Podcast Summary
Rediscovering ancient grains and building a successful business: Persevering through challenges and finding unique products or solutions, along with a strong company culture, can lead to a successful business.
Building a successful business often involves finding a unique product or solution, and having a strong company culture. This was evident in the story of Carla Bartolucci, who rediscovered an ancient grain and turned it into a powerhouse organic food brand, Jovia. Despite facing personal and business challenges, Carla and her husband persevered and grew Jovial into a national multi-million dollar brand. Meanwhile, companies like Amica and Insparity emphasize the importance of creating a human connection in their industries, whether it's through personalized insurance policies or building a strong company culture. For business travelers, having a little leisure time and using the right rewards card can help keep them recharged and productive on the road. And for those looking to grow their business, creating a strong company culture that aligns with business goals is crucial. Overall, the stories shared highlight the importance of resilience, innovation, and human connection in building and growing a successful business.
Growing up with food and family traditions: Appreciation for food and bringing people together instilled by parents' cooking, competitive spirit and determination to succeed driven by personal experiences, and cherishing valuable relationships inspired by sudden loss.
Food and family traditions played a significant role in the speaker's upbringing and influenced their career in the specialty food industry. The speaker's parents, both excellent cooks, instilled in them a deep appreciation for food and its ability to bring people together. The speaker's father, a bricklayer, tried to provide for his family but couldn't own his own business due to financial constraints. The speaker's experiences growing up, including their father's cancer diagnosis, fueled their competitive spirit and determination to succeed. The sudden passing of Carla Barlucci, a respected figure in the specialty food industry, serves as a reminder of the importance of cherishing the people and experiences that shape our lives.
A transformative trip to Italy during her father's illness: A profound experience in Italy during her father's illness led the speaker to major in Italian and ultimately shape her future, inspiring a deep connection and eventual move to Italy.
A transformative experience in Italy during her father's illness inspired the speaker to deeply connect with Italian culture and eventually spend her junior year abroad in Italy, where she met her future husband and business partner. This trip had a profound impact on her life, leading her to pursue Italian studies and ultimately shaping her future. The speaker was drawn to the authenticity and self-sufficiency of Italy, contrasting her experience in the United States where things were becoming industrialized. The night under the clear sky filled with shooting stars left a lasting impression and ignited her desire to live in Italy someday. Her father's passing and the subsequent decision to major in Italian led her to this life-changing experience.
Starting a business despite challenges: Determination and perseverance can help individuals overcome financial hardships and achieve their goals. Starting a business requires motivation, risk-taking, and adaptability, as well as community support and resourcefulness.
Determination and perseverance can help individuals overcome financial hardships and achieve their goals. This was evident in the story of a woman who, after facing challenges in her first job as a translator in Italy, decided to start a business with her husband in the United States. Despite setbacks, such as difficulty obtaining permits and facing skepticism from family and friends, they persisted and eventually opened a successful fresh pasta shop in Connecticut. The woman's motivation to provide for her family and create a better life for herself drove her to take risks and adapt to new situations, ultimately leading to the success of their business. The story also highlights the importance of community support and resourcefulness in starting a business, as the couple relied on local resources and the help of friends and family to get started.
Opening a business and facing challenges: Running a business demands dedication, but unexpected challenges require resilience and adaptability.
Starting a business, even a small one, requires a significant amount of hard work and dedication. The woman in this story, along with her husband, opened the first store in their town to offer cappuccinos and homemade Italian dishes. They worked tirelessly, with help from her mother, to provide a unique experience for their customers. However, after a year, they decided to sell the business and move back to Italy, where her husband had always wanted to own a farm. Tragically, around that time, both her brother-in-law and mother fell ill, requiring their financial and emotional support. Despite these challenges, they managed to care for their loved ones and eventually returned to Connecticut to start anew. The experience of running a business and the unexpected hardships they faced taught them the importance of resilience and adaptability.
Determined Couple Starts Pasta Import Business: Starting a business with no resources requires creativity, confidence, and family support. Even a risky lie can lead to success.
Determination and a desire to provide natural, organic food options led a young couple to start a pasta import business despite having no money or resources. They lied about being a food distributor to secure a large order from a European company, and used their brother's savings and a mortgage on their parents' house to finance the venture. This risky move paid off, as they became successful importers and friends with the European company. The experience highlights the power of confidence, creativity, and family support in starting a business.
Navigating the Challenges of Starting a Business: Starting a business requires resilience, adaptability, and perseverance. Despite initial struggles, persistence and finding the right market can lead to success.
