November 2, 2022 • 29 mins
The Month End provides emerging inventory-based brands real life knowledge in the accounting, finance, and operational world. Our guests are not only similar brand founders and owners, but key stakeholders and contributors to the industry. Each episode provides a glimpse into the vast experience and insight from its guest’s unique background in a casual, conversational tone.
• • •
In episode twenty six, Accountfully's CEO and Partner, Brad Ebenhoeh, sits down with Jeff Wiguna to talk about his outdoor-inspired pour over coffee company. Jeff provides some serious insight into developing brand equity to build a lasting, profitable company. Kuju’s unique position in both the outdoor market and food space provide some hefty lessons learned in leveraging vendor relationships, proper marketing, and proactive accounting practices for success. See how these unique facets all played a part in helping overcome a massive distributor challenge that could have easily ended any other small business.
SHOW NOTES and VIDEO RECORDING: https://www.accountfully.com/podcasts/jeff-wiguna-kuju-coffee
The Kuju Coffee Website: www.kujucoffee.com
For more small business and CPG- focused resources, visit Accountfully's resources page, where you will find helpful articles, guides, eBooks and more.
• • •
Follow us on social media to take advantage of even more info and news.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Brad Ebenhoeh (00:00):
Welcome to The Month End CPG community chat,
The Month End will provideemerging CPG brands real life
knowledge into the accounting,finance and operational worlds.
Our guests will be keystakeholders from those same
brands as well as other keycontributors to the industry.
Welcome to Episode 26 of TheMonth End podcast. Today's guest
(00:20):
is Jeff Wiguna from Kuju Coffee.
How you doing Jeff?
Jeff Wiguna (00:23):
Hi Brad, thanks for having me.
Brad Ebenhoeh (00:25):
Yeah, excited to chat about Kuju and your journey
the last several years withinthe brand. So before we get
started, just give a littlebackground on yourself where
you're at, you know, what, whydid you get into CPG? And why
did you launch Kuju?
Jeff Wiguna (00:38):
Yeah, I'll start I've got a I've got two
daughters. I'll say that firstbefore the company that's always
the kind of a top-of-mind thing.
And I started the company withmy brother before the first one
was born. And it was aKickstarter, I think back in
2015. So the brand story is Kujuwas founded by two Eagle Scout
(01:00):
brothers who got tired ofinstant coffee while camping and
the Kickstarter in 2015...mindyou at that time, outdoor was
not a thing, and I remember alot of people thought this was
the most specific niche kind ofidea you could ever come up
with. And at the time, REI wasonly carrying Starbucks Via. So
we did it. And, you know, wewere just inspired by the idea
(01:25):
of bridging a passion for theoutdoors with the quality
experiences of a great cup ofcoffee that was really
compelling to us. And you fastforward. You know, a couple of
years we debuted at OutdoorRetailer, which is the outdoor
industries Expo West August of2016. And shortly after that,
literally the day after that, wegot a vendor packet to the
(01:48):
National Sportsman's Warehouse,which is a great hunting retail
chain with about at the time 75doors. And a couple of months
later, we had a meeting with REIand we went into REI stores, I
think May of next year in thefollowing year. And from there,
I guess you could say it allworked out from a distribution
(02:09):
standpoint, today, we're inroughly 2,000 doors national and
Whole Foods and Sprouts and REI,Academy Sports and all those
places. But it's been quite thejourney, as I'm sure a lot of
your listeners can imagine. ButBut it all started with a
passion for being outside with areally good cup of coffee and
kind of the transformativeimpact that can have on your
psyche, even if it's just forfive minutes.
Brad Ebenhoeh (02:32):
Again, I'm a coffee lover, I got three kids,
if I can get up 10 minutesbefore them and enjoy a cup of
Joe before. Before all hellbreaks loose. Better, so good.
Um, let's great background, I'mlooking forward to chatting. So
in terms of I guess , how longhave you guys been in business?
Jeff Wiguna (02:51):
This is probably our sixth year, depending on how
you cut it. Six full year ofoperation. Yeah.
Brad Ebenhoeh (02:56):
So then, I guess from a six year standpoint, you
know, number one congrats onthat, like, you know, three
years, four years, five years,six years? That's all kind of
good things to kind ofcelebrate. But how many
different phases of thebusiness? Like have you had?
Jeff Wiguna (03:08):
That's an awesome question, actually. I would say,
I mean, the last two and a halfyears was COVID. So that was
like 2020 was a phase 21 is aphase now 2022 is a phase. I
think prior to that, I'dprobably say two or three
phases. I think there was aKickstarter to launch and first
(03:30):
retailers, then there wasfiguring out to make sure we
don't run out of inventory, justmake stuff. And then I think the
third phase was probably "okay,we can make a lot of stuff,
let's start just continuing tosell like hell and market and,
and that's probably phasethree." And then phase four has
been from 2020 on but thatsimultaneously been grappling
(03:54):
with scale. We went national inSprouts in February 2020. We
went national in Whole Foods atthe end of 2021. So there's been
a lot of organizationallearning, leadership learning on
my in the last two, three yearsto set us up for the next five,
six years, really. So I'd saymaybe four or five stages.
Brad Ebenhoeh (04:15):
Awesome. I think that's a, that makes a lot of
sense. And it's alwaysinteresting to kind of reflect
and look back on your businesslike in terms of, I guess the
segmentation of differentperiods. Yeah, going to kind of
first number one Kickstarter,like, like, how did that go?
What did you learn? Like how doyou take money in and then how
do you earmark money forinventory and selling?
Jeff Wiguna (04:38):
Yeah, you know, I we did the Kickstarter at a time
when Kickstarters were verypopular, and a lot of
Kickstarters were not fulfillingon time. And so I was personally
very sensitive about making surewe could get it done on time.
And I think that's kind of anintegrity value that just
pervades into the way we dobusiness now. Um, but they're
(05:01):
most of the work was in theplanning, like, what were the,
what were the items? How much isthat going to cost? How much do
we need, so we didn't raise aton, we only raised $16,000. We
use it to fund the trip to atrade show to check it out, buy
some preliminary equipment. Butthe real reason we did it was
just to test our chops, quitehonestly, just to see if we
(05:23):
could even get it done. Wedidn't have any product, we had
a prototype. But it was mostly amarketing and planning and
supply chain exercise. So wefulfilled it on time, we had a
little bit of extra money to usefor other things. And it felt
like a big challenge at thetime, I was so tired after it
(05:44):
that I said, "Hey, I don't knowif I want to keep doing this
after a Kickstarter." But, butwe kept on going. And in
retrospect, the Kickstarterlooks like a nice little project
now compared to the problems wedeal with today. So this is kind
of what that was, like.
