[00:00:10] Ray Latif: Hello, friends. I'm Ray Latif, and you're tuned in to Taste Radio, the leading podcast for entrepreneurs, makers, and innovators in the food and beverage industry. Before we hit play, here's the headline. Arguably the biggest in CPG in 2025, and one you already know. PepsiCo acquired better for you soda brand, Poppy, for nearly $2 billion. What follows is a replay of a 2023 Taste Radio interview with founders Allison and Stephen Ellsworth, recorded back when Poppy was still firmly in disruptor mode, scaling fast, breaking rules, and taking direct aim at Big Soda. In the conversation, The Ellsworth trace Poppy's evolution from a scrappy gut health drink into a modern soda brand built for culture, not compromise. They discussed launching amid the chaos of COVID, betting early on TikTok, and choosing bold cans and great taste over health-halo minimalism. You'll also hear a rare, candid take on founder ego, why they handed CEO reigns to an experienced operator, how they professionalized early, and what it takes to really scale from zero to thousands of doors without losing the magic. Listen closely and you'll hear the blueprint for the PepsiCo deal years before it happened. A brand that tastes great, moves at the speed of culture, wins both online and in-store, and isn't afraid to call itself Soda again. Hey folks, it's Ray with Taste Radio. Right now I'm honored to be sitting down with the founders of one of the hottest brands in food and beverage industry, that's Poppy, and that's The Ellsworth and Allison Ellsworth as the founders. Thank you so much for joining me today.
[00:02:02] The Ellsworth: Thanks for having us.
[00:02:03] Ray Latif: Thanks, Ray. Good morning. Good morning, indeed, here in Austin, Texas, in a building or at least in a shared space called the Bond Collective. And we're in a podcast room studio. That's about, let's see, 10 by 10. Is that right? Sounds about right.
[00:02:19] The Ellsworth: Yeah, we're close together.
[00:02:20] Ray Latif: Which is great. You know, I like the sort of intimacy of this. It makes it feel like there are no secrets in this room. We have to share everything that we know and believe about the brand. And I'm going to hit you with some hard hitting questions today. We're ready for it, right? Let's go. No, no. Let's go. In all seriousness, it's been a long road. We last spoke for Taste Radio three years ago. We published that episode in May of 2020. Very different time in everyone's lives. You have all since moved from Dallas to Austin.
[00:02:51] The Ellsworth: He did, and it is a beautiful place in Austin versus Dallas, but we just love Texas.
[00:02:58] Ray Latif: Yeah, I mean, what precipitated the move to Austin?
[00:03:02] The Ellsworth: I think just the energy down here in Austin has been really nice. There's a lot of other founders, a lot of other companies in CPG, and the networking is just A+.
[00:03:12] Allison Ellsworth: Yeah, absolutely. It's really young-minded, very outdoor and active. Very entrepreneurial. We love it.
[00:03:20] Ray Latif: Absolutely. One of the other big things that's happened in your lives is that you had your third child last year. You were both at BevNET Live Summer 2022 with children in tow. Was it just your one-year-olds?
[00:03:32] The Ellsworth: Yeah, it's interesting with our new one. He's about a year old. And in his first year, he did fly with me about 20 times by the time he was six months old. So I think he was three months old last year when I was at BevNET and he was At the hotel like always different from the first year.
[00:03:50] Allison Ellsworth: He was actually at the show. Yeah when we did the showdown he was like Yeah, so this time our third one was with us, but we kept him at the hotel Amazing.
[00:04:02] Ray Latif: I mean your children are still young, but do they know what you do for a living? Do they know that you're you know entrepreneurs they do
[00:04:09] Allison Ellsworth: And I said to my oldest one, I said, Theo, do you know that I love you? And he goes, yeah. And I said, how do you know that I love you? He goes, because you make poppies so good.
[00:04:22] The Ellsworth: That's really great. I think though, on top of it, they know we make poppy, but then every time we go to the store, they'll pick up food and beverage and be like, do you make this too? So, you know, still young at one, four and six, but love that we can represent and show them that they can build something.
[00:04:38] Ray Latif: Yeah. And you're building something for them. I mean, you're building something for your family and you've been doing it for seven years now. It's probably, it's, yeah, right.
[00:04:48] The Ellsworth: I know, right. Cause we look at it, you know, that's something we were talking about on the way here is Poppy launched in March of 2020, right? So it's a little over three years, but really we've been in it seven years now. And so I think that doesn't go unnoticed to me and Steven, but Poppy's growth in general in three years has been insane.
