Latest / Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast) / Partake Founder Denise Woodard shares her key learnings in building the allergy friendly cookie company that Rihanna and Jay Z invested in

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Partake Founder Denise Woodard shares her key learnings in building the allergy friendly cookie company that Rihanna and Jay Z invested in · Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast)

• 0:00
  This is Denise Woodard for Female Startup Club. Hey everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. I'm your host, Doona Roshin, and joining me on today's episode is Denise Woodard, founder of Partake Foods.
• 0:24
  Partake is a U.S.-based line of super yummy snacks that are also gluten-free, vegan, and allergy-friendly. The company was founded in 2017 by Denise when her then one-year-old daughter Vivian was diagnosed with several food allergies. Now in more than 6,000 retail stores across the U.S., including Target and Whole Foods, Partake is on a mission to make better-for-you safe snacking enjoyable, inclusive, and accessible.
• 0:48
  In this episode, we chat about Denise's purpose-driven approach to creating her company, how she got the likes of Rihanna and Jay-Z investing in her business, and what the early grind looked like for her when she was just starting out. Before we jump into it, though, as you can probably tell in my recent episodes, I am dealing with a really bloody annoying cough, and I really struggled in this episode, so please accept my apologies. I am hoping it doesn't stick around for too much longer, and I am back in shape ASAP.
• 1:17
  And if you want to join other Female Startup Club listeners, I invite you to join us in our private Facebook group by searching Female Startup Club on Facebook or finding it in the show notes. And if you're enjoying these episodes, you also might like to check out our Hero Program for Entrepreneurs and Women in Progress. You can check out the Ads MBA on Female Startup Club to learn all about winning Facebook and Instagram ad strategies. Would love to know what you think. This is Denise for Female Startup Club.
• 1:45
  Denise, hi, hello, and welcome to the Female Startup Club podcast. Hello, thank you for having me. Thanks for being here. Tell us in a nutshell who you are and what your business actually is. Sure thing. So I'm Denise Woodard. I'm the founder and CEO of Partake Foods, a line of allergy-friendly snacks that was inspired by my daughter's experience with food allergies. Thank you.
• 2:09
  Wow. Let's definitely dig into that. When did this story kind of start? When were you having these thoughts about experimenting, creating food, edibles for your daughter?
• 2:21
  So I think it started, I had nearly a decade-long career at Coca-Cola. And as I started thinking about having a family, I loved the company, but not the products that I was responsible for selling. And I had the opportunity to move to their venturing and emerging brands division, where I got to work with entrepreneurial brands like Honest Tea and Zico Coconut Water. So I think that started the entrepreneurial bug a little bit before I even knew it. I'd always had a bit of a side hustle and just was always entrepreneurial in my thinking.
• 2:51
  but never had a scalable idea. And then my daughter Vivian came along and she turned six this week actually, but right around her first birthday in the summer of 2016, we learned that she has a lot of food allergies, most tree nuts, eggs, corn, and bananas. So very odd combination that makes it pretty hard to shop for her.
• 3:09
  And that summer, our nanny Martha, who's still with our family and has a little bit of equity in the business, was like, your daughter has the most boring diet ever. Why don't you give her anything fun? And then I started to tell her all of the woes of shopping the allergy-friendly aisle, how I couldn't find products that tasted good, how I couldn't find anything that had ingredients I felt good about. And...
• 3:28
  to not be diminishing of the brands that exist, because I'm thankful for the safe solution that they provide for kids with food allergies. But they were kind of lame. And I was like, my daughter's already going to feel self-conscious about her allergies. I'm not sending her to school with this stuff. And so I complained to Martha and her response was, you should start a food company. Love that. Shout out to Martha. Right. Love her. I would not be here today if it was not for her. Genius.
• 3:52
  And so when we're talking about kids with allergies or people with allergies, is it a big portion of the market? Are there lots of kids that have allergies? So 31 million Americans have food allergies.
