Allergen-Free and Kid-Approved: How Happy Wolf is Revolutionizing Kid’s Snacks with Jana Goodbaum
LISTEN ON: APPLE | SPOTIFY
Jana didn’t necessarily plan to start a CPG business… she just wanted better snacks for her kids that they would actually eat.
But after struggling to find the products that would work for her family, she turned to making her own, first in the kitchen at home and then eventually through her company, Happy Wolf, a snack bar company using allergen-free and no sugar added ingredients.
Despite all her marketing research and experience, Jana admits that she was still naive about all the aspects that come along with building a CPG company.
So in this episode, she’s sharing the lessons she’s learned from building Happy Wolf, including some of their unique challenges, her perspective shift around success, and how having a strong business partnership relationship has made all the difference for her.
Subscribe to the Food Means Business Podcast with Hudson Kitchen founder Djenaba Johnson-Jones to hear the personal stories and “secret ingredients” of abandoning your day job and starting a CPG food business.
In this episode, you’ll learn...
[00:48] How Jana made her cubicle to business owner transition (and how her children influenced her decision)
[08:56] How Jana approached her business partnership and how she navigates that relationship
[16:59] The unique challenges facing a refrigerated kid’s product like Happy Wolf
[18:47] How Jana focuses on customer education and experience as a major part of Happy Wolf’s marketing strategy (and the origin of their unique name)
[24:37] What Jana wishes she’d have known before getting into the CPG industry
[27:01] What success looks like for Jana these days
If you’re considering breaking into the kid’s snack market, this conversation is a good one!
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About Jana Goodbaum
As any parent knows, finding school-safe snacks that aren’t filled with junk and your kids will eat is nearly impossible. The existing allergy-friendly snacks are full of unnecessary, ultra processed ingredients—that inevitably lead to an afternoon sugar crash.
Jana Goodbaum, a former fast-food marketer turned health-conscious mom, knew there had to be a better option — so she took to her own chaotic kitchen to build it. After endless recipe testing (while momming), she finally landed on Happy Wolf: nut-free snack bars made only with only whole ingredients you can find in your own kitchen.
Today, Happy Wolf can be found in the refrigerated section of 120 retailers—including Wegman’s—and will be in 450 stores by the end of 2024 with a major retailer launch around the corner. In a market saturated with "clean" labels and health claims, Happy Wolf's approach is resonating with a growing demographic of parents who are steering clear of ultra-processed foods.
Connect with Jana Goodbaum:
Follow Happy Wolf on Instagram
Stay Connected with Djenaba Johnson-Jones:
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[00:00:00] Djenaba: You are listening to the Food Means Business podcast, which features the personal stories and secret ingredients behind what it's like to abandon your day job to start a CPG food and beverage business. I'm Djenaba Johnson-Jones, former marketing executive turned entrepreneur and founder of food business incubator Hudson Kitchen.
[00:00:20] Join our community of fellow food business owners and subject matter experts. First to learn and laugh with us as we explore a startup world. That's a little more culinary and a lot less corporate these days. Hey, Jana, welcome to the food means business podcast. I'm so happy you're here. I'm so happy to be here.
[00:00:35] Thank you for having me. Absolutely. Absolutely. So since our podcast is all about going from cubicle to becoming a business owner, I would love to hear your story.
[00:00:48] Jana: I literally did just go from cubicle to business owner. So that is perfect. So I can tell you a little bit about how I made the jump. Sure. I started [00:01:00] my career in marketing.
[00:01:02] I did my MBA and I was sort of on this laser career. focused path to becoming a CMO. If you want to be in marketing, you got your MBA. That's what you think is the be all and end all. And so I started in advertising at a company called Tim Hortons, which is Canada's largest quick serve restaurant company.
[00:01:22] And I ended up leading advertising there after several years on the team. And it had my dream job in many ways. I had a big team and a huge budget, and I learned so much about building a brand and about storytelling. I was doing what I always wanted to do. On the other hand, I've always been very ingredient conscious, health and wellness focused.
