Ep. 65: Growth Secrets for Food Entrepreneurs: Expanding from Farmer's Markets to E-Commerce

00:00:01

Andrea Marquez: Most businesses start small, and sometimes there's a point in your small business journey where you want to start growing. You might want to reach a larger audience, increase your revenue, or maybe even outsource manufacturing, packaging, and shipping because the demand for your products is more than you can handle. But that transition comes with its own set of challenges.

How do you know if you're ready for this next step? How can you maintain the quality of your products as you scale, especially if you're a consumer packaged goods business? And how can you continue to serve the community that brought you to a point where you can expand? I know it sounds like a lot, but don't worry. We'll be answering all these questions with the help of Viridiana Ponce, a business consultant and food expert dedicated to helping small businesses launch and grow.

00:00:49

Viridiana Ponce: As we're getting ready to think about that expansion, the focus should always be on our customer experience. And how can we always maintain and provide a consistent and easy and positive customer experience? That should always either stay the same or improve. And I think that if we always put ourselves in the shoes of our clients or of our potential clients, that'll be really helpful as we're thinking through creating this experience, and as we're thinking about expanding. Because as we're growing, we want to make sure that we're not losing that quality of our product or of our service.

00:01:32

Andrea Marquez: Viridiana, like me, is a Latina who grew up in a small business household. That inspired her to start her own business, VP Consulting, where she helps food entrepreneurs launch, grow, and secure funding. She's been doing this for over 10 years now and has worked with many food businesses. She'll be sharing everything you might want to know, as you think about expanding your business.

Hi, I'm Andrea Marquez, and This is Small Business, a podcast brought to you by Amazon. Today, we'll be diving into how to grow your business from selling at a farmer's market to online, a scary but exciting process. And we'll also talk about how you can continue to give back to the community that gave you the opportunity to expand. A business that managed to undertake this challenging task is none other than Spread The Love Foods.

00:02:30

Val Fishbain: Spread The Love Foods is a challenger brand. We make nut butters, jams, and basically spreadables. We focus on our DTC customers online through Amazon and through our website. And we focus on fulfilling businesses' needs as well.

00:02:51

Andrea Marquez: That's Val Fishbain, the Co-Founder and President of Spread The Love Foods. She co-founded her business around 11 years ago with her husband Zach, when they were planning their wedding.

00:03:02

Val Fishbain: We were looking for something special to give to our friends and family who were coming to our wedding. We were trying to do something from the heart. And then one day we were eating breakfast, and I was making the peanut butter off of my Vitamix blender, and just thought, "We can make nut butters, peanut especially, and give this to our guests, and call it Spread The Love. Wouldn't that be cool?"So, most of our friends and family enjoyed it and told us, "You guys, you can make a business out of this. This is pretty special."

00:03:40

Andrea Marquez: Okay, so you received positive feedback during your wedding. And then did you decide to just ditch the honeymoon and open an LLC?

00:03:50

Val Fishbain: Okay, we had a mini moon, is what we called it. And then we came home and we're like, "All right, Spread The Love, peanut butter. Let's do it. How do we start?"Literally the Monday after our wedding, we started looking at, how can we get a cottage food license? How can we make this in our kitchen and have it be health department approved?

00:04:16

Andrea Marquez: Starting a food business from your kitchen comes with a lot of responsibilities. And before you even consider selling your products at a farmer's market, first you need to get the proper licenses and approvals.

00:04:27

Viridiana Ponce: There's still really stringent health and safety standards that operators need to make sure that they follow. And if people want to get into farmer's markets or festivals or different types of events, they need to make sure that they're following and complying with their local health department. And in order for you to also have that confidence in being able to sell your product, then I would say you definitely want to make sure that you're getting your health permits.

00:04:54

Andrea Marquez: And Viridiana also says that you might need to spend a little more money if you do decide to start at home.

00:04:59

Viridiana Ponce: Sometimes we don't have all of the equipment at home or the commercial equipment that we may need in order to produce a specific product. And so, it's going to take an investment. And then I would also say that sometimes people can blur their personal and professional space or the time that they're working. And so, that can make it also a little bit more challenging.

00:05:21

Andrea Marquez: Once you move past these challenges, you're finally ready to put your product out there for people to buy. And Val did that by going to farmer's markets.

00:05:30

Val Fishbain: It literally took us a week. And I had a full-time job as a social worker, and Zach also had a full-time job, so there was just a lot of stuff going on. Tired is something that I remember feeling. We had to roast the peanuts two days before we ground it, because otherwise it will stick into the grinder. And then packaging the peanut butters into jars. And I believe back then in the beginning, we even tied little strings around the jars. And it took a lot of convincing from Zach to convince me to stop doing that 'cause it was just taking so much time and effort.