[00:05:07] Ray Latif: You differentiate between when the company was food and beverage to what is now Poppy.
[00:05:11] The Ellsworth: Big time.
[00:05:12] Ray Latif: Yeah. And it is a very, very different kind of brand. It's a very different drinking experience. I mean, one was essentially, I don't know, like a tonic.
[00:05:20] The Ellsworth: Right.
[00:05:20] Ray Latif: And the other, what is now Poppy is a soda.
[00:05:23] The Ellsworth: Right.
[00:05:24] Ray Latif: But, you know, just thinking back to all that time of creating your initial beverage, having a production facility with food and beverage, and now running a company that is, doing incredibly well. And I don't know if I, you can share sales numbers at this point, but feel free to, it's gotta be a trip. I mean, if just reflecting, if you can, what has been sort of the biggest learnings, what have been the biggest learnings over these past seven years?
[00:05:51] The Ellsworth: Yeah, I think from the start in the last seven years is it never gets easier. There's always an obstacle. But with that, it takes a lot of learning opportunities to get better every single day. And I think something with Poppy in particular, you know, with it launching in March of 2020, what was beautiful that we learned really quick and that we still instill today is being a digital first brand. When you launch, you don't have demos. You don't have any sampling opportunities really for the first two years of business for us. So it's been interesting because even in the last seven years on social digital has changed. And then even in the last three years, it's changed. So we're always changing, always getting better.
[00:06:32] Allison Ellsworth: You know, some of the biggest challenges for us, we, we launched during COVID and I think the decision to move to aluminum cans was a great decision, but, you know, fast forward to COVID, aluminum cans were like the hardest thing to get, you know? And so I think for us. food and beverage and Poppy are two very different businesses and so it's been difficult for us to really build the supply chain during COVID and then also continue to put the pedal to the metal as the brand continues to just like accelerate it at rapid pace.
[00:07:05] Ray Latif: One of the other big things that's changed over the past three years is your roles. Stephen, you had been the CEO of the company when we last spoke in 2020. Your role is now Chief Product Officer. Allison, your role or your, I guess your title is Chief Brand Officer. How have those changes impacted how your day-to-day works?
[00:07:26] Allison Ellsworth: For me, I really get to focus on the things that I love to do. You know, Allison and I have formulated every product that's ever been launched. And that's really been a passion project. You know, it's always been something that I've been passionate about. And Allison, actually, I pull her in and she's very much involved in that side as well. But, you know, from a day to day, I think Allison and I both recognize that we had something special here. To say that I wasn't capable of doing it, I can't sit here and say, oh, I didn't think I was capable of doing it. But is there someone out there that's done it before that can scale the business quicker, that has relationships, and that can make fewer mistakes and ultimately cost the business less money? You know, that I can say, yes, there was someone out there that's done it before, you know. And so I think the great thing is, as Allison and I talked about it and we talked about it with Roe and the board, and we went through a couple of different people before we ultimately landed on Chris. But in part of that discussion, it was really this, this partnership where Chris is CEO, he's got the reins, but as far as my involvement and really having a seat at the table, it's, it's very, you know, there's still that position for me. So I think it's been really a really great transition. You know, there's some things I've, I've honestly learned a lot from him, but I think it's, it's been really great. And what we've been able to do. under his leadership over the last year has just been incredible.
[00:08:58] Ray Latif: What it sounds like is that you're both leaders of the company, but the sort of day-to-day operations, the grind is in Chris's hands. I mean, and that's the pressure.
[00:09:08] Allison Ellsworth: Yeah.
[00:09:09] Ray Latif: Yeah. And I, and I think sometimes I can imagine if I were an entrepreneur, I'd be like, yeah, great. You know, do it, you know, especially if it's someone who is a seasoned operator and someone who does understand, you know, the, I guess, managing the insane opportunity that Poppy has all that being said. You know, understanding that you need to go from where you were when you launched Poppy in March 2020 to an organization that is aiming for 30,000 doors by the end of 2023 requires an understanding that you need to professionalize at every level. What did Poppy need, you know, past that first year? What did Poppy need in March 2021? Because that first year, so much of the business was direct-to-consumer, so much of it was Amazon, just because of the pandemic and just the difficulty in getting into retail. But how did you know, and what did you think you needed to have throughout the organization and at different levels of the organization to get to where you are today?
