Instant Noodles 2.0: Bringing Flavor, Health, and Sustainability to Your Favorite Comfort Food with Thuong Tan
Episode Description:
“I'm going to create something that I love and my friends’ love— because even on a bad day you have to wake up to run your business.” —Thuong Tan
Comfort food has the power to transport us, to soothe the soul, and to bring us back to simpler times. For many, that comfort comes in the form of a steaming bowl of noodles - a quick, satisfying meal that has stood the test of time. But what if we could reimagine this beloved staple to be both delicious and better for our bodies and the planet?
Thuong Tan, the visionary founder of Noodelist, has done just that. With a background in luxury branding and a deep-rooted passion for noodles, she's on a mission to elevate the instant noodle experience with a plant-based, sustainable solution that doesn't sacrifice flavor.
Tune in as Justine and Thuong discuss the journey of creating a healthier, more sustainable instant noodle, the challenges and triumphs of entrepreneurship, the power of branding and marketing to stand out in a crowded market, the benefits of having a co-founder, the importance of teaching young ones to eat healthy, and more.
Meet Thuong:
Thuong Tan is the founder of Noodelist, a plant-based instant noodle company that offers a healthier and more sustainable alternative to traditional instant noodles. With a background in international business and a passion for food, Thuong embarked on a mission to create a better-for-you instant noodle product that delivers on both taste and nutrition.
After completing her MBA in luxury branding, Thuong was inspired to leverage her marketing and branding expertise to develop Noodelist. The company's products feature clean, plant-based ingredients and are packaged in eco-friendly materials. Thuong's goal is to make nutritious and delicious instant noodles accessible to a wider audience, from busy professionals to health-conscious families.
Under Thuong's leadership, Noodelist has gained a loyal following for its innovative approach to a classic convenience food. Thuong continues to drive the company's product development and expansion into new distribution channels, with a focus on making a positive impact on people's diets and the environment.
Connect with NextGen Purpose:
Episode Highlights:
01:42 Loving Noodles
07:06 Walking the Entrepreneur Path
14:28 Challenges and Insights in Entrepreneurship
19:02 Marketing and Strategy
24:14 Building Healthy Habits to the Younger Generation
Resources:
💲Get a discount when you shop at Noodelist. Just use promo code: HAPPINESS
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Justine Reichman: (00:12):
Good morning, welcome to the Essential
Ingredients. This is Justine,and I'm so glad to be here with
you today. This morning, I haveThuong Tan, who is the Founder
of Noodelist. This is her secondcareer. She started this because
she has a passion for noodles.She went back to school to get
her MBA. And when she did, therewas nothing else she could
imagine doing than building abetter-for-you instant noodle
(00:35):
solution. I don't know aboutyou, but I used to love instant
noodles. The ones that came inthe styrofoam container, the
ones with all the MSG and allthe flavor, and it would
literally take three to fiveminutes. So a front new solution
is a better for you solution,gluten free, vegan, vegetarian,
all sorts of better for you waysto eat the instant noodles,
including not in a Styrofoamcup. So you're going to want to
(00:58):
stay tuned for this. Can't waitto speak with you here and hear
from new on tan about the noodles.
Well, Thuong, thank you so muchfor joining me. I know it took
us a little bit to get thiscoordinated, but I think our
guests are going to be pleasedto get to know you, learn more
about you, and hear all aboutnoodles. A plant based instant
soup with noodles, which I hadthe pleasure of trying, and I
(01:22):
was super excited to do that. Sobefore we go on, and before I
just awe over my new favoriteplant based noodle soup, I want
to give you an opportunity tointroduce yourself, talk a
little bit about the missionbehind noodles, and what
inspired you to start this plantbased instant noodle soup.
Thuong Tan: (01:42):
Thank you, Justine, and your amazing audience. Thank
you for having me to thispodcast. So my name is Thuong
tan. That's a Vietnamese name,half Chinese who grew up in
Finland. So the personal passionwas that I always say that I'm
an Asian born who can livewithout rice, and I grew up in
Finland where the starch ispotatoes. I'm not big a fan of
(02:05):
potatoes either. I've been inSilicon Valley for 20 years
where my friends go out forburritos and tacos. I'm like,
not that fan either. What do Ieat and love? Noodles. I've
always been a noodle girl,spoiled by my mom's homemade
Vietnamese noodle soup. I moveout early because I'm in two
(02:26):
steps for International Studiesand travel, and I don't cook. So
my go-to since I was eight. Ofcourse, I start learning to cook
snacks, instant, when I waseight, but I didn't cook. So my
go-to noodles is instantnoodles.
Justine Reichman: (02:41):
I remember those.
Thuong Tan: (02:42):
Yeah, that's your quick one. But then 10 years
ago, I did my MBA in luxurybranding that happened in
Shanghai, and I got a light bulbpulp coming up when there was a
marketing project to dosomething with the 7P of your
favorite products. Of course,instant noodles. What really
(03:03):
amazed me was 100 billions morenow of servings of instant
noodles are consumed every yearglobally. 100 billion? And then
I went back to the shelves anddid a quick snow like
benchmarking. They're all thesame brands. I mean, the level
are the same. Lots of brands.I'm in Silicon Valley, San
(03:24):
Francisco, everything is thepremierfy, healthify, the
version of it, but not instantnoodle, which everybody knows
and loves. So I thought, hmm,maybe there's a niche for better
for you instant noodles. And I'm40 something, and my friends
have teenage kids that loveinstant noodles, but my friends
(03:46):
wouldn't buy them, thetraditional that's out there,
because the moms being a goodmom and dad, high sodium, low
nutrition, it's no way. So thatwas my first spark. Yes, there's
a need for better for you. Andgrowing up in Finland where we
are very good with recycling andsustainable, and ao our mission
(04:08):
was to make something healthierwith the sustainable packaging.
And my personal mission is, lifeis too short for a plant tasting
food, so not healthy is NOT. ithas to be tasty as well.
Justine Reichman: (04:22):
I couldn't agree more. And I remember as a
kid when you don't know how tocook, and all you know how to do
is heat up water, right? Howeasy were those oodles noodles.
And then as you got older andyou're in college, you're like,
oh, these are so cheap. I canbuy these by the dozens. What
were they? 99 cents or somethingforever ago? There was a lot of
salt. As you were saying, a lotof different things. And if I
(04:45):
remember correctly, originally,the packaging was styrofoam.
Thuong Tan: (04:49):
It is. That was amazing invention back in the
days, how the Japanese gotAmerican audience to eat the
noodles. It is the convenience,so hats off to the innovation of
instant noodle to begin with.That's a five minute thing. And
then the cup to go. But thenthese days, oh, no. Styrofoam is
so bad.
