Founder Feature: Jenn Ko of DIME

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0:58We started seeing MSG as an upcoming trend in certain media resources about food. And we were like, we need to take the story before anyone else does. And that was a big thing for me because I had seen that things like goji berries and jujubes, jujube dates now. a lot of Asian ingredients are blowing up and becoming really trendy. And I wanted to make sure that us as Asian people, that we were actually taking this story and doing this ourselves. Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the Startup CPG podcast. We are back with another founder feature. Today, we're joined by Jen Ko, founder of Dime. An everyday MSG seasoning on a mission to flip the narrative and bring bold, simple umami to your food.

1:54After working in advertising and tech, Jen returned from studying abroad during the pandemic with a renewed purpose to advocate for her culture. This led her to create Dime, challenging misconceptions about MSG while celebrating her Asian heritage. We'll dive into why MSG got a bad rap, despite being perfectly safe, and Jen's journey from MSG skeptic to advocate and brand founder. I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I enjoy cooking with Dime. Enjoy.

2:26Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the Startup CPG podcast. This is Caitlin, and today I'm here with Jen Coe, founder of Dime. Jen, welcome to the show. Thank you, Caitlin. It's so good to be here. I am so happy to have you here. When I got the Dime products in my hands for the Shelfie Awards submission, I looked at your product and I was blown away, A, because I really like the branding and B, because I received a product that changed my whole perspective on an ingredient. So I got educated and I got a great product in my hand. So can you introduce listeners to Dime? Sure. Well, I'm glad you said that because we're doing our job then.

3:05We're making our goal happen. Yeah. So I'm the co-founder of Dime. I have a few other co-founders who have worked on this product with me. Dime is an everyday MSG seasoning. So like you mentioned, MSG has gotten a bad rap and there's a lot of history behind what people think MSG is, especially here in the US, maybe in other countries, it's a bit different, but I grew up here and even my own family talked about MSG and how it's bad. And so with this brand, what we wanted to do was reintroduce MSG to the world and make it really fun and cool and colorful and loud and bold. So even just by looking at the packaging, for example, people can get a different perspective of what MSG is.

3:51Yes. And it worked on me. I love that. I will be completely honest. I was regrettably one of those people who always just thought, oh, MSG, it's bad. I'll stay away from that thinking about Chinese food, especially I feel like that's a very common misconception with Chinese food. And I will say my sister at some point said, you know, that's not true. But I just wrote her off because I'm like, what do you mean? It's common knowledge that MSG is bad for you. And then your product was the product that solidified it for me that, wait, this misconception that I've had in my head pretty much my entire life is totally wrong.

4:31So can you tell us how MSG got a bad rap? Yeah, well, that's exactly how I was as well. So don't feel bad about it. I'm sure there's a lot of people who feel the same way. So MSG, actually, it's funny because it started in Japan. So even that disconnect of how you think about Chinese food and how MSG is so tied to Chinese restaurants here in America, and like the no MSG sign that's on all the Chinese menus, It actually was invented in Japan by a chemist way back in the 1900s, early 1900s. And he was just trying to figure out what this flavor was in something that his wife had made. And so that's kind of how the fifth taste umami that we, most of us know what that is, came about.

5:16And so he did a bunch of science. I'm not a chemist, so I probably can't talk exactly on the method. But he extracted the acid. It's like an amino acid that he extracted from ingredients and then turned it into what we now know as MSG. The best way that I understand it and I can like visualize it in my brain is like if you're extracting sugar from fruit. So like sugar is naturally in fruit and you take it out, do some chemistry, and then you create it into a form like table sugar that you can use in your cooking and sprinkling on different foods. So that's similar to that process of MSG, where it came from and how you can use it just in everyday foods.

