Brand Builder

Pass the Honey Founder Douglas Raggio will be the first to admit that Pass the Honey is, in fact, a front.

Behind the scenes, Pass the Honey is working to restore legitimacy in the honey space, an industry that's the third most fraudulent in the world. They're on a mission to promote pollinator health, fight for land conservation and support habitat creation while creating 100% pure snacking honeycomb.

There's no doubt that Douglas is a founder on a mission to good, but he's not afraid to admit his journey to Pass the Honey has been coupled with dark times, hard truths, and wrongs he's working to make right. In fact, our interview went to some deeply personal and unexpected places that you've got to hear for yourself.

In this episode, Douglas also highlights what he believes to be short-sighted venture capital and private equity investments in the food and beverage space, and how he's tackling them head-on through his Bias and Blindspots Consulting Agency.

• Pass the Honey
• Bias and Blindspots Consulting Agency
• Connect with Douglas on LinkedIn

This week on Brand Builder we've got Ryan Hansen, the President and Founder of FireCreek Snacks, joined by Dustin Riechmann, FireCreek's Chief Marketing Officer.

FireCreek's origin story isn't just a wholesome tale, it's the inspiration behind their wildly successful beef and pork snack sticks and their path for the future.

As a self-proclaimed 3rd generation meat man, Founder Ryan has been around the jerky industry for a lifetime...and that's not hyperbole. After following in the footsteps of his grandfather's meat company, he partnered up with Dustin to introduce a new and delicious jerky stick to an already competitive category.

Four years later, FireCreek's success has only grown as they've proven to be masters of alternative retail channels, trade shows, and data-driven branding.

In this episode, Ryan and Dustin reveal the family values that drive their products' success, and how their niche retailing strategy has set them up for FireCreek's next big move.

Links:

FireCreek Snacks

@firecreeksnacks on Instagram

@firecreeksnacks on Twitter

Connect with Ryan on LinkedIn

Connect with Dustin on LinkedIn

Have an idea for the show? Drop us a line! [email protected].

Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.

Whether you're ready or not, the ball is always snapped. It's how you react that matters.

Business is full of sports metaphors… and some are definitely better than others. But this one carries a little extra weight because it comes from someone who played one of the toughest positions in football at the highest levels - including the NFL.

That man is Jeff Byers, a pro-athlete turned entrepreneur who is currently building the next great human performance platform. The platform is called Amp Human, and their mission is to help athletes at all levels achieve their limitless potential. He also happens to be our guest on this episode of Brand Builder.

To achieve this audacious goal, Amp Human has adopted a strategy to "win at the top." This means validating the product with elite athletes, pro-sports teams, and institutions like the military.

In this episode we talk to Jeff about the the serious science behind their flagship PR lotion and new Vitamin D lotion, why competing everyday is the key to entrepreneurial success, and why comparisons to aspirational brands like Nike and Gatorade really aren't too far off.

This interview got us all sorts of FIRED UP… and we think it will have the same effect on you.

Links

• Amp Human
• Connect with Jeff on LinkedIn

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Brand Builder is produced by Caroo.

Beverage has been described as a "brand forward" category.

This is especially true in the premium beverage space. Consumers align themselves with particular beverage brands to make a statement about who they are. A drink in hand becomes like a fashion accessory - an expression of values and identity - and it's not uncommon for premium beverage companies to think of themselves more like lifestyle brands than CPGs.

But sometimes the brand - or the can - hides a lackluster product.

Fortunately, that's never going to be the case for Cloud Water.

Cloud Water is an all-natural sparkling beverage made with premium botanicals. Their two principle product lines are their original hemp-infused CBD sparkling waters and their new Immunity line, designed to boost your body's ability to fight infection.

Cloud Water is a functional product that supports physical and mental wellness. But the real star of the show are their totally unique flavor profiles, like blood orange & coconut or Aztec chocolate and strawberry.

Now that's not to say that Cloud Water doesn't focus on its brand aesthetic - quite the opposite. The real genius of Cloud Water is that instead of thinking about brand and product separately, they focus on creating a holistic premium experience, marrying taste, function, and aesthetic.

We spoke to Cloud Water Brands co-founder and CEO Marc Siden about what it takes to create a holistic experience like this and the many ways this approach has paid dividends.

Marc also opens up about his entrepreneurial journey, his leadership style, and how the constraints of the pandemic inspired their latest innovations.

Links

• Cloud Water Brands
• Follow Cloud Water on Instagram and Twitter
• Connect with Marc on LinkedIn

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What's your biggest takeaway from the episode? Join our invite-only, private Facebook group just for Brand Builder Community members, where you can connect with fellow entrepreneurs and founders, crowdsource ideas, share best practices (or lessons learned), and get your most important questions answered. Join now!

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Brand Builder is produced by Caroo.

Food is a ticking time bomb.

CPG entrepreneurs often learn this the hard way. The minute your product comes off the line, you have 90 days to get it to a distributor. If not, you're looking at progressive discounts every month after that.

