On this episode of Honest Ecommerce, we have Griffin Spolansky. Griffin is the CEO and Co-Founder of Mezcla, a plant-based snack brand that is mixing it up with exciting flavors and textures. We talk about the power of experienced guidance, pushing through the highs and lows, shifting from Ecommerce to retail, and so much more!
Griffin Spolansky is the CEO and Co-Founder of Mezcla, a plant-based snack brand that is mixing it up with exciting flavors and textures.
Griffin was also named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for 2023 Food and Beverage. He’s also a part of Division 1 Men's Lacrosse National Champion - 2019 - University of Virginia Israel Men's National Lacrosse Team.
In This Conversation We Discuss:
Resources:
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Griffin Spolansky
For anyone starting a business, obviously, it's going to beat you down. And there's one great day and there's one horrible day. And I think that just being able to power through those horrible days that really can get you where you need to get to.
Chase Clymer
Welcome to Honest Ecommerce, a podcast dedicated to cutting through the BS and finding actionable advice for online store owners. I'm your host, Chase Clymer. And I believe running a direct-to-consumer brand does not have to be complicated or a guessing game.
On this podcast, we interview founders and experts who are putting in the work and creating real results.
I also share my own insights from running our top Shopify consultancy, Electric Eye. We cut the fluff in favor of facts to help you grow your Ecommerce business.
Let's get on with the show.
Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of Honest Ecommerce.
Today, I'm welcoming to the show a Forbes 30 under 30 list member for 2023 food and beverage.
Griffin Spolansky. Welcome to the show.
Griffin Spolansky
Chase, thank you for having me. Pumped to be here.
Chase Clymer
I'm excited.
So Griffin is the CEO and co-founder of Mezcla, a plant-based snack brand that is mixing it up with exciting flavors and textures.
Griffin, what does that mean? What are you guys selling online? What are we talking about here?
Griffin Spolansky
That's awesome. Love it. So essentially, I think it tastes like a Rice Krispie treat, and functions like a protein bar.
I actually went to the University of Virginia, played lacrosse there. And after practice, we always had protein bars, protein shakes.
The bar, specifically… not overly excited about a lot of the options.
So that got me thinking, why can't I create something that I would want to see in the market, that my friends and family would want to see in the market? So that was step one.
And then I actually met my co-founder in an entrepreneurship class at UVA and she has a small granola company. I was taking these cool, exciting, unique ingredients from her hometown in Mexico and actually introducing them into the granola.
So we actually met up after class and came up with this idea for Mezcla where it's like, “Let's innovate on texture. Let's innovate on ingredients and flavors.”
And that's how my school was really born.
So we're this puff crispy bar, if you will.
Chase Clymer
Well, I do love the sound of that. And I'm sure I'm going to get some of these after this.
Alright, so what year was this? When did you meet your co-founder? When were the first conversations around potentially building a product?
Griffin Spolansky
Yeah, gosh. Must have been like the fall of 2018.
Chase Clymer
Okay. And how serious were you? What were you guys trying to do? What were the steps you were trying to take?
Griffin Spolansky
Yeah. I mean, look, we had no idea what we were doing. But we were pretty serious about what we were doing, we just didn't know what we were doing, honestly, if that makes sense.
I guess just to lay out my schedule, I would have class in the morning. I would go to lacrosse and be there for like 4-5 hours while getting there beforehand, working out, playing, cooling down, all that kind of stuff.
Then I would go to Coco's house. It was like 20 minutes away from the lacrosse facility. And we would work on literally trying to make bars for 2 or 3 hours. And we did that probably for 8 to 9 months.
So that was my schedule, rinse and repeat for quite some time there.
Chase Clymer
How did you figure out this ideation on the product, the trial and error here… how did you understand that was the next step?
Griffin Spolansky
Well, I knew... First and foremost, I knew we needed a product. So that was step one, if you will. We needed to get something that was actually ready for the market.
The issue is, we would make the bars, they would taste great and then 2 weeks later, they would be rancid.
So there was a lot of time in between where it was like, “All right, we're kind of just sitting here waiting.”
And we weren't making new samples. But I think what took so long about the process is that we made a sample, great. We think we got it. Oh, no, something actually went wrong.
And that was what really actually ended up adding a ton to the timing, actually, this whole thing.
Chase Clymer
So it takes you about 9 months to get a sample that you're happy with.
What happens next?
Griffin Spolansky
We go to a food scientist. And the food scientist actually helps us commercialize this thing because, again, our samples were good, but they left a lot to be desired. And I think that, again, from an expiration date side of things, we can make something that is good.
And maybe our latest number... I don't really remember. Maybe our latest number would last for a month, but it definitely wouldn't last for a year or 18 months. So we needed a food scientist to really help us commercialize it.