6:01So that's a great explanation on MSG and what it is. So why is this misconception about MSG out there now? Yeah. So really brief history lesson. Back in the 1960s was kind of when a bunch of Chinese immigrants and Asian immigrants were coming to the country. because of an act that put into place that allowed more Asian immigrants to come to America. So that was around the time that Chinese restaurants were booming. There was just a lot of more Asian communities that were forming. And so in what I understand, Americans got just introduced to this culture, the food, and MSG was an ingredient that was widely used in the Asian community already.

6:50So they were cooking with that. Somebody wrote a letter that said he stated that he was feeling unwell after eating at Chinese restaurants. He was getting sweats, headaches, et cetera, et cetera. And really kind of the gist of it was that letter just blew up. And I think it was really attached to a lot of the xenophobia that was happening at that time in the country because of this wave of immigration. With that letter, the term Chinese restaurant syndrome was coined, and that started to, again, make this wave kind of like going viral back in the day of how people visualize Chinese food in Chinese restaurants specifically.

7:33It is just so interesting how something seemingly so minor could blow up and be so big, which, yes, it's like today's version of going viral on social media. Some random person writes a letter and now there's this common misconception that still lives on today. I would have still had the misconception had I not been introduced to Dime. It really is just so, so wild. Yeah, I like to actually connect it to, and this kind of goes into the story later when we talk about maybe how we came up with the idea. But when I was sitting in my apartment alone during 2020, COVID was blowing up. And you kind of saw in the news, right, that people were like, oh, I can't go to Chinatown.

8:22I can't eat at Chinese restaurants because of a certain narrative. So that's how I like to parallel that in my brain because now we've all lived through COVID. And so we can kind of understand that experience and how that happened. Yeah, it's a scary parallel and it does help understand how this may have gone down years ago and how this has still been perpetuated because unfortunately we're still seeing the effects of, again, like these misconceptions and just like flat out racism that stemmed from the beginning of the pandemic today. And it's accepted, which is even scarier. So why dime and why now?

9:02Sure. So the why now is funny. Funny, I think the universe kind of aligned. Again, brief story of just, I've always known that I wanted to create a brand and create something for myself. And I think COVID really helped propel me to hone in on what story I wanted to tell and how to celebrate my culture. The actual way Dime started though, was I was shopping with a friend, grocery shopping. And he was like, oh, I have to go get some MSG. I'm making dinner tonight. This was years ago and I was triggered. I was like, MSG? Like, no, that's bad. Like, you use that? And he started going through this explanation of MSG.

9:46So that's when I got educated, actually, about it. And that then started me on this rabbit hole of understanding it, trying it, et cetera, et cetera. Fast forward, we were literally at dinner with a group of friends and we were like, hey, like we've got to do something. We started seeing MSG as an upcoming trend in certain media resources about food. And we were like, we need to take the story before anyone else does. And that was a big thing for me because I had seen that things like goji berries and jujubes, jujube dates now, a lot of Asian ingredients are blowing up and becoming really trendy.

10:31And I wanted to make sure that us as Asian people, that we were actually taking this story and doing this ourselves. I love that. It is interesting to see trends blow up. And then one of the things that I personally really like to do when I see a brand, I like to, of course, look at the ingredients, but then I go right to the about us page or the our story page. and I want to know what the story is. And for me, I do like to see the dots connected when it comes to ingredients like that. Like, why are you highlighting an ingredient like this? Or why now? Why does your connection to the ingredient make sense?

11:12So I really like hearing your story about how the narrative for MSG was flipped for you and now how this has become something that you're so passionate about. Yeah. And I think the biggest thing too is like, I really appreciate you sharing your side of it and your story and admitting like, yeah, I totally thought it was bad because I want people to feel okay with that. Right. Like we don't care that people thought it was a bad ingredient so much. So like relatively, because again, that was my experience as well. It's more So now people being open minded and seeing like you're saying connecting the dots as like Asian founders and us coming to the world and being like this is an amazing ingredient.

