stuff versus emotional kind of decision making.
[00:35:07] Beth Brown: Yeah, that's very smart.
[00:35:10] Ray Latif: Yeah, and I think an important question or thing to consider is how you get the product in people's hands and in people's mouths, right? It's an incredibly delicious, or you have incredibly delicious cookies. They're expensive on the one hand in that you can't go and give away a million pouches, but what is your demo strategy? How do you think about getting people to try this product and hopefully buy it?
[00:35:36] and producer: So right now, our main demo strategy has been in-store demos. We've seen great success with that. I mean, they are a more premium-priced product, of course. But we've really seen, once the customers try it, they really do. The conversion rate is great. But again, it's that kind of hesitancy to try a new product that's expensive. So in-store demos is our main channel of kind of, breaking into new customers and getting new customers to try it. I think moving forward, that paired with promotions that are offered quarterly or something, just so customers have a little gateway to try the product first. And we've really seen that once people try it, really like it and they do repeat purchase. So I think even going forward, a lot of emphasis on in-store promotions and promoting and quarterly kind of promotion incentives to give to customers. So those are the main ones I would say.
[00:36:43] Ray Latif: Beth, from an operations standpoint, what does it take to incorporate, say, smaller packages or trial packages into a operational strategy or a production strategy? Is it necessary? Is it something that Phoebe and other folks like her should consider?
[00:37:04] Beth Brown: Typically, when you go to do sampling, you're not using any specific package. You're typically just using your regular SKUs, because you're going to open up the packages or the cases. So there isn't usually a need to do something specific. The only thing that I would say sometimes that comes up is the concept of variety packs. So if you've got products that are different flavors, when you go to sample sometimes, They get a chance to try the different flavors. But when they go to purchase them, they're purchasing for a more expensive product. They're purchasing a specific flavor. They may want to try more. So some companies are asking if their co-packers are capable of producing more of a variety pack. That way, it's not as indulgent from a cash perspective. But really, just from their own perspective, they get a chance, as they did in the store, to try more of your products. That's not always feasible from all the co-packer perspectives and it does cause some complexity unless they're set up to do that already. But I would say that generally speaking, the only other option founders have is if they have a very large size package, they could create a smaller package that's more for on the go. So a lot of times premium brands will go out there with a larger package, especially in baked goods. They're like good for you in the same category. And then I'll see them come back out with a smaller package. So somebody it's more of a grab and go. They can even single serve. Shockingly has done really well, especially in this category. So I think there is some more opportunity out there.
[00:38:51] and producer: No, 100%. And thank you for mentioning SingleServe, actually. That's the next project we're working on. Right as we speak, I just got the guidelines from the packaging manufacturer this week. So we're hoping to push out SingleServe for the Sable. So right now, there are around eight cookies in each pouch. We're hoping to do a SingleServe flow-wrapped two cookies, so with a countertop display box. And that's really marketed towards cafes and nice coffee shops, people can just grab it and try it as a kind of very cost or like a low risk in terms of cost way to try a new product and to see if they like it. So that's definitely a great suggestion and something we're.
[00:39:31] Beth Brown: Oh, great. I'm so glad to hear that you've actually already working on that.
[00:39:34] and producer: That's fantastic.
[00:39:35] Beth Brown: It would probably do really well. I have, I have, I lived in the Boston area for about five years and my daughter's in school in Newton coincidentally. Um, so I was going to say, well, do really well in the Boston area and, you know, college students in these, running in between classes, going to cafes, you know, definitely a lot of opportunity. Love that idea.
[00:39:58] Ray Latif: Yeah, and I love LaPesh and I love what you're doing. And you know, the brand that came to mind when I was thinking about or hearing you speak was Partake Foods, which is a fabulous brand of allergen-free snacks. And I hope one day we'll be talking about Phoebe in the same way they were talking about Denise Woodard as being an incredible entrepreneur and having a brand that's literally everywhere. So congratulations on the start, Phoebe.