[00:10:09] Allison Ellsworth: We just needed more structure, just like you scale supply chain, right? You've got to lay down some processes and structure as you scale the organization. So I think that that was the biggest thing that we saw as an opportunity to really professionalize the organization. We wanted to make sure that we had the right people on board. When you're young and you're starting up, Everybody in the company has a relationship with the founders. So it's easy to like instill that in them and get them all fired up. And they're, you know, they're on mission. They're working for a purpose. We're building something together. And so I think people, you know, feel that they see that it's like this tight knit group. And as you scale the business, it's just not scalable. While we want to work with everybody and get to know everyone, we get to know them, but we don't work with them. That's just not the way you scale the company. And so. I think that that was the biggest thing, is just providing that structure so that people can ultimately be held accountable. We're no longer in this small situation where people are just fired up because they're working for the founders. They're now looking at Poppy as this once-in-a-lifetime career-building opportunity. So it's a bit of a different dynamic, and they're here because they believe in what we do, but there's also an element where they believe that this is a great opportunity for them as well to build their career.
[00:11:30] The Ellsworth: I would say, just for context, Poppy had two employees in February of 2020, and that was Steven and I. Now, three years later, we have 100. And then on top of it, we're growing at a rate that nobody really is seeing, including Rohan. We're growing faster than by vitamin water and Red Bull, Munster. No one's seen this kind of growth from zero to three years in such a quick time. So to put those processes in place so early on was really effective in allowing us to scale to where we are today. To that point, it was a joint decision to bring in Chris. We talked to the board, we talked to Rohan. It wasn't something that was like forced on us that I think is on a lot of other founders. And I think that's a lot of advice that we give to other founders is like, it's almost like detrimental if you hold on too long. What that is, is that's your ego at the end of the day. And it's really, really hard because I wouldn't even say it was, it was hard.
[00:12:38] Allison Ellsworth: Yeah, it was really hard.
[00:12:40] The Ellsworth: It was a hard transition, but to have a seat at the table and be part of that transition is really nice versus being pushed out not knowing what's going on because that would be really, really, I don't know, just really hard.
[00:12:51] Allison Ellsworth: Yeah, for sure. And I think I think you said it best. It's like. There's been plenty of examples where a CEO is brought in for a turnaround situation, where the company is hemorrhaging cash, velocities aren't what they thought it was going to be, sales are based on new distribution as opposed to actual velocity gains. You know, and that just, it wasn't the case of Poppy. Things were trending in the right direction, path towards profitability, velocities are increasing, you know, so I think it was, it was a really good time. It's not to discount for, you know, like I said, for all of the other founders out there that it's not to say that it was an easy transition, but it was the right transition and it was the right decision ultimately for the business and ultimately for me and Allison and our family long term.
[00:13:38] Ray Latif: When you say it was kind of a hard transition, was it because You had differing opinions about where the company or what the brand should represent, or was it more about like business decisions, you know, what the company should be doing on the ground and in store?
[00:13:53] The Ellsworth: I think Chris came in right up front and said, look, I don't want to change anything here at Poppy. Something that he did really good was saying, I want to put three things in place, people, product, and platform. He didn't care so much about like the vision and the sizzle, right? We have that. That's something that Poppy was really good at. And that's something that he valued in us as founders. So I don't think that that in particular was the hard part. I think it goes back to that, that thing and that dream you have as an entrepreneur growing up where you're like, I'm going to take this company and I'm going to run it and I'm going to see it be successful personally. And it goes back to that ego thing that I said earlier, like that, is that what's best for the business? So that was the hard part because I'll be honest, Chris Hall been a wonderful partner and still allowing us to be Poppy. And I think that was why we wanted to work with him and bring him on because he saw that value.
[00:14:48] Allison Ellsworth: Yeah, it was, it was just all ego. Just being honest, you know. It's crazy as I dig into these things, it's really funny what ego can do to a person. You know, so I think if people can get their ego in check, it's not to say that you become spineless and you don't have a backbone, but I think if you can get your ego in check, it just allows you to work more collaboratively. It allows you to hear others and what they're saying, so that you can take the best of their idea, the best of your idea, and come up with the greatest idea.