• 4:04
  The incidence of peanut allergies specifically in kids is up about 400% over the past 10 years. The rate of food allergies in kids has doubled. And the rate of food allergies like newfound food allergies in adults has also increased. But over time, what we've learned with our brand is actually most of our customers don't have food allergies. And so there's a big combination of the two. People who are on a restricted diet, whether they're plant-based or gluten-free by choice or soy-free or whatever it may be,
• 4:30
  plus the millions of people who do have food allergies. I always love hearing that when it's like you have your target customer and, you know, who you have in mind to buy your product. And then in reality, who it actually is. There's always some difference there. But back to the story, where does it kind of kick off? You know, you have this moment. Martha says this comment. What happens next? When do you quit your job and be like, right, I'm committed to this?
• 4:56
  So a pretty serendipitous thing happened that weekend. I was at the zoo with my husband and daughter and I was telling my husband, Jeremy, you won't believe what Martha said. She thinks I should start a food company. And just like out of a movie, this gentleman who was in line in front of us turned around and was like, it sounds like you have a great idea there, young lady. You should enter this small business pitch competition. Yeah.
• 5:16
  And that was a Saturday afternoon. The deadline to enter was that Monday, the following Monday, really late. I incorporated a business that at the time I was calling Vivi's Life because all I knew was that I wanted to make my daughter Vivi's Life easier. And I entered the pitch competition with just an idea and we won. And it came with a $10,000 prize, which was fantastic. But it also, more importantly, came with some local press.
• 5:39
  And it forced me to tell my employer what I was working on because the last thing I needed was them to see me in the local newspaper, like woman starts allergy friendly food company. And it gave me the kick in the butt I needed to leave corporate America because they were like, yeah, that's a really nice idea. But as soon as you have a product, you have to leave because there'll be a conflict of interest. Otherwise, I probably would have tried to turn the business into a side hustle. And so
• 6:01
  I had a year to get things off the ground in terms of finding a place to make the product, figuring out a name and packaging. And then in August of 2017, I left my job at Coca-Cola and launched Partake. Holy moly. It's cool that you still had that year, though, to kind of have that buffer and really transition out of the company and into the startup. The income definitely helped. Yes, I'm sure.
• 6:24
  What were the first key kind of steps into getting started, you know, when it comes to producing the product and the recipes and the branding? So producing the product and the recipes were probably the two biggest challenges. Because our products are top eight allergen free, it was really important to me that we produce our cookies in a top eight allergen free facility. And there's not very many. There's about two in the United States. And they typically don't work with startups who are just random women who are calling cold emailing them and calling them.
• 6:53
  And so getting them to agree to work with us was a big challenge for us. And then the other big challenge was Martha and I got into the kitchen and failed horribly. And then I started to realize why most of the gluten-free stuff that exists is full of sugar and xanthan gum and starches, because it's really hard to formulate without it. And so thankfully, we were able to find a professional who still helps with innovation and leads all things development for Partake to bring my vision to life. Wow.
• 7:19
  And was all that expensive, you know, like getting the formulation and having that consultant helping you and producing? The consultant? No, she took pity on me. She is an equity holding member of the company now. And I think she also really believed in the mission. And she knew that we were in a strong financial position to pay her a ton, but that if we could get this off the ground, there would be a much bigger opportunity. And thankfully, she was willing to take a leap of
• 7:48
  with the production facility, there was a bit of a chicken and egg situation. They didn't want to work with us. And so I was like, well, how can I prove that people want this product? And I ran a Kickstarter campaign and we finished in the top 1% of food Kickstarters. And I was able to go back to them and say, hey, look, people want this product. And so that paid for most of the initial production run as well. Wow. Are you able to share any kind of numbers around how much that kind of thing costs?
• 8:14
  Yeah. So the Kickstarter raised $30,000. And so the bulk of that went to actually fulfilling the product and making the product. Cool. And how many products were there from that first batch? We launched with three flavors of cookies. Cool. I want to switch into, you know, the launch and the marketing side of things to find out what that early grind was like and how you were really getting the word out there about your brand and finding your customers.
• 8:41
  Grind is definitely the right word to describe it. We were a self-funded, self-distributed business when we started, which meant I kept cookies in a storage unit near my house in a climate-controlled storage unit, and I self-distributed them. I would fill up the back of my car every day, and I would take them to natural food stores across the city. And our entire marketing strategy was built around doing demos and local events, getting as close to the point of purchase as possible.