[00:40:26] is Beth: Thank you.
[00:40:26] Ray Latif: Please come visit us. You don't have to bring product, but anytime that you're near our office, please stop by.
[00:40:34] and producer: I would love to, and I will definitely bring cases.
[00:40:36] Ray Latif: Okay. Well, yeah, I think Beth is going to take some issue with that because, you know, you want to keep your costs down and not waste too much money on the media, but we'll happily take what you can give us. Okay. Once again, Phoebe, thank you so much for joining us on this episode of Elevator Talk.
[00:40:51] and producer: Thank you so much.
[00:40:52] Ray Latif: Let's keep things going with Jordan Wanamaker, who is the co-founder of a brand called Salad Sprinkles. Jordan, it's great to see you again.
[00:41:01] and producer: Hi, Ray. Nice to see you too.
[00:41:02] Ray Latif: Yeah, we've run into each other more than a couple of times over the past few months and talk about a really fantastic brand. Now, I have to have something to admit. Um, so I had this little small packet of salad sprinkles. I can't recall whether I got it from our Taste Radio meetup in New York city, or if I got it from the fancy food show. And I was sitting at my desk and for the first time I wondered, can I just like eat these as a snack? Do I actually have to put them on anything? And I ripped the bag open and I just crushed it. And I was so satisfied and so happy that I did. I feel like I have a new snack now. I don't have to put it on anything. So, but I'm, I'm getting ahead of myself. Salad sprinkles. Tell our audience all what you do.
[00:41:42] and producer: Yes, so salad sprinkles are toasted flavored rice sprinkles that put crunch in every bite instead of a crouton. They come in three flavors. We have our classic herb. We have chili crisp and we have maple sea salts. We invented it as sort of a crouton alternative. I call myself a crouton crusher, so I'm one of those people. Every time I would go to a restaurant and there would be giant chunks of croutons in my salad, I would mash them up because I got tired of chasing it around the bowl and. We invented it because we started seeing a lot of like toasted breadcrumbs were becoming really trendy at restaurants and having that sort of textured condiment is what I call it on your salad. And so my co-founder and I, who, you know, our whole relationship is like small talk about groceries, basically, which I think we can all relate here. And she and I started looking in grocery stores for it and we couldn't find it. And we started making it at home, but You're burning a pan, you're seasoning things. It takes forever. And we were like, there's got to be a shortcut. And when we realized there wasn't one, we decided, well, we'll have to make it. So we came up with the idea and started the brand two years ago. We spent a full year in R&D. The original product was actually a toasted breadcrumb product. We were baking focaccia and crumbling it. and doing that in an industrial kitchen, which was extremely time-consuming and created a ton of waste. We had one flavor that was cornbread at the time, and that was our only gluten-free skew, and that kept selling really well at farmer's markets and in tests that we were doing. So we started asking him some questions and realized that a lot of people, for them, they were just getting it because it was the only gluten-free SKU. And it's people who, you know, gluten-free people can't have breadcrumbs, can't have croutons. So we reformulated and finalized it about a year ago with the rice-based product that we have. But it ended up being the best accident because by reformulating, we now have this rice crisp, which actually stays crunchy longer. A lot of the breadcrumbs were kind of like sinking to the bottom of the bowl and getting really mushy and pasty. And this, it takes me like a half an hour to eat a salad at my desk some days. And by the time I get to the bottom, it is still crunchy. And what I love about it too is I call it a textured condiment because it's not just good on salads. Like I put the classic herb on my pasta. I love the chili crisp on like a cheesy bowl of, you know, kacho a pepe or a taco salad or something like that. And the maple sea salt, you know, I have a great summer salad recipe for it. But most days I eat one every afternoon with my yogurt and put it on there like those 90s little cereal toppers. And yes, Ray, you can eat it straight out of the bottle, which I do a lot. And I've actually gotten some funny late night texts from friends where they find themselves in the pantry unable to decide what to eat and just kind of go straight for the bottle. So yes, that is an acceptable snack food as well. So
[00:44:36] Ray Latif: Okay. Well, I thought you were going to say, I got some texts from friends who had a late night and ended up with salad sprinkles all over themselves, you know, after a boozy evening. But, uh, yeah.
