How to Introduce Consumers to an Entirely New Ingredient With Isabelle Steichen
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How to Introduce New Ingredients to Consumers in Your Food Business…
How do you sell consumers on an entirely new ingredient? That was the question Isabelle Steichen had to answer when she launched her business, Lupii. Lupii products, which currently consist of both a protein bar and a pasta, are based on the lupini bean — a superior source of plant protein that had yet to be popularized in the United States.
“What are the exact nutritional benefits of the lupini bean?”
“How do you successfully introduce a new ingredient to your market?”
“What else should I know about building a business and a team from scratch?”
Get these questions answered and more!
In this episode, Isabelle shares her journey from working in the start-up world to founding her very own business and introducing a food product that delivers the functional benefits of protein without all the carbs.
If you want to learn just how Isabelle was able to do it, and hear her insight on all things entrepreneurship, then this episode won’t disappoint!
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...
[06:55] Why Isabelle started her business and how she introduced consumers to an entirely new ingredient
[12:16] The value of relationships and leveraging connections to help grow your business
[18:29] Strategies for building a team and managing behind-the-scenes operations
If you want to learn more on how to introduce new ingredients into your CPG products, be sure to tune into this episode:
Links mentioned in this episode…
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About Isabelle Steichen:
Isabelle moved from Europe to the US 10 years ago and spent her career working for early-stage, fast-growing food, and tech startups before launching Lupii in 2020. Isabelle has been vegan for over 10 years, and after getting certified in plant-based nutrition from e-Cornell, she started a podcast, The Plantiful, in 2016. The insights she gained through that work, led her to ultimately start Lupii, on a mission to make the mighty lupini bean a US household staple.
Connect with Isabelle Steichen:
Stay Connected with Djenaba Johnson-Jones:
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[00:00:03] Djenaba Johnson-Jones: You're 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. So in our community of fellow food business owners and subject matter experts 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. All right. So, Isabelle, welcome to the Food Means Business podcast. I'm so happy that you're here. [00:00:35][31.9]
[00:00:35] Isabelle Steichen: Yeah. Thank you so much for having me Djenaba. I'm excited. [00:00:37][2.0]
[00:00:38] Djenaba Johnson-Jones: Absolutely. So we met, I think it was almost three years ago when you participated in the we Stock Pitch competition, and I was a judge. [00:00:48][9.5]
[00:00:49] Isabelle Steichen: Yes, that's right. Feels like forever ago. [00:00:51][2.3]
[00:00:51] Djenaba Johnson-Jones: It was definitely feels like forever ago. So I would love to start with your story, if you can tell us kind of how you went from working at corporate or doing what you were doing before you launched Lupii. [00:01:03][11.4]
[00:01:03] Isabelle Steichen: Yeah, totally. Totally. So I've only ever worked in startups, so I would say I was already kind of in that general emerging business space that the largest company I've ever worked for had 50 employees and wow, felt huge to me at the time. And then after that, I worked for a number of really small startups where I was employee number five or six and really fell in love with that stage of the business. I love, you know, feeling like everything I do every day really matters. And I love seeing the progress in front of me. I really enjoy that very much and kind of taking something theoretical, an idea and turning it into an operationalized reality. So really enjoy that. In parallel of my professional experience, I developed a real passion for plant based eating over the last ten plus years, really driven by my personal journey. I actually grew up in Europe, moved to New York ten years ago and at the time transitioned from a vegetarian to a vegan diet driven by a combination of reasons, initially ethical, and then starting to be more focused on health and and the environment as well. And I found that as a consumer at the time, I started having a ton of options, but none that I really wanted to consume. Right? So there were two main problems that I recall. One was a lot of the plant based foods were overly processed. And what I mean by that is in kind of with the need to attain certain nutritional functionality, there were just so many ingredients in these products and they a lot of times had things in them that I don't even know what they were, and I had no interest in putting them into my body. And then the other part that I noticed was the real concern around functionality and protein. But then I found like there was a real lack of options. It was all soy and pea and there was no diversity in the source of protein. And so that kind of brought me back to my roots. I grew up in Luxembourg. A lot of my friends growing up were Portuguese and Italian because we have really large Portuguese Italian communities in Luxembourg and I've always