Justine Reichman: (05:08):
So bad. It sounds like your roots run
pretty deep into being betterfor you and sustainable part of
the ethos of who you weregrowing up. It sounds like you
really aligned that with this.So when you started to do this,
it sounded like you were inbusiness school, and this came
out of that. Were you thinkingabout what should you start?
(05:30):
Were you in a place where you'relike, okay, it's time for me, I
want to kick off a new business?
Thuong Tan: (05:36):
Well, that's you. I'm not the traditional
entrepreneur, because I reallyloved the job that I just took a
year off to do. MBA and being inSilicon Valley inspired this.
Everybody has their own startupand idea. And if I would do
something, it has to besomething that I could wake up
every day, so it has to be food.And I love branding. I love
marketing. Up creating an actualproduct. And I don't code.
(06:00):
Anybody's coding, so when Igeek, but I love the food, and I
love the the branding. I alwaysadmire the story with the
packaging and the name of it. SoI'm like, yes, I'm gonna create
something that I love, myfriends love, because you have
to wake up even the bad days torun your product. So instant
noodles. It's boring to say thatyou're selling instant noodles.
(06:23):
So our tagline is, what are youselling? Or what do you want to
deliver? Taste of instant joy,instant happiness. Because I
don't know you, but when I'mhungry, I'm super angry. So when
I get my fix of noodles, Ibecame happy again. So we said
taste of instant happiness. Goback to the question, how did I
start it? I was 40 already, soit's now and ever. And I thought
(06:45):
I was very comfortable. I reallyloved the job, why would I do
this risk? But then you thinkback, what do you have to lose?
Money. I can go back to work,but I would always regret if I
didn't try. What would theinstant noodle 2.0 be if I
didn't just go and jump onto outof my comfort zone and do it?
And I did it.
Justine Reichman: (07:06):
Amazing, because so many people are
scared to take the leap. I waslistening to a Mel Robbins
podcast the other day, and shewas talking about when she had
listened to, I think, some otherpodcast. Jeff Bezos, I think it
was. I think that she wasquoting that if you look back
when you're 80, are you going tosay you're upset because you
(07:27):
didn't take the risk? Or becauseyou did take the risk? Odds are
you did. You're never going tobe upset that you took the risk
exactly to be upset with therisks she didn't take. And I
thought that was really true.For entrepreneurs, it almost
seems like settling to not beable. It is through what you
want.If it's to be better in theworld, if it's to make an impact
(07:49):
both on health, wellness or theplanet, not being able to do
that, I think really kills thesoul a little, right?
Thuong Tan: (07:57):
I look back, if I had more inspiration whatever's
in the 20s, and just somebodyjust inspired me, or just do it
back then, I should have done 20years ago. So whoever I'm
talking younger generation thatare 20s, not just say, go do it.
You will learn so much. Failingis learning, and you get so much
experience so just do it. Whatcan go wrong if you're willing
(08:18):
to do it and you have thatmindset, I think the universe
can align with you and yoursupport network, and it will go
well one way or another.
Justine Reichman: (08:26):
Think it's about drive too, right? Drive
ambition, and you really need tohave a lot of follow through. So
if you have an idea which youdid, you also were just going
through your MBA, so it reallysupported your idea and next
steps. But there's many peopleout there that don't have that.
(08:47):
What do you say from having yourMBA? Did it put you in a
different place, a differentmindset, to be able to take this
leap of faith?
Thuong Tan: (08:54):
It gave me a framework. I actually want to
learn. How do you luxurify,premiufy product? Because my
previous career was to helpfinish companies to enter the US
market. We have amazing product,amazing services, but we didn't
know how to package it. So Iwent to learn that. And not
knowing that, I got thatframework and inspiration to do
(09:16):
something that I love, to eatdaily, to make it a next level
product. So that was definitelyan inspiration.
Justine Reichman: (09:24):
Where would the inspiration from the plant
based come from?
Thuong Tan: (09:27):
My food scientist. Since I'm not from the industry,
all I know from the food is Ilove eating. What was the CPG
stand for? Consumer PackageGood. And so when we were
creating our soup based twoflavors, as I said before, first
and foremost is the taste. Ifeel sad like, how about plant
based? What do you mean by plantbased? You mean vegan? It was
(09:48):
like, no. If your mission is totrying to be more better for the
planet and sustainability, let'stry to make something not with
an animal. So you mean we'remaking a chicken flavor without
chicken? I was this skeptic, butI go for it at first. We did
tasting with the differentcustomer group, and they didn't
(10:10):
know that they were eating. Asoup chicken is soup base
without harming a chicken. SoI'm like, yeah, let's go for it.
And that was five years ago. Itwasn't plant based. Wasn't a
mainstream word yet. Target andWalmart didn't have plant based
category or section, so we wentfor that name.
Justine Reichman: (10:32):
you expand and maybe be gluten free? Or one
of the other?
Thuong Tan: (10:37):
We have two flavors now, and they are in Vietnamese
cuisine. It is inspiredlemongrass chicken ish, and then
kind of Tom Yum. And the thirdone, it will be my other
(11:00):
favorite noodle soup, it isVietnamese bunghua way, so it's
kind of beef ish. So that willbe the third one that we'll go
to gluten free. We already havea gluten free option. But then
the special about noodles is thegreen noodle made out of
moroheia super plant, which isEgyptian spinach. So that is the
(11:22):
(inaudible), but that makes thegreen color. And gluten free,
it's rice. So it's not thetraditional, if you have the
verystrict traditional ones. Butwe do have gluten free already,
Justine Reichman: (11:34):
I was using that as an example, or start a
launching off pad to understandwhere you guys are growing, and
what other things you hope tobring to the market?
Thuong Tan: (11:43):
I would add in some other flavors. Flavors is one,
and then it's frozen. I want topick different, that you already
have these garnish, it isalready there. Other Asian
inspired is, I eat a lot of beefjerky, but that's beef. It will
find something that's plantbased. So there are a lot of
(12:05):
well done jerkies made byshiitake mushroom. I would add
that as our garnish to boost upthe noodles meal. And actually,
my very original and how I gotmy first Angel check was like,
I'm gonna make instant noodlewith boosters. That was five
years ago. What do we humanneed? We need mind boosters to
(12:30):
work better. Muscle boosters. Ithink back then, I was using
like sex boosters or whatnot. Itwas sold. But soon to be serious
thing. I think I was testing myaudience, what if I have a
collagen boosted noodles orsomething that makes you healthy
that you boost in vitamin C,vitamin D, but we have that
(12:53):
already in our noodles. It's anamazing, super plan this morning
that's needs more marketing andcommunication.
