March 15, 2024 • 17 mins
Denise Woodard is the Founder and CEO of Partake Foods, the allergy-friendly company that was inspired by her daughter’s experience with food allergies. Key moments this year include that Partake Foods announced it became a Certified B Corporation, and launched a collab with Ben & Jerry’s! Created in 2016, Denise started the business by self-distributing (selling cookies out of her car around NYC) and self-funding (depleting her 401K and selling her engagement ring). Denise was the first Black woman to raise more than $1 Million publicly for a CPG food startup. As a Black woman, Denise is passionate about raising awareness of Black and female entrepreneurship and increasing opportunities for underrepresented people seeking careers in the food and beverage industry. In 2020, Denise founded Black Futures in Food & Beverage, an annual fellowship program that mentors HBCU students and helps them secure internships and jobs at the program’s end. Prior to launching Partake, Denise spent a decade in consumer-packaged goods at various Fortune 100 companies.
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(00:00):
Food allergies can be an issue thatbring about lots of frustration and even embarrassment
for social situations. In this editionof CEOs You Should Know, Part Take
Food CEO Denise Woodard tells the storyabout how becoming a mom to a child
with food allergies led her to createa company that not only is available nationwide,
but it's also helping needy families acrossthe country with their philanthropic efforts.
(00:24):
Here's Part Take Food CEO Denise Woodardon how she got started. I'm from
Fayetteville, North Carolina. I wentto school at the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill, go tar Heels, and currently live in Los Angeles.
So as somebody that lived in Raleigh, North Carolina for eight years, I
know that area well and every timewe talk to a tar Heel, they
got to get that out. Sodo you just have to win the triangle
(00:46):
with Duke and Anti State and CarolinaThat Denise knows of the battle of those
three schools in the triangle, don'tyou for sure? Tobacco Road, Yes,
lots of fond memories there and alsoDenise is used to winning a lot
when it comes to basketball. Championshipstoo, so she's lucky there too.
Well, listen, I'm thrilled totalk to you because when I found out
what you do and what your companyis with Partak Foods, I said,
(01:07):
Oh, my gosh, snacks.I love them, Americans love them.
You came up with a great ideain twenty sixteen. But before we talk
about Partake, especially in this series, when entrepreneurs and CEOs, whether they're
working to be there or they're outthere, always have a great story about
Well, before I started this company, this's what I did, And I
know you were kind of in theindustry beforehand. Can you tell us about
your journey before you came up withthe idea of Partake Foods. Sure.
(01:30):
So, I spent about a decadeat Coca Cola. Initially I worked in
sales and marketing roles across your trademarkbrands Coke, Diet Coke, and Sprite.
My husband and I started thinking abouthaving a family, and I wanted
to make sure that I was sellingproducts that I wanted to share with our
child, and so I had thepretty serendipitous opportunity to move over to their
Venturing and Emerging Brands division, whereI got to work with high growth,
(01:52):
mission oriented beverage brands like Honesty,and so that's what I was doing before
I had the idea for Partak.All right, So now I want to
talk talk about Partake because this isthe fascinating stuff that I really get into,
and I know our listeners do.When it comes to CEOs. You
should know about having that epiphany,that idea. So you've been in the
industry, you know marketing, youknow brands, you know what you like
(02:13):
and what you don't like. Butyou came up with this unique idea,
and so tell us when we cameup with it. Tell us about that
origin story about coming up. Ithink I've got a pretty cool idea here.
I need to take a chance onthis. I need a little tenacity,
some hard work, a little bitof luck. I need some money.
I've got this great idea. Let'ssee if we can do it.
Tell us the whole story. Surething, I think we got all of
(02:35):
those things and a pretty lucky kickin the butt that caused me to leave
my corporate career to pursue the idea. So I have an eight year old
daughter, Vivian. Right around herfirst birthday, we learned that she has
several food allergies. I was reallyfrustrated with what I could find for her
couldn't find for her from a tasteperspective, from a nutritional perspective. I
thought about how many fun social eventsfor kids and adults involved food, and
(02:58):
how she wouldn't be able to confidentlyand safely participate. And wanted to create
a brand that appealed to people withfood allergies, but also without food allergies.
