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The Unstoppable Marketer®
Trevor Crump and Mark Goldhardt bring you quick marketing and entrepreneurial tips, tricks, and trends for DTC business owners, entrepreneurs, and marketers. These are lessons they've learned through the years of being right in the thick of scaling dozens of businesses. Whether you have an established business looking to grow, just starting your business journey, or trying to become a digital marketer, this marketing podcast will not let you down.
The Unstoppable Marketer®
EP. 125 Where Nostalgia Meets the Marketing: The Birth of the Protein Popsicle w/ Mallory Stevens CEO of Tuff Pops
In this episode of The Unstoppable Marketer Podcast, Trevor and Mark chat with Mallory Stevens, co-founder of Taft and founder of Tuff Pops, about her entrepreneurial journey and new protein popsicle venture. Mallory shares insights on transitioning from a D2C shoe company to a CPG frozen treat brand, discussing the challenges of frozen distribution and her innovative marketing approach using a retro ice cream truck. The conversation explores the potential of protein-packed treats for adults and children alike, highlighting the importance of brand storytelling and taking risks in business.
Please connect with Trevor on social media. You can find him anywhere @thetrevorcrump
People look at numbers and I'm looking at my life and what's happening? By the time we sold I was just like so ready. It's obviously hard to leave the business, but people would be like, do you miss it? And I was like no like 0%, missing it. Even though it was incredible fully ready to be done. It's like getting to the end of a marathon and someone's like do you want to keep running?
Speaker 2:And you're like I think.
Speaker 3:I'm good, I think I'll stop His brother's a junior.
Speaker 2:Really I'm not. Is he your dad Like? Is it named after your dad, Nice Junior?
Speaker 3:Nice, I'm great, got all my camping stuff ready. We're going to go hunt for some geodes on Friday. Oh nice, are you going to that one place? Yeah, we are, you guys like that place With my little boys we got the picks and the axes and the, we have some dwarf songs to sing from Lord of the Rings.
Speaker 2:Oh, because you just read it to them.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Man, what a.
Speaker 3:They're excited.
Speaker 2:What an event.
Speaker 3:I got to get them some goggles, just in case you know Safety glasses.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, I'm excited for our episode today, me too. We got a fun guest. I'm actually way excited to have her on, so should we introduce her? Let's do it. I'll do it, I'll introduce. I always introduce, you do you?
Speaker 3:do a good job.
Speaker 2:I guess I'll do it again. So I want to introduce if you're watching, you've seen her, If you're listening, you don't. But anyways, I want to introduce our guest. Her name is Mallory Stevens, which they have recently-ish sold.
Speaker 1:Yeah, 2022.
Speaker 2:Yeah a couple years ago and now the founder and CEO of a brand new CPG company brand called Tough Pops.
Speaker 1:Welcome, Mallory. How are you? Thank you so much.
Speaker 3:I'm so good I have to know about the geodes, though. Where do you go? Oh, the geodes are in Dugway.
Speaker 1:Okay, is it near Delta?
Speaker 3:Yes, Well, no yes and no Kind of. If you take the back roads from. Delta up to the West Desert you know where, like the fish the Bird National Refuge, like the fish and bird National Refuge areas you do.
Speaker 1:My mom is from Delta, so this is like our Her neck of the woods. Oh yeah, so if you know how, to get to that.
Speaker 2:She's there every week for Sunday dinner, if you know how to get to that refuge.
Speaker 3:The Dugway Geode is like a little northeast from there.
Speaker 1:I grew up hearing about the Dugway Like the old people would talk about like oh, he's at the Dugway this weekend.
Speaker 3:And I'm like what is the Dugway? Proving Grounds are no. Do you know that Utah has some of the highest UFO reportings of any state.
Speaker 2:I know that because you have told me that.
Speaker 3:Okay, it's because Dugway Proving Grounds is a military base where people theorize that they use experimental aircraft. Out there I do a lot of camping and we do camping in the West Desert a lot and I have seen like remember when everyone was freaking out about the drones in New Jersey I mean I saw those things Years ago, like two years ago, yeah, in the desert, I'm not even kidding Like the exact, like very strange flight patterns in the night.
Speaker 1:It's fun.
Speaker 3:You didn't think anything of it, I was like it's obviously like some kind of military thing going on here. Yeah, that's what I would say. So it's fun, but anyways, the geodes are there.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So if your mom's from Delta, then you know about the trilobite dig.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, that was what. So we 4th of July every year is Delta, and it's I mean, this is a hot topic in Utah because there's a lot of strong feelings about where is the best place to celebrate the 4th. Oh yeah, but it's Delta.
Speaker 3:It is Delta's fun.
Speaker 1:It actually is Like crop dust or flyover library, throwing books in the parade like just wild stuff.
Speaker 2:I just never even heard of this.
Speaker 1:It's the best.
Speaker 3:Small towns are the best place to be on the 4th, but there's a rock shop where they sell geodes and trilobites.
Speaker 1:I mean we did the trilobite hunting when I was a kid and it's the best not at the Dugway at U-Dig well, no, you're getting it mixed up, trevor, it's Dugway Geode and then there's the trilobites, the trilobite digs at the U-Dig.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's Delta, a little further out towards what's the national park out there with the cave? You've been to the big cave it's crystal ball caves.
Speaker 1:Yeah yeah, it's very cool, but anyway, or in Kemmerer.
Speaker 3:Wyoming. There's also another fossil dig. Yeah, we're going there this year.
Speaker 1:So cool.
Speaker 3:And fossil dig. Yeah, we're going there this year so cool, and then we're gonna do you dig again. Jude would think it's awesome, my girls wouldn't. Oh, roma would. Maybe no roma would love it it doesn't.
Speaker 1:It doesn't matter boy.
Speaker 3:I mean look, boys do have a little like obsession with rocks, like yeah, yeah, how many kids you have, we have four yeah boys, three boys, one girl, awesome yeah. Three, and then the girl.
Speaker 1:No one. Then our daughter, another boy and then our fourth passed away, but little boy.
Speaker 3:Little boy yeah, okay, so you've got.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we get the rock obsession. Yes, for sure.
Speaker 3:The boys, yes, have a rock obsession, but girls they can get into it. I mean, they might not be into it for as long, but, dude, it's like Easter egg hunting, except you find a fossil, you just crack these things open.
Speaker 2:She'd probably be stoked once we were there. I don't think she'd be excited if we told her what we were doing.
Speaker 3:No, she would because, you will see wild horses on the way there.
Speaker 1:Fair. Maybe, I don't know she might be into horses.
Speaker 3:What little girl doesn't love horses I don't know she might be into horses. What little girl doesn't love horses? I don't know if my little girl does. They're majestic Majestical horses.
Speaker 1:I was assuming you knew something I didn't. I don't love horses Like that. She's super into horses.
Speaker 3:No, just like little girls, like you see horses and like who Horses?