11:57Like everyone should try it. Yeah. I mean, it does feel kind of strange having to admit that, especially on a podcast. But I mean, we all make mistakes, right? I think the most important thing is that we can learn from them and not repeat it. And definitely not let history repeat itself in this case. Yeah. So tell me a little bit more about your upbringing and how it plays into the creation of Dime. Yeah. So this is another reason why I was so motivated to create a brand and to celebrate my culture because I grew up in a predominantly white and Caucasian community. So I had the notion of I want to just fit in.

12:40I want everyone to like me. I want to do all the cool things that I see my friends doing. And I really ran away from my Chinese culture. My dad came from Hong Kong. my mom. Her mom is from China, so I'm second generation, but I didn't want to have any part of that. And that was my life for a really long time. And then again, fast forward to during college, I got much more exposed because I went to a school that actually had a big Asian community. I started feeling comfortable, like going to Asian restaurants with my friends and talking about Asian culture and just feeling more comfortable. And then as I got older and older and I started traveling more and going to other countries, I just fell in love with culture and different cultures and being able to celebrate it and seeing how other communities celebrate their culture.

13:36And so that was like the turning point for me. I was like, okay, I want to be proud of who I am and not be that little girl who was too scared or too embarrassed about who they were. I love that. And I think it's great that now you're making a very powerful statement with your brand. I mean, it's on the package. I didn't even have to look on your website. I knew exactly the message that you're trying to deliver with your brand because it's right there in front of your face. We'll be right back. Are you going to crush it on Amazon this year? It's such an important channel, but it's so hard to do alone.

14:10And most agencies are a total ripoff. We can't afford$5 ,000 a month and a commission on our sales. They just don't get it. That's why I love our partners at Daybreak. They are full service, meaning they do the creative work, the listings, the logistics, and of course, all the ads, all with the most reasonable retainer out there. I work with them personally. I'm so grateful we have such a good partner to recommend out to you, our community. They do evaluate your product first to see if it might be a fit. So if you want them to have a look, email them startupcpg at daybreak.agency and they'll do a free audit for you.

14:41Good luck, everyone.

14:48You know, with Asian parents, it was also always like the path, right? You go to school, you go to college, you get your job in. So I think even that was like a big moment for me of let me do something that is not that path and breaking out. So yeah, it's kind of like a big moment to break out of my shell and like be who I really want to be. I love it. And what does your family think about this? Your choice in creating Dime and putting it out there in the world? Sure. So actually, funny story. I actually haven't told my parents that I've started this brand. I have told other family members who think it's so cool and have celebrated it and have helped me talk about it and tell their friends about it.

15:33I think, but this story of like not even telling my parents yet, I think it kind of ties into my upbringing and this journey to where I've gotten to is, and there's still kind of that fear of like, what if this isn't accepted yet? or the world doesn't accept MSG or I don't know it's still a little bit of that fear and so while I want to like come out and celebrate it and be really excited I think because they also had that stigma of MSG is bad it's like going into the scariest person you know and like trying to educate them right it's like your parents like trying to get them on board so TBD I'll follow up with you on that one.

16:19That is very, very interesting. It's cool to hear that perspective. I'm sorry that you're like dealing with a little bit of anxiety or fear maybe in telling them, but I think that's a very relatable story, especially because as a founder, I can only imagine that taking this leap is scary in itself, but then to also know that you're going to have eyes on you and people are going to want to talk to you like myself. How do you navigate that? Yeah, yeah. Very new world for me, for sure. So what do you do on a day-to-day basis? Is Dime your full-time gig or do you have anything else going on on the side?

16:58Yeah, so I have something going on on the side. My whole career has been in media, marketing, project management. So that's kind of what I call my quote-unquote day job. I'm consulting for now to pay the bills but I am so focused on Dime becoming like my thing like this is my passion and every time I get to take my breaks or at the end of the day at night I'm like working on Dime and figuring out how to like make a Instagram reel and like edit all my stuff or like what do I do what's a co-packer like how do I talk to these people that just lights me up And so I feel like I'm at that crossroads now where I'm starting to see like the rainbows and daisies and unicorns over there.