Starting a business involves many unknowns and challenges, even with a solid plan and determination. The speaker, who started an importing business selling organic pastas and sauces in the US, shares her experience of learning the ropes, from not knowing what a bill of lading is to figuring out how to sell the products. With limited resources and no marketing budget, they managed to sell about $500,000 in the first year but still ended up with a negative net income due to expenses. Despite the initial struggles, they persisted and eventually found success by working with food co-ops and winning awards at trade shows. This story underscores the importance of resilience, adaptability, and perseverance in entrepreneurship.
Turning a small business into a success story: Perseverance, teamwork, and quality can lead a small business to retail store shelves and increased productivity.
Determination, teamwork, and the right opportunities can help turn a small business into a successful one. Carla and Rodolfo of Bio-Nature faced the challenge of getting their organic pastas and jams into retail stores while avoiding financial loss. Their perseverance paid off when a major organic food distributor expressed interest in carrying their products. This led to a food broker representing them, and eventually, their products gaining visibility on store shelves. The importance of quality, such as using bronze dies for pasta production, also contributed to their success. Atlassian, a software company, similarly emphasizes the power of collaboration and innovation, using AI to help teams make informed decisions and increase productivity. By trusting in their team and technology, companies can achieve what seems impossible alone.
Struggling with chargebacks and expanding through partnerships: Effective marketing and customer service were essential, but partnerships played a key role in the organic pasta brand's growth into the top seller in the US market.
Effective marketing and controlling costs were crucial for the success of the organic pasta brand. The speaker shared how they struggled with chargebacks, where they had to pay the supermarkets the discounted price, making it hard to make a profit. They also mentioned the importance of customer service and connecting with customers, which helped differentiate their brand. However, the game-changer was attending the Natural Products Expo West trade show and securing a partnership with Spectrum Organics. This partnership allowed the brand to expand its reach and grow into the number one organic selling pasta in the United States. It's important to note that this success didn't come overnight and required persistence, creativity, and a willingness to adapt.
Making tough decisions for long-term business success: Even in times of financial uncertainty, staying focused on long-term goals and making strategic decisions can lead to business growth and profitability.
Even when a business achieves significant success, such as becoming the top organic pasta brand in the US, there can still be challenges and risks that require tough decisions. In the case of the speaker, she faced the possibility of losing her business when the Italian owners of the brand she represented were struggling financially and considering licensing the brand to competitors. Despite the stress and uncertainty, the speaker made strategic moves to secure the brand's future by negotiating a licensing agreement and eventually taking production back in-house, leading to increased profits. Through it all, she remained focused on the long-term success of the business, even as she faced personal challenges and financial uncertainties.
Starting a business without a contract can lead to legal disputes: Protect your interests and secure ownership rights from the start to avoid costly legal battles and build something new based on your creativity and expertise.
Entering into business relationships without a clear contract can lead to significant stress, financial burden, and potential loss of ownership. The speaker's experience with Bio Nature, a company she had promoted for over a decade without a contract, resulted in a lengthy and expensive lawsuit. Despite the friendship and trust between parties, it's crucial to protect your interests and secure ownership rights from the beginning. The speaker's experience taught her the importance of taking control of her business and starting anew with Jovial Foods. She emphasizes that building something from scratch, rooted in your own creativity and expertise, can be a powerful way to mitigate risks and ensure success.
A mother's love and determination leads to a groundbreaking discovery: Through persistent research and refusal to accept negative test results, a mother discovered her daughter's gluten sensitivity and founded a company producing ancient grains for the masses.
When faced with her daughter's health issues, a mother went above and beyond to find answers and solutions. Despite multiple negative tests for celiac disease, she persisted in her research and discovered that her daughter had gluten sensitivity. Determined to find an alternative, she delved into the history of wheat and, as a food manufacturer, encouraged her husband to find the oldest wheat in existence – Einkorn. This led to the creation of Jovial, a company dedicated to bringing this ancient grain out of obscurity and into mainstream markets. Through hard work and persistence, she transformed her family's struggle into a successful business, proving that a parent's love and determination can lead to groundbreaking discoveries.
Discovering Opportunities in Unlikely Places: Canva and Einkorn: Innovation and perseverance can lead to success in unexpected areas, whether it's designing visual content with Canva or bringing back an ancient grain like Einkorn.
Canva is a versatile design tool used by many businesses, big and small, to create compelling visual content for various presentations. Canva's user-friendly platform has been adopted by 90% of Fortune 500 companies, making it an essential tool for designing sales decks, marketing presentations, and team meetings. Meanwhile, the ancient grain Einkorn, which was once thought to be extinct, has been resurrected and can now be found in some parts of Europe. Carla and Rodolfo discovered this grain and saw its potential for the US market, despite its challenges in baking and milling. They experimented with it and eventually found a way to make it work, leading to the creation of their pasta brand. Both Canva and Einkorn demonstrate the power of innovation and perseverance in different industries.
