Better Sour

0:00Welcome to the Emerging Brands podcast. Sharing the stories behind brands you'll want to shop next. I'm your host, Kelly Bennett. I am a New York City-based brand strategist for CPG Food and Beverage Brands. In each episode, I'll take you behind the scenes of founders that are building better-for-you products and bringing them to market. it. Also, I talk to brand builders, retailers, industry experts, and tastemakers who help bring those cool products to your shopping cart. You will hear stories of real-life founders, their launch strategies, and practical advice you could use to grow your own brand or simply discover what's next on shelf.

0:42And the best part is you could shop all the brands featured on the show. This podcast is brought to you by Glimpse. Glimpse is an AI powered deduction management tool that disputes and recovers invalid deductions, winning brands, thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours back to founders so that they can focus on what really matters most. If you're a brand selling in retail, go to tryglimpse.com backslash trial for 30 days free and let them know I sent you. Now let's dive into the new episode. Hi everyone. Welcome back to a new episode of Emerging Brands Podcast with Kelly Bennett. If you've been following the podcast, you know, I love bringing on founders who are in the trenches of building a very cool emerging brand.

1:38Better Sour has been on my radar. I really love their flavor profiles, their backstory. My stepdaughters really love their products. And today I have co-founder Bella Hughes of Better Sour on the podcast. And Bella, I'm so happy to have you on the show.

1:55Bella Hughes:I am delighted to be here. Thanks for the invite. Thank you. So I first want to kick it off to the brand concept. I know that you are always looking to grow and evolve the brand. We were just talking shop before I hit record, and I'm excited to touch upon what is next for the brand. But I would love to hear what was that light bulb moment or that aha moment where you're like, OK, we want to build a candy brand for foodies. How did the brand idea first come to be? Yeah, so I feel like very much better sour, which I've co-founded with my lifelong best friend, Samira Niku. We met literally when we were one year old.

2:41Bella Hughes:We're both of Iranian heritage. So at a Persian New Year's party, Noruz, in Honolulu, where we were lucky enough to be born and raised. so that's a big part of really this aha moment because for us being daughters of Iranian immigrants being born and raised in the Hawaiian islands this concept that we now see in CPG called global flavors that's just life for us you know when you grow up in Hawaii you have just such an amalgam of incredible fresh and dried tropical luscious fruits there's a lot of tartan whether it's guava or a passion fruit, which we call lilycoy, even specific species of mango.

3:21Bella Hughes:Then there's a lot of dried in crack seed stores, like sour dried plums, lihimoy. Then to compliment that being Iranian, tart tang is just part of our flavor profile. There's this really, really popular snack that even has gone viral in non-Iranian communities called lavashak, a sour fruit roll up. and just for us growing up with this really exquisite sour palate was just central to our identity and what we love most. We're just incredible sour enthusiasts and growing up there really weren't any candies that kind of hit that sour spot for us. We were primarily not permitted to eat candy being raised really really healthy but when we got our hands on it you know especially in high school when we trick-or-treat by ourselves it just fell flat.

4:05Bella Hughes:It's a one-dimensional sour where it tends to be sickeningly sweet, the center, made with really, really poor ingredients, you know, that we don't want to put in our bodies. And the flavors, they all are the same, and they tend to be like blue raspberry, green apple. And we just didn't see anything that reflected, you know, our own heritage. then fast forward as we grow up, you know, all of a sudden we're in our mid thirties and we're seeing the rise of global sophisticated flavors in every category. Yeah. Feverage, frozen snacking, um, you know, as foodies Samira and I are avid home chefs, our favorite thing to do is eat, talk about what we're eating or cook.

4:48Bella Hughes:Um, we love trying new restaurants together around the world, around the United States. In the US, like James Beard nominated chefs. That's something we follow those awards, like who's been nominated, probably the way regular people follow the Oscars or the Grammys. I'm obsessed, yes. Yeah. And I think, you know, chefs, like I want to give them a shout out. They're the great creative culinary trendsetters and very, very affirming to us to kind of pull it all back together because the brand starts from personal places. When we began to see flavors that we loved, whether it was calamansi lime, pomegranate, passion fruit tart cherry, making their way into the menus of James Beard-nominated chefs around the country.

5:32Bella Hughes:And then coupled with the rise of global flavors in every category, it was kind of like, oh my God, we got to create a sour gummy candy for foodies, for grownups. So that, I hope, ties it all together. Yes, absolutely. And what made you want to land on candy? Do you love candy personally or? No, we actually don't. And that's me. I mean, we loved like chewy, the concept of chewy. But we didn't like anything on the market because it was really traditional, even in the healthy set. Generally, there's so many incredible brands. But for our flavor palette as adventurous eaters, foodies, global flavors, there was nothing there in the healthy, better free set.

