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Taste Radio Episode Summary: Elevator Talk - NIKIGO, Zip Frut, TruJoy, Mamame, Jack's Dad's Hummus
Podcast Overview Podcast Title: Taste Radio Description: A leading podcast for food and beverage entrepreneurs, featuring interviews with industry leaders, emerging trends, and weekly news.
Episode Details Title: Elevator Talk: NIKIGO, Zip Frut, TruJoy, Mamame, Jack's Dad's Hummus Hosts: Ray Latif (Producer and Editor) and Tom Speier (Founder, BFG Partners) Episode Focus: Introduction of five food brands and insights from their founders.
Key Highlights
Tom Speier's Insights
- Investment Focus:
- BFG Partners focuses on early-stage brands with growth potential, particularly in wellness and longevity sectors.
- Investment checks typically range from $1 million for early-stage companies to $4-8 million for more established brands.
- Evaluative Criteria for Brands:
- Importance of the founding team and their ability to innovate.
- The need for products that resonate with consumers and address market gaps.
Featured Brands and Their Founders
- NIKIGO
- Founder: Nicole Gordon
- Product: Soy-free soy sauce designed for individuals with food allergies.
- Market Opportunity:
- Significant demand for allergen-free products; 1 in 4 consumers seek allergen-free options.
- Competitors like coconut aminos lack taste and versatility.
- Production Plans: Aiming to produce 1 million pounds monthly, focusing on both retail and food service markets.
- Zip Frut
- Founder: Gori Waggle
- Product: Snacks made from traditional Indian fruits, like sapota and jamun, with no added sugar.
- Market Positioning:
- Aimed at health-conscious consumers looking for clean and nutritious snacks.
- Educational marketing approach to introduce lesser-known ingredients to potential customers.
- TruJoy Yogurt
- Founder: Charlie Gentry
- Product: Frozen Greek yogurt, higher in protein and lower in sugar compared to traditional ice cream.
- Market Strategy:
- Focus on natural channels and health-focused markets.
- Aiming to leverage taste and protein content as key selling points.
- Challenges: Navigating shelf space in the competitive frozen section.
- Mama May Tempe Chips
- Founder: Liz Kang
- Product: Shelf-stable tempeh-based chips that are healthier and gluten-free.
- Market Strategy:
- Positioned as a nutritious, crunchy snack alternative.
- Plans to expand into larger formats for retailers like Costco.
- Jack's Dad's Hummus
- Founder: Jack Newton
- Product: Hummus made with miso, soy-free, and sesame-free.
- Unique Selling Proposition:
- Family recipe and story-driven marketing approach.
- High consumer appeal due to taste and health benefits.
- Growth Strategy: Focus on local specialty stores to test market viability before broader distribution.
Key Takeaways
- Market Trends: There is a rising demand for allergen-friendly and health-oriented food products.
- Consumer Education: Brands need to invest in educating consumers about their unique ingredients and health benefits.
- Networking and Support: Engaging with investors and industry experts can provide valuable insights and opportunities for growth.
- Focus on Branding: Strong branding and storytelling can differentiate products in a crowded market.
Conclusion This episode of Taste Radio's Elevator Talk showcased innovative brands and their founders, highlighting their journeys, market strategies, and the importance of consumer education in the competitive food and beverage landscape. Each brand brings a unique story and product offering, reflecting the evolving preferences of modern consumers.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:05Hey folks, I'm Ray Lateef, the editor and producer of BevNet's Taste Radio podcast and you're tuning to the latest episode of Elevator Talk, the show that profiles early stage and disruptive brands from across the food and beverage industry. Today's episode will focus on five food brands whose entrepreneurs will have an opportunity to hear feedback and advice from our co-host for this episode. That's Tom Spear, who is the founder and managing partner of BFG Partners. Tom, it is so great to see you again. Hey, Ray. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. Yeah, you are a bit of a taste radio an elevator talk legend at this point.
0:42You've been on both programs a number of times. And in every case, it's just been so thrilling and exciting to sit down with you. And I really mean that because you have invested, BFG Partners has invested in some of the most innovative and successful brands of the past 10 years. We're talking about brands like Olipop, Athletic Greens, Graza, just to name a few. And for folks who are not familiar with the firm, I think it'd be great to just hear a bit about what you do, your focus, and what trends, categories you might be interested in at this point. Yes, it sounds great, Ray. So again, we've been at this about 10 years, and we're a venture firm, which means we focus pretty early, but what we also will sometimes invest later, it really just depends on how the deal looks when we're able to take a look at it.
1:36And, you know, I would say the size of the prize in our estimation and calculation is bigger than it's ever been in most categories. You know, the economy continues to grow in absolute dollar terms, even if some of that is inflation based over time. And so the amount of dollars at stake continue to grow over time. And then, you know, while there's a lot of really important things happening in the world right now, you know, some of it is noise. Other aspects of it is not noise. But we continue to see a lot of opportunity in a lot of categories. And while the economy may grow a little bit or even shrink a little bit, certain categories continue to exhibit really impressive growth.
2:26And, you know, we believe that if you're focused on an attractive category with products or differentiated, it's still a great time to be investing in consumers, in wellness, in longevity. Just for some context, at what stage of development are you writing these checks? And what are the size of these checks that you're writing to early stage brands? Yeah, no problem. So, you know, our bullseye is probably when a brand has really achieved, you know, some performance in direct-to-consumer sales or in retail or both. You know, it could be, you know, a couple million in sales annually. It could be, you know,$15,$20 million or larger.
3:09So that's maybe a bit more of the center of the bell curve. But there are examples where we have invested when companies have even less revenue. Those are pretty extraordinary cases. It really does take us seeing something that we really feel like, yeah, let's get involved now early. And when we do that, the check sizes usually are sized accordingly. It's rare when a pre-revenue, pre-product type company is raising huge sums of money. So usually in those cases, we're participating, you know, more of a C type check, maybe a million dollars or less, maybe a little more. And then for later stage companies, those check sizes can grow, you know, four to eight million for a bullseye type check.
4:00And we can stretch up from there if it's the right situation. And we're also excited about working with other partners. We do that, you know, in most cases these days. So if we're around the table, we love to work with other groups that are also value added and like to roll up their sleeves and help out founders and management teams. I'm sure a lot of this is art and science, but when you're thinking about the potential for a brand, are there one or two or three things that really stand out about the company, whether it be the entrepreneur themselves or the formulation of their brand or their packaging or their ability to create a community?
4:37I guess what really stands out in those extraordinary cases that gives you confidence that this brand has the potential to really scale? Yeah, I think a lot of it does come down to the people. I mean, that's a huge piece of it, especially at the early stages. But when you match up, you know, hardworking, dedicated individuals with a really strong concept, that's really, I think, what it takes for us to get excited. And usually that concept needs to fit within a framework that creates the opportunity for scale. Certain ideas are positioned in categories or in areas that are just bigger. And then how those brands are positioned may lend themselves to being even bigger still with the right vision.