Brad Ebenhoeh (06:00):
Awesome. So then the next kind of step of
national distribution, kind ofat a young phase, your business,
how did that go?
Jeff Wiguna (06:07):
Well, the way it went on a production standpoint
was generally fine, because Ithink production is a little
more predictable than maybesales forecasting, or buyer
behavior predicting. So to putit really bluntly, we just
(06:29):
worked our ass off to make sureto fulfill the National
Sportsman's Warehouse order,we're still manufacturing in our
living room. And for REI, wewere not manufacturing in our
living room, but an actual kindof office space, but still
packing by hand. And we just puta lot of time into it, had part
time workers doing it, and weshipped it out. I think it
(06:51):
wasn't until we got a real goodproduction line operations set
up that the national stuff onSprouts and Whole Foods started
kicking in and getting involvedwith distributors and
chargebacks and all that stuffwhen when you're that management
has to be I don't know if it hasto be tight-knit because I think
it's pretty hard to keep it sotight-knit, given what it's like
(07:14):
to work with these people. But Ithink we have to be very good
with understanding.
We had to be really good withunderstanding the risk
mitigation and risk profiles ofdistribution production across
the board. And that's somethingthat we're kind of constantly in
(07:35):
now, especially with the COVIDthings on pricing, inflation and
supply chain so forth.
Brad Ebenhoeh (07:40):
Yeah, well, let's get into that. Like how have
you, how was your suppliers Iguess number one, how has your
product mix changed from likeselling to the customer since
inception. And then number two,what else has changed within
that specific last couple yearsof COVID, supply chain, freight
costs, etc. So number ones, Iwould like the product next
year, the same product mix, youhave a different product mix?,
Jeff Wiguna (08:00):
We've been extremely focused. One of the
things I was told when we firstlaunched our first Expo West,
which was March 2017, was justto be known for one thing. And
for that, I've always kept thisin kind of the back of my head
just to be known as Camp coffeeor outdoor coffee. And I think
that's translated into a productmix that is almost basically the
(08:22):
same as day one, today. We've westarted with kind of our core
set of three roasts, we launchedour single origin line, which is
the three additional roasts theyear after. And we have not
really played around with itsince. We've had different
packs, like gift packs, and wewent national in World Market
and Paper Source. But we'vedivested from that since. And at
(08:46):
the grocery level. We're justfocusing on three core SKUs,
which is have been the corethings from the very beginning.
So not a lot of changes there.
Yeah.
Brad Ebenhoeh (08:56):
Good. Good. And then I guess from moving on to
the next question of in terms ofwhat has changed last couple
years since COVID, related tocosts, or supply chain or just
managing the business; buyinginventory sooner versus later,
kind of operationally, supplychain aspect. Like what, what's
changed, what's stayed the same?
Jeff Wiguna (09:14):
Yeah. I think, well, one, we were not expecting
to go national in Whole Foods.
When we did that review, Iactually had only pitched for
maximum half of the regions andat the time, we were only in one
region in NorCal. And it wasn'teven the whole region. It was
like 26 stores in NorCal out oflike 40, 50. So I was sitting
outside and I got this emailfrom Whole Foods and I counted
(09:38):
the DCs and the doors and andthe list. It goes horizontally.
And I was like, "holy cow thislike wait, there's another
column, and another column", andhaving been experienced enough
at the time. This was probably afourth fifth year. I wasn't
ecstatic nor was I scared I wasvery level and realized this was
going to be kind of a big thing.
(10:02):
On a supply chain basis, I thinkwe have a very strong supply
chain and good relationshipsthere. So it's definitely
challenging, but not as much asource of risk. But, you know,
the launch of Whole Foods, WholeFoods themselves were awesome.
But I think there weredefinitely some kind of touched
(10:23):
on it before some challengeswith UNFI, on the amount of
orders. And in particular, inthis case, we had not gotten
paid for multiple months,actually from UNFI. Even though
we had done a national WholeFoods launch. And upon pursuit
of this investigation, we foundout that our POs were actually
(10:43):
deleted from their system. Ihope so I hope it was an
accident. So the you know, Ikind of paused because I, you,
you see a lot of stuff whenyou're building a company from
scratch, especially pioneering acategory, but I never thought
(11:04):
during one of the most criticallaunches, the POs would get
deleted. So if we didn't pursueit, we likely would have never
gotten paid. So this was monthsand months over time of just
working on this, investigatingwith our shipping partners,
where things are, escalatingwhere we needed to. And I don't
(11:24):
know. I'm happy to go into it,but it's just so such an effect
so many components of thebusiness that it was a good rite
of passage, I think tounderstand, you learn different
kinds of things when somethinglike that happens. So
Brad Ebenhoeh (11:39):
So let's get into that, you know, this is a
podcast targeted towards the CPGbrand owner. Some of them may
not know, like even thelogistics of UNFI, or
distribution or whatever. So Iguess step one, can you just
explain the structure and thenon UNFI Ke, and how that works
(11:59):
from the front standpoint in theprocess? And then we can kind of
go through the phases of whathappened and how you reacted at
that the end? What did youlearn? So go ahead.
Jeff Wiguna (12:07):
Yeah, well, at a basic level for anyone who might
be more new to CPG, when yousell in particular to Whole
So the number one just specificto this, like, is there anything
Foods, or Sprouts, they have adistributor. So UNFI is the key
distributor that Whole Foodsworks with. And Ke is the key
distributor, Sprouts works with.
And there are a lot of these DCis 10 to 15. And I don't know if
it reaches 20 around thecountry, but you're essentially
(12:28):
selling to the distributor. Andthen obviously, at this point,
the distributor is selling tothe the chain to Whole Foods. So
we have a great relationshipwith both chains. But it's
incredibly critical to maintainyour distribution forecasting
and cash flow monitoring withthe distributors, because that's
that that's what's paying yourbills. I mean, the chain is
(12:51):
giving you the chance, but yourcash flow comes from the
distributors. So to say thatUNFI is the one that by mistake
deleted, our POs is actuallybasically saying we had spent a
lot of money on production. Andover six to nine months, we were
not getting anything back. Andyou say the least that was very
challenging, but it affects itaffects your priorities as a
(13:14):
company because usually you wantto be focused on the marketing
at that point. But if you'redealing with cash flow
challenges of that magnitude,you have to have ridiculously
keen understanding of the leversof your business. So you know
where to move things at certaintimes and so luckily, we got
through it. But it was it wasvery difficult. You should
(13:36):
probably ask me a specificquestion. Because my usually I
can articulate very clearly, butthis was such a unique
situation. There are a lot ofdifferent components to this.
that you could have done orsomebody else a different, you
(13:59):
know, CPG brand could have doneto minimize that risk of the PO
getting deleted before you shipthe product? Or before you
produce the product?