And also, even if what we were making would last for 18 months, would it actually work on a commercial line? That was another issue.
So the food scientist was a huge help in actually getting this thing up and running.
Chase Clymer
Gotcha. So working with him or her… And did that allow you to get some actual samples to then kind of take to the market and test? What was that whole strategy?
Griffin Spolansky
Yeah. So working with the food scientists actually helped us find... Well, I had a connection to this co-manufacturer, basically someone that produces millions of bars every year. And through that connection, I actually found the food scientist.
And the good news was this food scientist worked with this co-manufacturer all the time. So it was kind of rinse and repeat that she helped us with the formula. She connected us with the co-manufacturer. And boom, we were off to the races.
We didn't have to go searching for a co-manufacturer for 6 months and worry that whatever this food scientist made wouldn't actually work in the facility because she worked at the facility for 15 years.
She knew what she was making would actually work on their lines. So that was actually a pretty seamless process.
Chase Clymer
Awesome. That's awesome.
So how long did it... How long was it from you meeting your co-founder to you guys having these samples?
Griffin Spolansky
Like the food scientists, I would say that was probably a good... Finalized samples from the co-man I would say 2 years, maybe a year and a half. Yeah, a year and a half.
And then I would say samples from the food scientists, maybe 12-13 months.
Chase Clymer
Awesome. So when did you start to go out and see how the market reacted to these samples?
Griffin Spolansky
Yeah. That was about 2 years after me and Coco actually met.
And it was a weird and crazy and scary time because we were supposed to launch the brand at Expo West. It's a big food show in March.
And obviously, as we all know, in March of, I believe, 2020, that's when the whole world shut down because of COVID.
So our plans quickly shifted if you will, because we're ready to launch this thing in March. Expo West, we're so excited. We got a booth. Okay. Two days before the show, it's canceled. What are we going to do now?
We actually decided, instead of trying to push into retail like we were going to do at Expo West, let's take a few more months.
We had 10,000 bars, which isn't a ton of bars in the grand scheme of things, but for us at the time, it was.
We had 10,000 bars. Our website is not ready. We can't push into retail yet. What are we going to do?
We ended up sending out 70% of the bars to influencers around the country. And people love the product. People were posting about the product.
We probably had 3,000 followers before we launched. There's a lot of buzz surrounding Mezcla.
And I think that really helped us because when we finally launched in August, day one was pretty awesome and pretty exciting because a lot of people already knew about the brand.
So that was our ramp up to launch, if you will.
Chase Clymer
Awesome.
I think, especially these days, a go-to-market strategy, capitalizing on the audience that these influencers built is a great play.
How did you find the correct influencers to partner with? Were you setting up deals with each of them or is it all just goodwill? Here's a bar, do your thing.
Griffin Spolansky
So in the beginning, before we officially launched, it was all goodwill. We're like, all right, we're just going to ship bars to a bunch of influencers.
And what we were really concerned about was do the influencers that we're shipping to care about food, health, and wellness on their pages? And are they active?
And by active, I mean active on social media. If they post once every 3 or 4 months, probably not the right influencer for us.
We need people that actually have engagement. So that's the way we thought about it. Sent out, like I said, 5,000 to 7,000 bars like that.
And then when we launched, I think we worked with 7 to 10 influencers. And those were real paid partnerships. And we put some money behind that to really get the brand going.
Chase Clymer
Awesome.
I would love to ask another follow-up question there.
So when you're looking at the influencers that you wanted to get your product in their hands, you were more concerned about fit with the audience that might enjoy your product versus clout or scale of their following?
Griffin Spolansky
Yeah. I mean, look, I think at first, because we had no idea what we were doing going into this, we also didn't really know who our target consumer was, to be honest.
So we were just trying to see, who is that person? Who really likes Mezcla? Who doesn't fit with Mezcla as much or care about Mezcla as much or get excited about Mezcla as much?
So I would say for us at the time, it was just like, who do we think is a really good, true, genuine influencer that has a really connected audience. And that's how we were going about it.
And I think still today, we have a very clear target demographic today, but it's not just like who has the most followers, who has the most clout. It's like who really connects with their audience and with their followers the most. And I think that's the way we think about it.
Chase Clymer
Awesome.
So you build all this goodwill with all these influencers, a lot of buzz about the product, and then you actually go live? Tell me what happens.
Griffin Spolansky
Yeah, a mix of things actually. Exciting because we get a lot of orders. The product seems to be doing well.
And then I would say, a month in, we realized that the formula wasn't as good as it should have been. We actually made a mistake on the line.
And literally, every night going to bed, I was really stressed out about this because I knew that the formula that we made 6 weeks prior that we were testing... 2 months or 3 months prior that we were testing with influencers was amazing.