The reason? Most distributors insist on a 75% shelf life. If you can't guarantee that timing at the outset, you're taking on way too much risk. If you're not careful, you can whittle away your margin completely.

That's what makes demand planning and forecasting - the topic of this episode - so important. If you can nail the when, where, how often, and how much of your product, you're well on your way to CPG success.

To help us understand all this we're joined by CPG veteran and master-forecaster Alex Duong.

Today Alex is the CEO and founder of Ancient Provisions, a wholesome and delicious cheese-flavored cracker. Alex has seen CPG from just about every side of the business. And with previous experience onboarding emerging brands at Whole Foods and Procurement at Thrive Market, he's honed some serious forecasting chops.

Alex also has a history of being ahead of trends, and he isn't afraid to pivot when faced with new information. This is a big reason why Ancient Provisions is thriving, despite launching in one of the most challenging environments imaginable.

Alex shares how to nail your 2021 forecast, the single most common planning mistake he sees companies make, and why every entrepreneur should ask themselves: are they a Russell Westbrook, a Lebron James, or a Kawhi Leonard?

Links

• Ancient Provisions
• Connect with Alex on LinkedIn

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What's your biggest takeaway from the episode? Join our invite-only, private Facebook group just for Brand Builder Community members, where you can connect with fellow entrepreneurs and founders, crowdsource ideas, share best practices (or lessons learned), and get your most important questions answered. Join now!

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Brand Builder is produced by Caroo.

CPG veteran and insights guru Mark Mallardi is taking on a new challenge: build a brand from the ground up...and save the rainforest in the process.

Mark has decades of experience helping emerging brands scale using data and insights. Today, he's channeling that knowledge into AMARUMAYU, a newly launched line of superfruit juices.

The stars of the show are Camu Camu and Buriti, two immunity-boosting antioxidant-rich superfoods found deep in the heart of the Peruvian Amazon.

AMARUMAYU relies on a bio-economic model of preservation. By creating a viable commercial market for the sustainable harvest of Camu Camu and Buriti, the brand helps ensure the survival of the surrounding ecosystem.

For this to work, AMARUMAYU must adhere to a set of "wild-harvest" best practices that include never harvesting from felled trees and leaving a percentage of fruit on the vine for the area's wild fauna.

Another key to the success of this model is the close cooperation of local indigenous communities. Mark and his Peruvian counterparts have marshaled an impressive network that includes Peru's Ministry of the Environment, local NGOs, and the Peruvian Indigenous People's Chamber of Commerce.

AMARUMAYU just launched exclusively on Amazon (where else?), and Mark walks us through they novel ways they're reaching customers at a time when sample and trial is so limited.

Mark also talked to us about how the survival of the Amazon rainforest is connected to the overall health of the planet, what it takes to harvest in a protected national park, and why this product was the right opportunity for him to become a true brand builder.

Links

• AMARUMAYU
• AMARUMAYU launch press release
• Connect with Mark on LinkedIn

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What's your biggest takeaway from the episode? Join our invite-only, private Facebook group just for Brand Builder Community members, where you can connect with fellow entrepreneurs and founders, crowdsource ideas, share best practices (or lessons learned), and get your most important questions answered. Join now!

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Brand Builder is produced by Caroo.

This week we've got a guest who approaches brand building unlike anyone we've talked to yet.

In fact, he's less of a brand builder and more of a portfolio builder.

Our featured guest is Harrison Fugman, the CEO & co-founder of The Naked Market.

Our first question for Harrison was probably one you're asking now: what exactly is The Naked Market?

According to their site it's "an omni-channel food and beverage platform," but I'd argue that the portfolio analogy is the easiest way to understand what Harrison and the team are doing.

Rather than focus on one brand, they launch multiple brands with the goal of creating market leaders in a capital efficient manner.

As you'll hear, the approach borrows a bit from the worlds of tech and finance. Data is definitely king, and "fail-fast" is a foundational concept. Considering Harrison's seven years with Credit Suisse, it all makes sense.

At the risk of oversimplifying, The Naked Market approaches brand building like this:

• Step 1: Identify a category that's ripe for disruption
• Step 2: Create products to attack that category
• Step 3: Monitor the data to see if the brand is tracking the way it needs to
  • If yes, scale it
  • If no, shut it down

Harrison walks us through what that looks like in practice with TNM's three flagship brands - Flock chicken chips, Avo Crazy, and Beach House bowls.

Harrison talks about the role of trends in this process (and the difference between true trends and fads), the potential downsides of this model and how they work to avoid them, and why the pandemic is the perfect time to double down on their strategy.

Links

• The Naked Market
• Flock Chicken Chips
• Avo Crazy
• Beach House Bowls
• Press Release: The Naked Market Closes $6MM Seed Funding Round
• Connect with Harrison on LinkedIn

Join our Exclusive Facebook Group!

What's your biggest takeaway from the episode? Join our invite-only, private Facebook group just for Brand Builder Community members, where you can connect with fellow entrepreneurs and founders, crowdsource ideas, share best practices (or lessons learned), and get your most important questions answered. Join now!

