285. From Her Parents’ Kitchen to 500 Sprouts Stores: How Lindsey Mifsud Built LL’s Kitchen

0:01Foodbevy:Welcome to Startup to Scale, a podcast by Foodbevy. I'm your host, Jordan Buckner. Join me as I talk to aspiring entrepreneurs, seasoned industry experts, and everyone in between as we unlock the keys to growing from startup to scale.

0:18Foodbevy:A lot of food brands start with a product idea. And for Lindsey Mifsud, founder of LL's Kitchen, they start with something that's more personal. So during the pandemic, Lindsay was a collegiate softball player and she was working to heal her relationship with food after struggling with an eating disorder. She began making granola in her parents' kitchen, not with necessarily the goal of creating the next restrictive health food, but to create something that celebrated food and actually tastes good. From that, Ella's Kitchen was born. Now they've grown into hundreds of stores nationwide, launched in Sprouse nationwide, and I really want to bring her on to tell her story and some of the lessons learned around building the company.

1:01Foodbevy:So, Lindsay, welcome to the podcast today. Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here and, you know, share the ins and outs of building LL's Kitchen. Awesome. Well, I love just how you tell your story and both like personally in that moment and also, you know, how you're just helping so many people. I love you just to give like a quick overview of Ella's Kitchen, like the granola, the product and what it is to kind of give people a baseline. Sure. So we call it granola reimagined. It's really not what you think of when you think of a crispy, crunchy granola. It has a very unique soft bake texture.

1:35So you can eat it straight out of the bag, kind of on the go as a snack by itself. But it is great with yogurt, milk, whatever you eat granola with. But aside from our unique texture, we also just use simple, clean ingredients you can pronounce. Only sweetener we use is a touch of honey. And then our claim to fame ingredient is that we use infused olive oil. So that's what kind of gives the chew, the flavor, and then, you know, of course, adds health benefits. So that's kind of our, you know, just little pitch, simple, clean ingredients that you can feel good about snacking on.

2:04Foodbevy:Yeah, that's really fun. So, you know, before LL's Kitchen was a business, like what was happening in your life that led you to start making granola in your parents' kitchen? So I have a very, you know, odd kind of path to creating LL's Kitchen. So 2019, I was just finishing my college softball career. So I graduated in 2019, really had no idea what I wanted to do with my career. I was always passionate about nutrition. I always loved creating healthy recipes. But at the time of graduation, I was really struggling with an eating disorder. I struggled with binge eating. And, you know, as a college softball player, I was a pitcher.

2:39I was in the spotlight, pressure to perform, pressure to be strong. and you need to be eating fuel to be strong. So it was always kind of a tug of war in my head that I really struggled with on and off the field. But this is a big part of my story. My senior year, I did my capstone research project on the prevalence of eating disorders in female NCAA athletes. And the statistic that just burned a hole in my head was that one in four female college athletes struggles with an eating disorder. So it was my -

3:07Foodbevy:Wow, that's incredibly high. Yes. So I remember doing this research in the library and going to practice that day going, my God, I wonder how many of my teammates are, you know, silently struggling with this. So it was my kind of reminder and push to not only figure my own stealth out and my story, but I just knew I wanted to do something inspiring. Like if I beat this, if I figure it out, I can make someone else never struggle the way I did. So fast forward a little bit to the pandemic. I was working at SoulCycle, this indoor cycling studio, and everything shut down, lost my job. So a lot of time on my hands to, you know, make recipes, kind of just mess around in the kitchen.

3:46And that was my time to really heal. I was like, okay, I'm figuring this out. And granola happened to be one of the recipes I was making. And one day I made my nonny, my Italian grandmother, a batch of my granola. And she said, why don't you sell this? And that was literally what started LL's Kitchen. That day, just a random idea, no business plan, no number crunching. It was just a fun hobby. So that's my long-winded story of how I made the first batch of granola.

4:13Foodbevy:Yeah, I mean, it's so powerful, like, coming from the experience with reading this earlier and being able to transform your life from that, which I also know is really hard. As you're building out both, like, the actual product itself, but then also, like, the company and how you wanted to start turning this into a business, how did your kind of past experiences inform how you want to even build and develop LL's Kitchen? You know, obviously there did become a point where I took a recipe and turned it into a structured kind of mission for LL's Kitchen. And the one thing I didn't want to do, I felt like with a lot of Better For You brands, a lot of health brands that it kind of came with this messaging of like dieting, like, you know, eat us and you'll be skinny, eat us and you'll be thin.

4:57Like it came with a just like a heavier messaging, like a pressure to be healthy, skinny whatever and I didn't want to do that so I couldn't figure out like how do I come up with messaging that doesn't feel diet-y and I just went back to basics making nutrition simple and taste good that's literally what I was doing at the time so that truly did become our mission like nope I don't want to tell you that if you eat our granola you're going to be the skinniest healthiest version ever no no you're going to eat something that makes you feel good it's going to make you you know trust the ingredients it's going to make you feel good about the brand like it's just going to make you feel like a better you.

