December 14, 2024 • 23 mins
We talk today about how to create a category and make a product go viral as we discuss the remarkable story with Llance Kezner, the founder of Millie's Sipping Broth, and how a simple kitchen experiment turned into a nationwide phenomenon.
Born from a personal quest for healthier hot beverages, Llance and his wife, Lori, created a savory broth-in-a-teabag that captured the hearts of consumers. From selling at Pike Place Market in Seattle to landing a major deal with Walmart, Llance reveals how customer feedback and adaptability were key to their rapid success. Join us as we explore the challenges and triumphs of scaling from small batches to widespread distribution, highlighting the power of seizing unique opportunities.
We dive into the entrepreneurial journey of turning a creative idea into a viral product, with insights on marketing, product development, and the importance of a minimum viable product. Llance shares the secrets behind the product’s appeal, tapping into wellness and nutrition trends that resonate with today's consumers. Get inspired by his advice on maintaining excitement and commitment in your work, and learn how to accelerate growth by getting your product to market quickly. This episode is packed with invaluable tips and an uplifting story of perseverance and innovation, featuring a special discount code for listeners eager to try Millie's Sipping Broth for themselves.
Try out Millie's Sipping Broth with a 20% Discount here
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Eric Eden (00:02):
Today we are talking about an awesome topic how to
make your product go viral.
It must be easy, or not, butwe're going to talk about that
today and we have a great guestto help us talk through that.
Llance Kezner (00:14):
Lance, welcome to the show.
Hi, eric, nice talking to you.
Eric Eden (00:18):
So why don't we start off by you talking, for just a
minute or two, a little bitabout who you are and what you
do?
My name is.
Llance Kezner (00:26):
Lance Kesner and my company is Millie's Sipping
Broth.
We're based in Bellevue,washington, and we created a
product that basically helpspeople get between meals.
Get between meals.
They can use the product as ahot beverage when they're not
(00:49):
wanting coffee, tea or cider oranything like that.
It comes in a box like this andin a little tea bag.
It's broth in a tea bag.
We've been producing this forabout 12 years.
We started in our kitchen andwe're now selling across the
(01:09):
country.
Eric Eden (01:10):
That's awesome.
And what does it taste like?
Are there different?
Llance Kezner (01:12):
flavors.
We have four different flavors.
We have a tomato, basil, spicytortilla, Thai lemongrass and
delight pho.
So that's a Vietnamese flavorand we kind of had fun with that
name.
Eric Eden (01:27):
Nice.
All of those sound great.
I'm going to have to try it.
We are ready to be inspired andI think the story you have
about how you created thisproduct in your kitchen and how
you made the product go viral isa very inspiring story.
So tell us how this happened.
Llance Kezner (01:47):
Well, the idea came from my wife.
My wife, lori, was a teacherand she needed something during
the day between classes to kindof hold her over.
Between lunch and dinner in theafternoon Only had a couple of
minutes to spare and coffee andtea and cider just wasn't doing
(02:09):
it.
So she used to take a bullioncube with her to school to have
as a savory hot drink.
And I said to her look, thebullion cube is just filled with
all kinds of sodium and reallybad stuff.
Let me make something healthierfor you.
So I created a mixture of spice,some herbs spices, some
(02:29):
dehydrated vegetables, and shetasted it and she goes this is
great, but all over the cup it's.
You know, put it in a teabag soI can make it really quickly
and it's just a clear broth.
So we literally opened Liptontea bags, pulled off the staples
, put in the mixture, stapled itback together, made about 12 of
(02:52):
them and she took them to theteacher's room at school and
everyone went crazy over themand we looked at each other and
thought, oh wow, we havesomething here.
Eric Eden (03:03):
Wow, that's a really cool origin story.
And so you started producingthese in your kitchen just by
hand.
And how did that grow?
Llance Kezner (03:13):
Well, we quickly realized that the category of a
hot savory beverage did notexist.
Hot savory beverage did notexist.
Everything was sweetened or wasbitter, like coffee or tea, and
(03:35):
so what we did is we tried tofigure out as quickly as we
possibly could how we couldscale this outside of our
kitchen, and early early days wemade it there just for testing
purposes.
We used to go to the Pike Placemarket and sell it at the
market to travelers that camefrom all over the world, but we
found co-packers who werewilling to take our product and
(03:58):
to help us make it in a scalablefashion.
