Elevator Talk: Green & Sunny, The Cumin Club, Shooka Sauce

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0:34Hey folks, I'm Ray Lateef, the editor and producer of BevNet's Taste Radio podcast, and you're tuning into the latest episode of Elevator Talk, the series that profiles early stage and disruptive brands from across the food and beverage industry. Today's episode will focus on three food brands whose entrepreneurs will have an opportunity to hear feedback and advice from our co-host for this episode. That's Caroline Grace, the founder of Product and Prosper. Caroline, it's so great to see you again. Likewise, Ray. I'm so excited to join you. I think this is my third one. Isn't that crazy? We are so honored for you to be joining us for Elevator Talk.

1:13Your first two episodes or the first two episodes that you joined us as a co-host were so amazing. And I'm like, can we just have Caroline just do this all the time? Because she's so good. Always well-prepared. the research you do on the brands ahead of time is so great. And, you know, your experience in this industry is such that early stage brands can learn a lot from your work with brands that you have helped scale. So I really appreciate you joining us. And it was so great meeting you a couple of days ago. Actually, was it yesterday or no, it was two days ago? I don't know. I can't remember.

1:47We were both in San Diego for the Winter Fancy Fair, which I thought was a great show and And a really good opportunity to meet a lot of founders and new brands that I was not familiar with. I assume you had a pretty similar experience. I totally agree. I think it was a very approachable show. The pace was, I know a lot of brands, the feedback that I heard was that the brands thought it was a little bit slow. But I thought it was a really, you could have longer conversations with buyers and other brands. And I liked it a lot. I thought it went well. But back-to-back-to-back podcast for you, lots of talking, lots of pitching, lots of good things.

2:22It's been a busy, busy week. It has, but I love elevator talk. This is probably one of my favorite things to do at BevNet. Meeting founders when they are brand new or maybe less than a year in gives me an opportunity to help people as much as we can as they're thinking about scaling their businesses. And, you know, it happens all the time where we have someone on elevator talk and the next thing you know, they're national at a major retailer or raise a ton of money. And I'm not saying it all happened because they were on the show, maybe a little bit. But, you know, being a little bit of being a small part of that journey where, you know, someone starting out and then they are able to build their company such that they are now the ones that everyone's talking about as opposed to, you know, one of the thousand new brands that launch every year.

3:12So that's the goal. Yeah, absolutely. You know, for for folks who aren't familiar with you or what you do and your support of early stage brands, just tell us a bit about your experience and history in the industry. Yeah, absolutely. I am the founder and CEO of an agency called Product and Prosper. I essentially own an ecosystem, a portfolio of brands, and a portfolio of agencies. What I really specialize in is building brands for omni-channel scaling. My background is in retail sales and retail strategy. And I typically talk about kind of three different or four different things. First is growth strategy, right?

3:48How do you grow a brand in this day and age? Second is independent retail. I'm a big, big fan of independent retail, especially through a platform called Fair. If you guys are not familiar with that, basically like wholesale, Amazon for wholesale. And then I also am a big, big proponent of feedback and iterative testing throughout building a brand. And then the third thing that I really love to talk about is building a personal brand in connection with a product-based business. And I think that is so powerful in this day and age. And I think we just saw it so much at the Fancy Food Fair. You know, the people that we connect with the businesses, especially the emerging products.

4:29I don't know if you saw anybody that you were really, you know, inspired by. But I remember seeing a bunch of people that I know from LinkedIn and Instagram and even TikTok. I love being able to put a face to a lot of the brands that are out there. So a little bit about me, a little bit about my background. And I'm doing lots of fun, interesting things, but I overarchingly just really focus on how do we scale emerging brands to be sustainable? And how do I help more entrepreneurs become entrepreneurs within this industry? Yeah, it's not just elevator talk where you can be as visible as you are.

5:02You have a great newsletter as well that a lot of people subscribe to. And in that newsletter, you share insights about what's happening on the ground and in the trenches for early stage brands. So just for some context and perspective, whether it was at the Winter Fancy Fair or just in general terms, what are you hearing from entrepreneurs about what is most challenging right now here in January of 2026? Certainly, last year, a lot of folks were talking about tariffs. I'm sure they're still talking about it this year. But from your perspective, are there one or two things that folks need most help with and how are you helping them address those challenges?

