“Why food, beverage, and CPGs? Because it's tangible, it's something that's a part of everyday life. It's something that people get a lot of joy out of.”On today’s episode of The Irresistible Factor, Kristi Bridges has a very special guest, Taylor Grant. Taylor is not only the Founder and General Partner of Cedar Capital, but he is also the Founder and CEO of Tribini – a ready to drink espresso martini company. When Taylor worked in finance, he started angel investing in products he believed in and immediately fell in love with the CPG industry. He claims he “caught the bug”. Taylor didn’t want to just invest, he wanted to add value. In 2020, Taylor discovered the world of venture syndicates and realized there was a white space in the CPG world, so he decided to fill it. Cedar Capital combines the investment side and the marketing side of growing a successful business.Shortly after he founded Cedar Capital, he founded Tribini, a ready to drink line of espresso martinis. Covid sparked the development of ready to drink cocktails and Taylor knew it was time to hop on board! Tribini offers mixologist-quality cocktails made with only the best ingredients.“I really wanted to create an authentic product, something that people can resonate with the actual authentic Espresso martini or however they envision that experience. Using natural ingredients, vodka-based, six-times distilled vodka is very important. No malt, no wine, nothing alternative, straight vodka, real espresso, all-natural ingredients.”Taylor talks about his decision to launch in DTC first so he can find the best product market fit while being efficient with their capital. Taylor believes this is the best tool to connect directly with their consumers and test things, so when it’s time to go to retail there is data to back that up. “We know how to reach our customers. We know who they are, and we'll know how to market to them”. Taylor and Kristi also talk about the perks of working in the CPG community, why the magic combination for a successful entrepreneur is being both a “dreamer” and a “doer”, and why having a solid network is absolutely everything. Taylor dives into important advice for both investors and entrepreneurs.

On this episode of The Irresistible Factor, Kristi is joined by “the Nicks,” Nick Guillen and Nick Ajluni – Co-Founders of TRUFF – the world’s first luxury hot sauce brand.“There's no limit to things we deal with in terms of like growing the business. I think it's, if anything, potentially a little harder for us because of how unique and custom everything is. So make no mistake that it's not an easy bill. But that's what I feel like being business savvy is, working through all of those things.”Nick and Nick always have had a passion for start-ups and small businesses. Throughout college they liked to collect stand-out usernames on Instagram, and in 2015, they scored the name “sauce” and started posting content that they thought would resonate with the “pop culture foodie.” They wanted to create an account that was the bridge of food, fashion, lifestyle, and pop culture. Once they started to gain some major traction on Instagram, they decided it was time to start a brand – and TRUFF was born.Nick and Nick never really played by the rules. They’ve been doing things their way from the very beginning – making custom caps, custom molds, and custom bottles. Many were convinced their unique (and expensive) approach wasn’t going to work, but they were able to overcome all of the odds and create a unique and successful brand in their own way.You’ll hear how they developed TRUFF’s flavor profile, the intricacies of their brand launch, and how they used social media as a growth track. Nick and Nick offer compelling advice to entrepreneurs on how to overcome adversity and talk about where they see the brand in the future.“We want to create a brand that we never have to step away from. Something where Nick and I are 65 on the golf course, and our grandkids are sending us photos of putting TRUFF on their dino nuggets.”

“If there are small things that we can do to move in the right direction, that does matter. Then our growth could actually feel purposeful, and not just growth for the sake of making more money.” In this week’s episode of The Irresistible Factor, we find out how Stacey Marcellus’ experience living on a farm in Argentina led her to Co-Found a thriving frozen food brand – Cappello’s. Cappello’s is on a mission to set a new standard in frozen food like pizza, pasta, and cookie dough. But it’s made with awesome and healthier ingredients like almond flour and turnips (yes, turnips!), making their products grain-free and nutritious. Of course their products taste delicious, but Cappello’s is one brand that is focused on nutrition above all else. “We stand behind using whole food ingredients and having them be as unaltered as possible.” Stacey and I discuss how the frozen food market has changed drastically over the years and how frozen food is no longer “something you just eat in front of the T.V.” It is actually a way to keep products super fresh. Stacey also opens up about the flaws in the food industry (excessive packaging, all the freight it takes to transport food, and traditional farming practices) and how she is taking small steps to try to do better. Recently, Cappello’s partnered with one of their suppliers, Treehouse, and together, they are testing some regenerative practices over the next five years on their almond orchards. “Even though we're not purchasing regeneratively sourced almonds today, being part of a project like that feels really cool. And it's really exciting because if we get positive results over the next five years, that will influence the entire almond industry.” Kristi and Stacey talk about the evolution of Cappello’s over the last 11 years and the lessons that Stacey has learned. Stick around to the end for an inspiring story Stacey shares about the importance of asking for help.