[00:15:21] The Ellsworth: I'll be honest, because both Stephen and I, we never had a real job before this in a corporate America where you're like reporting into people, right? You have that mentality as an entrepreneur, like, don't tell me what to do. Totally. And so that has been an interesting learning as well. And something that both Stephen and I have done is we've gotten executive coaches to help learn, you know, how to be a leader, how to be more collaborative. You know, what is an org structure and why is that important? Why is process important, right? Working through those things and we've put the work in and we were learning and evolving and it's fun. I love learning. I love actually process now, which I really never thought I would say that. But I think if you go at it with this like positive intent and attitude, it's just a lot healthier for, honestly, your mental health as well.
[00:16:12] Allison Ellsworth: You even see this with folks, there's really two different sort of skill sets. It's like the startup mode and build it to 50 million or something like that, build it to 100 million. And then there's a skill set to scale it from 100 million and beyond, whatever that looks like. And so I think we're in this rare opportunity where we get to do both. And I think it's those people that are able to start something from nothing and scale it all the way through to the end. You know, you look at Mike Rapoli, like, look what he's been able to do. There's very few Mike Rapolis out there, you know? And so, yeah, it's a great opportunity. We're having tons of fun.
[00:16:48] Ray Latif: Steven, as you mentioned earlier, Chris wasn't walking into a business that was a turnaround project. You were doing quite well in 2021. You were seeing strong velocities, you know, that transition from being a D2C brand into retail to being a retail brand was already happening. And there were signs that Poppy could be where it is, the kind of brand that it is today. What was driving that interest in the brand? Why was the brand resonating with consumers? Who are your consumers? And has that sort of changed? Has that evolved over the past couple of years?
[00:17:17] The Ellsworth: Yeah, so super early on when we launched in March of 2020, there's a few things that happened that I think led to where we're at today. And one moment, I think, is we had an update on Shark Tank air in April of 2020. And I always say, you know, how often is everyone sitting at home on a Friday night, but second month of lockdown? We had a national commercial and it was one of the most viewed Shark Tank episodes. Our website broke. We went from $9,000 in March to literally a few months later, well over $250,000. In the first few months, this is just on Amazon, right? On top of it, I think when the episode aired, we trended higher than Kim Kardashian and Donald Trump. We hit number one on Amazon's hot new product list. Like there was all these things that kind of just like started happening. And then what's interesting that's connected to that is in December of 2019, I downloaded the app TikTok. And this was honestly before a lot of people were even on the platform. And at the time it was, you know, everyone kept saying, oh, it's a bunch of young kids dancing. And then COVID hit and everyone got on the platform. And I was really lucky to have got on early as a brand. And I'll never forget Rohan and multiple other people like Allison, no TikTok, like Instagram, that's where it's at. There's no place for this as a brand on this platform. I mean, I said, look, I'm not going to take any resources from the company. I will do this on my nights and weekends. I just have to figure out what's going on here. There's just so much organic reach. This is different. So same thing. I just started posting and within two months of posting, I had gone viral. Same thing, went to bed, woke up the next day, had done over $100,000, we were sleeping. I think that video that I originally posted has 90 million views now. And I am proud to say in the last two years, we have over a billion views on TikTok. Wow. So it was an interesting eye opener to one, a lot of other brands that are now on the platform, but it was to Poppy and it kind of changed the way we marketed the brand to the consumer. And what it has done is it's allowed us to build this really insane community on an authentic level. They feel like they know us. They know Poppy. They know the employees that work here. If they're going to find out where to buy us, they're going to go to our TikTok and we see it drive in store. It drives our Amazon business. But it's just a different digital first way of thinking. And it's just wild what we've seen happen.
[00:19:56] Allison Ellsworth: Yeah, Poppy, we like to say we move at the speed of culture. And I think because we have that mindset, we can connect with this Gen Z consumer, we can connect with the Gen Zennial consumer, the Millennial consumer, all of those people are on TikTok. It's not just Gen Z. And so I think because, I don't know, that's just part of me and Allison's DNA. I think it's natural for us to move at the speed of culture and to really connect with people. That's what we love doing.
[00:20:23] Ray Latif: So if I'm hearing this correctly, the big driver of interest in Poppy is that you're a fun brand. You're a soda brand for this generation of consumers. And I got to think, however, there's a taste component. There's a health component because both are very applicable to what you sell. You're a prebiotic soda brand. You taste great. But how do those two things factor into consumer demand and interest?