seen them snack on lupini beans. And so I was always familiar with the Bean and about, you know, 20 1718 is really what I started thinking, okay, I want to do something professional with my lives that I really care about and I want to build it from scratch because I love this startup environment. And at the time I started researching different ingredients, I was like, They need to be more nutrient dense products that are less processed and are also helping with biodiversity and diversity just in terms of what we consume as it pertains to our gut health. Like I just kind of saw that and that brought me back to my roots. I kind of rediscovered lupini beans at the time and started doing some real in-depth research, talking to a bunch of farmers in Europe and to some entrepreneurs that were using it overseas. And I was just blown away by the nutritional functionality. It has more protein and fuel carbs than any other bean, and it's packed with fiber and it's regenerative, sustainable to grow. So I just became obsessed seriously with this ingredient. And I was like, we have to bring this to the U.S. market and I'm going to do that. And so I left my last startup job in 2018 and kind of, you know, I love usually planning my next steps out. I didn't really have a plan, but I knew I needed more bandwidth because I was working a startup job. So more than a 40 hour week by far, and I needed just some space to do this full time. And so left my job and I was like, okay, I'm going to I'm going to go build this lupini company. And that's kind of how the transition happened. [00:04:55][231.1]
[00:04:56] Djenaba Johnson-Jones: Did you save a little bit of money or did you just kind of take the. I'm just wondering. What your steps were in thinking I'm going to make this transition. [00:05:02][6.2]
[00:05:03] Isabelle Steichen: Totally. So I had always been a good saver. I also I'm lucky I went to school in Europe, so I didn't graduate with crazy debts. So there was that card right then live an exorbitant lifestyle. And I always was employed before I started Lupii, so I had some savings. I also had a really great supportive partner and we discussed this in depth and we were like, okay, what's the plan? How long could I go without a salary? If you know, I get to a point, I can pay myself a salary. What would that look like? And at the time, actually, I remember being really uncomfortable with the idea of not making any income. And so I told my partner, I said, you know what? I'm going to do some consulting work for start ups and I'm going to still have enough time. You know, I'm I'll do like 20 hours a week of that and get paid and then work on the for the rest. So I started doing that, but then quickly Lupii became more demanding and, and so I got myself in a position relatively quickly where I was able to raise an initial money, which then gave me the ability to pay myself a small salary. But yeah, financials were definitely a big part of the conversation. And I also will say I was in an incredibly lucky and privileged position to have a partner who was like, You go do this like I support you, and we will figure out what that will look like from a lifestyle perspective to adjust to that, because I believe that you need to be doing this. So yeah. [00:06:42][98.5]
[00:06:42] Djenaba Johnson-Jones: That's really great. Actually have that same thing at home as well. I was able to kind of go and live my dream, so it's really nice to have that. So definitely, definitely a privilege. I been very fortunate. [00:06:53][10.5]
[00:06:53] Isabelle Steichen: Yes, for sure. For sure. [00:06:54][1.1]
[00:06:55] Djenaba Johnson-Jones: So talk about Lupii. Like you created this protein bar. Tell me, like, why a protein? Like why not something else? Like why not using the bean to do a different type of product? [00:07:05][9.6]
[00:07:05] Isabelle Steichen: Yeah, totally. Totally. So initially, when I first started doing R&D, this was still in my home kitchen, and then I ended up getting a food handler's license. I was still at my old job and I spent free time getting a simultaneous license and a friend of mine owned a commissary kitchen, mean he owned a restaurant and work out of a commissary kitchen. So he said, You can use my commissary kitchen to make your product because I needed to do that to be able to sell it. So initially, the first version of the product that I made, I thought about a lot of different versions. I looked at Need Replacements, I looked at Jerky, which was really funny. In 2017, there were a lot of plant based jerkies, and people were like, Nobody's going to buy this. And now there's like mushroom jerky everywhere. [00:07:46][40.5]
[00:07:46] Djenaba Johnson-Jones: Everywhere. Yes. [00:07:47][0.5]