[00:44:46] and producer: I don't know about the aftermath, but yeah, that's.
[00:44:50] Ray Latif: Well, I, I really do love what you're doing and I feel like I is Beth could have some and taste some because they have this wonderful crunchiness to them. Um, and I feel like there's definitely a moment right now. for adding flavor to something, whether it be in sauces or condiments. Chili crisps definitely opened the door for all this, I think. In textured condiments, adding textured flavor to a meal or a snack, it's such a brilliant idea. I think the question, Beth, is about velocity, right? I mean, like, how do you get more of this product on shelf? How do you get it into more places? How do you get people educated about it? How do you get those turns? You know, how would you advise Jordan at this point? Because she's got a good, solid foundation. She's got an amazing tasting product. But what are the next steps that she needs to consider?
[00:45:41] Beth Brown: Great question. I think it's probably more of a sales and marketing questions than an ops and supply chain question, but I'll do my best. So I would say, you know, Jordan, one is, you know, sampling, as you probably already know, is definitely the key. I think that it depends on, you know, where you're trying to get your product into. So there's, you know, if it's, there's probably opportunities beyond traditional retail, right? I'm sure you've done the farmer market scene, but There are probably, you know, we're just talking about other products that in small packages that you can try. There's, I think there's a lot of opportunity in bars, restaurants, food service, and in colleges and universities, as odd as that might sound. There's a lot of brokers and distributors who are really starting to, you know, pick up better for you, gluten-free products that you know, places that are offering salads and, you know, toppings for pastas, stations, those types of things. I think that there may be some opportunity there, if you haven't considered that. There's, you know, obviously it depends on, you know, what your interest is and where your passions are for sampling. But I would think that, Maybe some more unconventional channels. I don't think this is going to fly off the shelves in a typical grocery retail chain. But I think that certainly there's some. I haven't tried it yet. I admit I'm not sure if it's even available. in Connecticut, but looking forward to trying it and sampling it.
[00:47:29] and producer: We will definitely make sure we get you some, Beth. We are available. We've actually, since we launched last year, been focused primarily on DTC. We're in about 30 independent retailers around the country, including we are in all of the Molly Stones in the Bay Area. But it's done really well, DTC, and we're on Amazon. We launched on Amazon a couple months ago, and that's been a really great channel for us with our three-pack on there. But it's done really well with DTC because social media is such a great opportunity to demo it. It really makes a fun sound. I don't know if Zoom will get this out, but it has a fun demo element and people love to show the creative ways that they're using it. And so like the social media part we get, but yeah, that is kind of like our big barrier and wanting to move into retail because yes, ordering it on Amazon Prime, a three pack is great. Our most popular SKU is the variety pack, but everybody has a favorite flavor. They want to be able to go to their neighborhood grocery store and refill on just the one that they go through the most. And there's definitely an education element with something that's new. One thing we've really struggled with is talking about the merchandising with stores in that we really want to be where the bottled salad dressings are because our customer is the one paying for a shortcut. So they're the person who is buying the $10 bottle of Gotham Greens and getting that pre-made dressing and then buying this because they're busy. They want to be the type of person who can toast their own breadcrumbs at home. they don't have the time to do that and to add that like elevation to their, you know, desk lunches like I am. So it's definitely like a merchandising problem that we're trying to solve of like, getting us out of the crouton aisle, because that's kind of a dead space. And that's not necessarily who we're trying to find. But with a new customer, you know, a lot of times we meet buyers or new retailers, they're like, well, wait, what is that? Where does it go? So it's been the independent retailers have been really the best part because they've allowed us to kind of like AB test, like one of Agora market in Chicago, they put us actually in the refrigerated section next to the salad dressings. It doesn't need to be refrigerated, but we have great velocity there because there are people are there doing it. So, you know, the demo helps with the education of that. But yeah, so that's kind of, it's, it's fun having something new and original, but it would be a lot easier to explain if we were a yogurt or a soda or something that people are already familiar with. So, you know, showing them, hey, this isn't just for salads to push that velocity, but also We love the name because it tells you exactly what it is, but there's still sort of an educational element that needs to come with it. That's been a unique challenge for us now that we're sort of trying to move off of DTC and more into stores to be where people go every week.
