SmallBizLady: So, you have your product idea. What’s the first step?
Rachel Hofstetter: Get feedback. For Cooking Up A Business, I interviewed Maddy D’Amato and Alex Hasulak, founders of Love Grown Foods, and was blown away by their start-up strategy. In college, they decided to launch a natural food line. In order to gauge reactions, they filled snack-size bags with their all-natural granola for classmates to try, along with a short survey (“Do you like it crunchy or soft?” “Would you buy it at a store?”). And it worked! “We took every bit of feedback into consideration and used it to refine our recipe, product line, and vision,” says Maddy.
SmallBizLady: How do I get the word out there?
Rachel Hofstetter: When starting out, it’s important to hustle, hustle, hustle. That’s what worked for Nikhil Arora and Alex Velez, founders of Back to the Roots, a company that sells grow-your-own-mushrooms kits in stores like Bed Bath & Beyond and Nordstrom. But Nikhil couldn’t get a meeting with a buyer, so he walked into his local Home Depot and asked for the buyer’s name—not a meeting, or an email address, just a name. He was given a name and rushed home to send emails to over 20 variations with the Home Depot domain. And one of those email addresses was the golden ticket!
SmallBizLady: What’s more important to do first: designing a product or building a business plan?
Rachel Hofstetter: Neither! Yes, they’re both really important, but if you’re serious about expanding your company’s reach as fast as possible, focus on selling first before you do anything else. Go over-the-top (“What makes your product innovative and a total must-have?”) Sell the idea behind it, and give away as much product as you possibly can. Convince stores that they want to carry your product, then design and build infrastructure as needed once they say yes.
SmallBizLady: Should I aim for a national chain or my local store?
Rachel Hofstetter: If you can build a track record of success at a small, local grocery store that’s affiliated with a larger chain, you up the chances of finding advocates who can help open doors to larger possibilities. Just remember: Go where you know you’ll have success, hustle like crazy, and then build outward.
SmallBizLady: What’s the secret to getting a meeting with a big grocery buyer?
Rachel Hofstetter: Making a splash at smaller stores, like Love Grown Foods’ Alex and Maddy. Their success in a local store ultimately led to a big deal meeting. “There’s no way a mom-and-pop company can walk in from the street to the offices of a conventional grocery chain and present their product. But we had the branding, the packaging, and the right price point,” says Alex. They had the sales experience and numbers to go into the meeting with a bang.
SmallBizLady: I got the meeting! What’s the most effective way to sell my product?
Rachel Hofstetter: PowerPoint presentations help, but when it comes to pitching your product, make sure to let your passion show. Why do others need to try your product? Why does it stand out? What inspired you to start it? Speak from the heart, and you’ll be just fine.
SmallBizLady: Once your product makes it to a store (!), what can you do to make it successful?
Rachel Hofstetter: Think quirky! For Kopali founders, Zak Zaidman and Stephen Brooks, getting their line of organic, eco-friendly goods in Whole Foods was a dream come true. But how would they support the launch? The partners decided to have a little fun, outfitted a bus that ran on repurposed vegetable oil, and drove it from store to store across the West.
SmallBizLady: What should food entrepreneurs be wary of?
Rachel Hofstetter: Choosing a Slow-Turnover product—pantry items that people buy very rarely (when was the last time you ran out of your exotic vinegar? It might have been in your cabinet since the Reagan administration!) Instead, go for rapid turnover items—something a customer could buy again and again, like a candy bar, salsa, bread, chips.
SmallBizLady: Let’s talk legal! What should food companies remember?
Rachel Hofstetter: I spoke to Nathan Whitehouse, an attorney who works with early-stage companies in NYC, and he shared interesting information that many aspiring entrepreneurs seem to overlook, like the importance of trade secrets. It’s really important to keep those trade secrets—like your recipes, or how you produce your product—confidential, or you won’t receive the protection the law provides. Anyone who ever works with your recipe needs to sign a non-disclosure agreement and understand that it belongs exclusively to the company. Established trade secrets, like KFC’s ‘Original Recipe’ spice blend, can be worth millions of dollars but you only get legal protection if you’ve kept your secret the entire time.
SmallBizLady: What else should I focus on aside from selling the actual product?
Rachel Hofstetter: Focusing on your brand (its mission, voice, look) is just as important as the product itself. While the product might not work out—maybe there’s not a market for it, or it’s difficult to scale or distribute—any work you put into a strong brand can be transferred to a whole array of similar products in the future. Always believe in your brand, first and foremost, and the rest will come easier.
SmallBizLady: What’s in a name?
Rachel Hofstetter: Lots! For example, Phil Anson found success with his first name ‘Phil’s Fresh Foods’ but he knew he needed a new name to really grow. Now they’re Evol – “love” spelled backwards. “The Phil’s name and logo was everything I needed in the beginning—crunchy, hippy-dippy, farmers’ market-y,” explains Phil. “But the new logo and name gave us a clean, premium vibe.”
SmallBizLady: How can you expand your reach to other states/cities?
Rachel Hofstetter: Work connections you never knew you had. When Popchips’ founder, Keith Belling, prepared to invade New York, he called up the most connected people he knew and asked them to work their connections, growing his reach exponentially. Every Popchips team member brought their network to the table. Don’t just ask who you know that can help with outreach—who do those people know?
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