That and then the setting up, carrying the loads and loads of boxes of peanut butter from the house to the car, and then from the car to the farmer's market booth. And then from there, you're standing on your feet six hours, six hours of talking to people, one-on-one. And not just one person needing your attention, maybe three people at once.

We started selling our jars. We put on a big smile, big energy, started talking to people, and people received it so well. It was fun, it was exciting, it was exhilarating. Zach and I are newlyweds and we were doing something together again, coming from planning our wedding to now planning a business together. So, it was pretty much a marathon. It was a lot of hard work and very rewarding, because we did get a lot of feedback from people.

00:07:12

Andrea Marquez: And the feedback they got helped them refine their product.

00:07:16

Val Fishbain: I didn't tell you that the nut butters that we made in the beginning, had agave and cinnamon and cayenne pepper on it. We were trying to be gourmet, so that was the wedding peanut butter. But then at the farmer's market, people were giving us feedback that, “Oh, I don't like cinnamon.”, or, “I don't really like spicy cayenne.” “Agave is bad for me.”

So, that's when we got the idea of like, “Well, why don't we make a peanut butter literally made out of peanuts and this is going to be our main peanut butter?” And that peanut butter sold out within a few hours. Another thing that changed is the size of the jar. We had eight ounce jars before and the eight ounce jars weren't enough for some people. So, we ended up doing it in 16 ounce jars.

00:08:19

Andrea Marquez: So farmers' markets are a great place for market research. This is something that Viridiana points out as well.

00:08:25

Viridiana Ponce: We want to learn as much as we can about our clients and what's important for them. But we also want to pay attention to who's not purchasing our products, and why are they not purchasing? What are their objections? Are people saying that it's too expensive? Are people giving you feedback after they taste the product? So I think that is so important, so valuable that we also pay attention to the people that are not purchasing.

00:08:53

Andrea Marquez: That's exactly what Val did. And there's another long-term benefit to selling your products at a farmer's market.

00:09:00

Viridiana Ponce: It gives you that one-on-one connection and that time, and for you to be able to practice your elevator pitch and to really learn about who your clients are and what's resonating with them.  

And so, I'm thinking about a client who started a salsa business. And they began by offering samples and sharing the history behind their family's recipes, talking about their culture. And people really gravitated to that authenticity and really connected with their story. And obviously were able to taste their product and it's an amazing product.  

But I feel like it really helped connect and build that trust with their community because they knew more about them than, “Okay, this is just a salsa business.” If you're going to be at a farmer's market, put yourself out there. This is an opportunity for us to get to know more people, and for people to be able to get to know our product.

00:09:54

Andrea Marquez: Getting the word out about your business is really important. But while you're doing that, make sure that you're also tracking your sales because that might help you when you decide to expand.

00:10:04

Viridiana Ponce: What I've seen is that when my clients have a POS system and they're registering their sales, tracking their sales, then we can use that information later on to get a loan. Because now they have sales, they have it recorded, they're able to obtain funding slightly easier because once again, we have data that we can share with either micro lenders or with investors. And if you're using a POS system, then we can gather data on the average check size. We can see trends, purchasing patterns, and just overall sales. So, it's a really great opportunity to gather and analyze data.

00:10:42

Andrea Marquez: That's a great tip. When you decide to expand and need a little extra cash to fund your business, having that data will probably make things a lot easier. And you'll know when you're ready to take that next step by asking yourself a few questions about your customers.

00:10:58

Viridiana Ponce: How are people receiving the product? If they're enjoying the product, what's the feedback that you are getting, once we start seeing that we have those repeat clients? And seeing, why are they coming back? How often are they coming back? And so, I think that making sure that we're listening to our clients is really important.

I think that also as we're getting ready to think about that expansion, the focus should always be on our customer experience. And how can we always maintain and provide a consistent and easy and positive customer experience? That should always either stay the same or improve.  

And I think that if we always put ourselves in the shoes of our clients or of our potential clients, that'll be really helpful as we're thinking through creating this experience, and as we're thinking about expanding. Because as we're growing, we want to make sure that we're not losing that quality of our product or of our service. And so, I would say really focus on your client needs and on creating that experience for them.

00:12:08

Andrea Marquez: And that next step might come a lot sooner than expected. For Spread The Love, Val started thinking about going online around two to three months after they started selling their products.