Justine Reichman: (13:00):
Well, by the way, just to talk about your
marketing and your branding,it's beautiful. And it sounded
like that was a big part of yourskill set. I was looking at the
website and all the photographyand everything, it's just
beautiful. Did you do all that?
Thuong Tan: (13:15):
Yes, that's my third. I like Asian inspired
Silicon Valley mindset, and withthe Nordic design. Meaning, the
simplicity. So the branding andmarketing behind it look and
feel is Father and Son from WinWin design. So we did that
together. We wanted to stand outwith the packaging. If it would
(13:39):
be just brown color, it wouldn'tset out. So we went for the
premium black. And then the namethe noodles, there's an
empowerment with the name. Whenyou're hungry, you have a bowl
of Noodelist. Like the ISTending is like a cyclist. So
(13:59):
then when you're eating, be it aNoodelist. And once you eat,
then the noodle, and then Iwanted to one day become, if you
see Nike Swoosh, you don't needto read the NIKE, just the
Swoosh would tell you. So then Itell them to create a logo, a
symbol that one day people justrecognized by the symbol of the
Noodelist. So he put the N withthe hat, so that hat is your
(14:25):
empowerment. Wear whatever hatsyou want to become a novelist, a
cyclist, or optimist, whatnot.And then the little dog down
here, I have a fake dimple. I'mbiting my cheeks, but that's why
I like a happy mark. So we eatin our noodle bomb to become
happier. That's the logo standsfor.
Justine Reichman: (14:47):
That's really lovely. So when you kicked off
this company, you were inbusiness school. You were
talking to friends, and you cameup with this idea. And you had a
background in the luxury market,in branding and design. Kicking
off a new business, and being anentrepreneur, you need to tap
into so many different skills.What was that like, pivoting
(15:08):
from being an employee to beingan entrepreneur? Because I'm
sure that it's overwhelming.You're used to doing a job, and
now you're doing every job,almost.
Thuong Tan: (15:19):
Yes. I was actually from a government employee. So
very comfortable, very fun andgood job. And then you jump out
of that comfort zone. So I justquit. Because it's a government
job, I couldn't do it on theside so I quit, and spent the
first few months mingling withthis new network of the consumer
package good to learn when andhow it is working, learn from
(15:41):
the industry and just ask peoplehelp, and open my mind for the
new setup that was my skills.I'm good with people, good for
asking help or hustling aroundhow to find out something I
don't know about, and just pureamazing network and people
supporting and believing youthat's been helping me to get
one step at a time. If I goback, I didn't know any part. I
(16:05):
didn't know it's calledcorrugated box, or what's co
packing about is. Anything islearned by doing, and thanks to
COVID.
Justine Reichman: (16:13):
Yeah, I learned so much during that time
too. And you really look inward,right? And you're like, okay, I
gotta figure it out. There'snobody else here. And I think
that if we look atentrepreneurship, it really
allows people to tap into thatskill set. It's more of like,
okay, how do I get this done?And there is no obstacle. It's
(16:34):
just navigating through it tofigure out what the right path
is.
Thuong Tan: (16:38):
It's good that you don't know what you don't know,
or the hot thing you don't know.Because then you would like, oh,
why do I go over this? It's justyou tackle one step at a time,
and just ask for help.
Justine Reichman: (16:49):
So now that you're a few years in, and now
that you've gotten out, whatwould you say to those
entrepreneurs that are startingout?
Thuong Tan: (16:56):
In general, or in CBD?
Justine Reichman: (16:58):
From something that you've learned as
an entrepreneur and goingthrough the process. Maybe you
can share a couple lessons that,while they might have taken you
down the wrong path, wereimportant lessons to get you
where you were today.
Thuong Tan: (17:12):
I was a solo Founder, but then I was lucky to
find a business partner thesecond year. I would say it's
super lonely beingentrepreneurs. So having a
co-founder, a partner the dayone, I would start with that.
But that was too enthusiastic. Ihave this idea, and I knew what
to do, so I just went and do it.But having a co founder, a
(17:35):
partner from day one helps you alot to share, and I would have
had more a bit more patience toraise a bit more of Angel
funding before jumping out ofthe plane and opening the
parachute, like one of my Angelinvestor was saying. But I don't
know, I didn't do anything. Iwould just encourage people to
go and start doing because youwill figure out on the way,
(17:56):
because you never be 100% thatthere's never enough money,
right? There's never enoughknowledge. And I think it's
enough what you know, what youhave at that moment. It's
actually more than anybody wouldthink of you're capable of.
Justine Reichman: (18:11):
What made you decide to go after Angel
Thuong Tan: (18:13):
Angel funding? Well, I just had an idea. I was
funding?
40, and people knew me. Knew theway I was as a person. The way I
work, people believe in me thatthat was actually helping me to
kick started earlier. Actually,they were giving me the trust to
kick off. I actually ponderedabout this idea for four years
(18:35):
before, after the MBA school. SoI think it's their trust and
encouragement that, hey, I'mwriting your check. Why don't
you do it already? I'm like,wait a minute. I can't do it. I
have a government job. I need toquit that first and clean, slate
and start it. So that was it.Friends and family, and I
(18:56):
wouldn't say their third F isnot full. It's like, fantastic
friends, I would call them. Andthat helped. And then one was
writing a check, and the otherjust follow. I was so lucky to
kick that. Oh, and people lovethis, and it's not a gimmick. We
had a wedding party with myhusband after 15 years together,
so animations, we didn't needany gift so people were giving
(19:18):
us money to our honeymoon fund.Guess what happened to that
Justine Reichman: (19:22):
That is your Noodelist fund.
honeymoon fund?
Thuong Tan: (19:28):
We invest it in Noodelist. So that was the thing
as well.
Justine Reichman: (19:33):
Wow, that's amazing. So now that you've had
this a little behind you alittle bit, and you're growing
the business a little bit aboutthat process when you had the
product and you're like, okay, Iwant to go get it in front of
people, and I want to be able tosell this. What was that like
for you?
Thuong Tan: (19:51):
I actually pivoted before I even able to launch,
because my original vision wasto go to market. It was tech
cafeteria because these bigcompanies that are already
offering free snacks with thesingle cup. COVID hit, and
everybody stay home so that'show we pivot into this four box,
four meals, and it was D to C.Well, during COVID, I just drove
(20:13):
around the Bay Area and deliverit directly from my Mini Cooper.
