Building a High Growth Brand in CPG with Bryan Freeman: An EOFire Classic from 2022

0:01Boom! Shake the room, Fire Nation. JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire. are brought to you by High Level, the all-in-one sales and marketing platform. On today's classic episode, we'll be breaking down building a high-growth brand in CPG. To drop these value bombs, I brought to Brian Freeman and the EO Fire Studios. Brian led Real Good Foods from startup in 2017 to an IPO in 2021, listing with a$300 million market cap. Brian has built and sold three other consumer packaged goods brands to large publicly traded firms. And today we talk Talk about how to stay curious and keep learning from others.

0:39When investors see you're committed, they will invest and be very intentional, but constantly look for people with new ideas and experiences and so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Brian and our sponsors. Are you ready for the ultimate all-in-one platform for entrepreneurs, marketers, coaches, and agencies? Build funnels, automate follow-ups, manage clients, and even white label your own software. Say hello to our featured partner, High Level, and visit highlevelfire.com to start your free trial today. Brian, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with.

1:25Hey, what's up, Fire Nation? Great to be here today. I would say that no matter how successful or how well things are going, how big your business is getting, continue to ask for help and help those that are asking you for help. And so said another way, keep stays curious and keep learning from from others. And, you know, in the case of Real Good Foods, I mean, we went from, you know, basically zero to being listed on a NASDAQ under symbol RGF in four years. And we're still pushing hard. And we're fortunate enough that we put together a board of directors of folks that, you know, come from multibillion dollar businesses.

2:09And I can tell you, you know, we're talking to them weekly, if not daily, and leaning in there. And I think as an entrepreneur, you can do the same thing regardless of if you're just getting started or if you're further along your journey. Raise your hand and ask folks for helps, and you'll be surprised how generous people are. And at the same time, help those that are reaching out to you and asking for help and your insights and experience. It's so true because so many people that are successful right now can literally look back to a moment where they were helped by somebody. And it always feels so good to pay that forward.

2:50And as I brought up in the introduction, I mean, this is a guy, Fire Nation, who brought real good foods from an IPO or from a startup in 2017 to an IPO in 2021 with a$300 million plus market cap. So what is your background? What led to where you are today? I've been in the frozen food manufacturing business for 20 years now. And along the way, I've probably made every mistake possible. And I think I would attribute my success to, I'm very curious. And I kind of take a step back and say, what if we could redesign our food so that it was actually healthy for you? And, you know, that's what we're all about.

3:35And if you can solve a big problem like that, you're going to build a big business. And we know that, you know, in the case of America, I mean, you go back 30, 40 years, they told us that eat lots of grains. Don't worry about carbohydrates. Just worry about fat. Right. And look what happened. I mean, you know, a third of us are either pre-diabetic or have diabetes today. And so, you know, I kind of sat back and just said, you know, we got to fix this. I know I'm not going to stop eating enchiladas and lasagna. And is there a way to take the carbohydrates out and replace it with protein? And I think, you know, we just have to continue to stay curious and continue to learn from others to get to the right answer.

4:16Stay curious, Fire Nation. I feel like that's going to be a theme that we keep hearing throughout this episode because it's such an important word. It's such an important trait and quality to have as an entrepreneur. Now, if Fire Nation, Brian, let's just say we're slightly capital constrained, how can we still get started in the CPG world, which again, Fire Nation is consumer packaged goods with limited resources? Get those credit cards out, guys and gals, and lean in. But what I would say is, if you can get to proof of concept or at least get through your prototyping and show that you're committed, the money will come.

5:00And there's a lot of capital out there right now. And investors, if they see that you're committed and they see an actual product, the money will come in. And that's been my history, my background. And, you know, I also spend a lot of time on the private equity side, on the buy side. And I can tell you there's a lot of capital out there looking for a home today. A lot of capital looking for a home. But what is that right path? Like you found multiple right paths to raising money. Let's talk about maybe one or two of those for Fire Nation today. First is proof of concept that's going to have a huge impact on valuation.

5:37I also believe that if you're going to go to friends and family, I think those conversations are much easier if you bring at least one outsider that comes in alongside friends and family. That helps kind of provide a check on valuation expectations for your friends and family. And by doing that, I think you can accelerate your growth. Now, Fire Nation, I think you really need to understand that we can learn from other mistakes that people have made on the journey, no matter what it is that they're going to be doing or what it is that they've succeeded or failed at. I mean, those struggles, those obstacles, those challenges along the way, they really do leave lessons.

6:19They really do leave clues. And so for you, Brian, someone who's really dialed in, who has his finger on the pulse, what are just the common mistakes, the ones that you see entrepreneurs make over and over again when they're starting a CPG brand or just a company in general? Look, I was guilty of this prior to Real Good Foods. And that is, I was solely focused on getting distribution and revenue before really taking the steps necessary to build a brand. So put another way at Real Good Foods, we leaned in and focused on building out our community. All too often, it's the exact opposite. You're so focused on trying to get distribution before you've actually built a community and have a brand.

