Juan Nino - Building a 5,000+ Door Brand With 15 Family Members

On this episode, we’re joined by Juan Niño, the Director of Marketing at Artisan Tropic, a family-owned, better-for-you snack brand rooted in Colombian heritage and powered by plantains, cassava, and regenerative agriculture.

Juan’s journey is anything but typical. After a career as a professional fútbol player in Colombia, he found himself helping his aunt and uncle fulfill e-commerce orders for a small snack startup. That startup is now Artisan Tropic, a national brand found in Whole Foods, Sprouts, H-E-B, and Costco, and Juan is at the heart of its marketing, storytelling, and operational strategy.

We dive deep on Artisan Tropic’s founding story, how the family transitioned from distributing Takis to launching their own clean-label snack brand, and what it really takes to build and scale a vertically integrated CPG business that owns its own farms, believes in regenerative agriculture, and still manages to thrive in mainstream retail.

Juan also shares real-world lessons on family business dynamics, packaging refreshes, Costco launch strategy, and how to market plantains and cassava to an American audience.

Episode Highlights:
🌱 From family health crisis to mission-driven CPG brand
🇨🇴 Why Artisan Tropic built their supply chain in Colombia
📦 What they learned from doing their packaging redesign in-house
📊 How they balance storytelling with paid shopper marketing
🛒 Lessons from landing in 5,000+ doors, including Costco and Thrive
🔁 The long game of regenerative agriculture and vertical integration
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Why working with 15+ family members actually works for them
🧪 How third-party certifications (like seed oil free) shape consumer trust
💰 When and why to go all-in on retail-specific formats, media, and SKUs

⏱️ Table of Contents:
00:00 – Intro & Juan’s Fútbol-to-CPG Origin Story
04:00 – From Takis Distributors to Better-For-You Founders
07:30 – Building a Brand With 15 Family Members
12:00 – Bringing Plantains & Cassava to U.S. Retail
14:00 – Regenerative Ag, Vertical Integration & Soil Health
19:00 – Marketing That Educates (and Converts)
22:00 – Cracking Costco 
26:00 – Retail Sales Tactics
30:00 – Packaging Lessons & Brand vs. Product Hierarchy
34:00 – Hiring for Integrity and Learning By Doing

Links:
📦 Artisan Tropic – https://www.artisantropic.com
📸 Follow Artisan Tropic on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/artisantropic
📬 Contact Juan – jnino@artisantropic.com
🔗 Follow Juan on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/juan-nino-7a47ba304/

🎧 Follow Adam on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-martin-steinberg
📐 Check out https://www.kitprint.co/ for CPG production design support.

Transcript

Adam Steinberg (00:00)

Welcome to Shelf Help. Today we're speaking with Juan Nino, who's joining us from Houston, Texas. Juan is the Director of Marketing at Artisan Tropic, a family owned, better for you brand with Colombian roots that focuses on allergen free snacks produced with plantains and cassava as their core ingredients, which we'll dive into here in a second.

Juan was actually playing professional futbol in Columbia. I we're the only country that calls it soccer. When his aunt and uncle asked him to help run their e-commerce store, this was Artisan Tropic, which was, think, pretty small at the time. And the rest is history. think the brand is now sold in 4,000 5,000 retail locations. a pretty amazing journey, which we'll into here. So yeah, let's get into it. maybe just, yeah, first off, just for the listeners that aren't all that familiar with Artisan Tropic, just

give us kind of the quick lay of the land in terms of, the origin story, why behind the brand, the core products and where listeners can find them. know that's, although I know that's a lot of places.

Juan Niño - Artisan Tropic (00:57)

Yeah, I love it. So, my aunt and uncle have been in the food industry for a long time. They started a food distribution business in Charlotte, North Carolina about 20 years ago now. So, in the food business, they were distributing takis, which most people are familiar with. It's like the fun purple bag, the hot spicy lime tortillas.

Produced by Barcell down in Mexico and obviously have had a big boom here in the US. So that was like the star product that they were distributing, grew the business significantly. Towards the end of that journey, my cousin Maka, she is my uncle's, my aunt and uncle's daughter, she got sick and it was really about two years of a lot of searching different.

visits with different doctors. She even did a trip down to the Houston Medical Center, specialists, like no one could really kind of pinpoint what was going on. She just feeling really ill, a lot of symptoms, losing weight. And by chance she met a nutritionist. I mean, it wasn't, they didn't meet to necessarily talk about her situation. It was just like a family friend.

But through conversation, she just started kind of listening to what was going on and she told Maka, I can help you. I believe this is all rooted in your gut and the food that you're eating and we can heal you. so through her, she got diagnosed with Hashimoto's, which is an autoimmune disease and her healing journey began. I was lucky to kind of be, it was right after I graduated from college, so was lucky to be in Charlotte when Maka's going through this journey and.

we all started kind of really come alongside her and a lot of us worked with the nutritionist as well. And it was eye-opening. I mean, it was extremely eye-opening. You I used to drink Gatorade every day and thought it was like the greatest thing for my body. And I was an athlete and you know, was like, this is great for me. I had the concept of, well, I'm an athlete, I burn calories. So whatever I, it doesn't matter. I was, was severely mistaken, but.

Adam Steinberg (02:56)

Same.

Juan Niño - Artisan Tropic (03:09)

My uncle Maka and Maka's brother, who's now our CEO, they all really fell in love with food and not just food, but the sourcing, where the food comes from, soil health, how all that impacts our bodies, our communities, our, you know, the entire ecosystem. And so they were distributing a snack that now we wouldn't eat, you know, I mean, has seed oils, a bunch of fake colors, preservatives.