17:46And I want to like run to that. And then like my day job is here and I'm like, yes, I still have to pay the bills. But hopefully eventually Dime will blow up and that can be a full time thing. Love it. So why the name Dime? I'm always very curious in why people choose the brand names that they do. So tell us about that. Yeah. So I will say this as well as I can without being too crazy. So we like the crazy. Okay. Perfect. We'll be crazy. So obviously I have one here. It's a bag. It's a little pouch. You can take it in your pocket. You can take it wherever you are. MSG, our seasoning is a powder.

18:27So if you kind of catch my drift, we're moving towards, yes, what we call a dime bag. And And actually, the true inspiration was we were prototyping and we had originally done it in the shaker, the glass shaker bottles. And one of our co-founders, she was traveling and she was like, man, the food was so bland everywhere we went. And I wish I had had some of our seasoning with me. Like I would have literally pulled out a bag, a little baggie, and all everything kind of collided. And we were like, we're on to something. And so we had brainstormed tons of different names, knowing that the kind of dime bag reference is like what we were going for.

19:13And then we had so many options and we were like, let's just be bold about it and call it what it is. Also, we had the safety net of like, you know, dime piece, dime, 10 out of 10. So there's like many connotations I think people can take from it. But we really wanted it to be like, you get your dime bag, you take it with you, you want it on everything, you're addicted to it. Like it's something that you always need. There's a lot you could do with marketing wise with a name like that. Yes, yes, exactly. I had a feeling that's what you were going for, but I had to ask. Yeah, that in of itself is great.

19:54Like I love when for me, right, like if I'm getting new brands or like exploring a brand, I like when I've already created this story in my head about the founder or like why they did what they did or called it what they called it. And then you hear and you're like, oh, yeah, like I knew I knew it. And I love that. And so I hope people who buy Dime go through that journey, too. I think they will. I mean, I will be honest with you. like I said your product changed my perspective on MSG so I had never intentionally put MSG on my food literally just the smallest pinch of the Korean seasoning that I put on my I made a quesadilla and I put it in there yeah the tiniest pinch of that just it blew the flavor out of the water and I was like okay I get it like I could totally see myself using this every day yes yeah And on anything, right?

20:51On anything too. Like I could honestly see it being like something really good, even in sweets, like using a salt to elevate the sugar or really anything. Yeah, I know. I love that you went on that journey because I think we want to be directional. We want to give people like, yes, use it on these things. But at the same time, I personally don't want to be too prescriptive because I want people to go on that exploration and the journey and like sprinkling it on like your quesadilla and then you're like wait I could put this on my cookies or something like my brownies like I love that so what are you using diamond oh man I eat it every day so I've been feeling great tell the story yeah I'm a healthy person my doctor hasn't said otherwise I love the yuzu lemon pepper on literally anything that has avocado.

21:45I don't know what it is with like the mix of the yuzu and lemon with avocado, but that is amazing. I don't eat meat. I'm actually semi-vegan. I eat eggs. So I've heard it's really good on like fish, shrimp, seafood things. The Korean chili, I only really make stir fries. So like any stir fry I make, I love to put it in sauces. so anything that you're going to put chili flakes on I've had it on pizza and then the OG eggs like eggs every morning I eat on eggs I've been doing a lot of pasta so I love making pesto so I think like yuzu lemon could be really good with pesto I mean any of them could be like if you want the spice with green chili but the OG is always good because it has like a garlicky vibe to it so yeah I eat it on everything I haven't anything goes yeah you know I haven't tried is cocktails and one of my friend and I friends and I was talking about like there has to be something there and so I need to experiment on that soon for sure I mean immediately I'm thinking of margaritas a salted rim like I when I was drinking I never liked a salted rim because it was just too much salt but if I were to just get one little sprinkle of like the yuzu lemon in a margarita that would have been a game changer because you still get the salt without the salty rim.

