Gato

0:00Gabriella Labi:Welcome 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.

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1:35Gabriella Labi: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. Today I have Gabriella and Tanya, the founders of Gato on the podcast. This is a delicious date snack that I personally have been devouring. I don't keep it in stock for long because I eat it really quickly. I found them originally on Bubble Goods and I sampled them at the Bubble Goods event this year in Soho and was really blown away with the flavor.

2:23Gabriella Labi:So thank you both for coming on the podcast today.

2:26Tonya Reznikovich:Thank you for having us.

2:28Gabriella Labi:You're so welcome. Gabriela, I would love to start things off with you of giving us the overview of what is the brand, what is the product, And what did you see as that opportunity to create something a bit different in this sweet but healthy space?

2:48Tonya Reznikovich:Yeah, so I started this product in my kitchen really just for selfish reasons. I had gone on a pretty extensive health journey myself with gut issues and hormone issues. And a lot of it related back to what I was feeding myself. and having gone to culinary school I really wanted to create something that was both delicious and nutritious that didn't make you feel like you had to compromise at the time this was 2021 on the market it didn't really feel like you could eat something healthy that also tasted really indulgent and decadent and delicious and if you did eat something really indulgent and delicious more times than not you felt awful after it so I created our original flavor of the date which is a medjool date stuff with cashew butter and walnut coated in a vegan dark chocolate sprinkled with sea salt um and and the goal was really just to have it for like post dinner um and Tonya was one of those people that was enjoying it and that's how we kind of got involved in creating this product but at the time there was no sort of mindset of we're creating a cpg brand I was making it just for myself and then it became for family and friends and for the people that I love and it was um it was just to satisfy my own personal need for something that I felt was lacking in the market um and then lo and behold it's now become a cpg brand that's you know national and and packaged and we're selling it and people are loving it.

4:36Tonya Reznikovich:But I think for us, it was just something that it was a personal journey that I was on and created for myself.

4:44Gabriella Labi:That's super cool. And honestly, so many great products start off that way of something that you found as a personal pain point. You started creating a solution, you got great feedback and then created a CPG brand And from there. So what was that turning point of saying, wait, I have something here. This could actually be a product that we sell. What was that moment?

5:13Tonya Reznikovich:Ponya basically had mentioned after trying it initially, this is something that you should package and sell. And at the time I was building a Pilates practice and I was like, there's no capacity for me to start something else. I never really envisioned being within like the CPG space or selling it as a product. It was just for my friends and family and for myself. And then in 2023 in December, she wrote me a business plan that basically outlined Q1 to Q4, very like rough and ready, very brief, but a business plan of how we could take the dates to market. and it included launching in in farmers markets and initially we kind of did this instagram drop per week so we would post on instagram you know there's this amount available if you want some dms you can pick it up from our house that's how we first launched and we were getting like a handful of orders per week like not enough to build a business by any means whatsoever

6:22Gabriella Labi:But I was going to say that's proof of concept that people were even interested. So Tanya, what was your background when you were creating this rough outline of a business plan?

6:35Tonya Reznikovich:Oh, my background. So I was at the time at a tiny startup. I was on a team of six. It was an AI software startup and I my background is in management consulting so I wish I could tell you that you know Gato was born out of like a rigorous ham analysis and category analysis but it really just came from a place of becoming so obsessed with this product and I actually read this quote somewhere it's like don't ask what the world needs ask what makes you come alive and then go do that thing because that's what the world needs people who have come alive. So for me, it was like a moment of not being like hyper rational.

7:21Tonya Reznikovich:And I was like, Oh my God, this product is so good. How do we share it with other people? Um, and then obviously I put my business hat on and I was like, okay, so where do we even start? So very cool.

7:32Gabriella Labi:Very cool. So let's kick right into strategy because when you first initially started, this was not really a category, so to speak. Now it's definitely growing and evolving, which is awesome. But also, you have to push the envelope of how you could get attention and how people could try your product and stay loyal to your product. So Tanya, I would love to hear from that initial business draft to what it sounds like of starting to just do some drops on Instagram, which I love when a story starts off like that, to where you are now, can you give us the overview of the strategy and the thought behind that process?

8:17Tonya Reznikovich:You know, I think what was really helpful, and Gabby touched on this super briefly, there was never a grand plan from the very beginning for this to be a date empire. This was just something that we were really having a lot of fun with. And so we just wanted to do things quickly. I know a lot of brands, you know, spend months, if not years preparing the brand for launch and doing brand work and packaging work and formulation and all of these things. And we essentially went straight to market. We were like, okay, we know how to make these dates. Gabby makes them. She can teach me. You know, farmers markets are such a big part of LA life.