• 9:06
  letting customers try the product, letting customers hear the story. I think whenever we first launched, I was like, all my friends were like, well, what are you going to do for social media? And are you going to have a really fancy photo shoot? And all of that sounded really glamorous and really fun, but it wasn't what moved the needle from a marketing perspective. We were in such a limited geography that it wouldn't make sense for me to invest all of our dollars on Instagram ads. What I needed to do was get into those 50 stores that we were in,
• 9:31
  Let people know that our products were there. Let them try the product. Let them meet the people behind the company. And that was our entire marketing strategy for the first nine months. Wow. And so when you say you were driving and like going to these stores, were you just literally walking in with your product and being like, hey, can I have a meeting? Or were you trying to set up meetings before you went there?
• 9:50
  No, I was literally walking in and saying like, I have my book bag or like a tote bag. And like, hey, I started this company. Here's a sell sheet. This is why I'm doing it. This is why our products are different than our competitors. Can I leave samples with you? Will you give us a shot? The idea that the founder and CEO was coming in and like personally selling the product, I think
• 10:08
  even though some of the stores didn't want to give us a chance I think they just appreciated the hustle you know I would come in I would sell the product and I'd be like I'll do a demo tonight I'll come back this weekend and do another demo like I want to do whatever I can to help you sell this product I think they just appreciated the hustle totally love that and so at what point did it feel like oh things are really starting to move here like I'm definitely on to something
• 10:33
  It was probably maybe five months in. We were getting really positive feedback in the New York market. We were seeing how the product was performing against our competitors. And that gave me the confidence to begin to expand a bit more. And so the next summer, so the summer of 2018, we went into one region of Whole Foods, so about 45 Whole Foods stores. And then we went into a regional grocer called Wegmans.
• 10:54
  Holy moly. Cool. Whole Foods. That's like the goal, right? That was definitely the goal. That was I LinkedIn messaged every single person that worked at Whole Foods that had the title category manager until somebody took pity on me and introduced me to the right person.
• 11:11
  Um, and thankfully she was a fan of the product and our story and was willing to give us a shot. Ha, so cool. And you said a moment ago, you know, at the beginning, you weren't really focused on digital marketing. You weren't doing the likes of Instagram. When does that part of the story enter the picture and how was it going for you?
• 11:29
  So that didn't really enter the picture until 2019. We specifically chose Whole Foods and Wegmans because those were retailers that really supported demos. And we knew that that worked for us. It was cost effective. And so we ran the same play for those accounts that we did in those local stores in New York.
• 11:48
  In 2019, we raised our first round of outside institutional capital and began to grow distribution a bit more. And at that point, because our geographic footprint was spread out so much more, we did start to invest more in digital marketing. And so when you look back from that point in time to today, when you're thinking about digital marketing, what's really working for you at the moment? And what's your biggest driver for growth?
• 12:11
  So right now, text is working really well for us. Email and text are working really well. We definitely do do some paid social, some brand partnerships, creating a lot of content and sharing that across all social media channels. I think, you know, personally, I'm just really using Instagram and LinkedIn, but we're on
• 12:29
  Pinterest and TikTok and doing reels. And there's so many places. And because our distribution has grown so much, we're in about 6,000 stores now. It's important that we're supporting, like we're making customers aware of what we're doing and why we're doing it. And so we're really starting to play with all channels.
• 12:46
  We just completed a series A raise, which gave us the capital to be able to invest a bit more in marketing. And so we're still figuring out what's working or not. But we saw immediate success with text and email. So definitely doubling down there. I've actually had a few people recently talk about the SMS marketing piece of the puzzle. What platforms are you using for your email and SMS?
• 13:07
  We use Klaviyo for email and Attentive for SMS. We had been on MailChimp up until January of this year, and then we weren't doing SMS. And so it's just, it's pretty new as of 2021 that we've switched over to Klaviyo and brought on the SMS marketing.
• 13:23
  Most people that I ask that question, they have the same answer. I guess, you know, they're the leaders of their space and they seem to be, you know, ticking all the boxes. So far, so good. So far, so good. That's right. I want to switch topics now and talk a little bit more around your institutional funding, fundraise and the VC kind of world.