And so that's where I have theidea. And that was in twenty
sixteen on a sunny Saturday afternoon.My family was at the zoo and I
told my husband, you won't believethis idea. And our nanny at the
time, Martha, who has someequity in the business, had gotten really
(03:21):
tired of hearing me complain about allthe things I couldn't find for my daughter
and was telling me, like youshould do something about it. So I
was telling my husband gentlemen in linein front of us as the zoo turned
around and said, sounds like youhave a great idea. You should enter
this small business pitch competition for NewJersey small businesses. We entered. I
went home and corporated the business weentered. I ended up winning a ten
(03:42):
thousand dollars prize, which was fantasticbecause it gave us some of that seed
capital that we needed to start thebusiness. But probably more importantly, it
came with some local press that forcedme to tell my employer what I was
working on, because the last thingI needed was them to see me in
the news as local woman starts allergyfriendly snack company, and so they were
super supportive but also said, youknow, when you actually have a product,
(04:03):
you got to hit the road.And I think that was probably one
of the biggest strokes of luck I'vehad in this journey. Well, thank
you for sharing all that. Andyou know, there's also a common thread
when I talked to CEOs in thisseries about something that personally has affected them
or their family, and so theycome up with solutions to try and you
know, get better out there andcome up with something that's not only good
(04:24):
for them, but hey, Imight have a great business plan here of
something that really doesn't exist or Idon't know about, and if I started,
we might have something pretty successful.I'll give you a great example.
I didn't start it, but Iknow as a parent because I've got a
twenty year old daughter, but shedidn't like socks that had scenes in them
right on her toes. And Iremember my wife and I back in the
early two thousands looking for seamless socks. They just did not exist. One
(04:46):
day, I found them, andI wish I would have come up with
that idea. But I can understandfrom a personal experience when you don't have
something and you need it to comeup with that idea, but you took
it to the next level, whichI think is extraordinary when it comes to
these snacks. So I want todo this. We want to find out
all the kind of different snacks thatyou have and where you can get them.
It's really a wonderful success story thatstarted back in twenty sixteen. But
(05:08):
before we get to any of that, what is the mission statement of Partake
Foods. So at part Take,we're all about making snacking better for you,
inclusive and delicious, and so ourproducts are safe for over ninety percent
of people to eat because they're freeof the top nine allergens. They're gluten
free, they're vegan, they're nongmo and made with super high quality ingredients.
(05:28):
But most importantly, they're delicious,and once again it's snacks, folks,
which is just fantastic. Americans lovesnacks, so we have them here
at iHeartMedia all the time and weenjoy them and everybody loves them. And
you took it to the next level. And I think we're living in a
time too, Denise that you alsopersonally experienced. But there's all sorts of
choices out there, more choices thanever, whether it comes to your entertainment,
(05:49):
your clothing, or what you eat. But people are also developing more
allergies. So I see why youcame up with. It's not only on
a personal side with your daughter,but also this great business plan that you
had. So I'm kind of curiousyou started this up, you won the
contest, You've got some seed money, now you got to go. So
(06:09):
I'm curious about how thought, howbig you thought this was going to be,
and what your business plan was forthe first couple of years. Sure,
so I wasn't going to leave acareer that I loved and was passionate
about unless I believed that this wasa scalable business. But I also knew
that I was going to have areally big learning curve and it was going
to be important for me to startsmall. So I had big dreams.
(06:30):
But what that looked like when westarted was me selling cookies out of my
car to natural food stores in NewYork, bootstrapping in the business as far
as to sell my engagement ring tofund it, and we really grew in
small baby steps year over year.We did that for the first year.
The next year we added one smallregional grocer, and thankfully today you can
find us in over thirteen thousand storesas well as in lots of other places.
(06:54):
But initially the business plan was tomake sure we're making something that consumers
want and that can ms enjoy.We wanted to hear their feedback. We
wanted to iterate based on their feedbackbefore we started taking this thinking about taking
this further. So Denise, Ihave a sports background, and I ask
a lot of athletes and also peoplethat are in the entertainment industry, Hey,
when did you know that you madeit so with you and a company?