6:17Bella Hughes:Now that can be, when we say healthy, that's just a broad term. It can be, you know, low sugar. It could be made with just premium quality sugar, but that, that let's just call it the natural set, the natural. It tends to be just remaking what's already on the market with better ingredients. There wasn't really any incredible innovation and specifically in sour, which is obviously we're sour enthusiasts. And it's interesting because I'm sure Kelly, like when you go grocery shopping and you go to a candy set, whether you're in a Walmart or an Air One, you're going to go in and see chocolate. And it's obvious in the chocolate set over the last 10, 15 years, there is a clear category.

6:57Bella Hughes:It can be this big, or it can be like wider, wider than my arms can go. That's chocolate for foodies and grownups, which is very different and distinct than the more basic traditional flavors for kids. But when you get to gummies, there just isn't anything out there with that, that obviousness that it's for adults and sophisticated flavor palates. So well said. And as someone who's a brand strategist and always doing market research in multiple categories in the grocery store, I will also raise my hand in saying that it's hard to find a good sour candy. It really is. And I love the flavor innovation that you're touching on too, in the sense that you didn't see those flavors being represented from your culture and where you grew up as well and wanting to put those things together.

7:47So let's talk about your background too. I know that you are a repeat founder, entrepreneur. What started you in entrepreneurship, but really in CPG? Like what was the thing that really drew you in? And also then to collaborate with your best friend is like another level of a founder story. but I would love to hear a little bit just of your background.

8:14Bella Hughes:Yeah. So I guess we can say I've basically not really ever been professionally employed only for six months. I've always been an entrepreneur. My background really begins in entrepreneurship in the nonprofit art and culture sector. Interesting. Yeah. I mean, I studied art history. I have a master's in museum studies and I started Hawaii Contemporary, which is the largest contemporary arts nonprofit in Hawaii and puts on the Hawaii Triennial, formerly the Honolulu Biennial. I was pitching around the world curatorial concepts before I launched that. I curated, you know, a show at the Smithsonian.

8:50Bella Hughes:I was an independent art critic writing for various publications. So I think a lot of the skills from my life and art and culture, and eventually as an executive professional, starting a really large nonprofit, raising millions of dollars, ended up really translating quite well to CPG because you have to go and you come up, conceptualize something that just lives in your head. Then you have to make a compelling enough pitch to actually go get the capital, whether it's a nonprofit or a startup and raise it. And at the end of the day, when you're a good curator, when you're putting together strong public programs in that space, you're sharing a story and it's got to be differentiated and worthy to attract attention and bring something of substance to the world.

9:35Bella Hughes:So I think as, as nerdy as this sounds, taking that perspective to CPG, being a complete like foodie obsessed, you know, the grocery store is just the most exciting place for me to be. You do not want to go grocery shopping with me. I was talking to my husband who I met in college, who's lived with me on this like 20 year journey from the arts and culture sector to CPG. It's like, even in college, you would just take the longest time to go grocery shop. I want to know everything. I want to know what's the origin story. Right. You get it. It's such an exciting place. There is no short grocery shop in my world.

10:09Bella Hughes:So fast forward, I had a startup ice cream company bringing chewy Middle Eastern style ice cream, Liz Atlee to the US. Ultimately learned so much from that. That was the first CPG company, co-founded it with my husband and some friends. And what I really ran into there is learning about challenges of scaling and how important that was. So I ended up closing that down. Then I had an iced tea company, Shaka Tea, that I launched with my husband out of Hawaii, my home state. Scaled that, sought through an acquisition, grew it into 20 ,000 stores. And now that I'm sour. Yeah, thank you. 20 ,000. Yeah.

10:46Bella Hughes:Yeah. And I led sales and fundraising. So that's what you can do, kids, with an art history degree. You never know where you're going to go. But yeah, I did not study business. But fast forward to Better Sour, I think just taking a lot of the learnings I've had throughout my life as a founder, then specifically in CPG has definitely brought a bit more focus and intentionality to it. But for anyone who's a repeat founder in CPG, every category is so different. Right. I have been so humbled and learned so much. We're members of the National Confectionary Association. Each vertical in CPG is like its own universe.

11:29Bella Hughes:So yeah, even if you've done it before, there is so much to learn every time you go into a new category, new data points. And I'm lucky enough to be working with my best friend who is formerly an attorney and did international trade. she is just the greatest she's highly creative she's also an incredible jewelry maker um so she brings a lot of creativity but then a lot of that like analytical like right organizing well just planning and crossing our t's dotting our i's that again i think has helped accelerate our focus she's my favorite co-founder yet don't tell anyone don't tell your husband i i love this journey and i love how you're also speaking to the nuance of each category being slightly different in CPG.