[00:20:49] The Ellsworth: Yeah, you know, we've done a lot of brand lift studies. We've done a lot of studies now to date to dig into who our consumer is and why they're drinking poppy. And consistently in every study across the board, the number one reason people drink poppy is because it tastes good. And that's intentional through everything that we do. Yes, we are better for you. We're great for gut health. We have all of these other amazing attributes, but it goes back to we're going after Big Soda and to truly be a soda, you have to taste good. And I think the consumer, they're finicky, especially Gen Z, right? They aren't as loyal as, say, like millennials and baby boomers. And it's one of those things that if you taste good, that's why they're going to drink you. And we do that through our marketing, through our packaging, right? With the beautiful colored cans and in store with the merchandising of it. We're getting data back and 86% of people that try Poppy moved to conversion, right?
[00:21:49] Ray Latif: And then we have... Wait a second. Let's back up for a second. You say 86% of people who try it buy it.
[00:21:55] The Ellsworth: And then we have a crazy repeat rate of over 66% after that. So basically if you hear about it, you're going to move 86% of those people are going to move to conversion to trial. And then after that, they're going to stick around at a really high rate. You know, and we see that online with our monthly subscribers to in-store, and I think it goes back to, we taste good, they feel authentically connected to the brand, and the brand, at the end of the day, it's cute, right? It's the branding, it's part of fashion, it's part of culture, it's modern soda for the next generation, and it's now that it's time for disruption, and we're seeing it in culture.
[00:22:39] Ray Latif: I think sometimes the simple is the most brilliant. It's not difficult to understand what you're selling. You use words that everyone understands. Soda, fun, and flavors that everyone knows. Grape is your latest flavor. But it surprises me sometimes when entrepreneurs make things too complex, make things a little too sophisticated for the mainstream consumer. with flavors that they may not understand, mainstream consumers that is, with functional benefits that they may not understand, with sort of a staid and unfun kind of approach to branding and marketing. And if you want to go broad, if you want to go big, you can't do any of that. It's been proven over and over again, simple, easily understood, and great tasting sales. Think about poppy as a simple proposition or trying to make it as easy for a consumer to understand. You think that's as much of the genius behind the brand as anything.
[00:23:34] Allison Ellsworth: I do, and I think we had the benefit of old brand, new brand, right? And those transitions were very intentional. We had a pretty heated conversation when we were going from glass bottles, white label to super colorful labels, design and cans, right?
[00:23:53] Ray Latif: That heated conversation included whom?
[00:23:56] Allison Ellsworth: Oh, just a few small personalities.
[00:23:59] The Ellsworth: Yeah. We were split against like half were for the white and half were for the color. Because if you think of like the white, you think of like healthy halo. It's better for you. Apple cider vinegar. Founder story. I started this because of my health problems. Right. And then you have the color, which screams taste, fun, flavor, you know, all of those things that you guys were speaking to. And I'm glad that the flavor and fun worked out. And I'm, you know, I say now I was wrong.
[00:24:26] Allison Ellsworth: Yeah, it was very intentional that we took apple cider vinegar off the front of the pack and we moved it to the back. And it goes back to meeting the consumer where they are. We want consumers to look at the packaging and pick it up because it looks amazing. We want them to then crack the can open and drink it, and they're like, oh my gosh, this tastes incredible. And then as they're drinking it, they turn it to the side, oh my gosh, this has prebiotics, this has apple cider vinegar, wait, only five grams of sugar? Like, this is insane. But sometimes there's a lot of consumers that if it's marketed and pushed to them as healthy, it's automatically it's going to Taste Radio. So it's basically tricking them saying like, this product tastes amazing. And oh, by the way, these ingredients are actually good for you. Not just the absence of bad, but also the presence of good. And I think that for us as entrepreneurs, we've always wanted to make a positive impact on the world. In order to make the greatest positive impact, people have to buy into it. If you have a product that's so hard to understand, or the taste is so off-putting, how many people are ultimately going to try it? How big of an impact can you ultimately drive if it's not meeting the consumer where they are? And you look at all of the big beverage brands, and they're 10% better than the competition, 15% better than the competition. You know, it's not like they're trying to throw the kitchen sink into a bottle and say, here, trust me, this tastes good. Like you're going to love it. You know, consumers just aren't going to aren't going to get there.