Speaker 2:freak me out Really. Like oh yeah, it's weird, can you ride one I? It's weird, can you ride one? I would never ride a horse, never, I will never ride a horse. I don't even like to get near a horse, that's a hot take.
Speaker 1:What?
Speaker 2:I think they're beautiful creatures from a distance. You would never ride a horse, I would never get on a horse and it makes me sad because the cowboy life sounds awesome to me. I go herd cattle Horses are cool Every Thanksgiving in like outer Colorado City because my grandfather-in-law owns a bunch of land.
Speaker 3:This is southern.
Speaker 1:Utah desert.
Speaker 3:Very cool.
Speaker 2:And they all take horses, and I take a four-wheeler.
Speaker 1:I have done one cattle drive on horseback.
Speaker 2:That's rough, because sometimes you're out there for like eight hours. It was long, yeah, like you can be out there for a long time. It's cool, though, right.
Speaker 1:It was very cool. We were staying at a ranch and it was kind of expected.
Speaker 3:Yeah, pull your weight.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so they were just like hey, grab a, you know how to ride a horse. And I was like I mean not well, yeah, like, but you've, like rid, got to move the cows up to the upper pasture. I was like, okay, so they watched our kids.
Speaker 3:There are horses can have attitudes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, here's the thing.
Speaker 3:So like there's some work horses out there that like are a little tooty yeah.
Speaker 1:My horse was the like beloved family horse and I rode it the whole time and everything's fine. And then we get to the end and it just lays down and rolls over. I jumped off its back and rolls over.
Speaker 3:And I jumped off its back Well, luckily, but I was like Like it was just like I'm done, this is yeah.
Speaker 2:I think if there was, I think if I was up in Montana and there was a group of Yellowstone-esque cowboys that were like, hey, you gotta get on a horse, I would do it for them.
Speaker 3:You'd feel like obligated yeah.
Speaker 2:This was that moment for me.
Speaker 3:But anyways, yeah, anyways, mallory.
Speaker 2:Mallory, so okay so let's give us a little history Of the entrepreneur journey. Yeah, she's like big time entrepreneur journey. So you guys started Taft. What year did you start Taft?
Speaker 1:2014. I mean, we graduated in 2013 from college and we started working on it then.
Speaker 3:That's right Launched in 2014.
Speaker 1:2013, from college, and we started working on it. Then that's right.
Speaker 3:Launched in 2014. I was pregnant. We had no job prospects. Can I? Tell you my favorite story about the beginning of Taft. Yes, it started as socks and then something happened where, like people were getting a little creepy with the feet.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, oh my gosh Weird pictures, weird pictures. Like we were getting yeah.
Speaker 2:We posted pictures of like. I mean, we were selling no-show socks. That's what Taft started as.
Speaker 1:And we posted some pictures of the product being worn and we were like getting feet pictures just show people in shoes with like the sockless look right and that's kind of what changed everything, because eventually everyone thought we were a shoe company, yeah, and we just became one, yeah.
Speaker 2:Incredible. We had her husband Corey on, who was also a co-founder of.
Speaker 3:Tap. So if it wasn't for the creeps, probably two years ago, maybe you guys never would have made shoes.
Speaker 2:It. It might have been like the month you guys sold. We had cordy on, I think. Oh, really it was. It had to have been within 30 to 45 days. I would imagine wild um and and. But fun fact uh, we don't need to jump into the whole journey of it, but like the fun fun fact was like, uh, I bought no show socks in 2014 or 2015. I believe yeah, like I in fact, and you guys did like a big warehouse sale out in.
Speaker 2:Bluffdale yes, we did, and I remember going to it and I bought probably like $200 worth of socks?
Speaker 1:No way. That was really more like $700 worth of socks, because of the deal I got, because you guys, I think were just at that time. You guys said Moving on to shoes probably.
Speaker 2:And so I. Actually, when I interviewed Corey, I still had brand new pairs that I had never used.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, no way, that were just like in my, and now I don't anymore, because I never do no-show socks anymore.
Speaker 3:Yes, yeah, the no-show socks kind of faded.
Speaker 2:That look is a little yeah, you want longer socks now, or else you'll be made fun of. That's true, you're a millennial.
Speaker 3:So you guys sold Taft and then you've kind of been in a state of limbo maybe, like just kind of like, what are you guys going to do next?
Speaker 1:Yes, we sold Taft in 2022, which was just like super wild. Our son passed away the same summer, so it was just all super intertwined, and so I feel like people would be like, oh my gosh, you so excited, this is a big, a big deal, and we were just like we're not.
Speaker 2:This isn't the last thing on our minds, like we're just grieving totally living life, not concerned about business at all in that moment and but also probably a good time to have gotten rid of it for sure. For sure, I mean it was.
Speaker 1:It was hard, it was awesome and it was kind of thrilling like we kind of got in that perfect, you guys know sweet spot of we started on Instagram at the perfect time. Like it was just you posted anything and someone would repost it and someone else would you know. It was just easy on Instagram. You know, people would be like man tell me about startup life and we were like it was not hard.
Speaker 3:This is the easiest thing I've ever done this was awesome, right?
Speaker 1:I mean, when we were in school, we made twelve thousand dollars a year that was our salary combined. And so then taft like, but pay us fifty thousand dollars, and we were like, whoa like look out. You know, this is the best thing ever, and so we were young.
Speaker 3:It didn't have to do like three hundred thousand dollars in today's oh my gosh, $50,000 a year in 2016. Get out of here. It was.
Speaker 1:I mean, our rent was $600 a month, right Like we, just it didn't feel. It felt scrappy because we had no hires and we were every position. You know we were photographer, model, like everything, but it was. Instagram was a much easier place to be then, and so we just grew quickly, um, but as we went on, it just gets tougher and tougher like it was really hard on Corey mentally. You know he's been very outspoken about his depression.
Speaker 1:But just like tough to run a business, tough to have. We had just opened stores and then COVID hits like. We opened our New York store November 2019, which is just like just comical timing, you know so we had this whole team in Soho that we were just like just stay on, like don't go to work obviously you can't, but we'll, you know, pay you to watch, do whatever you can, and so it got tough to run it, and then, by the end, for you was it stressful because you you played more like a behind the scenes role totally so was it stressful.
Speaker 3:I mean because, court, you know, corey, your husband, who was also like kind of the more of the face of the brand, totally the face of the brand, but was? It stressful, like kind of not being able to do certain things, like you were kind of like behind the scenes but like couldn't go places I feel like, I feel like it wasn't stressful
Speaker 1:to be behind the scenes, except that I'm such a feminist that when people would be like you're a wife, I was like I'm, yes, I'm the wife, like so nice to meet you, you know. But I was kind of like you know, and cory would be like oh, she's my co-founder. We do this together like yeah, this is um, but you get kind of tired of doing that. So eventually you're just like yeah, I'm the wife, sure, nice to meet you, like you get tired of giving the spiel.