5:41That's a really good question, right? We're very shortly into 2020, so I don't know if I have a fully formed answer quite yet. But I've actually been seeing a lot more return to D2C. I think that I'm starting to see a lot of TikTok shop conversation happening. And a lot of, there's a lot of conversation, especially in early brands around UGC and content. I mean, we've been watching AI created content for a very long time. How is that going to interact with things like TikTok shop, like UGC, that sort of thing? So actually, over the last few years, I've been watching kind of this return to retail conversation that's been happening.

6:22Every brand wants to get into retail. And I think retail is incredibly important, especially for early stage brands, both from a discovery standpoint, but also for a market validation standpoint as well. Plus, it exponentially kind of grows your business across multiple different channels if you can sustain within retail. But now moving into 2026, I think because maybe a reaction to the tariffs and the impact of tariffs on margin, there's actually been a lot more conversation recently in my circles with my brands and clients that I see around D2C and D2C level strategies, even paid ads, and a move back to kind of e-commerce level iterations of growth.

7:03Isn't that interesting? It feels pretty cyclical in that in 2020 and 2021, everyone was talking about D2C and e-commerce, and here we are in 2026. And for different reasons, people are looking at those opportunities as real ways to scale and grow your business. Certainly, brick and mortar and traditional retail is still out there and it'll always be out there. But for early stage brands, testing and learning online seems like a pretty good strategy at this point. And I know we're going to be talking about it with our entrepreneurs in this episode. We have three really amazing brands and founders behind them.

7:40Are you ready to meet the first? Of course I am. I'm so excited. Outstanding. Let's get to that person. She is Warwarin Sanpulsap, who is the Chief Commercial Officer of Green and Sunny. Warwarin, thanks so much for joining us. Thank you for having me, Ray. Thank you. Coming in all the way from Thailand, is that correct? Yes, that's correct. I'm based in Thailand. Okay, so it's 1 o 'clock here in Boston. What time is it there? It's 1 o 'clock in the morning. Well, I hope you're a night owl because otherwise you're going to have to get some extra sleep whenever you hang up on this call. Green and Sunny, I love the name.

8:27And I think what you're doing is pretty amazing from a product standpoint. Tell us all about what you do. My name is Wara Warin and I'm the chief commercial officer of Buono, Thailand. I've been working with the company for 15 years, growing alongside the business and helping shape how Thai food reach global consumers. Buono is actually based in Thailand and we have over 20 years of experience in food manufacturing. Since 2004, we have been stocking American grocery aisles through private label Thai food products. But now we are stepping out from behind the curtain with our own brand, Green and Sunny, a more adventurous range of frozen ready-to-eat meals and snacks inspired by Thailand.

9:12And our mission is simple. we want to bring authentic Thai food to global tables using our local ingredients sourced by farmers who are in Thailand and using the traditional Thai recipe and craft it to taste just like fresh and cooked Thai food. And we also want to introduce a lesser known Thai dishes, the food that Thai people actually eat at home to the US market and the world. I love everything that you're doing, and I'm a huge fan of Thai food. What's really interesting is that some of the products I'm looking at on your website aren't necessarily products that I've seen before in Thai restaurants.

9:53They seem a bit more authentic to what Thai food truly is. A Thai coconut pancake? What is that? It's basically a dessert that we usually have on the street. Nobody will cook it at home. It's this particular oven to use that. And the ingredient, the main ingredient is coconut and some rice flour. Yes. And we kind of like cook it in a very special stovetop. Very cool. How many products do you sell at this point? Actually, we have market worldwide. U.S. is one of the biggest markets. So in the U.S., we have Pad Thai. Under Green and Sunny brand, we have Pad Thai and we have the snack called Micron.