When Marshall Rader was diagnosed with celiac disease, finding gluten-free products was no easy feat. This inspired him to develop a gluten-free bar which led him to co-found a gluten-free product company with his brother. GFB, originally “Gluten Free Bar” is now “Gluten Free Brother’s”. GFB launched their first product 11 years ago, when ‘gluten free’ was a term no one had really heard of.On today’s episode of The Irresistible Factor, Marshall talks about how the market for gluten-free products has changed since the start of his company, and how the growth of the market and the rise in competition have affected their brand. He also talks about how they raised capital through bootstrapping, and how they have grown tremendously while maintaining honorable principals.Not only do their products taste delicious, but they are also a brand that does good. Marshall shares why they decided to get certified as a B Corp, and how they have been a zero-waste facility for 3 years now – over 90% of what goes into their facility does not go into the landfill. They also have inclusive hiring programs, focusing on people that have challenges gaining employment, oftentimes with criminal backgrounds.Join us to hear Marshall’s inspiring success story, and advice worth listening to. “Even if you don’t really have a real company yet, you could be organized and show up prepared, and show up on time. And it sounds weird, but wear a suit to a meeting.

You know that candy bar you’ve kept hidden from your family? – Your “little secret”? Well, joining us today on The Irresistible Factor is the CEO of the chocolate company wanting to make your little secret better-for-you – Little Secrets Chocolate.On this week’s episode of The Irresistible Factor, Kristi is joined by Jeremy Vandervoet, CEO of Little Secrets Chocolate – a better-for-you chocolate company. Little Secrets makes your childhood favorites like KitKat and Twix bars with better taste, better ingredients, and way less sugar (YUM!)Jeremy brings 20 years of incredibly valuable experience in the chocolate industry at Nestlé to Little Secrets Chocolate. We discuss what it was like transitioning from a huge corporation, to a small, early-stage brand. We also discuss the many lessons he has learned since joining Little Secrets – like the importance of getting your margins right early on and why defining your value in the marketplace is imperative.“You cannot rely on scale and growth to solve your margin structure. I know that’s so simple to say, easy to say, but in a lot of – and I think a lot of people are getting very sober on that idea too, is you need to price it early, pricing that lever and getting your margin structure right now, versus just saying, ‘Oh, when I double this business…”Jeremy and Kristi also discuss Little Secrets’ marketing, capital raising, manufacturing and hopes for the future. Jeremey is a wealth of information for entrepreneurs and other startups looking for advice.

Jani Tuomi is the Co-Founder of the at-home testing service, Imaware. Imaware removes the barriers of access to traditional testing and provides a more affordable and easily accessible route to discovering your own biometric data, a trend that is gaining traction fast!In this episode of The Irresistible Factor, Jani and Kristi discuss how Imaware has worked closely with reputable doctors and scientists from the start to ensure reliable, lab-grade testing. When Imaware first launched back in 2018, there was a lot of skepticism around at-home testing, but post-COVID consumers and even doctors have adopted this new way of testing.Jani talks about how Imaware has been able to gain some amazing partnerships with many of the biggest scientific companies in the world like BD, and with clinician groups that are starting to look at preventative cardiology. He also talks about their approach of educating their consumers – leading with facts, not fear.“…We never ran a Facebook ad that would say things like, ‘One in two people will develop heart disease in their life’ and fear factor it. It’s like, ‘Did you know that 50% of people who have heart attacks have normal cholesterol'. Leading with fact, and education, and citing that, showing study data around it, and then saying, ‘Here’s what you can do about that.’ It’s just been an approach we’ve taken right from the start.Jani also discusses why he isn’t worried about competitors, Imaware’s challenges around raising capital, and his hopes for the future of the brand.

