Episode #551: Spoonful Founder Bradley Gifford Talks Healthy Food, Community, and Startup Lessons

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1:04 This is Pete Moore on Halo Talks NYC. I have the pleasure of bringing entrepreneur Bradley Gifford hailing from Dobro, which now is Downtown Brooklyn. He's gonna talk about his, pivot from being a, digital marketer to a, a healthy food provider to our halo sector. So, Bradley, welcome to the show. Pete, Tom, David, thank you very much for having me. You got it. So, so look, jump right in, here. You know, the best entrepreneurs are are ones that solve frustrations that they have for themselves. I grew up on a, healthy mix of Apple Jacks, Frosted Flakes, Coco Pebbles, Honey Nut Cheerios. So I was satiated with a lot of sugar, back in the day. So, talk about some of your own issues that you had and say, hey. I gotta actually make this my full time job and, Yeah. And solve some of these problems. Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, that that childhood experience, like many of us share, is, I would say, the jumping off point for my health and fitness journey.

2:11 Because when I was 12 years old, my pediatrician told me I had high blood pressure, and I would have hypertension before I was 30 if I continued with the habits that, you know, I was kinda demonstrating. So as a division three athlete in college, that was really when I sort of hit a fork in the road and really decided to overhaul a lot of my habits and ended up fixing a lot of my ailments and on the way losing about 70 pounds. So you could say Wow. That was really the the kind of first step to my health and fitness journey and kind of fell in love with the space. And it's been a it's been a roll roller coaster of a ride ever since. Have you, had did you have to change your position in, in your sport of choice given you lose 70 pounds?

2:56 Thankfully, I I didn't. I was I mean, I have I feel like pretty good feet and soft hands, so I was always on the on the bigger guard side from a skill set standpoint. So it actually allowed me to do my job a lot better. Okay. Gotcha. Yeah. My passion is catching footballs, and I still have four years of eligibility at age 52. So I, I'll send you some videos of some, some catches I, used to make probably probably not not gonna get an NIL deal anytime soon. If Ohio State needs a walk on, then then I'll tell them who to call. Ohio State up and down. Where wherever I can find a spot, I'll go. But, you know, you you kinda talk, a lot in your, you know, in your bios here of, you know, like, the processed foods and the things that most kids are exposed to. Even some of the things that are healthy are really not healthy. I kinda wanna go after the people that determine what the serving sizes are of, of some of these snacks that you buy, you know, at the airport where you think you're buying, you know, a trail mix, but the trail mix has, you know, 10 serving sizes. And nobody folds that thing up nine times. So, you know, you get, like, a hundred grams of sugar, and you you kinda didn't even know it. So talk about something like the structural issues that we're fighting against, where we are kinda like in the you know, if we're looking at baseball, like, what inning are we in Mhmm.

4:17 And actually educating people, and then the the path that you're taking to try and create change. No. Absolutely. You know, I think, you know, first off, to to call out kind of the access versus education kinda, I guess, barriers that there are for all of us. And some of that is by design. You know, you may live in a part of town where certain resources, whether it be a studio or better for you food or fresh produce and so on and so forth simply isn't available. And then there's also the simply just being misled, which many of us consumers are. And a lot of times, we end up finding solutions from trial and error and having to kind of bang our heads up against the wall for a while before we really find what works for us. But, you know, I think because of the long sort of winding road that has been the emergence of better for you brands and them kind of a lot of leaders or producers in the space kinda undoing a lot of the knots and kinda webs that were tied up by big codes that were making products purely for profit, not really with the consumer's needs in mind. I think we're we're in the fifth inning. I would say we're at this interesting sort of halfway point where you're seeing the rise in things like social fitness, the loneliness epidemic that's kinda being solved with the emergence of things like outdoor affinity groups, whether it be running or hiking or walking.

5:40 But then you're also seeing the sober curious movement sort of bubble up as well, obviously. You know, we have athletic growing to thank for that. The advocacy around plant based living, whether it be for health or environmental reasons, and then simply, I think, all in all, the commodification of the healthy lifestyle is something that is uber aspirational and requires a massive, you know, financial commitment in order to be able to maintain. It's making a lot of us sort of lean on each other and I would say call on what our community leaders are providing to be able to make some of these resources or information just a bit more digestible for for lack of a better word. No pun intended. But to make it something that isn't seen as, just something that is a lifestyle for a specific group of people, but a lifestyle we can live by simply adopting a certain type of ideals as well as habits. You know, when you started the company and for everyone here, spoonful,uh,.life and started mostly with with breakfast, and and and oatmeal. You know, when entrepreneurs have a passion for for doing something, they feel like conviction and, hey.

