How Datefix Landed A Dream Deal With Walmart... And What Comes Next

24:39They're low glycemic. You don't get a sugar crash, great source of fiber. And so that was sort of the impetus of trying to fuel my runs with something that was natural. As you and I have talked about in the past, dates have long been consumed overseas. They're commonly known as an ethnic food or an ethnic treat, kind of getting and making their way into the United States, into American consumers, households, but I think they're still a relatively unknown superfood. How are you introducing the brand? How are you talking to people about dates and in the form factor that you have them, which is in that squeeze pack?

25:19You know, you're right. I mean, if I hadn't, for the fact that I had a Lebanese French wife and mother-in-law, I probably wouldn't have been exposed quite the same way I was. And I thought there was an incredible opportunity to mainstream. I thought, what an irony. This is the oldest fruit literally in the book. There's five fruits mentioned in the Bible. Dates are one of them. And they're kind of the original MRE, if you follow history, and King David sent his mighty warriors into battles with dates. And so I thought, what an amazing opportunity. This fruit has been around forever, and yet it still has relative obscurity in many parts of the United States, certainly.

25:55I mean, it's well-known in other parts of the world, as you mentioned. It's a great fasting food, of course. And what a gift, What an opportunity to try to do so. And there hadn't really been no innovation with dates other than removing the pit. And so I thought, wow, you know, if I could put something, you know, I was turned on to the form factor as a runner, but I never really liked what was inside. You know, maltodextrin is usually the lead ingredient, you know, far from food, artificial. And I thought, what if I could put something that was genuinely natural, delicious, you know, homemade effectively in that form factor?

26:28maybe I could make a contribution to health and wellness and healthy snacking. Alan, I think you were spot on when you talked about dates as being the original MRE. And you mentioned that this is a food that really resonated with you on a fitness level. But I also feel like this could be positioned in a lot of different ways, date fix that is, in that, yes, it could be for runners, it could be used for post, pre-workout, but also just as a snack and a treat for any time occasions to feel like you are being sated without eating too, too much. So with those different ways of, you know, introducing the brand and use cases, how do you know and how do you get comfortable, I guess, with the focus of fitness?

27:14It's a really good question. The form factor, as you said, just reads fitness. So we really tried to take a pivot here. You know, in my first iteration, we had natural energy snack on the pack. And I kind of sort of felt the word energy had been hijacked by caffeine. If you didn't have caffeine, you almost weren't energy. You know, you weren't an energy product. But of course, that's ridiculous because, you know, food is energy. You know, it's measured in Kcals and good food is the best energy. And so, you know, we tried in this in the new iteration of the packaging, which we're launching at the show here, we leaned into fresh fruit nutrition.

27:46And we wanted to come up with the idea of a fresh fruit nutrition pack. You know, there's IV packs and hydration packs. And we thought, well, fresh fruit nutrition pack, that would be the mother of all really healthy, you know, it's the top of the food chain in terms of health and wellness. So since the form factor reads fitness, we really leaned in from a design, from a fresh fruit nutrition, from a minimalism to try to make it kind of like the ultimate snack as the comfort of good food. So our message today is it's the comfort of good food, which is really hard to get on the go or anytime, anywhere.

28:15And that's kind of what the impetus is for us now to reach a much larger audience. Does that make it easier or slightly more challenging to be merchandised in store to get into retailers when you don't necessarily have a very specific use case? You have one that could be used. You have a product that could be used in many different parts of the day. You know, it's a blessing and a curse, I think, as you rightly say. I mean, you know, we sell in Walmart. We're in the sports nutrition section. We're not in the grocery section, but we're at Whole Foods. We're in functional snacks. We're in a kind of a sleepy part of the Walmart store.

28:52I mean, by their admission, that's not my statement because of where it is. And then Whole Foods, we're prime and functional snacks and we're selling out left and right. I think that's why we wanted to hit on fresh fruit nutrition because I think it transcended. You eat a banana when you... I think people would eat fruit more if it just wasn't so perishable. And one of the amazing superpowers of dates for getting the things we mentioned earlier is it's just it lasts. It's nature survival food. It lasts a long time. If you can get into Walmart, no matter where you're positioned, it's probably a good thing.