[00:25:51] The Ellsworth: But I think to your question earlier is like when we did first launch, it was all about gut health, right? It was coming off of the wave of kombucha. We were spearheading a brand new category, right? Functional pop. And back then it was a little bit more geared, even when we first launched poppy to gut health. And now it's all about soda. and Taste Radio how anytime you drink, people ask us like, when do you drink a poppy? Well, when would you have a soda? If you have a soda at 9am, that's when you drink a poppy. Is it with a burger and fries for lunch? That's when you drink a poppy. So even messaging across the company, we're actually doing a brand refresh on our canned messaging right now, going through that because after three years, we have a lot of data and we've dug into the consumer and why people drink it with the number one being taste. So we're really leaning in and we're seeing that we are being seen as a soda.
[00:26:48] Ray Latif: That's a really interesting insight because soda had been a four letter word and it's come back to this place where, well, people still drink a lot of soda and there's a lot of different use cases and use occasions for soda. So why are we looking at it as that four letter word? Consumers don't necessarily, or it seems like a lot of consumers don't see it that way. So let's embrace it and make it our own in our own way. But that's kind of a tough thing to do, right? So what was your approach to making soda a term that had appeal and even a healthy halo.
[00:27:23] The Ellsworth: It's funny because we always say like, it's time to love soda again. And the twist is, it's better for you this time. And I think that, you know, we're really bringing soda back and we're allowing people to love it. And it's not a dirty word. It's not a dirty secret anymore. And I think that the consumer, they have this emotional connection with soda, right? It reminds them of some memory of whether it's going to the movies or when they grew up. And, you know, you mentioned earlier with grape and we did just launch it. And the number one thing everyone was saying is this reminds me of my childhood. And if you really think about it, is it because people as adults don't drink grape soda? It's not like really a thing and we've allowed them to do that again. And so it brings in this like emotional feeling that people are like, ah, you have allowed me to love Soda again. You know, we're reclaiming it. It's all of these emotions that people are connecting with on such a different level. And we have allowed that and we love that. And, you know, it goes to a lot of people, which I know we've spoken about is how dare we call ourself a soda. But we're seeing it in the data as well. We're the number one selling soda on Amazon. We outsell all Big Soda. And we have been all year, if not longer. We outsell a lot of Big Soda at Target. I don't know if we want to mention any brands, but... Well, are they legacy brands?
[00:28:52] Allison Ellsworth: Yeah, there's only two soda brands outselling us at Target. And we can probably... We all know what those two brands are. Yeah, I can probably guess what they are.
[00:29:01] The Ellsworth: But we're seeing it in retail and we're seeing it online. And we're also seeing it with the consumer, you know, 51% of people that drink poppy are lap soda drinkers. So, you know, that question of are we sparkly water, are you kombucha, are you new category is with the data and what we're seeing is we're truly a soda and we're going after Big Soda.
[00:29:22] Ray Latif: I have to go back to the statement that you made earlier, Alison, about being a digital brand first. And it's interesting to me that you're doing so much business and you're doing so well on Amazon because From everything that I've food and beverage is really difficult to scale and be successful at when it comes to online sales. It's a heavy product. It feels like a much easier proposition to be in retail. But how can you do both effectively? I mean, is there going to be a point where there's just diminishing returns online and it's not necessarily worth it to be as focused or put as much emphasis on the direct-to-consumer and Amazon part of what you do?
[00:30:07] The Ellsworth: Yeah, I think it's important to revisit the strategy every year. When we first launched, it was a lot of what we did because of COVID. Now we have a thriving and healthy brick and mortar business. So we see Amazon as it's a fantastic way for trial. It's a marketing arm. And on top of it, we kill it on there. And so I think that if you continue to look at it like that, and what we always do here at Poppy is a little bit different. And we've scaled both really quick, really fast. But that means, you know, marketing dollars are split. But I think what more people should think through is, It affects in-store purchase, what we're doing with all of our ads through Amazon, through TikTok, through, you know, all of these digital first platforms. Instacart, for example, we're running our ads and they're driving to Amazon Instacart. We're the number food and beverage on Instacart, which drives in retail sales. So all of these things working together really have helped get Poppy to multiple places really quick. And I think as a better for you brand, you usually scale really quick in New York and LA, right? Then you work your way kind of in. You know, you got to be a little bit more particular with far and wide and where you go. But some interesting data that we also have is that Target, some of our top stores are like Fargo, North Dakota, Cincinnati, Ohio, Houston, Texas. So being a digital first brand and reaching out with that kind of mindset can really set you apart and allow for the crazy growth that we've had. So we don't like to choose, but I think Steven could probably speak to on like, the Amazon business within that as well, and from the Ops perspective.