10:39which is basically a Thai-style crispy rice cracker snack in sweet and sour sauce. Very cool. Caroline, you know, this is a great time to be an American consumer because I feel like the global flavors, the ethnic cuisine that we're seeing come to market and in a really convenient form is just, it's happening everywhere. It's fantastic. Absolutely agree. I am so curious. You said that previously you were guys for a co-manufacturer, right, for brands in the U.S., is that correct, or you did private label for them? I'm curious about as you move into your own brand and expanding your own brand globally, what's been the easiest part about it and what have been the hardest parts about expanding globally with your own brand?

11:33Of course, the hard part is about how to build the brand of Venice to American consumers and worldwide consumers, actually. Because like I mentioned before, we create the lesser known Thai dishes. So that's where we need to focus on educate the consumer of the product that they are less familiar. We currently use a simple storytelling to explain where the dish comes from and how Thai people enjoy it. And we also do kind of like sampling and tasting in store as well. So there's a lot of marketing activities in place that we have to implement when we're launching product under our brands. But on the other hand, on private labels, it's more words about the formulation, the pricing, and how to make it work to the retailer.

12:30And you said that there's only a limited number of SKUs within the U.S. market right now, right? Is there any sort of plan of action? Because I want to find these in my own grocery store, my local grocery store. What is the plan over 2026 to expand the SKU count within the U.S. market? So looking ahead into 2026, we focus in expanding both SKU count and product categories to better represent our range. On the ready-to-eat meal, we plan to introduce more iconic Thai dishes, for example, patsi eel. I don't know whether you're familiar with the patsi eel or the item like cow soy, which I believe that would allow the consumer to experience well-loved Thai dish in a convenient way.

13:18And we're looking to expand more range to frozen appetizer as well. Ray has mentioned kandong kok, which is a dessert, but for Thai people, we have a lot of appetizer. For example, the corn fritter we're serving together with tamarind sauce. And we also plan to introduce like sweet potato balls. Yes, that is very, very beloved by the local Thai people. Oh, my goodness. I'm hungry. Ray, how does this happen every time we do this? I know my mouth is watering and I feel like we need to take a break just to go get some green and sunny. I know, right? It's curious because I think, you know, I hear about a lot of brands looking to expand from the U.S.

14:07into global markets or vice versa, from a senior market outside of the U.S. into the U.S. market. How do you, what are some of the differences between U.S. retail and the U.S. market versus some of the other markets that you're currently in globally? globally? I think each market is very unique in terms of consumer preference. For example, US market, for me, is an early adopter of any kind of, you know, Thai products, which when we go to the European market or Australian market, is usually about three to five years behind the US. So US is kind of like our pirate run for testing the water, testing the market.

14:52We pretty much confident in bringing the most adventurous range to the U.S. first because we believe that the customers are more open and very adaptive to the new concept and new ideas. Interesting. And I'm curious within the U.S. market, just generally about your strategy, how much time and even spend are you focusing on D2C versus retail expansion? And are you focusing by region? How are you breaking down your strategy for U.S. market expansion? So right now, actually, we are available in Costco, which has been a great platform for us to introduce screen incentive to a wide audience. But looking ahead, we plan to expand beyond Costco and into regional supermarket chains.

15:46So I believe this will take around 6 to 12 months time in order to expand our distribution and our channel beyond Costco. So it sounds like it's primarily retail focused right now within Costco? Correct. I got it. Are you on any other channels within the U.S. market? At the moment, no. Okay, interesting. I'm curious, what are the general goals for 2026? The general goal for 2026 is to expand both SKU count and product categories for us. And yes, well, we are lucky to have a strong innovation pipeline behind us. So we have lots of ideas that we already developed and we are ready to just launch it in a very short time.

16:38Got it. I think, and Ray might agree with me, I think one of the greatest things about the CPG industry is how much people want to help each other. I think it's quite unique to this industry. What are you looking for help with that maybe Ray or I can connect you with or support you with? Basically, like I mentioned, it's about the education that we, I think it's a challenge for us at the moment because, for example, the item that I mentioned about the cornflitter, most of the audience, they maybe don't understand. So I think the area that you can advise or help us with is how to educate the U.S.