5:25You might start in an area where a category is maybe relatively small, but if the brand has the right components and stretch, then you might find yourselves in an area where the total addressable market is actually quite huge. And it's just, does your brand really resonate enough with consumers to really break through all the other competition? Well, the brand I'm thinking of and was thinking of when you were speaking was Olipop. I remember when they came out in 2020 or maybe it was 2019, but when I first met them in 2020, I was like, this is a pretty small brand. I just don't see it scaling the way it does.
6:00And clearly I was wrong. What a remarkable brand. And just some of the other companies in that space as well have just shown how big that addressable market can be in the right hands and with the right products, packaging, et cetera. For sure. You know, certainly that soda category and just given how large it is and the fact that, you know, it had not really been disrupted. You know, it had been augmented by areas like energy, you know, companies like Red Bull and Monster, what have you. But, you know, the soda category itself was really ripe for disruption. And, you know, Polypop certainly has done a great job there.
6:41And, yeah, we're proud of our partnership, no doubt. involved there in 2019-ish, so it was quite early. Yeah, quite early indeed, but what an incredible journey they've been on. I'm seeing some categories that our brands today are based in or playing in, and I see them as being ripe for disruption as well. I'm excited to talk to all of our entrepreneurs today. Are you ready to meet our first? I definitely am. I'm looking forward to it. Thanks, Ray. Outstanding. Okay. That first person is Nicole Gordon, who is the founder of Nikigo. Nicole, it is great to see you again. Hi, Ray. Lovely to see you again.
7:23And hi, Tom. And thank you for having me on. Absolutely. Yeah, we met at the Fancy Food Show, the recently held 2025 Fancy Food Show, which was fantastic. And I was pretty blown away by what I saw in your brand and your products. Please tell us all about Nikigo. Sure. So Nikigo, we say, is trying to create a whole new food segment. allergic friendly Asian. And it really started because I'm half Japanese and I developed a whole bunch of food allergies in my mid twenties, including to soy, sesame, pretty much all legumes. And so it was like, well, how do I eat the food I've grown up eating when I can't eat, you know, soy sauce and I can't eat the alternative.
8:03And so that journey started about four years ago. And I developed the first prototype for Nikigo original sauce, which is a soy-free soy sauce that looks and tastes like the real thing. In fact, we say your new favorite soy sauce might just happen to be soy-free. And it was very important to me. You know, my mother was kind of the taste tester. So it's like it has to be an alternative that doesn't taste like an alternative. It actually has to be a preference before I'm like encouraging you to let the public try this. And if you know anything about the domestic mushroom market, you would know that Southern Chester County, Pennsylvania grows about 60 % to the U.S.
8:43domestic mushroom production. And so even though I developed this product in Arizona, within a year and a half, I was now living in Southern Chester County, Pennsylvania. And we formed a partnership with one of the largest mushroom farms in the country. We have a dedicated production facility coming on board later this year. So Fancy Foods was actually our debut to the public, but we've sort of been in semi-stealth laying the train track mode for about the last year and a half, getting ready to do our big debut. And so once everything comes up, gets certified in September, by about January next year, we want to be basically producing about a million pounds of product a month, with about half of that being dedicated to the food service world.
9:28And I think the big surprise from Fancy Foods, you know, we didn't exactly have pre-press of our announcement, but food service providers found us. And, you know, they kind of came to us with this is solving the problem that we're facing day in, day out from our consumers. How do we get them allergy friendly products? And so that was very exciting. If you want some numbers, Tom, you know, the allergy community, they say one in four American consumers is looking for top nine allergen free products. Because if you if one person in your family has a food allergy, all of you have a food allergy. You know, you're all changing your lifestyle.
10:08You're all changing how you're eating. And so it impacts far more people than the people with food allergies. um the current our current competitor coconut aminos um which we beat nine out of ten times in taste tests uh they're a 400 million dollar domestic market and we're looking to disrupt the um soy sauce market which is a 10 billion dollar a year industry um by solving the solution and opening up this whole category to a group of people that are currently ignored so very exciting stuff uh when i tasted your product nicole i was really impressed with the that umami flavor that you have at the base of your soy sauce and um you know i never really thought about those who couldn't eat soy um you're also you know no coconut no gluten uh no peas and no and as i mentioned no soy um i i didn't realize i mean maybe i'm just just not paying attention but it It does seem like there's a pretty big market for this.
11:06Tom, is there? Have you seen a real demand for products like these? Yeah, I do. I do think so. I mean, I don't have the category size numbers right in front of me today, but certainly, you know, there's a big category here in the sauces and sauces space. I'm curious, how many SKUs does Coconut Aminos have that would comprise sales like that? On average, it has about four to five, almost all playing within the teriyaki realm. The thing that's interesting about coconut aminos, it was an already existing sauce that was the meat marinade, popular in Malaysia and Indonesia, that was rebranded as a soy sauce substitute rather than being created to be one, which Nikiga really was.
11:48So it has a very distinctive sweet flavor, which is why it works well in the teriyaki space. Whereas for us, we can make things like teriyaki, which we have, or basically a Japanese style mitsuyu, which is like a noodle sauce, which would be very difficult to make with something like coconut aminos and isn't something that they have. Do you have a coconut amigo amino product within your product set? Well, we have a teriyaki sauce, which I think is probably the closest. and we are working on a co-brand of a low carb teriyaki as well um which some people do like the aspect of the coconut amina as being towards the lower carb side of things and popular in the keto diet and whole 30 and things like that but you don't have a product that's specifically called um you know nikigo it's a nikigo brand coconut have you thought that why no so we would never use coconut.
12:41So coconut used to, up until January of this year, have to be listed as one of the top nine allergens. And I'm personally allergic to coconut, so it would not be a product that I would be endorsing. And so to us, it's just, our product is just three ingredients. It's fresh mushrooms, water, and salt, but a proprietary process that I developed that enables it to look and taste like premium soy sauce. So you don't have to change any of your recipes, which is something you typically do have to do with coconut aminos. It's just like for like in any of your recipes. You don't have to do any tweaking.
13:13Yeah, it's just, it's an interesting thing for you to think about coconut aminos. Those two words have a health halo. And I think, you know, that's probably why part of the reason it's done so well is because people just think, oh, this is, you know, coconut aminos. Sounds really healthy. I'm going to dump this all over. Thankfully, people love mushrooms even more. I realize there's probably some light bulb in there if you take it off. Yes. No, and our very first logo used to actually be a mushroom. But one of the things we really struggled with is people don't like mushrooms, honestly. Like a lot of people are put off by the taste and the texture and all those things.
13:52And so we moved away from sort of mushroom in your face for the reason of our product doesn't taste mushroom. So it really does look and taste like soy sauce. So we want people to be switching for that reason because they need that alternative more so than for the mushrooms. Ultimately, the foodies will find us. You know, I think we had more than a dozen people say our products were some of their favorite things they tried at the show. So those people will find us eventually. But our sort of initial target market is just the people desperate for this kind of product, which is the food allergy community, which we're thankfully being very actively supported by.
14:30Tom, I mentioned Nikigo to some of my colleagues. and one of the questions they had was, well, how do you market a product like this? Because you have to mention the name that's not in your product, right? So it's like, there's a brand called Wonder Eggs out there, which I love, but they make egg-free hard-boiled eggs, right? So it's kind of a difficult, it might be a difficult thing to navigate when you're marketing, but I guess let's start with you, Nicole. How do you plan on tackling that, I guess, question that some people might have? So I think for us, it's just immediately targeting, top nine free allergens, because if you are in that space, you immediately know that means no gluten, that means no wheat, that means no soy, that means no peanuts, it means no sesame.
