Founder Feature: Sue Delegan and Kim Hehir of Brutus Bone Broth

19:50Kim Hehir:Yeah, I think just to add to that, like Kim said, thinking outside of the box, but going into those meetings with creative ideas of we can't do X, Y, and Z, but we can do this and having suggestions and being very collaborative. Like one of the things that Kim and I say all the time, relationships matter they're so important and for us to be collaborative with all of our customers people realize that and they know that we're trying to be good partners and so people are willing to lean into you a little more when you show that you're willing to be a good partner yeah i love that we'll be right back are you gonna crush it on amazon this year it's such an

20:33Sue Delegan:important channel, but it's so hard to do alone. And 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.

21:05Sue Delegan:Good luck, everyone.

21:12Sue Delegan:I do think relationships are so important in any business and CPG though it feels even more important to really strengthen your relationships both with your customers and also your partners, like you said. I'm curious to thinking about just the pet food channel in general, like with food, right? So often people say like, once you get into retail, what matters is like you go and you do sampling and you know, that way people can try it and then they can love it and they can buy it. But with pet food, it feels like you kind of have to buy it and then have your pet try it and then wait a little while and see if they like it.

21:47Sue Delegan:And so I'm curious, like how you do approach getting people to make that first purchase, since it is something that might take a little bit longer to test out with their animal?

21:56Grace Kennedy:Yeah, I mean, the learning curve for us is really, really steep because some people don't even know what bone broth is, let alone why feed it to your dog. So it's really just getting out there. We do sampling and field marketing is the biggest part of our marketing budget. And it's really just getting out there and talking to pet parents and talking about why bone broth. I mean, bone broth has so many great benefits, whether it's from the digestive benefits, it helps prevent fatty tumors because it helps prevent leaky gut syndrome, which causes fatty tumors in dogs. We fortify it with supplements.

22:34Grace Kennedy:And so then you have the hip and joint, which actually just finished our clinical trials on mobility. So we know it works, but it is also a lot of just, here's a coupon and here's a little sample. We have these little, it's like a liquid IV of the powdered instant bone broths. They can go home and try it. And everyone's like, once I start feeding it to my dog, they won't eat without it. So we know it's a high quality product. We know it's a product that works, but it is a lot of just education.

23:03Sue Delegan:Yeah. That's really interesting. I mean, I brought the food to the broth to my parents' house to give to our family dog who is 15 or 16 years old. And my parents were like, what is that? Like, she's not going to eat that. Like she's old. She likes what she likes. And I gave it to her. And at first she was like sniffing it. She was like, I don't know what this is. And then I turn away and like, I think literally like the next time I turned around, it was gone. I was like, but she does so fast. My parents were like, oh, I guess there's still new things that she'll try. It was so funny to see. And so it is like really enjoyed by these dogs, right?

23:35Sue Delegan:It's not just like something that you're giving to them almost like medicine. And yeah, she was a huge fan and she's a Labrador. So the fact that she's still kicking is also impressive. And I definitely think Brutus Bone Broth is helping her out with her old girl joints. Thinking about also the pet category in general, where you guys are doing so much education, though, where do you see this category going on the trends as a whole? And how do you see Brutus Bone Broth fitting into that?

24:03Kim Hehir:Yeah, I think we both can answer this because this has spent our life. But you know, it's interesting. A lot of people have said that we've really kind of created this topper category, which is very humbling. I think it's amazing. We always see it as a great way to get nutraceuticals to your pet. So we see this as an expansion of not only toppers, but having those functional products. So we just launched a goat milk, which is really exciting as another topper. It's great for digestion, but I'm working. I had a call earlier today with our product development team about developing a functional goat milk line.

24:48Kim Hehir:So there's so much that we can do with the toppers, but also the functional benefits. And I don't know Kim, if you want to add to that.

24:57Grace Kennedy:Yeah, I mean, pet, like I said earlier, pet trends follow human trends. So functional foods is huge. All natural is huge. You know, you're seeing people that are spending more money on their pet's food than their children's food. And that's like statistically speaking, that is true. And you see a lot of millennials, they just want to have a dog. They're not going to have kids right now. So they're doing everything they can to feed their dog the best. So there's definitely that trend. But given the current economy, you also see people who have to cut back. So we've been very lucky to kind of straddle both demographics because we are at an affordable price point.

