Founder Feature: Aman Blana, Growee Foods

The Startup CPG Podcast · 3 May 2024 · 31m · Episode 35

What this episode covers

Aman Blana, founder of Growee Foods, explains how he leveraged the Startup CPG community to navigate early co-packing challenges and build a shelf-stable, plant-based dip brand rooted in his Indian heritage. He details his bootstrap marketing strategy, which prioritizes high-impact farmers market demos, strategic demo-sharing with other brands, and using Amazon data to guide regional retail expansion without overextending capital. Blana also discusses the specific pain points of managing high COGS by refusing to use processed purees, his post-Expo West outreach tactics, and upcoming product developments including spicy flavors and lentil-based lines.

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • How I Built This · 36m

    What It Really Takes To Build a Food Business: Part 1

    Guy Raz interviews Becca Millstein of Fishwife, Brian Rudolph of Banza, and Caue Suplicy of Barnana about the early stages of building their food businesses. Millstein explains how she leveraged social media and distinctive packaging to launch Fishwife as a direct-to-consumer brand during the pandemic. Rudolph details Banza’s journey from a kitchen prototype to securing a major retail deal with Meijer, despite catastrophic manufacturing failures with chickpea pasta. Suplicy describes bootstrapping Barnana by sourcing co-packers and initially rejecting large orders from retailers like Wegmans due to capacity constraints.

  • How I Built This · 49m

    Advice Line with Sarah Kauss of S'well

    S'well founder Sarah Kauss joins Guy Raz to advise three early-stage founders on positioning and growth. She helps Chiara Moonzi of Chigi navigate grocery placement for a chickpea-based hot cereal, Jesús Rualcaba of Paper Tacos expand his Latino-inspired greeting cards beyond specialty stores, and Adam Barker of Bolt Skin and Shave determine his growth strategy for a razor brand targeting men who shave their legs.

  • How I Built This · 48m

    Advice Line with Ben Goodwin of Olipop

    Ben Goodwin, co-founder of the prebiotic soda brand Olipop, joins Guy Raz to answer calls from early-stage founders. Goodwin advises Darren Alpert of Gheelish on how to market ghee-based snacks by prioritizing taste over ingredient education, and helps Sarah Godfrey of Sarah's Gluten Free Goods navigate the scaling challenges of fresh, allergen-safe baked goods. He also counsels John Groner of the Bexley Natural Foods co-op on revitalizing sales through community engagement and curation rather than e-commerce.

  • How I Built This · 1h 01m

    Sukhi’s Gourmet Indian Food: Sukhi Singh and Dalbir Singh

    Sukhi Singh and her son Dalbir Singh explain how they built Sukhi's Gourmet Indian Food from a failed Oakland deli into a $50 million brand available in 7,000 stores, primarily by pivoting from bottled curry paste to refrigerated and frozen meals. They detail the family's hands-on early days, the strategic decision to reject a $3 million venture capital investment to maintain control, and the eventual hiring of an outside CEO to solve scaling challenges. The episode highlights their breakthrough partnership with Costco and the cultural shift in American acceptance of Indian cuisine.

  • Product Startup · 54m

    016: Gluten-free & allergy-friendly food with Luke Lucas of Foddies

    Luke Lucas, founder of Foddies, explains how he and his partner Chrissy launched a low FODMAP, gluten-free, and allergy-friendly food business with under $2,000, leveraging a cafe as a live testbed for product validation. They navigated the challenges of entering the food industry without prior experience by focusing on affordable pricing, rigorous cross-contamination protocols, and direct consumer feedback to refine their product line from baked goods to sauces. Lucas details their bootstrap marketing strategy using social media, their logistics setup with courier aggregators, and their plans to expand into the US market through co-packers to overcome local manufacturing limitations.

The summary, chapters and topics are generated from the episode’s audio by this directory, not written by The Startup CPG Podcast. The episode itself belongs to its publisher.