A mother's discovery of einkorn leads to a new gluten-free pasta brand: Through perseverance, innovation, and fortunate connections, a mother transformed ancient einkorn wheat into a successful gluten-free pasta brand
The discovery of einkorn, a type of ancient wheat with a lower gluten content, led to the creation of a new brand, Jovial, focused on einkorn and gluten-free pastas. The founder, a mother named Camilla, had success using einkorn to alleviate her daughter's wheat-related symptoms. She obtained the seeds from a fortunate encounter with a wheat farmer and faced challenges with the low yield and seed saving. Despite advice to focus solely on einkorn, Jovial also offered rice pastas as part of its initial product line. This story illustrates the importance of perseverance, innovation, and serendipitous connections in bringing a unique food product to market.
Building a community around gluten-free food: Innovative approaches like community building can help small gluten-free food businesses gain traction and succeed despite challenges in distribution and brand recognition.
Creating high-quality, gluten-free food products requires dedication and innovative approaches to reach consumers. The founder of Jovial Foods shared her experience of producing gluten-free pasta using traditional methods and high-quality ingredients, starting in the 1970s. Despite having a distribution network, it took time for the iron corn pasta to gain traction in stores due to consumer loyalty and lack of brand recognition. To address this, the company started offering cooking retreats in Tuscany to share the story behind their products and build a community around them. This grassroots approach helped spread the word and eventually led to increased sales and success for Jovial Foods.
Connecting with consumers through food retreats: Investing time and resources into building personal connections with consumers can lead to valuable insights and a loyal customer base, even if it's not the most financially efficient marketing strategy.
For Jovial Foods' founder, Carla, the food retreats she started as a way to connect with consumers and promote her iron corn product may not have been the most efficient marketing strategy from a financial perspective, but it proved invaluable in building a loyal customer base and understanding their needs. Despite the long hours and initial financial struggles, Carla's commitment to staying true to herself and her consumers paid off. The retreats allowed her to connect with consumers on a deep level and gain valuable insights into the gluten-free market. The turning point for Jovial's success came when America's Test Kitchen named their gluten-free pasta as the best in the US, which significantly boosted sales and helped establish the brand. Today, the gluten-free pasta remains Jovial's best-selling product.
From small business to successful brand: Jovial Foods' journey: Jovial Foods grew by introducing innovative products, staying true to values, and prioritizing sustainable growth.
Jovial Foods, founded by Debi Mazar and her husband, grew from a small business to a successful brand by introducing innovative and popular products, such as tomatoes, crackers, beans, and grain-free cassava pasta. Debi's passion for healthy, high-quality ingredients and her commitment to staying independently owned have been key to the brand's success. Jovial's products are currently made in Italy, but some new products will soon be made in the United States. The company has experienced significant growth, surpassing the bio-nature brand in 2019, and Debi has prioritized growth in a manageable way to avoid needing outside investment. Jovial's founders have discussed passing the company down to their children and have set up a management team to ensure its continued success. Debi's approach to business includes staying true to her values, introducing innovative products, and growing sustainably.
Jovial Foods' Success: A Unique Partnership and Overcoming Challenges: The success of Jovial Foods is due to Carla and Rodolfo's complementary skills and intuition, as well as their emphasis on European sensibilities and employee well-being. Despite challenges, they attribute their success to hard work, luck, and their inner voice.
The success of Jovial Foods can be attributed to the unique partnership between Carla and Rodolfo. Their complementary personalities and skills allowed them to navigate the challenges they faced and build a business that values European sensibilities and puts a strong emphasis on employee well-being. The struggles they experienced throughout their journey shaped their lives and made them more sensitive to helping others. While they acknowledge the role of luck and hard work in their success, they also credit their intuition and inner voice for guiding them. With Carla's passing, Rodolfo will continue leading the company, and their daughter Julia will join to help run the family business. The Cat in the Hatcast, a new podcast from Wondery, offers a fun and engaging listening experience for the whole family.
The Swan: A Reality TV Show Gone Wrong: The Swan illustrates the importance of ethical considerations in entertainment, as seen when women underwent extreme transformations for a beauty pageant, leading to negative experiences and a viewing nightmare
The early 2000s saw a surge in controversial reality TV shows, with The Swan being a prime example of a good idea gone wrong. On The Big Flop podcast by Wondery, host Misha Brown and comedian guests analyzed this show where women underwent extensive physical transformations only to compete in a beauty pageant. Isolated for weeks, berated, and operated on, the participants' experiences turned into a viewing nightmare. This episode highlights the importance of ethical considerations in entertainment and serves as a reminder of the pitfalls of pushing boundaries without regard for the well-being of those involved. Listen to The Big Flop on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts for more insights into pop culture fails.