[00:07:48] Isabelle Steichen: But yeah. So and then I landed on protein balls, actually, so I hadn't made them and commissary and sold them in a store down the street for me and started doing some research on the category and quickly realized making, you know, the protein bar category at the time was larger, was growing faster than double category. It also felt like having a single serve option, you know, a higher velocity opportunity versus a pack where you decant, you know, individual bottles. So and then operationally, it seemed like there were we won't go back and opportunities for for that as well. I'll take a step back also before diving into that. But strategically, my vision has always been to build a brand platform for the ingredients. So we're not a protein bar company and now we have pasta too. We're not a pasta company work, right, a lupini company, and we're adding functional benefits in a less processed version or format to various different categories that today are lacking these functional benefits. And our benefits are about the fact that we can deliver on so much more protein and way fewer carbs than any other plant based protein, or that any other bean or legumes. So that being said, a lot of the thinking was around, well, if you're introducing a new ingredient, that's going to be really hard to do that in the U.S. market. You know, lupini beans are really common in other parts of the world, like in Europe, but nobody in the state when I first started researching this and looking at this like six years ago, I mean, I would Google lupini there was nothing nothing. Nobody here in the States knew what it was. So I don't know a lot about the format. And bars seemed like a really great opportunity for the reasons around velocities and category growth and the fact that there were a lot of Non-vegan players, but there were not a lot of winning plant based players yet when I first started looking at it. But also there was no need for education. People know what the protein bar is, right, and I'm just switching out the source of protein. So I'm using this vehicle, my little Trojan horse, to introduce the ingredients in a format that consumers understand. So those were reasons strategically, from an innovation perspective that we looked at that first and then. And feasibility. Operationally, that all seemed to work out. We also were able quickly to create a product with a healthy product margin in that category. So took all of these pieces into consideration. And then we launched in January of 2020, which we had no idea what was waiting around the corner for us. And no one no one, no one did. And unfortunately we weren't in one of the categories that did not take off during the pandemic because there was no travel and nothing happening on the go. And Ginzburg closed the categories down by 40%. And so we have to very much adjust our distribution strategy. We were always going to go after retail first and we had to, you know, we were either going to shut down the business three months after launch or we were going to try to adjust and sell online. And that's what we ended up doing for two years. Basically, we sold the bars. [00:10:49][180.8]
[00:10:49] Djenaba Johnson-Jones: That's really interesting you say that because I think in our kitchen at the time, that's what happened. Like people made the move from retail to e-commerce and we ended up even converting a room in the kitchen to being like a parking area so they could just pack boxes to get them out the door there. So that, yeah, that's really great. But I don't want to say also like this is the product here, this is it. Here is a really smart way to introduce a new ingredient because it's a bar, it's a protein bar. And I think saying that and it tastes really good, by the way. So then no one will think about the fact that it's a new ingredient. They'll learn it because they're going to read the the package, but really they're going to try it first because of what it is That, too. Yeah, that's excellent. That's so smart. [00:11:31][41.3]
[00:11:31] Isabelle Steichen: Yeah. And I mean, the question we always are asking ourselves and how we communicate to consumers on pack or online is like, how important is the ingredients? How important is the functionality? How do we lead with flavor and taste and, you know, deliciousness. So like really finding that balance because exactly like you're saying, we can warn people to just try it because it's a cool looking, unique protein bar that delivers on some nice functionality that has only six ingredients. But then also we want people to start knowing about this bean because the bean is really the hero, but it will take time to do that education. So that's that's kind of the biggest challenge that we're facing as right. [00:12:15][43.8]
[00:12:16] Djenaba Johnson-Jones: Education through products that people are already used to consuming. Yeah. So yeah, that's great. So you, you know, conceived of the company, but you also took on a cofounder. So I'm wondering, can you talk about the process? I thought it was really interesting, the process of looking for someone to kind of add to the company. So let's talk about that. [00:12:34][18.4]
