Nomie

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

0:28Roopa Annadatha: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. And the best part is you could shop all the brands featured on the show. This podcast is brought to you by Hummingbirds. Hummingbirds is the go-to platform built for creator-powered retail activations. They're connecting everyday creators with CPG brands to generate shelf-level awareness, drive in-store momentum, and generate authentic content in markets that matter the most. Go to hummingbirds.com for all the details and let them know I sent you.

1:15Now, 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 a very special guest. This is a brand I want on your radar, a founder to watch. Rupa Adadatha, she is the founder of Nomi. And Rupa, I'm so happy to now officially have you on the podcast.

1:44Roopa Annadatha:Thank you for having me, Kelly. I really appreciate it. As I mentioned, this is a dream come true for me. I'm so excited to be here. Oh, I love hearing that. So Rupa and I have been working behind the scenes on brand strategy for Nomi. It's a very cool, innovative kids meal brand that's going to be coming to market next year. And I wanted to have Rupa on to really share the behind the scenes of how she's building and how she is figuring it out as a first-time CPG founder with such a cool background, but in a totally different space and how she's putting all the pieces together to, again, bring a really innovative brand to market.

2:30I want to hear about what exactly you are finding white space in the kids' meal category. It's a hot space. There's a lot of innovation happening, but there was still this gap that you were finding and a personal pain point for toddler meals. So can you walk us through what exactly is Nomi and what problem it is actually solving?

2:58Roopa Annadatha:Sure. So Nomi is a line of just-add water meals for kids. these meals come in a lightweight stand-up pouch and all parents have to do is add hot water directly to the pouch and the meal is ready so this pain point really came from my own personal experience because after a long day of work I would come home frustrated and dreading the grind of feeding my toddler because my options were cooking a meal from scratch or defaulting to frozen meals or pouches and snacks that lack real nutrition and then last year we were on an eight-hour flight to Europe and I realized he had gone the entire trip without a real meal.

3:37Roopa Annadatha:He was eating bars, pretzels, skullfish, because those were the most convenient options. And so that really what sparked the idea for Nomi, I wanted to have a nutritious meal that was tailored to his needs, but also was convenient. Which totally makes sense. And what I was saying before, Or I have never paid attention so much to kids, kids and snacks, kids meals. And there really isn't anything that, again, is shelf stable. That's easy to travel with. Super convenient. That is that instant just add water form factor for toddlers in particular. So how did you start developing this? I know that you come from corporate America, which I definitely want to touch upon in a minute.

4:28But what was the very early steps that you took to start bringing this product idea to life?

4:34Roopa Annadatha:Absolutely. So the very first thing I did is I surveyed over 400 parents. I just used the SurveyMonkey and I surveyed about 400 parents to understand, is this format even desirable? And I found that 68 % of them said they would buy Nomi if it was available today. So I understood that there was a need. Then I started doing marker research and understanding what's out there like this today. This format is familiar in the backpacking space. And so I bought probably every single backpacking meal there is out there to taste it and think, would this taste good? You know, how can a shelf stable product be healthy and taste good?

5:17Roopa Annadatha:And from there, I started working with the pediatric nutritionist to really put together what are the nutritional requirements for the toddler age group, because those are very unique to what adults need. And I wanted to make sure I'm not just delivering an easy solution for parents, but really catering to what the kids need. I think that's also a really unique piece that you're bringing to the market is that you are really thinking about the veggies, the protein, the fiber for toddlers in particular. Because like you said, it's a different need of nutrition, but also not feeling like you have to compromise that nutrition in order to have something super convenient.

6:07it. Something else that you have been doing is really hitting the pavement and getting the word out there. I'm so impressed. And again, I want to talk about your background in corporate America in a moment, but you've been really putting yourself out there. You have your own personal Instagram. I saw you speaking on a panel just yesterday, networking. What also has been helping you just put yourself out there and this idea out there and sharing with people what you're building?