In a scalable fashion, and soit was a combination of finding
someone who could make it,specialty food retailers who
would buy it so they couldresell it to their customers,
and then finding as many directconsumers we could find to sell
(04:20):
it to so that we could getfeedback as quickly as possible
on pricing, packaging, quality,on all of that, and that all
happened in about a 90 dayperiod.
Eric Eden (04:33):
I've been out to the Pike Place Market in Seattle and
it's definitely the environmentwhere you would need a drink
like this, because it rains inthe Seattle Washington area
quite often.
You quite often need a warmbeverage when it's very rainy
and cold outside on many daysthroughout the year.
Llance Kezner (04:53):
Hey, well, look at the sweater I'm wearing.
It's cold right now.
Eric Eden (04:59):
We are having right now, today, even in Virginia, we
are having the bomb cyclonestorm, so it's just raining and
I, in particular, am a coffeeaddict.
That's not a great thing, butwhat you have created seems a
lot healthier than peopledrinking multiple cups of coffee
throughout the day to try tokeep warm and sustain themselves
(05:21):
between meals.
Keep warm and sustainthemselves between meals.
So, as you did that, as youramped it up and you came up
with the ideas over 90 days, howmuch did you scale making in
your kitchen?
How crazy did it?
Llance Kezner (05:34):
get.
We literally had people that wehired to come in and help us do
some packaging.
I think once we figured out whocould make it for us, we were
still shipping things from ourhouse.
We shipped about 5,000 ordersout of our house, you know,
through Amazon and through allthese various different places
(05:57):
like our own website.
But we realized that, you know,in order for it to be a food
safe product, for it to bescalable, that we really needed
that partner.
And so, yeah, within that 90days, we were up and out as far
as making it.
And, again, everything that wedid before that was really more
(06:18):
for testing, not really for sale.
But once we got the productthat we could sell, yeah, we
were still filling orders out ofour living room and I got to
tell you it was painful, thepains of entrepreneurship.
Eric Eden (06:33):
So how were you able to then grow this and scale it?
Llance Kezner (06:39):
I think the biggest, the biggest asset we
had was communication directlywith customers and customers who
were consuming our product.
What we didn't realize was whatthey were really using it for.
(07:00):
And we had the idea of creatingit for Lori so she could use it
as a, you know, as a kind of away to have a snack during the
day.
But what we didn't realize wasthat people were using our
product to help them with theiranxiety, to help them kind of
calm down and to be comfortedduring the day when they were
(07:26):
stressed out.
And over and over again, peoplewould tell us I really
appreciate your product becauseit makes me slow down.
I have to make it, it takes mea couple minutes to make it, I
sit back and relax with it and Ireally get some time to kind of
(07:48):
refocus during the day.
And oh, by the way, it's only10 calories and it's, you know,
it's great for my wellnessroutines.
You know I might be on keto, Imight be on Weight Watchers, I
might be on any of these things,so it fits perfectly with that.
So we use that momentum andthat feedback to help us focus
(08:09):
in the right areas where thosepeople were looking for those
kinds of products.
Eric Eden (08:17):
I think that's critical.
Talking to customers andfinding out what their story
really is, rather than just whatyou think their story would be,
is a big hurdle that a lot ofpeople struggle with in
marketing.
So that's great that you wereable to pretty quickly come to
that realization of how peoplereally wanted to use it.
Llance Kezner (08:39):
Yeah, I mean, we did that.
We also had some ideas aboutwhere we thought people would
want this, ideas about where wethought people would want this,
and you know we weren't alwayscorrect, but in certain
circumstances we would.
You know.
We would say maybe people wouldlike this in their company
break rooms as an alternative tothe coffee or tea or even the
(09:03):
Cheetos that are there, or youknow, one of the things that we
really want to happen is for itto be available on airplanes, on
the carts, the beverage carts.
Those are presumptions that wehave that don't match where the
market is early on, but it stilltook listening to the early
(09:25):
adopters to continue to servicethem and realize that we had a
product that was totallydifferent than soup because soup
is used for cooking every oncein a while, where our broth was
used daily, right, so peoplewere buying our product over and
over again because they'veintegrated it into their daily
routines, which was a big deal.
Eric Eden (09:48):
Amazing, that's fantastic, and so you got a big
break right.
Talk about the big break thatyou got.
I believe it happened aroundthe time of COVID, right.
Llance Kezner (10:00):
So we were discovered right before COVID by
a lot of Weight Watchersmembers, and so the Weight
Watchers International reachedout to us about having our
product be featured in theironline store that was marketed
(10:20):
to their four and a half millionsubscribers.