(07:16):
When did you know that you hadsomething really special? I think both
of those moments came in the middleof twenty twenty. We had gone from
a small regional brand, thinking we'dhad this big meeting with Target, and
we thought they would give us asmall test, and they gave us nearly
the entire chain of stores, andso we went from small regional brand overnight
to national brand, and so tosee our products and take my daughter into
(07:40):
stores and see our products on Targetstore shelves nationwide, that felt like we
made it moment. And I thinkalongside that because while I was super excited
that, you know, created costin the business, I'd gotten nearly one
hundred no's on my fundraising journey andthe yes that we got was from Marci
Venture Partners, which is a venturefund that Jay Z co founded in June
of twenty nineteen. And so bothof those moments, I think for me
(08:03):
really felt like I'm onto something.There are people who believe in this,
they're consumers who want and need thisproduct. You know, this would be
a great time for some advice fromyou. You're a woman owned business and
you had one hundred people say noto you. And I hear this story
a lot for entrepreneurs and CEOs wherethere are a lot of no's and it's
very frustrating and it can be easyto quit after you get no, no,
(08:26):
No. I really can't help you. I don't have any money for
you. Can you share a littlebit? And I know that your story
is relative to you, But justin general, some budding entrepreneurs and CEOs
out there advice about starting a company, how you started it, and where
you took it. Sure thing.I think some of the tidbits that come
to mind would be one that it'sokay to start small. I think because
of the way that we started,I was the only employee at Partake until
(08:50):
January of twenty twenty, and becauseof that, I had to learn every
single part of the business. Iwas the accounting department, the sales department,
and the operations department. And soI think starting small, not having
a ton of capital made me superfrugal, made me look at every decision
I was making, and made mereally have a strong understanding in the business.
So one thing I would tell buddingentrepreneurs is that starting small is okay.
(09:13):
I imagine that when you got thetarget deal that was a little overwhelming,
and some people get in that becareful what you wish for, syndrome,
because you want something, then whenyou have it, you go,
oh my gosh, I'm in amess now. I've got to come up
with all this product. So withthat said, what was a transition like
when you got Target on board.I think at that point we had been
in business. I've been selling cookiesfor about three years, and I think
(09:35):
we'd really built a strong foundation.So it definitely was an oh Craft moment
where I called our manufacturing partner,I called the one other employee at the
company, and I was like,should we do this? Can we do
this? And we decided to alltake the bet. But we felt comfortable
taking the bet because we had spentyears building a strong foundation in the business.
All right, before we get intoall the different products you have,
(09:56):
and it's really cool how many differentthings you have? Can you tell us
about the part take promise sure thing? So when I started partak with,
it came from the idea that Iwanted my daughter and people with food allergies
to be able to partake in safeand delicious foods. But as a woman
owned business, as a first timefounder, as a person of color,
I continue to see how many othergroups of people oftentimes don't have the opportunity
(10:16):
to partake. And so I reallyview this company as a vehicle for radical
inclusivity for creating a bigger table thatcelebrates all types of people and welcomes all
types of people. And so wedo that through a myriad of ways,
but a couple are focused on oursocial impact components, which are around reducing
childhood food and security. Last year, we donated over a million meals through
(10:39):
partnership with No Kid Hungry, andit continued to support relationships with regional partners
like Eat, Learn, Play,the Birthday Party Project, and hashtag lunch
Bag. And we also started anonprofit, the Black Futures and Food and
Beverage Fellowship, that's really focused onincreasing diversity in the food industry and providing
HBCU students with mentorships and fisted jobsand internships in the food and beverage industries.
(11:03):
Okay, we've talked about the companya lot, but we actually haven't
talked about the snacks. So Ithink everybody's ready to hear about that.
We will give the website addressed atthe end of our conversation so you can
check it out more, go toyour local store and really enjoy it.
So what kind of snacks and howmany do you have? We make cookies.
We make soft bake cookies. Wemake crunchy cookies. We make cookies
and snack pack lunchbox sizes. Ournumber one seller is our crunchy chocolate Chip
(11:26):
Classic, but we also have fantasticflavors like lemon and snicker doodle. We
launched a line of Graham crackers thissummer that we're super excited about, and
we have some new products on thehorizon early next year. Okay, I
have to ask the obvious question.I think I might know this, but
why cookies? Everybody loves cookies,or at least most people do. I
love a good cookie. Why cookies? So why was that the big item?
(11:48):
So I wanted my daughter. Ithought about all the social settings where
she wouldn't be able to happily celebrate, whether it be birthday parties or play
dates or classroom celebrations, into yourEverybody loves the cookie, and so that's
where we started. All right,I want to hear about a great story,
maybe something where you know, besidethe targets, which I think is
extraordinary that you can share with usthat as an entrepreneur and as a businesswoman,
(12:11):
was a really exciting moment for you. But I also like to talk
about challenges because we want to tellour CEOs and our future entrepreneurs that it's
not always unicorns and rainbows all thetime. You talked about challenges about people
saying no and funding, but inthe industry currently today, are there any
challenges that you're experiencing, Denise,I think definitely. So I think,
(12:31):
you know, we continue to seesupply chain challenges, whether that be inflation,
macro economic things that are happening,you know, kind of disruption globally
that's affecting the supply chain. Sothere's definitely supply chain challenges I think specific
to partake, but also any growingbusiness. You know, growing a team
(12:52):
quickly, particularly in a remote environmentis challenging and requires a lot of deliberate
decision making and focus on building cultureand supporting employees. So we're trying to
navigate that. And then as aventure backed business, I think the fundraising
climate has definitely cooled down some andso making sure that we're delivering really strong
metrics around growth and around profitability sothat we have a viable business or all
(13:15):
challenges that we're going through right now. If I could indulge you, I
think I know the good story Iwant you to tell me and our listeners,
because I'd like to hear right fromhow it was for her. Because
you came up with this idea foryour daughter. So she was only eight
at the time. Is that correctwhen you came up with the idea.