25:36Grace Kennedy:So we have a great product that's all natural and has great functionality. But we also are a product that where people who've had to cut back on the main meal for their dog wants to add those extra nutrients. So it's like giving your dog a multivitamin by just easily adding Brutus Broth to their meal.

25:54Sue Delegan:And how have you been able to straddle that world with such a high quality product and keeping the price point affordable for people? I imagine it's quite a tightrope to walk. And I'm curious how you guys have managed, you know, to keep your costs at a point that feels attainable for people.

26:10Grace Kennedy:Yeah, I mean, a big part of it is just the MOQs for our broth are extremely high. So it's 250 ,000 units a run. So when we first started, we weren't doing that kind of volume. We were paying much, like a lot extra to do smaller volumes. But now those are the minimum runs on the aseptic machines, which is the technology we use to package our broth. So that's part of it. I don't know, Sue does more of the ingredient sourcing and product formulation. I know we've talked a lot about, like, how can we make it less expensive? and we always reject all those formulations. Yeah, I mean, you can taste everything.

26:54Kim Hehir:Yeah, you know, like Kim mentioned, I work really closely with our manufacturer and they're incredible partners. They're based in Minnesota. They do a really good job at sourcing ingredients. So they were always talking price with them and how can we get this ingredient at a cheaper price? And they might be making, you know, like I mentioned at the onset of the call is that they work with hunger relief. And so there might be an ingredient that they're using in hunger relief for millions of pounds that they say, oh, we can swap this into your product for this ingredient. Doesn't change your ingredient panel or your guaranteed analysis, but we're getting a better break on it because we're ordering higher quantities.

27:38Kim Hehir:So, you know, we're always looking at that and making sure that our prices aren't affected. And we know, especially in this current economic situation with the tariffs, people are so worried about that. And we're really lucky because everything's sourced in the U.S. So our supplements do come from Europe. That's the only thing that comes from Europe. But we are really lucky to be manufactured in the U.S. We know some pet companies that they source all in China and they're dying right now as a small company. That's really tough.

28:11Sue Delegan:Yeah, I can't. It's lucky or maybe intentional that you guys have all your sourcing in the U.S. And, you know, like you said, particularly in this moment. But it's interesting, I think, of this tightrope book that you're talking or that we're talking about of straddling between keeping the cost low and the quality really high. And I imagine there's so many elements at play. And I'm also thinking about the fact that your product is shelf stable, which feels really important. And I'm curious, was that a very intentional choice in the beginning because of cost?

28:40Kim Hehir:Yeah, I think there were a couple of reasons for it. So one was it is the gold standard of packaging. And we looked at every type of packaging. When we first started, I talked to a glass packaging company out of Canada. I was like, that's a nightmare. We don't want to be shipping glass across the U.S. but one of the reasons was the humanization of pets so a lot of people tend to be drawn to things that they know and understand and so it looks like a human broth and so we felt really strongly about that but yeah the long shelf life really helped us especially with COVID we launched the week we launched in Target was the week that the stay at home orders for COVID hit and that moment was okay people are walking into Target looking for bleach and toilet paper they're not necessarily looking for a new cool dog food brand.

29:32Kim Hehir:And it really did help us. I mean, it was to our advantage that we had a long shelf life and people were picking it up and bringing it home.

29:40Grace Kennedy:Pet foods that actually stayed in stock too, because a lot of them, the shelves were empty for a long time, but because we have such big production runs, so we were lucky because people were buying our product and we were able to replenish it because we had a long shelf life and we had big production runs.

29:58Sue Delegan:So seriously, wow, that is very lucky. I'm curious thinking about the time of COVID and how so many people started just like ordering things online, just thinking about if you guys do any DTC operations. I know so many pet owners go on just like subscription models for the food they get for their dogs or any animal they have. And I'm curious what your approach, I know you're in so many different retailers, but what has been your DTC approach?