Speaker 1:I feel like the biggest stressor for me was I could just see Corey's mental health tanking and you know we have. I had this moment, which our investors were incredible, but I had this moment that was pretty pivotal for me with Taft, where Corey I was like going to hospitalize him and I'm calling around and I'm like we need to sell Taft. Like this is too much, like I'm I'm just seeing this through the lens of like watching my husband try and manage this and I'm trying to help him manage it Right and and the stress of kids and yeah, just everything.
Speaker 1:And so I called one of our investors and I was like I think we need to consider selling. This, is like probably I guess we had just raised I don't know a year before, and he's just like, well, we just raised money and it had felt like everyone was on our team but I had this moment and, to be clear, great investors, but like not the most human moment for them. You know where I was kind of calling desperate and it was like it would be a disaster to sell right now. We just raised money and I was like my husband is like I'm taking him to the hospital.
Speaker 1:So I don't care if it's a disaster, you know but it was this moment and we didn't end up selling at that moment. But it was this time for me where I realized we're kind of on our own, like if we're going to do what's best for our health, no one's going to do that for us, like we have to make this work for ourselves. And so eventually, when we sold, that was kind of in the back of my mind where it's like no one's going to tell us when it's the right time, no one's going to. Really, you know, people look at numbers and I'm looking at my life and what's happening, yeah.
Speaker 1:And so by the time we sold I was just like, so ready, I thought it was just the best thing ever. And it's obviously hard to leave the business. But people would be like, do you miss it? And I was like, no like 0% missing it Just fully. That's awesome, though. Fully ready to be done. Um, even though it was incredible profitable fully ready to be done. It's like getting to the end of a marathon and someone's like do you want to keep running? And you're like, uh, I think I'm good. I think.
Speaker 2:I think I'll stop.
Speaker 3:That's a really good analogy. Do you want to run another?
Speaker 1:marathon. But was it that? Thrilling Like you want to start one now?
Speaker 2:No, that was awesome, but I don't want to, but I, but we crossed the finish line and I'm so happy we did yeah.
Speaker 1:And so it was. I guess it's been two years. So we sold in like August of 2022. And then April of 2023, I was sitting in our mudroom and I, just out of nowhere, was like I wonder if anyone's doing protein popsicles, like texted. Corey was like hey, I have a really good idea. I don't dare look it up because someone's probably doing it, sure, and and. So he's like man, this is a really good idea. I don't dare look it up because someone's probably doing it, or, and and, so he's like man, this is a really good idea.
Speaker 1:And we start googling it and it's just like it's just mom bloggers giving their own recipes of what they do for their kids, but there's nothing, and so I just get super fired up about this because to me, nutrition matters a lot more to me than shoes. Right, like this is a lot more in my wheelhouse, totally, and so we just kind of like switched to tough pops. Um, cory had another job at this point.
Speaker 1:I'm doing interior design, but I'm like I can leave, that I can do this and um, we just get cranking like find some great food scientists because we I mean, we tried, sure, we tried like it was like because you guys are both, very, uh, handy in the kitchen.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it sounds like yeah. So we're like how hard can it be right, like take some greek yogurt, mix in some stuff like it was not, it was bad like inedible chalky.
Speaker 1:Horrible. We're like this. Is there's a reason? Food scientists?
Speaker 2:do what they do.
Speaker 1:So found an incredible team of food scientists, and then they get cranking on Tough Pops. Wild and then now, I mean that was two years ago, and just now is when we're like ready to roll?
Speaker 2:Tell us where you are at in the journey.
Speaker 1:Okay so samples took a long time journey. Okay so samples took a long time. Like the first ones were inedible to the point that we were like is this, like is?
Speaker 3:this a bad idea? Like is it even possible to like? Is?
Speaker 1:it even. Yeah, exactly, and, and and it was. I mean I got a grant like. I got a grant from like I say it's big dairy. I got a grant from big dairy because they want people to make stuff with milk sure and so I get a grant to cover the food science like 50% of this right. So we're like, even if this isn't going, to work.
Speaker 3:Let's just see it through. It's not, we're not in it too deep. Thanks, big.
Speaker 1:Dairy. Thanks, Big Dairy.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it was wild I'm a Big Dairy fan, I'm all about.
Speaker 1:Big Dairy, but then we get to the point where by the time we finished the recipes, they send them to our house. They're sending them in pints and we get on a Zoom call and I start crying because I'm just like. These are so good.
Speaker 1:They don't taste like they have any protein in them, it just tastes like really good ice cream which is what I had requested, and then kind of just begins the hard work of, like, you feel like you've crossed this huge finish line, but then there's patents. Well no, then there's patents well no, there's no patents. It's just, it's so hard to produce. I'm okay. I have to get one thing clear popsicles is trademarked by unilever. I'm saying popsicles because people know what. What a?
Speaker 2:popsicle is protein pops. I don't know, don't yeah?
Speaker 1:like sorry to unilever, you know, but it's but it's um, but it's just really yeah it's just it's hard to make. It's hard to make this product right, like that's the realization we've come to. Nobody has line time before the food scientists would even work with us at all. They're like, look, do you have someone who can make these? Because there's a chance. Just no one will. And so I actually have a call with the creamies guy and he's in Utah yeah, they're in Utah.
Speaker 1:I'm like, will you make them for us? And he's like, no, we don't make for anybody, but there's this one place that might, oh amazing, we get hooked up with them. They're willing to make them, you know. But it's just, cpg is so hard and like we knew that and everybody warns you. But you're kind of like, yeah, but we can do this and we can. But holy smokes, yeah, not d2c at all, which is what what we loved about it. Right, like it's, it's different. But frozen everyone was like frozen's hard, cpg's hard, groceries hard yeah, and I think we, our approach to it, has been to plan to be the exception like it was frozen hard, just because I mean, when you're talking about logistics.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 3:Is it hard because to get onto a frozen truck? Oftentimes those shipping lanes are already owned by just creamies. Yeah, I mean, it's a combination of everything, one of the big ones you can't just throw it all in like a pallet and like bring it over from china, right yeah?
Speaker 1:and when you think of a whole grocery store, I mean for one you can't ship right. So we have these different calls and people are like you know you can restock yourself and we're like you know we're gonna ship it. So you're trucking everything right, so like where you could ship other things we can't ship to anything. But also you think of a grocery store and you've got that one section that's available for frozen as a whole, but also, like you whittle that down to the ice cream section and then to the popsicle section, and you're looking at like two doors that someone needs to say your product deserves to be in these two doors.
Speaker 2:And also you don't get front-facing space in grocery stores.
Speaker 1:No, you get tipped on the side, just like just ingredients is right now they can put that protein powder at the front of a Harman's or any store. You can merchandise it right. You can make it look beautiful. No this is like someone's going to put you on a shelf.