We had to go through quite abit of testing and compliance
for their internal usage, but wegot a zero point rating, which
meant that that's the bestrating you can get for a food in
the Weight Watchers system,which means people can consume
(10:42):
your product without impactingtheir point allowance for the
day.
We got that zero point rating,we got integrated into their
online system for drop shippingand I think maybe six months
after that, covid hit and wejust went crazy because everyone
was at home, everyone wastrying to figure out how to keep
(11:04):
their weight down and it wasjust an amazing opportunity and
it gave us an awareness thatboosted us to the top of.
We were the top selling brothon Amazon.
It just gave us all kinds ofawareness that we didn't have
before.
Eric Eden (11:23):
That's great.
You made your own luck byhaving a really great product
and then you were in the rightplace at the right time as well.
That always helps too whencircumstances like that come up.
But you got the opportunitybecause you were able to get
that zero point rating and thenpeople integrated into their
lives like you were saying.
I mean, that's living the dreamright.
Llance Kezner (11:43):
Well, I think the takeaway is never disregard
an opportunity that's laid infront of you.
If it's laid in front of you,take it, even if it looks kind
of odd or you might not be ableto do it, just go for it.
(12:03):
And you never know what's goingto happen.
And it's just like my coldplunge every morning I know
exactly what's going to happen,I'm going to get freaked out for
a couple of seconds, but when Iget done I know I feel so much
better afterwards.
And so those many challengeswhen you're building your
business, the big breaks comefrom a combination of all of
(12:30):
those many challenges that youhave built.
And it may not be right away,it takes months and years, but
they all build on each other.
Eric Eden (12:39):
And so you've had good success distributing your
product on Amazon over time.
Has that been good for you guys?
Llance Kezner (12:49):
It's been good.
That's led us to other thingsAgain.
We started this business in ourkitchen 12 years ago, and last
summer not the summer beforelast we were encouraged to apply
for a program that Walmart hadfor products that were made in
the United States, and so theyrequired some samples and one
(13:14):
paragraph.
They had 7,000 products applyto this program.
It's called the Open Call.
We were chosen to come and meetwith them in person.
So they chose 800 companiesonly 400 of them to come and
meet in person on their campus.
In one day we went there and wegot something that's called a
(13:35):
golden ticket, which means wegot a deal on the spot, and then
we had to keep it quiet forabout a year until we launched
into their stores just lastmonth.
So again, all of those thingskind of built on each other
where we were able to point toour success with the Weight
(13:56):
Watchers community, with oursuccess at Amazon, and that gave
Walmart the confidence thatthis crazy new idea, this new
category of the sipping broth ina teabag, was something that
they wanted in their soup aisle,right next to Campbell's Soup.
Eric Eden (14:16):
Wow, that is really remarkable.
You got the golden ticket fromWalmart.
It doesn't get too much betterthan that.
I mean, having to wait a yearprobably was a bit frustrating,
but getting the golden ticketnonetheless is still really
amazing.
Building on your past successesover the years most successes
(14:37):
aren't overnight, but you builton them and then you got that
and now you're in thousands ofstores with Walmart creating
this new category.
That must feel really good itdoes feel good.
Llance Kezner (14:49):
The challenge now is making sure everyone
knows about it and everyone goesto those stores to find it and
tell all their friends about theproduct.
That's the idea Once you get inon the shelf.
That's challenge number one.
(15:09):
Challenge number two is gettingpeople to go back and buy it.
Challenge number three ismaking sure it's still in stock.
Those are the things that we'refocused on, and they all
require all kinds of differentdisciplines and approaches, but
they're all good problems tohave.
Eric Eden (15:29):
Yeah, great problems to have when you have the golden
ticket, and I had two thoughtsabout you know the product.
You can tell me if I'm on trackhere or not.
But the first is one of thehealth things that a lot of
people advocate and that I tryto follow.
Is you got to drink more water,right, and it's sort of hard
just to drink a couple liters ofwater a day.
(15:53):
So sometimes if you can drinkwhat's almost all water with
just some additional flavoringsor nutrients in it, it really
can help you get to that goal.
Is that part of the magic youguys have?
Llance Kezner (16:08):
Well, I think yeah, that's part of it A lot of
people will integrate this intotheir wellness routine, so they
may have like a keto diet.
Yeah, that's part of it.