29:24But how do you start that conversation when you're talking to that retail buyer for the first time and saying, hey, I'm a relatively early stage founder. I have a pretty innovative brand. I feel like my product, my brand could do well in your stores. Where do you start? Well, DateFix has been a long journey in the making here. It's the easiest product to make. There's no magic to it. That's the beauty of it. It's a food processor. You put dates into it, you blend them up, and you have it. The problem is, how do you get something that viscous in that form factor? So I spent a long time, it was an engineering challenge trying to be able to do that.

29:59So I had a really good inkling. It had passed through a lot of mouths. I'd done a lot of sort of, you know, taste tests outside of the packet. I knew from a flavor profile it was something special. And so I spent a long time trying to scale up. And so at the fancy food show that I mentioned in the summer of 2023, a spotter for a trend spotter for Walmart came by and they said, I think this might be an amazing product. I'm going to connect you with the buyer. Three days later, the buyer called me and he said, I'd love you to come to Bentonville. And so literally it was love at first bite. I had prepared this elaborate, detailed PowerPoint presentation.

30:35I was as nervous as can be. And he was like, nope, we can put pencils down. I don't need to see your presentation. I love the product. He said, you can deliver to, I'm going to put you in every store that I have a nutrition section in, which is 2 ,700 stores. And so that was the Walmart experience, which was really unbelievable. And they've been a pleasure to deal with. And everything they said they would do, they've done. So that is a crazy story. But you know what? it's interesting because it's almost one that I, it's strange to say this. I have heard a similar story from a brand called Harkin Sweets and Katie Lefkowitz and I sat down for an episode of Taste Radio a few months back and it wasn't as straightforward as I saw your product at a trade show.

31:20I want it. You're in all 2 ,700 of the stores that I manage, but it was very much, I love what you're doing. And I feel like your products resonate with me personally and will resonate with our consumers. And I think a lot of buyers are essentially that advocate for their own consumers. They feel like they want to not just sell their product, they want to make sure that their customers love their products. And I think that's one of the interesting things about DateFix is there's always, to me, been a lot of love in this product and in the brand. When you go from selling direct to consumer to being in 3 ,000 or so Walmart stores, how do you transfer that passion, that love that I felt when I first met you and that I felt when I see your product to every other customer who walks into that store?

32:11Yes. I mean, I think that's something we just, we try to do a better job with the repackaging. We took away clutter. I think we tried to make it more minimal, I should say. I don't know if it was clutter, but we tried to make it cleaner to reflect the ingredients. We wanted people to lean into the ingredients. I think the ingredients, you know, people eat the product and it harkens back to a childhood memory. It's basically the filling in so many homemade pastries of different cultures and ethnicities. And so I think that always, it kind of, you know, you open it up, you can almost still smell the, you know, the orange blossom water.

32:43So it has that, that warmth to it. You know, we make it in the, in the plant, you know, everybody's salivating in the plant and everyone just enjoys it regardless of, you know, where, or even if they hadn't even had a date before. And so it does have something about that. It does evoke in the idea of orange blossom water, which is really such a culinary ingredient. I mean, you only really read about it in sort of recipe books or Mediterranean recipe books. And that's one of the things that I thought was, this is a food story. And, you know, one of the neat things about it is, I mean, one of the things that we're trying to do, I think an upcoming reel we're gonna make is a chef going to a vending machine, buying a date fix and squeezing it on a charcuterie board.

33:22I mean, not many products can, you know, sort of have that journey from, you know, vending machine to, you know, brie. and I think that that's because it's food at the end of the day and it's the comfort of good food and it's the pleasure. I think that versatility is also, again, going back to day part use and usage occasion. I think that's one of the most interesting things about date fix. But when it comes to merchandising and in those Walmart stores, just going back to that retailer for a sec, how do you support the brand? How do you get people to see it for once, to try it, to buy it as often as they can?