[00:01:45] And you know what I was doing for work and maybe the products I was selling started to feel like a little bit less aligned with what I was actually eating myself. And then I became a mom and. It was certainly not, you know, [00:02:00] feeding my daughter became like almost a full time job. I was making everything from scratch.
[00:02:05] I was coming home from work late at night and found myself making energy balls in the kitchen at midnight so I could send her something to school that was nut free, school safe, and also super simple ingredient. And I kind of had this like, moment where I was like, there has to be something that I can buy in a package that makes my life a little bit easier, but doesn't have me compromising on these ingredients.
[00:02:34] And that began the search and, and eventually led to, you know, me deciding to create the snacks that I couldn't find in the grocery store.
[00:02:44] Djenaba: I have a similar experience with when I had children. It's been a while, but I've totally changed. The way that we eat, because we had kids, so, yeah.
[00:02:55] Jana: They're a blank slate, and I think a lot of parents that I've spoken to, feel [00:03:00] this renewed sense of responsibility over blank slates, that they're sort of handed, it's like, we know the impact that, What food can have on long term health outcomes for our children.
[00:03:13] And so I think, you know, parents are starting to take that responsibility really seriously and question, I think some of the more convenient options that we all grew up on. And you know, are these ingredients really necessary? And can we still have that convenience without the preservatives and the artificial colors and flavors and so on?
[00:03:34] Djenaba: It's so important. And now too, with all the allergies, like having something that's free from those top eight allergens. I mean, there's, are there nine now? Top nine. Yes. It's really important. And also being in school. So it's not just about your kid. It's about The other kids that are there as well. And like, how is what you bring in going to affect them?
[00:03:50] So this is really great. So, all right. So you decided, you know, you were looking for something convenient to, to give to your daughter. So love to hear more.
[00:03:58] Jana: Yeah. So [00:04:00] anyway, I went to the grocery store. I went to like my grocery store. I went to Whole Foods. I went all around and then I couldn't find anything.
[00:04:06] And I started thinking, you know. Maybe I have to look in the US, maybe I have to look in Europe, like maybe we just don't have it here in Canada yet. I started searching online and then I was like, okay. You always learn about, you, you know, you watch Shark Tank, you hear about those moments, those aha moments where you see, you really feel like, In the market in your own life, and you feel a need that nothing is meeting.
[00:04:30] And that is the feeling that I got for the first time ever in my life. But of course, I thought maybe I'm the only person sort of facing this. So at work, I did a lot of market research. So I ended up going on maternity leave with my son, my second child, and I spent nap times during that maternity leave interviewing.
[00:04:50] I would say parents, but in truth, it was mostly moms who I think just take such a greater share of the burden of feeding their kids, but that is a different, a different [00:05:00] story for a different podcast. But I interviewed, it started with friends and it turned into friends of friends and turned into me going into Facebook groups.
[00:05:07] And I talked to hundreds of moms about their kids food. And what I heard was that parents are feeding more snacks than ever. We're on the go. We're busy. Moms are working. It's not like we're at home 24 seven with our kids and snacks are a really important part of the picture. American children are eating four snacks a day on average.
[00:05:29] And what I heard was snacks are necessary, but nobody felt great about the snacks that they were feeding their kids. Even the good ones, they're kind of carbs and sugar, even if they're cleaner ingredients, carbs and sugar, or it's like just these dried fruit snacks that are just fruit, which is great, but it's not keeping your kid full.
[00:05:48] It's not balancing their blood sugar. And so I really felt this sense of, okay, there's this gap in the market for clean ingredient, school safe, nutritious, [00:06:00] satiating snacks. And. Why can't I be the one to fill it? And I think every entrepreneur is super naive when they get started. And I was certainly guilty of being very naive about what it would take to actually commercialize kids snack brand, but off I went and having done all of that market research and talked to so many.