00:12:20

Val Fishbain: I believe I was already pregnant at the time, so I was telling Zach, “I'm tired. I don't know how else to do this, but maybe we could sell online.” So we started the process there, and it took a few months, six months for us to get in. Definitely, the beginning was tough. I had never sold online before, so for me it was, “Okay, what am I doing?” But I just kept going and this is something that I truly wanted to have for my business. I would rather sell online than sell at the farmer's market, because of the ease of just being at home, not on my feet when I was pregnant. And the idea of making money while its just kind of in the internet world, was a good motivation for me. Don't be afraid to put some money into it, especially in the beginning.

00:13:27

Andrea Marquez: If you're planning on taking that next step, money is something that you're definitely going to have to focus on. Viridiana says that underestimating the cost of transitioning online and not spending enough time working or revising profits and prices is a mistake that a lot of entrepreneurs make.

00:13:42

Viridiana Ponce: What happens is that a lot of times people end up needing more working capital. And then they need to go back and get a loan and then they're making decisions based out of urgency. And so if we spend a little bit more time, hopefully we can avoid some of that. And we can do a lot more of the work in the front end instead of while we're in the middle of that transition. Because all of my clients who have gone through a transition, they have all required that additional funding.

00:14:12

Andrea Marquez: So, make sure you spend enough time planning your numbers. Another mistake Viridiana noticed is a common one that every entrepreneur goes through. You probably guessed it, doing everything yourself.

00:14:23

Viridiana Ponce: And that's so overwhelming. Not only overwhelming, but I've seen that sometimes this means that it actually causes more expenses. Because there's either mistakes or we don't have the knowledge of let's say, design work. And then the packages end up getting printed out, and there is a mistake where it didn't comply with regulations.  

And so I would say that before we go through this transition, really identifying what experts and who we need to work with. Because if we were working with the designers or we're working with specific experts, that could end up saving you money and time. So, really consider what kind of support you need and then who's in your network that can help you out with that. And then budgeting for it, if it's someone that you do need to hire.

We don't have to do it alone. I think that's one of our superpowers as entrepreneurs, is that we learn and we do so much. But you don't have to, right? There's resources, whether you're paying for them or there's actually a lot of business support out there. And it's either low cost or free support that entrepreneurs can also take advantage of. So, definitely don't do it alone.

00:15:36

Andrea Marquez: And that's something that Val did as well. She hired someone to make that transition go a lot smoother.

00:15:42

Val Fishbain: It was tough to get the documentations right and the calling of the customer service and the back and forth. It was tough for me to do that while I had my full-time job, so we hired a consultant.

00:15:57

Andrea Marquez: And another tip that'll help make the move to e-commerce easier is don't forget to document everything.

00:16:03

Viridiana Ponce: Oftentimes, I see that people don't write out their recipes. And so, scaling that recipe is harder because we don't have things written down. Or else it also makes it challenging for quality control, if we don't have things documented. Or even the process of how to make your specific food products. So I would say if you are considering expanding your business, think about documenting the recipes and the processes for you to make your product. Because it's going to help you out. It's going to have an impact on your financials because you'll know how much exactly you're using of each ingredient.

00:16:40

Andrea Marquez: And speaking of recipes, a really important ingredient to your business's growth and success is your community.

00:16:46

Viridiana Ponce: So from the side of a business owner, I think really being connected with their community, that it helps people I think, have a sense of belonging. Whether it's like you're giving back or donating food, or participating in different events with different nonprofits that maybe they've been a part of. And I feel like that also really showcases who they are as a person. And it makes the community and it makes other people really lean in to them because they're giving back.  

So, I feel like it's this beautiful give and take relationship. And then I think from the point of view of a community, so important, the way that we spend our money. And I think that as consumers or as clients, that we can think about shopping local or going to our local farmer's market. And it could be also investing in these businesses as they're expanding.  

So, I always think about the way that we spend our money, it matters. And so when we are spending it on a small business, that's also such a lovely thing that we're also supporting economic development. And so I think that on both sides, as a consumer and as a small business owner, that community, it's everything for me. It's so important that we are giving and taking and forming this beautiful relationships as community members.

00:18:14

Andrea Marquez: And giving back through Spread The Love was something that Val has always wanted to do.

00:18:19

Val Fishbain: I have a background in social work, and to me, leaving that so that I could be full-time with Spread The Love after I believe, two or three years of starting Spread The Love, it was tough because I was leaving a lot of what I truly cared about. And going to Spread The Love, I said, “Okay, well this is a business, I am still serving people. And in the future, I can eventually serve more people in a bigger way.” You can tell from our name, it is Spread The Love. So there's so many meanings to that phrase. It's changed throughout the years, for me.  