6:51 I'm gonna devote my life to this. Sometimes they don't say, like, hey. The there there's alternatives out there, and I could just buy these products. What was kind of the the the the inflection point or, like, the turning point for you to say, like, yeah. I might be able to go buy x y z brand, but, like, I wanna do it my way, and it solved frustrations for me. And I know that there are a lot of people similar to me, and therefore, I'm gonna be an entrepreneur, you know, in the food industry instead of base you know, basically just changing my habits and, you know, buying certain other brands that that might fulfill what I'm trying to fulfill. Definitely. So I first had the idea for Spoonful while I was still working at a gym called Dog Pound in New York City. So it was doing their Instagram and helping them build community and really cool partnerships, but, you know, noticed that our food and bev selection wasn't totally emblematic of the values around f and b that our customers would want. So I just started to kinda question why was there kinda seemingly this gap in product availability.

7:57 And once we were able to bring some of these better for you things into the fold, seeing the branding and just simply the positioning and messaging that a lot of these brands were kinda taking on, and I felt like there's a lot more unhealthy people out there than people that are considered, you know, by the by the letter, you know, healthy. So if this is something that isn't totally working because the prevailing kind of sentiment that unhealthy people have around healthy food is it lacks taste, it lacks flavor, it lacks fun, and it takes a bit of the enjoyment out of food. So what about a brand can put a lot of those concerns at bay and offer something that is healthy, delicious, convenient, accessible, comprehensive without compromising on any of those things that make food enjoyable for us. And just as I started to kinda look around and started working more in the, I would say, like, the established brand space, I was actually working for Spartan at the time, taking on a contract, doing some content around the release of their first training shoe. And as I was in their office and they had this massive snack selection, but a lot of it was dry goods. There was some fresh fruit, but other than your apples, your oranges, your bananas, you had a lot of the like you just described earlier, the airport snacks. So I felt like even in this uber performance oriented kind of professional atmosphere, there isn't a lot of thought around freshness.

9:29 So as I'm still, you know, enjoying the benefits of working in this, you know, great office space, I'm still bringing my food to work with me. So I felt like this is really something that clearly me as the performance person, as the gym head, found a lot of value in, but I felt like maybe I'm not seeing it from the right perspective because my worldview is a bit more narrow. But once I, you know, left working in a gym and was out in the corporate world and kinda saw this need in an even in an even deeper sense, I felt like, alright. Maybe there's something really, really here, and the trick is to tow this line from a positioning and a branding sense where you're able to appeal to a wide variety of consumers without compromising on any of the things that matter as a company. And that's really where your kind of magic can be found, and that's where Spoonful was born. This is Pete Moore. I wanna let you in on a little secret. There's this company called Promotion Vault, and what they do is they give out rewards from retailers that allow you to incentivize your members without having to do zero down and one month free or giving away shakes or giving away t shirts. What you wanna do is build a rewards program that lasts, that people value, and that doesn't discount your own products and services. So here's the deal.

10:51 There's something called rewards vault. The rewards vault is going to allow a member to set up their own profile. They are going to answer questions. You are gonna get those answers. You're gonna be able to target those members, and you're gonna reward them inside your club, inside your spa, and outside of the club, and outside of the spa to get them to become loyal, to get them to pay their monthly dues, and to be rewarded properly for the actions. A lot of companies are cutting back on rewards. You shouldn't be. Promotion Vault's your answer. Trust me. This is real. I'm still shocked when I sometimes buy, like, a new protein bar or, like, a protein, like, Pop Tart that I'm trying to figure out. Did anyone taste test this thing before they they put it on the shelf? Because it's it's it dries your mouth up or just like I don't know whose taste buds it it actually appeals to.