15:12So for us, that's really one of the biggest targets is if you're an active consumer within that space, you know that terminology like the back of your hand. And so you're immediately trusting that. And one of the things that's so great about the food allergy, you know, consumer being one myself is we're the most brand loyal consumer in the world you know once we trust you you know you now save us time so now we're just continuing to buy you again and again and again because now i don't have to research anybody else and so that is a key sort of distinguishing factor of why we focused on the foodology community first and the foodie and health conscious consumer will find us later because of the taste.
15:56Yeah, Tom, I mean, do you see, again, you know, having soy, being a soy-free soy sauce as being sort of a barrier or any kind of concern that you might have, whether you're, you know, an investor, a retail or food service operator? I mean, is there a question there? Do you think people will get it regardless? Yeah, I think the consumers that are really out there hunting for products that are free from whatever, will they ultimately find those types of products? It's probably a little easier to do it with direct-to-consumer where search results drive product placements. Obviously, in the grocery store, when you're, you know, amongst all the different SKUs on shelf, you know, even, you know, just the little words get lost on shelf, right?
16:40And so sometimes that's hard for consumers to find, even if they are looking for it. So I'm sure you're being thoughtful about your rollout and go-to-market strategy. Yes. Retail has always been tertiary for us. And number two has always been food service as our absolute number one after direct to consumer. And, you know, there's most college campuses, for example, nowadays, most any large campuses have top nine allergen free kitchens that they make only those sorts of products because of the need. And so that's our kind of initial goal is just get into those sort of large scale campuses and meet the need at their location already.
17:16Outstanding. Nicole, I remember being blown away by what I saw a week and a half ago at the Fancy Food Show, and I'm just as excited now by what I've heard from you today. Thank you so much for taking the time to be with us. I'm really excited for the future. Please stay in touch. Let us know if we can help in any way. Let us know if you pick up any new retail wins. If you can send us samples to our office, I know my colleagues would love to try it as well. Actually, I was going to ask you about that, too, which is when are sample packets coming out? Uh, packets will be probably January next year, but the bottles I can send you now.
17:52Absolutely. Well, thank you so much for being on Elevator Talk and let's stay in touch. All right. Next up on Elevator Talk, we have Gori Waggle, who is the co-founder of Zipfruit. Gori, great to see you. Same here, Gori. How are you? Thank you for having me here. Yeah, I should say thank you again for joining us because, well, you joined me for a conversation at the Fancy Food Show. and you're joining us here for Elevator Talk. I really loved what I saw and tasted from your brand, in particular, the black plum rolls, which are, I'm sure you're going to talk about this, but I really, really enjoyed that.
18:29So tell us all about Zipfruit and what you do. So Ray, it started, you know, I'm a health enthusiast and I love eating, but it's been always a struggle finding something which was clean, not so processed and delicious. So that's how I co-founded Zipfruit last year. I wanted to bring in just reimagining the traditional Indian fruits I grew up eating, which were not just delicious, but at the same time, they are nutrient-full, like they have vitamins, minerals. We started last year with sapota, which is chiku, also known in India. It is full of fiber. We started with sapota fruit powder and fruit slices.
19:09The fruit powder, I felt like, you know, if I'm doing a protein shake or if I'm doing coffee, I don't consume refined sugar, which is just empty calories, but I'm not also a fan of any artificial sweetener. It leaves a very aftertaste. So there is a void in the market, and we wanted to fill that up. So with sapota, which tastes just like date sugar, but it has the sugar of dates, the powder I use as a sugar substitute, You could put it in coffee, smoothies, protein shakes, bake with it, name it, and you have it. But not just that, it tastes delicious like caramel tasting, butterscotch tasting, but it's fiberful.
19:52So when I'm saying fiberful, the fruit really makes you full quickly. Because of the fiber, it helps you with your gut healthization. So we came up with the saputa powder and the saputa fruit slices makes a great snack. You could have a great midday snack with the slices. This year, we launched a jamun, which is the Indian blackberry, or we call it black plum. So jamun is really a love fruit in India. People love it. It's a purple fruit. Like, it's so purple that if you eat the real fruit, your tongue would be purple. That's how purple it is. But, you know, the taste of the fruit is tarty sweet.
20:29It's unlike any fruit you can have. It is full of antioxidants. If you're thinking of blueberry, it's 2x time the antioxidants of blueberries. It is full of anti-inflammatory properties. It regulates our blood sugar. So with the German roll, you can just eat it as a snack, but you could put it into your smoothies, into your anti-inflammatory shots. You could eat it to nourish your body at the same time. We came up with mango fruit roll as well. Who doesn't know mango, Ray? But you know what bothers me is the mango that we find in the market is so much added sugar. It's a beautiful, delicious tropical fruit.
21:11And in itself, it tastes so amazing. So we use a variety of Indian mango and we do not add any added sugar like any of our products, like all the four SKUs we have right now. They are just the fruit in the bag. There is no added sugar. There is no, it's gluten free vegan. There is no preservatives, nothing that is artificial. The idea being that whether it's a toddler, adult, senior, anybody, a health enthusiast like me should be able to just pick up a bite and eat. But at the same time, when we created this Qs, one of the idea is I believe in having a sustainable lifestyle. What I mean by that is we have a very stressful life.
21:53And when we have to manage what we eat, which could be guilt-free, we are adding one more to-do list into our things. So with our snacks, we have created the snacks that helps you with the portion controls as well, because those are fiber-rich snacks. So that actually helps you to eat less and be more into your quantity of what you're eating and be healthy. So it's more mindful snacks, helps you with your sustainable lifestyle. And I feel like it's one less thing to do on your to-do list. I want to get to Tom because it feels like Indian brands are definitely having a moment, have been having a moment for the last two, three years.
22:35And when you're talking about brands like Zipfruit, it seems like there is a real audience out there. But for those who are not familiar with some of the ingredients like Zapota, it seems like there might be a little bit of an uphill battle with education. But how would you evaluate a brand like this, Tom? Yeah, I was going to start with the same question about just consumers and their not being knowledgeable about the products themselves. So when you get on a shelf, if that's your plan, how do you get people to try it? And if they're just looking at other products that they're super familiar with, they might be scared off.
23:19So I'm curious how you're thinking about combating that challenge. So Tom, what I did was when we started, and you're absolutely right, people are, so these are how my skills looks right now. Those are the powder and the slices. It's a lot of education. And I started with Farmer's Market. It's about a lot of demoing, letting them know how they could use the powder as the sugar substitute. It was talking, making videos with it, working with a lot of influencers, talking to somebody like Ray where I could tell my story, tell about the fruits, grew up with. So it's more about education. It's more about networking, letting people know, reaching out to the customers, the consumers, talking to them about it, answering any questions they have about it.