5:32None of these overarching concepts of health and wellness, if that makes sense.

5:36Foodbevy:No, it totally does. And I think that's just really simple, like bringing things back to basics. As you mentioned, you can make the most delicious food products just from simple ingredients done well and taking more of a culinary approach to how you're actually creating them, which is really cool. Yeah, absolutely. I think there's a lot of power in making wholesome ingredients, whole foods just taste good. It doesn't have to be, you know how do we get the highest protein most collagen most whatever i think i think there's a lot of power in going back to your roots and it just feels less heavy less complicated yeah i mean i even remember when i launched my energy bar company t-squares we were very much into like how do we make a energy bar provide these extra benefits by letting you like stay focused and learn throughout the day and we even started experimenting with adaptogens and other things and i remember it was so powerful because we're like doing fine but there's like this tension between like, are we just like an energy bar or are we this like functional food?

6:32Foodbevy:Because some people are like, hey, I really like these, but like four pieces as a serving, like if I eat more than that, is that bad for me? Right? Is that too much caffeine? And then we also surveyed our customers or like 50 % of our customers did not buy us for the quote, like energy focus benefit at all, nor that they'd know if it was working. Right? And so it's like, wow, we were really at this crossroads of like, do we lean into like going more heavily functional? Do we just say like, hey, we're just a really great tasting, fun snack. And it really opened my eyes to like how we as the founders and creators of a brand or product might see it completely differently in terms of what purpose it's serving in our customers' lives.

7:13Yeah, I think that's a great point. I think, you know, one of my retail specialists, his favorite quote is if every chef in America could sell and, you know, make a product and be sold on store shelves everywhere, they would. But it's not that simple. You have to see how customers view your product and how they enjoy it and how they eat it. It's not always the way you intend it to be sold. And I think that's the hardest part as a founder. We, so like I said, we set out to be this wholesome, nutrient-dense granola, you know, refined sugar-free, no seed oils, no additives, just clean. But we actually learned afterwards that we are the lowest calorie and lowest sugar granola per cup on the market next to all the big guys.

7:53We also have five grams of fiber, five grams of protein. We didn't set out to do that. And I didn't realize people were buying it for that reason. So it's it's it's just it's an interesting concept. You never know how someone's going to perceive your product and why they buy it.

8:07Foodbevy:Yeah. I mean, tell me about it. So I think you did a lot like launched a brand like in farmers markets and talk about like how like that was part of your early growth and what you were able to learn from like talking to people about your granola? Yeah, I think that's what has made LL's Kitchen successful so far is when it started, it was not a business plan. It was a hobby. It was me selling out of my home kitchen and farmer's markets. That is where we got our start. So it was getting to hear a lot of feedback and people liked it. And just I feel like for the first couple of years, it was all consumer research of, OK, why do people like it?

8:42Maybe why does this person not like it. And for us, the main thing was the different texture that it provided. Yes, we were clean. Yes, it was, you know, good ingredients you could feel good about. But we were the first that most people had tried soft granola. So, you know, I think I realized that, but it was kind of an accident. Like, oh, my gosh, this texture is like a cookie. I can eat it as a snack. It was fun. And it was I just felt like I was able to be a sponge without all of this pressure of like number crunching in the backward in the back and growth and all these things that founders do have to worry about.

9:15Foodbevy:Yeah, I mean, I definitely hear it. I mean, and, you know, to your credit, like granola is this really challenging, interesting, weird category, as I know you've experienced. And, you know, for some of our listeners, I don't know if they quite realize it, but like one, there's a lot of brands that launch in like granola. But then there's so many ways that consumers use it and purchase it right as like toppers or as like eating on their on that's a snack and some are crunchy some are nut based some are oat based some you know are growing these increasingly becoming like soft texture that are almost like little clusters i even remember like making you know some things are like clusters and i realized and they kind of like fell apart or like making granola and then they just like stuck together into clusters like all these weird ways of of doing it people will sometimes look at like price per pound and then other people right like aren't like there's just all these ways that people are are like purchasing it so like who doesn't like creating products in such a interesting category because here's like the ways i need to mention like the product attributes any other ways that you found that helped to just like stand out of of your story and connecting with with people i think i think i have learned a lot of people do enjoy our granola on yogurt like a traditional granola but it's the fact that it does offer a new snacking experience you can literally eat it straight out of the bag on the go.

10:33I call it, a lot of people have called it this too, like your 3 p.m. slump saver. Like when you want a cookie, you want something sweet and it's something you can grab. It'll cure your sweet tooth. It won't spike your blood sugar. You'll feel good about eating it. And I feel like that's where this really ties into my messaging is how many times have you been at your desk? It's 3 p.m. You're like, I want a brownie. I hate the messaging of saying food is good versus bad. I love a brownie. I am an end corner piece of a brownie lover, but I know myself and at 3 p.m. if I'm eating one of those, I'm going to crash.