[00:06:24] Potential customers. That's what really gave me the conviction to leave my full time job and start this business. So I felt like I really knew who I was building this for and that they really needed what I was going to create. But I had no idea how to create it. I think that's a very important disclaimer.
[00:06:43] I had no idea what I was doing. I knew how to make snacks that lasted like three, four days for my own. Daughter, and I, that's what I knew. So on the side, one of my good friends, Derek, he's actually my husband's best friend. I had watched him build [00:07:00] and grow and scale a pet food business over the last decade, which is totally different from what we were doing.
[00:07:08] And he ended up exiting from that business, taking time to be a full time dad. And I said to him, you know, you built this best in class. These best in class products for millennial pet parents. And now I want to do the same thing for millennial human parents. And I need you to come do it because you know how to.
[00:07:32] commercialized products. You know how to get ingredients and find a manufacturer and make all of this happen. And he didn't say yes right away. I won't lie. It was not an easy sell. It took about six months, but his son who was a baby ended up becoming, you know, going further into toddlerhood through this pitching process.
[00:07:49] And he saw the gap in his own life. And he saw his wife doing all the things I was doing, hand making granola bars, and he understood the need. And [00:08:00] so, Off we went and we started working on recipes in my kitchen and we went through a hundred, you know, over a hundred of them. We were testing with our kids soccer team, our kids gymnastics.
[00:08:12] We were like handing out samples with QR codes, with surveys. Week after week at making the, the better and happy wolf was born. So we launched in September, 2023 with four flavors of refrigerated snack bars for toddlers and kids made with only the ingredients that we used in our own kitchen that your grandmother would recognize and absolutely nothing They went in the fridge because in order for us not to compromise on ingredients, we realized we needed to use the fridge as a preservative, a natural preservative.
[00:08:56] Djenaba: All right. So before we talk a little bit more about the product, I want to talk about the partnership. [00:09:00] Yes. Not only is this someone that you know, it's like your husband's best friends. I have to imagine they've known each other. For
[00:09:07] Jana: a long time. Yes.
[00:09:08] Djenaba: And so like now, and it obviously has just really a lot of experience.
[00:09:13] And while it's not food, it's still pet food. And so he does know what to do. Like, how are you dividing the responsibilities? How are you making sure that the friendship is preserved? Like, would love to hear a little more about that.
[00:09:26] Jana: And those are, I mean, we took it very seriously. Maybe I went into the food business naively, but I didn't go into a co founder relationship naively.
[00:09:36] I knew that it was basically getting married in a different sense. And so we took that really seriously. First of all, the reason that I pitched him so hard to join me on this Adventure is because he's really the other side of my brain. Like I am primarily a creative, I am the marketing and sales side of [00:10:00] this business, and it's not that I can't do the other side of the business, it's that it doesn't bring me joy and it doesn't sort of spark my fire.
[00:10:08] It's not what gets me. Going in the morning. I can do it. I wouldn't want to all day. And so I knew having someone who gets super fired up by operations and by making a process like better and looking at Excel spreadsheets all day. Like, I was like, that's the partner that I need. It can't be me going into business with me.
[00:10:27] So first of all, we compliment each other's skill sets like very, very well. And we have a lot of trust. With one another on each other's sort of primary skills. So we talk about everything in our various sides of the business. But at the end of the day, you know, we lead in our area. So that is really, I think the biggest thing that makes this partnership work.
[00:10:54] But then secondly, I think we went into it knowing that just like a marriage, you know, [00:11:00] communication is important. primary here, not letting things fester, being sort of radically transparent with one another about how we're feeling. And even going in with the acknowledgement that, you know, we don't need to start therapy on day one, but just like a marriage, if issues start to come up, we're not going to leave them.
[00:11:19] We're going to go talk to a third party, a therapist to help us get through and communicate better with one another. So that was almost like an agreement on day one. You haven't had to do that yet. Um, But that was discussed, and I think a lot of co founders don't maybe get there in their initial discussions.