24:06So it's been a very important part of making them aware about what Supporter is all about, making them know that it's not just the fruit, but along with the fruit, what would the benefits be for their body and how they can use the products. Are you making these products in India or where are the products being manufactured? I have a manufacturing plant back in India. So I have partnered with a friend in India. And so the concept was I wanted it to be farm to table. So we work with a lot of small farmers in India, getting the support of jamun mango from them. And then we manufacture in-house and then we get it here.
24:51And then I work with the retailer. So right now I'm in almost 25 retail stores in Midwest. And then I'm on Amazon. I was looking at you're in Meyers. Is it pronounced Heenan's or Heenan's? Heenan's in the Midwest as well. I wonder, where are you merchandised? Where is Zipfruit merchandised in the store? Is it in the ethnic aisle? Is it with other snacks? Is it with ingredients? So it's right now with Heenan's. It's merchandise with wellness. So it's where the superfoods are. So it's with all the chia seeds and all the good stuff that you find in the wellness aisle. With Mars, I'm in the locals right now.
25:31So where all the local Ohioans are there, you can find my products there. I feel it's about, as I was telling Tom, it's about letting people know that when I'm talking about wellness, and one of the reasons I wanted it to be with wellness is with the powder or the slices when I'm saying it, it's helping people to feel better about themselves. It's more mindful snacking. It's the idea with the snack that we have created, it's not a crunchy snack. People love crunchy snacks, but the snack we have is it makes you eat slower. And when you are eating slower, your mind tells you that, hey, you ate enough.
26:10So you can actually control the portions you are eating. And that's, again, the part of education. So when I'm demoing, when I'm talking to people, letting them know that it's not just a snack, it's helping your wellness. journey. It's an ethnic snack. It's a traditional snack that I grew up eating. It's just a piece of a fruit that would be great for your toddler or for your health just before your pre-workout. So that's where I'm placed. Yeah, it feels like there are a couple ways that you're going in terms of describing the product benefits to that consumer. But Tom, if you were to advise Gauri, is there one path that you think Zipfruit should be taking and how it's being marketed to consumers at this point?
26:58Clearly, you're talking to wellness consumers, and that feels like the target market at this point. But should there be a singular message you think that'll help get the word out and get people interested in Zipfruit? Yeah, the consumer message probably is one side of the equation. And then the selling strategy to retail is probably another comment I would have and just having powders and then, you know, dried fruits. It does feel like two different parts of the store. And if you're looking to get efficiency out of your selling network, it might be difficult to ultimately be in multiple parts of the store.
27:34And, you know, the snack buyer may want to put you with the other dried fruits and then the sugar buyer may want to put you with, so it could be a little bit challenging there. And I would definitely challenge your thinking there a little bit as you think about your longer term innovation strategy and where products might have the best velocities. Sure. Tom, just to add to your thing, thank you for the, I think it's great. And, you know, we will think about it because with the fruit rolls and with the slices, as we are launching more SKUs, I feel like the powder could go into sweetener as well, where people are trying to look for more sweeteners and The other stuff could be with more dry fruits or snack aisle.
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28:18But with the powder, Tom, we are also working with a lot of food services right now with their smoothie programs. There was just a creamery that launched ice cream, which was vegan. Because one other thing I forgot to mention was a big community that I have networked and worked with with the powder has been vegan community. Because they're always looking for better alternatives to sweeten the stuff they eat. and they just came up with a vegan ice cream. So I feel like that could be another potential way I could work with as I'm growing as an ingredient for food services. Outstanding. Gori, I am so happy to see you again and I really love what you're doing.
29:01Please stay in touch. Let us know if we can help in any way. Once you get into new retailers, let us know. Any chance you have an opportunity to send us samples, would love to try them here in the office. Thank you again for being on the show. And again, please stay in touch. Thank you so much, Ray. Thanks. Have a great day. You too. All right. On to our next guest for Elevator Talk. We have Charlie Gentry, who is the founder of True Joy Yogurt. Charlie, great to see you again. Ray, likewise. Great meeting you the other week in Fancy Foods. Yeah, I've been dreaming about your lemon velvet flavor since I left the show floor.
29:36Man, that's a delightful product. True Joy Yogurt. Tell us all about what you do. Yeah. So True Joy Yogurt is a frozen Greek yogurt product I developed. We launched about a little over two years ago. We're based in Austin, Texas. And the opportunity I thought I saw on the market was something for a clean ingredient ice cream alternative. You know, a lot of the ice cream, that better for you ice creams we grew up with were filled with kind of dirtier ingredients. And there's been a big shift towards cleaner, natural products. So using Greek yogurt is the base ingredient. That's our number one ingredient.
30:13I went to work developing the product. It was important to me that the product had more protein than fat and had live and active cultures, which that's, you know, at the time when I was working on it, gut health was a big thing and it still is. but we're in this protein mania now. And True Joy has about two and a half times the protein of a regular ice cream and 50 % less sugar. We sweetened with cane sugar. We don't have monk fruit or stevia, which people feel different about, but it's a super clean taste and it leaves a good texture. But so yeah, based in Austin, we're coast to coast, but thin.
30:54We've probably got about 450 stores that we're in. You know, we're in the Whole Foods Leap on the Verge program, which is just wrapping up and looking forward to growing with them. And then, you know, we're really targeting the natural channel. You know, that's where customers discover better for your products. And then in markets, we're more established and we're starting to grow in the conventional channel as well. so i gotta ask charlie when you are interacting with consumers are they more interested in the fact that you are a better for you type of ice cream product and the fact that you know the fact that you have more protein than fat or they more enticed by your flavors i mean i was again blown away by your lemon velvet you also have a peanut butter chocolate chip that looks amazing a blueberry parfait a madagascar if my mouth is watering um so you know what really drives purchase at this point for your brand yeah the the thing that really gets people's head to turn is protein and i've really seen that um more recently i demo five days a week just about and that's that's the big reaction oh there's protein in it it's like yeah it's actually naturally protein packed we're not adding extra protein um but then this they're always surprised by the taste and it really i'm obviously biased, but on flavor and texture mouthfeel, it really competes with a premium ice cream.
32:21Um, you know, it's a 5 % milk fat product. We don't use any sort of fat replacers, which, um, it just textually, you can't get there. And you know, vanilla is 500 calories per pints. You know, the caloric price is half that of an ice cream. Um, so, you know, I always lead with the protein, but, but the taste is what, what people, um, what seals the deal and what ultimately keeps them coming back. And if this brand has legs, that's ultimately gonna be what carries this. Yeah. Tom, I wish you had a pint right in front of you. Although you might not say a word because you'd be eating the pint the entire time it would be on this show, but, um, this one's empty, I promise, but I did have it.
33:02Yeah. You know, I, I feel like there's, there's definitely an opportunity for brands like True Joy. Frozen can be kind of tough, but it feels like I can't remember seeing a frozen Greek yogurt out there. Tom, have you seen a product like this? You know, I guess Yasso is more on the novelty side. On the pine side, I can't think of one that's really broken out. So it seems like an interesting opportunity. What's the price point on shelf for kind of one of your larger retailers? In the natural channel, we're$7.99, which is – I like to be cost cheaper or right at with Jenny's ice cream. That's kind of – and ultimately, I want to steal the Jenny's customer and have them have a healthier product.