11:07I'm not going to make it through the rest of the day. So it's not about good versus bad. I've gotten feedback from customers saying I can have that sweet treat and feel great about it. And then my body feels really good. So it's about how can we make things better, not calling things bad. And I think that's the biggest differentiation.

11:25Foodbevy:Yeah, I think that is really powerful. And, you know, even to that end, like one thing that I love seeing is just like all the content that you're putting out on social media and like connecting with people. And so, you know, what have you been doing throughout your journey to turn like social followers into customers and into brand advocates to kind of bring them into the LLC community and to get to know you, your story, and then also the granola? Yeah, I think there's a lot of power in being vulnerable. And it's really, really scary to, you know share your story and like the deepest darkest parts of your life on the internet because you know people are sometimes mean but I think that has what that's really what's given me a chance to connect with so many people is you can see a video of me talking about you know an eating disorder or my struggle with food and you may have felt that or you know someone who's felt that like everyone has struggled with food to a certain extent and that's what I like I love talking to the camera.

12:19I love kind of sharing the journey too. I think it's been exciting to build and people always, you know, like the behind the scenes, the factory, the order packing. So social media has added a great element of kind of letting you see in on the journey while still talking about the why. That's my favorite thing to do. Show you why we're creating this, how we're eating it, how to make food fun, and then, you know, building a CPG brand.

12:40Foodbevy:Yeah, you know, it's so interesting because I feel like there's definitely a early 2000s mindset or like into the 2010s of like social media just getting started like how can I use social media for like promote my business almost in like an advertising kind of way and I've definitely have seen over the past you know five ten years that it's really about like storytelling connecting with people really helps to just get you out into the world and into people's mindset and less the idea that like every video needs to have a certain ROI and sell your product and more so how can I build this like awareness of who I am and what I'm doing.

13:16Foodbevy:And some people like they'll just connect with the story and that's it. Other people would like connect with the story and see the product. Other people might just like see the product, but you're getting that extra awareness and reach because you're telling something meaningful. And so I think that's really hard for a lot of businesses and business owners are figuring out that balance of like, how do I share something personal, relatable, entertaining, funny, like it doesn't have to, you know, be as serious all the time. But like, how do you do something that connects to people that want people want to watch?

13:47Foodbevy:They want to share that story. They want to connect with. And I think you found a really good balance there. Thank you. I think I tried to think about it from, you know, a consumer standpoint. I'm a consumer. I consume ads. I, you know, go to the grocery store and buy food. And I don't personally like being sold to. I don't want you to tell me why I need something, why it's going to make me the best version of myself. I like seeing someone use a product organically or, you know, talk about the why. And I think most people don't like being sold to. They just want to be told why something is special.

14:16And I think that's what makes a difference. But it is social media has definitely, I talk a lot about the journey, our road trips, visiting stores, kind of offering, I think, a different perspective building a CPG brand. And I think that's what makes it cool. It's offering something different, but also offering something people can relate to and feel seen and heard and all the cheesy emotions.

14:38Foodbevy:Yeah, I love that. So, I mean, I know you mentioned like starting off in a farmer's markets, but there's also a big difference in like selling in farmer's markets where like typically the volume would be like pretty low is good to get started, but you can't run like a full business off of it. And then the during the 60 that retail. And so what's began to kind of change inside the business as you are expanding into more stores? I know you just had a big Sprouts launch nationwide that you weren't quite expecting it to be that big. So tell me a little bit more about the retail side. So retail is a whole other ballgame.

15:09It's, you know, it's scary when you're sold. It's when you're sold across the country, you're nowhere near the store. It's harder to walk into, you know, sample your brand, maybe talk about people that are directly in your community. Now, how do you get people across the country to try your product? It's just a completely different world. And that's been so we launched in June. And before that, we launched in June in all Sprout stores. So what, 500 locations almost. Before that, we were in 15. So this was a crazy launch. You know, all the questions of can we handle it? Are we ready? How will people find us?

15:41So Sprouts is the one who took a really big chance on us. They love the product. They believed in it. So our operations have scaled quite dramatically this year, I would say. And, you know, it's one thing to get on a shelf. Cool, huge achievement. But you actually have to move the product. You don't just get to stay there forever without, you know, hitting some milestones. So that's been that thing. That's our strategy right now. How do we keep sales consistent? How do we get more people to find out about us? So that's the name of the game of retail. It's difficult, but that's what we're doing right now.

16:10Selling as much as we can across the country.