A lot of people will integratethis into their wellness routine
, so they may have like a ketodiet right, where they're
looking for very low carbs andthey may be hungry during the
day and they just don't want toblow their calories or carbs.
So this literally has like onegram of carbs, 10 calories, and
(16:31):
it's savory and satisfying.
So you're getting the liquid.
You, and it's savory andsatisfying.
So you're getting the liquid,you're getting the savory and
satisfying.
They may combine it with anunflavored protein so that they
can get more protein during theday.
We also have people that useour product as a seasoning for
their cooking.
They may be putting it on theiravocados to have, you know, an
(16:53):
amazing flavored avocado.
We have hundreds of recipes onour website and on our social
media that we do almost on adaily basis with our product,
from drinking to, you know,using it for cooking.
Eric Eden (17:07):
I mean Weight Watchers aside, I think a lot of
people are focused on thehealth thing aside, I think a
lot of people are focused on thehealth thing.
I use the one mobile app,myfitnesspal, and I scan the
barcode for everything I eat totrack all the different
variables of the things that I'mconsuming.
I'm trying to be healthy and Iremember I was giving my kids
(17:31):
the soup containers, as you know, lunch or a snack in the in the
afternoons after school yearsago, and one day I looked at it
I was like holy crap, this stuffis like packed with all kinds
of really bad stuff, like a lotof sodium, like you were saying,
and I was like I didn't evenrealize that I was giving it to
(17:54):
them for a long time and then Ifelt really bad and started
giving them, you know, healthier, healthier snacks.
So I think you know people,there's a tools out there like
the Mind Fitness Pal app there's.
There's a number of them outthere like that, that like let
you track and measure thesethings a lot easier than than it
was five years ago or whatever.
So I think that's also part ofit, like the original origin of
(18:19):
it, what you had done for yourwife of.
Let me give you a healthieroption.
Broadly, I think that thatprobably resonates with with a
lot of people would be my guess,based on even my own experience
.
Llance Kezner (18:33):
Oh, absolutely, yeah, I mean Lori, and Lori was
I, just I just came up with thestuff that's inside, but it was
her idea to put them into a teabag.
And I think the convenience,the fact that we're using real
herbs, vegetables and seasoning.
We're not using, you know, fakesprayed on stuff that dissolves
(18:54):
.
And we do have sodium in ourproduct, but it's 75% less than
like a bouillon cube that youwould have.
It's you know.
It's about the flavor.
Our idea and we work with a lotof nutritionists, you know our
idea is, if you satisfy yourselfwith something upfront, then
you don't continue to wantsomething down the road which
(19:15):
can build up Right, and you know, so that seems to work for a
lot of people when they're, whenthey're using it.
Listen, a lot of people drinkour broth before they go to bed.
They may be hungry and theyrealize, oh, I shouldn't eat
something, but I want somethingto kind of, you know, make me
feel satisfied.
And the broth is, is amazing.
(19:36):
You know there's no caffeine init or anything like that, but
they're getting there, you knowtheir mind is getting satisfied
and and so, anyway, you know wedidn't start off by by thinking
that we were going to do this,but it's just the way that
people have been telling us andwe were kind of leaning into
those benefits for people andthey really seem to resonate.
Eric Eden (19:57):
That's fantastic.
So my next question is whatadvice would you give to other
entrepreneurs who would like togo on a journey like this and
get a golden ticket of their ownBroadly?
If you were sitting down over acup of broth, what advice would
you give?
Llance Kezner (20:17):
Well, I think you know number one, have a a
really high level goal in mind.
You know, when we first started, we didn't really have the the
goal of helping people deal withstress and anxiety during their
day, and that that kind of cameto us.
We, you know, it's notsomething we were looking day
and that kind of came to us.
It's not something we werelooking for, but it kind of came
(20:38):
to us and we adopted that.
So definitely look for thatthing, that overarching goal.
The second thing that I tellpeople is to find something
you're excited about, becausethe thing is is that if you're
not excited about what that on aday-to-day basis, right for
(20:58):
years, may mean nothing for youto invest time in.
The next thing is is that yourproduct into hands as quickly as
you possibly can.
Don't overthink it.
As quickly as you possibly can,don't overthink it.
(21:19):
Do the MVP right, the minimumviable product, as quickly as
you can, because you will learn.
You will learn if it's theright thing, if it's the right
price, if anyone likes it.
You're going to learn thosethings quickly and time is
something that is very valuable.