6:41Roopa Annadatha:You know, the need to put myself out there came from a genuine need for support. There was a couple of different organizations I joined and one that I started. So the very first one was I started a Jersey City mom entrepreneur community. And it really started because, you know, being a solopreneur, it is a lonely journey. And I wanted some support throughout this journey, someone that I could lean on, who's also going through a similar, similar journey. The next one is I joined Dream Ventures. And then I also joined CPG communities like Startup CPG, Shelf Made included CPG. And because I don't come from the CPG world, and I knew I needed to learn.

7:28Roopa Annadatha:And so I really leaned on these communities to understand the food industry. What do I need to know? Like, where are my pitfalls? And really putting together that knowledge that I wouldn't have had. And the need for speaking or like the speaking about it, again, just came from a natural desire to find that community. And as I was going through this, I realized people were also resonating with what I was saying, not just what I was building with Nomi, but also the journey as a mom founder. And there was a lot of people resonating with, you know, building something that had purpose as a mom, because there are unique challenges that come with that.

8:10Right. I'm sure. I mean, you are really doing it all. You have a baby, a toddler, a family, a business. Literally, as we're recording this, you are managing it all. And I deeply admire entrepreneurs, women entrepreneurs, but especially mom entrepreneurs who are in the trenches and figuring it out and making it all happen. I always say I love working with mom founders because they get shit done. Like you are looking for efficiencies. You're not messing around. You're not wasting time. Like you got this window to get your work done and you get it done. Dream Ventures, too, is incredible. I have had Annie on the show and Kelly, and I just really admire deeply what they are doing for female founders.

9:02For someone who doesn't know, what experience are you learning with Dream Ventures?

9:07Roopa Annadatha:So with Dream Ventures, I joined their summer cohort this summer. and the core was really to learn about how to fundraise and what are the different avenues for fundraising. I wasn't actively fundraising at that time, but again, I wanted that knowledge for the future to understand what are my different avenues. Because they always say, you don't want to fundraise when you need it. You need to fundraise before that. And so I wanted to be prepared. And through Annie and Kelly, they've really opened up a lot of connections, knowledge, and their own network to bring Nomi to life. So it's been such an incredible and supportive community.

9:50Roopa Annadatha:And both of them are so, so wonderful. So I absolutely, I'm so glad, even though I was actively fundraising at that time, that I joined their cohort and met them. Absolutely. And I really, and why I wanted you to touch upon that is because you're putting stuff on your radar, even when you're not necessarily actively needing to take that next step within building a CPG brand. I think you've done a really great job of fielding the knowledge of what to be aware of so that you feel really confident in taking those next steps because you have a good understanding of what's next around the corner. I think that really comes from my operations background.

10:35So that's what I wanted to touch upon because I feel like that's very inherent in who you are and how your mind works and how you go figuring things out, right? Like how you connect the dots. So can you give us a background of your career prior to becoming a CPG founder? Because you've worked with some of the biggest names in corporate America, some of the most innovative brands as well. So can you give us a peek behind the curtain of just how you've been building your career thus far?

11:08Roopa Annadatha:Absolutely. So the last 15 years I spent in consumer tech, where I led operations and brought many products to life at some of the world's most leading world's leading brands like Apple, Microsoft, and most recently, Peloton. I really love what I did. And I truly believe that my ops experience, it really set me up to be successful as a solo founder. With operations and supply chain, you're really thinking through all of the scenarios. You're really laying out all the steps that you need in order to launch a product and get it to market. But even after that, you're not just thinking getting it to market.

11:49Roopa Annadatha:But once you get into market, how do you scale? How do you get costs down? So these are all of the things that I'm thinking through now that I truly think differentiates my experience as a solo entrepreneur in a new CPG space because I have this experience. So while I don't have CPG experience, I know how to bring products to market and I know how to scale. So and that was something that really stood out to me when I first talked to you of talking about your brand and your ideas and seeing how we could work together. I loved your background. I was like, ooh, because I feel like I have a really good sense of finding the entrepreneurs who just like have it, who I know will figure it out.