How old was she? She wasone? She's eight now, so she
had grown up with the business.Okay, so she was one, so
she was a little baby, butyou noticed about the allergy. So with
(13:39):
all that said, when she's beenold enough to know that mom and the
family put this company together and shewas basically the origin story, how did
she react towards this? What doesshe know about the company? It was
interesting actually because this morning I don'twant her make I don't want to make
her take cookies for her snack everysingle day. So I give her a
choice of like, do you wantcar take cookies or something else, and
she could recantly picks the partake cookie. So I feel like we're winning in
(14:03):
that way. And I think alsofor her to see my entrepreneurial journey,
how much like sacrifice it requires,how many knows come along the way,
and how much hard work there is, I'm hoping that it teaches her a
ton about hard work. About buildingbusinesses and I can already see you know.
I would walk the aisles of astore when I was little and companies
were so abstract. I never thoughtI could start something. She walks down
(14:24):
the aisles and she's critiquing product photographyand saying, well, I have an
idea for this, and I'm goingto build this business. And so to
see how this class dealing has beenlifted off of her head because what she's
seen with my journey is really reallyexciting and inspiring to me. Denise sounds
like a little chip off the oldblock, I think. And what a
marketer to take the cookies to schoolevery day. I love it. I
(14:45):
do too. Gives it the bestand that's wonderful. I'm glad you shared
that. Thank you so much.Well. I did want to ask you
too about the filanthropic stuff, andI know you mentioned some stuff that you've
done, and whether it's your personalwith a family, or maybe other things
that you do charity wise with thecompany and partakes, or anything else you'd
like to be a part of.You know, I think we really were
really focused on being a triple bottomline business and want to make the world
(15:07):
a better place as we grow thisbusiness. We just got our beacork certification
this year, which I'm super proudof you gratulation and I think about thank
you. We think about, youknow, how to make the world better,
and every single decision we make,and when we think about the causes
that we support, it really doeslean in on childhood, food and security
and diversity in the food industry.But day to day decision to the decision
(15:28):
in terms of the types of hiringpractices and how we support the team,
it really is all about making theworld better. So between hard work,
tenacity, funding, and a littlebit of luck and timing, the company
has grown into something pretty special.And you prove to yourself and everybody that
you're not always sustainable, but you'reable to grow. So with that,
I know that sometimes you want itkind to be careful about those things in
(15:52):
your business, planned about getting toobig and making sure that you don't get
over your skis. But what isthe future. Maybe over the next five
years in your plan for part timefoods, sure thing, I think you'll
see us develop other products, sowe'll move beyond just cookies and gram crackers,
and hopefully you'll start to find usin other aisles of the grocery store.
We want to continue to serve ourcustomers where they live and work and
play, and so you'll be ableto find us in more locations. And
(16:17):
to the point I made around wantingto make the world a better place,
I think naturally as our business grows, the positive social impact that we have
on the world will also continue togrow Upstanding, let's do this for all
our listeners, even though I'm surethey've googled already, but when it comes
to the website, just to getmore education about everything that you do.
And it's a lovely website. Whoeverdesigned it, it's beautiful, it's easy
to navigate. But also let's talkabout all the stores. It doesn't matter
(16:40):
what region, because this could berunning all over domestically the United States,
about where people can get part takefoods, sure things. So you can
learn more at Partakfoods dot com andyou can find us in retailers across the
country like Target, Walmart, Kroger, Whole Foods, Albertson's and online at
Amazon. Denise, this is anabsolutely extraordinary store, and I know that
(17:00):
we have only got into our dippedour toes into the water about how hard
this was to do, and allthe blood, sweat and tears that you,
your family and your staff have puttogether. It is a wonderful story
though, and I'm so happy foryou your family, but also the success
that you brought and making the placea little bit better with something that people
could use. They enjoy good snack, but if they have allergies. You
(17:21):
know, it's just absolute incredible thatyou came up what you think is a
simple idea, you took it tothe next level and now probably hundreds of
thousands and millions of people are enjoyingpartake foods. And you know, it's
just it's a wonderful marketing story.It's a wonderful business story and continue success.