Yeah, I think it's, it's thebasic "watch your A/R time lines
very meticulously". And the daythat somebody is maybe one day
(14:19):
late, don't be afraid to justsay, "hey, we wanted to see if
this is coming in, I think UNFIis not necessarily the best at
responding. So second to thatkind of matrixing urgency or
importance of the A/R thatyou're following. And if you're
not getting a response,understand if it's like a $400
order, it's okay. But if it's a$400,000 order, it's probably
(14:42):
not okay, so I think we presumethat payments would come in,
because they have in the pastwhen we were working with other
DCs so we just assumed it wouldjust take some time. That was
probably not the bestassumption. I think if we were
more proactive aboutcommunication, we might have
been able to get ahead of it.
Brad Ebenhoeh (15:00):
Gotcha, good. And for the listeners out there,
what do you mean by A/R isaccounts receivable. So you
enter an invoice on your end, aPO on their end is they're
purchasing product from you, youinvoice them, which is revenue
and accounts receivable, andthen basically maintaining and
reviewing your accountsreceivable and open invoices,
just from an accountingstandpoint. I urge all just
(15:24):
businesses, small businessowners, make sure you invoice on
time and make sure you reviewyour A/R at least weekly. And
then feel free to follow up withpeople when you're past due. And
sometimes you're like, well,they're gonna pay me I feel bad
for following up. No. It's acontract. They owe you based
upon terms, it doesn't alwayshappen that way. But there's
nothing wrong with you buggingthem, whether you do it, your
(15:44):
bookkeeper does it or whatever.
So.
Jeff Wiguna (15:46):
Ya, what, what we do now is, we did go over A/R
weekly. But what we do now is govery specifically into A/R in
particular larger POs just toknow, because you might run into
something where the distributioncenter, even if it's not UNFI,
somebody else might just havelabor problems. So they're
processing inventory, slowereffects, accounting, you just
(16:08):
want to know all that stuff. Andso it's essentially for an early
CPG brand, I think it's it allrolls up into just cash flow
management competencies, which Ishould say is very different
from managing your P&L. Andthat's an important distinction,
I think, you know, on the P&Lbasis, things can look that
fabulous. And you won't feelthat way on the cash flow if you
(16:29):
don't pay attention,
Brad Ebenhoeh (16:32):
That was actually my second question on this
topic, like how did you managecash like throughout that
process? And then how did youfigure out just to fumble and
get through that-those severalmonths, you know, periods of not
getting paid while havingalready paid for your inventory
and running the normaloperations of your business?
Jeff Wiguna (16:48):
Yeah, that's a great question. So one thing I
think that's really unique aboutus is we are, even though we
sell coffee, and it's aconsumable, we're actually at
heart, an outdoor company, andwe have a lot of outdoor
industry distribution. And thereally good thing about that
channel is it doesn't have a lotof the complexities that the
(17:10):
grocery side has, across theboard: margin, distributors,
overhead. So we have adiversified set of business
where that was helping us quitea bit, move forward. The second
component of that is justwatching cash on a weekly basis.
(17:31):
And just asking the question,well, what do we need to make it
through the next couple ofweeks. And, and, I mean, this is
maybe not super helpful, butfiguring it out. So what I mean
by figuring it out, are wedidn't have a line of credit,
with a bank vendor or financevendor, whatever you call it.
And we did some small additionalraises on a convertible note
(17:55):
that we had out with friends andfamily, which helped as well.
And on top of that, I think youjust want to be really
resourceful with where you'reputting the money. And sometimes
you have to stop spending moneywhere it's not returning at the
time. But if you stop spendingmoney, you need to know the
levers of your business wellenough that you understand the
impact clearly. So I think,yeah, just understanding your
(18:18):
business alone is, is verypowerful. I think that's
probably an understated thing.
Understand what makes it tick,you know?
Brad Ebenhoeh (18:25):
Yeah, no, I think, yeah, I think figuring it
I agree. Yeah, absolutely. Yep.
Good.
out is a great term. It's veryvague, but it's a when you
understand your business,understand the mechanics of p&l,
cash flow revenue, what do Ineed to spend this month to keep
my business operable with, I wastaking a step back and
understanding all the solutionsout there. And really, once you
understand all that, that reallyhelps out in terms of these
(18:47):
these downturns because that'swhen you can be like, look at
him like, Okay, I need $22,000In next two weeks, versus like,
"I need money". And so peoplecome and say, "Well, how much do
you need?" You're like, "I don'tknow". No, it's like, if you're
very precise, and you knowwhat's going on, then that's
kind of - it's an easier problemto solve for. And I think that's
(19:07):
kind of what you're getting towith what you're saying.
So last thing, looking back, isthere anything that you change
or anything, you know, withinthat process of you wish you did
or you didn't do?
Jeff Wiguna (19:25):
Do you mean just kind of broadly speaking over
the course of just having grownthe business or just
Brad Ebenhoeh (19:29):
know just specifically that example of the
UNFI situation like after, onceyou hit like, once you got paid
for those delayed POs, would youwhen you look back, you're like,
Gosh, I wish you would have donethat month one, or you just you
think you handled as best as youcan and you got through it?
Jeff Wiguna (19:45):
No, I think we handled it in general quite,
quite well. We handled it, andwe moved forward. I think it's
such it was a big thing. Butit's not as big as your
overarching momentum andstrategy for the organization as
a whole. And I would say it'snot as big as just understanding
the nature of the equity youwant to build with your
(20:06):
stakeholders and vendors,overall. I think our ability to
get through it was and continuesto be a testament, I think, to
the strength of therelationships that we've built
within our company's ecosystem.
And so maybe the one thing Iwould say to anyone listening is
product has to be good,operations has to be good, but
but all your power and equity,and ultimately, long term growth
(20:27):
and profits from a companyusually happens long term. So
you need to ask this question of"Are you building relationships
that are investing into longterm equity? and, narratives not
transactional?", and I havefound, we were only able to
handle that, because the equitythat we have with the
(20:49):
relationships in the company, onboth sides; with our buyers and
our supply chain, are uniquelyvery strong, I don't think we
could have handled it, if thatwas not the case.
Brad Ebenhoeh (21:03):
Relationships the the key to life. So now kind of
moving forward, just kind ofgetting a more financial kind of
standpoint, like what KPIs froma financial standpoint, do you
look at now, to run yourbusiness or to see the health of
your business as well as howdoes that differ from what you
used to look at it? Or does itdiffer? So I guess let's start
(21:23):
out number one, like what areyou looking at on a
month-over-month basis from amore pure financial standpoint?
