Marilyn Yang on Popadelics, Making Mushrooms Mainstream, and Building Fun-Gal Snacks From Scratch

In this conversation, Marilyn Yang, co-founder and CEO of Fun-Gal Snacks, shares the journey of creating Popadelics, a brand specializing in crunchy mushroom chips. From the initial idea sparked during the COVID-19 pandemic to navigating product development, scaling the business, and securing distribution in major retailers, Marilyn discusses the challenges and successes faced along the way. She emphasizes the importance of understanding the market, leveraging resources, and learning from experiences in the food industry.

Takeaways

• The idea for Popadelics emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Marilyn and her husband leveraged their finance backgrounds to navigate the startup world.
• They recognized a gap in the market for mushroom snacks.
• Outsourcing R&D was crucial for product development.
• Building relationships with distributors was key to scaling the business.
• They focused on creating a product that was both tasty and commercially viable.
• Participation in trade shows helped validate their product concept.
• They learned the importance of being in retail spaces where their target customers shop.
• Marilyn reflects on the need for industry knowledge before diving into entrepreneurship.
• The journey has been both challenging and rewarding, leading to significant growth.

Today's guest, Marilyn Yang, can be found online at:

Website: https://popadelics.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/popadelics/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/popadelics

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/popadelics/

Your host, Scott Turman, can be found online at:

BrightRay Publishing: ⁠https://brightray.com/⁠⁠⁠

Entrepreneur Website: ⁠https://scottturman.com/⁠⁠⁠

LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottturman/⁠

Keywords

Popadelics, mushroom snacks, entrepreneurship, product development, retail distribution, startup journey, food industry, business growth, R&D, healthy snacks