30:23Grace Kennedy:Yeah, so we started in bricks and mortar and our product really was developed to be a bricks and mortar product because it's heavy to ship. It's like two pounds per box because it's liquid. You're shipping water basically. And we've only just launched our D2C efforts this year. And so far it's going really well. So we have a really cute, like the intro box comes with a plastic shaker bottle that kind of looks like our box of broth. It's like a box shaker and our mega packs. So our mega packs are the instant bone broth powder. It's the same formulation as the liquid, but without the water. So it's infused with the supplements.

31:05Grace Kennedy:Each little pouch makes 130 ounces of broth. So it's a huge value, but it's also, you know, people can make it as they go. They can use the powder as a dry top, or they can mix it in with a shaker with water and use it as a liquid. So we just launched that in January and it's going really well so far. So we're excited about that.

31:27Sue Delegan:Yeah, that's awesome. That's very exciting and makes sense for there to be, there are like the powdered broth is for humans as well. So I love that. And I know yours come in those little, like they almost remind me of the little like electrolyte pouches. Did one of you say that already? Yeah. Yeah. But it's like the electrolyte for your little animal. See, while you're both traveling. you can bring your nutrients for both of you. Wow. It's so cool to hear of a pet brand that is really innovating in so many ways. And it's exciting. And I'm also curious, you know, since you guys have been in business now for a couple of years, and you've seen a lot of the ups and downs that have come with COVID and just like the economy, how do you guys manage over these many years, the ups and downs of bringing such an innovative product to be sometimes rocky world, like working with your sisters, how do you guys manage just like the emotional ups and downs of running a new brand?

32:25Sue Delegan:I feel like that is a question for every entrepreneur because

32:29Grace Kennedy:it is literally like one day you're like, we're like the best. And the next year you're like, we should just close our doors. Yeah. I mean, it's a roller coaster. I think every entrepreneurial journey is a roller coaster for us. Sue mentioned in the beginning, our mission is to nourish your pet while giving back to the community. So we have a really robust philanthropic platform and we get letters, not just from our shelters that we work with, but a lot of customers about how our broth has changed. Their dog was given a week to live and that was three years ago, or their dog was going to be put down because they had such bad hip issues.

33:05Grace Kennedy:And then they found our product and said, I'll just try it. And now they're running up and down the stairs. So stuff Stuff like that is what really keeps us going. And it's kind of cool to say like, hey, we have this idea and we brought it to the market and it's helping a lot of dogs. So, and we work with a lot of amazing people, a fantastic team. We're small but mighty. But, you know, when we started this company, we basically said we have a no jerk policy. We want to work with people we like and fund people. And we do really have an amazing team too. And that makes such a huge difference. I don't know if you want to add, Sue.

33:39Kim Hehir:Yeah, I think, you know, we get this question a lot about how it is working with your sister. And we used to joke at the beginning when Kim worked, when she was living in Hawaii, that it works really great when you're 5 ,000 miles apart. But it actually did work really well because we literally would be working like 24 hours to start get this off the ground because of the time difference. So I would be working and sending Kim emails. So when she woke up, she would have everything and then vice versa. She would be working into the night. And when I woke up, I would have everything from her. So that really worked.

34:11Kim Hehir:But I think also for us, it's the entrepreneurial spirit is really ingrained in us. Our father, who was our chairman, who passed away two years ago, he had just recently sold his business when we started this. So we pulled him in. I was way too bored. He needed to work more. So we're like, all right, dad, you need to work. So we pulled him in, but we grew up with our father building businesses and it's just something that we were born with. So we definitely have the mentality of like, we need to get things done and things get hard and you have hard conversations, but that's business and that's what you have to do.

34:50Kim Hehir:And Kim and I have always said that we work really well together because her strengths are my weaknesses and vice versa. And so we know that we have an end goal and we've been really strong and convicted in building this company and making it a household name. I mean, really, that's kind of what our mission has been. So it's so exciting.

35:13Sue Delegan:And like I said, I have heard from Kiki about how it's changed her dog's hips. And, you know, I know that it really does impact dogs' lives. And by that, de facto, their parents' lives, their human parents. So it must be really meaningful to have that feedback. But I'm thinking about the future for Brutus Bone Broth. Like what is to come in the next, you know, the second half of this year and also in the years to come? What's on the docket?