[00:31:50] Allison Ellsworth: Ray, you nailed it. Beverages, it's heavy. I think what Allison said is, is it's really, it's once again, I keep on saying this, it's a common theme, but you're meeting the consumer where they are. We're a digital first brand. Whether you like Amazon or you don't, when you're looking to try a product, how many times do you like look it up on Amazon to see what the reviews are?
[00:32:10] Ray Latif: That's a good point. Yeah.
[00:32:11] Allison Ellsworth: How many times, for us, what we see is people want this every day. They've got busy lives. Subscribe and save. So it's about meeting the consumer where they are. I think, as Allison said, strategy shifts. It's got to change. It's got to evolve. The only constant in this world is change. Even as we saw with functionality and gut health focus sort of in the beginning, we were creating a category. And it really aligned with what our channel strategy was. It's nothing new. New emerging brands typically started on the natural channel and they sort of worked their way. And so I think for us, we just recognized that as an opportunity to really refine our messaging. And it's not to say that Amazon is going to go one way or the other. I'm not going to, you know, spill all the beans on what we're doing here. But I think for us, it's just, it's been an important driver of the business, an important trial driver. It's been important raising awareness, you know, and, and it's been a great way to meet the consumer where they are.
[00:33:09] Ray Latif: Allison, you mentioned that you spend or you have ads on Amazon, you have ads on Instacart. Can you talk about your ad strategy for digital and the investment you make on those platforms?
[00:33:22] The Ellsworth: Yeah, so within it, I feel like we do a really great job of like a full 360 and they all really work together. We do quite a bit of just top of funnel brand awareness on say like TikTok. Instagram, it's still a legacy platform that we play on, but maybe not as much because we're just seeing insane metrics, just nothing. It's almost like the Wild Wild West. If you're not on there, get on there. But it's the wild, wild west right there. But on top of it, we are doing OLV, OTT. We're even about to do an out of home campaign with billboards this summer, right? Billboards are back, like everyone's loving all of that. So I think. What we've seen just as we've grown is just investing into that full 360. But what we really focus on is that top of funnel. So it goes back to that emotional connection with the consumer. We're not trying to be a performance marketing company where everything's driven by, you know, ROI and driving it down people's throats and purchase, purchase, purchase. We're just organically connecting with the consumer and they want to be part of it. You know, of course we watch and push levers where it's working. We're very agile. We don't just set our plans. We're watching them daily. And I think that's something that we also do really well. And as you scale, you want to stay like nimble, what's working, invest there, move daily, constantly be pushing. Because I mean, it was like that with Instacart last year, we did an initial investment and we were like, we don't even know where the ceiling is with this. And we started pushing it. And I mean, us up to the where we are today to be in the number food and beverage on the platform of all beverages, right? All beverages on Instacart. And so we are, they're actually using us as a case study right now. And the stuff that we're doing at Poppy, TikTok's using us as a case study, Amazon's using us as a case study, Instacart. And it really, I think, goes back to we do things different. We're not so performance marketing based. And we are quick to change and we are quick to really invest in what's working. And right now, video, for sure. You know, across, we're producing five or six more assets to run this summer. Streaming platforms, no linear yet. Just with our consumer, you know, of course, they're on the streaming platforms versus cable TV.
[00:35:52] Ray Latif: I always hope that listeners get at least one or two lessons from every episode of Taste Radio. I really want folks to be able to apply some of the learning, some of the insights that they've heard to their own businesses. I think in some cases it's difficult. So if I asked you, oh, if you started Poppy today, would you have the same results, you know, three years from now?
[00:36:12] Allison Ellsworth: What I always say is rules are meant to be broken, and I think you need to approach every new business or decision with that mindset. We're disrupting soda, and I think to have this sort of nimble mindset, this sort of creative disruption mindset where you're always challenging what you're doing. The best thing is to make a decision and then make it right if you have to. I think so many people get caught up in the decision has to be perfect. It's if I make this decision, I'm going to succeed. If I make the other decision, I'm going to fail. It's not so black and white. But I think if you make a decision and you become complacent, you don't see that it's not working, you got to make it right. Every rule is meant to be broken, and you've got to be continually curious and have this mindset of creative disruption.