11:46 So I'm kinda shocked by that. Maybe they're actually not the user. They're just, like, the processor of it. It it it shocks me. I think I might be I might be that user to to shamefully admit. I mean, I'm one of the small percentage of people that I think if it helps me hit my nutrient my nutrition goals, then I'll eat something that tastes like dirt, or I'll eat something that may not be the best, but I don't wanna do it all the time. But you're absolutely right. Like, it it doesn't go far. It doesn't appeal to nearly as many people as I'm sure those brands will will want to. Yeah. So, you know, you started the company. You know, you started doing this kind of moonlighting to to an extent, now doing this full time. Yeah. Building a a a consumer brand, obviously, you know, it costs a lot of money, to market consumers. You know, you go grassroots. You guys are out of out of Brooklyn. Obviously, there's a lot of density, you know, in the tri state area that could build a business, you know, in and of itself, not necessarily, you know, needing to go nationwide.

12:43 But what are some of the, maybe shortcuts or, you know, areas of, influence that you were able to get into that helped you validate, hey. I can actually put a decent amount of volume through, on Spoonful. And then, you know, what the percentage of people that, you know, wanna eat oatmeal and, you know, a lot of people don't eat breakfast now, might just have a cup of coffee. So so how did how did you kinda think about your entry point? Mhmm. And then how do you spend as as an early stage company, you know, your money wisely to get get the brand out there? Yeah. Yeah. No. Second part is amazing question. We could go go all day about it. But the first part is I thought about all the moments that I've been in between work and home, needed something fresh, and thought about where do I go buy those things. But to take it a step further, I thought about where can I go buy those things that my competition wouldn't be? Because I think about your coffee shops, your smoothie bar, your juice bar, some specialty grocers if they're, you know, niche enough. But I looked at places that had an amazing reputation in the community because I felt like I wanna be seen as favorably as the places that people go and buy my product are. And I'm able to achieve that through some sort of, you know, similar kind of association that doesn't really happen with grocery stores unless

14:17 you're Erewhon, for example. But that loyalty to your bagel place, to your coffee shop, You go in there. You get the same thing. The people know who you are, and some of your identity or even your friendships might be cultivated or built around you frequenting this place of business. So I felt like because of who I knew would take to a product like Spoonful and just, you know, had a gut feeling, I looked at all the cafes that had that type of affinity in their community and then just looked at places that had very limited food and beverage selections. I thought it was going to be incredibly capital intensive to go into a grocery store shelf and do all the marketing and promotions and demoing around my product that I would have to do to get people to notice versus I can just drop this thing off, merchandise it thoughtfully, and it sells. And I was able to do that over and over and over again at a handful of places in New York and The Hamptons. And where I really felt like I found something was we launched in we launched in April of twenty twenty two, and I wanna say maybe in June, we got our first account in The Hamptons, and the place sold out of their first order in a day. And that place was actually charging, I wanna say, maybe 2 to $3 more per unit than any other place that was carrying spoonful at the time. So I felt like not only is the product selling because it's meeting a need for people, but it's also something that clearly when positioned right and sold in the right

15:48 place, people are willing to pay far above the category average for. So I need to now find more places that validate that position as premium and be super selective about how we roll that out so people understand why we're different from, you know, the biggest competitor or the leader in our category, which is sold for $2 at every Whole Foods and Sprouts around the country. Can't compete with that. So had to stand out a different way. Yeah. You know, a lot of people I I used to work for a guy who said, you know, once you give up on once you give on price, you never get it back. So being a premium brand I can't And also Yes. Also also being local, how much do you think that matters? And if you think about, like, the beer industry Mhmm. Your craft beer industry, a lot of the craft beer brands are now owned by some of the larger players because they couldn't really replicate that affinity and that grassroots following. Some of them botched it.

16:48 Some of them have have held true to it by not people not knowing. You know, it's owned by N. I. Bush or what have you. Yeah. How how important is that? And and how important as an entrepreneur, because a lot of people come up with business plans and they'll do marketing. You know, the fact that you, you know, Bradley walk in and you're like, yo, who's behind this brand? It's like me. Like, I'm the guy. Like, we're actually building a relationship. I'm not like you're not a vendor. You know, I'm like a partner. How do you kinda tow the line with that? And how important is, you know, face to face selling? In the early days, I would say for an emerging brand, it's everything. Yeah.

17:30 Because it's great to be able to build up this base of business, pass it off to your distributor. And now when you walk into these places, people know you, people remember you, you have that equity, and you're able to ask for things. The thing that I had to get used to being a very antsy, you know, bootstrap company was, at the end of the day, even though people are buying a finished product, it's still all about relationships. Yep. So going into Fairway on the Upper West Side and getting to know the category managers, getting to know the people that stock the product, getting to know the people that are most closest to your product before it gets to the consumer, I felt like, a, they would be able to tell me a lot of useful things that I may not be able to find out on an industry blog or on a podcast, but from somebody that's really in it doing it every day.

