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Sarah Goodman | Chiwis
45 Plays1 month ago
Sometimes the most sustainable solution can also be the simplest and that’s certainly true in the snacking aisle now that we can buy nutritious upcycled fruit chips made right where they’re grown. In this episode, Sarah Goodman, the founder of Chiwis, shares her journey and passion for creating flavour packed, crispy tropical fruit snacks that are good for people and our planet.
Sarah shares the challenges of scaling a sustainable business, sourcing upcycled fruit, and finding partners and retailers who align with Chiwis’ values. She also opens up about the joys and challenges of being a women-owned business in the food industry and the milestones Chiwis is striving for and reached. You’re also going to love her wildcard answer to ‘the big question’ right off the top.
To learn more about these delicious upcycled fruit snacks visit https://chiwis.co/.
To learn more about who makes this podcast and why visit https://www.ethicalfoodgroup.com/.
Here's the highlights:
Product Origin: Sarah started Chiwis out of her passion for healthy snacks and nutrition, initially making kiwi chips for hikes and camping.
Growth Journey: Chiwis has grown from a small startup to being available in major retailers like Whole Foods, Costco, and independent stores across Canada and the U.S.
Upcycling Mission: Chiwis uses upcycled fruit, including "ugly" fruits, to reduce waste, using as much of the fruit as possible, including skins and rinds, for a minimal-waste, nutrient-rich product.
Retail Strategy: Chiwis is strategically placed in the “healthy snacking” sections of stores for better visibility, although some retailers misplace them in produce, impacting sales.
West Coast Expansion: Focused on the U.S. West Coast for expansion due to similar consumer values and logistical ease compared to sending products across Canada.
Women-Owned Business Impact: Sarah values the support from women investors and sees the “women-owned” label as an asset in connecting with her target audience.
Export Challenges and Partnerships: Sarah has navigated complexities in sourcing upcycled fruit and finding co-manufacturing partners near farms, vital for sustainability and quality.
Awards and Recognition: Chiwis has been nominated for several sustainability and innovation awards, including the BC Rise Awards and CHFA Launch Pad Award.
Celebrity Shoutouts: Sarah dreams of getting her product in the hands of celebrities like Chelsea Handler and Mark Marin, who were inspirations during her early days in business.
Future Aspirations: Light-heartedly, Sarah suggests Ryan Reynolds could buy Chiwis in a few years as she considers potential future growth and expansion opportunities.
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Transcript
Introduction to Sustainable Snacking
00:00:00
Speaker
This is aisle 42.
00:00:07
Speaker
Sometimes the most sustainable solution can also be the simplest. And that's certainly true in the snacking aisle now that we can buy nutritious upcycled fruit chips made right where they're growing.
Founder Insight: Creating Sustainable Snacks
00:00:18
Speaker
In this episode, Sarah Goodman, the founder of Chiwis, shares her journey and passion for creating flavor-packed, crispy tropical fruit snacks that are good for people and our planet. Sarah shares the challenges of scaling a sustainable business, sourcing upcycled fruit, and finding partners and retailers who align with Chiwi's values.
Women-Owned Business: Challenges and Milestones
00:00:38
Speaker
She also opens up about the joys and challenges of being a women-owned business in the food industry and the milestones that Chiwis is striving for and has reached. You're also going to love her wild card answer to the big question right off the top. So let's get to it. Here's Sarah from Chiwis.
00:00:58
Speaker
Sarah, I'm so glad we're having this conversation. I've been enjoying your snacks for a few years now. Like, I can't even remember how long you've been around, but I feel like I've been eating chiwis for two, three years. We're in our fourth now. Oh, my gosh. See, there you go. So, yeah, it's it's been a while. You've been in our cupboard and in our lives for a while now. And I can't wait to get into all the yummy details and all the delicious details of what you do while you do it.
Why Whole Foods is Ideal for Chiwis
00:01:25
Speaker
But first,
00:01:27
Speaker
I have to ask if you could imagine the perfect grocery store of the future what would it look like. You know it doesn't even have to be the future we're launching into whole foods in the states in october so there you go that's it whole foods was our first ever retailer in canada and they've been.