23:15I like where you're going with that. Yeah I need to I need to experiment. I want to just have a day where I have like a hundred different ingredients and and try it and then I'll document it for you all. Yes, I will definitely be watching that. So tell me about your hopes and dreams for Dime. Where do you envision seeing Dime? What type of customers would you like to use Dime? Tell me what's on your mind. Yeah. I mean, it's hard to not say everyone. I want everyone to have it. I think our vision truly is it's like a household item. So instead of, well, maybe not instead of, but in addition to grabbing, like now I feel like everyone has the everything but bagel seasoning in their house.

24:02So in addition to having that on your shelf, to have dime on your shelf is my dream. I obviously want people to just embrace it. My dream is that people will not be going to the Chinese restaurant and asking or looking to see if they use MSG. Or if they are, it's like because they know it's going to taste better. And so they're actually seeking it out. I think next step, I would love to see like specialty stores. So I really envision our brand and the way that we built the brand to be at your little local specialty market down the street where you know the person and they have like the coolest upcoming brands that you've never seen before or even like the colors stand out to you and then of course like nationally and big retails retailers would be amazing but I think mostly just people to embrace it I want people to be so excited and to be talking about how they're using it and to tell their friends and family how much like you your story kind of like how much it's changed your thoughts and your flavors now when you cook truly I need to make a little reel on Instagram I used to be so good with the content now I'm in a lull but maybe dime will reinvigorate my content creation yes yes I love that yeah so something that I really love to ask is how did you find startup CPG?

25:32Yeah, so I actually didn't work in CPG previously. So I remember my first job I got in the CPG world. One of my friends had been part of the community for so long and he was like, you have to just join the community because there's discussions literally every second about something that you need to know about the CPG world. And so So I had been actually part of the community for, I think, at least two or three years before starting Dime. So I had just been hanging out in there and talking to people and seeing what people were talking about. And I think before you go on this journey to start a brand, it's really intimidating.

26:15And you start to like chip away at that intimidation when you see how many other people have been able to do it. and the amazing brands that they've made. So I was just watching a lot of the brands and seeing their story and following them on social. And so when we started Dine, I was so excited that I'd already been part of the community. And then that's what I started to jump in. And I was like, I have a bajillion questions. Like somebody tell me how to find my packaging vendor because I know nothing. Amazing. I saw you just recently introduced yourself and I'm like, wow, we're striking while the iron's hot right now.

26:56Yes. Yeah. And I think that that's like my personality where I'm kind of like, let me observe a little bit. Let me be a sponge. And then I like pounce. I'm like, all right, it's good time. Yeah. Just going to gather your data. So that's great to hear how you found us. Now tell our audience where they can find Dime. Yeah. So we have a website www.dimemsg.com and we're also mostly well we sell solely on amazon so you can find us on amazon we eventually will be in retail so follow us on social media dime.msg to follow our journey and see where you can find us next amazing thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us i am so excited about your brand and i cannot wait to see where you go and what you do next Of course.

27:48Thank you so much, Caitlin. This was amazing. I love talking about it. I could talk for hours. So I appreciate you sharing your story and giving us, again, that confidence boost of we're in the right direction. We're doing the right thing. Of course. I am happy to be an advocate for you. Thank you so much. Bye. Bye.

28:09All right, everyone. Thank you so much for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, do us a solid and leave us a five-star review on rate this podcast.com slash startup CPG. I'm Caitlin Bricker, the host of the founder feature series and editor at startup CPG. Feel free to find me on LinkedIn or reach out to me on Slack and get on my radar. I'm always keeping my eyes peeled for new and emerging brands to spotlight. If you're a potential sponsor who would like to appear on the podcast, please email partnerships at startup CPG.com. And finally, As a reminder for anyone listening, if you haven't already, we would love for you to join our free CPG community on Slack.

28:49You can sign up via our website at StartupCPG.com. See you around.