Innovation: Everyone loves snacks, why don't you dare to eat more?
6 main points of this article:1. Before starting a business, go to work in related industries to ensure that there is no gap between reality and imagination. 2. You can find opportunities to start a business from your interests. 3. Once you have an idea, you should first verify that it works. 4. Participating in the expo will not only build your confidence in the product, but also effectively let others see your product. 5. Celebrity blessings coupled with well-designed packaging make products easier to see. 6. Learn from your failures and make sure you think more holistically next time.
Thai snacks have always been very popular in Taiwan. From everyone knows, from seaweed to all kinds of dried fruits, preserves, and even peanuts, you can buy them in major supermarkets. In the United States, a pair of brothers with Thai ancestry stumbled and found coconut chips to be a good snack choice, and finally set up a snack company called "Dang".
1. Go to work in related industries before starting a business to ensure that there is no gap between reality and imagination
The entrepreneurs I'm going to introduce today are two brothers, Vincent and Andrew. Dang was originally the idea of his brother Vincent, whom Andrew joined to support his brother. The brothers were born in New York, and their parents immigrated to the United States in the 1970s because their father decided to study in the United States.
After graduating, he opened a shop in New York selling Thai-made handicrafts. Vincent and Andrew would use the summer vacation to return to Bangkok to visit their families. While in Bangkok, they learned to enjoy Thai food that has a different impact on their taste buds.
Vincent and Andrew's grandparents moved to Thailand from China, where their parents were born and raised. Therefore, their families have always had the tradition of maintaining the Chinese, for example, they will celebrate the Spring Festival, take red envelopes, and eat porridge for breakfast. As a result, Vincent and Andrew are not only familiar with the taste of Thailand, but also know the taste of Chinese cuisine.
But Vincent and Andrew's parents' marriage was not happy. When the two of them were young, their parents divorced. His father then moved to New Jersey to run a scented candle business, while his mother started her own real estate business. The brothers spent their childhood separately in their respective homes. Coupled with the fact that their parents are busy with business, they not only learn to solve three meals on their own (especially Vincent, who is the older brother, has to take care of his younger brother Andrew), but they also develop a very close relationship with each other.
In the 4th grade of elementary school, Vincent's class held a "National Cuisine" event, inviting students to bring their hometown food to the school to share. Vincent made a chicken satay dish with the help of her mother. When he found out that the food he made was the fastest to be robbed, he felt very proud. Vincent believes that after immigration we may have to change our names to make it easier for others to call us. Change your clothes so that you can integrate into the local society. It even needs to change the way you speak, because you have to use a new language. However, the food of our hometown can accompany us for a long time in many cases, because it is not only the taste of our hometown, but also nostalgia. Even though Vincent didn't grow up in Thailand, the food he ate at home and every summer when he visited his family in Thailand was just as deeply etched in his mind.
Chicken satay
After graduating from college, Vincent worked for an environmental social enterprise in Washington. Here, he researches and develops specifications for large companies to ensure that the products they source are sustainable. At the same time, Vincent found that most Thai restaurants in the United States have similar menus, and their meals are also designed to cater to American tastes. For example, Vincent always felt that the Standard Thai Stir-Fried Konsen in the United States was too sweet. So he began to wonder if he could open his own restaurant and specialize in authentic Thai food.
He shared the idea with a friend, but the friend suggested he work at the restaurant first to see if it was what he wanted. So Vincent got the company's permission to work only four days a week and work at a restaurant on the other day. He found a part-time job at Thai X-ing, a well-known Thai restaurant in Washington, D.C., but after a few months, Vincent felt it was too far from what he had imagined. Standing for a long time, constantly serving the guests, he felt after each work that he was not the joy of achieving anything, but the joy of surviving again. As a result, he knew that restaurants were not the best industry for him.
2. From the interest, you may be able to find opportunities to start a business
The restaurant dreams shattered, but Vincent didn't give up cooking. In 2010, he moved to California and joined a startup. At the same time, Andrew entered the accounting department of UC Santa Barbara, a well-known university in California, and immediately after graduation, he joined KPMG, one of the big four accounting firms.
Since both brothers were in California, they decided to rent a room together in a 7-room apartment. At that time, they and other roommates would hold a dinner party once a month. Vincent, who has worked in a well-known restaurant, can use this to show off his cooking skills, and the food he cooks is also very popular. When a friend learned that Vincent loved to cook, he introduced him to the SF Underground Market (SF: San Francisco).