00:01:45
Speaker
the best since the beginning, like especially as a smaller brand. They just are there for you. And I really hope that that is replicated. We're starting in the Pacific Northwest region, but best case scenario, that does really well. And we go into but all of the states with Whole Foods because that's like where our customer would shop. And what is it about the Whole Foods experience that you feel like is the perfect grocery store?
00:02:07
Speaker
I think like that when you walk in there the way you feel, like it's just nice. It's a very different feeling than walking into like an independent or no frills or something. like It's daunting walking into a brightly lit place that feels super busy and like unfriendly, kind of. Whole Foods puts a lot of effort into how products look on their shelves and what their stores look like. and You feel like it's a kind of fancy thing. Like, oh, you're going to Whole Foods. Yeah, Whole Paycheck. It's expensive. Everything's expensive now. But um I've had such a positive experience when I started Chewy's, when I was in the idea phase, thinking about, oh, I wonder if this probably like Kiwi chips could be a thing. Immediately, you're like, I just hope one day I can get in Whole Foods. Somehow, we got into Whole Foods first, which is, I think, not quite common.
00:02:50
Speaker
Yeah, so off the bat, it was just like, oh, okay, we're doing it. But they are a real dream retailer. I think there's a few others that are in the States like Sprouts. That's a really good one as well. And, you know, Erewhon would be great at some point.
00:03:04
Speaker
Yeah. And those are great examples of grocery stores that the aesthetic, you said it's sort of the feel and and maybe it's the warm tones of the color of the floor or it's the softer lighting or it's the the layout of the shelves or it's the way the produce is displayed or just there's something about all of these things combined that just make you feel like it's a nice place to be. It's a nice place to shop.
00:03:30
Speaker
like i just want to be in here I want to be in here and I trust that they've like curated good products. It's almost like when we got into Costco, when you go through the like motions of getting approved,
00:03:42
Speaker
I never knew this, but the amount of certifications and safety and like everything that you do and the manufacturing partners you work with or you manufacture, the level of certifications and safety checking and even like ethical employment, all of it, it's wild. So we're even going into Costco and I'm like, oh my gosh, like all these products are very good products. You're super trusted, which was something I didn't know before. Costco is a great one too. like We just got into Costco Japan, which is wild. That's really cool to see.
00:04:11
Speaker
That is very cool. I wonder if their aesthetic is different there. it Is it as, as vacuous and well lit as the ones out here? I don't know. Cause I heard that the seven 11 stores in Japan are totally different than in North America. And it's like a treat to go there. And they have so many cool products and maybe it's very different. I did. We signed up for a grant to, for export activities called can export. And part of that grant is to go to Japan. So hopefully we get it. It'd be really cool to go see that.
00:04:39
Speaker
We jumped right in. Why don't you just take a moment and tell listeners what it is that you guys make? Yeah, that might help.
Innovative Flavors and Minimal Ingredients
00:04:47
Speaker
So we make upcycled fruit chips. So fruit chips using all of the fruit and using ugly fruits. So not like moldy or anything upcycled just means it's a product that wasn't going to go directly to a grocery store. So We make kiwi chips, a tropical kiwi mix, pineapple chips. We're doing an apple chip. That's what we did for Costco in Japan, but we're doing it for Canada in the States as well. And then we have a chocolate drizzled orange chip line. And we just use as much of the fruit as possible, all of the fruit, including the skin and corn and rind. And we don't add anything ah other than like our chocolate drizzled orange that has palm oil free, like super high quality, minimal ingredient chocolate. But it's really like no junk added ever. And you can feel super good about eating the whole bag.
