Dream Pops retweetledi
Everyone thought he was crazy for quitting his finance job to sell ice cream.
Today, his novelty brand is available in 5,000+ stores, including Whole Foods, Erewhon, Bristol Farms, and The Fresh Market.
Here's how to do the same:
Step 1: Find the big idea
David's advice: Ask yourself what's missing?
- Look around at the way you live
- Write down the products you love
- Ask yourself: what would improve my quality of life? How can I make something that is 5-10x better than what exists?
For David, the missing thing was a way to satisfy his sweet tooth with portion controlled & snackable products like Nestle’s Dibs. As someone who was lactose-intolerant and had issues with dairy, there weren't many options.
And so, his dream snack, Dream Pops, was born!
Step 2. Make your prototype
David's advice: It doesn't have to be perfect.
In the early days, David was making samples in his mom's kitchen by hand.
One thing entrepreneurs get wrong? Trying to launch something perfect.
If you're prototyping a food product, follow his advice:
- Create a delicious and unique product
- Differentiate with your packaging & branding
- Iterate in small format grocery stores and get feedback from your customers before launching into national accounts
Step 3. Put your product out there
David's advice: Get your product in as many hands as possible—any way you can.
Some ideas:
- Host pop-ups with like-minded brands. Some brick and mortar brands were willing to pay $5K-$10K for a tailored “ice cream social”’ event with custom packaging. Revenue + awareness = free marketing.
- Personally do samplings at local grocery stores to get real-time feedback from your customers. What do they love about the product? What do they hate? Those are your golden nuggets.
Step 4. Scale thoughtfully
David's advice: Don't get tempted by a big retailer with thousands of stores out the gate.
Getting into a huge retailer can kill your business if you aren’t ready.
Don't chase revenue and door count.
Consider profitability, product quality, and overall risk.
Some retailers require you to pay "slotting" where you spend $50K to $150K+ to be on the shelf for eight months.
If you don't perform? You're out.
The risk is massive and can put you out of business before you have the opportunity to flourish.
Instead, find independent grocery stores and regional grocers with 3-10 locations and scale slowly – laser-focused on profitability and velocity.
Today, Dream Pops is a multi-million dollar brand sold at Whole Foods, Safeway Albertsons, Acme, Shaws, Erewhon, ShopRite, The Fresh Market, Fresh Thyme, GoPuff, CVS, Thrive Market, and many more.
This is your reminder to tune out all the noise, trust your intuition & keep building.
Want to get 1:1 advice from a CPG industry expert? You can now book David Greenfeld on Intro.
--
Did you enjoy this business breakdown? Follow @useintro to learn how the world's most successful entrepreneurs built $100M+ businesses.
English