18:21 But then, you know, also realizing when something goes wrong, it's a pretty tough conversation to have with somebody when you walk into their store and say, this is messed up and we gotta fix it, and that's the first time you're meeting them. Yeah. Yeah. So so to be able to have that rapport with somebody before you go in and ask for favors or in spoonful's case, we do a lot of community events, so we do different outreach whether we partner with a run crew or we host a meditation or we wanna do a meetup for founders, knowing that I'm bringing this kinda added layer of value to your establishment other than, hey. I got this product. I gotta make money. Sell it. But, hey. I really care about being in your store. We're only choosing to be in a handful of places right now, and you really fit that criteria.

19:09 And I'm willing to invest by making sure everybody in my community knows that you can buy a spoonful here. And there's not many places in the entire city that I'm gonna be able to say that about. So I think investing in that and I wouldn't say making them feel special, but making them feel like the relationship matters to you and the business. Mhmm. You know, as you look at, expanding your team and bringing on salespeople, I feel like there's there's a culture of, you know, oh, I sent a text message. Oh, I sent an email. You know, I'm all for There's all about that. This person's name? Do you know, like, do you know how to sell? Do you know how to build a relationship? You know? And if you're taking my product or my service and you're you're taking it off of your menu, you know, you're breaking up with me. Right? Because because I I know I'm fulfilling a good product, and and you're basically, like, you know, trying to save, like, 25 or 50¢. Like, that's not what it's all about here. Are you finding the people that you wanna find, or how hard is it to find people that are passionate that also could kinda that that are aggressive, but not annoyingly aggressive, but are relationally aggressive, I guess, is a term that I just made up. I like that. I like that. Those people have found me. Nice. One of the, good piece of advice that I got from a gentleman by the name of Jeff Hoffman. He's a cofounder of Priceline. He said, with when it comes to finding and

20:41 hiring good talent, anybody you want is already gonna have another job. So what are you going to do, whether it's directly or indirectly, to create something and facilitate a relationship where that person feels like this is so worth it, or I believe in this thing so much, I'm willing to let go of my current position to explore this new opportunity. And my mind has always been on making sure that I'm building that to the best of my ability. And I've heard from other founders, and, you know, Jeff kinda validated it with me as well. But if you do that continuously and own that, the people will come to you simply saying, well, how can I help? I believe in this thing. I love what you're doing. I've seen you over here in this place or that place. My friends talk about you. I've tried the product, and I think it tastes great. Are you hiring? What do you need? How can I help? And those are the best kind of relationships because there are people that, like you said, are, you know, relationally relation relationally aggressive.

21:46 But it's a good kinda hunger where I feel like I'm able to empower this person with all the technical things, and I don't have to worry too much about motivating them, teaching them, making them, you know, look around corners or find the things that really make their job worthwhile and have the highest impact for the company. All of that stuff kinda comes naturally, and I'm able to just be more of a, you know, technical guardrails around processes and just sharing information and keeping everybody up to speed. This is Pete Moore. Here's the last tip for you of the podcast. We are partnered up with a company called Higher Dose, higher dose dot com. They are the leader in workout recovery products, infrared technology, LED light masks, neck enhancers, and other products such as PEMF mats and sauna blankets.

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23:27 You know, when you take a look at any business, whether it's a food or whether it's a beverage that are going into, you know, small establishments, and I've I've invested in some companies, I've looked to invest, and there's always just, like, working capital, you know, wall that you have to climb. Yeah. You know, given given your background as a as an entrepreneur, have you found a lot of either, you know, inventory based lending? Have you found investors that are saying, hey. I'll help you kinda bridge that working capital, wall and and that, you know, basically, that timing of of when you get paid and how much product you have out there? And and how how do you feel about the current environment? There's a there's a lot of groups out there that say, hey. We're, you know, we're here. We're gonna work with, you know, strong, you know, growth companies in in CPG. And then when you get down to the terms, it's like, you know, is did is there a was there is this a typo? You know, either in, like, you know, the interest rate or, you know, the payback schedule or, you know, if I take this money, I'm not even sure if my margin, you know, could cover the the the capital cost. Right. So how have you have you been able to overcome that? Or, you know, is it do you see any, other people that understand, like, hey. I might I need to help you bridge this.