Jeff Wiguna (21:27):
That's a great question. I think on a on a
finance basis, I'm constantlypaying attention these days to
cost trends, logistics, andfulfillment being a key one, and
also understanding our pricingstrategy. Because obviously, I
think the biggest impact you canmake on your bottom line tends
to be within your COGS or costof sales. Actually, I think your
(21:51):
marketing and everything can getmanaged. But if you want you
know, if you can save one to 2%on your COGS, that translates
pretty heavily I think if you'redoing volume, so we we I think
about that trajectory. The otherthing I look at is actually the
question of how do we look atour finances, not even so much
(22:11):
what KPIs we look at, becauseyou want to make sure the way
you think about your financialKPIs is reflective of the unique
value proposition and structureof your organization, I actually
think that's relativelychallenging. Because if you're
looking at it in a very standardway, you're going to inevitably
(22:32):
derive the types of KPIs thatmight be standard, which usually
results in more standardbehavior, more standard
operating in value propositionsinto the marketplace. So I think
being able to understand theuniqueness of your organization
and product and have that pullthrough every component of the
company, I think is reallyvaluable. But that's a little
(22:55):
bit. I think that's a little bitmore of an advanced thing. So I
understand our p&l andeverything at an intuitive level
at this point. But But that'skind of the that's how I think
about it now, right now.
Brad Ebenhoeh (23:09):
That's, that's interesting. It makes a lot of
sense. Can you me kind of abreakdown of where you're
(24:13):
selling your product today?
Jeff Wiguna (24:21):
Yeah, the way we think about distribution is is
really around where does ourcustomer which is the outdoor
enthusiast shop. So we're reallyfocused on on Whole Foods and
Sprouts and REI but we're alsoin a lot of other outdoor stores
like Academy Sports in theSouth. Shields is a new retail
partner during the Midwest,Cabela's, Bass Pro. A lot of
(24:44):
those those types of those aretypes of places but those are a
lot of the majority of placesthat we're pushing business
right now. Awesome.
Brad Ebenhoeh (24:52):
Well, this is this has been a great chat like
it's always great gettingspecifically into a situation
and just as a have, you know anaccounting firm who targets CPG
brands and I deal with all thesales calls. A lot of times when
I'm talking to the folks,deduction management UNFI Ke
nightmares get brought up. Soit's very industry specific.
(25:15):
Yeah, it's interesting, but itis I'm just kind of get ahead of
the curve, understanding whatyou signed up for, managing it,
managing cash as best as youcan, and then moving on. So you
know, very appreciative of the,the example and the situation
that you discussed, and I thinkit'll be a great value add to
that for the listeners outthere. So
Jeff Wiguna (25:35):
No, my pleasure to share. Thanks for having me.
Brad Ebenhoeh (25:38):
All right. Before we get outta here, a couple of
things, we got our typical kindof two questions that we asked
ask all of our guests. Numberone, what is one CPG industry
do?
Jeff Wiguna (25:50):
What is the CPG?
Industry Do?
Brad Ebenhoeh (25:52):
Do? So for any fellow brand owners? What was
the one piece of advice to do?
Jeff Wiguna (25:57):
Oh, not not what does the industry do - one piece
of advice to do? I'd say standfor one thing. There's a lot of
stuff out there, but you canonly stand for one thing. And I
would even say that is for thelifetime of the company, one
thing and if you can own thatthing, then you'll accompany
equity with your brand. Even ifthe revenue is low brand equity
(26:21):
and owning that one thing willeventually turn into sales. It's
just the way it works.
Brad Ebenhoeh (26:27):
Ya, I remember back 10, 15 years ago, when I
was getting into the businessworld and entrepreneur world, I
was trying to do like fivethings. And it's like, all of
them sucked. So it's like focuson one. And then you know, it's
like, really focused on it. Andit really does help you grow
that brand, or that equity. Theway you're looking at so then
the second question is, thenwhat is one CPG? Industry don't?
(26:52):
For for the folks out there?
Jeff Wiguna (26:55):
I would say don't get distracted by all the press
releases on LinkedIn.
Brad Ebenhoeh (27:03):
Give us a little more background on that.
Jeff Wiguna (27:04):
Yeah, sure. The CPG industry is has a very low
barrier to entry, so anyone cancreate food, go to the farmers
market and say, Hey, I'm in CPG.
But I think it has a very highbarrier to entry to profit
driving enterprise and networkcapability. And a lot of the
companies in the space tend tobe venture capital backed and
(27:26):
those incentives that accompanythat as V/C backed has in the
way they grow, market, leveragePR is not always necessarily
indicative of the best ways tobuild a long standing profitable
business. And so when I sayignore the the press releases on
LinkedIn, it's really about ifyou understand your business
(27:51):
supremely well, and understandthe customers who are buying
from your business and servingthem. I just genuinely don't
think any press release mattersat that point. You can have a
competitor and land on the frontpage of the Times. But I think
you ask anyone who's had press.
(28:12):
It's like a party like it wasgreat that night. And then the
next day, the sales didn'treally uptick, but people
thought I was cooler. That'swhat press is like to me. So
don't get distracted by what yousee, get focused on serving your
customers and maintaining yourmargin. It's not sexy, but
that's how you will make money.
And that's how you serve morepeople over time.
Brad Ebenhoeh (28:33):
Love it. That's a very unique don't. But I
couldn't agree more on a thatthose kind of short term, like
daily are here and there. Like"win moments". People know about
Kuju or Accountfully. I'm out inthe world. And the next day, the
next day, it's back to work.
Jeff Wiguna (28:49):
No, I think I could say it because because most of
my CPG peers are V/C backed,we're not V/C backed. So if I
had VCs on my board orsomething, I would obviously not
be saying that, because itdoesn't make sense. But I think
we tackled growth on a veryunique basis. So I kind of feel
like I have a little bit moreflexibility and kind of saying
these things.
Brad Ebenhoeh (29:08):
Awesome. Well, this was a great chat. Jeff,
before we get out of here, giveeverybody where they can find
Kuju. What do you got brewing?
You know, with Kuju any newproducts anything, just give us
a you know, your little 30second elevator pitch on Kuju
here.
Jeff Wiguna (29:23):
I'd say you know, we make pour over coffee really
easy. And just buy us at REI,Whole Foods, Sprouts. And if you
like it, share it. Share us onInstagram, we'll take a look.