8:57Tonya Reznikovich:Why don't we just go and stand at a farmer's market and see what people think, you know, people who are not biased, people who are not our friends and family. And that was sort of our proof of concept. But also, I think where we got a lot of confidence that, okay, this, this is not just in our heads, this is this is something this could be something. And then we just started experimenting with kind of everything in a bit of a reactive way. I think our first year, year zero in business for us was 2024 because we were both working other jobs and this was like a weekends and evenings type of side hustle but it was very um okay so can we get into retail um all right we just approach small stores and cafes and pitch them and at the time our product was in amazon craft soap boxes with like a gato sticker on it and none of it was legit but we just didn't know any better.

9:53Tonya Reznikovich:So with this kind of beginner's mind approach, we went in and we, um, people were, people were open to supporting a tiny female founded business. And so we started getting into these like institutions in LA, like just a grocer and farm shop. And then we just walked into Italy and we were like, Hey, do you want to carry our dates? And they were like, sure. Um, wow. That's incredible. It was, um, it was, it was kind of awesome. And we, um, launched direct to consumer because we kept getting these questions like, how do we send this to our cousin in Brooklyn or to our grandma in Florida or whatnot?

10:31And made a ton of mistakes

10:34Tonya Reznikovich:there, didn't know how to ship coal, didn't know how to properly package things. So honestly, it was a lot of trial and error and experimenting and then seeking out partners. And not everyone is going to be a great partner. Bubble Goods, for example, I know that's where you found us, was an amazing partner for us. And we were kind of looking at all these online marketplaces and Bubble Goods just, we, I think, yeah, we just kind of fit in with their customer base because they, I think they market themselves as like a online farmer's markets. And that's the kind of brand that we at the time were.

11:15Tonya Reznikovich:So yeah, I think we've just been trying to essentially try all sorts of different channels and see what works for us best.

11:25Gabriella Labi:Very cool. And Gabriella, you were saying that you were building a Pilates practice prior, and that this was a side hustle. What made you want to go all in? Because I know so many emerging founders listen to this podcast and they're on that cusp of like, okay, should I go all in on this or should I pivot? This wasn't really in my plan. So I'd love to hear from your point of view, what made you want to take that leap?

11:50Tonya Reznikovich:So we actually both moved to doing this full time in January. So we've been building this brand since, uh, you know, the start of February of last year um like Tonya said it was weekends between clients between meetings and you know with with anything that you um that you're building you get out of it as much as you put into it and that was really testament um you know we at the end of 2024 we were in 25 doors across LA that we'd personally approached and gone into and created a relationship with and when we both moved on to building this brand full-time in January we doubled the amount of doors with it within a month and that was done within a year so the the kind of turning point was we've got so much traction at our farmers markets we have tested out DTC since September we were doing one week of shipping per month just to see like is this actually a viable channel for us to explore right we were starting to see some real like customer traction and some real retention and our farmers markets um they were such an amazing way to see you know how many of these customers are repeats tanya and i for five months work these farmers markets and at our peak we were in five across LA.

13:24Tonya Reznikovich:Wow. And we get to see the same faces every single week and maybe they're not buying it every single week but every other week they're purchasing our dates and our dates became something that was very much like an integral part of their daily life and kind of a little moment of self-care and self-love that people enjoyed whether it was a coffee with their date or whether they were having it at 4 p.m as like a pick-me-up or whether they were having it for dessert um and I think after we saw all of these different channels really have like this success you know you you never I think as a as a founder there's you know I I built this Pilates business and this is now my second business building it and I think I know that if you don't give all of your time and energy to something that's it stands no chance and in December we made the executive decision, we can either be and continue to be a farmer's market brand, which we know plenty that do seven figures a year and are hugely successful.

14:31Tonya Reznikovich:Or we actually want to build a real business outside of the farmer's market within all these other channels and really like, build a generational brand build something that has staying power. And in our mind, the only way to do that was to move to do this full time and January it was the perfect time for us to be doing it it's the start of the year right and the proof really is just like in the pudding you know we we now are in 160 doors across the US we still self-distribute um it's just Tonya and I still building this business but you can see what happens when you just dive you know kind of right into business and you give it your all.

15:17Tonya Reznikovich:I will say for any founders who are listening, it is very helpful to kind of start to dip your toes while you have something else going on to just build that confidence that this could be something because then that gives you so much more confidence to jump in when that turning point, as Gabby said, does come. But that way you're not just giving up everything to start something from scratch that doesn't exist yet.

15:45Gabriella Labi:That's a great point. And I've seen founders do that and it almost puts too much pressure on their idea because they're just staring at it to make it successful. But when you gradually build up and it's, it's like, okay, I have to go all in. You kind of, I feel like it's that real gut feeling that you get, right?

16:05Tonya Reznikovich:And your identity is so much like, what do I do? Unfortunately, all of our identities is what do do. And when you stopped doing that other thing that you were doing, and now you want to start doing your business, but it doesn't exist yet. And you're like, Oh my God, who am I?

16:21Gabriella Labi:I was talking with someone just the other day and she was saying that she's getting ready to launch and excited. And she called herself a founder and she goes, well, maybe I shouldn't call myself a founder yet. And I said, you are a founder, you're building a brand, but it's a lot of the mindset of making those shifts to make it also feel real. Something else that you both touched upon that I would love to hear both of your opinions on. Gabriella, I'll start with you. Going from a farmer's market to CPG, what piece of advice would you share with someone who is starting in the farmer's market, which is awesome, but wants to take it to retail?