• 13:45
  I feel like, you know, we've all heard the stats about women in VC. Less than 2% of women have access to funding. And I think even less than 1% goes to women of colour, which is just, you know, terrible. And I think COVID didn't help. At this point, you've raised around $7.5 million in funding, I think I read. What have your key learnings been and what advice do you have for women who are going through this process or want to go through fundraising?
• 14:13
  So for me, I think what was really helpful was that we were willing to start small. We did that because I knew that it was going to be hard to raise money. And so we were able to have some tangible business metrics when we went out and approached investors, which I think helped a lot.
• 14:31
  I think the other thing that I've learned is to go where your community is and to work with people that want to work with you. I think my favorite investor meetings have been the ones where it's more of a conversation and they're really looking to get to know me as a person and why I'm doing what I'm doing and what the mission is behind the company. And whereas like, I feel like in the earliest of days, we had a lot of like angel investor meetings, which were almost like cattle calls. Like you have five minutes and then I'll,
• 14:56
  answer your answer, you know, and then we'll ask you questions and then get out of here and it's time for the next person. And that type of like transactional cold relationship just doesn't make for like a good partnership. And so for us, it's been really important to me to bring on investors that are very aligned with us from a mission perspective.
• 15:16
  And when you say, you know, they're looking for certain business metrics that you were hitting, what were those kind of metrics and what should you be aiming for before you start looking for funding? So I think that probably depends on what.
• 15:31
  each business and also how much access to personal capital that you have, because depending on that, you might be able to get a little bit further. For us, it was making sure that we had a really strong margin from the first day. It was making sure that our velocity and movement on shelf was really strong compared to that of our competition. And it was showing that we could get into the key accounts and the right retailers.
• 15:53
  And there was a social, like from a social media, I know initially we didn't focus on social media, but as we went into Wegmans and Whole Foods and kind of grew outside of the New York region, we did focus there a bit. And to show that like we were able to build a community outside of like the core customers that they would have expected would be interested in our product and that we were bringing new people to the category. And we were doing something that was different than our competitors. Yeah.
• 16:20
  Did you learn all this, you know, how to do this from your time at Coca-Cola? Like, how did you know what to do and, you know, learn the language and everything? Definitely a lot of learning on the job and trial by fire. I think there are some things that I learned at Coca-Cola that are really coming into play into the business now around processes and infrastructure, the importance of brand and making sure your brand is cohesive across every single touch point.
• 16:49
  A lot of it's not rocket science. It was math around like, how much does it cost me to make the product? Then how much can I sell it for to get this good margin? How much does that leave for me to invest in marketing, doing a competitive analysis? And a lot of that was just natural because I was my own consumer. And so I was just me grocery shopping was a competitive analysis because I was trying to figure out what my daughter could safely eat and what products appealed to our family.
• 17:12
  So there was that piece. There was also lots of thankfully there were so many people that were willing to chat with me about my experience and share best practices, things that they wish they would have done differently. And so getting comfortable with being vulnerable about what I needed help with and then going out and asking for help and getting resources, I think was really helpful. Is there anything that you wish you've done differently when you look back?
• 17:36
  Not necessarily related to fundraising, but like I wish I would have enjoyed the journey more because I didn't realize how quickly it could change. I complained when I had to do all those demos and I have to fill up the back of my car. But gosh, that's actually a lot more fun some days than like building this financial model that I'm working on or like going through Excel spreadsheets. And now we have team members and resources, which I'm so thankful for. But it's very different.
• 17:59
  And so I feel like I spent so many parts of the journey wishing for the next one. Like when we were selling in New York, I was like, gosh, I can't wait till we get in the Whole Foods and we got in the Whole Foods. I was like, gosh, I can't wait till we expand. And I think if you spend all your time looking forward to the next thing, you don't get to actually appreciate the moment that you're in. That's so true. You really need to focus on the journey, not that destination and not that goal. Kind of have it as the guiding star, but, you know, focusing on the day to day.
• 18:27
  Did I read you have investors like Rihanna and Jay-Z in your business? You did, which is so crazy. But yes, we do. That is so crazy. Can we just take a moment to bask in that glory for you? Holy moly. How? Why? Tell me.