We really enjoyed having you on CEOs. You should know. Thank you
so much for your time. Thanksso much, Dennis. That's it for
this edition of CEOs You should Know, Phoenix. Until next time, thanks
(17:45):
for listening.
Food allergies can be an issue thatbring about lots of frustration and even embarrassment
for social situations. In this editionof CEOs You Should Know, Part Take
Food CEO Denise Woodard tells the storyabout how becoming a mom to a child
with food allergies led her to createa company that not only is available nationwide,
but it's also helping needy families acrossthe country with their philanthropic efforts.
(00:24):
Here's Part Take Food CEO Denise Woodardon how she got started. I'm from
Fayetteville, North Carolina. I wentto school at the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill, go tar Heels, and currently live in Los Angeles.
So as somebody that lived in Raleigh, North Carolina for eight years, I
know that area well and every timewe talk to a tar Heel, they
got to get that out. Sodo you just have to win the triangle
(00:46):
with Duke and Anti State and CarolinaThat Denise knows of the battle of those
three schools in the triangle, don'tyou for sure? Tobacco Road, Yes,
lots of fond memories there and alsoDenise is used to winning a lot
when it comes to basketball. Championshipstoo, so she's lucky there too.
Well, listen, I'm thrilled totalk to you because when I found out
what you do and what your companyis with Partak Foods, I said,
(01:07):
Oh, my gosh, snacks.I love them, Americans love them.
You came up with a great ideain twenty sixteen. But before we talk
about Partake, especially in this series, when entrepreneurs and CEOs, whether they're
working to be there or they're outthere, always have a great story about
Well, before I started this company, this's what I did, And I
know you were kind of in theindustry beforehand. Can you tell us about
your journey before you came up withthe idea of Partake Foods. Sure.
(01:30):
So, I spent about a decadeat Coca Cola. Initially I worked in
sales and marketing roles across your trademarkbrands Coke, Diet Coke, and Sprite.
My husband and I started thinking abouthaving a family, and I wanted
to make sure that I was sellingproducts that I wanted to share with our
child, and so I had thepretty serendipitous opportunity to move over to their
Venturing and Emerging Brands division, whereI got to work with high growth,
(01:52):
mission oriented beverage brands like Honesty,and so that's what I was doing before
I had the idea for Partak.All right, So now I want to
talk talk about Partake because this isthe fascinating stuff that I really get into,
and I know our listeners do.When it comes to CEOs. You
should know about having that epiphany,that idea. So you've been in the
industry, you know marketing, youknow brands, you know what you like
(02:13):
and what you don't like. Butyou came up with this unique idea,
and so tell us when we cameup with it. Tell us about that
origin story about coming up. Ithink I've got a pretty cool idea here.
I need to take a chance onthis. I need a little tenacity,
some hard work, a little bitof luck. I need some money.
I've got this great idea. Let'ssee if we can do it.
Tell us the whole story. Surething, I think we got all of
(02:35):
those things and a pretty lucky kickin the butt that caused me to leave
my corporate career to pursue the idea. So I have an eight year old
daughter, Vivian. Right around herfirst birthday, we learned that she has
several food allergies. I was reallyfrustrated with what I could find for her
couldn't find for her from a tasteperspective, from a nutritional perspective. I
thought about how many fun social eventsfor kids and adults involved food, and
(02:58):
how she wouldn't be able to confidentlyand safely participate. And wanted to create
a brand that appealed to people withfood allergies, but also without food allergies.
And so that's where I have theidea. And that was in twenty
sixteen on a sunny Saturday afternoon.My family was at the zoo and I
told my husband, you won't believethis idea. And our nanny at the
time, Martha, who has someequity in the business, had gotten really
(03:21):
tired of hearing me complain about allthe things I couldn't find for my daughter
and was telling me, like youshould do something about it. So I
was telling my husband gentlemen in linein front of us as the zoo turned
around and said, sounds like youhave a great idea. You should enter
this small business pitch competition for NewJersey small businesses. We entered. I
went home and corporated the business weentered. I ended up winning a ten
(03:42):
thousand dollars prize, which was fantasticbecause it gave us some of that seed
capital that we needed to start thebusiness. But probably more importantly, it
came with some local press that forcedme to tell my employer what I was
working on, because the last thingI needed was them to see me in
the news as local woman starts allergyfriendly snack company, and so they were
super supportive but also said, youknow, when you actually have a product,
(04:03):
you got to hit the road.And I think that was probably one
of the biggest strokes of luck I'vehad in this journey. Well, thank
you for sharing all that. Andyou know, there's also a common thread
when I talked to CEOs in thisseries about something that personally has affected them
or their family, and so theycome up with solutions to try and you
know, get better out there andcome up with something that's not only good
(04:24):
for them, but hey, Imight have a great business plan here of
something that really doesn't exist or Idon't know about, and if I started,
we might have something pretty successful.I'll give you a great example.