35:37Grace Kennedy:Well, we have some new retailers that will be launching in coming up. That is very exciting. So we have Tractor Supply and Whole Foods finally. We have a new line that will be launching with them, which is exciting. And we also will have some cat products launching. And I feel like there's a lot of ideas. We have our crazy idea notebook. And it's just a matter of figuring out how to pay for the product development of all of these ideas. And still keep the wheels on the bus with everything else going on. And eventually we'd love to expand internationally. So right now we just pretty much operate in the U.S., but we've had a lot of international interest as well.

36:16Grace Kennedy:So it really comes down to bandwidth. Yeah. I don't know if you want to add anything, Sue.

36:21Kim Hehir:Yeah. I mean, I think it's funny. I mentioned the Crazy Idea Notebook. It quite literally is a notebook with like scribblings. And Kim would call me and say, put this in the Crazy Idea Notebook. And now it's like the evolution of our company has now from Kim calling me and saying, put this in the notebook to we actually have product development calls with about 10 people and a spreadsheet with the crazy idea notebook has become a spreadsheet. So it's pretty incredible to see how far we've come since we first launched our first box of broth in 2018. But there are so many things that we are excited about in the future and just expanding the Brutus brand, the Brutus name.

37:01Kim Hehir:I love sitting at my daughter's lacrosse game last night and I was talking to a woman and she asked me what I did. I told her, she's like, I know your product. I buy your product. And that, I mean, that is such a cool feeling to have people say, I buy your product. I love it. My dog can't live without it.

37:19Sue Delegan:That's so special. Well, as we wrap up, I always like to ask, how can the Startup CBG community and our listeners support Brutus Broenbroth and learn more and follow along on the journey?

37:32Grace Kennedy:Yeah, feel free to email us. I'm in the Slack channel as well. I always love talking to other founders. I feel like there's so much value, especially with the startup CBG community of just sharing best practices because it's really hard. And if you can talk to someone who can save you like a few months of research, you know, that is invaluable. So we've really found a lot of value of the founder community and just being able to share best practices, make warm intros. And one of the tips I will give that I just found this company called OneQ. I don't know if you've heard of it. It's amazing. You basically can ask any question to focus groups and you pick the demographics.

38:14Grace Kennedy:So we're doing a product for Sam's Club. So I was able to say people who shopped in Sam's in the last 90 days that owned a dog that were in these regions. And you can ask, like, we're doing flavor varieties. Which flavors would you buy? And it ranks. And it's a dollar a question per person. So I surveyed 200 people. It cost me 200 bucks. And I got all the results in 15 minutes. And it's like all the demographic breakdown, like everything from like religion to household income to education level, like everything. So stuff like that that someone introduced us to. And like this just saved us so much time.

38:49Grace Kennedy:And also like the trial and error. So stuff like that, I think, is great. But yeah, like we are always willing to help out. So and if you have a dog or if you know people who have dogs, just tell them that they need a Brutus Bra. So we're in over 15 ,000 stores nationwide now. So if you just don't want to buy it and you want a free sample first, just send me a note. We'll send you free samples.

39:11Sue Delegan:I love it. Yes. Just mention you're in the Startup CPG community. And also, yeah, they are in like literally every major store you would buy your pet food in. So you could definitely find it. And maybe you'd catch them doing some sampling too. So it could work out there too.

39:25Grace Kennedy:We make cappuccinos and bar corbitas all the time. I love that.

39:30Sue Delegan:So they can only be ours. That's so cute. Oh, my God. Well, it was so much fun to chat with you both and to learn more about Brutus Bone Broth. And everybody should check it out and either buy it for your dog if you have one or tell your dog-loving friends to buy them. And, yeah, I can't wait to see what you guys do next. And good luck with everything. Yeah, thanks for having us on. All right, everyone. Thank you so much for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, it would help us out so much if you left a five-star review on ratethispodcast.com slash startupcpg. I am Grace Kennedy, the host of the Founder Feature Series, so feel free to add me on LinkedIn or reach out to me on Slack.

40:14Sue Delegan:I'm always on the hunt for new and exciting brands to feature. And if you're a potential sponsor who would like to appear on the podcast, please email partnerships at startupcpg.com. And finally, as a reminder for anyone listening, if you haven't already, we would love for you to join our community on Slack. You can sign up via our website, StartupCPG.com.