33:58And, you know, that velocity story is so important. It's a challenge for sure. The ecosystem of Walmart is sort of designed for, you know, really big budgets to sort of drive velocity. And they have kind of a whole ecosystem of supporters. And, you know, that is the world. So we've tried to work on creativity. I mean, we've so what we did as one of our activation events is we held the first ever marathon around a Walmart store. And so we had a fan, a loyal Date Fix fan. And he's been running for 5 ,000 straight days. He's been running every day for 12 years. He is a really amazing individual. He's from, lives outside of Springfield, New Zealand.

34:39Wait, wait, I've got to back up for a second. He's not constantly running. No, but he runs every day for a period of time, every single day consistently, just crossed in February his 5 ,000th consecutive day. So he discovered Date Fix in his journey. And as a long distance runner, He is really particular about what he's eating. He can't, he's got to have natural products naturally. All the ultra runners are, you know, say the same. And we invited him to do around store number 100, which is literally across the street from the Walmart headquarters in Bentonville. The press came out. That was the Saturday.

35:15So those are some of the things that we're doing. And we're trying to actually create a repetitive event around doing running events around a Walmart store. And so it was amazing. His wife and kids drove in to surprise him. And I mean, we found out, you know, the head of Sam's Club is an ultra marathon. I mean, all of a sudden it just opened up and the news, the local news covered it. And it was a really fun day. We're doing that. And then we're doing some support events with the employees of Walmart. And so there's an event that we are doing as an activation event where we can come educate them on the product and kind of be advocates.

35:50And I think there's some, you know, an opportunity for some tech talk about dates because it's still, it's old, but it's new. And that's sort of fun. So because of where you're merchandising in store, you have to almost create a marketing strategy that fits to the consumers that shop in that part of the store. Is that what I'm hearing? Yeah. And the buyer there really wanted a natural product in his set. You know, that was really the breakthrough. And I think he had been early adopters of the waffles that are there. You know, people come there. That product can live in other parts of the store, but, you know, he was an early adopter, I think, of new things.

36:27And, you know, and I think Walmart in general has just been making that thrust. And, you know, we have a product that no doubt can live in lots of parts of the store. And we're in a lot of running stores besides supermarkets. And there's definitely an education around, you know, that these is the clean carbohydrates, but the public is clamoring for it. They're on, you know, I think the gel isn't a word that is food. And so it already sort of has a synthetic like name. And I think people see it and they're just relieved to have something that's, that's easy on their stomach. They don't have to think twice, but it's only 80 calories, you know, so sometimes not enough.

37:03So you can have two of them if you're, you know, but I think it's just meeting this sort of quest for all the things that you sort of do about taste and, and, uh, taste radio and, uh, clean your ingredients and clean products. And this sort of is, I think the poster child for that in some respects. Yeah, obviously, you're a regular listener of the show, and I talk all the time about the importance of taste. And if you're not happy with the taste of a product, you're probably not going to buy it a second time. Even if the creator of that product improves on its flavor, sometimes you only have that one chance.

37:37Packaging, I think, is sort of in a similar kind of bucket. when someone sees a package that just doesn't really get them excited, doesn't really, really want them or motivate them to pick that product off the shelf, you've got no chance of getting them to that taste part of what you're trying to do. But Date Fix, it's interesting because you've already gone through one pretty major, and you've talked about this, one pretty major rebrand or refresh. And this new look, and I've told you, we talked about this, this new look feels really feminine. Your first take on date fix felt actually a little bit more masculine.

38:17That's kind of a big jump for a brand, especially in early stage one. Why do you feel like you needed to go in this direction? Well, I think we're just getting a more feminine male to female, female to male, excuse me. That's one thing. Two is if we want to help a family establish good, you know, nutrition habits, I think in most households, mothers are kind of the family nutritionist in many respects, not to typecast, but I think, you know, that certainly is true. Was it always true? No, but that is true. And I think we wanted this to feel like this lifestyle product that somebody was, you know, carried a bag or, you know, is walking around with athleisure.