[00:11:38] Djenaba: I think it's so important to have that third party, um, just to bounce things off of, or just to have, you know, those hard conversations that maybe, like, you don't want to have. We've also
[00:11:48] Jana: made a rule for both of our partners, so his wife and my husband, at like, we turn off work in certain situations. So if we're going out for dinner, the four of [00:12:00] us, like, We decide, are we talking about Happy Wolf right now or are we not talking about Happy Wolf right now?
[00:12:05] And we will have to say like, this is a non Happy Wolf dinner. Do not talk about it. Everybody needs a break. Let's focus on this other dimension of our lives and our friendship.
[00:12:15] Djenaba: I love that. All right. So let's get back to the product. So you launched with four flavors and you mentioned that the product was refrigerated.
[00:12:22] You mentioned a lot about the market research that you've done. Like, let's get you to launch. Like, so. Let's talk about commercializing their product, you know, a little bit about the branding and the name. We'd love to hear about that and just kind of how you decided what Retail Atlas you got into first where you were able to grow.
[00:12:39] Jana: This is a fun part going back like 18 months, maybe from now. So, okay, let's start with product. So we were developing recipes in our kitchen and we were truly testing with, you know, kids that we knew. We got to the point where we. weren't getting the 100 [00:13:00] percent or 95 percent approval ratings from kids.
[00:13:04] And we really wanted it to be like, almost every kid who tries it is giving it a, yes, I want this and I want it again. And one of the things that had been a non negotiable as we were developing was no sugar added. That's a really big claim, especially everywhere, but especially in the kids world right now.
[00:13:22] And. You know, of course, a lot of brands that use the no sugar added claim have all these weird processed powders and sugars, right? Monk fruit powder that who knows what that really is And so what we ended up doing was adding a touch like two grams of honey per bar And that really took us over the edge on taste We took it to the same lab that I used to taste test at my corporate job, you know, when we were about to bring out a new product, I knew that I trusted their, you know, really [00:14:00] diligent taste testing against competition against their sort of bar of this is a viable product and you should go or here you still need work.
[00:14:08] So once we added the honey, which is what I use to sweeten things when I'm baking in my own house. And so many parents told me that as well. So we felt sort of like we had this. stamp of approval on that ingredient as a sweetener. We then had to figure out, okay, but how long does this thing last? And, you know, is anything going to happen to it over time?
[00:14:32] So we did take it to an R& D sort of Consultancy team to help us with things like water activity, testing, accelerated self life testing, which is like basically when, for those of you who don't know, it's, you put it in a hot drawer, basically in layman's terms, you put it in a hot drawer over time to mimic the effects of time.
[00:14:54] And every few weeks you take it out of the hot drawer and you test it for. [00:15:00] Mold for oxidization for a change in taste change in texture and that helps you understand Okay, if every I'm not gonna give you the right answers But if every two weeks in the drawer represents a month at room temperature or two months at room temperature that can help you get to an initial shelf life Through that period, we did have to make a few sacrifices.
[00:15:21] We had to take out, we had flax seeds in the final recipe from home. We had to take those out because that was sort of causing the bar to go bad prematurely. And that's really when we learned that the fridge was an, Non negotiable if we wanted to keep our ingredients as simple and as clean as we wanted them to be.
[00:15:43] And that was a real no go or go moment because the fridge makes things a heck of a lot more expensive. You have to ship, you have to have cold chain all the way through, which means in storage, in shipping. The fridge is a more [00:16:00] competitive part of the store, so it's even harder to get into, it's harder to stay in.
[00:16:04] And so. We went through this period of soul searching of, are we going to launch this product now that it has to be refrigerated? And we decided obviously to go because we really felt like this is the reason why other brands don't have this product. Like this is the reason why this product doesn't exist today.