Eric Eden (21:32):
Absolutely Great advice.
Well, I'm going to link to yourwebsite so people can learn
more about the product and getit and try it.
Recommend everyone, do that.
I am going to do that as well,and I will put that link as well
as a discount code that Ibelieve you can share with us in
(21:54):
the show notes there so thatpeople can try this out and see
if it makes sense to integrateinto their life.
Excellent, that's great and wereally appreciate you being with
us today.
Thanks so much for sharing yourstory and these entrepreneurial
marketing tips with us today.
We really appreciate it.
Llance Kezner (22:13):
Thank you for being on the show.
Thank you, eric, reallyappreciate the time.
Today we are talking about an awesome topic how to
make your product go viral.
It must be easy, or not, butwe're going to talk about that
today and we have a great guestto help us talk through that.
Llance Kezner (00:14):
Lance, welcome to the show.
Hi, eric, nice talking to you.
Eric Eden (00:18):
So why don't we start off by you talking, for just a
minute or two, a little bitabout who you are and what you
do?
My name is.
Llance Kezner (00:26):
Lance Kesner and my company is Millie's Sipping
Broth.
We're based in Bellevue,washington, and we created a
product that basically helpspeople get between meals.
Get between meals.
They can use the product as ahot beverage when they're not
(00:49):
wanting coffee, tea or cider oranything like that.
It comes in a box like this andin a little tea bag.
It's broth in a tea bag.
We've been producing this forabout 12 years.
We started in our kitchen andwe're now selling across the
(01:09):
country.
Eric Eden (01:10):
That's awesome.
And what does it taste like?
Are there different?
Llance Kezner (01:12):
flavors.
We have four different flavors.
We have a tomato, basil, spicytortilla, Thai lemongrass and
delight pho.
So that's a Vietnamese flavorand we kind of had fun with that
name.
Eric Eden (01:27):
Nice.
All of those sound great.
I'm going to have to try it.
We are ready to be inspired andI think the story you have
about how you created thisproduct in your kitchen and how
you made the product go viral isa very inspiring story.
So tell us how this happened.
Llance Kezner (01:47):
Well, the idea came from my wife.
My wife, lori, was a teacherand she needed something during
the day between classes to kindof hold her over.
Between lunch and dinner in theafternoon Only had a couple of
minutes to spare and coffee andtea and cider just wasn't doing
(02:09):
it.
So she used to take a bullioncube with her to school to have
as a savory hot drink.
And I said to her look, thebullion cube is just filled with
all kinds of sodium and reallybad stuff.
Let me make something healthierfor you.
So I created a mixture of spice,some herbs spices, some
(02:29):
dehydrated vegetables, and shetasted it and she goes this is
great, but all over the cup it's.
You know, put it in a teabag soI can make it really quickly
and it's just a clear broth.
So we literally opened Liptontea bags, pulled off the staples
, put in the mixture, stapled itback together, made about 12 of
(02:52):
them and she took them to theteacher's room at school and
everyone went crazy over themand we looked at each other and
thought, oh wow, we havesomething here.
Eric Eden (03:03):
Wow, that's a really cool origin story.
And so you started producingthese in your kitchen just by
hand.
And how did that grow?
Llance Kezner (03:13):
Well, we quickly realized that the category of a
hot savory beverage did notexist.
Hot savory beverage did notexist.
Everything was sweetened or wasbitter, like coffee or tea, and
(03:35):
so what we did is we tried tofigure out as quickly as we
possibly could how we couldscale this outside of our
kitchen, and early early days wemade it there just for testing
purposes.
We used to go to the Pike Placemarket and sell it at the
market to travelers that camefrom all over the world, but we
found co-packers who werewilling to take our product and
(03:58):
to help us make it in a scalablefashion.
In a scalable fashion, and soit was a combination of finding
someone who could make it,specialty food retailers who
would buy it so they couldresell it to their customers,
and then finding as many directconsumers we could find to sell
(04:20):
it to so that we could getfeedback as quickly as possible
on pricing, packaging, quality,on all of that, and that all
happened in about a 90 dayperiod.
Eric Eden (04:33):
I've been out to the Pike Place Market in Seattle and
it's definitely the environmentwhere you would need a drink
like this, because it rains inthe Seattle Washington area
quite often.
You quite often need a warmbeverage when it's very rainy
and cold outside on many daysthroughout the year.
Llance Kezner (04:53):
Hey, well, look at the sweater I'm wearing.