7:01And that's a recipe for failure sometimes. You get more distribution than you have in terms of community or awareness. and you're not going to get the velocities and the pull through on shelf that you need to be successful. So one of the things, Fire Nation, that is so critical that I found in my journey is always finding people that are where you want to be. Like, how did you find that person, Brian? How did you find that person or that mentor or that guide that was ahead of you in the ballgame that was able to kind of give you that guidance, that information, just that knowledge it was so critical to take real good foods to where you are today.

7:42That is so smart what you just said. I totally agree with that. And I'll take it one step further. You know, a common mistake that I see out there, and I was guilty of it as well, is the folks that you attract to work for you or with you in the early years may not have the skill set needed to take you to the next level in the future, but yet you have this sense of loyalty. They helped you get from point A to point B. And that's why you see a lot of businesses get stuck. And so being very intentional and constantly out there looking for new people with new ideas that have more experience than your current team is critical.

8:21And I think that's a big key to RGF success. And then it cascades all the way to the board of directors that I've mentioned before. Now, you did kind of mention a little bit or this minutely kind of brushed over, but I was kind of tuned into it. You know, you said you didn't want to give up the enchiladas. You don't want to give up the lasagna. And you were able to build real good foods kind of based off of that kind of want, that kind of desire. So can you kind of go into a little bit about where the idea, the aha moment came for real good foods and where it came from and how it evolved over time?

8:58At the end of the day, it was pretty obvious that we all love pizza, lasagna, enchiladas, and yet they're loaded with carbohydrates, don't have a lot of protein. The more this stuff you eat, the more likely you are going to become obese, and that leads to a whole list of health problems. And so the idea was, well, what if instead of a tortilla made of flour and grains and carbohydrates, it was actually made of chicken? That's kind of a crazy idea, but that's where it starts. What if the pizza crust was made of chicken? What if the lasagna pasta is made of chicken, et cetera, et cetera? And so just being naturally curious and trying to make a difference and try to do something totally different, radical, I would say, than what our food system is doing today.

9:50And if you can solve that problem and do good in the world, you're going to build a big business quickly. And that's what we're doing. And I'm telling you, man, I mean, we don't see we think we're just in the early innings. I mean, I look as an example. I look at Asian foods right now. My family loves orange chicken. I mean, that stuff is full of sugar. You might as well eat a Snicker bar. OK, go to go to Panda Express. Right. And we crack the code on it. And you're going to see us launch a, you know, an Asian themed line of entrees. You know, that's low carbohydrate, grain free, gluten free. and is loaded with protein.

10:29And so if we can make our food delicious with those attributes, I mean, we're going to have a huge impact on the world and along the way, make a big business. Again, Fire Nation, we're coming back to that word curiosity and being curious in general is so key and thinking outside the box too. I mean, if Brian had come and said, hey, we're going to make pasta, but it's going to be a little bit better pasta. Like we're really just going to make it just a little bit better than what's out there now. people would be like, really? Like, are you? It's kind of subjective. But if he's like, I'm going to make pizza crust out of chicken, people are like, what the heck are you talking about?

11:05That's when you know you have an opportunity. Because if there are people out there in the world, they can't possibly envision you doing what you want to do. And then you do it. That's where the opportunity lies. And we have so much more to talk about along this line and so much more when we get back from thanking our sponsors. When I first launched Entrepreneurs on Fire, in September of 2012. I had a feeling it was going to be big, but I didn't know how big. Fast forward to May 2014, not even two years later, and Kate and I were traveling Europe on our first ever completely unplugged vacation.

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13:20Full disclosures in podcast description. Okay, let's talk about a platform that's completely changing how entrepreneurs are running their business. And they are also our featured partner, High Level. If you're an entrepreneur, coach, agency, or course creator looking to grow faster and smarter, High Level is the all-in-one platform that replaces your entire tech stack. Seriously, think ClickFunnels, Calendly, MailChimp, Kajabi, and even your CRM all rolled up into one powerful white label solution. You can build funnels, send SMS and email campaigns, schedule appointments, manage pipelines, run memberships, and even launch your own branded mobile app.

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14:28So visit highlevelfire.com to start your free trial and see why thousands of businesses are switching. That's highlevelfire.com, where marketing, sales, and automation finally come together. High Level, join the revolution. Brian, we're back. I want to talk about purpose. I want to talk about mission. What roles do these two words play in your process? At this stage of my career, it's foundational. To be really candid, earlier in my career, I was much more transactional, much more focused on frankly just making money and I've gotten to a stage in my career in my life where what I put in the package really matters and for me and for the entire company it matters to us that what we're making and creating is actually good for you and the benefit of that that I didn't realize at the time is you actually are able to attract better people.