12:38And right off the bat, I was like, oh, yep. Love obsessed. I see how her mind works. She could do this. She could really figure this out and doing something, again, very innovative, something that we haven't seen yet. So what made you take the leap? I mean, you had really great jobs in corporate and you've built a great name for yourself. What made you want to take the leap and say, I'm going to shoot my shot. I'm going to become a founder myself. Yeah.

13:12Roopa Annadatha:Yeah, I know it's so cliche, but truly after becoming a mom, that lifestyle just didn't fit me anymore. I spent 15 years chasing the titles, the stability, but I really craved purpose after, you know, being a mom. And so when the idea for Know Me sparked, I, instead of putting it in my notes app graveyard, I decided to chase after it. And I'm so glad I did because I know I'm solving a real pain point for myself and others like me. So cool. So bringing it back to how you've been building the brand. So dream ventures, joining CPG founder groups, what other steps have you been taking to put the pieces together?

14:02Roopa Annadatha:Yeah, well, the very first one is my brand strategy. So working with you and really honing in on what the strategy is. I think with brand strategy, that was really helpful because I had a bigger vision and you helped me really niche that down to where the focus should be that doesn't take away from the scalability of the brand but really making sure we're solving the pain point right like a true niche pain point so I would recommend anyone you know start really thinking through what their brand strategy is or partnering with someone like you to to do that um after that But and then in parallel to that, I had already been doing product formulations.

14:44Roopa Annadatha:I partner with a food and beverage formulation company to really put that together for three of my SKUs and finding a co-manufacturer as well, which has been a challenge in itself. I think that deserves its own podcast. Yeah. But really finding that co-man who I finally found one. I'm so excited. Yes. Amazing. Yeah. And, you know, once those operational groundwork is done, I also partner with someone to help me on the operations side. Although I have that experience, I really wanted to still bring in someone because, you know, ops and founder visionary life, they are at odds with each other. With ops, you're really grounded.

15:30Roopa Annadatha:As a founder, you have to be in your vision. You're thinking high level. so while I had that experience I was noticing a struggle in me where I was you know trying to keep that vision but also be grounded at the same time so I partnered with someone to help me on partner on the operations and go to market and then also on the brand identity and web development so those are finally underway and I cannot wait to to launch that that's that's happening in the month of November. So very, very excited to finally have, you know, like the visual and identity and visual. Yeah. And, and what we were just talking about, as far as finding the right partners from brand strategy, I know it's all happening, right?

16:21That you're working with Danielle, who's amazing. And I love, again, I was so happy that you are now working with her too, because with her experience and strategy, it's such an awesome combo. Like I love working with her and like putting together her go to market with the brand strategy. It's just such a winning combo. So I'm so glad you're doing that. And then to really put really the cherry on top. It's like, whenever we get to visuals, it's like the fun, exciting part where you can literally see your vision coming together. And I've been seeing sneak peeks of the branding and sharing my notes and it really looks good.

17:04It really, really looks good. And it's cool. It's fresh. It's modern, but it's kids. And yeah, I'm thrilled to, I'm thrilled for you to really start visually seeing those pieces come together because it's such an exciting moment of the growth of the brand.

17:25Roopa Annadatha:Absolutely. And I, I really want the brand to feel like that. I think I, the identity part has been so fun for me and it's taken a little bit longer than I wanted it, but I really want to make sure it conveys the, the joy that parents feel and the confidence that parents feel having this product for them and their kids. Yeah, absolutely. And something that we were talking about earlier, but I wanted to reiterate, this product is obviously very easy to travel with, super convenient, but it's also the use case of using it at home too for busy working parents, or if you have a babysitter, the grandparents are watching the kids.

18:09Can you just go over that use case? Because I just want to make sure we capture it. Because that also too is a unique piece that you're able to check both those boxes.

18:19Roopa Annadatha:Yeah. You know, as I was benchmarking and testing a lot of different products, what I find myself doing is using those in the day-to-day world. So I would wake up, I would open a pouch, put hot water in it, go get ready for work, come back and then pack that for my son's daycare lunch. So that's an option. And then when I had my in-laws come over to watch him, I wasn't thinking about, you know, what do I make for him so that I can go have a date night with my husband? I just gave them a pouch and have that ready. So there's a lot of different use cases I found just for the day-to-day life because today's parents are on the go.