00:05:29
Speaker
And when you say chips, you're saying sliced dried fruit, correct? Yeah, I used to make kiwi chips. I used to be a nutritionist before my last career, before starting Chiwis, and I would make kiwi chips for myself just for hikes and camping and backcountry activities. and just like slicing them super thin. I like a crispy snack and there's lots of dried fruit there. I don't really like dried fruit. I don't like that squishy. I always felt like it tastes super bland, but the way that I used to make kiwi chips was skin on everything super thin in the dehydrator until they were crispy, but it's a very, it's such a simple product. Like it is so simple to understand, but there's a reason that they don't exist. It's a really hard product to make well. To keep the color and keep the like vibrant taste of it is difficult in our
00:06:14
Speaker
chips all taste like bright fruit, not like that muted. A lot of the dried fruit out there, like you know those Philippine mangoes, they're delicious. So, so good. Like a lot of them have tons of added sugar and preservatives, and I just didn't want to do that. And so our products are really popular with people on the go. They're really light and mess free. And so also like moms love them for their kids and they're great for activities. They're great for couch Netflix time. They're, you know,
00:06:41
Speaker
we just started doing a garnish line for restaurants. And so like even doing some other kinds of fruits and putting them in drinks. And now people are doing that with the rest of our chips too. Just throw in like, of course, an orange, an orange chip is great. And then into an old fashioned, I have used it many, many times, including camping, by the way, nothing like making a gorgeous old fashioned when you're in the woods with a a chiwis orange slice. So also camping but the chocolate drizzled orange chip using that in a store.
00:07:10
Speaker
with a marshmallow is very good. Good to know. So I will go back now, I guess about three years when I first tried it, your product, I brought home the Kiwi chips.
00:07:22
Speaker
and opened the bag and my daughter reached in before I could she pulled one out and her first reaction was ew it looks weird and I just I just you know classic dad I'm gonna just put it in your mouth like and stop talking and just eat it and with one bite she's like this is delicious and she grabs five you know a handful more and runs away And I think when it comes to sustainability, one of the things that is on my radar often is the processing that goes into food products. And in your case, given that so much of the fruit, including the exterior, is included in the sliced fruit, it reminds us that sometimes we don't need to process things the way that we typically do, and and we don't need to manufacture things the way that we so often are are accustomed to.
00:08:10
Speaker
So when you kind of I'm sure you've gone through so much product testing and so many alternatives and iterations of what this fruit could be or what people want what people want more of. I mean, you're running a business, right? You want to make things that people love. What's been the customer reaction to there being things like you you know some of the exterior bits of this fruit that's right in on the chip?
00:08:33
Speaker
I think with the kiwi chip, people weren't super fussed about it. like They got it and it's such thin skin that it wasn't a big deal. In the States, we have noticed with the orange chip because it has the rind on it, which is really full of antioxidants and nutrients and fiber. Some like American customers are like, I don't know if I want to eat this, but then they tried. like oh this actually doesn't taste bad but that's one that we've kind of seen throw some chocolate on there and they don't care but you know we've tested a lot of different things i was talking to my marketing director the other day like we need to do a social media post about all of the funny ideas we've had that never came to fruition
00:09:11
Speaker
Like we did a chili pineapple chip, a chili mango chip. We thought that would be so cool. We have really fun packaging and stuff, but you know, you try different things and not everything makes it. But I think like upcycling and upcycled when I started this wasn't as trendy as it is now. So people are more in the know about that and they get it. I still get asked about it once in a while, but it's definitely something, especially when you're in like around food, people and buyers, they are looking kind of for that now. It's like sustainable.
00:09:40
Speaker
Yeah, and unfit fruit for the produce section, it's nothing new that that's been used for food products, but it's usually, you know, smashed into beverage, it's smashed into ah jams, it's made into a bunch of other things. But the idea of like, hey, this still has like in its current form, still some usefulness and it's still delicious. The fact that you've taken that upcycling effort and made it snackable with very minimal processing, I think is a beautiful thing.
00:10:09
Speaker
thanks Talk to us about being a women-owned business. What's that like in this current market? We always hear about the big, bad grocery stores and it being a dog-eat-dog world. and And I know you have a few stakeholders and your sort of your your business ecosystem is ah you've got a nice group of people and support, including your team. But what's it like owning and running a women-owned business in the food space?
00:10:35
Speaker
I think it's good. like I think that we've had in the past, I forget which retailer it was because it's so rude of me. I think it might have been Sobies that had a women-owned area. and I think that you can take advantage of this. like I think the women-owned stamp on the back of our bag helps like our target customer. There's lots of different ones, but the main one is a woman. There are grants out there for women.
00:10:58
Speaker
other than, you know, there's stats about funding and things like that. But I think you've been easy to your advantage. Like we have over 60% female investors in TV's, which is amazing. But like, that's great. But then again, I don't know. I've always been an entrepreneur and I've always, I guess, had women led businesses. So it's just normal. I don't know what it's like to not happen. Very fair. That's very fair.