• 18:45
  I think it goes back to that mission alignment. You know, whenever we were out trying to raise our seed round of funding, we got nearly a hundred no's and we were introduced to Marcy Venture Partners of which Jay-Z is a co-founder. And we just immediately clicked. They understood our mission. They enjoyed our products. They believed in me as a founder and they treated it as a partnership. And that really changed the trajectory of our business. Having the brand awareness of being associated with Marcy Venture Partners, having the capital to then be able to go
• 19:14
  grow distribution, it was a game changer for us. I bet. Is Marcy, Marcy, is that what you said? Marcy? Marcy Ventures, is that how you also got connected to Rihanna? Yes. So through our relationship with Marcy, they were able to help introduce us to Rihanna. So cool. Love that for you. I'm always interested to know what are the kinds of challenges that you're dealing with at this stage of your business? You know, you're a few years in, you've gone through some incredible growth.
• 19:45
  What's hard for you now? Team building. So we started 2020 with me as the only employee. We are seven right now, two new folks starting next month, hiring for three additional roles. So I can see a line of sight to being 20 people. And we're doing all of this in a virtual environment while the business is moving really quickly. And so making sure our employees have a chance to get to know each other and understand how
• 20:11
  that what we're doing is much greater and for a much bigger purpose than just like making cookies and baking mixes and really making sure that we convey that and take the time to get to know each other and appreciate each other in a really fast moving virtual environment.
• 20:25
  Yeah, gosh, it's so weird to think that you've, you know, potentially only met these people online and never in person. I hadn't even considered that kind of unique challenge during COVID, especially if you're in a situation where you're scaling and growing. Wow. What's going to happen when you go back to the office? You're going to have to shake hands. We're going to have lots of fun. And I think so. I can't wait to see humans again in real life. I know. That's so weird. Goodness. Yeah.
• 20:54
  So with that in mind, your team is growing, things are all happening. Where is the business today and what does the future look like for you? Sure. So the business today is we have 10 flavors of cookies. We just launched a baking mix and a brownie mix. We have some additional SKUs coming out in that baking mix category this spring. We're going to start launching our first innovation outside of cookies and that will live in the snack aisle later this year.
• 21:21
  We're in about 6,000 stores right now. So you can find us nationally in Trader Joe's and Target and Kroger. And our goal is to continue to grow our distribution across the United States and to make products that live in every aisle of the grocery store. And then, you know, from a social mission perspective, the things that are really important to us are working to eradicate childhood food insecurity and increasing diversity in the natural food space. So we're going to double down on those efforts. And hopefully as our business grows, we'll be able to positively impact more people. Ah.
• 21:51
  Love it. Sounds incredible. Something just came into my mind from what you said really early on in this chat at the beginning about, you know, allergies increasing and, you know, this kind of thing. Why are they increasing? What's different? So there's a few theories. One thing that I learned as my family was on this journey is food allergies don't get a lot of research funding. But I think as this number of people increases, there'll be more research funding and we'll get some real
• 22:21
  Our society is too clean. And so like our immune system doesn't have a chance to like build up appropriately. There's some ties to like gut health, GMOs and food, which I don't know that that would be the theory I would lean on because we see the same growth in food allergies in Europe and Australia and other places outside of the United States. I don't know. I wish I knew, but I'm hoping that as more people are unfortunately affected by this, more research will go into it and hopefully we can fix it and stop it.
• 22:50
  Totally. And does Vivian help with your product development? Is she at an age where she's asking for things that she wants you to make? Yes. So apparently we have to make cinnamon rolls. I don't know how we're going to make that happen. But yes, Vivian definitely has a list of demands and she is still our chief taste tester. Love that for her.
• 23:11
  What advice do you have for women who have a big idea and want to start their own business? Don't let perfection get in the way of progress. I was very guilty of that. When we launched, I thought we should have a very fancy, splashy launch and the product had to be perfect. And I didn't love the packaging. And there were so many things I couldn't afford to do the exact way I wanted to do them.
• 23:33
  And I talked to a successful founder who gave me that advice. It was like, you're going to learn so much when you actually just get the product out there from your customers. Like, just get started. And then you'll be able to learn and you'll be able to iterate and you'll be able to change things over time. And as your business grows, you'll be able to do all of these like fancy things that you want to do. But if you wait for the right time or when everything's perfect, you'll never get started.