33:48Yeah. So that's kind of who I'm targeting. I like to call it an elevated indulgence. And is the size the same size of – Yeah, you have a 16-ounce pint. No short pints. Yeah. Yeah. And so, yeah, Yasso's the big, big competitor. And Yasso's a great product, but I like ice cream and pints. And that's part of why I started this. Yeah. Yeah. The novelty is we have young kids in the house. And when those are in the house, it just, they go so fast. It's nice to have the pints and somehow maybe we get a little more stretch out of those items. But the product looks great and I'm sure it's delicious. Thank you.
34:25Good to see you in Colorado today, too. it's uh i don't know yes i'm or are you in frisco or where i know i'm hiding out in the mountains i'm in telluride oh you're telluride oh that's even yeah yeah well we've grown into some um stores out here so i'm i'm uh doing demos in telluride it's pretty fun you know you go back i assume yeah yeah we co-pack it all comes together in dallas texas um but our dairy uh comes from california we have a co-manufacturer out there it's the only person in the country you can make it to our spec um you know the live and active cultures is part of our secret sauce and for a number of you know dairy laws there's not many people who have the equipment to do what we need um but then we flavor freezing package in dallas okay okay that sounds good yeah and just being you know the the the frozen area as ray just mentioned it's gonna be a bit tricky i mean just you know there's limited shelf space uh you know you're when you're behind the glass it you You open it up, it sort of frosts over, gets foggy.
35:27So there's a bunch of challenges just by being behind those doors. What are the ways you're trying to break through from those challenges? Yeah, it's tough. I didn't appreciate how challenging it was from behind a glass door. So demo, demo, demo. Get the product in people's mouths. We recently added a protein call out to the lid to just make it scream high protein, which gets people's attention. Once they open the freezer door and pick it up and read the back, they'll probably give it a shot. In markets where I haven't been able to get in a demo, we're selling it. We've got accounts in Hawaii, which is insane to me, and people keep buying it out there.
36:11I don't know who, but they are. As our footprint grows, and I'm bootstrapped, so I don't have a crazy digital marketing budget, But we're able to amortize the cost of digital marketing over more stores, be more aggressive on the social media front. Yeah, I think that, again, the protein certainly helps differentiate the brand. The flavors do as well. But I think your packaging really, like, it's fantastic. You know pretty clearly what it is, even though it doesn't say frozen yogurt. I mean, underneath it, it does. but the primary logo just says true joy yogurt um where'd you come up with that i mean how did you determine what you needed to put on front of pack and i know again you added the protein call out later on but talk about your your label hierarchy um yeah i wish i could take credit for that i i wanted to call it something nerdy like atlas yogurt and you know kind of resonate with strength and greek yogurt but my mom said why don't you call it true joy yogurt true joy yogurt spelled backwards but with a j so i was like man that's pretty genius um so yeah that that's where that came from and then i had an awesome branding group um do all that i'm totally worthless on illustrator and design um and so they came up with that i didn't pick up on that um that once you see it once you see it especially if it's you know not stacked like that it's it's obvious.
37:41Um, you know, hopefully you have a good agreement with your mom. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Charlie, uh, Tom mentioned that his kids love Yasso. And, uh, I, I wonder how much of your consumer base or how much of your target, uh, for consumers is adults versus kids, or is it sort of a family-oriented approach yeah it's tough you can't be everything to everyone but everyone everyone likes likes it but you know on paper the target is the young mom with disposable income you know who's not price sensitive has young kids and wants to feed them well but you know like grandparents like it too and i've had some some chats within the food service for like senior living facilities because they want to get old folks as much protein as possible.
38:34So it's really hard to nail that down, Ray. And Tom, I'd love to get your two cents on how to pick a customer and really go after them. I think you're doing it the right way. You're going after a big segment. Obviously, everyone's a shopper, but certainly it's a great grocery shopper that you're thinking about and um i you can't be everything to everyone especially at the beginning maybe down the line you can have some thoughtful ways to extend the brand further into other demos you know or kid kid friendly ideas or you know partnerships with spongebob or what have you i think i think it's important i do think one advantage you do have by being in frozen and it does narrow your scope a bit.
39:18I mean, going direct to consumer can't do it. At least I don't think you should. So at least you kind of know where to fight. Food service in general, I think, is a scary area and difficult, and it's so price sensitive when you think about that. And then to go to market, usually there's multiple layers to get to the end user. And so price becomes a real challenge. So I think just being incredibly focused on grocery and knowing where your core customer is and then making sure every day that you're making a little bit of net contribution market no matter what. Yeah. And so what do you think about – so I'm spread thin, which a lot of people would say is a bad idea, but I justify it by saying I'm going after the natural channel.
40:02How do you feel about casting a coast-to-coast net in the natural channel, or just do I need to rein it back in and just own Texas? yeah i i don't know if the product's turning and you're able to deliver positive net contribution after all variable expenses then being broader is okay you know usually the further you go in frozen the more expensive it is so your price points will go up you know further you know in hawaii uh of course but uh yeah i don't have a problem with that um you know i just get going into mainstream until when until you really know you have the right product architecture and be really careful.
40:42And the closer you are to home, the more you can support it, the less risky it is. So it depends on how much risk you're willing to take. Yes, apparently a lot in this industry. Yes, indeed. I always thought I was pretty conservative, but on paper, this is not a good idea. Well, I was waiting for Tom to bring up anything related to gross margin because in past episodes, he's always asking our founders about such things. But it sounds like you're off to a great start, Charlie. And I really like what you're doing. And I'm excited to see you get into the boss scenario whenever you do. But yeah, definitely take it one day at a time because it's a tough business.
41:22And yeah, Frozen is a tough category. But when you have a product that's as delicious as yours, I think you've got a long runway. So thank you so much for being on this show. And I can't encourage you enough to just come back and talk to us and let us know how we can help in any way. Absolutely, Ray. Thanks for having me on. Great to see you again. And Tom, nice to meet you. Up next on Elevator Talk, we have Liz Kang, who is the founder and co-CEO of Mama May Tempe Chips. Liz, great to see you. Great to see you too. Thank you for having me. Yeah. Did I pronounce tempeh correct? I never know how to pronounce that.
41:57Yeah. Okay. Perfect. Tempeh is correct. Okay. Well, for folks who are not familiar with tempeh or ma 'am ma 'am, what do you guys do? Yeah, absolutely. Tempeh is like a cousin of tofu. It's a very much slept on superfood that is actually rooted from deep in Indonesian culture. It's been around for centuries and some say longer than tofu, but it's just not been as globally proliferated. And the reason behind that is because tempeh in all of its benefits and its glory is not very transportable. So tofu is processed. You can refrigerate it and you can ship it and it lasts like a year. with tempeh actually it's in like local markets they're sold wrapped in banana leaves and they last three to five days and at room temperature but all of the probiotic properties of the beans all of the protein content all of the fiber basically everything you would want in a healthy alternative plant-based protein product is packed into tempeh so what we do we've kind of innovated outside of what typical tempeh is, which is typically in like the refrigerated aisle.