38:54This was sort of like the food that you'd walk around in your, pick your, you know, athleisure brand company, this sort of like fit part and parcel to. That was a big thought that we wanted to do when we did that. And I think we, we skewed that way, but certainly not trying to, keep it out of the lives of the men in our world too. But when you make a decision like this, does it impact how you pitch to different retailers, how you introduce the brand to different buyers? Because again, this is a different look, feel. I mean, it definitely, I think would speak to, if you put the two packages side by side, I think they would speak to two different retail buyers.

39:36So how does that affect? How does the the refresh affect your retail strategy? Yeah. What we really wanted to do more than thinking about it through the lens of female or male was to make it more elevated feeling, more special. We want to make date fix synonymous with excellence. You know, we wanted to leverage the healthy halo. The package was designed for, you know, we did more call outs actually on it, on the back of the pack. They're much easier to read. You know, the nutrition fact panels just by being in a darker font than it was before, which was white, you know, as white before. So we really wanted to make this kind of, you know, if somebody was thinking about the pinnacle of, you know, in a snack product, we want sort of date fix to, you know, fill that fill in the blank for that.

40:23And so that's mostly what we had in mind. And so we tried to bring artistry into it and it may have had it with a female twist to it, but that was kind of where we were really going with it. Yeah, you know, now that you mention it, I think that totally makes sense. I call this a more feminine looking brand or label, but it definitely feels like a premium label that speaks to the excellence of its ingredients. And it would resonate with a lot of folks, I think, in that context. context. And just for context for listeners, the one I'm holding in my hand right now has a pinkish hue to it. This is the cinnamon variety.

41:02Now, the ginger variety is green, and this definitely doesn't necessarily skew as feminine. So I think that's probably impacting the way I'm looking at as well. But you have to think about these things, because even though you started about a year and a half ago, it's almost like you're brand new. And even though you're learning as you go, you got to think about, well, what am I going to do next year? At least that's the way I might think about it. How do you plan for and how do you strategize around the future of date fix, even when you're, say, 18, 20 months in? Our mission here is to sort of advance health and wellness by making fresh food convenient.

41:42And so we wanted to make this look as, if you would, elevated and premium in the hopes that other people would want to jump on that food mission. Because look, there's some food crisis that you often talk about on your show. And we hope that this can make a meaningful contribution, that people can get their sweet satisfaction without regret, and that somebody would be willing to put their name on it, maybe alongside it. And so we designed it that way. So we're actually doing our first co-branded, not private label, but co-branded, that they'll have 60 outlets this year, and their customer base is identical.

42:18So that's something that we're sort of building for the future. You're talking about a retail brand? It's a restaurant with a cafe. Okay. Grab and go. And then it's a match made in heaven. But we think we could do partnerships with, you know, running and athleisure companies who, you know, may want to just sell something really healthy, you know, at point of sale. And this is it. And it's hard to have a repeat. It's hard to create something with only two or three ingredients that has the kind of food integrity that this product does. I mean, this is the stuff of cookbook, you know, level taste and homemade.

42:52And it maintains that, you know, a year after you rip it open and squeeze it on a run or squeeze it on running. And that's why our point about, you know, our mantra is whether running errands or running marathons. And so we really wanted this, you know, the running errand market is much bigger than the running marathon market, as big as that market is. Yeah. And, you know, I think we're kind of coming full circle here in that, again, your first instinct was this would be a great fitness centric brand. And people eat dates all the time for different reasons. And this is a much more convenient way of consuming them.

43:28How much of the convenience aspect of what you do do you lean into? How much of that plays into your marketing? Completely. The convenience is, I think, really that form factor that we tried to repurpose and kind of give it a life beyond fitness world and running. The convenience, I think, is crucial because you can eat out of that form factor. You can dispense from it. And our idea is that, you know, we're essentially giving you the comfort of good food no matter where you are. and it's all those in between spaces when you're running through, you know, airports and here and there and travel or the afternoon pick me up and, you know, you grab the thing that's in the office, but you're like, you wish you didn't because your sugar spikes and then you get the crash and you feel the regret.

