The Food Startups Podcast

Sadie Scheffer is the founder and CEO of Bread Srsly, a wholesale sourdough bread company that wants to reunite gluten-free eaters with their beloved sourdough bread.

All of their bread rises for more than 12 hours, breaking down hard-to-digest grains and plus, Bread SRSLY gluten-free sourdough contains a host of bioavailable nutrients, promoting digestive health and healing.

Sadie has had a different approach to CPG via self-distribution. And she shares how they’ve made that work, and why it helps attain higher margins while maintaining product integrity. She shares their smart strategy on building long lasting effective relationships with buyers and how to maintain high re-order rate and shelf velocity.

Direct download: Episode_169_-_Sadie_from_Bread_Srsly.mp3
Category:Food -- posted at: 11:00am CDT

Matt Bachmann is the co-founder of Wandering Bear Coffee, a company that produces and distributes cold brew beverages. The company started back in 2013 and is now sold in over 750 retailers, including Target, Costco and Whole Foods and is distributed nationally to offices via their website.

Matt shares the experience of how an obsession with coffee ended up becoming a successful business.

3:18 How and why Matt Bachmann got into the food business.
7:35 The influence of university in entrepreneurship and starting a business.
13:31 The relevance of supplying direct office orders and wholesale orders.
18:17 Drawbacks and challenges
29:26 Key points to take into account in the early stages of a food business.
32:19 How Wandering Bear Coffee got on the shelves at Costco

Direct download: Episode_168_-_Matt_from_Wandering_Bear_Coffee_v4.mp3
Category:Food -- posted at: 11:00am CDT

Annie is an activist, writer, scientist, and marketing manager dedicated to environmental issues related to food, water, and agriculture. She works with consumers, suppliers, and purchasers to drive demand for regenerative products, transition farms to regenerative agriculture, and inspire brands to invest in regenerative supply lines.

5:00 - Overview of Kiss The Ground as an organization
7:30 - What damage have we done via farming practices and food waste
10:00 - What is regenerative agriculture
17:00 - How can small businesses identify regen ag based supply chain
19:50 - How can consumers get aware of composting and make a huge impact on the greenhouse gas emissions
21:08 - Vermiculture and how it can make your compost "stink-free", making it smell like fresh earth!
27: 40 - General Mills, Patagonia, and other major brands taking a stand on regen-ag farming

Direct download: Annie_Martin_Kiss_the_Ground_Finished.mp3
Category:Food -- posted at: 11:00am CDT

Don Morton is a bartender, WSET trained wine nerd, cocktail geek, fermentation enthusiast, and an eager host. After 10 years of working in public policy, Don founded Shrub District to bring a little more happiness into the world. Today, their cocktail vinegars (aka shrubs) and 'built cocktails' (A “built” cocktail is a cocktail you build in the same glass in which you serve it) are available online, restaurants and bars across the North East.

With a keen focus on quality and sometimes, seasonal ingredients, Don is determined to provide an exceptional experience while making it convenient for consumers to make a cocktail.

Some key takeaways from the interview:

  1. test the product after you have nailed down the formulation with real customers
  2. make sure that you have variety for folks otherwise you will leave money on the table
  3. finding partners that meet distribution challenges
  4. innovating in a category that's quite hot while not over extending on capacity and production

For more information, visit: 

www.shrubdistrict.com

Direct download: FSP166_-_Don_Morton_Shrub_District_Finished.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:42pm CDT

John “Sonic” Ban has worn many hats, is a serial entrepreneur and shares valuable lessons from his experience, in this episode. Also known as DJ Sonic, due to 10+ years in a hip hop radio station, his first brush with starting his own business was with the Indianapolis food truck scene and becoming one of the first successful food truck business owners.

Grass Fed Coffee began in 2014 when John “Sonic” Ban experienced incredible gains in mental clarity, energy, and fat burning, from just one daily cup of butter coffee. After recommending butter coffee to all his friends and family, he was dismayed that many couldn’t experience it because they were too busy to brew it every morning themselves or didn’t know where to purchase the ingredients and equipment.

John talks about his faith in the ketogenic diet, and how he, along with Mark You, who is a principal at Grass Fed Coffee, raised $86K on a Kickstarter Campaign in December 2015 and broke the record for “Highest Funded Non-Alcoholic Project on Kickstarter, ever.

Episode index:

5:15 - the journey from food truck into food

8:29 - bio hacking as a trend

9:48 - the kickstarter project for Grass Fed Coffee - lessons learned

  1. always have a well produced video one minute or less
  2. what makes videos viral, compared to other kickstarter video
  3. raised $86K in 2 months without anyone tasting the product
  4. keep it simple, down to 1-2 takeaways for your target audience

15: 45 - the challenges of taking a concept to production

18:00 - go-to-market strategy, channel strategy

21:00 - marketing approach and focus on education, and content

A few pointers:

  • https://grassfedcoffee.com
  • https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1431509519/introducing-the-worlds-first-ready-to-drink-butter
  • Book recommendation: Contagious: Why Things Catch On - Jonah Berger

A message to this podcast listeners from Hema Reddy, the new host of the show:

“Thank you all for listening. Please share your feedback on the show and help us get better! We want to bring you value and content that’s helpful to you. I am so excited to continue this journey with you!”

Direct download: FSP165_-_Grass_Fed_Coffee_Finished_revised.mp3
Category:Food -- posted at: 10:55am CDT

Hema Reddy is the Founder & CEO of Crafty Counter, an innovative packaged food products company, and their first product line is available in the market today, and they called Wundernuggets.

She is also the Founder & CEO of Epicurate Media - a digital marketing firm that is hyper-focused on helping food & beverage brands achieve their growth targets via carefully designed marketing blueprints & processes.

Prior to her entrepreneurial ventures, she was Program Director for Worldwide Systems Marketing at IBM Corporation.

Hema is a public speaker, and has been featured on several TV & media outlets.

Direct download: FSP_EP164_01.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:03am CDT

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