That's how I learned the most.And then learning from the
industry, there's a wholesale.You need to have a broker, and
then a broker gets to thedistributor and all kinds of
different channels. And then thechannels that I envision to the
corporate that's called FoodService. You're learning so many
(20:35):
categories, and you are small inyour limited budget so you can't
go all over, which is a mistakethat I did. They're the shiny
object in dilemma thatentrepreneurs are having. If I
go back to learning is justfocusing on one, very narrow one
customer group. I had two, butstill focusing on just one. And
(20:59):
just choose your one channel andput all in all in that,
especially in consumer andmarketing. If you're talking to
a busy working parent versus acollege kid to different lenght,
it's a different message. Again,learning by doing, okay, do I
need to do Duty to see, or to goWhole Foods? Or do I go Good
Eggs where we are. It's anamazing e-commerce market. Know
(21:22):
your consumer. Know who'sbuying, and how often they're
buying?
Justine Reichman: (21:26):
I think it's amazing. And so what was the
response when you were bringingit to stores in the beginning?
Thuong Tan: (21:31):
Good and bad, because instant noodles is
engraved in consumers minds. 99cents. and we are $4 a meal. I
Justine Reichman: (21:38):
As you evolve, are you hoping to see
have known this is so engravedin people's psychology, it's
fine to go out and pay 6, $7 forice latte. But then you shy
about $4 instant noodle, whichis all the local, organic
that price drop with the largerquantities and everything?
ingredients. We work with localbusinesses, a family owned, and
even female owned, if possible.All of this that I'm doing made
(22:02):
in America. In the end, people,consumers say one thing. I
understand, and then you act theother way because of the
Thuong Tan: (22:10):
Definitely. And then also seeing this to grow in
pricing. That is the thing. Ofcourse, this will scale, and the
totally different channel.
actual pricing will go down theeconomy scale, but you need a
lot of work and sell it more andget more of these. We have
amazing customer groups that'ssupporting us, but we need more.
Justine Reichman: (22:44):
Talk to me what kind of channel.
Thuong Tan: (22:46):
I'm thinking more. If you go to the sport game, you
always have the same pizza andpasta. Disneyland where people
actually have a certain budgetto eat. I'm thinking of those
entertainment audience that yougo somewhere, that they have
some other options. I just cameback for South America, they
have this instant noodle standlike a cafe, like a pop up. I
(23:09):
would say, when you have thesesalt and store ice cream places,
imagine that there will be aninstant noodle or just a savory.
I'm a savory snack girl. If Ineed something to snack, it's a
savory. Asia has a lots of thisstreet food stand, I would see
something totally different likethat. And more often in
(23:29):
cafeterias Starbucks, not justthe instant oatmeal. You should
have instant noodles there. Iactually was eating instant
noodles at Starbucks in Shanghaiwhen I was doing the MBA 10
years ago, but it's cateringwithin the audience. So here,
it's a bit slower. Boba wasn't athing 10 years ago. Now, it's
all over. So maybe the instantnoodle will be the go-to instant
(23:53):
old oatmeal, or not at yourregular Starbucks, or beef.
Justine Reichman: (23:57):
It would be great, because you can have a
sleeve there too. And you knowwhat? I was also thinking as
you're sitting here talkingabout this, I'm thinking about
nursing homes. I'm thinkingabout hospitals. I'm thinking
about places like that wheretraditionally the food needs to
be healthy, but hasn't been verytasty.
Thuong Tan: (24:14):
To remind me, schools that I just want to
sell. This is the schools ofFinland and Europe. We have free
school food, and I think thatstate of California has changed
route that you have to offer. Iwould like to be able to
provide. I just want kids tohave healthier option during
school lunch besides pizza andwhatnot.
Justine Reichman: (24:35):
So there's a lot of places you still want to
get Noodelist in?
Thuong Tan: (24:38):
It's hard to go direct, so something like, as
you said, thanks for remindingthat channel to go to nursing
home and schools. Oh, anothergood, big group that I didn't
think about myself is outdoorcamping.
Justine Reichman: (24:51):
Oh, definitely you can.
Thuong Tan: (24:54):
It's light to carry and pack with enough nutrition.
I'm still working on this lowersodium a bit, but it's much
lower than the traditional one.But the outdoor people love the
sodium because they need itafter they're exercising and
sweating, so they love thesodium.
Justine Reichman: (25:12):
So I'm like, which gives you a whole nother
avenue like REI and all thosedifferent sporting goods shops,
gives you another category toplay in.
Thuong Tan: (25:21):
It does. But then I need to change the packaging. So
these are the challenging partwith the actual product. It's
not like a line of code. Youjust hit the delete if you want
to do a change of packaging.It's a set of minimum quantity,
but it's just a matter ofdeciding which channel to
focusing on.
Justine Reichman: (25:36):
As you're thinking about that, what are
some of the criteria that youmight consider as you go and
determine what your next channelwill be?
Thuong Tan: (25:44):
To go back to the mission. Do I want to have as
many people to enjoy it aspossible, and forget about the
branding and the name, the funpart? I would go for them, as
you say, for the nursing homes,and to be able to provide it for
the bigger audience, andactually for good. And kids to
grow up to be healthier, youneed to have them to know the
(26:08):
healthier versions when they areyounger so they get that habit.
So I think that will be themission that's close to my
heart.
Justine Reichman: (26:17):
Awesome. I've learned so much. I'm so inspired
by what you've done and howyou've created this product.
Giving up a job to then pursuesomething that you are
passionate about that, A, isbetter for you and better for
the planet in of itself, and isinspiring. And then to start a
business when you haven't beenan entrepreneur in the past can
(26:38):
be scary. And like you said,even lonely. So I think some of
those things that you share,which is getting a co-founder or
bringing somebody on as apartner can really help share
the burden, and make it a littleless lonely. And learning who
your audience is are some greattips that you've shared with
this audience. And just beforewe go, I'm wondering if there
(27:00):
were three things that youwanted to tell the audience that
were building better for youproducts in the CPG world? What
are three things that you thinkthey should consider?
Thuong Tan: (27:08):
What was it? It's super hard. Don't go for it
because it's full of bigplayers. And now when I look
back, it's very hard for thesmall one to go up with this
attribute, because the fact isit's dominated by big players.
What I really want to seechanging in the industry for
real is the reducing the palmoil. I think those should be
(27:32):
regulated. I don't think we needanother brand to the category. I
think we need the change withthe current offering within the
food and drinks industry, likeless sugar, less fat. Really
making it more healthier withthe current offering out there,
I think we have much more thingsto do in that than creating.
(27:53):
It's going to be fun creatinganother trains, creating another
food line, but I think thebigger problem and what needs to
be changed is really tapping thesustainability, like less
packaging because you don't needto have many round of packaging
and the use of palm oil.
Justine Reichman: (28:11):
Awesome. Thuong, thank you so much for
those folks interested ingetting Noodelist, where might
they be able to find it?
Thuong Tan: (28:18):
Do not buy from the big corporates, so go for the
small business. Please godirectly to our website,
noodelist.com, use the promocode HAPPINESS when you check
out. And our website have a listof stores that you can find us
as well. You want to support afellow small local business
during this time, that would beawesome.