12:12And I think for many founders, when they're brainstorming ideas, they're like, I want to do a candy and then I want to do popsicles and then I want to do a beverage. And I'm like, whoa, hold on.

12:24Bella Hughes:All of those are like different to your point universes and like owning one and really expanding from there. So I'm glad that you just said that. But I want to go back to better sour and the strategy that you then leverage from your learnings going into the candy vertical, the better for you candy vertical. What did that look like to get it on the radar? Because you're also introducing new flavors to the U.S. market, right, to mass market. You are having like a more soury type of flavor sensation, having a unique story and background and bringing more culture into the candy aisle. What did that look like to get the word out about Better Sour?

13:15Bella Hughes:Yeah, that's a great question because we do this in-house. We're a five-person team. love our team everybody works so so hard I'd say to you know specifically go back to how do we get the story out there the brand awareness we're so nascent in our growth we're in 4 000 stores so I feel like people barely know who we are but I'm always again just incredibly flattered when people say they're fans they've been following us like you I think a lot of that does go down to wanting early on to get the brand out across retail sectors. So not just focusing on the tastemaker accounts or the natural, but showing some early traction and data that a brand, and this was really intentional with our brand because there are always haters and people that are telling you, even if you're a repeat founder, that this is not going to work.

14:09Bella Hughes:And the biggest feedback we got was your flavors are too much. This is just too much. America. Oh, all the time. Like really guava, you know, calamansi, passion, the flavors, you know, apricot, which is such a great flavor as a real sour and sulfur apricot is very, very sour. So that's in our pomegranate apricot. And we needed to early on. So we could also unlock, unlock capital to grow, um, prove out that a product like better sour with these flavor profiles, which for us are as American as apple pie. And I think for so many multicultural Americans, these are very, very familiar, nostalgic flavors, right?

14:52Bella Hughes:This could work beyond just, you know, the tastemaker super affluent accounts. So we, within the first 18 months, we're ensuring that we were showing data across categories. We're in select Albertsons, select Kroger banners. We're in the air ones. We're in the central markets. Right now, you know, we're doing a number of Costco rotations, which is super validating, like proof point that the product's working across the US. So I think it was within the first 18 months having that type of a retail footprint, even though a limited amount of stores, and then pitching the story to amazing journalists that had been following two things, the rise of global flavors, the categories, but then also the non-chocolate gummy set, like the growth rate is incredible.

15:37Bella Hughes:It's contributing to growth at a much higher rate than chocolate. So it was sort of that confluence that both two plus two equals four, let's cover this. I love when an emerging brand could hit the tailwinds of a trend or two, even though if it's not the whole story, just using that as momentum to get the attention of the why now, right? That's what media always wants to hear of like, why is this brand important and noteworthy right now? So I love how you're saying how it hit on both of those trends. So it sounds like you also had to prove the point that it wasn't just a niche, say like coastal cities that people love these flavors.

16:19You were really being strategic in retailers that could tell the story that it went beyond that, right? Of you then had data of not just these niche kind of more foodie communities on the coast, like you were able to show that there was demand growing.

16:38Bella Hughes:100%. You got it. I love it. So I know you have a new line extension. Can we dive into that? We sure can. Tell me all about it. Okay. Well, you know, for a long time, Samara and I have wanted to ensure that Better Sour is a sour gummy candy brand of the 21st century and really, really address the largest tam possible. That's just, you know, integral if you want to create something iconic. All the time we're asked, how do you, how do you tell your brand in two sentences? And it's like, we're candy for foodies. We're the Sour Patch Kids of the 21st century. Like you grew up on Sour Patch Kids. Now your flavor profile is growing up.

17:20Bella Hughes:You want better ingredients. So you're ready to graduate and welcome, Better Sour. Since we launched, we've had our core line and this is the one where all our data is. It's the one that's in Costco being sold right now on United Airlines for the last 12 months. And it's our incredible low sugar, high fiber brand made and sweetened with alulose, a rare premium sugar. We are launching in June for a limited time in Whole Foods nationally, our line extension, which is leaning into the tropical. It's all tropical flavors and it's made with vegan fair trade cane sugar. And for us, this is a big limit because now we have something for everyone who's a sophisticated sour enthusiast with grownup taste buds.

18:09Bella Hughes:You're really, really want that low sugar option, which is a very loyal audience group, especially with the rise of GLP ones, we got you. That's a product line that's out of the market doing extremely well. If you're someone who wants just something made and we're seeing the rise and the return to, I'd call it like premium, wholesome, old fashioned ingredients before like people still using high fructose corn syrup and big fats and all that, you're seeing the rise and the return to butter, to tallow, to the rise in sugar. It's growing at like a 5 % Kagar in confectioneries. So we've got that for you.