It's cold right now.
Eric Eden (04:59):
We are having right now, today, even in Virginia, we
are having the bomb cyclonestorm, so it's just raining and
I, in particular, am a coffeeaddict.
That's not a great thing, butwhat you have created seems a
lot healthier than peopledrinking multiple cups of coffee
throughout the day to try tokeep warm and sustain themselves
(05:21):
between meals.
Keep warm and sustainthemselves between meals.
So, as you did that, as youramped it up and you came up
with the ideas over 90 days, howmuch did you scale making in
your kitchen?
How crazy did it?
Llance Kezner (05:34):
get.
We literally had people that wehired to come in and help us do
some packaging.
I think once we figured out whocould make it for us, we were
still shipping things from ourhouse.
We shipped about 5,000 ordersout of our house, you know,
through Amazon and through allthese various different places
(05:57):
like our own website.
But we realized that, you know,in order for it to be a food
safe product, for it to bescalable, that we really needed
that partner.
And so, yeah, within that 90days, we were up and out as far
as making it.
And, again, everything that wedid before that was really more
(06:18):
for testing, not really for sale.
But once we got the productthat we could sell, yeah, we
were still filling orders out ofour living room and I got to
tell you it was painful, thepains of entrepreneurship.
Eric Eden (06:33):
So how were you able to then grow this and scale it?
Llance Kezner (06:39):
I think the biggest, the biggest asset we
had was communication directlywith customers and customers who
were consuming our product.
What we didn't realize was whatthey were really using it for.
(07:00):
And we had the idea of creatingit for Lori so she could use it
as a, you know, as a kind of away to have a snack during the
day.
But what we didn't realize wasthat people were using our
product to help them with theiranxiety, to help them kind of
calm down and to be comfortedduring the day when they were
(07:26):
stressed out.
And over and over again, peoplewould tell us I really
appreciate your product becauseit makes me slow down.
I have to make it, it takes mea couple minutes to make it, I
sit back and relax with it and Ireally get some time to kind of
(07:48):
refocus during the day.
And oh, by the way, it's only10 calories and it's, you know,
it's great for my wellnessroutines.
You know I might be on keto, Imight be on Weight Watchers, I
might be on any of these things,so it fits perfectly with that.
So we use that momentum andthat feedback to help us focus
(08:09):
in the right areas where thosepeople were looking for those
kinds of products.
Eric Eden (08:17):
I think that's critical.
Talking to customers andfinding out what their story
really is, rather than just whatyou think their story would be,
is a big hurdle that a lot ofpeople struggle with in
marketing.
So that's great that you wereable to pretty quickly come to
that realization of how peoplereally wanted to use it.
Llance Kezner (08:39):
Yeah, I mean, we did that.
We also had some ideas aboutwhere we thought people would
want this, ideas about where wethought people would want this,
and you know we weren't alwayscorrect, but in certain
circumstances we would.
You know.
We would say maybe people wouldlike this in their company
break rooms as an alternative tothe coffee or tea or even the
(09:03):
Cheetos that are there, or youknow, one of the things that we
really want to happen is for itto be available on airplanes, on
the carts, the beverage carts.
Those are presumptions that wehave that don't match where the
market is early on, but it stilltook listening to the early
(09:25):
adopters to continue to servicethem and realize that we had a
product that was totallydifferent than soup because soup
is used for cooking every oncein a while, where our broth was
used daily, right, so peoplewere buying our product over and
over again because they'veintegrated it into their daily
routines, which was a big deal.
Eric Eden (09:48):
Amazing, that's fantastic, and so you got a big
break right.
Talk about the big break thatyou got.
I believe it happened aroundthe time of COVID, right.
Llance Kezner (10:00):
So we were discovered right before COVID by
a lot of Weight Watchersmembers, and so the Weight
Watchers International reachedout to us about having our
product be featured in theironline store that was marketed
(10:20):
to their four and a half millionsubscribers.
We had to go through quite abit of testing and compliance
for their internal usage, but wegot a zero point rating, which
meant that that's the bestrating you can get for a food in
the Weight Watchers system,which means people can consume
(10:42):
your product without impactingtheir point allowance for the
day.
We got that zero point rating,we got integrated into their
online system for drop shippingand I think maybe six months
after that, covid hit and wejust went crazy because everyone
was at home, everyone wastrying to figure out how to keep
(11:04):
their weight down and it wasjust an amazing opportunity and
it gave us an awareness thatboosted us to the top of.