Justine Reichman: (28:39):
Awesome. I will support you, and we're
excited for everyone to hearyour journey. It's really
inspiring, and you've done sucha beautiful job with the
product, both in design, as wellas in taste. And it really does
show you that you can buildsomething that's better for you
and that's tastier. I want tothank our guests and everyone
(29:02):
that tunes in each week to bepart of the Essential
Ingredients Community, it's someaningful to me. I want to
thank Thuong for joining metoday to share with me a little
bit about her journey and whatit was like to build a business
as a second career, and create abetter for you solution. So
again, thank you everyone fortuning in with us today and
sharing your story. And I wantto thank our guests. For those
(29:25):
of you that tune into thepodcast, don't forget that we
also have a videocast availableon YouTube. And for those that
are watching the videocast,don't forget that you can get
the podcast when you're on thego from wherever you listen to
your podcast at EssentialIngredients. We look forward to
hearing from you. And don'tforget to reach out to let us
know what else we can bring tothe table for you on the
Essential Ingredient Podcast.Thanks again.
Good morning, welcome to the Essential
Ingredients. This is Justine,and I'm so glad to be here with
you today. This morning, I haveThuong Tan, who is the Founder
of Noodelist. This is her secondcareer. She started this because
she has a passion for noodles.She went back to school to get
her MBA. And when she did, therewas nothing else she could
imagine doing than building abetter-for-you instant noodle
(00:35):
solution. I don't know aboutyou, but I used to love instant
noodles. The ones that came inthe styrofoam container, the
ones with all the MSG and allthe flavor, and it would
literally take three to fiveminutes. So a front new solution
is a better for you solution,gluten free, vegan, vegetarian,
all sorts of better for you waysto eat the instant noodles,
including not in a Styrofoamcup. So you're going to want to
(00:58):
stay tuned for this. Can't waitto speak with you here and hear
from new on tan about the noodles.
Well, Thuong, thank you so muchfor joining me. I know it took
us a little bit to get thiscoordinated, but I think our
guests are going to be pleasedto get to know you, learn more
about you, and hear all aboutnoodles. A plant based instant
soup with noodles, which I hadthe pleasure of trying, and I
(01:22):
was super excited to do that. Sobefore we go on, and before I
just awe over my new favoriteplant based noodle soup, I want
to give you an opportunity tointroduce yourself, talk a
little bit about the missionbehind noodles, and what
inspired you to start this plantbased instant noodle soup.
Thuong Tan: (01:42):
Thank you, Justine, and your amazing audience. Thank
you for having me to thispodcast. So my name is Thuong
tan. That's a Vietnamese name,half Chinese who grew up in
Finland. So the personal passionwas that I always say that I'm
an Asian born who can livewithout rice, and I grew up in
Finland where the starch ispotatoes. I'm not big a fan of
(02:05):
potatoes either. I've been inSilicon Valley for 20 years
where my friends go out forburritos and tacos. I'm like,
not that fan either. What do Ieat and love? Noodles. I've
always been a noodle girl,spoiled by my mom's homemade
Vietnamese noodle soup. I moveout early because I'm in two
(02:26):
steps for International Studiesand travel, and I don't cook. So
my go-to since I was eight. Ofcourse, I start learning to cook
snacks, instant, when I waseight, but I didn't cook. So my
go-to noodles is instantnoodles.
Justine Reichman: (02:41):
I remember those.
Thuong Tan: (02:42):
Yeah, that's your quick one. But then 10 years
ago, I did my MBA in luxurybranding that happened in
Shanghai, and I got a light bulbpulp coming up when there was a
marketing project to dosomething with the 7P of your
favorite products. Of course,instant noodles. What really
(03:03):
amazed me was 100 billions morenow of servings of instant
noodles are consumed every yearglobally. 100 billion? And then
I went back to the shelves anddid a quick snow like
benchmarking. They're all thesame brands. I mean, the level
are the same. Lots of brands.I'm in Silicon Valley, San
(03:24):
Francisco, everything is thepremierfy, healthify, the
version of it, but not instantnoodle, which everybody knows
and loves. So I thought, hmm,maybe there's a niche for better
for you instant noodles. And I'm40 something, and my friends
have teenage kids that loveinstant noodles, but my friends
(03:46):
wouldn't buy them, thetraditional that's out there,
because the moms being a goodmom and dad, high sodium, low
nutrition, it's no way. So thatwas my first spark. Yes, there's
a need for better for you. Andgrowing up in Finland where we
are very good with recycling andsustainable, and ao our mission
(04:08):
was to make something healthierwith the sustainable packaging.
And my personal mission is, lifeis too short for a plant tasting
food, so not healthy is NOT. ithas to be tasty as well.
Justine Reichman: (04:22):
I couldn't agree more. And I remember as a
kid when you don't know how tocook, and all you know how to do
is heat up water, right? Howeasy were those oodles noodles.
And then as you got older andyou're in college, you're like,
oh, these are so cheap. I canbuy these by the dozens. What
were they? 99 cents or somethingforever ago? There was a lot of
salt. As you were saying, a lotof different things. And if I
(04:45):
remember correctly, originally,the packaging was styrofoam.
Thuong Tan: (04:49):
It is. That was amazing invention back in the
days, how the Japanese gotAmerican audience to eat the
noodles. It is the convenience,so hats off to the innovation of
instant noodle to begin with.That's a five minute thing. And
then the cup to go. But thenthese days, oh, no. Styrofoam is
so bad.
Justine Reichman: (05:08):
So bad. It sounds like your roots run
pretty deep into being betterfor you and sustainable part of
the ethos of who you weregrowing up. It sounds like you
really aligned that with this.So when you started to do this,
it sounded like you were inbusiness school, and this came
out of that. Were you thinkingabout what should you start?
(05:30):
Were you in a place where you'relike, okay, it's time for me, I
want to kick off a new business?
Thuong Tan: (05:36):
Well, that's you. I'm not the traditional
entrepreneur, because I reallyloved the job that I just took a
year off to do. MBA and being inSilicon Valley inspired this.
Everybody has their own startupand idea. And if I would do
something, it has to besomething that I could wake up
every day, so it has to be food.And I love branding. I love
marketing. Up creating an actualproduct. And I don't code.
(06:00):
Anybody's coding, so when Igeek, but I love the food, and I
love the the branding. I alwaysadmire the story with the
packaging and the name of it. SoI'm like, yes, I'm gonna create
something that I love, myfriends love, because you have
to wake up even the bad days torun your product. So instant
noodles. It's boring to say thatyou're selling instant noodles.
