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- Weekly Updates 08/07/23
Weekly Updates 08/07/23
👀 What's New in CPG
The Online Community for Food and Beverage Startups
Good morning !,You've likely heard of building a MVP (Minimal Viable Product), but have you heard of creating a MVB (Minimal Viable Business)? A Minimal Viable Business is an approach to quickly iterate on your sales channel, margin, capital, and team strategy until you find a scalable path. When I built TeaSquares, I was laser-focused on creating a great "product" that I failed to pay much attention to designing a great "business". Every day I was tweaking the recipe, packaging, website, but spent little time testing the customer, market, and business model. What was the result? A company without a clear path forward. Our product was so unique that it required a TON of funding just to educate consumers and the manufacturing process was so complicated that we kept teetering between self-producing and co-manufacturing. I was making it up as I went, and I bet a lot of you are too. So what am I doing differently with Joyful Co? Here's how I'm building my MVB1) Testing our Product Market Fit and customer acquisition strategy.2) Designing our margin and pricing structure to be first-order profitable.3) Building a fulfillment process in line with our business strategy.4) Focused on sustainable and profitable growth from the beginning.5) Investor and financing-free for the foreseeable future. By setting up these guardrails from the beginning, I can build a business aligned with my goals.
😋 This Week in #CPG
A roundup of CPG news that happened last week brought to you by Amber Caro
➡ Kula Foods is now available in Whole Foods Market in #Toronto and #Vancouver! (Asha Wheeldon)➡ Bake Me Healthy is now available on Faire! (Kimberle Lau) 🙌➡ GORGIE is now available at Erewhon! Congratulations! (Michelle Cordeiro Grant)➡ Twrl Milk Tea has launched into Wegmans Food Markets on the East Coast! 😍 (Pauline Ang, Olivia Chen)➡ Chubby Snacks is now available at H-E-B! (Dillon Ceglio)➡ Belgian Boys is now available at Publix Super Markets - which has clearly made for the proudest grandma around ❤️ (Anouck Gotlib)➡ Fishwife has launched Hot Pepper and Preserved Lemon sardines! 🐟 (also where is the sardine emoji when you need one?!) (Becca Millstein)➡ Cheeky Cocktails' 750ml bottles are now available on website! (April Wachtel) 🍸➡ Humankind Beverage, LLC has launched OJ and AJ in beautiful 10oz glass bottles! (Ethan Frey)➡ TCHO Chocolate has launched a small batch collaboration with the Oakland Zoo - a 66% dark chocolate with black and blueberries.➡ You can now find Bored Cow at Union Market, Fairway Market, and many more stores in #NYC (Ben Berman).➡ Eastern Standard Provisions Soft Pretzels are now available at Whole Foods Market nationwide! (Bill Deacon)➡ Strawberry Fields and Pineapple Paradise kombucha flavors from Brew Dr. Kombucha have officially landed on the shelves of Fred Meyer stores! (Dan Stangler)➡ Liquid Death released their newest iced tea flavor - Slaughter Berries! 💀 (Jon-Ryan (J.R.) Riggins)➡ and last but not least Nona Lim was acquired! 🎈👏
JOYFUL CO. REDESIGN
CAPTURING THE VIBE
Last week I shared how I was working with Emily at Set Creative Studios on our photoshoot, and I was super giddy to get all the photos in. Emily and her team create vibrant, mouthwatering photos for CPG products and have an AMAZING recipe and food team. Now, our photos wouldn't need to show recipes (as the focus is on the box+products), but I knew they would do a great job capturing the vibrancy of the brand. Here are some of my favorite photos:
WEEKLY UPDATES
MANZANA TAKES A BITE OUT OF DEDUCTIONS
Manzana Products is a producer of organic apple cider vinegar, apple sauce, and apple juice in California. The company has a rich, 100-year history of producing apples out of Sonoma County, and today operates as both a private label and CPG brand business that prides itself on using clean ingredients with no additives or preservatives. Their brand, North Coast, is in major retailers across the country. As the retail business for the North Coast brand grew, Manzana found it increasingly difficult to understand where their trade spend was going. In addition, deductions were becoming harder to track and control.
GROWING YOUR STARTUP THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA
When launching your brand, you may have spent all your money on building the site, product development, testing, etc. but now you need to launch and market but funds are tight. Here is the best ways to approach marketing your new brand on social media when the budget may not be ideal:
Brand Ambassadors
Brand Partnerships
Consistent Organic Posts
Giveaways
Paid Ads
PR
Social Listening and Engagement
Analytics
AFFORDABLE ACCOUNTING FOR CPG BUSINESSES
If you're working with your family accountant to manage your CPG accounting, they may be making a TON of mistakes. Why? Inventory businesses are much different from others, and you need to find accountants who not only know Inventory Management, BUT also E-Commerce.
That's why you should check out Unloop. They specialize in accounting for modern CPG Brands and are super affordable, starting at just $299/month.
BUILDING A STRONG CREDIT SCORE Perhaps you initially started your business as a side project, unsure if it would take off, or you chose to manage business funds through your personal accounts to keep things simple. While these situations are relatable, it's essential to recognize the importance of establishing a strong credit score for your small business.
As your business grows and thrives, a solid credit score will become invaluable, opening doors to financing options, favorable credit terms and fueling your continued success.
STARTUP TO SCALE PODCAST
128. Building Sanzo, The First Asian-Inspired Sparkling Water Brand
Sanzo has experienced skyrocketing growth over the past 4 years building the first Asian-Inspired sparkling water brand. I sit down with founder Sandro Roco to discuss what led to starting the brand and how he’s navigated its fast growth.
Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify
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NielsenIQ Byzzer platform provides data for emerging CPG brands. You can access 3 free reports using this link.
Mindful Goods is an awesome Amazon expert that can quickly get you started or optimize your pages for strong ROI. Get 10% of their services use code FOODBEVY.
Maverick allows you to create individually personalized videos (with a customer's name) welcoming them to your community.
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