18:47Bella Hughes:And the product still is lower in sugar compared to like an average candy. It still has a really nice amount of fiber, not as high fiber as our current line, but something for everyone. And then the big price differences are current product is in the$3 range. The new product will be in the two. So there's like a dollar difference. Um, and going back to like, how do we make our product is accessible and inclusive for everyone? So it's launching in mango and watermelon yuzu, that will be all foods starting the mid to end of June for a limited time. And then we also have a third flavor in the lineup, lychee.

19:21Amazing. So it sounds like when you were saying tropical flavors, is it as sour as the current skews or is it just like expanding on the flavor profiles and just giving some more variety?

19:36Bella Hughes:I think just innately when you're making something with cane sugar, it's going to be a bit sweeter. And we now have two types of sour on the market, a smoother tang, and then our current line, which is super sour, which is another great differentiator. We've done some early tasting with retailers, some of our broker partners, and people that are just like total sour heads, they need a sour, sour, sour, sour. They want to keep with the original. And again, at the end of the day, while our brand has all these health attributes and varied ingredients that are all quality, natural. A lot of people are just buying a product because they love sour and they want excitement.

20:14Bella Hughes:If they want something a little more mild, but still sour and punchy, they're really resonating with this new product line. I'm so excited about this new product line. This is like totally up my alley. I love sour and I love gummies. So this sounds delicious. Yeah. And the neat thing for us is, you know, the core ethos, flavor first, candy for foodies, vegan colors from plants is in all of them as, as is high fiber. And one of the things that I love about, you know, our product that has been the hardest thing to get right is the texture. Because when you make a vegan gummy without gelatin, it is truly like food science.

20:55Bella Hughes:I wish, I wish Samir and I had studied food science. There is so much R &D to make sure that you have that nice chew and a fancy gummy. And the nice thing that we recently went through with Carbon Tag is a verification. And we learned that our gummies, which are gelatin-free, have a 48 % lower carbon footprint than a traditional gelatin gummy. Oh, that's so interesting. I know. And feel good about, you know, just the planet. So awesome. So Bella, now that you are in the trenches of Better Sour and also looking back on the incredible career you've built, pivoting from history to CPG and having multiple CPG products and brands over the years, what piece of advice would you share with an emerging brand founder similar to the people that I work with?

21:50They are super early days. They have a cool product idea, but they're not quite sure what those next steps look like. And they love hearing from founders like yourself who've been there and learning from them. So I would love to hear what piece of advice you would share for that early stage emerging founder. Yeah.

22:12Bella Hughes:So I think, you know, for the last nearly 15 years, I've had an incredible mentor and friend in my life, Gloria Lau. And one of the things she told me early on, and I met her and she's a retired business executive. And I met her when I was running and doing nonprofit art and culture work. And she told me something that stuck with me. And it's the advice I give to all founders. And to this day, she's one of my top mentors and who I go to if I want to bat ideas with. And it's good founders have good instinct. And I think especially when you're a first-time founder, when you're a woman, you know, there's just when you're a minority, there's just so many, there's just statistically stacked much, much harder to win.

22:56Bella Hughes:And that goes for first-time founders, women, minorities. It's just, it's a lot that you've got to battle against. And you meet all these experts and experts are incredible. And you get a lot of advice about your product and you start rethinking it. always be humble and be willing to take that feedback. But there is no one that is truly thinking 20 hours because we know founders, you don't really sleep. Even when you don't turn it off. Yeah. Most of my dreams are about better. I've had ideas that made its way into my dream or problem solving. I got to wake up, type it down, tell Samira the next morning.

23:31Bella Hughes:So I just, I really encourage everyone to like be humble, be willing to fail pivot, but be deeply confident in your instinct because you're the one that's doing all the research, you know, giving it the time and attention and move fast and fail quickly so you can quickly make that little pivot there. But trust your instinct. Such a good reminder and it's such a good piece of advice. Last question before I let you go. What are some retailers people can keep an eye on to find better sour? Yeah, well, You can find us nationally in Sprouts, Select Albertsons, Kroger Banners. We're in Central Market, Air One, Misfits, Thrive, and of course, Amazon.

24:12Bella Hughes:And then launching in June for a limited time in Whole Foods nationally with the line extension. So cool. Congratulations on everything you've accomplished. And in three years, what you've done with Better Sour is really impressive. And I'm so glad that we got to capture this story. Oh, thank you so much, Kelly. I really enjoyed the conversation. And thank you for just interviewing founders, sharing stories. And hopefully what we share can be helpful to others on their journey. Absolutely. I know it already has. So thank you again, everyone. Go check out Better Sour. And I'll see you on the next episode.

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