17:19consumer to open or to adapt with the new concept of Thai products. Yeah, I mean, I think demos are one of the first places to start, especially within Costco. But I think this is where our DDC omnichannel strategy and an omnichannel marketing strategy really comes into play. I mean, ads are always one of the best ways to educate a consumer. You have to show a consumer about four times for them to understand a product. I think through micro-influencers, through TikTok and Instagram, that's a very nice way to educate. And I think also coming on shows like this, there's not just the D2C level consumer.

17:56There's also the industry consumer, which I like to talk a lot about. And those are really truly the first movers within CPG who, if you can get the industry to understand and to get excited about what you're building, I think it very easily translates to the D2C side as well, or the consumer side as well. Yes, that's a very good advice. Thank you. 100 % would agree. And I think sticking with the authentic angle and sticking with, you know, taste as your primary reason why people are buying and trying your products is, is the way to go. You know, there's a lot of new ethnic food brands that are launching in the United States of late.

18:37And some of them are a little bit more on the health or functional focus side of things as opposed to the taste side of things. And I think what Green and Sunny represents just in the conversation that we've had so far is really about authentic taste and quality. So from my perspective, that's what really is driving me and driving my interest for this brand. And I can't wait to see it in Costco stores near me. Where in the U.S. are your Costco stores located? Midwest, Northeast, and Bay Area. Okay. So Northeast is coming soon, I think. Okay. Yes. Great. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to sit down with this war-war.

19:19And I feel like this has been a long time coming. We've been in touch with Adrienne, who I know you work with on a PR level for some time. And so I'm really, really glad that we had this opportunity to sit down. Please, please stay in touch. Let us know if we can help in any way. Yes. Thank you very much, Ray and Caroline. Thank you. I will do. I will stay in touch. Thank you very much. Thank you. Let's move on to our next guest for this episode of Elevator Talk. His name is Ragot Bala. He's the founder of The Cumin Club. Ragot, it's great to see you. Likewise, Ray. Thank you for the opportunity.

19:57And nice to meet you, Caroline. Likewise. So The Cumin Club is a brand that I have really been interested in for a while. the business itself is pretty remarkable in that you do a couple different things, actually probably more than a couple of different things in how you get these products out to consumers. Tell us all about what you do and your route to market. Thank you, Ray. We are the Cumin Club. I'm one of the co-founders and CEO. We are a better for you Indian food brand. We make Indian curries, lentils, rice dishes, simmer sauces. And what differentiates us is the packaging is freeze-dried.

20:41So we cook it, freeze-dry it, which is the best way to preserve any food, just like fruits, vegetables, miso soups, and smoothies. We are bringing a superior food preservation technology to something near and dear to us, which is Indian food. So once it's packaged, it's shelf stable and it's super light. Just add water and cook for five minutes. Restaurant quality Indian food at home. And we hope that everyone has a cumin club in their pantry. And the day when you don't know what to cook or what to eat, you know, you can just whip up a pack, add water, cook for five minutes, add your own ingredients, make it your own as well.

21:27We started the Cumin Club four years ago. We have been focusing primarily on direct-to-consumer. And about a year ago, we started an omni-channel approach, Amazon, some retail stores. And we are quite lucky to be in Sprouts nationwide as of two months ago. And Caroline, I'm looking forward to talking to you about all the omni-channel questions and confusions and strategies that would help us grow from here. You're also in Walmart too, aren't you? We are in 270 Walmart stores as part of a test. Okay. So Caroline, I think I just need to take a backseat on this one and let you go at it. I'm actually quite familiar with the Kuming Club.

22:16I remember, I think you guys were looking into retail strategy about two years ago, and I chatted with you guys very, very briefly. And so it's wonderful to hear that Sprouts has taken you on nationwide. I would assume that's through the innovation set. And then you went into the main shelves. We pitched for both the lines, and we got placed in the main line. Got it. Got it. Congratulations. That's amazing. And Walmart. Very different target markets. Very different channels, right? One conventional with Walmart. and one much more natural premium. And I'm also seeing on your website, as a direct-to-consumer first brand, you have quite an alternative business model for a direct-to-consumer brand because you're focusing on meal kits and meal delivery services as kind of your primary offering on DTC.