We were the top selling brothon Amazon.
It just gave us all kinds ofawareness that we didn't have
before.
Eric Eden (11:23):
That's great.
You made your own luck byhaving a really great product
and then you were in the rightplace at the right time as well.
That always helps too whencircumstances like that come up.
But you got the opportunitybecause you were able to get
that zero point rating and thenpeople integrated into their
lives like you were saying.
I mean, that's living the dreamright.
Llance Kezner (11:43):
Well, I think the takeaway is never disregard
an opportunity that's laid infront of you.
If it's laid in front of you,take it, even if it looks kind
of odd or you might not be ableto do it, just go for it.
(12:03):
And you never know what's goingto happen.
And it's just like my coldplunge every morning I know
exactly what's going to happen,I'm going to get freaked out for
a couple of seconds, but when Iget done I know I feel so much
better afterwards.
And so those many challengeswhen you're building your
business, the big breaks comefrom a combination of all of
(12:30):
those many challenges that youhave built.
And it may not be right away,it takes months and years, but
they all build on each other.
Eric Eden (12:39):
And so you've had good success distributing your
product on Amazon over time.
Has that been good for you guys?
Llance Kezner (12:49):
It's been good.
That's led us to other thingsAgain.
We started this business in ourkitchen 12 years ago, and last
summer not the summer beforelast we were encouraged to apply
for a program that Walmart hadfor products that were made in
the United States, and so theyrequired some samples and one
(13:14):
paragraph.
They had 7,000 products applyto this program.
It's called the Open Call.
We were chosen to come and meetwith them in person.
So they chose 800 companiesonly 400 of them to come and
meet in person on their campus.
In one day we went there and wegot something that's called a
(13:35):
golden ticket, which means wegot a deal on the spot, and then
we had to keep it quiet forabout a year until we launched
into their stores just lastmonth.
So again, all of those thingskind of built on each other
where we were able to point toour success with the Weight
(13:56):
Watchers community, with oursuccess at Amazon, and that gave
Walmart the confidence thatthis crazy new idea, this new
category of the sipping broth ina teabag, was something that
they wanted in their soup aisle,right next to Campbell's Soup.
Eric Eden (14:16):
Wow, that is really remarkable.
You got the golden ticket fromWalmart.
It doesn't get too much betterthan that.
I mean, having to wait a yearprobably was a bit frustrating,
but getting the golden ticketnonetheless is still really
amazing.
Building on your past successesover the years most successes
(14:37):
aren't overnight, but you builton them and then you got that
and now you're in thousands ofstores with Walmart creating
this new category.
That must feel really good itdoes feel good.
Llance Kezner (14:49):
The challenge now is making sure everyone
knows about it and everyone goesto those stores to find it and
tell all their friends about theproduct.
That's the idea Once you get inon the shelf.
That's challenge number one.
(15:09):
Challenge number two is gettingpeople to go back and buy it.
Challenge number three ismaking sure it's still in stock.
Those are the things that we'refocused on, and they all
require all kinds of differentdisciplines and approaches, but
they're all good problems tohave.
Eric Eden (15:29):
Yeah, great problems to have when you have the golden
ticket, and I had two thoughtsabout you know the product.
You can tell me if I'm on trackhere or not.
But the first is one of thehealth things that a lot of
people advocate and that I tryto follow.
Is you got to drink more water,right, and it's sort of hard
just to drink a couple liters ofwater a day.
(15:53):
So sometimes if you can drinkwhat's almost all water with
just some additional flavoringsor nutrients in it, it really
can help you get to that goal.
Is that part of the magic youguys have?
Llance Kezner (16:08):
Well, I think yeah, that's part of it A lot of
people will integrate this intotheir wellness routine, so they
may have like a keto diet.
Yeah, that's part of it.
A lot of people will integratethis into their wellness routine
, so they may have like a ketodiet right, where they're
looking for very low carbs andthey may be hungry during the
day and they just don't want toblow their calories or carbs.
So this literally has like onegram of carbs, 10 calories, and
(16:31):
it's savory and satisfying.
So you're getting the liquid.
You, and it's savory andsatisfying.
So you're getting the liquid,you're getting the savory and
satisfying.
They may combine it with anunflavored protein so that they
can get more protein during theday.
We also have people that useour product as a seasoning for
their cooking.
They may be putting it on theiravocados to have, you know, an
(16:53):
amazing flavored avocado.