I didn't start it, but Iknow as a parent because I've got a
twenty year old daughter, but shedidn't like socks that had scenes in them
right on her toes. And Iremember my wife and I back in the
early two thousands looking for seamless socks. They just did not exist. One
(04:46):
day, I found them, andI wish I would have come up with
that idea. But I can understandfrom a personal experience when you don't have
something and you need it to comeup with that idea, but you took
it to the next level, whichI think is extraordinary when it comes to
these snacks. So I want todo this. We want to find out
all the kind of different snacks thatyou have and where you can get them.
It's really a wonderful success story thatstarted back in twenty sixteen. But
(05:08):
before we get to any of that, what is the mission statement of Partake
Foods. So at part Take,we're all about making snacking better for you,
inclusive and delicious, and so ourproducts are safe for over ninety percent
of people to eat because they're freeof the top nine allergens. They're gluten
free, they're vegan, they're nongmo and made with super high quality ingredients.
(05:28):
But most importantly, they're delicious,and once again it's snacks, folks,
which is just fantastic. Americans lovesnacks, so we have them here
at iHeartMedia all the time and weenjoy them and everybody loves them. And
you took it to the next level. And I think we're living in a
time too, Denise that you alsopersonally experienced. But there's all sorts of
choices out there, more choices thanever, whether it comes to your entertainment,
(05:49):
your clothing, or what you eat. But people are also developing more
allergies. So I see why youcame up with. It's not only on
a personal side with your daughter,but also this great business plan that you
had. So I'm kind of curiousyou started this up, you won the
contest, You've got some seed money, now you got to go. So
(06:09):
I'm curious about how thought, howbig you thought this was going to be,
and what your business plan was forthe first couple of years. Sure,
so I wasn't going to leave acareer that I loved and was passionate
about unless I believed that this wasa scalable business. But I also knew
that I was going to have areally big learning curve and it was going
to be important for me to startsmall. So I had big dreams.
(06:30):
But what that looked like when westarted was me selling cookies out of my
car to natural food stores in NewYork, bootstrapping in the business as far
as to sell my engagement ring tofund it, and we really grew in
small baby steps year over year.We did that for the first year.
The next year we added one smallregional grocer, and thankfully today you can
find us in over thirteen thousand storesas well as in lots of other places.
(06:54):
But initially the business plan was tomake sure we're making something that consumers
want and that can ms enjoy.We wanted to hear their feedback. We
wanted to iterate based on their feedbackbefore we started taking this thinking about taking
this further. So Denise, Ihave a sports background, and I ask
a lot of athletes and also peoplethat are in the entertainment industry, Hey,
when did you know that you madeit so with you and a company?
(07:16):
When did you know that you hadsomething really special? I think both
of those moments came in the middleof twenty twenty. We had gone from
a small regional brand, thinking we'dhad this big meeting with Target, and
we thought they would give us asmall test, and they gave us nearly
the entire chain of stores, andso we went from small regional brand overnight
to national brand, and so tosee our products and take my daughter into
(07:40):
stores and see our products on Targetstore shelves nationwide, that felt like we
made it moment. And I thinkalongside that because while I was super excited
that, you know, created costin the business, I'd gotten nearly one
hundred no's on my fundraising journey andthe yes that we got was from Marci
Venture Partners, which is a venturefund that Jay Z co founded in June
of twenty nineteen. And so bothof those moments, I think for me
(08:03):
really felt like I'm onto something.There are people who believe in this,
they're consumers who want and need thisproduct. You know, this would be
a great time for some advice fromyou. You're a woman owned business and
you had one hundred people say noto you. And I hear this story
a lot for entrepreneurs and CEOs wherethere are a lot of no's and it's
very frustrating and it can be easyto quit after you get no, no,
(08:26):
No. I really can't help you. I don't have any money for
you. Can you share a littlebit? And I know that your story
is relative to you, But justin general, some budding entrepreneurs and CEOs
out there advice about starting a company, how you started it, and where
you took it. Sure thing.I think some of the tidbits that come
to mind would be one that it'sokay to start small. I think because
of the way that we started,I was the only employee at Partake until
(08:50):
January of twenty twenty, and becauseof that, I had to learn every
single part of the business. Iwas the accounting department, the sales department,
and the operations department. And soI think starting small, not having
a ton of capital made me superfrugal, made me look at every decision
I was making, and made mereally have a strong understanding in the business.
