Founder Feature: Taylor Espinoza of Unicorn Bites

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0:53To make a better for you cookie that was still fun, that didn't feel like you were compromising and doing something boring and just not delicious. And so that applies to adults and kids, you know, adults who maybe want to, as you were mentioning, relive the nostalgic, like chewy Chips Ahoy cookie days. And then kids who are like, yeah, I want a good snack that I'm going to be able to take to school that doesn't feel boring. So I would say both. But the natural top market for us has definitely been kids and their parents. Hey everybody, this is Caitlin Bricker, editor at Startup CPG. We are back with another founder feature.

1:36Today we're talking with Taylor Espinoza, founder of Unicorn Bites, 100 % date-sweetened mini cookies that are school-safe and allergen-friendly. As a practicing lawyer who started baking as stress relief, Taylor's legal background has been surprisingly useful for navigating everything from co-man contracts to compliance concerns as a first-time CPG founder. From perfecting her recipe at farmer's markets to becoming a shelfies finalist in just months, she's built something that doesn't compromise on taste while being truly better for you. Unicorn Bites have earned themselves a top spot in our household sweet selection, and you're about to find out why.

2:14Enjoy.

2:19Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the Startup CPG podcast. This is Caitlin, and today I'm here with Taylor Espinoza, founder of Unicorn Bites. Taylor, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to have you here. You are a Shelfies finalist, and that is a huge feat. And we're going to get into it. But before we get into that, I would love for you to tell us what Unicorn Bites is for anybody who's listening and isn't familiar yet. Yeah, sure. So Unicorn Bites are 100 % date sweetened cookies. They're mini cookies that are school safe, so we don't use any of the top allergens.

2:54Awesome. I'm sure I'm sounding like a broken record here, but I'm such a fan of dates. I feel like dates are the future for sweeteners. I mean, they're the present, but they're definitely the future. And I'm always excited when I see a date sweetened brand. So your products became a favorite in our household very quickly. I'm so glad. So you're fairly new. When did you launch Unicorn Bites? Yeah, so we launched in April of this year, but I had been tinkering with it for a couple years and like started locally in my town's farmer's market like in 2024. So yeah, but we really started in earnest like April.

3:37Wow, you have accomplished a lot. I feel like in such a short amount of time and I'm interested to hear about your experience at farmer's markets because from other founders that I've spoken to, they have gotten some great feedback when participating in farmers markets. Totally. I mean, for me, it was so essential to developing the product into what it is today, because when I started at the farmers market, my product was completely different. It wasn't even date sweetened. Like I tried every sweetener I feel like on the planet and would bring it to the farmers market, see what people's feedback was, see what kinds of elements they were looking for in their snacks or their kids' snacks.

4:20And then I refined it. I mean, like hundreds of recipes before finally like finalizing it. Who did you have for testers as you were going through all these iterations? And can I ask, like, where did you start? What was your first recipe looking like? Yeah. So the very first tester was definitely my husband and then just neighbors, friends. And then finally, when I started doing the farmer's market, that was huge because you have people who don't know you and aren't afraid, especially kids, like kids are going to tell you the truth if they like something or not. But the very first product, like the original concept was actually a cookie dough, because I always love buying like the easy to make doughs from the refrigerated section of the supermarket.

5:06And I felt like you always had to compromise. Like if it was vegan, it wasn't gluten free. If it was gluten free, it had nuts. And then like they all had tons of refined sugar. So I was trying to experiment with like a better for you dough, basically, but that became really hard to test since it's refrigerated. So then I just started making the cookies themselves, starting with regular sugar. And then I've tried monk fruit and all the alternative sugars out there. And I felt like dates were something that people really understood. And also the taste was sometimes it's surprisingly similar to regular sugar.

5:46I would have to agree with that. I do not miss regular sugar. And oftentimes, or probably all the time, I would say that if I taste a product that has dates in it versus a product that is traditionally sweetened with the cane sugar, I don't know the difference. I might even like the date sweetened products better because I feel better afterwards. But I will always, always opt for regular sugar over an alternative sweetener. And I say alternative like date for sure, number one, but like an erythritol or a monk fruit or a stevia, etc. They definitely have their place, but not for me. I totally agree.