And then we actually finally launched with what should be the same formula and there was an issue with it. So that was a little frustrating for me.
And I was like, are we going to pull the bars off the market? Are we going to just keep selling them? So I think that was a pretty stressful time.
But what was cool and exciting was despite the formula not being as good as it should have been, people were loving the bars, people were buying the bars, we're getting a lot of traction.
And pretty quickly, I think what we did realize is Ecommerce for the snack bar market doesn't make a ton of sense. It's really expensive.
And at least in my opinion then and not my opinion now, it makes much more sense to scale a food and beverage brand, specifically a protein bar brand, at retail shelves.
So we transitioned to retail pretty quickly after we launched. Probably 6 to 8 months after we launched.
So yeah, that was really how we started... How we launched this whole thing.
Chase Clymer
Absolutely.
So what was that strategy when you pivoted? Was it useful to have that sales history under your belt from going D to C to then take to the buyers at these various wholesale and retail accounts?
Griffin Spolansky
Yeah. I mean, not really. I think what I tried to do and what I continue to try to do is surround myself with people that are smarter than I am, which, like I said in our earlier conversation, there are a lot of those people out there.
So what I did was I found a bunch of advisors that were two, three, five steps ahead of us that really understood retail. I used them to really help guide me–use isn't the right word, I should reframe that, but I worked with them to help guide me through the process.
Some of them are still advisors today. Some of them are really close friends today.
And I think they were really helpful and integral in helping get the brand into retail shelves and retail ready.
Thinking about pricing strategy, thinking about how big our pack size should be. Thinking about velocity. I didn't even know what velocity was back in the day.
So I think that they were vital. I would have had no clue what I was doing if it weren't for them.
So I mean, honestly, I don't know if you're asking going forward, but I will say my biggest piece of advice, an unsolicited piece of advice is to surround yourself with people that have done it before. I think that's been my biggest unlock, honestly.
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Chase Clymer
As an entrepreneur and as a founder, you have this DIY ethic at times. And it sometimes can get in your way, especially when you're... Honestly, you need to hire the most expensive person you can afford at the time.
And then make sure they have done the exact thing that you need them to do before. We've made mistakes at the agency under hiring, thinking that people could do what we needed them to do in the future to try to save a few dollars.
And that's always... Hindsight is 2020. It's never the right thing.
Griffin Spolansky
Yeah, but it's funny. Something I've also realized too, at least recently, is dollars aren't always equivalent to work ethic and success.
I think that you can find someone that’s 2x the price of someone else and the person that's half the price could be a harder worker. Maybe not as experienced, but could actually get more results.
So I think it's also dependent on where you are as a company, what you need for the company.
I've heard stories of friends hiring some really expensive people and them being on the golf course all day. So I think it's also very situation dependent.
Chase Clymer
Absolutely. Now, is there anything else that I didn't ask you about today that you think might resonate with our audience?
Griffin Spolansky
Yeah, that's a good question.
I mean, the biggest thing I would say just from an entrepreneurship standpoint, like I said, is obviously one, surround yourself with people that are smarter than you are. I think that that's really, really important.
And then I guess the two other things that I would say are one, it's okay to be wrong. It's okay to pivot. It's okay to be wrong. It's okay for people that work with you to tell you that you're wrong.
And I think that that's something that I learned while playing lacrosse. I was getting yelled at every day. So I was taking constructive criticism all the time.
And I think that there are a lot of people who don't like criticism. I think criticism, as long as it's delivered the right way, is really important. So I'd say that's one thing.
And the second thing is like, for anyone starting a business, obviously, it's going to beat you down. There's one great day and there's one horrible day. And I think that just being able to power through those horrible days can really get you where you need to get to.
And look, we still have, hopefully, a lot of room to run here. But I think, at least for me getting to this point, it's been like… I have to be able to take the punches with all the good things as well.
So that would be what I would say to that question.
Chase Clymer
Some sage words from Griffin.
If I'm listening to this podcast, and obviously the bars sound delicious and I want to try them, what should I do? Where should I go?
Griffin Spolansky
I would say Whole Foods, Fresh Market, H-E-B, Amazon, our website eatmezcla.com are all pretty good options.
And please give us some feedback. We'd love to hear what you guys think. We're trying to do better and be better.
Chase Clymer
Awesome, Griffin. Thank you so much for coming on the show today.
Griffin Spolansky
Thanks a lot, Chase. Appreciate it, man.
Chase Clymer
We can't thank our guests enough for coming on the show and sharing their knowledge and journey with us. We've got a lot to think about and potentially add into our own business. You can find all the links in the show notes.
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Until next time!