24:43 And once I get to a certain level, you know, kind of the working capital engine kinda will feed itself. Yeah. We so we've been a % bootstrapped to date. We recently closed on investment from Pharrell Williams and the owners of the Brooklyn Nets. So, a really kinda fortunate breakthrough for us there. So we won't be bootstrapped for too much longer. But to this point, I haven't been able to actually secure a lot of, I guess, loans, you could say, or inventory financing purely because we just haven't made enough revenue. And it's almost been a chicken or the egg where you say, well, I need money to make more rev make more inventory so I can sell and make more revenue, and then I'll be at the benchmark. But you have to find you know, kinda find a way. And, thankfully, I've leaned on my network for little bridges here and there, but I've also been lucky enough to you know, because of our b two b kind of focus, we've been able to have a bit more, I think, recurring revenue than a retail business might because I know that every week, these 24 offices are buying x amount of cases from me. So that recurring revenue is something that, as an emerging brand, I definitely kind of encourage some founders to go after and look at because, like you said, grocery stores really don't have an incentive to keep you on. It's purely about margins and relationship, but the office manager that you know, everybody in BCG or, Conde Nast,

26:16 everybody loves Spoonful. She might be a little more reluctant to totally ax the budget on breakfast knowing what the employees might say and the way people might ask about it. So even if it's a right sizing of a budget or a, you know, slight reduction in that revenue, it's not a total pulling the rug out from underneath us. So our business model has definitely allowed us to have a bit more cash flow that kinda steadily comes in, but we've definitely had to sacrifice on scale to be bootstrapped and simply just pass up on a lot of opportunities to get a new doors because of everything you described in terms of whether it be the payback schedule, the lack of manpower to think if we go into this account, do we have the boots on the ground to guarantee that velocity and ensure that sell through? If we don't, how much is it gonna cost? Can we afford it? And if not, then it's just gonna have to be a thank you. I really appreciate it.

27:13 Not right now, and let's keep the line open. And when we're ready, we would love to circle back and see what we can do. So I think it's required a lot of discipline and kind of rigor, but I think it's put us in a really good place to really just go after things that we know will work, things that we know will provide value to our customer, things that are positive for our margins that aren't too cost intensive, and it allows us to continue to tell our story and kind of fortify our position. And those are the kind of filters that we've run through aside from how many doors can this bring us in or what's the size of this PO and a lot of other things that maybe top line get founders super excited. But then six months from then, we kinda look up and say, shit. Was this was this the rest of the idea? Yeah.

28:01 Yeah. Well, Well, congrats on what you built. Sounds like you've done it very methodically. I love the idea of going into these places that, you know, you frequent and, that, you know, wanna feel like they've got some, you know, pseudo exclusivity, if you will. And when this podcast launches, we'll do a we'll do a big pitch to, to some of the office, you know, the building managers and the, and and the companies that you know about this and try and get you Thank you. Some more distribution. And, you know, before you do any deals with any health clubs, or cafes, let's, you know, ping me, please. I'll tell you if that's a good idea or not. Sometimes they they say that they could provide more volume than they actually can.

28:42 We'll we'll we'll sidebar about of our recommendations. I appreciate it. And we use this term halo, health active lifestyle outdoors. We're trying to solve loneliness, obesity, and diabetes. And a big big portion of that is, you know, what you put in your body, you know, what time of day, and at at what, what portion control. So great to have you on, man. Glad we met. Dave Ganel, and thanks for making this happen. Thank you. And, we could definitely we definitely talk for hours, and let's, let's plan to get together in, in person at some point. We'll we'll have to sit down in person and and dive into it a bit more, I think. Awesome. Alright, man. We'll keep doing you good things and, this affects a lot of people probably more than you know. So congrats on what you built and, love a good entrepreneurial story where, you know, you kinda kinda know the road that you have to be on and that you don't deviate from it. So some of the the best decisions are the ones you don't jump into. I've done a lot of deals where you take on accounts and you're like, oh, if I got the Gold's Gym brand, you know, everything's gonna work out and then you realize, like, it's not profitable and it's efficient license.

29:43 And, you know, you stay on the right path and, don't make mistakes, you're you end up in a good place. So congrats, man. Good stuff. Glad to meet you. I appreciate it. Likewise. Hopefully, I'll see you guys soon. You got it. Alright, bud. Thank you. Spoonful.life.