Speaker 3:Although I haven't noticed with Harman's lately, they do have like the those, like rolling freezers.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 3:Like right now they have Mochi is what it's called.
Speaker 1:So in that situation you're buying your own, like Mochi is buying a freezer saying Harman's. Can we put it at the front of the store? Which is another like a route you can take, but then I've just got to go buy a ton of freezers, and so you're investing in that and saying, okay, I'm hoping that, so actually they're the ones who buy those, they're the ones who buy it, and then they just are allowed to put them in.
Speaker 1:certain they're allowed to put it at the front. They're like, hey, this is a good point of sale product. So you're going retail, only not direct-to-consumer no, and that's what's scary For product that we could take direct consumer still thinking about that, but like having your legs cut out from under you in terms of like this is what we know, this is what we've done yeah we know how to market this, we know how to advertise this if we're shipping it.
Speaker 2:But if we're not shipping it and you, we can't even get it to you all of a sudden, this is like a completely different ball game this episode of the unstoppable marketer is brought to you by bff. Let's be real hiring designers and video editors can get super expensive, and that's why I'm excited about what BFF Creative has done. They've built a subscription design service that gives you the feel of an in-house creative team, but at a fraction of the cost, which I'm sure we all could use right now From ad creatives to social media posts, video edits to full website designs. Bff gives you unlimited designs and unlimited requests, starting at just $1,000 a month. The best part about this their custom app makes it super easy to submit projects, give feedback, review, work and store all of your creative in one place. As a listener of the podcast, you get 25% off your first two months with code UNSTOPPABLE25. That means unlimited creative for as little as 750 dollars a month.
Speaker 3:go check them out right now at bffcreativeco so have you talked with people like at true fru, or yeah, yeah, and we've had conversations with anybody who will talk to us, and that's one of the great things about being a second time founder is people will like totally take your call a little bit more readily and so so before it was like we promise, we got a lot of grit, you know like please talk to us.
Speaker 1:But but now it's like, okay, people will give us a bit more of their time. And so we've talked to a ton of people. Everyone has great advice, but ultimately you just have to like start and just hope you catch your lucky breaks and that your unit economics work out, because you're kind of shooting in the dark a little bit in the beginning.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Which we did with Taft. We priced our shoes before we knew our cost.
Speaker 2:Sure.
Speaker 1:Like we just launched them on pre-order and we were like they haven't gotten back to us. On cost, like should we just set them at $189? And it's like fur, I guess. Like that sounds good, yeah, which was too low. Um, so you correct, but it's just yeah.
Speaker 1:And and protein, especially protein, is so expensive, like the powder itself that we use is just incredibly expensive yeah, it's a whey protein isolate and it's grass-fed, yeah, and and there's not a lot of wiggle room on it, right, like so, on all of our other ingredients, as we scale you get price breaks. I think at max scale we get a dollar off per pound which is. We'll take it For sure. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Not a lot. Well, there's no reason for them to give any because, there's so much demand for whey, isolate Absolutely. It's not even a question of quantity. And are you getting it here in?
Speaker 2:Utah.
Speaker 1:No, we're ordering everything in. But even that, like we're like, can we order? You know, like, do you have stock? And they're like yeah, we'll check, we'll let you know. You know like, we're just at everyone's mercy.
Speaker 3:Well, if I may, I never would have tried a mochi.
Speaker 1:Yeah, If I had not seen it Front of store In the front, like as I'm checking out. That's one of my favorite things to do at Harmon's on the way out. I'm like this is my perfect little.
Speaker 3:I'm not telling you to go buy a bunch of freezers and put them in Harmon's, but I'm not opposed to it. I never would have tried a mochi if it wasn't right there near the checkout.
Speaker 2:Ready.
Speaker 3:I'm a big ice cream. I like ice cream Mochi's awesome, isn't it? It's fine.
Speaker 1:He never would have tried it, though I think it's great I wasn't wearing that for reason.
Speaker 3:I'm not like I don't know, I don't love like the rubbery texture of the rice thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's the best part. That's what I like about it.
Speaker 3:Like I don't love that on ice cream, On a mochi guy Well like ice cream's. Okay, it's not phenomenal.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's a little. It's more of a frozen treat than ice cream.
Speaker 3:Seems like more of a frozen treat than a category of ice cream. I think they call themselves like an ice cream sandwich.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that sounds about right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I mean it's ice cream, yeah, with a weird layer. I like it, it's fine.
Speaker 1:All right, moving on. It.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I take a creamy over that any day though.
Speaker 1:Creamies are tough.
Speaker 2:I love a good banana creamy.
Speaker 3:But you said you're into nutrition. Yeah, I think. Perhaps, if I may throw a stereotype out there, a lot of mothers become into nutrition.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 3:As they start feeding their kids. Yeah, and dads are usually kind of dragged along.
Speaker 1:It's like I'm eating healthier now, I guess. Okay, I guess we have no more gluten in our house. We don't buy cereal anymore, or what's happening? Yeah, literally that's how I am.
Speaker 3:I'm like I guess we have no sugar, Like where?
Speaker 1:Where are the treats?
Speaker 3:Where is sugar? I need sugar now, but did that happen? Have you always been interested in nutrition? Was it like? Kind of like hey, I'm feeding my kids and now I'm interested in my own nutrition and it kind of evolved.
Speaker 1:I think it for sure happens with motherhood, Also with mental health, like just trying to like anything that's in your control. You have to seize it because so much is out of your control. No-transcript cook it yourself.
Speaker 3:I've seen the clip of this.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that's kind of the approach we take, right, like we have. We have cookies and brownies and bread and but we just, and so that's an important piece of our lives. And I think for me, for Tough Pops, the opportunity that I saw is that protein feels like a bro space and Tough Pops is not a bro brand. I trust that, like gym bros will find it right Because it has protein in it. So they will find it because that's what they're looking for. But protein does so much more than build muscle. It's so important to your body. It's like oxygen transport. It's so important to your body. It's like oxygen transport, it's hormone regulation, it's gene expression, right, like it's these big things.
Speaker 3:Well, also it's becoming bigger in female nutrition. For sure it's huge in female nutrition for the last five years, right Because of what you just said with hormones.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's like this matters, right?
Speaker 2:There's so many ties to eating more protein and getting your hormones regulated.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. And now creatine too, right yeah, totally Like I take creatine.
Speaker 2:Creatine pops is next.
Speaker 1:Yeah, creatine pops Throw it in there, but I do feel like.
Speaker 3:I don't know how you could ever make a cheesecake. It's just impossible.
Speaker 2:Creatine would be rough. I feel like I'm just taking dust.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but I feel like that was the space that I saw where it felt like the brands that were focusing on women, I don't know, weren't very exciting to me. It's like, yeah, these are here, I know I can buy them, they're great, they're geared towards me, but it felt very like bland.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:And then on the other side I mean, like I go to the store and you see Bucked Up and I know it's not for me and no hate to Bucked Up, but I'm not their customer, you know they're not even trying to get me and they wouldn't take offense to that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they're like yeah, we know You're not, you really aren't.