We've got some new stuff comingout. I'm not going to comment on
that just yet. But just keep onbuying us, follow us on
(29:44):
Instagram and you'll see and Itrust we'll make you happy.
Brad Ebenhoeh (29:49):
Awesome.
Kujucoffee.com KU-JU out there.
So again, Thanks, Jeff. I hopeeverybody enjoyed the
conversation here. Really,really good example of a a bad
situation with UNFI go wrong butturn it into a positive
longterm. Jeff really enjoyedit. Episode 26 of The Month End,
Jeff Wiguna from Kuju Coffe.
Take care of Jeff.
Jeff Wiguna (30:11):
Thank You Brad.
See ya.
Welcome to The Month End CPG community chat,
The Month End will provideemerging CPG brands real life
knowledge into the accounting,finance and operational worlds.
Our guests will be keystakeholders from those same
brands as well as other keycontributors to the industry.
Welcome to Episode 26 of TheMonth End podcast. Today's guest
(00:20):
is Jeff Wiguna from Kuju Coffee.
How you doing Jeff?
Jeff Wiguna (00:23):
Hi Brad, thanks for having me.
Brad Ebenhoeh (00:25):
Yeah, excited to chat about Kuju and your journey
the last several years withinthe brand. So before we get
started, just give a littlebackground on yourself where
you're at, you know, what, whydid you get into CPG? And why
did you launch Kuju?
Jeff Wiguna (00:38):
Yeah, I'll start I've got a I've got two
daughters. I'll say that firstbefore the company that's always
the kind of a top-of-mind thing.
And I started the company withmy brother before the first one
was born. And it was aKickstarter, I think back in
2015. So the brand story is Kujuwas founded by two Eagle Scout
(01:00):
brothers who got tired ofinstant coffee while camping and
the Kickstarter in 2015...mindyou at that time, outdoor was
not a thing, and I remember alot of people thought this was
the most specific niche kind ofidea you could ever come up
with. And at the time, REI wasonly carrying Starbucks Via. So
we did it. And, you know, wewere just inspired by the idea
(01:25):
of bridging a passion for theoutdoors with the quality
experiences of a great cup ofcoffee that was really
compelling to us. And you fastforward. You know, a couple of
years we debuted at OutdoorRetailer, which is the outdoor
industries Expo West August of2016. And shortly after that,
literally the day after that, wegot a vendor packet to the
(01:48):
National Sportsman's Warehouse,which is a great hunting retail
chain with about at the time 75doors. And a couple of months
later, we had a meeting with REIand we went into REI stores, I
think May of next year in thefollowing year. And from there,
I guess you could say it allworked out from a distribution
(02:09):
standpoint, today, we're inroughly 2,000 doors national and
Whole Foods and Sprouts and REI,Academy Sports and all those
places. But it's been quite thejourney, as I'm sure a lot of
your listeners can imagine. ButBut it all started with a
passion for being outside with areally good cup of coffee and
kind of the transformativeimpact that can have on your
psyche, even if it's just forfive minutes.
Brad Ebenhoeh (02:32):
Again, I'm a coffee lover, I got three kids,
if I can get up 10 minutesbefore them and enjoy a cup of
Joe before. Before all hellbreaks loose. Better, so good.
Um, let's great background, I'mlooking forward to chatting. So
in terms of I guess , how longhave you guys been in business?
Jeff Wiguna (02:51):
This is probably our sixth year, depending on how
you cut it. Six full year ofoperation. Yeah.
Brad Ebenhoeh (02:56):
So then, I guess from a six year standpoint, you
know, number one congrats onthat, like, you know, three
years, four years, five years,six years? That's all kind of
good things to kind ofcelebrate. But how many
different phases of thebusiness? Like have you had?
Jeff Wiguna (03:08):
That's an awesome question, actually. I would say,
I mean, the last two and a halfyears was COVID. So that was
like 2020 was a phase 21 is aphase now 2022 is a phase. I
think prior to that, I'dprobably say two or three
phases. I think there was aKickstarter to launch and first
(03:30):
retailers, then there wasfiguring out to make sure we
don't run out of inventory, justmake stuff. And then I think the
third phase was probably "okay,we can make a lot of stuff,
let's start just continuing tosell like hell and market and,
and that's probably phasethree." And then phase four has
been from 2020 on but thatsimultaneously been grappling
(03:54):
with scale. We went national inSprouts in February 2020. We
went national in Whole Foods atthe end of 2021. So there's been
a lot of organizationallearning, leadership learning on
my in the last two, three yearsto set us up for the next five,
six years, really. So I'd saymaybe four or five stages.
Brad Ebenhoeh (04:15):
Awesome. I think that's a, that makes a lot of
sense. And it's alwaysinteresting to kind of reflect
and look back on your businesslike in terms of, I guess the
segmentation of differentperiods. Yeah, going to kind of
first number one Kickstarter,like, like, how did that go?
What did you learn? Like how doyou take money in and then how
do you earmark money forinventory and selling?
Jeff Wiguna (04:38):
Yeah, you know, I we did the Kickstarter at a time
when Kickstarters were verypopular, and a lot of
Kickstarters were not fulfillingon time. And so I was personally
very sensitive about making surewe could get it done on time.
And I think that's kind of anintegrity value that just
pervades into the way we dobusiness now. Um, but they're
(05:01):
most of the work was in theplanning, like, what were the,
what were the items? How much isthat going to cost? How much do
we need, so we didn't raise aton, we only raised $16,000. We
use it to fund the trip to atrade show to check it out, buy
some preliminary equipment. Butthe real reason we did it was
just to test our chops, quitehonestly, just to see if we
(05:23):
could even get it done. Wedidn't have any product, we had
a prototype. But it was mostly amarketing and planning and
supply chain exercise. So wefulfilled it on time, we had a
little bit of extra money to usefor other things. And it felt
like a big challenge at thetime, I was so tired after it
(05:44):
that I said, "Hey, I don't knowif I want to keep doing this
after a Kickstarter." But, butwe kept on going. And in
retrospect, the Kickstarterlooks like a nice little project
now compared to the problems wedeal with today. So this is kind
of what that was, like.
Brad Ebenhoeh (06:00):
Awesome. So then the next kind of step of
national distribution, kind ofat a young phase, your business,
how did that go?