So one thing I would tell buddingentrepreneurs is that starting small is okay.
(09:13):
I imagine that when you got thetarget deal that was a little overwhelming,
and some people get in that becareful what you wish for, syndrome,
because you want something, then whenyou have it, you go,
oh my gosh, I'm in amess now. I've got to come up
with all this product. So withthat said, what was a transition like
when you got Target on board.I think at that point we had been
in business. I've been selling cookiesfor about three years, and I think
(09:35):
we'd really built a strong foundation.So it definitely was an oh Craft moment
where I called our manufacturing partner,I called the one other employee at the
company, and I was like,should we do this? Can we do
this? And we decided to alltake the bet. But we felt comfortable
taking the bet because we had spentyears building a strong foundation in the business.
All right, before we get intoall the different products you have,
(09:56):
and it's really cool how many differentthings you have? Can you tell us
about the part take promise sure thing? So when I started partak with,
it came from the idea that Iwanted my daughter and people with food allergies
to be able to partake in safeand delicious foods. But as a woman
owned business, as a first timefounder, as a person of color,
I continue to see how many othergroups of people oftentimes don't have the opportunity
(10:16):
to partake. And so I reallyview this company as a vehicle for radical
inclusivity for creating a bigger table thatcelebrates all types of people and welcomes all
types of people. And so wedo that through a myriad of ways,
but a couple are focused on oursocial impact components, which are around reducing
childhood food and security. Last year, we donated over a million meals through
(10:39):
partnership with No Kid Hungry, andit continued to support relationships with regional partners
like Eat, Learn, Play,the Birthday Party Project, and hashtag lunch
Bag. And we also started anonprofit, the Black Futures and Food and
Beverage Fellowship, that's really focused onincreasing diversity in the food industry and providing
HBCU students with mentorships and fisted jobsand internships in the food and beverage industries.
(11:03):
Okay, we've talked about the companya lot, but we actually haven't
talked about the snacks. So Ithink everybody's ready to hear about that.
We will give the website addressed atthe end of our conversation so you can
check it out more, go toyour local store and really enjoy it.
So what kind of snacks and howmany do you have? We make cookies.
We make soft bake cookies. Wemake crunchy cookies. We make cookies
and snack pack lunchbox sizes. Ournumber one seller is our crunchy chocolate Chip
(11:26):
Classic, but we also have fantasticflavors like lemon and snicker doodle. We
launched a line of Graham crackers thissummer that we're super excited about, and
we have some new products on thehorizon early next year. Okay, I
have to ask the obvious question.I think I might know this, but
why cookies? Everybody loves cookies,or at least most people do. I
love a good cookie. Why cookies? So why was that the big item?
(11:48):
So I wanted my daughter. Ithought about all the social settings where
she wouldn't be able to happily celebrate, whether it be birthday parties or play
dates or classroom celebrations, into yourEverybody loves the cookie, and so that's
where we started. All right,I want to hear about a great story,
maybe something where you know, besidethe targets, which I think is
extraordinary that you can share with usthat as an entrepreneur and as a businesswoman,
(12:11):
was a really exciting moment for you. But I also like to talk
about challenges because we want to tellour CEOs and our future entrepreneurs that it's
not always unicorns and rainbows all thetime. You talked about challenges about people
saying no and funding, but inthe industry currently today, are there any
challenges that you're experiencing, Denise,I think definitely. So I think,
(12:31):
you know, we continue to seesupply chain challenges, whether that be inflation,
macro economic things that are happening,you know, kind of disruption globally
that's affecting the supply chain. Sothere's definitely supply chain challenges I think specific
to partake, but also any growingbusiness. You know, growing a team
(12:52):
quickly, particularly in a remote environmentis challenging and requires a lot of deliberate
decision making and focus on building cultureand supporting employees. So we're trying to
navigate that. And then as aventure backed business, I think the fundraising
climate has definitely cooled down some andso making sure that we're delivering really strong
metrics around growth and around profitability sothat we have a viable business or all
(13:15):
challenges that we're going through right now. If I could indulge you, I
think I know the good story Iwant you to tell me and our listeners,
because I'd like to hear right fromhow it was for her. Because
you came up with this idea foryour daughter. So she was only eight
at the time. Is that correctwhen you came up with the idea.