Speaker 1:And so, for me, I'm kind of obsessed with this, like the people who work out but not in a gym, and the people who care about their nutrition, but maybe, like you're not counting every macro. Maybe you are, but you just want in general to be better. You know and you know you don't want these certain ingredients, but you're not obsessing over like the fact that, like these have sugar. You know, like they're a treat.
Speaker 1:It's ice cream, um, and so for me, I felt like there was this space that has kind of been tapped into, but not in a very fun, energetic, exciting way.
Speaker 2:I mean I know that's my wife. Oh, my wife will.
Speaker 3:Would will eat this up because she does all of her exercising at home. Yeah, and she does it every morning like she gets up 6 30, she works out.
Speaker 1:You're on it.
Speaker 3:She has celiac, yeah, so like there's certain food restrictions obviously with that and then, but she's not like a macro person.
Speaker 1:Yeah, she's not counting and there's this whole tier of people that care about their health without being extreme, about it yeah, and I think that tier is kind of overlooked right like where they're looking at certain things and they're like that I don't know what that supplement does, like I don't, and I don't even have time to research it because I've got to be with a million things.
Speaker 3:I have so many things to do but the thing I want to point out, though she's not a macro person, but I guess she is, because she does count protein yeah, yeah, she wants like proteins like the one thing she's like I have to get I have to get enough x amount of protein in a day or else I feel miserable yeah, and I also and she also is like always craving like I just want like a little more sweet at some point.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, it's the perfect for me, yeah.
Speaker 2:You're in a real. I love the spot right now, Like I've been thinking about protein CPG companies outside of protein powders.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Because it's having such a moment with you know, I'm seeing protein cereals.
Speaker 1:Pretzels popcorn.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Protein popcorn.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I got an ad for protein popcorn the other day. Popcorn, yeah, protein popcorn. I got an ad for protein popcorn the other day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and then I saw your LinkedIn thing like protein pops. I'm like, okay, let's talk to this gal. And so one. I think you're having a moment because I think you're seeing a lot of women who actually are starting to care a little bit more, like where you say you used to have the extremists, the CrossFitters, who are the macro counters yes. And now you're starting to have more women say, hey, I actually want to do that, maybe not to the extreme.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But I think every woman not everyone, but a lot of women are paying a little bit more attention to that 100%. My wife is there 100%. I bet she counts her macros at like 80%. Yeah, she's not letting a cookie on a Sunday distract her yes you know from accomplishing her macro goal yes. But she's also paying very, very close attention to it and because of just the recent studies that have come out on how important things like creatine and things like protein are for women's health.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:In general. So protein has a moment, and then you also have this branding moment of right now in the popsicle-esque space, the ice cream-esque space. It's very colorful, it's very kid, it's cows.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I wanted nostalgic Bright colors.
Speaker 2:But you have the. You know like I'm not a huge fan of this gal, but it was really smart. I don't know why I keep saying gal Like.
Speaker 3:I'm 80 years old, these gals? Yes, you are.
Speaker 2:But there's the girl the Call Her Daddy. Girl just came out with the Unwell brand.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, and so you have this brand, this really like cool, different aesthetic that can stand out in those two doors that you have Absolutely For your branding. That I've kind of seen and so I think the moment's really cool. My question for you you just came from six years of, or was it?
Speaker 1:eight years of D2C, I mean it was like almost 10 years by the time, I mean because Corey stayed on for two more years. That's right, that's right. So, a decade of D2C now.
Speaker 2:I know you did retail.
Speaker 1:I know you had some stores, but my guess is 70% of your revenue probably came from online sales or more. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you're moving to the exact opposite. What are your thoughts on how you are going to get distribution and get awareness around this? What are you guys thinking?
Speaker 1:So one of the things that's been so important to me is that I feel like when you're a second time founder, there's this feeling that you can skip steps right, like we know how to do this, we'll just skip ahead. We have connections, which is tempting because you're like we can just take some shortcuts, and the thing I've realized is that the most irreplaceable piece is having that brand story built out early. Like you can't, I think. I think people skip it the second time around, like they're just kind of like let's just get going.
Speaker 1:And to me, what made Taft special was people were really on board with it, like people were emotionally invested in the story of it, beyond just shoes. You know, we always said it was like we were a mental health company that sold shoes Like we weren't. Shoes wasn't what we cared about. Yeah, and I feel like Tough Pops has a lot of heart and I just want to build in a very fun way, right, because I think Taft was more serious, because it is mental health, sure, and I do think trends have shifted to where maybe people don't want serious from brands anymore, like they want a little bit of levity.
Speaker 3:I think that started in 2020.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, totally, just give me some, give me a little fun, right?
Speaker 3:I'm calling the 2020s is the 1980s again.
Speaker 1:Like people want fun, like pull me out, like just give me something exciting Like the Game of Thrones era, like everything was just so dark and serious, like the Walking Dead, yes. Everything was just Give me Ted Lasso. Yeah, give me joy Like Ted. Lasso comes out and like people are like oh, that's the biggest show on TV now, absolutely Totally.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that's what for me. Tough Pops has this opportunity to be joyful. Right, like it's fun. Food should be fun. That's like I believe in the power of food, but I also believe people can get too serious about it. Right, like this should be the best part of your day, like this should be what you're looking forward to. This should be community. This should be joyful, but I do think the over like, not the overemphasis, but I think the big health shift has made food really serious and I think we need to get back to where food feels fun. And so, for me, what's exciting is, at this beginning, as we have no D to C, like we can't ship anything, I'm calling it the summer of 24,000 pops. 24,000 pops is our minimum for our first run. Nice, we bought an ice cream truck and we're just going to sling pops locally and, just like, build this community as much as we can, because I think, no matter what you do, you need your local community to be on board with your brand.
Speaker 1:Like don't underestimate the power of just Utah before you go anywhere else, and so I want to just like win at home first, and so that's step one.
Speaker 3:We've talked about this with Utah, so we haven't coined a real term yet. I called it the pioneer beltway. Okay, right, it's a good and bad thing. It's good because, if you catch on, the Mormon movement the Mormon and Mormon adjacent communities because they're all intertwined, right yeah? It starts in the Relief Society room and then it just spreads. But you will kill it in this corridor of Utah, idaho and Arizona and then the Orange County areas of California.
Speaker 2:San.
Speaker 3:Clemente.
Speaker 1:San Clemente yeah.
Speaker 3:But then it's like you kind of have a misunderstanding of what your actual cost is for acquiring customers, absolutely, because, like you're not accounting for this like organic movement yeah. But for retail that's wonderful.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Totally Right, because if you're in a store like your cost per acquisition is just very different, like you're not going to be tracking it.
Speaker 1:The way you would for D2C.