[00:12:35] Isabelle Steichen: Yeah. So at the time this was then in early 2019, I had last my last job a few months ago, I had done a little bit of consulting works, are working on this more seriously, and ended up reconnecting actually with an investor that I had met years before and I had done some work for them at the time between two jobs. And so they actually interestingly reached out to me and asked if I was interested in doing some research for them on the plant based food space. And so I was like, Oh, this is the universe is really braiding all these things together because I left my job. I wanted to focus on this lupini project full time. And then these guys reached out and so I started working and doing some research for them. And then I quickly was like, actually guys, like, I have an idea for a business and I've already done some research on that. I already have some prototypes. And so they, they were very excited. We talked for a few months and they were really excited about the proposition and the vision, and their thesis was always around investing in teams. They just thought it would de-risk the business, especially I think at the time, you know, for them, the fact that I have no food and beverage experience, they were like, you know, we like you, but we need also someone on this team in this early stage that knows how food and beverage works, right? So and I totally agree with that. I'm all about collaboration and I think I always want to surround myself with people that are smarter and better at what I'm doing so that I can learn and grow and make the right decision. So as I feel, I'm bored with that. But then I was kind of tasked with this project of finding a co-founder for this business that didn't yet exist. It was a deck. It were some, you know, handcrafted prototypes. The potential investor who was willing to write a decent check, but like it was high risk, you know, for anyone to leave their their corporate job. And so I went on a quest really literally had a spreadsheet going, I still have that spreadsheet where I would just add all kinds of people that I met throughout this journey. It started off with kind of this investors network. They knew a few people in food and beverage. I grabbed coffee with these people or have calls and tell them about the idea. At the time I was super paranoid. I was like, Somebody else is going to go and built this lupini company. So I had to really understand, you know, I need to share a little bit more to get. People excited and every meeting. And that's one thing that I love culturally about this country, right? Like, people are so generous and they are always excited to help. I think that was my experience and right. Every meeting would lead to two or three more introductions. And it also talking to all these different people really helped me to understand kind of the profile I was looking for. I've worked for startups, so I kind of had like a jack of all trades type of skill set, but I'm definitely leaning more to operations and sales. I mean, those were kind of the roles that I that I had been in previously. And as I started learning about the industry and talking to all these different people, I realized, okay, I need I need some marketing support. I don't know anything about marketing. It's not something that, you know, organically I connected with. And I never really did any of that in my previous jobs. And so ended up meeting my business partner Alice, through a former coworker actress who I grab coffee with and she said, I'm not going to be a co-founder because I'm not looking for this type of role. But you should talk to my former coworker and ally and I grab coffee and it just was a really great fit at that moment. And she was at Pepsi at the time and was actually had been considering jumping into something else. And she had a really strong innovation and marketing background. And so a few weeks after we first met and we talked a few times and met for coffee again and introduced our husbands to each other. And a few weeks later she said, okay, I'm going to leave my job. I'll do this full time with you. So she jumped on board. And then with that, we we got the investment from from this investor who was interested. They also met her and approved. And so that's how that's how it all came to be. [00:16:49][253.8]
[00:16:49] Djenaba Johnson-Jones: That's amazing. But it's really nice that you took the time to, like, kind of have the conversations and not kind of rush into our relationships that end up. You have some that's lasting that to me. [00:16:58][8.5]
[00:16:58] Isabelle Steichen: Yeah, totally. And I remember actually, I mean, I probably talked met with 60, 70 people throughout like a three months timeframe. And I really didn't do much else at the time because I, I had, you know, the deck and the concept ready and I was just looking for this co-founder. And I remember really thinking I might not find this person because you know, that that thing that was the sticking point. Every single time I would meet someone that, you know, we were interested in each other, I was like, Oh, but like, this is really this is a startup and I'm working for a big, comfortable corporation right now where I have health care and I kind of have a path carved out it. Just honestly, that's what I realized during that process. I think going into those super naive about it because like I said, I've only worked for startups. It was like, that's not, you know, I whatever, like it will work out. But I think coming from a more traditional career, that does feel like a really big risk to take. [00:17:54][55.5]
[00:17:54] Djenaba Johnson-Jones: And so it's a it's a huge risk. But also you're leaving. It's like so cushy and comfortable and like, you know, I don't know, in Manhattan, like we would take cars everywhere and it was great. And we have have like sales meetings and it would be all wonderful. And I had one job where they gave us Prada bags for Christmas and like, so you like you get like you see. [00:18:13][19.3]
[00:18:14] Isabelle Steichen: Exactly. [00:18:14][0.0]