6:26Some people it kind of upsets their stomach. I found allulose would turn the cookies kind of orange, which is kind of concerning. So yeah, I was very happy to end up with dates. The flip side of that is like, it's very expensive, but it's quality. Totally. It's funny that you mentioned allulose because when I was pregnant, I noticed that allulose, I was eating, I think it's smart sweets. They're like sour watermelon bites. I noticed that when I would eat those products and I'm assuming it was the allulose, it would raise my temperature. Like I would literally have to like take my sweatshirt off because I felt like I had a fever.

7:05Yeah, that's crazy. I know. It just, there's something comforting about just using something we all understand, like a whole fruit. A hundred percent. And you get that fiber too, which is also great because Americans don't need enough fiber. And why not get it through a cookie if you can? Totally. Hopefully. So tell me about your background. I don't think you're a baker. So what have you done prior to Unicorn Bites? Yeah, so I, well, I still am a lawyer. I haven't kind of left the day job yet. But yeah, that's my background. And baking for me was a stress release, pure amateur stress release. And I would just kind of play around with it on the weekend and really enjoyed experimenting with different recipes.

7:51I feel like that was my favorite part of the process of starting Anicorn Bites was trying something new and like I wake up at night and be like oh my god what if I tweak this ingredient for this ingredient and it was just such a cool creative process getting to develop it I bet and I'm sure your husband was really enjoying himself getting to taste test everything as you went to totally I mean by the end of it he was like I can't chew this anymore you got to find more different people to ask. I will say like I do love the soft bake concept because it brings me back to like the soft bake cookies that I used to have.

8:29What was it like Chips Ahoy or one of those major brands back in the day. But this just blows it out of the water for me. And I mentioned earlier this became a quick household favorite for us. My daughter saw the bag. She was intrigued by the branding first she was like this is for me this is not for mom and dad like what's going on and then they she's calls them kookas whenever she says kooka we know it's unicorn bites literally the only cookies that she has in the house that's so funny i love hearing what kids call them one of my friend's kids calls them balls whenever he wants them he's just like balls all right Imagine if that was your brand name.

9:11And speaking of which, like, had you ever thought of different brand names for Unicorn Bites or did you always think it was going to be Unicorn Bites? Honestly, it was something I thought of and stuck with very quickly. It's not even that I thought, okay, this is going to be ultimately what I go with. It's just I was thinking about the concept of naturally magical and then unicorns and they were small and bite size and it just kind of came together and I felt like I couldn't change it because people gravitated towards it, especially kids, which is funny because I don't have kids yet. I'm expecting one very soon, but wasn't intentionally like, oh, kids love unicorns.

9:53I love that your future little one is going to have a direct pipeline to unicorn bites. That's probably like my daughter's dream right now. I'm really excited to also one day use her for taste testing as well. So cool. So talk to me about the branding more. Like, how did you land on your packaging? How did you land on the font? How did you land on the mascot that's on your package? Yeah. So I started with my own logo that I designed in Canva. And I have my little, this was my original logo here. Shout out to Canva. Yeah. Making everyone a graphic designer. And made stickers and kids really liked that.

10:35And so I decided, okay, like maybe I'll stick with the unicorn concept. And then through Startup CBG, actually, I met another founder, Joyce of Joyful's, shout out, and I loved her packaging. And she recommended a branding agency that's right in the town right next to me. So I went to them and I basically said like, hey, I want a unicorn kind of mascot that's more professional than this. And they helped me kind of build it into what it is now. And so this is the new unicorn. I love it and I feel like that unicorn is how I feel like after I sit there and just house an entire bag of unicorns. I know.

11:18I mean, I also loved the early drawings that they did because they remind me of my dog. My dog is like this white, like thick little terrier. So I associate her as the inspiration. That is so funny. So I'm excited to learn more about you building your brand. And I love that you have found designers through the startup CPG Slack. What have you run into as a first time CPG founder? Like you have a product that I assume is probably being soft baked is probably kind of fragile to deal with. What have you run into in your process with iterating and shipping and all that fun stuff? Yeah, the soft element is such a challenge.