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Brand Builder is produced by Caroo.

It's a law of entrepreneurship that never fails:

No matter how much you prepare, nothing ever goes precisely to plan. There's always something that comes out of left field and forces you to adapt.

Sometimes, that thing is a typo on your packaging. Other times… it's the onset of a global pandemic.

The latter was the case for Clara Paye, the founder and CEO of UNiTE Food. After spending years on R&D and planning their March 2020 launch to a tee, COVID-19 changed everything.

Of course, what matters is how you adapt, and so far Clara and her small-but-mighty team have done that expertly. They quickly pivoted their retail-forward strategy, and UNiTE is rapidly building a DTC customer base, thanks in equal measure to media attention and a great product.

UNiTE's brand and mission has resonated with consumers by infusing the functional bar category with nostalgia and fun. Their bars are clean yet indulgent, with flavors inspired by cross-cultural comfort foods like Mexican Hot Chocolate, Churro, and PB&J.

Clara - who describes herself as a "fearlessly positive immigrant founder" - created UNiTE's signature product out of a desire to see more representation in the bar aisle.

With an MBA and years at the helm of the family's plumbing supply business, Clara is a seasoned business professional but a first-time CPG entrepreneur. We talk about the lessons she learned running the family business, and what convinced her to take the leap and launch a food brand.

We also discuss why she's crowdsourcing the next iteration of UNiTE Food, the neuroscience marketing principles behind their eye-catching packaging, as well as what it was like to share a magazine cover with Post Malone.

Links

• UNiTE Food
• SHELF Studio
• Connect with Clara on LinkedIn

Join our Exclusive Facebook Group!

What's your biggest takeaway from the episode? Join our invite-only, private Facebook group just for Brand Builder Community members, where you can connect with fellow entrepreneurs and founders, crowdsource ideas, share best practices (or lessons learned), and get your most important questions answered. Join now!

Facebook.com/groups/brandbuilderpod

Brand Builder is produced by Caroo.

If you want to understand what drives JanaBanana and its powerhouse founder Janaina Lopes, look no further than the JanaBanana soccer team.

Janaina (Jana for short) grew up in Vale do Ribeira, a small coastal community in the southern part of São Paulo Brazil, renowned for its lush Atlantic Forest and plentiful banana farms.

But amidst this idyllic scenery, certain troubling inequities persisted.

"In this village… the girls are being forgotten," Jana said. "I know because I was one of them."

One glaring example: sports. While the local boys soccer team traveled to play area clubs, girls weren't allowed to play the game at all.

To right this wrong, Jana launched the JanaBanana Girls Project, and the all-girls JanaBanana soccer team was born.

In this interview, we learn why making a positive impact is at the heart of everything JanaBanana does, both for its customers and for the communities it cares about.

Jana also shares why she left management consulting to launch her own company, the differences between Brazilian and American business culture, and why upcycling is such an important part of the JanaBanana brand.

Links

• JanaBanana
• JanaBanana Girls Project

Join our Exclusive Facebook Group!

What's your biggest takeaway from the episode? Join our invite-only, private Facebook group just for Brand Builder Community members, where you can connect with fellow entrepreneurs and founders, crowdsource ideas, share best practices (or lessons learned), and get your most important questions answered. Join now!

Facebook.com/groups/brandbuilderpod

Brand Builder is produced by Caroo.

When you think about it, Salmon are a magical fish.

They famously swim upstream to the freshwater tributaries of their birth to spawn. Along the way, they become a vital food source for dozens of land animals. After they reproduce and die, their bodies fertilize trees hundreds of miles from the open ocean habitat where they spend most of their lives.

Without salmon, entire ecosystems would collapse. Yet their fate hangs in the balance.

Social entrepreneurs Justin Guilbert and Douglas Riboud came up with a radical idea to save them.

What if the best way to preserve this keystone species… is to eat it?

That's the idea behind GOODFISH, the first 100% traceable Wild Alaska Sockeye crispy salmon skins.

So how does this make any sense? GOODFISH sources their salmon skin from one of the most sustainable, well-regulated fisheries anywhere in the world in Bristol Bay, Alaska. The idea is to raise awareness and create a market that supports a sustainable supply chain.

And GOODFISH is poised to pull it off. They've created a modern, joyful brand around a great tasting innovative product. A serving of these crispy, snackable skins packs 7g of high quality protein, 2600mg marine collagen, and 800mg of omega 3 fatty acids.

GOODFISH is a brand new product, and the first of its kind. But it's also the flipside to Justin and Doug's other venture, Harmless Harvest, the beloved coconut water brand that saw major investment from Danone in 2018. The way Justin describes it, the two brands are part of one ongoing project inspired by deep ecology and constructive capitalism.

Links

• GOODFISH
• Harmless Harvest
• Connect with Justin on LinkedIn
• Inc: How These 2 Guys Are Winning the Hyper-Competitive Coconut Water Wars
• Pattern Brands
• Carl Sagan's Pale Blue Dot