The so-called SF Underground Market is a place where people can taste and buy food produced by others in their backyard and kitchen at home. Not only can you buy a variety of produce there, but you can also buy a variety of food, from home-brewed ginger beer to Mexican food. As the organizer does not have a license to sell food, people will be asked to sign an agreement at the time of admission, agreeing that if there is a health problem due to the food in the venue, the organizer will not be liable.
Vincent's chef soul was immediately ignited, so he decided to make some adjustments to his primary school success experience and participate in this underground gourmet feast with "chicken satay burger". He saw that the New York Times also reported on the event, so he directly made 400 meals regardless of the 150 meals suggested by the host authorities. As a result, on that day, he found that there were not many people on the scene! The most important reason for the result was that the venue on the day could only accommodate a certain number of people, so there were many people queuing up but in the end there was no way to get into the venue.
But Vincent was not discouraged, and a few months later he decided again to challenge the underground market. When his mother heard about it, she gave him a Thai roll recipe and told him that when she was in college, she would rush out of the school every day to buy a roll to eat, because it was so delicious. But to make authentic Thai rolls, you need a lot of ingredients that are not easy to find in the United States, the most important of which are dried shrimp and grilled shredded coconut. So Vincent decided to replace the shrimp with stew and grilled shredded coconuts to make his own.
Traditional Thai rolls
When Vincent bought a pile of cut coconut meat and started roasting shredded coconut at home, the whole house was quickly filled with a fragrant coconut smell. The roommates who lived with them smelled the fragrance and took out the shredded coconuts that were being roasted from the pot to taste. While busy preventing his roommates from stealing food, Vincent suddenly thought that if the roommates would eat his roasted coconut shreds, then there should be a market for making this into a coconut crisp snack!
3. Once you have an idea, you should first verify that it works
With the idea of turning coconut crisps into snacks, Vincent immediately contacted his brother Andrew, who happened to be in Thailand, and asked him to help see if there were similar snacks in Thailand. Andrew collected a variety of different brands of roasted coconut snacks and sent them to Vincent. Vincent tasted one by one, picked his favorites, and then began discussing with manufacturers whether they could bring it to the United States for sale.
Vincent also wanted to see if the U.S. market could really accept coconut crisps as a snack. He remembered that when he was a child, he used to attend various fairs with his parents, and knew that it was an important channel for every industry to find new products and ideas. So he immediately began searching for the closest food fair and found the upcoming Fancy Food Show in Washington. Vincent immediately bought a plane ticket and flew to Washington with the tastings given by the manufacturer.
To save money, and having no products to sell yet, Vincent decided not to apply for any stalls. But he still wanted to get feedback from industry insiders, so he decided to sneak in with the tastings, and fortunately no one stopped him. Once inside, Vincent put the coconut crisps he tasted into small plastic cups with The Dang tag and contact details, and then began looking for people who were willing to try them.
Dang was chosen as a trademark because Vincent's mother's nickname was Dang. Moreover, in the United States, Dang is often used as a consonant for Damn. So Vincent hoped that people would shout "Dang!" after eating his chips. It’s Good”。
Dang later coconut crisp products
When Vincent saw the first person to walk out of the elevator with the badge of Whole Foods, the nation's largest natural and organic food chain, hanging from his clothes, he thought it was so good that he immediately went up to ask if they would like to try his coconut chips and offer some feedback. After stopping to try it, the well-wisher said it was really good, but he needed to see more information, such as the price tag and packaging. This strengthens Vincent's confidence in coconut crisps. He thought it would be great to design the packaging to be able to turn these coconut crisps into products. So Vincent approached his relatives in Thailand to manage suppliers and started designing product packaging.
4. Participating in the expo can not only build your confidence in the product, but also effectively let others see your product
In January 2012, Vincent brought a bunch of small, one-ounce packages of coconut chips to the New Taste Marketplace, an expo for consumers in California. There, Vincent began to learn how to introduce his products to people. Because the ketogenic diet (a high-fat, protein, and very low-carbohydrate diet) was popular in the United States at the time, coconut water and coconut oil were considered health foods. Vincent used the opportunity to introduce coconut crisps as a healthy snack and tell consumers that if they like coconut water and coconut oil, this coconut crisp will not only have the same taste and nutrition, but also be enjoyed with salads, yogurts, and even ice cream!