[00:18:15] Djenaba Johnson-Jones: And then like you're kind of in it and you're like, do I want to even take this risk? [00:18:18][3.0]
[00:18:18] Isabelle Steichen: So yeah, I think I think reality. Yeah, yeah. And so, you know, I feel like I did get very lucky to meet Ali at a time and yeah, it was the right fit. So yeah. [00:18:28][10.4]
[00:18:29] Djenaba Johnson-Jones: That's awesome. So talk a little bit about kind of building out your team because there was the two of you and then obviously you can't do everything, you know, given that you're trying to grow this company. So I'm just curious as to kind of like who are the first hires once you guys are ready to do that? [00:18:42][12.9]
[00:18:43] Isabelle Steichen: Yeah. So it's been kind of a little bit less focus on full time hires and more on factual support. And again, I think that's something I've learned from my previous startup experiences. I'm a big believer you can outsource a lot of things for a long period of time. And like one thing that we're doing is we're co packaging. So we're not only our manufacturing, so we don't have to manage a team there. You know, I think finance is incredibly important to have the right accounting and kind of finance team in place. But at this stage of the business, it's enough to have factual support on that front. Sales. I am a huge believer in doing sales yourself for a while because you're the best person, right? [00:19:30][47.7]
[00:19:31] Djenaba Johnson-Jones: Absolutely. Yeah. [00:19:32][1.0]
[00:19:32] Isabelle Steichen: Yeah. And so we do have a broker that we are working with two years ago. But again, that's not sales, it's a broker. So support for that. But I'm still doing, you know, 99% of sales myself. And then Ali covering marketing, which we do have part time support on the operations side and kind of like a little bit of a jack of all trades, which I think at this stage of the business is a really fantastic an asset to have a person that can wear many hats and is comfortable jumping and learning, which not everybody is, and that's totally fine. It's a very specific person that's kind of a generalist, and I think that's super valuable at this early stage. So we haven't really brought on much full time support to the stage. And I do have plans to to bring on a first hire and it will probably be on the operations side, right, which is what I'm covering right now. But we're kind of making that contingent a bit on going to business a little bit further where we can justify bringing that on board. So I think there's kind of two schools of thought right there is that you have to everything you need to quickly find the support. And I do generally agree with that. But I think also an emerging business is the needs are changing constantly like imagine if we hired a head of retail sales in January 2020 and three months later the world shuts down and we don't do retail sales, right? That person is probably, you know, a relatively experienced person that's not just going to go jump in and now run our Amazon sales for us. So I think just being realistic around where is your business? I had have you proven kind of the path forward where you can just like add some fuel to the fire and it grows like that? Or are you still kind of figuring out where you're going and what your needs are? And then also, it's a it's a cash management question, too. And so so that's how we've been how from thinking about building out the team. [00:21:29][117.2]
[00:21:30] Djenaba Johnson-Jones: So I'm wondering if you had to do it all over again, what would you do differently? [00:21:35][4.4]
[00:21:36] Isabelle Steichen: Oh my God, what would I do differently? It's so hard to think about myself in 2019 because I had zero experience in the food and beverage space. I think one one thing now in hindsight is maybe I wouldn't have entered the bar category as the first product because it is such a competitive category. And again, we at the time 2019, I mean, there had been some really great acquisitions that had already happened. There was definitely an opportunity to grow, but it was already a really crowded category. So some kind of strategic thinking about what's our first product line, and maybe I would have made some adjustments around that. But I'm saying that having had two sides through the cattery being down so much during the pandemic. Right. So. [00:22:28][51.5]
[00:22:28] Djenaba Johnson-Jones: Right, right. [00:22:29][0.4]
[00:22:29] Isabelle Steichen: Other than that, I said there's so many little things. Right. That I learned throughout the journey, but I wouldn't say necessarily I would have done them fundamentally differently. Yeah, I don't I don't I don't know. It it's just all these learnings that now makes so much sense. Like an example, I was initially launching Transparent packaging, which we thought was really cool because you not see the product at well operationally or from a product quality perspective. The product was drying out really quickly. So, you know, like tactical things like that where you're like, Oh my God, why did we not test is why didn't think about this little things like that. I would definitely tweak. Yeah, I think those are, those are kind of the main things that I can think about. [00:23:11][42.2]