[00:50:21] Ray Latif: Yeah, you know, I was wondering about that and how you came up with the name and the word sprinkles, because I think I got it pretty quickly, but it seems like there is, there needs to be a point of reference, if it's putting it next to salad dressing or putting it in the refrigerated case, it seems like that would be really helpful for consumers to understand what this is. So, you know, how do you think about that name and whether there might be an evolution down the line?
[00:50:49] and producer: Yeah, we've thought about different evolutions sort of in one of our biggest brand inspirations is Brightland, right? Like we want to make pantry staples that are so pretty that you want to leave them out on the counter because a lot of salad toppers come in like bags that are, you know, hard to reseal and sort of unattractive. That was why we settled on the shaker bottle and put a lot of work into the packaging. I'm new to CPG in the last two years, I've been a graphic designer for 13 years. So that was something that I could kind of like double down on with my knowledge. And actually, it's interesting that you mentioned the food service, because that was a conversation we started to have at Fancy Food Show, that was our first time exhibiting and how people can discover the product in use somewhere else, you know, at a salad bar, at we're R&Ding a larger shakers and refill bags for food service so that someone could be at maybe a Sweetgreen or in their college cafeteria and have it. And once they've had it, it clicks. I love the moment when I'm demoing in a store and people taste it and see it and it's like, oh, like the light bulb goes off, but it is kind of a lot of steps and it's, a lot of that marketing costs money. So that is, that's definitely been a challenge as a new brand. And as someone, you know, new to CPG, who, like I said, have some of the branding and marketing elements down, but trying to figure out how to translate that with the boundaries of a retail store and distribution and all of those other things that you were very helpfully talking to the previous founders about. But yeah, it's definitely a challenge, but it's fun because it does allow us to be creative. So yeah, we're hoping that discovery will happen more and more.
[00:52:34] Beth Brown: I have a sense that you will go viral at some point. I think it's just the Yeah, especially the college students. I think if they pick up on this, they're going to be putting it on everything. It's just a matter of timing and getting it into the hands for trial.
[00:52:50] and producer: Yeah, definitely.
[00:52:51] Ray Latif: Yeah, and I think making sure that other companies can't make what you make, and I know we're out of time, but do you have an IP? Do you have a patent on what you do?
[00:52:59] and producer: We don't have a patent. We do have registered. Our trademarks were just confirmed and approved, so that was a big fun relief. We are actually partnering, looking to form a partnership with and discussion with our supplier for the rice crisps, to have them be a partner with us so that we can have exclusivity to the size because, you know, there are copycats that will come and some already have with sort of similar products. But if The size of it, we did a lot of R&D to make sure that it would stick perfectly to the lettuce. It wouldn't fall to the bottom of the bowl. It wouldn't be too big. This size was very intentional of the rice crisps. And again, Beth, I can't wait for you to try it and see it. So that is something that we're kind of working with to try to get exclusivity on this specific extrusion so that we can sort of own the IP on that and have that be a little more protected and build our moat in that way so that we're not white labeling too early.
[00:54:01] Ray Latif: Can you imagine two years ago, you talking about extrusion on a show about CPG? It's an interesting place that you're in right now, Jordan, I would say.
[00:54:15] and producer: Yes, yes. If you told me that when I was working at Penguin Random House Publishing, I would say that you were crazy. So, yeah.
[00:54:22] Ray Latif: The journey of an entrepreneur. Well, Jordan, thank you so much for joining us on Elevator Talk today. I know we'll be talking again really soon, but if there's anything we can do to help along your journey, please let us know.
