How Startup Grocery Brands Can Stand Out
Food entrepreneurship starts with a dream, but it can be an arduous process to turn that vision into reality. One artisan food company recently got assistance from a major CPG as it expands beyond a family-based startup into a more available, accessible brand.
Berkeley, Calif.-based ¡Ya Oaxaca! is the grand prize winner of PepsiCo’s Greenhouse Accelerator: Juntos Crecemos Edition program. The startup will use the $100,000 grant to widen its distribution and boost revenue from its line of authentic Mexican mole sauces, adobos and salsas.
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¡Ya Oaxaca! was started by Susana Trilling, a chef, PBS host and cooking school leader, and her three sons, Kaelin Ulrich, Jesse Ulrich-Trilling and Azul Couzens. In addition to its family-centric roots, the brand stands out for its emphasis on connections, from bringing a taste of home to many consumers to supporting local farmers.
"It inspires me to see how all eight finalists leveraged the resources and PepsiCo mentorship to elevate their businesses to impressive heights – from growing revenue to innovating into new categories within food and beverages and more," said Antonio Escalona, SVP of emerging business for PepsiCo Foods North America. "¡Ya Oaxaca! stood out for its commitment to transforming grocery store aisles with bold flavors and new product variations. The company's outstanding results show great potential to evolve the food and beverage industry."
Progressive Grocer recently spoke with Couzens, Ya Oaxaca!’s CEO and co-founder, about the diligence and dedication behind that potential and how the startup will use the prize money to accelerate growth. The small business already has a strong track record: After it was named a Greenhouse Accelerator finalist and worked with program mentors, the company increased its revenue 350% and bolstered its retail distribution by 200% in five months.
“Each of our family has a part to play. It started with my stepmom, Susana, and her passion for being a chef and sharing the flavors of Oaxaca,” Couzens said of the business that dates to 2006 and ramped up during the pandemic when people were cooking more at home and seeking out authentic products. “For me, personally, it is exciting to build something with family.”
He lauded the coaching that the Greenhouse Accelerator finalists received. “It put a lot of wind in our sails and provided validation of who we are and what we do. We learned from other cohorts in the program and the message is that you gain a lot from the mentorship,” he remarked, adding that the months-long process benefited all of the participating brands and gave the startups time to really pause and focus on their respective plans and paths.
Staying true to the flavors of the region and its people has contributed to the appeal of ¡Ya Oaxaca!, Couzens added. “You can taste it,” he says of truly authentic products. “The way in which you maintain authenticity is staying true to ingredients – sourcing your ingredients from farmers in everything from the heirloom corn to the chiles. And Oaxaca has some of the most vibrant cuisine in Mexico.”
In addition to its flavor, the products also get attention on the shelf due to the colorful packaging. The designs feature artwork created by family friends who hosted the animators from the Disney-Pixar movie "Coco" and helped educate and inspire them.
For Couzens and his brothers and stepmother, winning accolades like the PepsiCo prize are part of overall feedback that propel the business forward. “We do demos, and when we were at Expo West this year, we had attendees and support staff who worked at the convention center come by and taste it. Before they even had words to express it, you could see the lights in their eyes,” Couzens recalled. “Like, ‘How did this just come out of a jar?’ That’s when you know you have something.”
Moving forward, the brand will work with retail partners like Whole Foods Market to increase promotions including end cap merchandising, offer more samples and scale operations. In the meantime, Couzens shared his advice for other startup artisan brands. “You go in with an open mind and wanting to learn and adapt. Being an entrepreneur, you already have that,” he said. “From a business standpoint, it’s knowing what you have and being able to articulate that and find opportunities to share that story.”