23:05What was the thoughts around that, the strategy? How has that worked? And just to start on the DTC side, are most of your consumers subscription-based now or are most of them still first order consumers? Yeah, sorry, to start with your question about the offering. In retail, direct to consumer, it's actually the exact same products. So it is, we call it a meal kit mainly because we also offer cumin rice and, you know, the condiments that go with the meal. So you can make a complete meal out of our website. And of course, in retail, we always have to start with a few SKUs and try to build our way to having a bigger shelf presence.

23:49So when we started during Pandemic, it made a lot of sense to offer a subscription and focus on subscriptions. Everyone's working from home. Everyone's looking for a quick meal solution. We also started with the Indian diaspora. When we started the brand, we had a very clear hypothesis. We want to build a global brand for Indian food. And this is my favorite exercise, Ray and Caroline. I'll give you five seconds. Can you think of one Indian food brand that comes to mind? There is usually not. And we think there can be a global brand for Indian food. And we wanted to start with the diaspora and get their seal of approval.

24:40We did that over the last three, four years. We have slowly started seeing more and more non-Indian customers coming to the cumin club and enjoying the cumin club. It also gives us confidence to go into retail where we are targeting the larger population. So, Caroline, long story short, it made sense to start with subscription and online business because we focused on diaspora. And now we are moving into an omni-channel approach to target the larger population. Got it, got it, got it. I think it's super smart. And I mean, I was going to say the Cooming Club when you asked me. We guys are right here, of course.

25:24I'm curious as you were looking to expand into Sprouts and Walmart and bigger retail chains how long did you spend building in independent retail and alternative retail? Did you start in places like Indian grocery stores and did you get through those distributors? What was the strategy as you were building up into Sprouts and Walmart? Absolutely we started with fair.com and a couple of local Chicago retailers where we can go meet them and have a longer conversation with. That helped us iterate on the packaging. You know, coming from a direct-to-consumer business where we have 30 seconds of ads to tell the story, to talk about why we are different.

26:09And then when you go into retail, it's just packaging. We do not get to make a second impression. We don't get to storytell. So packaging we knew was very important going into retail and the smaller and boutique retailers helped us a lot. The one thing I really love is how we can call them and they would take the time to talk to us. Some of them have tried the product themselves before putting on the shelf. So a lot of good feedback came out of it. And we are a big proponent of fair.com as well. So yeah, we started with Boutique and three to four months later, we started pitching to more retailers and then we signed up with Kehi to distribute.

26:58I love that trajectory. I mean, that's kind of the playbook, right? That's the playbook that I like to talk through and talk about. Now, what was the most surprising thing about launching into Sprouts and into Walmart coming from boutique independent retailers? Yes. We always wanted to be in Sprouts, Whole Foods, Wegmans, and the natural ecosystem where we think we get to build some traction, prove the value, et cetera. but at the same time Walmart is seeing in their data that South Asian is one of the fastest growing subcategories and they had put together a search for South Asian brands about 40 of us got a chance to go to Bentonville and pitch to all Walmart buyers and long story from my past life, I was a consultant for Walmart working at Bentonville, Arkansas.

28:01So we saw this opportunity come our way and we wanted to take it, test it. And with 270 stores, it's about figuring out what differences exist. It's about understanding what mass market retail or larger retailers can look like a few years down the line. So we look at it as an experiment. I love that. And oh my goodness, you've been on both sides of the aisle here, basically. What is the plan for 2026? Is it expanding velocity through the current store or is it focusing on new account acquisition and new bigger retail acquisition? Absolutely. Starting with direct-to-consumer, that's still a big part of the business, and it's growing up about 50 % year over year.

28:51So a lot of focus and energy go into it. And Caroline, you mentioned TikTok Shop. That's another channel we are adding on. So at this point, we are on retail. We are in D2C, Amazon.com, Walmart.com. So it's a lot of channel management. And while we do that, we are also looking to increase velocity at Sprouts by doing more demos and also looking to add about a thousand more stores in the natural space and using the same distribution we already have. Kahi has opened up about 10 DCs for us, and we want to be able to pick up more stores in those DCs. Wow, there's so much on the plan. What are you looking for help with that either Ray and I can help with or connect to you with someone in our network who can't?