44:10So this is that form factor and you don't have to refrigerate. I mean, it doesn't require refrigeration. It's ambient. It's delicious cold. You can freeze it, but it won't freeze. So that form factor convenience, that pocket nature, literally putting fruit in the palm of your hand, so to speak, is absolutely critical, I think, to mainstreaming and making the date more relevant to a healthier lifestyle. And we have plans. We want to do it in tubs and other form factors. But to your point, this is exactly why we lean in with this form factor is the convenience. And I think that's where it's game changing.

44:46I think a through line to our conversation, Alan, has been picking your spots. Yeah. Again, a brand and a product that can speak to a lot of consumers at a lot of different parts of the day, a brand that can fit into different sets at different retailers across the country, a way of marketing and communicating the benefits and the convenience of the brand. It's all a lot. And it's all a lot to try to figure out, well, what should I do? Where should I go? What leads you? What motivates you? What drives you to make the decisions that you make for this brand? Because it is as versatile as it's challenging, I think, trying to figure out the right lane to stay in.

45:29One of the things we're doing in our marketing is we do a lot with running groups and there's just been running club explosion has just happened to coincide. And so that's a big part of what we're doing. It's why we kind of came up with Fresh Fruit Nutrition. We just thought that cut across. It transcended the fitness. It transcended food. You were happy to, if you saw it in a specialty market, you saw it in a running shop, you saw it in, you know, an alternative retail. That's why we went in. That was sort of the idea. And we have a big running community. You know, the other thing that we have a lot of loyalty to is, which we didn't appreciate, Ray, when we started, was that this product, because of it being low glycemic, was very valuable to type 1.

46:16diabetics. And those who are doing fitness just find this product to be a godsend. So we stumbled on that. You know, we're... You stumbled upon that. You didn't stumble... Oh, yes, thank you. You didn't stumble on those both. Is this where we can get some editing in? You stumbled upon. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. No, I joke, but, you know, Alan, I'm just so impressed with what you've done because, again, going back to Expo West 2023 and you're like, hey, Ray, I've got this great idea. I've got this great brand. It's coming out. It's called Date Fix. And you showed me some specs and some images.

46:47And I'm like, wow, this looks really, really cool. Definitely, hit me up when you're live. And then I saw you live at the Fancy Food Show. And here you are in about 3 ,000 Walmart stores and with seemingly the white space of an entire industry in front of you. And it's really, really cool. Thank you so much for taking the time. Thanks so much for introducing this product to America because there is a real need for this. And I hope that folks who are listening have an opportunity to try Date Fix and to see it in their local stores, whether it's Walmart or what have you. But yeah, I think we should probably do this again in about a year and see where you're at then.

47:23I would be grateful for that opportunity. And Ray, listen, thank you very much. You know, I have learned so much and I've told you this off mic. I've learned so much from you. I listen to you generally when I'm running, which means that I'm usually stopping along the way to take notes. And I have, you know, written down, I have, I have a whole section of, you know, Ray, Taste Radio, BevNet section of just like something that I got from someone that you were interviewing. Plus I, I like running to the sound of your voice too. It's a good voice. So thank you. No, no, really. I've learned a lot and, uh, I've tried to apply it and I'd hope be one day maybe earn the, the, the right or the privilege to be able to sit next to you and tell you a little bit about it.

48:04And so this sort of, this is a dream, you know, kind of come true for me. So thank you. Well, thank you again for saying that. And thank you again for joining me. I feel like there's a lot of folks that are going to get some good insights, some good advice to help them grow their brands. And that's what we aim for. That's what we strive for is paying it forward, is making sure that those who are building brands can teach those who are coming up behind them. And you're doing some great things with DateFix and please continue to do them. Thank you. A pleasure. Thank you.

49:01with friends and colleagues. And of course, we would love it if you could review us on the Apple Podcasts app or your listening platform of choice. Check us out on Instagram. Our handle is BevNetTasteRadio. As always, for questions, comments, ideas for future podcasts, please send us an email to ask at tasteradio.com. On behalf of the entire Taste Radio team, thank you for listening, and we'll talk to you next time.

49:31Thank you.