Jeff Wiguna (06:07):
Well, the way it went on a production standpoint
was generally fine, because Ithink production is a little
more predictable than maybesales forecasting, or buyer
behavior predicting. So to putit really bluntly, we just
(06:29):
worked our ass off to make sureto fulfill the National
Sportsman's Warehouse order,we're still manufacturing in our
living room. And for REI, wewere not manufacturing in our
living room, but an actual kindof office space, but still
packing by hand. And we just puta lot of time into it, had part
time workers doing it, and weshipped it out. I think it
(06:51):
wasn't until we got a real goodproduction line operations set
up that the national stuff onSprouts and Whole Foods started
kicking in and getting involvedwith distributors and
chargebacks and all that stuffwhen when you're that management
has to be I don't know if it hasto be tight-knit because I think
it's pretty hard to keep it sotight-knit, given what it's like
(07:14):
to work with these people. But Ithink we have to be very good
with understanding.
We had to be really good withunderstanding the risk
mitigation and risk profiles ofdistribution production across
the board. And that's somethingthat we're kind of constantly in
(07:35):
now, especially with the COVIDthings on pricing, inflation and
supply chain so forth.
Brad Ebenhoeh (07:40):
Yeah, well, let's get into that. Like how have
you, how was your suppliers Iguess number one, how has your
product mix changed from likeselling to the customer since
inception. And then number two,what else has changed within
that specific last couple yearsof COVID, supply chain, freight
costs, etc. So number ones, Iwould like the product next
year, the same product mix, youhave a different product mix?,
Jeff Wiguna (08:00):
We've been extremely focused. One of the
things I was told when we firstlaunched our first Expo West,
which was March 2017, was justto be known for one thing. And
for that, I've always kept thisin kind of the back of my head
just to be known as Camp coffeeor outdoor coffee. And I think
that's translated into a productmix that is almost basically the
(08:22):
same as day one, today. We've westarted with kind of our core
set of three roasts, we launchedour single origin line, which is
the three additional roasts theyear after. And we have not
really played around with itsince. We've had different
packs, like gift packs, and wewent national in World Market
and Paper Source. But we'vedivested from that since. And at
(08:46):
the grocery level. We're justfocusing on three core SKUs,
which is have been the corethings from the very beginning.
So not a lot of changes there.
Yeah.
Brad Ebenhoeh (08:56):
Good. Good. And then I guess from moving on to
the next question of in terms ofwhat has changed last couple
years since COVID, related tocosts, or supply chain or just
managing the business; buyinginventory sooner versus later,
kind of operationally, supplychain aspect. Like what, what's
changed, what's stayed the same?
Jeff Wiguna (09:14):
Yeah. I think, well, one, we were not expecting
to go national in Whole Foods.
When we did that review, Iactually had only pitched for
maximum half of the regions andat the time, we were only in one
region in NorCal. And it wasn'teven the whole region. It was
like 26 stores in NorCal out oflike 40, 50. So I was sitting
outside and I got this emailfrom Whole Foods and I counted
(09:38):
the DCs and the doors and andthe list. It goes horizontally.
And I was like, "holy cow thislike wait, there's another
column, and another column", andhaving been experienced enough
at the time. This was probably afourth fifth year. I wasn't
ecstatic nor was I scared I wasvery level and realized this was
going to be kind of a big thing.
(10:02):
On a supply chain basis, I thinkwe have a very strong supply
chain and good relationshipsthere. So it's definitely
challenging, but not as much asource of risk. But, you know,
the launch of Whole Foods, WholeFoods themselves were awesome.
But I think there weredefinitely some kind of touched
(10:23):
on it before some challengeswith UNFI, on the amount of
orders. And in particular, inthis case, we had not gotten
paid for multiple months,actually from UNFI. Even though
we had done a national WholeFoods launch. And upon pursuit
of this investigation, we foundout that our POs were actually
(10:43):
deleted from their system. Ihope so I hope it was an
accident. So the you know, Ikind of paused because I, you,
you see a lot of stuff whenyou're building a company from
scratch, especially pioneering acategory, but I never thought
(11:04):
during one of the most criticallaunches, the POs would get
deleted. So if we didn't pursueit, we likely would have never
gotten paid. So this was monthsand months over time of just
working on this, investigatingwith our shipping partners,
where things are, escalatingwhere we needed to. And I don't
(11:24):
know. I'm happy to go into it,but it's just so such an effect
so many components of thebusiness that it was a good rite
of passage, I think tounderstand, you learn different
kinds of things when somethinglike that happens. So
Brad Ebenhoeh (11:39):
So let's get into that, you know, this is a
podcast targeted towards the CPGbrand owner. Some of them may
not know, like even thelogistics of UNFI, or
distribution or whatever. So Iguess step one, can you just
explain the structure and thenon UNFI Ke, and how that works
(11:59):
from the front standpoint in theprocess? And then we can kind of
go through the phases of whathappened and how you reacted at
that the end? What did youlearn? So go ahead.
Jeff Wiguna (12:07):
Yeah, well, at a basic level for anyone who might
be more new to CPG, when yousell in particular to Whole
So the number one just specificto this, like, is there anything
Foods, or Sprouts, they have adistributor. So UNFI is the key
distributor that Whole Foodsworks with. And Ke is the key
distributor, Sprouts works with.
And there are a lot of these DCis 10 to 15. And I don't know if
it reaches 20 around thecountry, but you're essentially
(12:28):
selling to the distributor. Andthen obviously, at this point,
the distributor is selling tothe the chain to Whole Foods. So
we have a great relationshipwith both chains. But it's
incredibly critical to maintainyour distribution forecasting
and cash flow monitoring withthe distributors, because that's
that that's what's paying yourbills. I mean, the chain is
(12:51):
giving you the chance, but yourcash flow comes from the
distributors. So to say thatUNFI is the one that by mistake
deleted, our POs is actuallybasically saying we had spent a
lot of money on production. Andover six to nine months, we were
not getting anything back. Andyou say the least that was very
challenging, but it affects itaffects your priorities as a
(13:14):
company because usually you wantto be focused on the marketing
at that point. But if you'redealing with cash flow
challenges of that magnitude,you have to have ridiculously
keen understanding of the leversof your business. So you know
where to move things at certaintimes and so luckily, we got
through it. But it was it wasvery difficult. You should
(13:36):
probably ask me a specificquestion. Because my usually I
can articulate very clearly, butthis was such a unique
situation. There are a lot ofdifferent components to this.
that you could have done orsomebody else a different, you
(13:59):
know, CPG brand could have doneto minimize that risk of the PO
getting deleted before you shipthe product? Or before you
produce the product?
Yeah, I think it's, it's thebasic "watch your A/R time lines
very meticulously". And the daythat somebody is maybe one day
(14:19):
late, don't be afraid to justsay, "hey, we wanted to see if
this is coming in, I think UNFIis not necessarily the best at
responding. So second to thatkind of matrixing urgency or
importance of the A/R thatyou're following. And if you're
not getting a response,understand if it's like a $400
order, it's okay. But if it's a$400,000 order, it's probably
(14:42):
not okay, so I think we presumethat payments would come in,
because they have in the pastwhen we were working with other
DCs so we just assumed it wouldjust take some time. That was
probably not the bestassumption. I think if we were
more proactive aboutcommunication, we might have
been able to get ahead of it.
