Elevator Talk Live: 470 Baking Company

Speaker 1 [00:14] We're gonna bring up our next guest for this episode or this uh session of Elevator Talk that is Melissa Tovin, who's the founder and CEO of 470 Baking Company. Melissa, great to see you. Nice to meet you both. All right, Maya, uh, you've been Trying to figure out in my mind like what does 470 stand for? What does 470 stand for? OK,

Melissa Tovin [00:32] do you want to know? I would love to know where I start the pitch, so it's actually the address of where I was living when I first started baking sourdough bread. OK, um, so that will, that goes a little bit into the pitch. Most people think it's the temperature of the oven, but that would be

Speaker 1 [00:45] much too hot. That's what I thought it was actually,

Melissa Tovin [00:48] yeah, it would be much too hot, but. Um, I can give a little more background on the company. As you said, I'm the founder and CEO of 470 Baking Company, um, which is the home of Melissa's Sourdough Crisps. I'm Melissa, and that is really our core product line that we're starting of original sourdough goods, and they are endlessly craveable, um, because of that sourdough. That has the umami flavor that you just can't get anywhere else, shatteringly crispy because they're baked to perfection and then of course it's real sourdough which you don't find everywhere. So a little bit more background on how we got here. As I said, I was baking sourdough in my kitchen in San Francisco, the home of sourdough, back in 2014, and I just kind of stumbled upon the recipe from seeing all the waste that was coming from the sourdough starter. And I was working in the food industry so I started making this product and I couldn't stop snacking on it. My friends couldn't stop snacking on it. It became the product. It's deliciousness goes great with cheese, it goes great on a charcuterie board, looks Beautiful as well, um, and it's great for dipping and of course just snacking on its own because it's simple, very few ingredients, um, and it's all about the sourdough. Um, I said before, it's real sourdough and that's what it's all about. So, um, most sourdough you get in a grocery store is actually a lactic acid that's meant to mimic that flavor, so you don't get the health benefits or it's such a little amount of sourdough that once again you don't get the flavor or the health benefits. So that's what we're trying to do. This is just our first product line of sourdough goods and we want to bring sourdough to everyone. And so we've started doing that um with our sourdough crisps. They're vegan friendly, uh, whole grain, no preservatives, um, only 6 ingredients, and we are just local to Philadelphia at the moment, but now is the moment where we're going to move beyond that and grow a little bit. So, uh, we're also direct to consumer as well, 470 Baking.com. Uh, follow us along on our story, um, but yeah, we're I'm right now just looking for partners to help me grow to, uh, the right retailer to make the right steps forward, um, and go beyond Philadelphia.

Speaker 1 [03:08] Great stuff, Melissa. Um, I'm, I'm very curious as to what these things taste like. I hope I, I can taste some afterwards, yeah,

Melissa Tovin [03:15] I'll leave the sample with you.

Speaker 1 [03:17] Please do. Thank you so much. Um, San Francisco or Philadelphia via San Francisco. I love that you talked about, uh, San Francisco's being the home of sourdough. Um, you know, when you're sharing this story with consumers, what's resonating most with them?

Melissa Tovin [03:32] I think it's really the sourdough aspect of it. Um, during COVID, everyone started baking sourdough and they saw how amazing it was that you could take flour and water and create something that you thought you had to buy at a store and they saw how delicious it is and a lot of people got very discouraged because they saw it takes a long time. So I think that sourdough flavor and the enjoyment that people have gotten from both the process and the um the health benefits too. It's great on the gut, which I think people realized who maybe couldn't tolerate gluten in the past. Um, so I said a few things there, but at the core, it's just that sourdough flavor, the sourdough benefits, that's what's resonating with consumers and I think what most food founders find. Once consumers try your product, if you have a good product, that's what really resonates and so getting them to try it with the sourdough name and then once they try it they're hooked. So

Speaker 1 [04:30] when we've talked about the importance of taste over and over and over in this session, um, I think it's also a bit about how you talk to your retailers about how to merchandise it, um, how they should be talking to customers about your product and convincing them, retail buyers and. Um, operators in those stores to get people to try them. Um, Lee, what's been your approach? What's been effective for Perfect about getting retail buyers on your side, getting store employees excited about the brand?