[00:16:28] The product was still good on the go for three days. It says it at the top of our packaging. So you can still pack it for your kid's lunch. You can still drop it in your diaper bag or leave it in your car for a few days. It's still convenient. It still solves the on the go need state. Let's call it for parents.
[00:16:44] But it really does use ingredients. We don't have to use the Gums and emulsifiers and preservatives that others do because, you know, it doesn't last weeks, months, and years out of the fridge.
[00:16:59] Djenaba: Wow. So, [00:17:00] okay. Let's talk about the fridge and like being in retail. Like, how does that work? Where are you in the store?
[00:17:06] Yes.
[00:17:07] Jana: Oh, and then I'm going to get to the name because we never talked about that. That's a fun one. So the fridge is our biggest challenge. I won't lie. I won't sugar coat it. It's the hardest part because we don't have a automatic, obvious home in every retailer. The first big store to take a chance on us is Wegmans, and we are so grateful for that.
[00:17:32] Their buyer for a category was a mom of two toddlers who really, truly was living this needs state in her own home. And so she really saw it, and she gave us a chance, you know, as like a one month old business or something crazy. And They merchandise us beside the Once Upon a Farm smoothie pouches, the kids yogurts, so basically refrigerated snacks [00:18:00] that you would feed your toddler or your kid and you might drop in their lunch bag.
[00:18:03] Mush Oats just recently put out kids overnight oat pouches, they are there in our section so they're sort of creating this new category of fresher. options for kids in the fridge and creating a little destination for it. That's the best case for us. In other stores, we are, you know, sometimes we're in the produce section where they keep adult refrigerated bars.
[00:18:28] Sometimes they put us with the kids yogurts, but by and large, our biggest challenge is, you know, Getting the parents who would be looking for a snack bar for their kids to find us in the fridge, given that they're going to the center of the store and just comparing the options that they see there.
[00:18:47] Djenaba: So how are you resolving that problem?
[00:18:49] Like, how are you educating the parent to look for your products in the refrigerator?
[00:18:54] Jana: So we're really starting to invest in demos and sampling. As someone who [00:19:00] comes from, you know, let's call it big marketing, I find it And social and all of these new worlds channels. I find it so funny that the most effective thing for us to be doing is, you know, seemingly the most old fashioned, the most low tech, the most manual.
[00:19:19] We are training extensions of our team to stand in store and interrupt parents while they're shopping so that we can get in front of them instead of expecting them to find us.
[00:19:32] Djenaba: I love that. I love that you said that because it's not really scalable. It's going to take some time, but it's also going to put your representative in front of your target audience.
[00:19:44] And they'll be able to have a conversation, not only about where the product is and why it's here, but then why it's like the best thing for their kids. So that's like, that's pretty exciting, actually.
[00:19:55] Jana: It is exciting, but like you said, it is super hard to scale well, you know, there's all these [00:20:00] agencies promising the world for anyone in this, um, industry, there's tons of agencies who say, Oh yeah, we can do a hundred demos for you and they're all going to be amazing, but at the end of the day, if it's not you training, if it's not you vetting, if it's not, you know, monitoring, monitoring, The results and deciding whether to retrain or to find someone else.
[00:20:20] It's, it just doesn't work. If somebody is there who could be selling anything and is looking at their phone and isn't passionate about the product, they're not going to convince anyone to buy what you're selling. So it's. Right now, our focus is building the right team to do that sampling for us, which, like you said, is so hard.
[00:20:39] Djenaba: So let's talk about the name and branding. I'd love to hear, especially given the fact that you have that marketing background, what was the thought behind it?
[00:20:48] Jana: So the name. I think time will tell if it was the right choice. We love it. We wanted something Primarily different. We didn't want it to be another, you know, good green, [00:21:00] organic kids snacks, just another, another bar that you sort of scan over and it's like, okay, more of the same, we wanted this to stand out and to cause people to like, take a second, look and say, what is this?