In this episode of The Irresistible Factor, Kristi is joined by Founder and CEO of RIND, Matt Weiss. RIND was inspired by Matt’s great-grandmother who was as Matt says, “a foodie before kale was cool”. She emphasized the importance of the roots, rinds, seeds, and stems to capture the nutrients, minimize food waste, and to stretch your food budget. Her philosophy was the start of Matt’s journey of creating RIND.Prior to RIND, Matt was in finance for twenty years, working for an old school mutual fund that put as big of a focus on founders as it did on the businesses themselves. Matt has taken those experiences and lessons with him to RIND, and he eventually made the jump to take RIND from a side hustle to a full time business.“The moment I pushed myself out of that comfort zone by this completely new venture in a new category, as a first time entrepreneur, the personal growth and satisfaction, fulfillment, I started to enjoy from that, was so bright.”Matt elaborates on what it means to feel fulfilled, the importance of learning, and why it’s okay to not have it all figured out. He also speaks about challenges he has faced: Scaling products, rising prices of produce, and finding the best suppliers.Matt also offers advice from his personal business background: How small emerging brands can take market share from bigger companies, how his finance background helped him raise capital, how he creates tastes that are aligned with consumers’ wants, and the importance of having both a brand and a business in order to be successful.“Our brand logo and packaging is our value proposition. It’s the RIND. It’s fruit with benefits. That was brand magic, but the business had to have heft to it. It really had to have substance to it. The magic happens at the intersection of these two, and it’s what informs our product portfolio”.

“I think that there is an opportunity to consolidate, for the lack of a better word, operating system within a CPG business, where all that continuity and connectivity exists. So you don’t have to patch work together, you know, a network of advisors and companies and all sorts of things. That ultimately is sort of the core vision of Rodeo at large.”Rodeo capital isn’t Zachary’s first rodeo (get it😊). Zachary has lots of experience in the CPG industry – he’s started a gluten-free cereal company, a baby food company called “Little Duck Organics”, and he ran sales for a natural pet food company. Through these experiences, Zachary found himself disappointed in the services and infrastructure in the start up CPG world. In this episode of The Irresistible Factor, Zachary talks about how he started Rodeo as an outsourced operations group with the goal to help navigate the challenging CPG marketplace. Rodeo now partners with leaders in CPG to develop, scale, and sell their products through product development services, retail services, and operations services. Zachary talks about why he made the change from building his own brands to helping other entrepreneurs build their own. In addition, he talks about the type of brands he likes to work with, what he believes is stopping founders from succeeding, and the importance of being able to emotionally detach yourself from your business. “It allows you to reduce your ego so that you can better respond to a consumer’s perception of your brand rather than your own and that’s a really fun sort of psychological but very important piece of what we do.”

In this episode of The Irresistible Factor, Jim talks about how his first experience with cryotherapy inspired him to start a business around wellness that has grown to 135 locations and many services that go well beyond cryotherapy. He also talks about his plan to open 1,000 locations in the next four to five years. Jim had a plan, and he followed through. He attributes his success to his incredible team and their ability to attract (and keep) great talent through an impressive culture they have built within the brand. He also believes that being self-aware is their “superhero.”“We know where our weaknesses are, we know where our blind spots are, we make sure that we address those things. We do it in a relatively egoless, emotionally mature way.”Jim has a lot of experience in the health and wellness world. Both Jim and his wife were high-level athletes and have been consumers of wellness products for decades. Jim also owns high-end health clubs on the East Coast and learned many lessons along the way, which contributed to the success of Restore Hyper Wellness. In this interview, Jim shares his eye-opening experience starting this business. He originally thought that his primary target audience would be athletes, however, that wound up being only 15% of their clientele, leading to a much bigger opportunity for Jim and his team. Jim shares how his company has grown astronomically in a short time, and challenges he faced along the way.

“So, what I've discovered as an entrepreneur, starting Boba Bam, starting my other companies, is as long as you collect enough information about a particular issue, or risk or whatever, then it takes away all of that fear. Because then it turns into steps, and you know what to do at that point. So, my advice is to collect as much information to defeat your fear, and then it turns into actions, and then actions become results.”Chairman and Founder of Boba Bam, Bob Yau, and the big Boba boss, Brian Khoddam saw a gap in a growing market and were able to create a successful business with the help of a resourceful tool that’s literally available to everyone - Google Trends. In this episode of Kristi Bridges’ podcast, The Irresistible Factor, Bob and Brian share their perspective on Boba Bam's rapid success with their at home boba making kit. They started down a very unique path with one of the largest retailers in the world, Costco, and have since been expanding nationwide. Bob and Brian talk about their funding process, product awareness strategies, challenges thus far, and the importance of truly believing in your product. “If you really believe in something, you should take chances in life and go for it. Otherwise, you could go through your whole life regretting why you didn't take that chance.” — Brian KhoddamThis is a success story entrepreneurs will be inspired by.