Brad Ebenhoeh (15:00):
Gotcha, good. And for the listeners out there,
what do you mean by A/R isaccounts receivable. So you
enter an invoice on your end, aPO on their end is they're
purchasing product from you, youinvoice them, which is revenue
and accounts receivable, andthen basically maintaining and
reviewing your accountsreceivable and open invoices,
just from an accountingstandpoint. I urge all just
(15:24):
businesses, small businessowners, make sure you invoice on
time and make sure you reviewyour A/R at least weekly. And
then feel free to follow up withpeople when you're past due. And
sometimes you're like, well,they're gonna pay me I feel bad
for following up. No. It's acontract. They owe you based
upon terms, it doesn't alwayshappen that way. But there's
nothing wrong with you buggingthem, whether you do it, your
(15:44):
bookkeeper does it or whatever.
So.
Jeff Wiguna (15:46):
Ya, what, what we do now is, we did go over A/R
weekly. But what we do now is govery specifically into A/R in
particular larger POs just toknow, because you might run into
something where the distributioncenter, even if it's not UNFI,
somebody else might just havelabor problems. So they're
processing inventory, slowereffects, accounting, you just
(16:08):
want to know all that stuff. Andso it's essentially for an early
CPG brand, I think it's it allrolls up into just cash flow
management competencies, which Ishould say is very different
from managing your P&L. Andthat's an important distinction,
I think, you know, on the P&Lbasis, things can look that
fabulous. And you won't feelthat way on the cash flow if you
(16:29):
don't pay attention,
Brad Ebenhoeh (16:32):
That was actually my second question on this
topic, like how did you managecash like throughout that
process? And then how did youfigure out just to fumble and
get through that-those severalmonths, you know, periods of not
getting paid while havingalready paid for your inventory
and running the normaloperations of your business?
Jeff Wiguna (16:48):
Yeah, that's a great question. So one thing I
think that's really unique aboutus is we are, even though we
sell coffee, and it's aconsumable, we're actually at
heart, an outdoor company, andwe have a lot of outdoor
industry distribution. And thereally good thing about that
channel is it doesn't have a lotof the complexities that the
(17:10):
grocery side has, across theboard: margin, distributors,
overhead. So we have adiversified set of business
where that was helping us quitea bit, move forward. The second
component of that is justwatching cash on a weekly basis.
(17:31):
And just asking the question,well, what do we need to make it
through the next couple ofweeks. And, and, I mean, this is
maybe not super helpful, butfiguring it out. So what I mean
by figuring it out, are wedidn't have a line of credit,
with a bank vendor or financevendor, whatever you call it.
And we did some small additionalraises on a convertible note
(17:55):
that we had out with friends andfamily, which helped as well.
And on top of that, I think youjust want to be really
resourceful with where you'reputting the money. And sometimes
you have to stop spending moneywhere it's not returning at the
time. But if you stop spendingmoney, you need to know the
levers of your business wellenough that you understand the
impact clearly. So I think,yeah, just understanding your
(18:18):
business alone is, is verypowerful. I think that's
probably an understated thing.
Understand what makes it tick,you know?
Brad Ebenhoeh (18:25):
Yeah, no, I think, yeah, I think figuring it
I agree. Yeah, absolutely. Yep.
Good.
out is a great term. It's veryvague, but it's a when you
understand your business,understand the mechanics of p&l,
cash flow revenue, what do Ineed to spend this month to keep
my business operable with, I wastaking a step back and
understanding all the solutionsout there. And really, once you
understand all that, that reallyhelps out in terms of these
(18:47):
these downturns because that'swhen you can be like, look at
him like, Okay, I need $22,000In next two weeks, versus like,
"I need money". And so peoplecome and say, "Well, how much do
you need?" You're like, "I don'tknow". No, it's like, if you're
very precise, and you knowwhat's going on, then that's
kind of - it's an easier problemto solve for. And I think that's
(19:07):
kind of what you're getting towith what you're saying.
So last thing, looking back, isthere anything that you change
or anything, you know, withinthat process of you wish you did
or you didn't do?
Jeff Wiguna (19:25):
Do you mean just kind of broadly speaking over
the course of just having grownthe business or just
Brad Ebenhoeh (19:29):
know just specifically that example of the
UNFI situation like after, onceyou hit like, once you got paid
for those delayed POs, would youwhen you look back, you're like,
Gosh, I wish you would have donethat month one, or you just you
think you handled as best as youcan and you got through it?
Jeff Wiguna (19:45):
No, I think we handled it in general quite,
quite well. We handled it, andwe moved forward. I think it's
such it was a big thing. Butit's not as big as your
overarching momentum andstrategy for the organization as
a whole. And I would say it'snot as big as just understanding
the nature of the equity youwant to build with your
(20:06):
stakeholders and vendors,overall. I think our ability to
get through it was and continuesto be a testament, I think, to
the strength of therelationships that we've built
within our company's ecosystem.
And so maybe the one thing Iwould say to anyone listening is
product has to be good,operations has to be good, but
but all your power and equity,and ultimately, long term growth
(20:27):
and profits from a companyusually happens long term. So
you need to ask this question of"Are you building relationships
that are investing into longterm equity? and, narratives not
transactional?", and I havefound, we were only able to
handle that, because the equitythat we have with the
(20:49):
relationships in the company, onboth sides; with our buyers and
our supply chain, are uniquelyvery strong, I don't think we
could have handled it, if thatwas not the case.
Brad Ebenhoeh (21:03):
Relationships the the key to life. So now kind of
moving forward, just kind ofgetting a more financial kind of
standpoint, like what KPIs froma financial standpoint, do you
look at now, to run yourbusiness or to see the health of
your business as well as howdoes that differ from what you
used to look at it? Or does itdiffer? So I guess let's start
(21:23):
out number one, like what areyou looking at on a
month-over-month basis from amore pure financial standpoint?