[00:54:33] and producer: Yeah, no, that sounds great. You've been so supportive and the whole team at BevNET has been, and it's great seeing you guys around and popping in in New York. And Beth, we will connect after because I will be getting some salad sprinkles in the mail to you. So thank you for your feedback today. Love it.
[00:54:47] Beth Brown: Thank you so much, Jordan.
[00:54:48] and producer: All right. Thank you.
[00:54:52] Ray Latif: All right, onto our final guest for this episode of Elevator Talk. We have Jay Zane, who is the CEO of Cedar F&B. That stands for food and beverage. You'd think you'd know that on a show like this. Jay, it's great to see you.
[00:55:05] Taste Radio: Hi, Ray. is Beth. How are you? Thanks for having me.
[00:55:07] Ray Latif: Thanks so much for being with us today. I was introduced to your brand by a fantastic entrepreneur by the name of Christian Karim Khalil, who is the founder of an incredible Lebanon brand called Yaza. And he brought some of your baklava to our office when he came and visited, and everyone was just thrilled. So I'm letting the cat out of the bag and letting people know that you make baklava. But Cedar F&B, tell us all about what you do.
[00:55:37] Taste Radio: That's great to hear. That's great to hear. So my story started back in 2017. I owned a Mediterranean market, and I was looking for some baklava for my customers. And searching domestically, I really couldn't find anything that had the quality that my customers would expect. And that was also authentic, that had the authenticity that I was used to. So I started importing baklava from overseas, and really saw an opportunity at that point. But rather than just focusing on the ethnic consumer, the ethnic customer, I really wanted to see if there was an opportunity for getting into the mainstream American market, if you will. My interest in baklava as it relates to the American market actually goes back more than 30 years. My very first job as a teenager was working in our family baklava business right here outside of D.C. And during my work there, I could see the ethnic consumer would buy baklava traditionally by the pound in bulk, and the Americans would come in and try it and liked it and loved the aroma and everything, but were very apprehensive about purchasing baklava, kind of the way that we were selling it at the time. But I think nowadays the world is a much smaller place and we embrace international foods, generally speaking, much more in today's climate. So it really created a possibility. So my partners and I started Cedar Pastries and the question was, could we offer authentic Mediterranean baklava that the American consumer would embrace? I spent a lot of time understanding who we wanted to reach, how they saw baklava, and how we could fit into their daily lives. For many of our customers, our baklava was the first baklava that they even tried. And we were thrilled with the response, and we've been thrilled ever since. Today, we're the largest manufacturer in America for baklava. I'm very proud of that. And I think beyond that, we're very proud that we've been able to maintain the quality, the authenticity of the product. We produce over a million pounds of baklava every year. We don't use any artificial flavors. Everything is made from scratch. We don't use any frozen doughs or anything like that. We're currently in many of the top retailers around the country, mostly as a holiday item. And we're continuing to grow both in numbers of doors that we're opening, but also in the terms of changing the consumer behavior from a holiday item to an everyday item.
[00:58:06] Ray Latif: And it sounds like you're emphasizing not necessarily your manufacturing capabilities, but the brand itself. Is that right?
[00:58:16] Taste Radio: Well, the brand is important for us, absolutely. But I think what we've been able to do is by manufacturing domestically in-house, we've been able to bring the flavors of the Mediterranean into the domestic market and been able to really accommodate all the growing needs that we're seeing in a rapid manner and have the flexibility to shift product development from product to product, packaging sizes and things like that, that maybe we wouldn't have been able to do if we were importing products. So it's important, the manufacturing of our product, we own our own facility, we own our own production process, we don't co-pack or outsource any of that stuff. So that's a badge of honor for us as well.