Pair Dang coconut crisps with your favorite food
At this time, trader Joe's, a well-known American supermarket, also launched a similar snack, which disappointed Vincent. Because he originally wanted to be the first coconut crisp snack brand in the United States, now Trader Joe's is not only a step ahead, but it also has a large number of stores in the United States, and it is also famous, which is an unmatched competitor for Vincent. However, Vincent quickly learned that Trader Joe's products were only sold in their stores, and their customers would go shopping elsewhere, so there was still room for Dang to survive in the market. In addition, Trader Joe's has helped educate a large number of customers about the benefits of coconut crisps, making Dang's products more acceptable, so the benefits far outweigh the harms.
In March of the same year, Vincent decided to hit the rail while it was hot and attended the Natural Products ExpoWest, an exposition for buyers and manufacturers in California. Because Vincent applied too late to rent the entire booth, he had to share it with other vendors. Vincent was assigned a two-foot-long table. But to make sure attendees didn't miss them, on fair day Vincent enlisted the help of Andrew, his father, and his girlfriend to build a wall of people in the aisle in front of the table and offer tastings to anyone who crossed it. What's more, people say, "Dang!" after tasting coconut crisps! It’s Good”。
Vincent made a name for itself at the fair, and many retailers started buying Dang's products. One of the more famous was H-E-B from Texas who placed an order of about $10,000. Although the quantity was small, Vincent was confident enough about the product that he ordered a container of coconut chips from the manufacturer.
Coincidentally, the startup where Vincent works was laid off in April because of business problems. Not only did this force Vincent to devote his full time to Dang, but the compensation also gave Vincent the ability to spend $23,000 to order a container of products. In June, the containers were finally shipped from Thailand, and Vincent immediately shipped them to the merchants who had placed the order, officially starting Dang's operations.
5. Celebrity blessings coupled with well-designed packaging make products easier to see
At the end of 2012, a buyer at Safeway, one of the largest supermarket chains in the United States, saw Dang's coconut chips at a supermarket and contacted Vincent to come to Safeway's office to introduce the product. After the meeting, Safeway's product team told Vincent that they liked Dang's product and decided to put it in the upcoming "Boutique Snacks" section, so they immediately placed an order for $50,000. As a result, Dang's products began to appear in 1,000 Safeway supermarkets, with oversized billboards and places where about 90% of customers would pass.
Vincent was very happy with the oversized orders, and having a big channel like Safeway also made more people aware of Dang's products. But it also meant more work, so Vincent was forced to change the look of a one-man company. He tried to hire experienced people, but found them all too expensive. So he thought of his good brother Andrew.
Andrew had left KPMG to assist in his father's incense candle business. Vincent first calls his father, who agrees that Dang needs help more than a smoked candle, so he agrees to let Andrew assist Vincent. After several discussions about the division of labor and profit sharing, andrew officially joined Dang.
After breaking into all kinds of channels, Dang urgently needs to rely on marketing to increase its popularity. But neither Vincent nor Andrew is in the business, and there is a lack of funding for big marketing. Fortunately, at the end of 2013, with the blessing of two celebrities, Dang became a brand that everyone knew.
First, at the end of October, Florence Fabricant, a food critic at the New York Times, after receiving a tasting from Vincent, decided to write an article in his column about the new dessert, "New Confections, Coconut Chips and More," which mentioned Dang. This has increased Dang's search popularity a lot.
Florence Fabricant introduces Dang's coconut crisps in the New York Times
However, what really pushed Dang to the top was a photo posted on IG on December 4 of the same year by the eldest sister of the Kardashian family, Courtney. There is only one copy of Dang's coconut crisps in the photo labeled "Snack on Board." It turned out that Courtney bought Dang's product at the airport snack shop and then casually posted to share with fans what he was eating. But this inadvertent action has made Dang's search degree explode, and the traffic on Dang's official website has increased by dozens of times! And Vincent has finally seen the publicity of IG and celebrities.
Dang later coconut crisp products
However, Vincent also believes that celebrities will notice Dang's products because Vincent has put a lot of effort into packaging from the beginning. He has always believed that packaging is the only reason for product sales, because consumers use packaging to understand what the contents are, what nutrients, what to expect, etc. So, when designing Dang's packaging, in addition to labeling Dang in bold, he brought a lot of coconuts to the studio, and then took countless photos of "coconut chips spilling out of coconuts" to emphasize that its products were really made of coconuts. In addition, Vincent wanted to emphasize nature but not use words. Therefore, in the color of the packaging, Vincent uses tan and green, the original color of the coconut tree.
The celebrity effect, coupled with well-designed packaging, made Dang's coconut crisps gradually become a snack that everyone knows.