17:03Gabriella Labi:There's a lot of changes that needs to be made, packaging, how you're manufacturing, etc. Is there any lessons that you've learned of making that shift that you would share with someone who's about to do that?

17:16Tonya Reznikovich:I think one start really slow and steady. You know, when we first got into our first store, we were still in our Amazon soapboxes, we still had basically no branding, there was a business card at the bottom underneath all three of our dates and there was a little window of this Amazon soapbox so you could kind of see that something was inside but not really see what it was and then by the time you ate the three dates the business card that had any of our branding in it was coated in chocolate and I remember when we switched over from that packaging to our pouches last summer some of our retail locations was like oh I actually missed the little boxes and I'm like okay well we've just spent a lot of money upgrading all of this packaging to get to a point that we think is acceptable for retail and I think you have all of these kind of when you're starting something you want everything to be perfect and you want everything to be packaged in the perfect packaging with a little bow on top and everything to be ready and ready to go and I think how Tonya and I have built this business was we've never really waited for perfect.

18:28Tonya Reznikovich:We've just started. And there are a lot of people in this industry say to you, no, the only way that you can go into retail is you have to have this broker and you have to have this and you have to have that. Tanya and I have never worked with anyone like that. We've gone and shown up as founders to every single coffee store that we're in. And we drop off a sample and we meet the manager and we educate people about the brand. And once they try it more times than not they love it and they end up ordering us but we build those personal relationships and that's really important and no one is going to sell your brand as well as you'll sell your brand that's right and so I think you know just going out and getting in front of people and getting your product in front of as many people as possible even if it is in an Amazon craft box and it isn't perfectly packaged and you don't have all of the information that you need a lot of places especially within food service which is largely our b2b kind of offering we're in a lot of cafes and coffee shops they don't really care you know that you can go to them with a really like bare bones yeah bare bones offering and they don't really mind so long as you can educate them on the product and you've got a good story and you've got a good brand and you've got a great product.

19:51Gabriella Labi:That's a really good point. Tanya, for you, was there anything on the marketing side? And this is something that I've talked to clients with before who started at the farmer's market of when you have someone in front of you face to face or, and, or you've seen them throughout the month, the way that you're explaining your product and having more time to sample, making that shift of like within seconds, you need to communicate what is this product? What makes it different? Who is it for? Why do I want it? When you go into say the marketing with your packaging, was there anything that you found helpful making that shift and making it communicate really quickly?

20:35Tonya Reznikovich:um I think I think that as we had these conversations with our customers at farmers markets our USP sort of just crystallized itself um because it we kind of got to share what we thought was special but then we heard feedback from our customers and so I think we emerged from that farmers market experience saying okay we're hyper clean we're extremely decadent and we're very giftable and we haven't seen anyone do all of those things because I mean presentation is never really even a consideration the axes are usually taste and then how good something is for you and typically if something is really good for you it tastes like cardboard and if something tastes incredible it's usually really bad for you right and presentation is just I mean honestly La Jouerée is a great example like gorgeous presentation um I've definitely taken a page out of their book for Gatto.

21:29Tonya Reznikovich:Taste-wise, not for me, but a lot of people love them. But if you've ever read what's on the ingredient label for macaroons, like you don't want to put that in your body. And just having those conversations, we're like, okay, these are our three pillars. That's what we're going to focus on. Got it.

21:45Gabriella Labi:I think that's a really helpful exercise too, of thinking about your packaging selling for you when you're making that shift also from farmer's market to retail because you won't be standing in front of someone. So cute. Your packaging is really cute. And I totally see what you mean as giftable. Was that something that you heard at the farmer's market?

22:05Tonya Reznikovich:People were, I mean, our presentation was certainly not giftable, but so many people were giving us as gifts because they loved our dates. And we kind of turned to each other and we were like, yeah, obviously things that you love, you want to gift to the people that you love. Gifting is so many people's love language. And how do we, how do we capitalize on that more? How do we also elevate the presentation? And so then that kind of became one of our, one of our pillars because people also buy with their eyes. I mean, it helps having a really good product, but before someone's put it in their mouth, they want to want to buy it with their eyes.

22:39Gabriella Labi:Totally. Absolutely. Well, thank you both so much. This was so informative. And I We know that for so many emerging brand founders who listen to the podcast, they're going to take so many notes from your journey and from your point of view and how you built. So thank you both so much for sharing. That means everything to me of capturing these stories and passing them along.

23:03Tonya Reznikovich:Thanks for having us.

23:06Gabriella Labi:You're so welcome. Last question though, where can we shop your incredible products.

23:10Tonya Reznikovich:We have a website, www.gatodates.com. That has everything we ship nationwide. You can also find us in person. Our store locator on the website is up to date. So it has all of our stores across the US. Yeah.