Speaker 3:Yes, Like your cost per acquisition is just very different, like you're not going to be tracking it the way you would for D2C. So if you can just get that momentum building and then really narrow down what your story is, you're not really thinking of it in this like confined, like what's my ROAS today?
Speaker 1:Absolutely, which is exciting, right, because we that's where we came from is like just watching the metrics and every day and you're trying to adjust and do this and that we came from is like just watching the metrics and every day and you're trying to adjust and do this and that. And for me, I think now I'm looking at it more holistically of just I want to build this great brand story that can kind of carry over outside of Utah, but it can start here, sure, but that there's some feeling behind the brand, right, because my favorite food brands I don't follow on Instagram, yeah, but the heart is still there. I still grasp it.
Speaker 3:What are some of your favorite brands?
Speaker 1:Olipop, I mean sorry to Poppy.
Speaker 2:We're Olipop fans too. Those were four for $6. Those were four for $6. And I have nothing against Poppy.
Speaker 1:I just love Olipop. The crisp apple is just top. I mean I don't really drink soda at all unless it's Olipop, like the crisp apple is just top. I mean I don't really drink soda at all, yeah, unless it's Olipop. Chris.
Speaker 2:Apple is your favorite, chris Apple Number two is what.
Speaker 1:Strawberry vanilla, really, yeah, that's it surprises even me. That's one of a kind we had a we had, we had a family Olipop taste test. Yeah, we bought all of them. So like I know this, like we did this.
Speaker 3:What's your kids' favorite?
Speaker 1:Tropical Punch was the winner.
Speaker 3:What Not?
Speaker 1:cream soda. Blind taste test right.
Speaker 2:Grape and tropical soda for my kids too. So good, Not cream soda and root beer?
Speaker 1:No, because the root beer is earthier than a normal root beer Root beer is so good. I think it tastes like a root beer though I think it does A&W. Yeah, the kids like the fruitier stuff in my yes, yeah, same thing with our kids. I guess my kids have never had they like the orange yeah.
Speaker 2:They like the orange a lot.
Speaker 1:They do like the strawberry vanilla a lot and I probably have kid taste buds, because that's.
Speaker 3:I guess my kids have never had an A&W.
Speaker 1:I say that as if my kids like drink a lot of root beer.
Speaker 3:But no.
Speaker 1:Yeah, then they're like this isn't root beer?
Speaker 3:We've never not. They've had homemade root beer and stuff.
Speaker 1:Which is the best? It is the best.
Speaker 3:That is the best root beer. I love Olipop. Olipop's my favorite. Olipop is so good.
Speaker 1:I love Soli. Have you guys had Soli Like the Soli gummies, or the Soli like? It's just the little like jerky strips of pineapple? Oh, Sully yes.
Speaker 2:The mango guava gummies.
Speaker 1:I have five boxes in my drawer at any given time. Oh yeah, same here. Because when I first was getting into this, we're asking about hurdle rates. Right, like what? Do we need to move in a store for it to be considered like we're doing?
Speaker 2:a great job.
Speaker 1:And all of a sudden I'm like I think I'm hitting people's hurdle rates for them, like on my own every week from multiple stores.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Solely being one of them. Like we for sure hit their Harmon's hurdle rate every time we shop there. Like I'm, like you, it made me feel so proud Like I was, like you are welcome.
Speaker 2:Do you want to know what's funny? We're solely all about just ingredients. Yeah, yeah, we just I don't know what those hurdle rates are exactly low but I have.
Speaker 1:I'm like a big drink, weird drink guy like I always have like a new weird drink he does.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm a. I single-handedly create sales no on products. Because, like I'll, I'll buy something a lot consciously for like two weeks, then I'll stop and then in like within a week it'll be like two, four, whatever yeah, and then I'll go back and get it on.
Speaker 1:You're gaming the system, yeah, so I, I do it's something like with the drinks.
Speaker 2:It's something like 60 or something like that yeah, all the pops right now aren't on sale have you noticed that, like you can't get them on sale right now and that's why I've moved over to poppies, because I'm like I can't spend 250 when they're usually a buck 60.
Speaker 1:No, we're friends with the distributor and for a while he would send us cases of them and I was like this is they awesome. They were sponsoring me for a little bit, and so they were sending me cases and cases and then they got them in the background of tough. Then this is if you're listening.
Speaker 2:I'm mad because they used to send me, like you know, crate, not cr, but I used to get 12 packs boxes all the time. And, and you'd always have one. And then they got a new social media director and now they don't think I'm as important as everyone else's, and so now I don't get them.
Speaker 3:So now we're drinking poppies, but really quick talking about the story of tough pops.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 3:This is. I want to transition this or segue the olipop conversation because I I think olipops I think, poppy's dr pepper is the best quote yeah, soda for sure, but I think olipops, root beer and cream soda are the best root beer and cream soda options. But I don't really buy olipop for me. I buy them for my kids really because I don't have to worry about a sugar crash yeah, for sure so like when we go camping, I get ollie pops for my kids because they get to have this like sugar experience.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yes, you know, without me being like okay, it's eight o'clock and what have we done? Yeah, I'm gonna be like just regretting this in two hours when they're still like freaking out on sugar. So is there any angle, with tough pops, of thinking about hey, I know moms are thinking about this but, like, sometimes it's really nice to give your kid a treat that you don't have to worry about.
Speaker 1:The sugar spike With protein and a popsicle it's going to balance those insulin spikes right Absolutely, and that's what I was going to say is the biggest thing is just like we have sugar but we have that protein to balance it in a vacuum. The best use case is breakfast. Like as a mom, I'm grabbing one of those on the way out the door and I'm like, okay, this is 180 calories, this is 12 grams of protein.
Speaker 3:Like the, the macros aren't too different like the tough pop yeah, the tough pop totally like it's got 12 grams of protein.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so the macros aren't too different from like when I was, when we were developing the recipes, and they're telling us the nutrition labels like this one has this much sugar, this one has this much that you know I'm trying to figure out anything to reference it against because there's not other protein pops right. And so I'm going and I'm looking at like this cliff bar, that's an energy bar, and it's got like 12 grams of protein and 380 calories and I'm like okay, I mean we're beating that right. Like 380 calories, we're at 180. You know the perfect bars, same thing, really high calorie counts, slightly more protein, but like very calorie rich and at the end of the day doesn't feel like dessert, which is like what I love about it. And so then I'm looking at it compared to like my greek yogurt or just my normal yogurt, and I'm like not too far off, so like a very justifiable breakfast that is a really cool thought.
Speaker 2:We use, use because we use. We're huge ninja creamy people.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah.
Speaker 3:You know it's a weird thought though, because I've never considered popsicles in the morning.
Speaker 2:But our kids eat ice cream for breakfast all the time, but donuts Because of it.
Speaker 1:Donuts are way worse.
Speaker 3:I know that's what I'm saying. You're going to tank.
Speaker 1:It's so fast, give it at least some fat, some protein to balance it out.