[00:59:00] Ray Latif: Yeah, I would say so. And it sounds like you're pretty buttoned up on the operations front. So, you know, again, from a sales and marketing standpoint, I think about baklava as particularly being sold in specialty or ethnic grocery stores. But I would hope and I think there is room to be in more conventional supermarkets and whatnot. Beth, are you a consumer of baklava? I know I am and I love it, but do you sense an opportunity? Do you sense that it seems like consumers love ethnic foods and are gravitating toward more ethnic foods these days more than ever, but is baklava one of those categories that's ready for breakout success?
[00:59:41] Beth Brown: Yeah, that's a good question. I would say I'm more of a special occasion consumer. I think that I love the the natural aspect, because it's a lot of, I'll traditionally not go to the grocery store looking for, I'll go to a bakery or a restaurant and purchase this. So definitely the folks that are probably going to be your biggest consumers are going to be looking for making, like you said, it's your process, the ingredients that you're using, and options. I love, I actually, we recently as a gift received a baklava, assortment from abroad. And it didn't really travel that well, but I loved the concept. And I think that, you know, there's certainly opportunity in specific types of retailers. I think that, you know, probably best to start small and do it really well, sort of build that foundational pull for it. Because, you know, the other thing, too, you have to consider is as you want to continue to grow, You've got to understand what that will take from a cost perspective to scale. The good news is you've got your own facility. You've got the processes down. You've got the flexibility to change, if necessary, suppliers or ingredients. But you want to make sure that you can do it efficiently at a larger scale before you go too broad. But certainly, Ray, I think there's opportunity there. especially if you can do variety packs, which having your own facility gives you that capability.
[01:01:24] Taste Radio: Yeah, so we actually are in the bakery section of all of the places that we are in. So we're in Whole Foods, Costco, BJ's. We're in a lot of these places and we're always in the bakery section. So we're considered a bakery item and not an international product. That was a stickler for me is to really make sure that we are considered a bakery item. We are a fresh baked item. That's kind of one of the things. And we do, our specialty is the variety pack, as you mentioned. And what we found, that's great for the holidays, but trying to convert our customer to an everyday item, we've gone smaller and smaller and smaller. And you had mentioned earlier about going to single serves. And so we now offer single serve, a two-piece product that's perfect for a point of sale purchase kind of stand. or a gateway product so that a customer who doesn't know our product could buy a $2.99 piece of baklava, try it, love it, and then during the holidays then would be more open to buying larger gift boxes in terms of kind of the holiday things. So I think they complement each other and that's kind of been the strategy moving as we go. We have some of the bigger names for the holidays, the seasonal, and now we're starting to make some traction with the everyday customers in terms of the retailers that we're in now.
[01:02:44] Ray Latif: Yeah, Jay, you know, what's interesting about baklava is that I am comparing the potential for it to be a bit more widespread and ubiquitous in our country to that of the success and traction for Dubai chocolate, right? I mean, Dubai chocolate came out of nowhere. You see it everywhere now. It's in bar form, it's in snack bar form, it's used as a flavoring and, I wonder if you see any traction for Middle Eastern sweets as a result of the success that we've been seeing with Dubai chocolate.
[01:03:19] Taste Radio: So, I have to say, we've seen traction from basically when we started, but the amount of interest that we've seen since the Dubai chocolate craze is phenomenal. whether it's doing a Dubai chocolate baklava or anything with the Dubai kind of chocolate moniker on it. We've found our focus or we really try to focus on what we do and what we do well and try to do that. So we're not in the chocolate business. And so it's a little difficult to get into that. However, we've seen a huge demand for the kataifi dough, which is what Dubai chocolate is made with. It's one of the three main ingredients in the Dubai chocolate filling. And so we've had a huge influx of demand for that product. And so one of the challenges that we face or that we're dealing with is, how do we handle that demand? How do we deal with that demand, but yet stay focused to what we're doing? And riding the wave, but making sure we don't lose focus of what our core product is. And as I mentioned, we're a bakery item. So we're comfortable. have more and more experience working in the bakery sector. The dough, the Katayfi dough, we're getting the demand for it, but that's a new market for me in terms of freezer spacing and trying to compete for freezer space and the logistics of freight for that type of a product. All of this is kind of new for us, so I've been a little bit apprehensive about getting into that market just because I think there's going to be a lot of bumps along the road and we haven't I think it's here to stay, but up until now, the question was, is this just the fad that was going to disappear or is it here to stay? And it seems like for right now it's staying.