43:05You can use it in stir fries. And we've shaken it up and we put it in the shelf stable aisle. Now it sits there for 15 months. People can access it in an easier way and be introduced to tempeh in a snack form. Well, I really hope it's not on show for 15 months, maybe 15 minutes. That would be better for velocity sake, you know? I mean, yeah, I believe that is happening in some of the markets that we're in. Outstanding. Well, I was about to ask you about the markets that you're in because you're in some pretty interesting places. If I'm reading from my notes here, you're in some awesome office plantries as well as regional grocery stores.
43:42Yes, that's right. So we launched stateside November last year, but we've been around for two months. I'm based in Singapore and our manufacturing is then in Indonesia. And so we started out in Asian countries in 2023 with South Korea, Japan, and Singapore. Since then, we've made the foray into Europe, and November was our launch mostly on the West Coast of the US. So the likes of Erewhon and a bunch of natural banners across the West Coast, including the Northwest, as well as food service, like you just mentioned. We just did the Meta Snack of the Month program for the East and West Coast, which was really exciting with our little one-ounce bags.
44:21And we're currently serving the Netflix and TikTok offices as well. Very cool stuff. So I'm not too familiar with Tempe. I got to think, Tom, you've had some experience with Tempe in Boulder, Colorado, no? Yeah, familiar with it, but there's nothing in our portfolio that's Tempe-based today. I'm curious, since you have already launched in other international markets, what key learnings you're bringing into the U.S. launch? What's worked? What hasn't worked? Key questions you might have about your U.S. launch? Yeah, no, absolutely. I think each market is very different, and that's kind of the fun part.
45:00But what has constantly surprised me is that, you know, Tempeh is very much slept on. So it's not very well known, even in Asian countries, neighboring countries like, you know, South Korea and Japan, people are new to it, and they familiarize themselves with it just by a quick Google search. So I think we sometimes underestimate the consumer's ability to just look online and read up about a product. And so what I found from like the comment sections of like our, you know, distribution in Europe and the UK and Korea is that people are like kind of, you know, user generated content and commenting and talking to each other, being like, this is amazing.
45:40Did you know tempeh is a superfood? It's so good for you. I want to give it to my kids. So that's been really cool. I think with the U.S., kind of building the data set as we go has been a little bit of a challenge for me, especially because I'm based like 12-hour time zone away. But, you know, I think it's one step at a time, and we're really carving out a good space for us in California, and we want to go all in on that. And then we also have a big private label deal coming out in the U.S., which would add about like 600 doors next year. And I think that would be really good for just general awareness and familiarity with the product for the average U.S.
46:19consumer. So I'm really excited about that. And a lot of the salty snacks are sold in larger format. Are these all small bags or what's? No. So this is a 3.5 ounce. They go for about$7.99. This one's empty. But we're doing this and then we're exploring bigger size formats for Costco. And then we have the single serve for food service. Actually, outside of the U.S., we also have the 1.7 ounce, which is kind of half the size of the 3.5. How many different languages are you having to make product in at this point? I think currently we do four, five, five. Is your plan to continue to go into more and more countries and more and more, you know, because there is complexity and carrying cost and all the inventory.
47:08I mean, that gets to be a pretty heavy supply chain to support. Yeah, definitely. I think we're in the right markets for now. We were pretty aggressive about kind of, you know, building and making our footprint and being kind of the first mover because we really felt that there was an advantage to that the last two years. And from that, I think we've learned a lot, but we've also learned that it's not just breadth, but depth. And that process has also been really rewarding because markets like Korea, which we've been around for the longest, actually is the opportunity, like the opportunities continue in cycles and continue to grow.
47:45And nurturing that business has been really a core part of my day to day. And you have local partners in each different area? Yeah, we do. I mean, we have a sales team of two. So it's myself and my former boss. And so we work with partners around the world and they're the best. Liz, did you just reveal new packaging from Amemase? I thought you held up a bag. And I was just going to ask you actually about a potential label change. That's right. I mean, so this is what it used to look like. This is an old bag and it's open. But my brother designed this packaging and he just graduated from college.
48:28He's 22. So when he designed this, he was 20 and he had no packaging design experience. So I think he did a decent job. But, you know, it's time we grow up a little bit and let the professionals take over. And we really felt like this kind of speaks to our ethos more. We've got like my mom up here. My mom's the founder, by the way. She created the recipe and created a BRCGS certified facility and a global patent in the span of two years after 27 years as a stay-at-home mom. So we're really proud of her, and we wanted to bring her front and center, make the packaging pop a bit, bring the brand name out.
49:06And it's been very exciting. We revealed a little bit at Summer Fancy, but it was a soft launch, and hopefully by Expo West, we can kind of show everyone what we have going. Let's just say you revealed it on Elevator Talk. We broke the news here, just so you can say that. You did. You were the first mover exclusive. Yes. No, I was literally just going to ask you, because I feel like the focus on your previous packaging was on Tempe. Now it feels like the focus is really on the brand, which is great to see. Oh, I appreciate that. That is what we were trying to do. Yeah, well, totally. And I think that's something that I've heard investors talk about, which is you don't want to really marry yourself to an ingredient.
49:46It's really about the brand because, you know, let's say you want to introduce other ingredients as well. Tom, would you agree? I mean, I think the new packaging looks pretty darn good. I agree. I have the old packaging up on the, on your website. And I was surprised and nicely surprised to see the new look. So, and yeah, a lot of mom power today on the, on the show. This is the second mom shout out. So yeah, absolutely. And I think the other part of this is taste, right? I mean, so your packaging looks great. You have a great story. I feel like tempeh is a superfood that not a lot of people know about.
50:22But I mean, as soon as you talk about it, you understand why it's so good for you. But really, it just comes down to taste. And you have some great flavors here. Sea salt, hot chili, rosemary. How do people interact with this product on a taste level? honestly i it sells itself i sometimes say i have the easiest job at the company because i open a bag the buyer or the retailer or the customer tries it and there's like no chance that they're not going to take it so it's been very easy for us to sell because it's really at the unique intersection of the x and y axis of nutrition and also taste i think it's hard to get both especially with the protein and fiber claims.
51:06And I think we've really kind of hit that sweet spot. And so I think the taste factor is really important. And I think a big part of what drives the taste factor is the crunch. So I kind of, for those people who haven't tried it, I liken it to like a beanie tortilla chip. So it has a sturdiness of a tortilla chip, but it has like a light crunchiness of a rice chip or a potato chip. So it's like the hybrid texture of that. And then our seasoning is natural, but it tastes pretty darn good. So is the use case pretty similar to just like a potato chip? Yeah. So it can go either way. I, I, it's very dippable, so it could be a dippable chip.
51:46Um, we like to put it, you know, as a side to a sandwich, you can crunch it on a salad, um, various use cases, but it's basically for any consumer at any time of the day who is craving a crunchy, salty snack. I can't recall if Tom asked you about price point. Did you, did you, yeah? No, this is a$7.99 bag for a 3.5 ounce. And on select online, it's$6.99. All right. Well, Liz, this has been exciting. We've talked about Mama Mays in a number of different ways. We got a reveal of the new packaging and we got a sneak peek into your retail distribution plans going forward. 600 private label stores.