Speaker 2:What we'll do is we will make a strawberry, just ingredients with fresh strawberries, and maybe we'll put some graham cracker in it as a little sweet For breakfast yeah for breakfast, and it'll have all of this protein in it.
Speaker 3:That's not that far off from a smoothie either, is it? No, exactly no.
Speaker 1:this is when you start looking at the actual nutrition labels. I'm in love with that.
Speaker 2:The Tough Pops is awesome because it's grab and go.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:This is like I got to make it the night before it's got to freeze. I got to remember. It's a whole thing, you know it is an experience and so there's this grab and go piece.
Speaker 1:that is so awesome Because I always have my yogurt in the car and then, like I'm, finding spoons under chairs. You know, have you tasted?
Speaker 3:it with the kids. Sorry, you have taste tested with your kids.
Speaker 1:Kids love it. Yeah, that was like it was tough because for a long time samples were so sparse that we were like you can have like one spoonful of this you know, but like you can't, you can't really have it.
Speaker 2:It's like literally like a taste test. Yeah, it's like literally, here you go.
Speaker 1:But that was the first samples. They tried them and they were like these are bad. I'm like we know they're bad, like that that's like there's kind of not supposed to be bad, but it's science, you know. Like they're like. They're like, tell us what's bad about them, you know the food scientists.
Speaker 1:I'm like they're bad and they're like but what's bad? I'm like they're gummy, they're chalky and they're like okay, this is good. Like we know how to reverse gumminess, we know how to reverse chalkiness. I'm like, like not say names, but we went to the home of the president of a major grocer with our kids because we happened to be on a trip where they lived, happened to have a crazy connection, overnighted some pops and like, brought them to his house and one of them we needed to test just to make sure it was not. Like nothing went wrong, right, like no one had tested him.
Speaker 3:We don't want to take a batch. It's like a bad batch, yeah Right.
Speaker 1:And we just gave it to you know the person we most need to connect with, and so our kids are like fighting over it in the backseat and we're like you guys haven't ever really had tough pops. Like they're like chocolatey faces, like dripping everywhere and like piranhas Right, like I need some, like I need this for my kids. I'm like you need this for you. Like, yeah, your kids will have it too. Kids have a much lower protein threshold than adults and so, geared towards adults, flavors are for adults. We have cha cha chai, creme brulee, double dutch cocoa. They're not flavors that scream give them to your kids, but kids can have them.
Speaker 2:Chocolate, vanilla and kids love them. Yeah, what I love about what you're doing here, like going back to the marketing side of things, is they bought this like. I follow you guys on Instagram and so they bought this like Meals on Wheels-esque Schwan truck.
Speaker 1:Yeah, schwan truck it they bought this like meals on wheels-esque Schwann truck. Yeah, schwann truck, it's a retired Schwann truck straight up.
Speaker 3:You know what Schwann is. I know what Schwann is Like the yellow delivery trucks.
Speaker 1:We never had it, but my neighbors did no, but they drive by and you're like who's getting that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, and there's like all these doors, you know. So they bought one of those that they're going to brand as like this You're kind of like a food truck-esque style and I think you have an, because nobody's really doing that in the ice cream space. You know, you've seen cereal, do it, You've seen. But you have this cool opportunity to create a really cool organic social media strategy. That can be super, super fun.
Speaker 2:And I think if you guys utilize documenting what you're doing you know, I hope you've been filming and doing some stuff and start putting that kind of stuff out, and then you can probably start to create some really cool hype around where you're going to be. You know, hey, we're going to be in Highland for the day.
Speaker 1:Hey, we're up in Kaysville for the day, totally, and that's what I'm hoping, do you?
Speaker 3:have any ideas like that, that?
Speaker 1:you guys have fleshed out. Yeah, because we I mean we talked about, like you know, old school ice cream truck style like rolling up to you know, like you roll up to podium though.
Speaker 1:But like you roll up to like you roll up to a business park at lunch and you play the song and it's like, is that? Is that like what I think it is? You know, like if people can come to expect it, I think it'd be so fun. But I also really just want to do like I love, like a real grassroots movement, like for me it's really important to have that brand story in the beginning, and so we're literally going to like take orders from family and friends and drop them off on their porch, right yeah, and the ice cream truck is for that too. You know, like kind of building this. I don't know. The thing that's so fun is, anytime we talk to anybody about the ice cream truck, like grown men's faces are like an ice cream truck. You know, like you can't help it, like I'm telling you right now your social media.
Speaker 2:If you do this right organically, you guys will explode I promise you, if you do this correctly, because of everything you're saying, like the more we're talking, the more my wheels are turning and when he says correctly, that doesn't mean like you can't have some fall downs, right no, no, but I mean, but if you figure it out what I mean by correctly nowadays, yes, yeah, is I. What I don't mean is let me get a professional camera no, taking a really good beautiful shot of our truck.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, that's what I mean by don't you know, you know it's the experience of like I'm just picturing Corey in like an old school milk man.
Speaker 1:No, that was the first thing we looked up. Like I was like I'm buying you white coveralls, we're going to get you a hat, like you're going to have an apron, and he's driving and I'm picturing music and I'm picturing like Take it easy, though.
Speaker 2:You're going to, and he's like ice cream and he puffs up but with protein in it, so you don't have to feel bad, that is huge, that is so exciting. Have you guys, can I throw?
Speaker 3:out an idea for you guys, and I hope you do it. Maybe it's not good, though I love all of that but combine that with, like the juxtaposition that it's like for adults right like it's the ice cream truck for adults and so you go to a soccer game on Saturday morning where all the adults are on the sideline, and then you basically go over to the adult like
Speaker 3:with the thing like hey, try this yeah, cause I bet you get viral content just from people trying it oh yeah, you need to try stuff like Corey in the outfit, but going and like hey, we're the ice cream truck for adults and then you go over to the adults.
Speaker 1:Oh, it'd be so fun. Because they're all sitting there anyway, they're all there, they're all there, the number one hire is a documenter.
Speaker 3:I'm telling you right now, and you guys will absolutely crush it Adults would love it at their soccer games, just sitting there for like an hour.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I think you take it a little bit further. Okay, let's keep the juxtaposition concept here. Sorry, this is like not even.
Speaker 1:I love this. I mean, I should be paying you.
Speaker 3:In fact, kids don't even know what an ice cream truck is anymore. Love it. It's only adults that even have nostalgia around it. They have no nostalgia around it. The imagery is a kid. Funny, that's so fun.
Speaker 1:The kids are the workers to that, yeah, and the adults are handing it to the adults like that is the, that is a funny, that would be funny videos versus cory being so great I love that, like that would be incredible, like that's your campaign no, I love it, and I think there is just this built-in nostalgia that we're trying to tap into right, like when we first started working with our food scientists. Um, the lady who's the head of the team is like the most intimidating person I think I've ever had a call with.