[00:21:11] I call my kids. The Hungry Wolves, when they're hangry, I think that probably resonates with you and with every other parent. You don't want to mess with a kid who's hungry. I think most kids snacks, uh, like I said, are just carbs and sugar. Kids eat them, they're happy for a minute, the next thing you know, they're having a blood sugar crash, they're asking for another snack ten minutes later, and they're Hungry Wolves again.
[00:21:34] And so, the thinking behind our name was, we take Hungry Wolves, we turn them into Happy Wolves, and we keep them happy and full.
[00:21:42] Djenaba: Love it. Love it.
[00:21:43] Jana: And for the branding, you know, we were balancing, okay, we want this to be for kids and to excite children, but we don't want it to look like Disney. We don't want it to look cartoonish because I think that also like real cartoons, cause that also [00:22:00] sort of takes you to a place of maybe this is Fake and this isn't real.
[00:22:04] We were balancing, you know, fun and characters with natural and simple and real food. And so here's where we landed. It's been just over a year in stores and we already rejigged our messaging hierarchy based on customer feedback. I will be honest to tell you, I sure we will do that again as we learn more and again and again, because I think just watching.
[00:22:30] Customers interact with our packaging, hearing the questions that come up during. It's like, okay, but when we're not demoing, how can we answer those questions for you using the packaging? And so we've already made, you know, let's call it our first tweaks, but I have no doubt there'll be more tweaks that we make over time.
[00:22:50] Djenaba: For sure. It's an iterative process, which is actually a good thing because you'll, one day you'll get to the point where like it's saying everything that it needs to say, the customer is complicated and I'm [00:23:00] wearing it. Fine. And it's like, you know, like it's, it's good.
[00:23:03] Jana: One day. I don't know that we're there yet, but soon.
[00:23:05] And we also made the choice that is, you know, becoming sort of an emerging CPG norm, which is to put our picture on the box. Something I was sort of shy and resisted to when we were first developing. And now I do realize that, you know, on social, my story and the fact that this is a brand created by parents for their kids.
[00:23:28] And now your kids is. It's really a reason why people are rooting for us. It's why people are sort of latching on and telling their friends about us. And so we, even though it was like, I felt a bit cringy about it, a bit embarrassed, I was like, let's put our big jaw in the box because it connects to people.
[00:23:47] Djenaba: No, for sure. I actually love it. When I go to a brand website, almost any brand, especially if I know it's an emerging brand, I want to know who the founder is. And I want to read the story when I don't see that. I'm like a little disappointed to be [00:24:00] perfect. And so now I know about you. about your business partner and the fact that you actually do have children.
[00:24:06] And
[00:24:07] Jana: I also think it's what separates us from the giant corporations, right? At the end of the day, like they can't put a picture of anyone or maybe they can put a picture of the founder who started it 20 years ago and who is now nowhere to be found. But I think if somebody sees our picture here and then goes on our website and then follows us on Instagram, they really get a feeling that this is a small brand.
[00:24:29] That is not super easy to, to run that we are working so hard every day to make this more accessible to market.
[00:24:37] Djenaba: Thank you for sharing all of that. So I have a couple of other questions. We talked about your challenges, but I'm wondering, like, what do you wish you had known before you got started? Because you admittedly in the beginning were like, I didn't know a lot about what I was doing.
[00:24:50] Yeah. So I'm just curious about, like, what you wish you would have known. It's only been
[00:24:53] Jana: a year in market and I could write a novel about all the things I didn't know. But I think one of them. For [00:25:00] all, let's call it food founders who are, you know, thinking about doing this. And I think everybody said it to me, but I didn't hear it until I was in it.
[00:25:12] Was that getting on the shelf is not really the accomplishment. Getting off the shelf over and over repeatedly in a sustainable way is The accomplishment. And I think everybody in this industry, me included, I am still guilty of it, but I am working on every day is so focused on opening new doors and getting into new stores, but that's just like the opportunity.