15:32And it also helps bring the company together on a sole purpose. We all know why we're here. And it's actually accelerated our growth.

15:44So I got to tell you, early on in my career, I was making stuff loaded with sugar and fat. And one day, I'll never forget this. One day I saw my family eating it and they loved it. And I'm just looking at them going, you know, I wish they wouldn't eat that stuff. And it was just like, wait, what the hell are you doing? You're making a product and you're not proud of it. And so I'll, you know, I'll never do that. That pride, Fire Nation, like if you don't have deep pride in what you're creating and what you're building, then you're not going to make it through the tough times because it's going to be easy to give up when you don't believe in what you're doing.

16:20So let's talk about how brands today are being built differently than they were 10, 20, 50 years ago? For us, the way this brand's been built is through community. That's two-way authentic conversations. That's very different from the way brands were built maybe 20 or 30 years ago. Back then, it was all about sort of this guru architecture where a founder or somebody is talking down to people saying, I found the next amazing thing. Real Good Foods couldn't be further from that. What we are is just part of a community that we're learning from each other. We talk and communicate, you know, through DMs or whatever throughout the day.

17:02And it's a journey that we're experiencing together. That level of authenticity is what is working. And that's what builds loyalty. You know, the other thing I would say is, as I look across the landscape of brands that are actually building real equity, they all have one thing in common, that is they're a performance based brand as opposed to a promise. And for Real Good Foods, we're a performance brand in that what matters is what the food is actually doing to your body, as opposed to some promise that the tomatoes came from an organic farm or something. So I think that's really how brands are being built today is all through social and through authentic, vulnerable conversations.

17:52I mean, we started out with just, you know, one person DMing someone else that had shared values and sending them food and saying, hey, what do you think? And we started it, you know, just with one follower at a time. And today, you know, we have over 400 ,000 followers on Instagram. I mean, it's in a food industry that's unheard of. We have like 30, 40 times larger social presence than these multinational, multi-billion dollar brands. Well, let's talk about that specifically because doing my research for this interview, that was one of the things that I really was like, wow, and it jumped out at me was just your large, but also most importantly, engaged social communities.

18:33Let's kind of go through how you guys accomplished this. What was the roadmap you followed? What really worked to get to where you are today? My key learning here is you got to do it yourself. Now, by that, I mean, you know, I've worked inside large food businesses that try to hire outside agencies or aggregators, and it's not authentic and it doesn't work. You got to do it yourself, brick by brick. And for us, you know, we have really motivated, talented people who care a lot about the brand and the community. And we're just reaching out every day to micro nanos and just having these conversations, sending them food and getting their feedback.

19:12and you know it's it's not it's block and tackle you're not going to get this overnight and it just takes time and effort and being very intentional about it so this is a big question but i really want to end with a bang here what is the future of food what is the future of food and those that consume it us the consumer we are all more aware of what food does to your body yet it's going to take entrepreneurs to actually change the system. Like I said before, being inside big food companies, they would never consider doing a chicken tortilla. So the good news is it's up to us entrepreneurs to really change the system and to build items for a very specific need group and go really deep and narrow first before going broad.

20:06And so the opportunity is there for us to really deliver growth because the consumer is very much aware of what they want their food to be. And that to me is one of my favorite phrases of the entire episode. Go deep and narrow first. Deep and narrow first, Fire Nation. I love that because if you can become the number one solution for a real problem out there in this world, you have a chance to get traction momentum. them. And then once you get that wedge in there, you can crack it open and the world is your oyster. Because now, I mean, what can't real good foods do? Now they have the brand, they have the audience, they have the engagement, they have everything, the trust, they have that.

20:48They can do essentially anything, but they went deep and narrow first. So Brian, bring this home for us. What is the one thing you really want to make sure Fire Nation gets from everything that we talked about here today? Then any way you want us to connect with you, your brand, any call to action you have, and then we'll say goodbye. Hey, entrepreneurs, just keep grinding and really enjoy being a part of this. Feel free to connect with us on IG at Real Good Foods and look forward to continued conversation. I really enjoyed the time. Fire Nation, you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with.

21:23You've been hanging out with BF and JLD today, so keep up that heat, head over to eofire.com, type Brian, B-R-Y-A-N in the search bar. His show notes page will pop up with everything we've talked about here today. And Brian, thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation today. For that, we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side. Hey, Fire Nation, today's value bomb content was brought to you by Brian and Fire Nation. Are you ready to rock your very own podcast? Well, check out our free podcasting course where I will teach you how to create and launch your podcast for free.

22:00Visit freepodcastcourse.com and I'll catch you there or I'll catch you on the flip side. Are you ready for the ultimate all-in-one platform for entrepreneurs, marketers, coaches, and agencies? Build funnels, automate follow-ups, manage clients, and even white label your own software, say hello to our featured partner, High Level, and visit highlevelfire.com to start your free trial today.