12:03And it's great because it's kind of a distinguishing feature. A lot of especially allergen friendly natural treats can be crunchier. So it's great. I love that they're soft, but it was very challenging in the summer because when they were sitting out in the heat, whether it's because I shipped them or at the farmer's market, they could really disintegrate. So that was a surprise and something that I've kind of spent the last few months trying to fix. making tweaks with my co-man and trying to get it ready for really next summer but ultimately just make it a more durable product so that it can withstand a lot of shipping because you never want people to get their order and then be disappointed by it and like we kind of tried to preempt that a little bit by telling people first of all if you get your product and it's too crumbly like you can send it back or keep it and get a refund no problem but the other idea that we would kind of promote on social is like if you just have some crumbs at the bottom of the bag like they make a great yogurt topping they make a great ice cream topping and that was kind of fun to see how people use the product in that way that is a really great idea to give your customers an opportunity to maybe just like not waste what's left at the end of the bag I definitely like the sound of putting it on yogurt spice it up a little bit I'm warning like why not and it's guilt-free Like I wouldn't have to feel like I'm putting a traditional cookie topping on top of my yogurt.

13:36Totally. I can still head to the pool and feel good about myself. Yeah, it's like the granola alternative. The vanilla cinnamon one especially. I mean, even in the chocolate chip, like those chocolate chips are 100 % date sweetened. So I definitely don't feel guilt having them in the morning. We always keep date chocolate chips in our pantry. That's like our treat at night when we feel like we just want like a sweet snack. That's what we reach for. Totally. And I will say, I had been ordering unicorn bites all throughout the summer. Never had an issue with melted packaging, melted cookies, etc.

14:12It was all good. Good. I'm so, so glad to hear that. Of course. Of course. 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. 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.

14:47They 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. Good luck, everyone.

15:02So where are you now with Unicorn Bytes and where do you see your brand going? Yeah, so I mean, I'm at a kind of pivot point right now where I'm starting to think about retail. From April to now was just let's launch it. Let's see how people react to it, react to the new branding, focus on the website. And that's been great. I do see this ultimately as a product on the shelf. And so now I'm like trying to learn as much as I can also from the startup CPG community about how different brands approached that, whether it was working right away with a broker versus going themselves to independence and pitching it and starting very slow and ramping up.

15:45So that's kind of what I'm focused on next is how do I kind of expand distribution in a way that's healthy financially? Because like I said, dates are expensive. So our margins aren't exactly where they need to be yet to have distributors and brokers and a 3PL. So we kind of have to move a little bit slowly. I totally get and understand, not from a founder perspective but I understand it and I see that struggle with founders a lot where they have this opportunity to get into say like their dream store or their dream distribution but it's hard to scale especially if you get ahead of yourself and you kind of shoot yourself in the foot so it's good that you're thinking about that now and I'm sure you've probably seen that as a common theme throughout our slack too.

16:35Yeah I mean and that's always comforting to see other people dealing with the same challenges. Like sometimes it's easy to get psyched out seeing brands that just seem further along who have figured it out. But there are so many brands in the same position. And like, it's also a weird experience when you start getting people reaching out to you for advice. And you're like, I can't be giving advice. I'm like brand new to this, but it's a great community. You know, something that I am curious about your perspective on is your target market. Is your target market kids? Is it adults? Is it both? Yeah, I mean, and that's something I've struggled with too, because like I said, when I started, it wasn't intentionally about kids, but that was so natural, like that kids and their parents gravitated to it.

17:25So I'm not going to ignore that. That's something I've definitely leaned into a bit. I would say the goal for this originally was to be like to make a better for you cookie that was still fun that didn't feel like you were compromising and doing something boring and just not delicious and so that applies to adults and kids adults who maybe want to as you were mentioning relive the nostalgic like chewy chips ahoy cookie days and then kids who are like yeah I want a good snack that I'm going to be able to take to school that doesn't feel boring. So I would say both, but the natural top market for us has definitely been kids and their parents.

18:09I ask that because I think brands who are trying to target kids as their consumer or trying to capture the parents' attention to then give it to the kids struggle with this. But for you, I don't think I saw the word kids on your packaging or on your website, but I saw kids on your Instagram eating the cookies. And for me as a consumer of the product, when I got it, I was like, oh, this is kid friendly for sure. I pulled it out of the package. The packaging is bright and colorful. And then when I pulled it out, I was like, oh, I could give this to my daughter, no problem. And she would enjoy it.