52:30I'm imagining a Trader Joe's type of retailer, but we'll see. I guess if I start to see tempeh chips in my local Trader Joe's, I'll know where it came from. I know you're not supposed to talk about such things, but anyway. Thank you so much for joining us on Elevator Talk today. Please stay in touch. Once you have some new packaging to send, please send us some samples. I know our team would love to try it. Absolutely. Definitely will. Thanks so much for being in, Tom. Quick break. If this episode has you thinking about what's next in food and beverage, explore BevNet and Nosh Insider, our subscription platform with deeper insights from the BevNet team.
53:07Visit tasteradio.com slash insider to learn more.
53:13All right. Our final guest for this episode of Elevator Talk is Jack Newton. He's the founder of Jack's Dad's Hummus. Jack, great to see you again. Great to see you, bud. Tom, looking forward to grilling me. We'll see. I don't know. You're not in his office at this point, but maybe in the near future you will be. And then he'll definitely grill you. So, yeah. Looking forward to it. Yeah. Well, we've been talking about moms. Let's talk about a dad. Jack's dad, that is. Tell us all about your hummus brand. Yeah. So I founded Jack's dad's hummus. And it's not a marketing gimmick or anything like that.
53:46It's my dad's real recipe that he discovered by chance. And it's hummus made with miso that's soy-free, sesame, and seed oil-free. And so the story's great. It's one of the main selling points of the brand, honestly. So around 10 years ago at this point, my dad was making homemade hummus, and he realized halfway through making the hummus that there was no tahini in our family kitchen. And my dad's an awesome chef. Like, he likes spending entire Saturdays and Sundays cooking, making, like, lobster thermidor, Mongolian beef, you name it. So being the clever chef he was, he looked for a substitute for tahini.
54:19And so just by chance, he was rummaging around our fridge and he found miso and threw it in on a whim and didn't tell the rest of my family, my mom, my two brothers, and gave us the hummus. And we tasted it. And we were like, Dad, this is the best hummus you ever made. What did you do to this? He's like, oh, I threw some miso in it so casually. And miso hummus actually became a staple in my family for years. We'd have it, you know, for holidays, birthdays, graduations, you name it. And yeah, eventually I realized there's nothing else like this. The miso makes the hummus just beyond savory. There's nothing else like it.
54:57And especially with the lack of tahini, it's sesame-free. And there's not a lot of sesame-free options out there. And the other thing we did is we used chickpea-based miso. So it's soy-free as well. Most miso is made with soy. And then finally, my dad only used olive oil back in the day. So so do we. No changes to dad's recipe. And the seed oil free aspect was very intriguing as well. So I thought, let's give this a shot. So I launched the company back in 2022. And we started in a Brooklyn farmer's market, McGulrick Park farmer's market. And at the time, I was still working in finance. I didn't know if I wanted to make the leap to becoming a professional hummus maker quite then.
55:39So I wanted to, you know, be cautious, give it, you know, try a farmer's market. Let's see. and the feedback was super, super positive. We're still in the farmer's market to this day. People's eyes light up when they try this hummus. The savory aspect of it is just, there's nothing else like it. And I've literally seen people jump for joy if they have a sesame allergy and they discover my hummus. It's one of the best parts about being at the farmer's market. You get to see people's feedback live at the farmer's market every Sunday. And I still am. This Sunday, that's where I'll be. if anyone wants to come visit.
56:15But yeah, so there's been lots and lots of interest. I'm part of a startup incubator and shared kitchen called Entrepreneur Space based in Queens, New York. And it's great because there's flexible hours for me to grow and scale. And so with all the interest in folks coming to the farmer's market every Sunday saying, Jack, we're sick of waiting every Sunday, get into stores. When are you getting in Whole Foods? I'm trying. So between that and going to the Summer Fancy Food Show, There's just been tons and tons of interest. Now is finally the time for me to start making the leap into stores. So our plan is we want to get into specialty stores around the New York metro area to begin with, just to gauge interest, get real feedback on what sales look like in stores.
56:57We know that we do well in farmers markets, but we don't like talking in absolutes. I want to see how this does in stores. And, yeah, so it's been going really well. And a fun fact for you, Tom, as an icebreaker, I'm from Darien, Connecticut. uh a town very important in the uh the history of bare naked granola which we were heavily involved in so it's funny uh talking to someone who knows the hometown heroes of uh kelly and brendan so full full circle moment for me oh that's awesome yeah they did a wonderful job and it was great to be a part of the bare naked story so uh lived there in brendan's mom's house for for a little a while.
57:35I think I was in ninth grade when the sale to Kellogg happened and everyone was talking about it. My mom was talking about it. Kids at school were talking about it. They really were. This was the biggest thing that happened for a while in Darianne. It's funny. Good job. Yeah. Tom was talking about it too. I'm sure he was very happy when that happened. And so I want to be clear about one thing. You know, we've had a lot of brands here that participated or exhibited at the Summer Fancy Food Show. I love them all. And for all the brands that I met at the show, I offered an opportunity to join Elevator Talk.
58:11I'm just really happy that the ones who I met are here today. And Jack, when I had an opportunity to meet with you, I was just I didn't know what to expect because, you know, miso has such a specific flavor. You're wondering, is it going to go with hummus? And it does. It's so good. You get this good creaminess, that umami taste, but the umami is not overpowering. Everything about it just really, really works. I guess the question is, is there a need for a product like this? Yes, it's amazing. But Tom, you know, in your estimation, are there people that are going to be looking? Is there enough of an audience that's going to be looking for a product like this?
58:51Just the fact that it has a sesame, that it's soy sesame and soy free, or should it just be sold on its own merit as Jack's dad's hummus? You know, I think having differentiation helps a lot. You know, as one of our earlier guests suggested, you know, that it really needs to stand on its own two feet with taste. And it sounds like it does. I haven't tasted it, but I bet it's delicious. I think you're okay on that front. You know, it is a refrigerated product, I believe, correct? Correct. Right. And what's the shelf life like on the product? Well, we've been working with Cornell University and we got approved for a 50-day shelf life, but I like to say three weeks or two weeks just to maintain the taste, but we were approved for 50 days.
59:37Yeah, I think that's maybe some of the most challenging territory you're going to be in when you're in those stores. They tend to buy a lot, the bigger formats, and just making sure you have the turn. So I do think you're onto the right track by just staying local, staying in specialty stores to start and hopefully over time working on that shelf life because I think 50 days does get to be pretty tight when you're in distribution and product can sit in the wrong spot easily for a few weeks in the back of grocery stores. Yeah, completely correct. And part of our roadmap is, So getting into stores in the New York metro area.
1:00:20And then eventually, once we have our facility locked down, whether we're staying at the entrepreneur space, startup incubator, co-packer, get our own facility, looking into high-pressure processing, which is what a lot of other hummus brands do to extend the shelf life. So heat-free method of clean way of extending shelf life. So that's on the radar. And you're making it all today in the incubator space? I am. We're looking at a one-man hummus army right now. I boil the chickpeas myself right now. I lie, actually. I do have one part-time worker who I hired recently who helps me scoop the hummus.