[00:23:12] Djenaba Johnson-Jones: I think the lessons are important. Like you've made the decision that you made at a certain time with a certain set of information that you had. You learn something from it and you're able to move forward. So but I always think, like in my head, I'm like, If I would have only done this, but you just don't know until you have an experience. [00:23:26][14.2]
[00:23:27] Isabelle Steichen: So yeah, totally. And I think, you know, one, one thing actually that I do really feel like this experience has been validating. I am a big believer in scrappiness. It relates a little bit to your question about building out a team and testing things before getting too married to something or throwing money at something. I'm a real big believer in being scrappy on that front at the early stages, and because I do think anybody who raises $100 million is. To create a lot of top line revenue growth unless you totally like. I mean, it's almost impossible not to do that. Right. But if you're not doing that, then you have to really prove stickiness and product market fit. And how can you do that in a scrappy way? Like we've had some experiences where I actually did our own PR when we started. I would just reach out to press and, you know, sent emails and got really good traction in response from that. And then for a while we had an agency partner and it was a great agency. But in hindsight I'm like, that was not the right allocation of funds, right? Because also you're still so small. Like what is the story you're telling? You know, why do you need a full agency to support you on that stuff? And I think it's kind of sticking to your guns a little bit and not getting distracted. This was around the time where there were so many. Did you see food and beverage brands and like 20, 21 exploding and all over the place. And then you're feeling you're looking left and right. You're like, Oh my God, I need to also like, throw some cash at this, right? Throwing cash at stuff doesn't solve doesn't really solve problems. It does. [00:25:00][92.7]
[00:25:00] Djenaba Johnson-Jones: Nothing. [00:25:00][0.0]
[00:25:01] Isabelle Steichen: Great. It doesn't create a brand. It doesn't create product stickiness at this stage. So that's a really big learning for me. It's like going back to what I've learned as an employee at startups, which is you can get pretty far. Being scrappy and testing things out and yeah, throwing money at stuff doesn't. Just like I said. [00:25:21][20.0]
[00:25:21] Djenaba Johnson-Jones: I learned the hard way. [00:25:22][0.8]
[00:25:22] Isabelle Steichen: I have to say, Yeah, Hey. [00:25:23][1.1]
[00:25:24] Djenaba Johnson-Jones: Yeah, let's talk about pasta. So I have a little bit of pasta here. So why pasta as the second type of product that you guys decided to. [00:25:34][9.8]
[00:25:34] Isabelle Steichen: So want to meet consumers at different occasions throughout the day. And the bars are doing a great job. You know, they are a lot of our customers are eating them as a snack, as a pre or post-workout food, as a meal replacement in addition to something else. So we're already kind of covering different touch points throughout the day and we're really interested in central of the plate, lunch, dinner, you know, bringing incremental functionality to certain categories there to staple products that people consume. Where today there's there's little innovation. And so we looked at various categories. This was about two years ago. I started thinking about the next product range and looked at various categories. I don't want to go into too many details there, but of course we ended up landing on pasta for a few key reasons that started from us. Our technology perspective is super obvious. Like wheat pasta is traditionally a category that lacks nutrients, I'd say, and that's just forward carbs. And we know consumers are looking for more protein, more fiber, way less carbs. That's what our being is doing best from a functionality perspective. What we also noticed was there are more and more alternative options out there, and Banza is really a leader and they've created that category and started over eight years ago. But there is no innovation within that alternative category. I'd argue it's all just another lentil or chickpea pasta. And what that means is they're just differentiated in branding, not really and nutritional functionality. They look exactly the same on that front. So we saw, you know, it's a growing category. It's a category. Would would it would a big winner but would also real opportunity to come in and do something incremental and new for consumers. So and then there is a whole work around, you know, is this feasible? Can we find a partner to make this product for us? Can we reached functional goals that we're trying to head on making this product? Is this product working from a margin perspective? So a lot of work around that as well. But those were kind of the two steps that led us to launching into the pasta category about a year ago. [00:27:49][134.6]
[00:27:50] Djenaba Johnson-Jones: Cool, Cool. How was entrepreneurship changed you? I know you went from working at startups to having your own startup, and I'm wondering how you've changed for the better. [00:27:58][8.6]