Speaker 3:Like I was like shaking the whole time Like Corey and I are just like she's. She's the head of the food scientist team. Yeah.
Speaker 1:She's like and she like we haven't talked to her since right.
Speaker 1:But she's like she's the one who decides if you're, if you're going to make the cut and they're going to develop your recipe or not. And we're just like gosh. She was terrifying but so cool. But the thing she told us is she's like you're in a good industry because research has shown that no matter how bad the ice cream is, people like it. Just because it's ice cream like that's how nostalgic ice cream is is that you could be eating the worst ice cream and they'll still eat so nostalgic that you'd be like but it's ice cream.
Speaker 1:You know like it's just like so, and so I feel like there's you know what, though?
Speaker 3:the cold, the, the, the temperature of the flavors makes it more bearable yeah, that's true, that's a good point, because it's not, it's just like like it kind of numbs your tongue after the first, yeah, like. So, like, even if the ice cream isn't great, like people will still eat it and be like, oh, that was good.
Speaker 2:I feel like that's how people were with Halo.
Speaker 1:Halo was not that good, but it blew up because of it, because it was healthier. Exactly, it's cold, yeah, and it was cold.
Speaker 3:So the nostalgia of the texture and the flavor, and then also it gets better over time because your tongue kind of goes numb.
Speaker 1:We developed a banana split flavor because did you guys have Dippin' Dots banana split when you? Were a kid Like we're not making it because, like, by the time you add in all the ingredients, it's so expensive. But it was that. But like just that experience of like going to a baseball game and getting the Dippin' Dots and basically like drinking it to the last drop.
Speaker 1:And it tastes just like that. The food scientists had never had Dippin' Dots like ever. And I was like ever, like no Dippin' Dots. Like did you go to baseball games? Like were you a child ever? Yeah, so interesting.
Speaker 3:Every parent knows how painful it is behind Dippin' Dots. Oh my gosh, seven bucks for Dippin' Dots, it's like go to a jazz game, get some Dippin' Dots.
Speaker 2:It. This is awesome. I think this is so cool. I think, yeah, I mean. One thing I want to pull out of this before we kind of come to a close here is I feel like sometimes in these podcast episodes we always end in a spot like this which is, the businesses that are going to do the best in 2025 and beyond are businesses that are thinking about doing things differently.
Speaker 1:Now, that's kind of always been a true statement, if I can say that it's never been truer than now, though, but it's never been truer than now, because everyone can do everything you know and it's so hard.
Speaker 2:If you're going to be a jewelry company, it's so hard to stand out right, the earrings you're wearing could be Tiffany's or Amazon.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, and I don't mean that in a disrespectful way, it's just so challenging.
Speaker 2:And so for you, you're thinking about things differently. We're bringing back the nostalgic ice cream truck. I'm making popsicles healthy. You're seeing ice cream healthy right now, healthier. I'm a huge Jenny's fan.
Speaker 1:Oh love Jenny's. Is there anything better than their butter cake? Oh my gosh, I can't remember which one I get. I get the peaches and buttermilk biscuits. The almond brittle is better, kenzie likes the almond brittle.
Speaker 2:So good, I get the butter. What am I?
Speaker 3:My wife gets butter cake.
Speaker 2:Is it butter cake? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So good, there's nothing better to me it's like ooey gooey butter cake.
Speaker 3:Ooey, the wife says the almond brittle is too much of a grandpa ice cream.
Speaker 2:Kenzie likes the almond brittle. I don't mind it.
Speaker 3:I'm not a huge ice cream guy.
Speaker 2:I think it's phenomenal, but I think you're just. I love that. That's the message I think you have to get out of. This is like you got to just be willing to put in the extra time to do things differently, and I think so often we get so caught up in oh look what Olipop's doing, let me do what they're doing.
Speaker 3:Oh, absolutely.
Speaker 1:And it's great to look at them from an inspiration perspective, but then you have to flip it and say what am I going to do to stand out from them? And to that point, I think that was one of our, you know, as we were kind of talking with some videographers trying to figure out what we're going to do and they were showing us what they had done. You know, because that's the natural thing is to be like here's what we have done, and cory and I kind of looked each other and we're like we just have to push it and and we can take risks that bigger brands can't take, which is the magic of being scrappy like taft. We took a lot of risks that I mean like our store got broken into and we had an ad running of it.
Speaker 2:By the end it was the best ad I ever saw it. It was a really good ad. You want to know what, though? You guys, I think, posted that and I think you posted it organically first. Yeah, we did, and this was my like in my mind. I told myself they ran that ad as an ad because of me, because I commented and said this needs to be an ad ASAP.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but as soon as it got broken into I mean it was I'll tell you. It's you, but Corey, but Corey. The first thing Corey said is this is going to make a great ad and and it, which is just like the like entrepreneurial spirit right.
Speaker 1:Of, just like our store just got broken into and we're not even like worried about the glass door, we're not worried about the stolen inventory, like they left the iPad, they just took shoes. Like we were like this is the best ad ever, like they just stole shoes, like that's all they wanted. And so I think for us, though, there's always like the adapt or fail mentality, but also I think people can take bigger risks than they think they can take, like I think you can push it further than you think you can push it. I think, like the quirky, weird things that brands do is what makes me remember them Right. Like like there's so much noise now that I think to your point. It's like you can't. It's like trying to sing at like a concert that's blaringly loud.
Speaker 3:Maybe you don't sing, maybe you do something else. Yeah, yeah, learn how to dance.
Speaker 1:Yeah, learn how to dance, get on stage and do something else.
Speaker 2:I love it. Well, this is awesome. I am so pumped for you guys. Thank you when are you guys launching? Do you guys have an idea?
Speaker 1:I mean like now, Like it's literally we're waiting on the final word from our co-packer to be like we're going to run it this weekend, which could be this weekend or next weekend. So we're just, and then's just, beyond that distribution. Unfi.
Speaker 2:KE. Where can people find Tuff? Do you guys have an Instagram account set up yet? I mean we have Tuff Protein.
Speaker 1:There's nothing on it, but you can follow Tuff Protein. I think we have 300 followers and zero posts, but you can go there. Hey, that's good.
Speaker 3:We'll start posting. I'm excited to see the ice cream truck content, oh my gosh, me too. I am too.
Speaker 1:I'm just excited for our kids because I'm like you're going to grow up with an ice cream truck in the driveway. Is there anything better? That's the best. You need to come into Draper, into this office space. There's a lot of offices here. We will. I can't wait to hear the music.
Speaker 2:We got a big window. We'll see you guys next week. Thank you so much for listening to the Unstoppable Marketer podcast. Please go rate and subscribe the podcast, whether it's good or bad. We want to hear from you because we always want to make this podcast better. If you want to get in touch with me or give me any direct feedback, please go follow me and get in touch with me. I am at the Trevor Crump on both Instagram and TikTok. Thank you, and we will see you next week.