1:00:56And then my dad actually comes to help, and it helps out a lot, too. He's actually coming on Sunday to fix some machinery that broke that I bought. So, yeah, like I said, he's more than a marketing gimmick. He's involved. But, yeah, right now it's just me. Well, you've got such good energy. I imagine it carries through to every part of your business. I do think this is still a people business in a lot of ways, especially as you're hiring people and selling into stores and working with everyone. So I think that's going to carry you a long way. Completely agree. And that's part of the reason why I wanted to name the company Jack's Dad's Hummus.
1:01:36We're selling a feeling, if you will. This is our family hummus. when my dad discovered this 10 years ago, like dollar signs instantly appear in my eyes. This is just delicious, different hummus. Right. And so I think I, when I first came up with the company, I was like, what should I name it? And Jack's dad's hummus was like a placeholder for a day. And I was like, no, I'm definitely doing this. I went to a couple of grocery stores in Darien actually, and looked at the other hummus brands there. And yeah, they're just, they don't have like that kind of story. They don't like it's, I kind of thought of liquid death when naming the hummus brand too, because you look at Liquid Death and you're like, what the heck is this?
1:02:13Liquid Death water? That doesn't make sense. And you look at Jack's dad's hummus, you're like, what the heck is Jack's dad's hummus? It stands out. So rather than name the company, something like Humiso or not clever enough to come up with a good name like that. But yeah, Jack's dad's hummus, it's a story-driven hummus. People could copy the miso idea per se, but no one can copy our story. No one can copy the branding. So that's where I wanted to focus the label and branding on. You're spot on. You only have two, three seconds with consumers when they're walking through an aisle. And we always felt some of the earlier brands, I was a part of it.
1:02:51You could just grab their attention. And certainly, we think we did that back in the day. And I think we're onto something. Yeah. I made you clarify that Bare Naked was granola before I said you were involved but bare naked to make sure our viewers or listeners didn't get confused. Jack, you're such a great ambassador for your own brand. And I feel like, as Tom pointed out, your energy is so fantastic. How do you, I guess, convince others? How do you incorporate that energy into your marketing strategy? So when you're not there, how are you selling? How are you resonating? How is the brand getting to people and getting them excited about what you're doing?
1:03:29Yeah, I mean, I think the name Jack's dad's hummus does that. And part of the next steps of getting into retail is working on our labels. I'm designing them right now myself. But Jack's dad's hummus is that, you know, the big, most prominent feature on those labels. And I do want that to convey the same kind of fun, different energy of, you know, of who I am, who my dad is, like the hummus that he makes. It's different hummus. This is Jack's dad's hummus. So I also have like a little shooting star chickpea logo that kind of stands out that I think gives energy to the brand and label as well. So, yeah, I'd say all of our hummus containers currently are kind of bright colors to kind of catch folks eyes.
1:04:10So, yeah, I think the main differentiator to catch people's attention when I'm not there is Jack's dad's hummus in big font on the labels. Yeah, I didn't notice your T-shirt was the was the logo there. There you go. Well done. Yeah. Yeah. Well, we're out of time. Jack, I'm so happy that we have this opportunity to sit down and chat. It's so great. I was really, really impressed with your product. It tastes amazing. And I'm going to invite myself to your house. The next time your dad's making lobster Thermidor, just let me know. Shoot me an email and I'll make my way over if that's okay. But in the meantime, thank you so much again for joining us.
1:04:50Please stay in touch. If we can help in any way, let us know. And let us know about when you are potentially making that move into new retail stores, HBP, what have you, because we want to know about it. Yeah, certainly. I forgot if I mentioned it or not, but I'll be in pop-up grocer this October in Manhattan, which will be a big, hopefully a big boon, given their social media presence. But yes, for now, if you want to help, Ray, come to the Goldberg Park Farmer's Market every Sunday and buy a bunch of hummus in Brooklyn. That would be super helpful. But otherwise, we'll keep you posted. Okay.
1:05:20Well, maybe one of these weekends. But I have friends in Brooklyn. I can just send them there. And maybe the next time I see them, I'll just pick it up from their fridges. I will give you free hummus if you do that. That's okay. Sounds like a plan. Jack, thank you so much again. Thank you, Ray. Thank you, Tom. As always, Tom, a fantastic episode of Elevator Talk. so much enthusiasm, excitement, innovation. As I mentioned before you hopped on the mics, these folks are changing the face of the food and beverage industry, or in this case, the food industry, one brand at a time. Just in general terms, I know we're pushing up against our time here, but just in general terms, if there's one or two things for all of these folks to look out for as they're building their brands over the next year or two, what should it be?
1:06:05yeah i think just not getting overextended uh this is true in any era uh right now in the world i would say with capital being a bit tighter uh as you know you probably talked about in other shows uh you know i just say you know be careful and uh you know it's tempting to grow grow grow and extend and further expand your distribution but uh you know i think that that if you uh can restrain yourself until you really have the right product pack and branding, I think it does tend to help and probably going to help these founders with stress levels and all kinds of things. And you can just be a little patient.
1:06:48Well, I think it also helps when you have someone to talk to. And I know this show is a great opportunity for folks to engage with investors and retailers and other folks from our community. But if folks want to get in touch with you and just introduce their brands to you and you and your team at BFG Partners, what's the best way to do so? Thanks, Ray. Yeah, we certainly love it when folks reach out to us. The best way to do it is through an email address. It's dealteam at BFG Partners. So yeah, our deal team would obviously get those emails. And then, you know, in a lot of cases, we love to jump on the phone and meet people.
1:07:27So please feel free to send us a note. There you go. Just don't send samples until you say it's okay. I know we talked about this one. Yeah, I always ask folks not to because I know I really advise people to be cost contained and have a cost containment mentality and sending samples is expensive, especially if they're refrigerated or frozen. So please let us have a chat first. And then we want to be respectful of you and your capital. As I mentioned, And Tom, this is just such a treat for us to have you on the show because you're so experienced and so awesome with your comments, feedback and insights, you know, to folks who really need all of this.
1:08:10So thank you so much for joining us today. I'm sure I'll be bugging you again in the near future saying, hey, can we have you back on the show? Because it is so amazing to have you join us. Ray, right back at you. You're amazing as well. You've helped countless companies at this stage over the last decade or I don't know how many years it's been going. But yeah, I really appreciate it and always a true pleasure to be on the show. So thank you. Thank you again. And thanks so much to all the entrepreneurs who joined us today. Thanks for everyone watching. And thanks for our amazing team at BevNet, Nosh and Taste Radio, the best in the business.
1:08:44Signing off for everyone, I'm Ray Lateef, and we'll talk to you next time.
1:08:53Thank you.
From the publisher
The latest episode of Elevator Talk features leaders from NIKIGO, Zip Frut, TruJoy Yogurt, Mamame Tempeh Chips and Jack's Dad's Hummus.
Watch founders and CEOs introduce their brands and provide a recap of recent news and updates. This week's special co-host is Tom Spier, the founder and managing partner of venture capital firm BFG Partners, who shared his thoughts, questions and feedback with the participants. He is joined by Ray Latif, the editor and producer of the Taste Radio podcast.
Founders and CEOs of early stage food or beverage brands are invited to join future shows to pitch their products, discuss recent news and get feedback from industry experts. It is free to participate and interviews will be conducted remotely. Apply for a future episode of Elevator Talk.