00:11:24
Speaker
Where are you currently selling all of your products? I mean, I see you guys all over here in the lower mainland in the Vancouver area. So this is your backyard. You're just up the highway on Squamish on the coast. Where are people coming across your product across the country or or beyond?
Expanding Across North America
00:11:41
Speaker
We are across Canada. We're national in Whole Foods. we We're in 7-Eleven. We're in HomeSense and like Winters Marshalls across Canada. Lots of like smaller independent stores. But to be honest, for us being in British Columbia, it is so much easier to send product to California than send it across the country.
00:12:02
Speaker
So it hasn't been a huge, huge push to blanket Ontario, not even tribe in Quebec. And yeah, we're Canadian um and that might not sit well with people, but like freight is crazy. It is so expensive and our focus has been the west coast of the state starting and we launched in like April or May.
00:12:24
Speaker
into some stores. We launched into Bristol Farms and Lazy Acres, New Leaf. And now we're in over a hundred stores in the west coast of the States. And we're launching into 65 whole food stores in October. And I think that that's kind of where we're going to see the most success. Same kind of values as people here more. A lot of the bigger stores there, like Alabla's want to charge us like $30,000 per flavor to get on their shelves. So I'm not doing that.
00:12:53
Speaker
I get that makes a total sense, especially given, oh, you have a p sidekick behind you there. That's Linda. Oh, Linda, what kind of puppy dog is that? Hey Linda, she's a Texas mutt. That's awesome. She's pretty cool. Yeah, that's awesome. So when it comes to your consumers, where are they finding you in the grocery store? They're finding you next to Doritos. Are they finding you next to, you know, mixed to nuts? Where in the grocery store do they track you down?
00:13:24
Speaker
We are in a few different like, it's funny, we got into save on a couple years ago and they they found us on tiktok and they wanted to put us in I was just stoked on that and they put us in produce, which is not as successful as other stores like Whole Foods where we're in like the healthy snack area. That's where we usually are listed around like hippie snacks and There's some other like dried fruit cracker like the stand up pouch kind of format. There's a lot of healthy snacks and that kind of format and that's where you would usually find us. But some stores they're like, Oh, it's fruit. I'll put it by fruit and it is often hidden. But yeah, healthy snacking is where we try to tell the buyers of the stores where to put us where they'll be the most successful because like you put us somewhere that's hidden, we're all going to lose.
00:14:05
Speaker
Yeah, that's for sure. I can't help but feel like chiwis would be a great fit for an airline, just given that it's so packable and so light. I don't know if they are other restrictions around fruit moving around the world. I don't know, but I can't help but feel like it'd be a good fit. Not really dried fruit.
00:14:23
Speaker
To be honest, we've done a bunch of exports and we've thought about the airline thing. One thing I've always thought, like why are there no smart suites on airlines like that? I would buy them all the time. But when you do sell to an airline, it's almost like a marketing activity. it is You do not make any money at all. and it's a lot It's a big project. It's a lot of manpower. and It's always just like we don't have time for that. We have to focus on things that will actually give us a return. But there's a company, I think the other Canadian called Twigs and they're on their pretzel company. Actually, people always say our bags are very similar similar, but they're on Air Canada. They are. Yeah, they're in Air Canada and three farmers snacks are on um a couple other regional airlines. So it's nice to see Canadian snack companies getting into the air into the airways, which is great.
00:15:12
Speaker
Let's go back to your supply chain for a moment. Here you are on the west coast of Canada. You are not growing kiwis and pineapples in your backyard. What's it like to find this fruit and to get it to where you need to get it to get it produced? So when I first started, I really wanted to use upcycled fruit. But when when I started, I was working out of like 100 square feet out of another BC or a Squamish company, a Squamish Water Kefir. They rented me like a corner of their there are space.
00:15:38
Speaker
And so I was getting kiwis from a fruit wholesaler in Vancouver, but when Whole Foods was the first customer, I realized this is a terrible business idea. I want i want to grow something to scale it. I cannot be making these things myself. And then I found co-manufacturing partners that are by the farms where all this fruit is, because about 10% of the fruit grown is not suitable for grocery stores.