• 23:57
  Gosh, it's so true. And I'm so guilty of it as well. The, you know, wanting to be perfect and being crippled by it to the point where, you know, it's just a disaster. Got to keep moving forward. Okay, we are up to the six quick questions part of the episode. Question number one is what's your why? Why do you do what you do?
• 24:19
  There's so many communities of people that have been underestimated and underrepresented and underfunded that I think if Partake has success, it will change the landscape of that and hopefully open the door a little bit wider for other people of color and other women that are coming along behind me on this entrepreneurial journey. Love it. Question number two is what do you think has been the number one marketing moment that made your business pop?
• 24:45
  Whenever we announced the $1 million investment from Marcy Venture Partners into our business, that was definitely a game changer for our business. Was that in terms of, you know, press or was it in terms of partnerships, new opportunities coming your way? What was that impact?
• 25:01
  It was, there was a lot of press. It also, I think with retailers that we'd been talking to for quite a while, gave us more credibility because they were like, oh, you actually have the funding. Oh, you actually have this new brand awareness that's come along with the celebrity partnership. And so I think it did both. It helped from a brand awareness perspective, but then gave us some business credibility with retail partners. That definitely packs a punch, I'm sure.
• 25:27
  Question number three is where do you hang out to get smarter? What have you been reading or listening to? My favorite podcast is one by VMG. Well, I'm going to start listening to your podcast too, but one that I've been listening to on my journey was VMG Partners has a podcast called Unfinished Biz and they interview so many of my favorite consumer package goods CEOs.
• 25:50
  Cool. I'm going to link it in the show notes for anyone who wants to check that out. Question number four is how do you win the day? And that's around your AM or your PM rituals that keep you feeling happy and motivated and successful. I start the day with meditation every single day. And I just started that since COVID and it has been a game changer for my mental health.
• 26:10
  And similarly, like during the day, if I'm feeling overwhelmed, I pull up a meditation app and just like take 15 minutes to myself, whether it's just like a guided meditation or walking or something, but like a way to just reset mentally when with all the things that are going on. Yeah, it's so key. I really want to become the person that can meditate, but I'm just not that person right now. Wish I was. Question number five is if you only had a thousand dollars left in your business bank account, where would you spend it?
• 26:40
  I would spend it on an email and text promotion to drive e-commerce sales. Nice. Love it. And last question, question number six is how do you deal with failure? What's your mindset and approach? I just view it as a part of the journey and an opportunity to learn. I think inevitably we're all going to face multiple failures on this journey and all of them are an opportunity to get stronger and to learn more.
• 27:10
  and to change what you do in the future. Denise, thank you so much for taking the time to be on Female Startup Club today and share your incredible journey. I've loved chatting with you. Same, thank you so much for having me.
• 27:25
  Hey, it's June here. Thanks for listening to this amazing episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. If you're a fan of the show and want even more of the good stuff, I'd recommend checking out femalestartupclub.com where you can subscribe to our free newsletter. We send it out weekly covering female founder business news, insights and learnings in D2C, and interesting business resources.
• 27:50
  And if you're a founder building an e-commerce brand, you can join our private network of entrepreneurs called Hype Club at femalestartupclub.com forward slash Hype Club. We have guests from the show joining us for intimate Ask Me Anythings, expert workshops, and a group of totally amazing, like-minded women building the future of D2C brands.
• 28:12
  As always, please do subscribe, rate and review the show and post your favorite episodes to Instagram stories. I am beyond grateful when you do that.
• 28:29
  Hey, it's Dune here. Thanks for listening to this amazing episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. If you're a fan of the show and want even more of the good stuff, I'd recommend checking out femalestartupclub.com where you can subscribe to our free newsletter. We send it out weekly covering female founder business news, insights and learnings in D2C, and interesting business resources.
• 28:54
  And if you're a founder building an e-commerce brand, you can join our private network of entrepreneurs called Hype Club at femalestartupclub.com forward slash Hype Club. We have guests from the show joining us for intimate Ask Me Anythings, expert workshops, and a group of totally amazing, like-minded women building the future of D2C brands.
• 29:16
  As always, please do subscribe, rate and review the show and post your favorite episodes to Instagram stories. I am beyond grateful when you do that.