Speaker 3 [04:59] Uh, certainly those are your, uh, frontline consumers, uh, the folks that work at every one of those grocery stores, and so we used a tactic of, uh, tons of product, free product, um, to, well, actually we would give free coupons for bars so just depending on your price point if you can do that or not or if there's a way you can create a sample pack of some sort. Um, with a coupon behind it, so coupons can continue being a really, um, a really nice strategy so you can kind of decide how much value to offer whether for perfect Bar, a free bar, or a $1 off for 50 cents, kind of depending on the tactic, or to build baskets later and it's a boat a buy one get one or it's, you know, buy two get one free, right? So you can really take some doing and there's a lot of, uh, a lot more options. These days for clearing houses and things like that, but having a coupon strategy as you head into retail just gives you some flexibility, um, and so it's like thinking, stepping back and looking at what your category is doing for promotion and figuring out how can I get through, breakthrough this noise short of demos and certainly on your demo table having that basket building coupon it's like don't even do a demo if you're not gonna have a BOGO coupon or some way to just turn that one sale into two, And, and then of course stepping back and saying, OK, what are all the other ways to your point, get the employees behind it by they every single employee that you absolutely can reach, especially if it's the mom and pops or the natural food stores, they're your ambassadors and um so we just would do tons of sampling. You can even do education events depending. I mean, Whole Foods is amazing at this Jimbo's down in San Diego, but education events and sponsor a snack time or something like that and get to speak in front of 50 employees and they are able to get some snack or charcuterie sponsored by you and then you know you now have 50 ambassadors walking around that retailer.

Speaker 1 [07:00] I love that. Um, I'm not an entrepreneur, much less a successful entrepreneur, so my feedback is going or might be a little off here, but I would also think that, um, you know, maybe, uh, uh, packaging is one way to really differentiate yourself from competing brands, and I wonder, Melissa, um, you know, about your use of plastic packaging and whether or not that's something you're thinking about changing.

Melissa Tovin [07:25] Yeah, actually that's an awesome question because I am about to kick off a bit of a rebrand. So my packaging right now, one of the big complaints I've gotten from more of the natural grocers is that presence of plastic and Um, this was always meant to be kind of version one of the packaging, and so I'm currently working on a bit of a change to the format and the packaging so that the sourdough aspect still stands out and I can put more of those really important features on the packaging while also being more sustainable because though the the plastic is recyclable, it doesn't, when you see it, it's plastic and I'm sure it rarely gets recycled by the time it. Gets home. So, um, it's definitely on the top of my list and then I just want to say I'm a huge fan of your product. I don't like most bars, but perfect Bar is always the one that I love. Oh,

Speaker 3 [08:18] thank you. And I agree with the plastic, and I think the investment in whether it's craft or crepe paper or the see-through window or a U board to put them in, like it probably will, may may come at a cost, but elevate, um, elevate your product, right? To be to look more premium.

Speaker 1 [08:37] Any thoughts on what Melissa should highlight on that packaging, because if you're looking at it right now, Melissa Sourdough Crisps are all in the same size font on the front. You have your logo on the top. You have flaky salt and black pepper as the, the, the, well, I'm looking at one of your flavors that is, um, but you know what would you want to see on front of pack that would really entice you to buy the product?

Speaker 3 [08:58] I think you do give a lot of room for the the little grain or. Um, there where you may want to elevate your flavor, uh, a bit more, um, so of course you wanna see your branding and I think sourdough crisp is a is a great explanation of what the food is and I do agree sourdough continues to have a moment, um, and, uh, but I would elevate and really lean in on how tasty, however tasty that can be made to look.

Speaker 1 [09:26] Great advice as always, Lee. um, and I'm so sorry that we haven't gotten you lunch just yet, but Melissa is leaving some amazing, yeah, that's

Melissa Tovin [09:34] what I'm saying like we are going

Speaker 1 [09:37] on these

Speaker 3 [09:37] crackers. I was here for the food, Ray.

Speaker 1 [09:39] Come on. Uh, I'm so sorry. I think we have samples of everything and you know.

Speaker 3 [09:43] Better I'm not sitting here, uh, crunching. That's fine. They

Melissa Tovin [09:46] are loud because they are shatteringly crispy.

Speaker 1 [09:48] Oh, I love that. Well done, Melissa, and thanks so much for joining us on Elevator Talk today. Please stay in touch. Please let us know if we can help in any way as you continue your journey.

Melissa Tovin [09:57] Awesome. Thank you so much. Nice.

Speaker 1 [09:59] Nice to meet you as well. Thank you so much.