00:16:02
Speaker
And so we get that, and it's really important to have manufactured by the suppliers because again, freight. Also, if you want the fruit at the optimal time where the nutrients are at optimal levels, the ripeness is at optimal level, and when you're moving stuff all over the world, like that's not ideal.
00:16:20
Speaker
so It's really tough to find co-manufacturing partners. I'm sure with like every kind of food business because they're not out there marketing themselves. and You have to do a ton of work and find the right people who share your values and can make your product. And there's R and&D and all this stuff, but we've been really lucky to find some amazing manufacturing partners that can make the product better than I could and using recycled fruits and can scale so that we can work with companies like ah retailers like Costco and have the certifications to work with retailers like a Costco because just to get those would probably be like hundreds of thousands of dollars and that's not something we're doing. No, totally get that. And I know that Chiwis is up for some awards coming up later this year.
Awards and Industry Recognition
00:17:03
Speaker
Why don't you share a little bit about some of the accolades you've had and that are kind of upcoming all going well.
00:17:10
Speaker
We're up for the Sustainability Award at the Rise Awards, which used to be the BC Food and Beverage Awards, which is cool. ah It's our third year being nominated for, actually the past two years, I think we were nominated for two awards. We've lost all of them. So maybe this is the year, year three. So we're up for that one. And and we were runner up, I guess, second place winner at a UNFI show in June in Toronto, which was great, but I don't know. I think that's it.
00:17:38
Speaker
Yeah, well, it's it's great to see you getting the the support that you've worked so hard for. And I know that your team works so hard. I see you at the shows, at the industry shows, seeing your product on shelf and all the places I see you guys on.
00:17:53
Speaker
on clip strips and on high shelves and low shelves and big feature displays. ah You're next to the checkouts. You're kind of feel like it's really it's really clicking. And so it's so exciting to see that taking shape for you. And yes, I am hopeful for your sustainability awards through the BC Food and Beverage Rise Awards. where We are the sponsor of that one, Ethical Food Group. So we're excited to sort of see you in the mix there. It's a wonderful community that you're involved in, that you've been involved in for so long. so Excited for for that coming up for you. I can't believe it's been so long. It really doesn't feel like it. Like into our fourth year is wild. It's just times going by so fast. That is true. We blink, right? We blink. Yeah. Yeah. So I have a question for you. If you already have a celebrity endorsement, unplanned, unprompted, someone out in the great A-list celebrity sphere just started pumping the tires of chiwis, who would it be?
00:18:50
Speaker
There is a few, one person who I like, who actually helped me get through the first bit of Chibis when I was slicing Chibis by hand on a mandolin and I was working like 14 hour days in this tiny corner of the space. I listened to Mark Marin's podcast, WTF.
00:19:09
Speaker
constantly like he got me through that time. And I actually reached out to their his reps. I know he's filming in Vancouver right now. So I just wanted to give him some product and say thank you for making me not lose my mind. That's more of just like, I think he's so funny. And I love his comedy so much. And his podcast. I also really love Chelsea handler. think If I could get some product in her hands, which I also tried to do because she goes to Whistler all the time. And so a friend of mine knows someone who is a her I was like, get, give them to her. Never happened. Supposedly people try to give her stuff all the time. I bet. Yeah. But you're allowed to say it out loud on a podcast. There's nothing wrong with that. For sure. Yeah. I think she's funny. I would probably like them. That's good. You get bonus points for not saying Ryan Reynolds or b Blake Lively, by the way. Well, I think that she's in a bit of hot water at the moment, but, uh, I like his movies. He's not, uh, not my hall pass.
00:20:03
Speaker
yeah That I get, that I get. But as a business person, he's obviously very good at that. I bet, hey Ryan, if you're listening, she always will be up for sale in two years. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink. Yeah. That's awesome. Sarah, thanks for the time. Thanks for everything that you guys do and that you make. It's a beautiful product and I am proud to serve it to my family. Oh, that's the best. Thanks so much.
Conclusion: Learn More About the Ethical Food Industry
00:20:30
Speaker
Thanks for listening to this episode of IL-42. I hope you grab a bag or two of chiwis the next time you're in the grocery store. To learn more about this podcast and the work that my team and I do in the food industry, go to ethicalfoodgroup.com. Okay, that's it for me. I'm Corwin Hebert, and I'll see you in the future.