In the beginning it was literally making something from my kitchen and giving it to my loved one, or giving it to a stranger. And when I see them eat the food that I made in my kitchen, my heart explodes. That was it. That was Spread The Love to me then, but now it's bigger than that. I feel like today, I definitely think about my kids, how I spread the love to them, and how they see spread the love spreading the love to others.  

So whether they want to start their own business or be a part of Spread The Love, I want them to keep in mind and keep it in their hearts that they have to spread the love forward too.

00:19:46

Andrea Marquez: So, Val took the same approach she did with her wedding favors. She decided to do something from the heart.

00:19:52

Val Fishbain: Back in 2018, we started volunteering for an organization here in Los Angeles. Pizza, they needed pizza servers to people that were experiencing homelessness and were transitioning. So, we served pizza. And then from there, we started a fundraiser to donate to PATH, People Assisting the Homeless. After that, the initiatives kept getting bigger and bigger, and we wanted to serve more people. And so, we partnered with another organization that was serving homelessness here, St. Joseph Center, to serve transitioning and homeless people. From there, it was super fulfilling to me, and I felt like I was a social worker again while being a business woman.

00:20:40

Andrea Marquez: And then Zach, her co-founder and husband, decided that he wanted to serve his own community through Spread The Love.

00:20:46

Val Fishbain: Zach grew up in Wisconsin and he went to the public schools. The public school system taught him to be this intelligent business man that he felt like he needed to give back to that community. So in 2020 during the pandemic, there was a lot of unrest. And we thought of, “Hey, why don't we give scholarships to students of Racine, Wisconsin?”, where he's from.

Our business was doing well at that time, but we didn't have that much money to give away. So we started with three scholars. And we gave them a thousand dollars each so that they can graduate high school and transition to their college. And that was the beginning of Spread The Love Forward Scholarship. It started small, but it had a huge impact in the beginning. And from there, every year, we increased it to five scholars. And now in 2024, we've awarded 23 scholars.

00:22:03

Andrea Marquez: Giving back doesn't have to break the bank. So if you're thinking of following Val's footsteps, start small.

00:22:09

Val Fishbain: Based on your business model or however much profit you're getting, I think definitely base it on that. We started small, and also, it's not all year long. We are supporting other organizations all year long. We're giving in-kind donations throughout the year, but the Spread The Love Forward, every June or July, that's when we do it. So, it's not overwhelming.There's literally nothing too small to give. Start volunteering. It could just be your time in the beginning. And from there, the idea will flourish. And it'll just keep pushing you to start that program for your business.

00:22:57

Andrea Marquez: And apart from it being a rewarding experience, giving back can be really beneficial for your business.

00:23:04

Val Fishbain: The more savvy consumers of today who are looking for businesses that provide clean products and do good for our society, these are our customers. And they respond so well when we send them the newsletter that, “Oh, this is our fifth year of providing scholarships to high school students. Here it is.” And as soon as they see that they respond to us. Whether it's on social or email, we hear from our customers about this. There's a lot of great feedback that come from this.

00:23:43

Andrea Marquez: We've served up a lot of information about transitioning from a farmer's market to e-commerce. I know it might feel like a lot to digest, so I'll leave you with what I thought was the most important piece of advice. Always go in with a plan.

00:23:58

Viridiana Ponce: I think that when people are starting businesses that they are really passionate about and they believe in, and they're combining that with planning and looking at their numbers and creating a plan, I've seen that they can be really successful. And we don't have to know every single one of the steps, and we don't have to do that all by ourselves.  

We want to ask for help. We can be successful. So whether you decide to start from your house or a farmer's market or start selling online, spend some time connecting the story back to you. Making sure that you're spending time on your numbers and then asking for help. And you can generate a lot of money by doing something that you love, if you're also paying attention to your numbers.

00:24:44

Andrea Marquez: Val and Viridiana dished out a ton of advice on how to take that next step in your business while staying connected to the community that got you there. If you missed anything, don't worry. We've taken notes for you. You can find them at www. smallbusiness. amazon/ podcasts. Don't forget to subscribe and tell your friends about us by sending them a link to this episode.

And I'd love to know what you think, so send us an email at thisismallbusiness@ amazon. com. Or leave us a review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts with your thoughts. Maybe you'll get to hear your review on the show, like this one from TF97. “Love how insightful each of the episodes are. Overall, great takeaways that every small business owner can apply. Highly recommend.” Thank you.

That's it for this episode of This Small Business brought to you by Amazon. Until next time, I'm your host, Andrea Marquez, Hasta luego, and thanks for listening. This is Small Business brought to you by Amazon with technical and story production by JAR Audio.