16:12Foodbevy:Yeah, I mean, that's really exciting. It's such a great milestone. Congratulations on getting there. You know, I've been there myself and like launching into our first retailer accounts and figuring it out. And there's just like so many other things to learn. I even remember when I launched into T-Squares into like Julesco stores, which is one of the Alverson's banners in the Chicago area. And I was like, oh, let's just like see how the product performs on itself, like by itself and quickly realize like our sales are like tank. Like no one knew about the product. They didn't even know it was in the store.

16:42Foodbevy:No one was shopping at category and really learned a ton just in terms of like how consumers go into store and shop or like you realize most people want to store shopping on a list, right? They're buying the same things that they buy every week. Maybe one new thing they're going to try. There's definitely some consumers are like trying out new things as they're going. But that's even hard to like build a business off of just those consumers. And so ended up with us actually having issues not having to sell through. And we ended up getting kicked off the shelf, to try and honestly. And so, you know, I'm always like supportive brands and like, all right, make sure you have a great plan in terms of like how to actually move off the shelf.

17:18Foodbevy:I'm curious, like if you've had any initial learnings as you kind of scaled into retail that big in terms of like what are some of the things that are driving customers into the store or getting them to pick up LLs like right off the shelf next to something else to really support that continued growth? Yeah, you know, so this was a big thing for us right when we launched, like, you know, strategizing how we do this. So a big thing was it's an investment. We are starting to do demos through a third party service in the states that aren't as local to us. And for us with our product, it is about people trying it.

17:51Once you try it, chances are you'll like it. You'll, you know, you'll fall in love with the ingredients, the brand. So that has been key to us getting people to try it. So that is how we've been able to move a lot of units already. And then I, a crazy feat, but I'm doing a California roadshow visiting every single Sprouts in California. insane. Can't believe I signed up for that. But for us, I don't recommend this for every single bro, but this is making a huge difference for us. I think what I'm doing is not scalable, but at our stage as a small brand, going in, meeting a store manager, meeting the people who are stocking your shelves, helping move product in their store, it makes a difference.

18:32They're aware of the brand. They can recommend it to customers. So it's also helped create a lot of buzz on social media and LinkedIn just because it's different. It's cool. So I think at a small stage, it's not scalable, but getting as many people to try your product as possible will help. It's what's made a huge difference already. So I think that's what's helping it succeed so far. I mean, fingers crossed, we're still working. That's what we want.

18:57Foodbevy:I think that's amazing. That's a lot of hard work to do. And I know firsthand, like it takes a lot of energy out of you. And so hopefully those relationships begin to stay. Have you started that road trip already yet? Yes, we are, I think, 78 or 79 stores in officially. So we are about halfway there. Oh my goodness, how wild. Have there been any stories that stood out from talking to a store manager or a customer that just really speaks to the power of doing this strategy? You know, this actually just happened on our last leg of the trip in San Diego. I made a LinkedIn post on this. I met a store manager and he said in his 17 years of working at Sprouts, He has never had a founder come in and meet that meet introduce themselves to a store manager.

19:40So I think it was just very validating to what I'm doing that, you know, it's cool to be a founder. It's cool to be the one spreading the word of your brand. And by no means does that make me cooler or better than any other founder. But we've kind of found a niche and an avenue that works for us. You know, being personable, saying, hey, try my granola, see what you think. I think people like those genuine organic relationships when it's not doesn't feel like a sales deal or, you know, there's an ulterior motive. It feels genuine. So that's been my biggest story. Like he had never met a founder who had come into the store like, OK, I'm doing something unique.

20:13Foodbevy:Yeah. And that makes a big impact. And, you know, it's not a transaction, right? You're just building that relationship. But people like doing things for people that they know and trust and have a relationship with. I mean, like I always remember we were selling T-Squares into like a whole food store in the Chicago area, met the store manager, the grocery buyer at the store. And we're like, hey, anything else we can do? We're like, we have demo set up. What else can we do to support the store here? And they're like, well, we just give you this off shelf placement for free. They bought like, I don't know, 10 more cases of product and like did display in like the fresh food area and over the hot food bars.

20:47Foodbevy:all just because we met the grocery buyer and the grocery manager who was like at the store, right? And there's all these opportunities where people want to give you a chance. They want you to succeed. And if you can build that relationship with them, the better. I love that. And I feel like, you know, I learned this within the CPG space in general. People are so willing, especially other founders who've been where you've been, are so willing to be helpful and share their story and make connections. And, oh, hey, this is what I did. Maybe you should try that. I feel like in the CPG space, people are so kind because they understand the struggle of where we've all been.

21:25And, you know, not that I was like shocked that people are being nice, but the CPG space is something amazing. I have made so many awesome connections with founders because they've been so willing to just, you know, lend an ear, talk through something. And I'm as a founder, it makes me feel so amazing. And now I want to support them. And I think at the end of the day, genuine human interactions make a difference. And I know that sounds silly and simple, but it really does.