[00:25:41] That's. You get the test, you don't pass the test and it's not really something to be congratulated on until you can stay in that store and you can find out what is working for the customers in that store, which may be totally different from what's working in another chain to actually move with, [00:26:00] you know, the velocities that you need to, to stay in the store.
[00:26:02] So I think spending more time thinking about. The different strategies for each store versus how to get on to the next store's shelves, you know, fridge shelves is the advice that I would give myself going backwards. Because
[00:26:18] Djenaba: really it's all about longevity and being in the right partners and taking your time.
[00:26:24] Versus not
[00:26:25] Jana: necessarily saying yes.
[00:26:26] Djenaba: Yes. Right. Cause it might be every time, right. Cause it might be like we, or maybe it's a no and it's not right now. Not now. Yeah. Right. Instead of yes to everything and kind of being spread too thin and not really doing what you need to do to move business forward.
[00:26:40] Jana: Yeah.
[00:26:40] And as it's happening, we're still guilty of that. And I think so many new brands are, but we are sort of learning that lesson every day.
[00:26:47] Djenaba: It's almost like, how important is it for you to post on LinkedIn that you're in, you know, a thousand stores or whatever, versus what people don't post is that, hey, we have good cash flow and hey, we are profitable.
[00:26:59] Jana: No one [00:27:00] does.
[00:27:01] Djenaba: You've been in the business for a little while. So what does success look like for you and your brother? I
[00:27:06] Jana: think success. I mean, there's personal and there's professional, right? I think professionally, like you said, it's longevity. I think the goal for this brand is to become a household name is to, I mean, in a perfect world, if everything goes right, I think there are so many.
[00:27:22] Other snack categories and food categories that can use the happy wolf reinvention or makeover. I think parents are increasingly looking for transparency, for cleaner, simpler options for their family and, you know, there's still not enough. So. I think there's just so much opportunity for us to continue expanding and solving this problem for parents.
[00:27:51] Personally, I think it's being able to show my kids that, you know, you can have a dream and you can follow it and it's not going to be easy [00:28:00] and you might fail, but you get to try. And I think that is so important for them to see. As they grow up and I think being able to, you know, sort of say every day, even when it's really hard, like I get to do this is I don't have to do this.
[00:28:17] I get to do this. That feels like success already.
[00:28:22] Djenaba: It's so important because for me, I might have a bad day, but I'm like, I wouldn't trade it for the world. I don't want to go back and work for someone else.
[00:28:31] Jana: So
[00:28:32] Djenaba: just a bad day and tomorrow is going to be a better day. And that's kind of the way that I take a look at it.
[00:28:37] And I also think your kids are really paying attention to what's going on. Like, I know For a fact, like my daughter could pitch Hudson kitchen, no doubt, no doubt about it. Cause she was there kind of every step of the way in building the business. Like for whatever reason, like I have a son too, but he was always like kind of with my husband.
[00:28:57] And so now like we were together, my daughter, for whatever reason I was [00:29:00] taking her to school and she was in it and she knew what was going on. I made her like watch my, yeah, she really knows what's going on. And now both of them have worked for the company.
[00:29:08] Jana: And now if they're growing up, they're like. You know, if I have an idea, like I can take that idea from a tiny seed and I can turn it into something which is
[00:29:18] Djenaba: so powerful.
[00:29:19] Yeah, it's so good. So I'm wondering what you do to take care of yourself because like, you know, you are a mom, you're a married, you have a business, there's a lot going on, a lot going on. So how are you taking care of yourself?
[00:29:34] Jana: Oh, that is a question that, you know, I don't, I don't think that I am doing the best job at that, and I think so many, you know, I think between early momhood, let's call it, having kids who are my old, my daughter's like four and a half, my oldest is four and a half, and my youngest is two and a half, like last night, I think.