(06:23):
So our tagline is, what are youselling? Or what do you want to
deliver? Taste of instant joy,instant happiness. Because I
don't know you, but when I'mhungry, I'm super angry. So when
I get my fix of noodles, Ibecame happy again. So we said
taste of instant happiness. Goback to the question, how did I
start it? I was 40 already, soit's now and ever. And I thought
(06:45):
I was very comfortable. I reallyloved the job, why would I do
this risk? But then you thinkback, what do you have to lose?
Money. I can go back to work,but I would always regret if I
didn't try. What would theinstant noodle 2.0 be if I
didn't just go and jump onto outof my comfort zone and do it?
And I did it.
Justine Reichman: (07:06):
Amazing, because so many people are
scared to take the leap. I waslistening to a Mel Robbins
podcast the other day, and shewas talking about when she had
listened to, I think, some otherpodcast. Jeff Bezos, I think it
was. I think that she wasquoting that if you look back
when you're 80, are you going tosay you're upset because you
(07:27):
didn't take the risk? Or becauseyou did take the risk? Odds are
you did. You're never going tobe upset that you took the risk
exactly to be upset with therisks she didn't take. And I
thought that was really true.For entrepreneurs, it almost
seems like settling to not beable. It is through what you
want.If it's to be better in theworld, if it's to make an impact
(07:49):
both on health, wellness or theplanet, not being able to do
that, I think really kills thesoul a little, right?
Thuong Tan: (07:57):
I look back, if I had more inspiration whatever's
in the 20s, and just somebodyjust inspired me, or just do it
back then, I should have done 20years ago. So whoever I'm
talking younger generation thatare 20s, not just say, go do it.
You will learn so much. Failingis learning, and you get so much
experience so just do it. Whatcan go wrong if you're willing
(08:18):
to do it and you have thatmindset, I think the universe
can align with you and yoursupport network, and it will go
well one way or another.
Justine Reichman: (08:26):
Think it's about drive too, right? Drive
ambition, and you really need tohave a lot of follow through. So
if you have an idea which youdid, you also were just going
through your MBA, so it reallysupported your idea and next
steps. But there's many peopleout there that don't have that.
(08:47):
What do you say from having yourMBA? Did it put you in a
different place, a differentmindset, to be able to take this
leap of faith?
Thuong Tan: (08:54):
It gave me a framework. I actually want to
learn. How do you luxurify,premiufy product? Because my
previous career was to helpfinish companies to enter the US
market. We have amazing product,amazing services, but we didn't
know how to package it. So Iwent to learn that. And not
knowing that, I got thatframework and inspiration to do
(09:16):
something that I love, to eatdaily, to make it a next level
product. So that was definitelyan inspiration.
Justine Reichman: (09:24):
Where would the inspiration from the plant
based come from?
Thuong Tan: (09:27):
My food scientist. Since I'm not from the industry,
all I know from the food is Ilove eating. What was the CPG
stand for? Consumer PackageGood. And so when we were
creating our soup based twoflavors, as I said before, first
and foremost is the taste. Ifeel sad like, how about plant
based? What do you mean by plantbased? You mean vegan? It was
(09:48):
like, no. If your mission is totrying to be more better for the
planet and sustainability, let'stry to make something not with
an animal. So you mean we'remaking a chicken flavor without
chicken? I was this skeptic, butI go for it at first. We did
tasting with the differentcustomer group, and they didn't
(10:10):
know that they were eating. Asoup chicken is soup base
without harming a chicken. SoI'm like, yeah, let's go for it.
And that was five years ago. Itwasn't plant based. Wasn't a
mainstream word yet. Target andWalmart didn't have plant based
category or section, so we wentfor that name.
Justine Reichman: (10:32):
you expand and maybe be gluten free? Or one
of the other?
Thuong Tan: (10:37):
We have two flavors now, and they are in Vietnamese
cuisine. It is inspiredlemongrass chicken ish, and then
kind of Tom Yum. And the thirdone, it will be my other
(11:00):
favorite noodle soup, it isVietnamese bunghua way, so it's
kind of beef ish. So that willbe the third one that we'll go
to gluten free. We already havea gluten free option. But then
the special about noodles is thegreen noodle made out of
moroheia super plant, which isEgyptian spinach. So that is the
(11:22):
(inaudible), but that makes thegreen color. And gluten free,
it's rice. So it's not thetraditional, if you have the
verystrict traditional ones. Butwe do have gluten free already,
Justine Reichman: (11:34):
I was using that as an example, or start a
launching off pad to understandwhere you guys are growing, and
what other things you hope tobring to the market?
Thuong Tan: (11:43):
I would add in some other flavors. Flavors is one,
and then it's frozen. I want topick different, that you already
have these garnish, it isalready there. Other Asian
inspired is, I eat a lot of beefjerky, but that's beef. It will
find something that's plantbased. So there are a lot of
(12:05):
well done jerkies made byshiitake mushroom. I would add
that as our garnish to boost upthe noodles meal. And actually,
my very original and how I gotmy first Angel check was like,
I'm gonna make instant noodlewith boosters. That was five
years ago. What do we humanneed? We need mind boosters to
(12:30):
work better. Muscle boosters. Ithink back then, I was using
like sex boosters or whatnot. Itwas sold. But soon to be serious
thing. I think I was testing myaudience, what if I have a
collagen boosted noodles orsomething that makes you healthy
that you boost in vitamin C,vitamin D, but we have that
(12:53):
already in our noodles. It's anamazing, super plan this morning
that's needs more marketing andcommunication.
Justine Reichman: (13:00):
Well, by the way, just to talk about your
marketing and your branding,it's beautiful. And it sounded
like that was a big part of yourskill set. I was looking at the
website and all the photographyand everything, it's just
beautiful. Did you do all that?
Thuong Tan: (13:15):
Yes, that's my third. I like Asian inspired
Silicon Valley mindset, and withthe Nordic design. Meaning, the
simplicity. So the branding andmarketing behind it look and
feel is Father and Son from WinWin design. So we did that
together. We wanted to stand outwith the packaging. If it would
(13:39):
be just brown color, it wouldn'tset out. So we went for the
premium black. And then the namethe noodles, there's an
empowerment with the name. Whenyou're hungry, you have a bowl
of Noodelist. Like the ISTending is like a cyclist. So
(13:59):
then when you're eating, be it aNoodelist. And once you eat,
then the noodle, and then Iwanted to one day become, if you
see Nike Swoosh, you don't needto read the NIKE, just the
Swoosh would tell you. So then Itell them to create a logo, a
symbol that one day people justrecognized by the symbol of the
Noodelist. So he put the N withthe hat, so that hat is your
(14:25):
empowerment. Wear whatever hatsyou want to become a novelist, a
cyclist, or optimist, whatnot.And then the little dog down
here, I have a fake dimple. I'mbiting my cheeks, but that's why
I like a happy mark. So we eatin our noodle bomb to become
happier. That's the logo standsfor.