18:48And she did. And I think that you've achieved something really great where you're able to communicate that message without even saying it. Thank you. I mean, yeah, it is one of those things that happens sort of unintentionally. And maybe it's also like coming from a legal background. I get a little nervous about like trying to directly target kids. So I'm glad that it sort of happened naturally. That is a layer, honestly, that I never even considered until you just said it. That is such an interesting perspective to add to the conversation. What kind of legal issues do you see on a daily basis?

19:27Are you even allowed to talk about it? Like what kind of lawyer are you? Yeah, I mean, I right now I'm in house counsel. So I deal with like a whole bunch of corporate issues. I negotiate contracts, which is helpful when I'm kind of negotiating with my co-man. And then I advise on product issues as well. Not so much food, though, but it just kind of impacts the way you think. And it's been difficult sometimes because I've had advisors who are like, you have to take risks early on and say no sugar or something or blast like gluten free on the front of the package. And I want to wait until I have the certification.

20:04I want to be very clear that there's sugar. It's just not added sugar. It's like very hard for me to take those risks. And hopefully, ultimately, it pays off. But there is a tension between you're a new brand, You have to stand out and you also need to do right by your customers, especially if it's a kid's product. These are all really good things to consider. You mentioned certification. Is that something that you're going to go for? I have gone back and forth on it a million times because it is an investment. I do think it's a worthwhile investment. I just don't know if it's happening for me in like the next quarter.

20:41I think like first I really need to figure out my margins, how I'm going to do retail and then probably get funding and then do certifications. Totally. We actually just had this conversation, myself and some other founders out in Asheville for that grocery run event. And we were talking about certifications. And I'm always curious what that means for consumers, because to me, no offense to anybody who's getting certifications or anybody who's giving certifications. the ingredient list means more to me than a certification does that's the first thing I go to I am not the type of shopper who will pick a product up off of the shelf because I see x certification on the bag I'm more interested in like the ingredients themselves and of course does the product taste good what the founder's story is and then reading the ethics of the founder on their website that's just me personally yeah and I think that's a lot of people too I mean And I think maybe a few years ago, certifications were more of a shortcut, but it feels like more and more people aren't taking the shortcut.

21:45They're always reading the ingredients. So we'll see. I'll kind of play the certification thing by ear. I'll be interested to hear about your journey because I think there's also a lot to be said about people who just get the marketing aspect of it. Like that label does mean a lot to them. That sticker on the front of the product does mean a lot to them. sometimes it might even mean more than the ingredient list so I'd just be curious to hear your journey with it and then other founders too if anybody's listening please reach out to me because I want to hear about it yeah I'll keep you posted cool for sure so what is your strategy look like for retail you said that you're looking to roll that out are there any specific retailers or even collaborations that are on your dream list?

22:31I mean, I have very similar dream lists, I think, to a lot of people in the natural space. Like, of course, I could see it in a Whole Foods. I could see it in an Erewhon. But those for me are longer term. I want to start with the right independence that makes sense. I started a little bit like locally. I live in Montclair, New Jersey. There are a couple of great small markets around here that carry the product. And so that's exciting. But I do want to start expanding also in New York. I think I'm like 30 minutes away from the city. It's a natural kind of first step, I think. So that's probably my initial strategy.

23:11And then once the financials work out, I'm definitely going after the dream accounts. As you should, for sure. Well, I'm really excited to see where Unicorn Bites goes. They're definitely going to keep holding a place in our pantry and in my daughter's heart for sure. But before we go, can we try to get Unicorn Bites into more people's hands? And can you tell us where we can find you online? Oh, thank you so much. Yes. So my website is tryunicornbikes.com. You can order them there. We are also available on fare and bubble goods. Perfect. We love all these places where you can grab Unicorn Bites.

23:51well taylor thank you so much for your time it's been great getting to talk to you especially us being such big fans it's always great to hear the founder's story and your perspective and i think you just maybe gave the community a lot to chew on love the pun thank you so much caitlin that was so fun and appreciate your support and your daughter's support of the brand oh anytime seriously. Well, good luck with the rest of your pregnancy. I'm excited to hear more updates on that. And we'll talk soon. Bye. All 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 ratethispodcast.com slash startup CPG.

24:36I'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 you and emerging brands to spotlight. 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 free CPG community on Slack. You can sign up via our website at startupcpg.com. See you around. Thank you.