[01:05:12] Ray Latif: Yeah, I would say so. It's, uh, it's incredible because it kind of came out of nowhere. And if you were at the fancy food show in New York city in June, you saw just seems like barrels and barrels of brands that wanted to be involved in that. And I hope it's true for baklava. You know, I saw. some brands that were marketing themselves as snacking baklava. So not necessarily as a dessert, but something that you could have just as a midday snack. And I think that's just something that would raise, or what they call it, rising tide lifts all boats. I think it's just something where awareness and versatility of a product like yours is a good thing for everyone, as long as it's high quality and made with great ingredients like Cedars is. Jay, we're out of time. I can't believe it. That flew by. But thank you so much for being with us on Elevator Talk today. Please stay in touch. If you ever find yourself in the Boston area, please come visit.
[01:06:07] Taste Radio: Will do. Thanks for having me. Thank you, Beth.
[01:06:09] Ray Latif: Beth, as advertised, a fantastic group of brands. We had a wide variety of brands that are playing in a variety of different spaces. And I think all of them, despite being at different stages of their own journeys, just to show the breadth of great things that are coming to our food industry. Just as I know we talked about this at the beginning of the show, but just as a sort of overall assessment, what do you think there's one thing that all these brands, all these founders need to consider as they continue to move forward?
[01:06:45] Beth Brown: I guess sort of like go back to the basics of just making sure that, you know, they really understand, um, and use data and facts to plan out their, you know, their forecasted demand where, you know, how much they're going to sell, how much, uh, it costs to make their product. Um, and managing their inventory is critical, right? It doesn't matter what stage you're at. It's just really important to make sure that they've got the sort of processes in place because as they start to want to scale, whether, you know, it doesn't matter what channel you're going into, um, you've got to make sure that you're really connecting your decision making process to facts and that all of your numbers, uh, translate, you understand how it translates into cash and margin. So without margins, you know, they say sort of brands die. And so. It's just really critical that they understand how to do a bit of a planning exercise, and they'll continue to grow and do well. And lots of room for opportunity, lots of amazing products out there that we saw today, heard about today. Can't wait to try them all. And just, yeah, really appreciate you having me on the show.
[01:08:01] Ray Latif: Well, Beth, thank you so much for being with us on this show. Um, you gave such great feedback and advice to our founders, and I know some are going to want to follow up with you and folks in our audience probably want to get in touch with you. What is the best way to do so?
[01:08:16] Beth Brown: Um, I can be reached through my website. So s3connectsolutions.com. Um, there's many different ways to contact me through the website, um, or just Beth at S3connectsolutions.com is great email. So either way, happy to stay connected. Love your show and bed net in general and can't wait to, I'm going to have to drop by and visit. I don't know if I have to, I have to find products to bring with me when I visit Newton, which I will definitely be doing a lot in the fall. So I look forward to meeting you in person one of these days.
[01:08:51] Ray Latif: Yeah. Well, anytime you have an opportunity to stop by, please do. You don't need to bring products. We have a lot here too, so we can share. But the big question is, can we have you back as a host on Elevator Talk?
[01:09:00] Beth Brown: Absolutely, I would love to come back. I really enjoy talking to the brands and hoping they had some key takeaways and moments today, and certainly in the future. Love to stay connected.
[01:09:12] Ray Latif: Outstanding. Well, thank you so much once again, Beth, and thank you so much to all the entrepreneurs who joined us today. Thanks to everyone watching or listening, and thanks to our incredible team at BevNET, Nosh, and Taste Radio, the best in the business. Signing off for everyone, I'm Ray Latif, and we'll talk to you next time.
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