Weighing Our Chances
Now that we had a product I was finally proud of, the new mission was clear: find a co-packer willing to work with a completely unknown startup.
It started with dialing every co-packer in Los Angeles who might take on our “astronaut food” that had never run on a line before. Plus, our budget was tighter than my belt was getting. We couldn’t afford the inventory of MOQs over 10K.
Juliano and I spent all day, every day for nearly two weeks on the phone. Follow-ups, back-to-back calls—whatever it took. And when the LA list ran dry, we widened the search to nearly every state. We must’ve pitched at least100 co-packers.
After putting in the work, it came down to making the call that could make or break us. We ended up choosing WePackItAll, a family-owned local behemoth run by Natan Bershtel. They were going to let us watch the process unfold and even let us bring our cameras to document the whole thing.
Feeling great, we set the date to deliver ten thousand berries in bulk and figured everything was set and good to go. I should have known better because nothing we’d been through should have suggested that. When the berries hit inspection, we got the news: no-go for launch.
Why? The net weight of two servings was 0.0 oz, too light for the scales to register. Had we gone too far and found ourselves in a dead end? That’s where we’ll pick up next week!
Last week we covered how the miracle berry was making salads craveable, which opened up a whole new world I never thought existed. I couldn’t stop looking for new things to try in the neighborhood and that’s when I found Brazilian acai bowls right in my backyard. And their name was Backyard Bowls, go figure.
Usually you add fruit, nuts and honey on top since acai isn’t sugary sweet like ice cream. If you’ve been following the story, you might remember that Juliano’s restaurant, Planet Raw, also served honey on all their desserts and that was part of the reason we began experimenting with the miracle ledidi berries in the first place.
That’s when the lightbulb moment occurred for me and I knew I’d have to experience it firsthand to see for myself. Could I skip the honey and still sweeten the bowl with the berry?
30 seconds later, I was taking my first spoonful down and AGAIN my mind was blown!! I shared it with friends who separately already loved Nature's Wild Berry and Backyard Bowls. We married the two and acai bowls on the berry became our weekly habit. Like our friendships, it NEVER got old!
Next week I’ll share my next experiment with an Asian vegetable that somehow became famous as a pie filling (because bakeries also know some rules are meant to be broken).
And as always, your hidden 48 hr 20% off alphanumeric code is hiding in plain sight. Look closely at the text—did you spot a word that’s formatted oddly? Enter it exactly as shown!
– Hank