Justine Reichman: (14:47):
That's really lovely. So when you kicked off
this company, you were inbusiness school. You were
talking to friends, and you cameup with this idea. And you had a
background in the luxury market,in branding and design. Kicking
off a new business, and being anentrepreneur, you need to tap
into so many different skills.What was that like, pivoting
(15:08):
from being an employee to beingan entrepreneur? Because I'm
sure that it's overwhelming.You're used to doing a job, and
now you're doing every job,almost.
Thuong Tan: (15:19):
Yes. I was actually from a government employee. So
very comfortable, very fun andgood job. And then you jump out
of that comfort zone. So I justquit. Because it's a government
job, I couldn't do it on theside so I quit, and spent the
first few months mingling withthis new network of the consumer
package good to learn when andhow it is working, learn from
(15:41):
the industry and just ask peoplehelp, and open my mind for the
new setup that was my skills.I'm good with people, good for
asking help or hustling aroundhow to find out something I
don't know about, and just pureamazing network and people
supporting and believing youthat's been helping me to get
one step at a time. If I goback, I didn't know any part. I
(16:05):
didn't know it's calledcorrugated box, or what's co
packing about is. Anything islearned by doing, and thanks to
COVID.
Justine Reichman: (16:13):
Yeah, I learned so much during that time
too. And you really look inward,right? And you're like, okay, I
gotta figure it out. There'snobody else here. And I think
that if we look atentrepreneurship, it really
allows people to tap into thatskill set. It's more of like,
okay, how do I get this done?And there is no obstacle. It's
(16:34):
just navigating through it tofigure out what the right path
is.
Thuong Tan: (16:38):
It's good that you don't know what you don't know,
or the hot thing you don't know.Because then you would like, oh,
why do I go over this? It's justyou tackle one step at a time,
and just ask for help.
Justine Reichman: (16:49):
So now that you're a few years in, and now
that you've gotten out, whatwould you say to those
entrepreneurs that are startingout?
Thuong Tan: (16:56):
In general, or in CBD?
Justine Reichman: (16:58):
From something that you've learned as
an entrepreneur and goingthrough the process. Maybe you
can share a couple lessons that,while they might have taken you
down the wrong path, wereimportant lessons to get you
where you were today.
Thuong Tan: (17:12):
I was a solo Founder, but then I was lucky to
find a business partner thesecond year. I would say it's
super lonely beingentrepreneurs. So having a
co-founder, a partner the dayone, I would start with that.
But that was too enthusiastic. Ihave this idea, and I knew what
to do, so I just went and do it.But having a co founder, a
(17:35):
partner from day one helps you alot to share, and I would have
had more a bit more patience toraise a bit more of Angel
funding before jumping out ofthe plane and opening the
parachute, like one of my Angelinvestor was saying. But I don't
know, I didn't do anything. Iwould just encourage people to
go and start doing because youwill figure out on the way,
(17:56):
because you never be 100% thatthere's never enough money,
right? There's never enoughknowledge. And I think it's
enough what you know, what youhave at that moment. It's
actually more than anybody wouldthink of you're capable of.
Justine Reichman: (18:11):
What made you decide to go after Angel
Thuong Tan: (18:13):
Angel funding? Well, I just had an idea. I was
funding?
40, and people knew me. Knew theway I was as a person. The way I
work, people believe in me thatthat was actually helping me to
kick started earlier. Actually,they were giving me the trust to
kick off. I actually ponderedabout this idea for four years
(18:35):
before, after the MBA school. SoI think it's their trust and
encouragement that, hey, I'mwriting your check. Why don't
you do it already? I'm like,wait a minute. I can't do it. I
have a government job. I need toquit that first and clean, slate
and start it. So that was it.Friends and family, and I
(18:56):
wouldn't say their third F isnot full. It's like, fantastic
friends, I would call them. Andthat helped. And then one was
writing a check, and the otherjust follow. I was so lucky to
kick that. Oh, and people lovethis, and it's not a gimmick. We
had a wedding party with myhusband after 15 years together,
so animations, we didn't needany gift so people were giving
(19:18):
us money to our honeymoon fund.Guess what happened to that
Justine Reichman: (19:22):
That is your Noodelist fund.
honeymoon fund?
Thuong Tan: (19:28):
We invest it in Noodelist. So that was the thing
as well.
Justine Reichman: (19:33):
Wow, that's amazing. So now that you've had
this a little behind you alittle bit, and you're growing
the business a little bit aboutthat process when you had the
product and you're like, okay, Iwant to go get it in front of
people, and I want to be able tosell this. What was that like
for you?
Thuong Tan: (19:51):
I actually pivoted before I even able to launch,
because my original vision wasto go to market. It was tech
cafeteria because these bigcompanies that are already
offering free snacks with thesingle cup. COVID hit, and
everybody stay home so that'show we pivot into this four box,
four meals, and it was D to C.Well, during COVID, I just drove
(20:13):
around the Bay Area and deliverit directly from my Mini Cooper.
That's how I learned the most.And then learning from the
industry, there's a wholesale.You need to have a broker, and
then a broker gets to thedistributor and all kinds of
different channels. And then thechannels that I envision to the
corporate that's called FoodService. You're learning so many
(20:35):
categories, and you are small inyour limited budget so you can't
go all over, which is a mistakethat I did. They're the shiny
object in dilemma thatentrepreneurs are having. If I
go back to learning is justfocusing on one, very narrow one
customer group. I had two, butstill focusing on just one. And
(20:59):
just choose your one channel andput all in all in that,
especially in consumer andmarketing. If you're talking to
a busy working parent versus acollege kid to different lenght,
it's a different message. Again,learning by doing, okay, do I
need to do Duty to see, or to goWhole Foods? Or do I go Good
Eggs where we are. It's anamazing e-commerce market. Know
(21:22):
your consumer. Know who'sbuying, and how often they're
buying?
Justine Reichman: (21:26):
I think it's amazing. And so what was the
response when you were bringingit to stores in the beginning?
Thuong Tan: (21:31):
Good and bad, because instant noodles is
engraved in consumers minds. 99cents. and we are $4 a meal. I
Justine Reichman: (21:38):
As you evolve, are you hoping to see
have known this is so engravedin people's psychology, it's
fine to go out and pay 6, $7 forice latte. But then you shy
about $4 instant noodle, whichis all the local, organic
that price drop with the largerquantities and everything?
ingredients. We work with localbusinesses, a family owned, and
even female owned, if possible.All of this that I'm doing made
(22:02):
in America. In the end, people,consumers say one thing. I
understand, and then you act theother way because of the
Thuong Tan: (22:10):
Definitely. And then also seeing this to grow in
pricing. That is the thing. Ofcourse, this will scale, and the
totally different channel.
actual pricing will go down theeconomy scale, but you need a
lot of work and sell it more andget more of these. We have
amazing customer groups that'ssupporting us, but we need more.