Jeff Wiguna (21:27):
That's a great question. I think on a on a
finance basis, I'm constantlypaying attention these days to
cost trends, logistics, andfulfillment being a key one, and
also understanding our pricingstrategy. Because obviously, I
think the biggest impact you canmake on your bottom line tends
to be within your COGS or costof sales. Actually, I think your
(21:51):
marketing and everything can getmanaged. But if you want you
know, if you can save one to 2%on your COGS, that translates
pretty heavily I think if you'redoing volume, so we we I think
about that trajectory. The otherthing I look at is actually the
question of how do we look atour finances, not even so much
(22:11):
what KPIs we look at, becauseyou want to make sure the way
you think about your financialKPIs is reflective of the unique
value proposition and structureof your organization, I actually
think that's relativelychallenging. Because if you're
looking at it in a very standardway, you're going to inevitably
(22:32):
derive the types of KPIs thatmight be standard, which usually
results in more standardbehavior, more standard
operating in value propositionsinto the marketplace. So I think
being able to understand theuniqueness of your organization
and product and have that pullthrough every component of the
company, I think is reallyvaluable. But that's a little
(22:55):
bit. I think that's a little bitmore of an advanced thing. So I
understand our p&l andeverything at an intuitive level
at this point. But But that'skind of the that's how I think
about it now, right now.
Brad Ebenhoeh (23:09):
That's, that's interesting. It makes a lot of
sense. Can you me kind of abreakdown of where you're
(24:13):
selling your product today?
Jeff Wiguna (24:21):
Yeah, the way we think about distribution is is
really around where does ourcustomer which is the outdoor
enthusiast shop. So we're reallyfocused on on Whole Foods and
Sprouts and REI but we're alsoin a lot of other outdoor stores
like Academy Sports in theSouth. Shields is a new retail
partner during the Midwest,Cabela's, Bass Pro. A lot of
(24:44):
those those types of those aretypes of places but those are a
lot of the majority of placesthat we're pushing business
right now. Awesome.
Brad Ebenhoeh (24:52):
Well, this is this has been a great chat like
it's always great gettingspecifically into a situation
and just as a have, you know anaccounting firm who targets CPG
brands and I deal with all thesales calls. A lot of times when
I'm talking to the folks,deduction management UNFI Ke
nightmares get brought up. Soit's very industry specific.
(25:15):
Yeah, it's interesting, but itis I'm just kind of get ahead of
the curve, understanding whatyou signed up for, managing it,
managing cash as best as youcan, and then moving on. So you
know, very appreciative of the,the example and the situation
that you discussed, and I thinkit'll be a great value add to
that for the listeners outthere. So
Jeff Wiguna (25:35):
No, my pleasure to share. Thanks for having me.
Brad Ebenhoeh (25:38):
All right. Before we get outta here, a couple of
things, we got our typical kindof two questions that we asked
ask all of our guests. Numberone, what is one CPG industry
do?
Jeff Wiguna (25:50):
What is the CPG?
Industry Do?
Brad Ebenhoeh (25:52):
Do? So for any fellow brand owners? What was
the one piece of advice to do?
Jeff Wiguna (25:57):
Oh, not not what does the industry do - one piece
of advice to do? I'd say standfor one thing. There's a lot of
stuff out there, but you canonly stand for one thing. And I
would even say that is for thelifetime of the company, one
thing and if you can own thatthing, then you'll accompany
equity with your brand. Even ifthe revenue is low brand equity
(26:21):
and owning that one thing willeventually turn into sales. It's
just the way it works.
Brad Ebenhoeh (26:27):
Ya, I remember back 10, 15 years ago, when I
was getting into the businessworld and entrepreneur world, I
was trying to do like fivethings. And it's like, all of
them sucked. So it's like focuson one. And then you know, it's
like, really focused on it. Andit really does help you grow
that brand, or that equity. Theway you're looking at so then
the second question is, thenwhat is one CPG? Industry don't?
(26:52):
For for the folks out there?
Jeff Wiguna (26:55):
I would say don't get distracted by all the press
releases on LinkedIn.
Brad Ebenhoeh (27:03):
Give us a little more background on that.
Jeff Wiguna (27:04):
Yeah, sure. The CPG industry is has a very low
barrier to entry, so anyone cancreate food, go to the farmers
market and say, Hey, I'm in CPG.
But I think it has a very highbarrier to entry to profit
driving enterprise and networkcapability. And a lot of the
companies in the space tend tobe venture capital backed and
(27:26):
those incentives that accompanythat as V/C backed has in the
way they grow, market, leveragePR is not always necessarily
indicative of the best ways tobuild a long standing profitable
business. And so when I sayignore the the press releases on
LinkedIn, it's really about ifyou understand your business
(27:51):
supremely well, and understandthe customers who are buying
from your business and servingthem. I just genuinely don't
think any press release mattersat that point. You can have a
competitor and land on the frontpage of the Times. But I think
you ask anyone who's had press.
(28:12):
It's like a party like it wasgreat that night. And then the
next day, the sales didn'treally uptick, but people
thought I was cooler. That'swhat press is like to me. So
don't get distracted by what yousee, get focused on serving your
customers and maintaining yourmargin. It's not sexy, but
that's how you will make money.
And that's how you serve morepeople over time.
Brad Ebenhoeh (28:33):
Love it. That's a very unique don't. But I
couldn't agree more on a thatthose kind of short term, like
daily are here and there. Like"win moments". People know about
Kuju or Accountfully. I'm out inthe world. And the next day, the
next day, it's back to work.
Jeff Wiguna (28:49):
No, I think I could say it because because most of
my CPG peers are V/C backed,we're not V/C backed. So if I
had VCs on my board orsomething, I would obviously not
be saying that, because itdoesn't make sense. But I think
we tackled growth on a veryunique basis. So I kind of feel
like I have a little bit moreflexibility and kind of saying
these things.
Brad Ebenhoeh (29:08):
Awesome. Well, this was a great chat. Jeff,
before we get out of here, giveeverybody where they can find
Kuju. What do you got brewing?
You know, with Kuju any newproducts anything, just give us
a you know, your little 30second elevator pitch on Kuju
here.
Jeff Wiguna (29:23):
I'd say you know, we make pour over coffee really
easy. And just buy us at REI,Whole Foods, Sprouts. And if you
like it, share it. Share us onInstagram, we'll take a look.
We've got some new stuff comingout. I'm not going to comment on
that just yet. But just keep onbuying us, follow us on
(29:44):
Instagram and you'll see and Itrust we'll make you happy.
Brad Ebenhoeh (29:49):
Awesome.
Kujucoffee.com KU-JU out there.
So again, Thanks, Jeff. I hopeeverybody enjoyed the
conversation here. Really,really good example of a a bad
situation with UNFI go wrong butturn it into a positive
longterm. Jeff really enjoyedit. Episode 26 of The Month End,
Jeff Wiguna from Kuju Coffe.
Take care of Jeff.
Jeff Wiguna (30:11):
Thank You Brad.
See ya.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com