6. Learn from your failures and make sure you think more holistically next time
Vincent and Andrew knew that Dang wanted to be a stable company and couldn't rely on coconut crisps alone. So, in addition to developing different flavors for the crisps, the brothers were also actively looking for the next Dang Good product.
During a trip to Japan, Vincent discovered that the local supermarket was selling Onion Slices. These sliced onions are vacuum-baked, so they turn onions into very crisp, non-greasy snacks. Vincent immediately thought of Funyuns, a well-known onion-flavored snack in the United States. Since Funyuns are snacks made from corn and flavored with onions, snacks made with real onions are sure to beat it healthily.
Onion-flavored snack Funyuns
Vincent and Andrew quickly made samples of onion slices and took them to various fairs. The people who tried it all gave very positive reviews, especially one of their acquaintances who said after the tasting: "Dang, they have succeeded again!" The results of the test gave Vincent and Andrew so much confidence that they quickly put onion slices on the market. A few weeks later, the return on sales turned out that this product could not be sold at all!
When Vincent heard the news, he immediately approached the consumer to inquire. He found that after they had eaten a few bites, they would not continue to eat the onion slices. And a snack that can't be eaten quickly can't attract him to buy it back again. It turned out that Vincent didn't get a reward at the fair because people were afraid that when they ate onions, they would have a strong onion flavor in their mouths. So no matter how delicious the onion slices are, people are reluctant to eat too much. As a result, Vincent had to decide to discontinue production, and this misjudgment cost Dang about $2 million.
The onion slices failed, and Vincent had to try differently to expand the product line. They soon discovered that consumers' demand for coconut crisps was natural, so many flavors such as bacon, spicy lime, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, etc. were not popular. Just like coconut water, consumers only need to simply coconut water without too many changes in taste. Therefore, to this day, Dang's coconut crisps are only available in three flavors: plain, thin salt, and caramel sea salt.
There was no way to increase the taste, so I had to continue to look for the right new products. On frequent trips to and from Thailand, Vincent finds that many tourists at Bangkok's airports like to buy a snack made from sticky rice. It is done by steaming the glutinous rice, soaking it in watermelon juice to make it more viscous, and then separating it to air dry. Finally, the air-dried glutinous rice balls are fried and drizzled with caramel as they cool, making it a common street snack in northern Thailand.
With the experience of onion flakes, Vincent became extra careful with glutinous rice balls. He first asked the relatives in charge of managing the suppliers in Thailand to contact the original manufacturer, and then Vincent personally asked them about the sales of glutinous rice dumplings in Thailand. It turned out that their sales at the airport were 10,000 cases a day, proving that foreigners could also accept this snack.
However, Vincent first conducted a very many consumer-specific tastings in the United States, and collected a large number of opinions before pushing the glutinous rice balls into the channel. Without wasting all the preparations, the glutinous rice balls were well received as soon as they hit the shelves, especially the Sriracha hot sauce flavor. Today, Dang sells 5 different flavors of glutinous rice dough snacks, in addition to the original and Sriracha hot sauce, in addition to chiuda cheese, coconut, and roasted sesame seeds.
Dang's glutinous rice snacks
A lot of people who buy Dang coconut crisps say they want more ketogenic snacks, so Vincent links from ketogenic to fitness and realizes that there aren't a lot of ketogenic bars on the market. He decided to develop a product for this. Using coconut oil as a base, Dang designed many Asian flavors of nutrition bars with the company's Asian image, such as roasted coconut, lemon matcha, almond biscuits, etc. Since chocolate is the best-selling flavor in the nutrition bars, Vincent also decided to launch it. However, he could not relate chocolate to Asia. Just when the movie "Crazy Rich Asians" became a hot topic, Andrew suggested that the chocolate flavor bar be named Crazy Rich Chocolate, so that it also has some Asian flavor.
Dang's bars were quickly acclaimed and became Whole Foods' best-selling bars in 2019! But in 2020, when the epidemic hit, the gym stopped operating, and many people who loved fitness were locked up at home. This led to an instant 50% drop in sales of Dang nutrition bars.
The impact of the pandemic has plunged Dang into crisis, with the company losing as much as $400,000 a month. Fortunately, Dang survived this time and began to return to profit and loss at the beginning of this year. However, Dang still has a lot of problems to solve, such as the shipping disrupted by the epidemic, which has caused Dang's containers to be delayed by an average of 7 weeks. But with the foundation laid over the years (10,000 stores selling Dang's products in the U.S.), both Vincent and Andrew are optimistic about the future and they should be able to lead Dang to continue to grow after the pandemic.
Dang's Chocolate Bar Crazy Rich Chocolate
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