Justine Reichman: (22:44):
Talk to me what kind of channel.
Thuong Tan: (22:46):
I'm thinking more. If you go to the sport game, you
always have the same pizza andpasta. Disneyland where people
actually have a certain budgetto eat. I'm thinking of those
entertainment audience that yougo somewhere, that they have
some other options. I just cameback for South America, they
have this instant noodle standlike a cafe, like a pop up. I
(23:09):
would say, when you have thesesalt and store ice cream places,
imagine that there will be aninstant noodle or just a savory.
I'm a savory snack girl. If Ineed something to snack, it's a
savory. Asia has a lots of thisstreet food stand, I would see
something totally different likethat. And more often in
(23:29):
cafeterias Starbucks, not justthe instant oatmeal. You should
have instant noodles there. Iactually was eating instant
noodles at Starbucks in Shanghaiwhen I was doing the MBA 10
years ago, but it's cateringwithin the audience. So here,
it's a bit slower. Boba wasn't athing 10 years ago. Now, it's
all over. So maybe the instantnoodle will be the go-to instant
(23:53):
old oatmeal, or not at yourregular Starbucks, or beef.
Justine Reichman: (23:57):
It would be great, because you can have a
sleeve there too. And you knowwhat? I was also thinking as
you're sitting here talkingabout this, I'm thinking about
nursing homes. I'm thinkingabout hospitals. I'm thinking
about places like that wheretraditionally the food needs to
be healthy, but hasn't been verytasty.
Thuong Tan: (24:14):
To remind me, schools that I just want to
sell. This is the schools ofFinland and Europe. We have free
school food, and I think thatstate of California has changed
route that you have to offer. Iwould like to be able to
provide. I just want kids tohave healthier option during
school lunch besides pizza andwhatnot.
Justine Reichman: (24:35):
So there's a lot of places you still want to
get Noodelist in?
Thuong Tan: (24:38):
It's hard to go direct, so something like, as
you said, thanks for remindingthat channel to go to nursing
home and schools. Oh, anothergood, big group that I didn't
think about myself is outdoorcamping.
Justine Reichman: (24:51):
Oh, definitely you can.
Thuong Tan: (24:54):
It's light to carry and pack with enough nutrition.
I'm still working on this lowersodium a bit, but it's much
lower than the traditional one.But the outdoor people love the
sodium because they need itafter they're exercising and
sweating, so they love thesodium.
Justine Reichman: (25:12):
So I'm like, which gives you a whole nother
avenue like REI and all thosedifferent sporting goods shops,
gives you another category toplay in.
Thuong Tan: (25:21):
It does. But then I need to change the packaging. So
these are the challenging partwith the actual product. It's
not like a line of code. Youjust hit the delete if you want
to do a change of packaging.It's a set of minimum quantity,
but it's just a matter ofdeciding which channel to
focusing on.
Justine Reichman: (25:36):
As you're thinking about that, what are
some of the criteria that youmight consider as you go and
determine what your next channelwill be?
Thuong Tan: (25:44):
To go back to the mission. Do I want to have as
many people to enjoy it aspossible, and forget about the
branding and the name, the funpart? I would go for them, as
you say, for the nursing homes,and to be able to provide it for
the bigger audience, andactually for good. And kids to
grow up to be healthier, youneed to have them to know the
(26:08):
healthier versions when they areyounger so they get that habit.
So I think that will be themission that's close to my
heart.
Justine Reichman: (26:17):
Awesome. I've learned so much. I'm so inspired
by what you've done and howyou've created this product.
Giving up a job to then pursuesomething that you are
passionate about that, A, isbetter for you and better for
the planet in of itself, and isinspiring. And then to start a
business when you haven't beenan entrepreneur in the past can
(26:38):
be scary. And like you said,even lonely. So I think some of
those things that you share,which is getting a co-founder or
bringing somebody on as apartner can really help share
the burden, and make it a littleless lonely. And learning who
your audience is are some greattips that you've shared with
this audience. And just beforewe go, I'm wondering if there
(27:00):
were three things that youwanted to tell the audience that
were building better for youproducts in the CPG world? What
are three things that you thinkthey should consider?
Thuong Tan: (27:08):
What was it? It's super hard. Don't go for it
because it's full of bigplayers. And now when I look
back, it's very hard for thesmall one to go up with this
attribute, because the fact isit's dominated by big players.
What I really want to seechanging in the industry for
real is the reducing the palmoil. I think those should be
(27:32):
regulated. I don't think we needanother brand to the category. I
think we need the change withthe current offering within the
food and drinks industry, likeless sugar, less fat. Really
making it more healthier withthe current offering out there,
I think we have much more thingsto do in that than creating.
(27:53):
It's going to be fun creatinganother trains, creating another
food line, but I think thebigger problem and what needs to
be changed is really tapping thesustainability, like less
packaging because you don't needto have many round of packaging
and the use of palm oil.
Justine Reichman: (28:11):
Awesome. Thuong, thank you so much for
those folks interested ingetting Noodelist, where might
they be able to find it?
Thuong Tan: (28:18):
Do not buy from the big corporates, so go for the
small business. Please godirectly to our website,
noodelist.com, use the promocode HAPPINESS when you check
out. And our website have a listof stores that you can find us
as well. You want to support afellow small local business
during this time, that would beawesome.
Justine Reichman: (28:39):
Awesome. I will support you, and we're
excited for everyone to hearyour journey. It's really
inspiring, and you've done sucha beautiful job with the
product, both in design, as wellas in taste. And it really does
show you that you can buildsomething that's better for you
and that's tastier. I want tothank our guests and everyone
(29:02):
that tunes in each week to bepart of the Essential
Ingredients Community, it's someaningful to me. I want to
thank Thuong for joining metoday to share with me a little
bit about her journey and whatit was like to build a business
as a second career, and create abetter for you solution. So
again, thank you everyone fortuning in with us today and
sharing your story. And I wantto thank our guests. For those
(29:25):
of you that tune into thepodcast, don't forget that we
also have a videocast availableon YouTube. And for those that
are watching the videocast,don't forget that you can get
the podcast when you're on thego from wherever you listen to
your podcast at EssentialIngredients. We look forward to
hearing from you. And don'tforget to reach out to let us
know what else we can bring tothe table for you on the
Essential Ingredient Podcast.Thanks again.
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