[00:28:00] Isabelle Steichen: You know, I just feel incredibly grateful being on this journey. I remember being at Startup Jobs previously and feeling like not incredibly fulfilled emotionally, if that makes sense. And I just feel building this business has been incredibly fulfilling. It's been the most challenging thing by far professionally that I've ever done. But I actually think that the emotional reward that comes from the learning and the growing that is just constant is So I'm so grateful for that. And, you know, my friends who are jobs startups are not that are just not happy and that can't get, you know, wage to drop the pen in five and be done. I don't feel that way about building this business, and I've never experienced anything like that professionally. It's just incredibly fulfilling and I'm really, really grateful for that. And going back to your very first question around, you know, having a supportive partner who is, you know, supporting that and and encouraging it is also just really fantastic. So I would say it's made me very grateful. Building building this. [00:29:11][71.7]
[00:29:12] Djenaba Johnson-Jones: Business. Awesome. What do you do for self-care? So I know that you eat really well, but what else are you doing? [00:29:18][6.1]
[00:29:19] Isabelle Steichen: Yes. No, I. I didn't grow up being very athletic as a kid. I'm very, very traditional European family. My parents were like, Why would you work out? You can just walk. So I'm like, okay, ah, that's definitely change. And but a few years ago I actually discovered running and I love running so much. I'm really into half marathons and marathons. Those are kind of really good distances for me. And it feels while it also is important to take care of your body afterwards, it does feel like we all self care to be able to treat myself to that, and especially when I travel or even, you know, I live in Brooklyn. There are so many amazing parks around here on the waterfront. It's just really nice to put your phone away and use your body and go on a ride and move your body around. So that's one of the big things that I'm that I'm doing. And then, you know, I think I, I very much I'm not consistent with some of these other practices that I go in and out of. I actually a certified yoga teaching over ten years ago. So did a lot of meditation at the time. And it's something that I kind of go in and out of, but that's also part of my part of my practice, especially when things get really loud and overwhelming. And then the other part is that I have a therapist, so it's huge for self care. I started working with a therapist actually around the time when I started launching and building the business, which has been really amazing and that's been such a fantastic toolkit in my in my box. Yeah. [00:30:58][98.7]
[00:30:59] Djenaba Johnson-Jones: I have a therapist as well. And I started I guess it was February 20, 22, and I love it because I feel I felt like I needed someone to hold space just for me. And I think that has been the key to like a little bit less stress, less anxiety, just having that moment on a weekly basis to to be able to talk to someone. [00:31:21][22.8]
[00:31:22] Isabelle Steichen: Yeah. And I feel like we sometimes I know that you can fall into a pattern where you're treating your partner or your friend like a therapist. I would never want to do that. And I think, like we all probably have a lot of unresolved stuff from our childhoods and teenage years. When you then adding on starting a business, which is like such a personal experience that that your ego is so involved in, you know, I feel like it's like the perfect mix to create an explosion if you're not if you're not creating a really good supportive system around yourself. So I agree with you that like having someone who's holding space and who has perspective and is kind of independent from you is is incredibly, incredibly valuable in this process. [00:32:07][44.7]
[00:32:08] Djenaba Johnson-Jones: Yeah, it's been amazing for me. So at Hudson Kitchen, we have a money bell ring when we're celebrating something. So I'm wondering what are you celebrating right now? [00:32:21][13.3]
[00:32:22] Isabelle Steichen: So we got it to a really, really large retail account with our past not sharing quite yet who it is. But it's it's a real game changer for us from a business perspective. It's not launching until a few months of now. So I need to practice a lot of patience, which I'm not super grown at, but it's a huge win. It's just so exciting. It's also really exciting to have a buyer who was just so gung ho about your product. So that's something that has just been really proud of us and looking forward to to actually landing on shelves there. [00:32:55][33.1]
[00:32:56] Djenaba Johnson-Jones: Isabel, thank you so much for being here. Please let everyone know how. All they can find about you and Lupii. [00:33:00][4.1]
[00:33:01] Isabelle Steichen: Yes. So thank you for having me and anyone can find us on our website at getlupii.com and then on Instagram and TikTok. We're also at GetLupii. So yeah, Thank you so much. [00:33:15][13.8]
[00:33:16] Djenaba Johnson-Jones: Thank you. The Food Meets Business podcast was produced by Hudson Kitchen. It is recorded at the studio at Carney Point and mixed and edited by Wild Home Podcasting. Our theme song is by Damien de Sandys, and I'm your host, Djenaba Johnson-Jones. Follow Hudson Kitchen on Instagram at TheHudsonKitchen 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 Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get podcasts. Until next time.