We have hundreds of recipes onour website and on our social
media that we do almost on adaily basis with our product,
from drinking to, you know,using it for cooking.
Eric Eden (17:07):
I mean Weight Watchers aside, I think a lot of
people are focused on thehealth thing aside, I think a
lot of people are focused on thehealth thing.
I use the one mobile app,myfitnesspal, and I scan the
barcode for everything I eat totrack all the different
variables of the things that I'mconsuming.
I'm trying to be healthy and Iremember I was giving my kids
(17:31):
the soup containers, as you know, lunch or a snack in the in the
afternoons after school yearsago, and one day I looked at it
I was like holy crap, this stuffis like packed with all kinds
of really bad stuff, like a lotof sodium, like you were saying,
and I was like I didn't evenrealize that I was giving it to
(17:54):
them for a long time and then Ifelt really bad and started
giving them, you know, healthier, healthier snacks.
So I think you know people,there's a tools out there like
the Mind Fitness Pal app there's.
There's a number of them outthere like that, that like let
you track and measure thesethings a lot easier than than it
was five years ago or whatever.
So I think that's also part ofit, like the original origin of
(18:19):
it, what you had done for yourwife of.
Let me give you a healthieroption.
Broadly, I think that thatprobably resonates with with a
lot of people would be my guess,based on even my own experience
.
Llance Kezner (18:33):
Oh, absolutely, yeah, I mean Lori, and Lori was
I, just I just came up with thestuff that's inside, but it was
her idea to put them into a teabag.
And I think the convenience,the fact that we're using real
herbs, vegetables and seasoning.
We're not using, you know, fakesprayed on stuff that dissolves
(18:54):
.
And we do have sodium in ourproduct, but it's 75% less than
like a bouillon cube that youwould have.
It's you know.
It's about the flavor.
Our idea and we work with a lotof nutritionists, you know our
idea is, if you satisfy yourselfwith something upfront, then
you don't continue to wantsomething down the road which
(19:15):
can build up Right, and you know, so that seems to work for a
lot of people when they're, whenthey're using it.
Listen, a lot of people drinkour broth before they go to bed.
They may be hungry and theyrealize, oh, I shouldn't eat
something, but I want somethingto kind of, you know, make me
feel satisfied.
And the broth is, is amazing.
(19:36):
You know there's no caffeine init or anything like that, but
they're getting there, you knowtheir mind is getting satisfied
and and so, anyway, you know wedidn't start off by by thinking
that we were going to do this,but it's just the way that
people have been telling us andwe were kind of leaning into
those benefits for people andthey really seem to resonate.
Eric Eden (19:57):
That's fantastic.
So my next question is whatadvice would you give to other
entrepreneurs who would like togo on a journey like this and
get a golden ticket of their ownBroadly?
If you were sitting down over acup of broth, what advice would
you give?
Llance Kezner (20:17):
Well, I think you know number one, have a a
really high level goal in mind.
You know, when we first started, we didn't really have the the
goal of helping people deal withstress and anxiety during their
day, and that that kind of cameto us.
We, you know, it's notsomething we were looking day
and that kind of came to us.
It's not something we werelooking for, but it kind of came
(20:38):
to us and we adopted that.
So definitely look for thatthing, that overarching goal.
The second thing that I tellpeople is to find something
you're excited about, becausethe thing is is that if you're
not excited about what that on aday-to-day basis, right for
(20:58):
years, may mean nothing for youto invest time in.
The next thing is is that yourproduct into hands as quickly as
you possibly can.
Don't overthink it.
As quickly as you possibly can,don't overthink it.
(21:19):
Do the MVP right, the minimumviable product, as quickly as
you can, because you will learn.
You will learn if it's theright thing, if it's the right
price, if anyone likes it.
You're going to learn thosethings quickly and time is
something that is very valuable.
Eric Eden (21:32):
Absolutely Great advice.
Well, I'm going to link to yourwebsite so people can learn
more about the product and getit and try it.
Recommend everyone, do that.
I am going to do that as well,and I will put that link as well
as a discount code that Ibelieve you can share with us in
(21:54):
the show notes there so thatpeople can try this out and see
if it makes sense to integrateinto their life.
Excellent, that's great and wereally appreciate you being with
us today.
Thanks so much for sharing yourstory and these entrepreneurial
marketing tips with us today.
We really appreciate it.
Llance Kezner (22:13):
Thank you for being on the show.
Thank you, eric, reallyappreciate the time.
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