How old was she? She wasone? She's eight now, so she
had grown up with the business.Okay, so she was one, so
she was a little baby, butyou noticed about the allergy. So with
(13:39):
all that said, when she's beenold enough to know that mom and the
family put this company together and shewas basically the origin story, how did
she react towards this? What doesshe know about the company? It was
interesting actually because this morning I don'twant her make I don't want to make
her take cookies for her snack everysingle day. So I give her a
choice of like, do you wantcar take cookies or something else, and
she could recantly picks the partake cookie. So I feel like we're winning in
(14:03):
that way. And I think alsofor her to see my entrepreneurial journey,
how much like sacrifice it requires,how many knows come along the way,
and how much hard work there is, I'm hoping that it teaches her a
ton about hard work. About buildingbusinesses and I can already see you know.
I would walk the aisles of astore when I was little and companies
were so abstract. I never thoughtI could start something. She walks down
(14:24):
the aisles and she's critiquing product photographyand saying, well, I have an
idea for this, and I'm goingto build this business. And so to
see how this class dealing has beenlifted off of her head because what she's
seen with my journey is really reallyexciting and inspiring to me. Denise sounds
like a little chip off the oldblock, I think. And what a
marketer to take the cookies to schoolevery day. I love it. I
(14:45):
do too. Gives it the bestand that's wonderful. I'm glad you shared
that. Thank you so much.Well. I did want to ask you
too about the filanthropic stuff, andI know you mentioned some stuff that you've
done, and whether it's your personalwith a family, or maybe other things
that you do charity wise with thecompany and partakes, or anything else you'd
like to be a part of.You know, I think we really were
really focused on being a triple bottomline business and want to make the world
(15:07):
a better place as we grow thisbusiness. We just got our beacork certification
this year, which I'm super proudof you gratulation and I think about thank
you. We think about, youknow, how to make the world better,
and every single decision we make,and when we think about the causes
that we support, it really doeslean in on childhood, food and security
and diversity in the food industry.But day to day decision to the decision
(15:28):
in terms of the types of hiringpractices and how we support the team,
it really is all about making theworld better. So between hard work,
tenacity, funding, and a littlebit of luck and timing, the company
has grown into something pretty special.And you prove to yourself and everybody that
you're not always sustainable, but you'reable to grow. So with that,
I know that sometimes you want itkind to be careful about those things in
(15:52):
your business, planned about getting toobig and making sure that you don't get
over your skis. But what isthe future. Maybe over the next five
years in your plan for part timefoods, sure thing, I think you'll
see us develop other products, sowe'll move beyond just cookies and gram crackers,
and hopefully you'll start to find usin other aisles of the grocery store.
We want to continue to serve ourcustomers where they live and work and
play, and so you'll be ableto find us in more locations. And
(16:17):
to the point I made around wantingto make the world a better place,
I think naturally as our business grows, the positive social impact that we have
on the world will also continue togrow Upstanding, let's do this for all
our listeners, even though I'm surethey've googled already, but when it comes
to the website, just to getmore education about everything that you do.
And it's a lovely website. Whoeverdesigned it, it's beautiful, it's easy
to navigate. But also let's talkabout all the stores. It doesn't matter
(16:40):
what region, because this could berunning all over domestically the United States,
about where people can get part takefoods, sure things. So you can
learn more at Partakfoods dot com andyou can find us in retailers across the
country like Target, Walmart, Kroger, Whole Foods, Albertson's and online at
Amazon. Denise, this is anabsolutely extraordinary store, and I know that
(17:00):
we have only got into our dippedour toes into the water about how hard
this was to do, and allthe blood, sweat and tears that you,
your family and your staff have puttogether. It is a wonderful story
though, and I'm so happy foryou your family, but also the success
that you brought and making the placea little bit better with something that people
could use. They enjoy good snack, but if they have allergies. You
(17:21):
know, it's just absolute incredible thatyou came up what you think is a
simple idea, you took it tothe next level and now probably hundreds of
thousands and millions of people are enjoyingpartake foods. And you know, it's
just it's a wonderful marketing story.It's a wonderful business story and continue success.
We really enjoyed having you on CEOs. You should know. Thank you
so much for your time. Thanksso much, Dennis. That's it for
this edition of CEOs You should Know, Phoenix. Until next time, thanks
(17:45):
for listening.
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