18:58Roopa Annadatha:You know, they're at home. They're commuting back from work. They're going to work in the morning. They're going to soccer practices after work over the weekends. They're going to, I don't know, a science center or the zoo. There's a lot like parents are just out and about all day with their kids. And that's why we resonate to sex because that's the convenient option. But now you have another option. So cool. So when can people put this on their radar? I know that's always the million dollar question, but just to give people a sense of time ish of this product coming to market. So I'll be launching in Q1, 2026.

19:39Roopa Annadatha:But if anyone's interested in early access or perks, please sign up for our waitlist on our website and follow us on our Instagram to follow our journey. Amazing. And before I let you go, I would love to hear any advice you would share with a founder who's in the really, really early stages. Maybe they are listening to the podcast or brainstorming ideas or they are finding something in their own day-to-day life that is a pain point that they're working to solve, but, and they're percolating on the idea of turning this into a CPG brand. What would you share with them? I would say don't do it alone.

20:19Roopa Annadatha:Um, there are so many communities these days that even before you have an idea that you could join just to get inspiration and knowledge and understanding of what it means to truly bring a CPSG product to life. So join those communities, make sure you're involved and cold message founders, founders, we love talking about what we do. So anyone that messages me on LinkedIn or Instagram or anywhere, I'm happy to share my journey. And then the second thing is, once you do have an idea, spend time doing the boring stuff, know your numbers. Again, I know this is my ops background, but it truly, you know, when you're a founder, you have this idea, it's so exciting, but know your numbers early because understand what your runway is, understand what your margins are and not just what it costs to make the product, but what it costs to ship the product and get it into a customer hands and also marketing it.

21:16Roopa Annadatha:There's the big marketing aspects that a lot of founders just forget about, but it's really how do you spend money to market that products so people and customers are aware of how to find your product. Well said. Well, I am so beyond proud of you. Thank you for bringing me into this really cool team of people behind Nomi. And I'm just thrilled to see this product come to market and help so many parents solve a real true pinpoint, pain point, I should say, and that you pinpointed it for toddlers. And I'm so thrilled to just see it grow from here. Thank you, Kelly. I can't wait to bring it to market.

22:02Roopa Annadatha:And thank you for being on the journey with me. Of course. Well, thanks for sharing your story this far. This was something new that I was experimenting with as a brand to watch. So thanks for going and sharing your story. And thank you everyone for listening. And I'll see on the next episode. Bye. This podcast is brought to you by Hummingbirds. Hummingbirds is the go-to platform built for creator powered retail activations. They're connecting everyday creators with CPG brands to generate shelf level awareness, drive in-store momentum, and generate authentic content in markets that matter the most.

22:43Go to hummingbirds.com for all the details and let them know I sent you. Thank you again for listening to this episode of the Emerging Brands Podcast. It really means so much to me that you listen to this show, share it with your friends and support it. Before I wrap up, I just wanted to give a shout out to a few brands I want you to keep an eye out for that I'm working with. First up is She's the Sauce. She just launched her pre-orders sold out which is incredible. This is a new protein pack fiber filled sauce line starting with a creamy ranch and honey mustard skews. It's made without seed oils, gums, fillers so it's a cleaner better for you option that tastes incredible.

23:31Next is Kato, a new cottage cheese dip that's reimagining the classics in a modern way. Then we have Nomi which is a better for kids brand making mealtime way easier. Next, we have Frankly Good Coffee, who is expanding in food service and specialty retail, bringing their air roasted small batch unique blends to more people. And I'm kicking off brand strategies for a new pudding brand, ready to drink beverage, and a baking brand and a few more in the works that I'm really excited to share about soon. If you are a CPG food and beverage founder and you're ready to launch a brand people want to shop, head to withkellybennett.com for the details.

24:17And as always, thank you so much for listening, shopping the brands featured on the show and following brands I'm working with. It means so much. See you on the next episode.