[00:37:03] The Ellsworth: Yeah, I love that you just said that because it's almost like taking the learning, say we end up starting another company someday. It'd be crazy for us to say that and then go into it doing like, this is what we did at Poppy and this is the path to how we're successful. And so I do love that to take our learnings, but then always keep that mindset of be different. And for me, I think if we were to, and I think some advice I have for anyone out there is really TikTok is powerful. There will be other platforms, so be on the lookout, but get on it now. So if you're starting a company, get on now and start telling your story of if it's in your kitchen, right? You might get 10 views on your video, but a year from now, you'll probably have quite a bit more. And you're gonna build that community from the ground now to, you know, where you're the next billion dollar brand. And people, they love that behind the scenes look. And so I always encourage, you know, to really lean into video and be digital first and that mindset as well from day one.
[00:38:05] Ray Latif: I mean, I love that advice. I have to think your video strategy, your TikTok strategy has evolved from when you were like, hey, this is gonna be a fun thing that I'm doing to let's be a little more structured. Let's have perhaps not a script, but a scene strategy at least. Is that the case? Are you a little bit more careful and judicious about what your video plans are, what your video strategy is?
[00:38:26] The Ellsworth: Yes and no. So a lot of times, like, I genuinely don't care what the team posts on TikTok. I'm like, have fun, do trends. If you want to talk about, you know, something, talk about it. But then there are those moments that we do pulse particular campaigns that we know we're going to put paid behind. We'll do an authentic and organic way, and I'll use like Prime Day last year as an example. We made it like a five-day event on it for Amazon, and we did it in a little bit different of a way. We did a giveaway, which is nothing new to social platforms, but the way that we did it is we gave away poppy-brained fridge. I think we gave around 10 of them. On the giveaway, I basically was just bringing awareness to, hey guys, we are on Amazon and this is our X discount that we're giving. All you have to do is comment your favorite flavor below. Any giveaway is going to get higher engagement. You pair that with a little bit of paid, it's almost like this insane flywheel effect. So you're getting really low metrics. On top of it, people are learning about Prime Day. So with that strategy, we did over a five-day strategy with multiple videos. We ended up breaking records for that time in the business, which is, you know, a year ago, but we did, I think, a million dollars in one week on Amazon. It was very eye-opening on how you can authentically connect with the consumer paired with a paid ad and strategy.
[00:39:49] Ray Latif: Has there been anything that you've learned about digital marketing that's kind of surprised you? Some things that... You know, you thought, oh, that's kind of a waste of our time, but have actually worked in the end.
[00:40:02] The Ellsworth: Yeah, I think the biggest thing that I've learned is going back to doing things differently. So, you know, marketers and digital marketers come in with like a plan and we like to throw it out the window. So, I mean, I know we keep saying that, but I have no traditional background. in any of this. And to your point, we are writing the script as we go, and it goes back to being nimble. So as leaders in organizations, I encourage from top down to understand this, because you can get on, you can test stuff, see what's working and then like go with it, right? That's really, that's how things are figured out. So I don't know if I can particularly point to like one thing, but I think the fact that it comes from like me down and team down, it's been really impactful.
[00:40:46] Ray Latif: Allison and Stephen mean, this is like the best part of my job because I met you guys seven years ago and what a journey, what a trip it's been. I am so excited to see and report on the next evolution of, or the next stage of development for the brand. But in the meantime, thank you so much for taking the time. This has been so fantastic for me and I know our audience is going to love it.
[00:41:09] The Ellsworth: Thank you.
[00:41:10] Ray Latif: Thanks Ray. This has been a blast. Thank you. That brings us to the end of this episode of Taste Radio. Thank you so much for listening. Taste Radio is a production of BevNET.com, Incorporated. Our audio engineer for Taste Radio is Joe Kratchy. Our technical director is Joshua Pratt, and our video editor is Ryan Galang. Our social marketing manager is Amanda Smerlinski, and our designer is Amanda Huang. Just a reminder, if you like what you hear on Taste Radio, please share the podcast with friends and colleagues. And of course, we would love it if you could review us on the Apple Podcasts app or your listening platform of choice. Check us out on Instagram. Our handle is bevnettasteradio. As always, for questions, comments, ideas for future podcasts, please send us an email to ask at Taste Radio. On behalf of the entire Taste Radio team, thank you for listening, and we'll talk to you next time.
[00:42:05] The Ellsworth: you