[00:29:55] My son woke me up like nine times overnight, probably, maybe 10. [00:30:00] And so I think it's so easy for your own wellbeing to sort of come last when you're raising kids and your business is also your baby, especially in these early years of both. So. I think something that helps me internally is the same thing when you ask what success looks like, it's like longevity.
[00:30:22] Like this business is not going to have longevity if I burn out and I sort of fall apart. And so as the months go on, I have started to say, okay, if I work out this morning and I get to work at 10. Like, nobody cares, nobody knows, and nobody cares, and I think I still have this corporate mindset that I was raised with.
[00:30:50] I don't know, it like permeates your being when you're, when you grow up in it, and so if I get to work at 10, I feel guilty for some force that I, That [00:31:00] nobody can see. I don't know why I feel good though. I'm like, Oh, I'm late for work. Like late for work. I work every night after my kids go to bed so late, I work on the weekend sampling, like what is late for work when you have your own business?
[00:31:12] And so starting to let go of that. And have the coffee with a friend on a weekday morning, go to do the Pilates class, take time to like, eat a good lunch, these things that feel like you're failing your business, I don't know why, but it's letting go of that mindset, this like nine to five, grinding all the time mindset and realizing that like you are truly your own boss, but also the master of your own destiny and nothing is going to go well if you,
[00:31:47] Djenaba: 100 percent agree.
[00:31:49] I think that whole, the corporate thing, like even it's been, it's been 10 years for me since I worked in corporate and I still sometimes have to catch myself and go like, it doesn't
[00:31:59] Jana: matter. [00:32:00] Like nobody cares, nobody cares. Like, and probably they cared less than we even thought they did when we were in corporate, you know, And when I was deep in corporate climbing that ladder, like I would like skip the dentist for a meeting that popped up on my calendar, like that day, like, Oh, well, I can't go.
[00:32:21] And now I got to go to the dentist. Like the dentist is a non negotiable. This is very important. And so I, I do feel like I'm putting myself first in a way that I wasn't when I was in an office, but I have to really remove those fake walls that. are so tall.
[00:32:45] Djenaba: So Hudson Kitchen we have what we call the money bell we ring when someone is celebrating something. So I'm wondering what you are celebrating. It could be personal or professional.
[00:32:53] Jana: So we just got into Whole Foods. We are launching in [00:33:00] 320 Whole Foods locations this month, which going back to my advice about Getting in is not necessarily something to celebrate.
[00:33:07] I don't think I'm ready to ring that bell quite yet, but I could do it because I think, you know, as we were building this, Whole Foods was always the North star. It was where we really saw ourselves. It's where we, we felt like we were so aligned with the customer and the mission. And so just getting the opportunity is.
[00:33:30] A bell ringing accomplishment. I will give that to myself and hopefully I can come back on here and ring the bell when we get to stay in the store next year.
[00:33:38] Djenaba: So much. So Janet, tell us where we can find all about happy wolf and you.
[00:33:42] Jana: Okay. So you can find out about happy wolf at our website, happy wolf. com.
[00:33:47] You can follow our journey on Instagram day in and day out at happy wolf snacks. And you can find us in the fridge at Whole Foods, at Wegmans, at Gelson, at Erewhon, and [00:34:00] at more grocery stores that you can find on our website.
[00:34:02] Djenaba: Awesome. Thank you so much for being here.
[00:34:04] Jana: Thank you so much for having me.
[00:34:08] Djenaba: The Food Means Business podcast was produced by Hudson Kitchen.
[00:34:11] It is recorded at the studio at Kearney Point and mixed and edited by Wild Home Podcasting. Our theme song is by Damian DeSandis, and I'm your host, Djenaba Johnson-Jones. Follow Hudson Kitchen on Instagram and Twitter. At the Hudson kitchen. And to get food business bites right in your inbox. Sign up for our newsletter at theHudsonkitchen.com/newsletter. Listen, follow, and leave a review on Apple podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts until next time.