And so they really wanted to launch a brand that we could enjoy, one, as a family, and two, that really stood for what our values had changed. And so my uncle actually did a couple of trips down to Colombia to different expos and just trying to connect with producers down in Colombia. They really felt that that was where they wanted to produce and bring the product to the United States. And so

He happened to meet this awesome plantain farmer down at an expo. He is a second generation farmer. His father owned and ran a bunch of plantain farms down in the coffee region of Colombia. He made that connection and was really intrigued. They had a manufacturing facility for plantain strips. They went down on a trip. The best part of this story is that they go down on this trip and they go.

to the farm, his name's Oscar, they go to his farm, which is the most incredible agroforest that is a stunning, stunning, you would never think you're in a farm, you're just thinking this is like a lush rainforest, it's beautiful. But his son was at the breakfast as well, you know, they're meeting as business partners and he just fell in love with Maca, like at first sight. So it became really in the family because they're married now and they have two kids and so it's like a neat part of the story.

Adam Steinberg (04:44)

I'm

Juan Niño - Artisan Tropic (04:52)

But that's really kind of the backstory, the origin, and the business started to grow. At that point, I was, as you mentioned, playing professional football down in Colombia. I started just doing a little bit of online fulfillment on the side for my uncle, for Arts and Tropic. And then just slowly, slowly got more into the business. My aunt would always tell me, like, you just need to come on full time. And I was like, no.

I'm gonna play football for a really long time not doing that. But sure enough, life changes and I was getting the opportunity to come on full time. As you mentioned, I really started to get very much into the e-commerce side of things, which we have our storefront through Shopify and then now I'm our director of marketing. So doing a lot obviously of in-store activation through Instacart ads, shopper marketing, supporting through demos, marketing. So that's a bit of the backstory.

Adam Steinberg (05:44)

Really, really inspiring story. Um, so I know that I know the brand is it's a family business. clearly. You talked a lot about that and I think there seems to be like, I don't know, a fair amount of polarizing views in the business world on both sides. Some people say it's the best thing ever. Other people can say it's like, it's a recipe for disaster about building a business with family. So from someone that's actually done the thing and built a really successful business with your family.

I'm just curious, what's that experience been like? What's been like the pros and cons?

Juan Niño - Artisan Tropic (06:13)

That's funny. Yeah, we get that a lot. it's always like a 50 50 like, that's awesome. We're like, man, that must be wild or intense. Yeah, I would say I think my aunt and uncle and my mom, who's a very big piece of the company have, I've just been really good with with laying clear boundaries, very good communication. think, thankfully, you know, it's my brother, my sister, my mom.

My cousin Juan is our CEO, Maca, co-founder. I think thankfully we've all just been mature and understood our role as family and friends, which we love each other and adore each other, but have been able to put a very clear boundary on work is work and we're professional and we communicate well and we understand our role within the company. yeah, truthfully, people don't believe us. We haven't had any like drama or...

or fights, you know, thankfully, I think we're aligned on our passion for the brand and we want to see the brand grow and aligned on the values of the brand. So that, think, has been really helpful from the beginning, just having a very clear understanding and boundaries of what's expected. I think if the boundaries in communication wasn't good, then for sure, we'll leave a lot of room for drama. But I can truthfully say that there hasn't been any.

Adam Steinberg (07:27)

That's great.

Juan Niño - Artisan Tropic (07:27)

It's

been an awesome past 11 years.

Adam Steinberg (07:31)

That's really awesome.

Let's just say there were two siblings who are considering starting a business together

it sounds like really the main recommendation you'd have is just having those clear boundaries in terms of where the business is and where the family is. Anything beyond that you feel like if two other siblings approach, it's, hey, we're thinking about starting a business together too. Anything you could tell us to help us prepare for what's to come?

Juan Niño - Artisan Tropic (07:54)

Yeah, that's a good, man, we've heard some horror stories out there in the food and buffs market about families and businesses. And I mean, I would say it is better to have everything written and just very clear legally. That'll help just avoid any issues in case there is some drama or, or, you know, the goals changed from sibling to sibling. I mean, cause that can happen. Life changes, priorities change.

I think from the beginning if things are very clear and set legally and written then it'll help avoid those things. And you know it's not for everyone. I mean it's definitely not.

Adam Steinberg (08:31)

Yeah, sure. And that doesn't surprise me at all. It's got to be the right family that has the right family dynamic to make it work, Yeah, not all families have as good a dynamic as yours probably does.

Juan Niño - Artisan Tropic (08:37)

Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure.

I mean, thankful that at least with this other family, it's been smooth sailing.

Adam Steinberg (08:49)

I know you have brought plantains and cassava strips into the US market

what's that experience been like and kind of any learnings or like uncommon approaches or strategies that's kind of helped the brand stand out in the US market as part of that of bringing in these plantains and cassava strips into the US market from outside the US?

Juan Niño - Artisan Tropic (09:08)

Yeah, that's a good question. mean, you know, definitely from a consumer standpoint, it is still very new. Plantains have a bit more of, I would say, like a recognition across, you know, U.S. culture. I think a lot of people understand a plantain is a bigger version of a banana. So and there are more brands, you know, that provide plantain strips in the market.

Cassava has definitely been one that maybe the idea of cassava has grown because Ciete and other brands do cassava flour tortilla chips, but actually cassava strips, which is what we do, which is simply just slicing the root. We do a quick roast in our production facility and add sea salt. That is still very new. We see it when we do demos, when we're out doing certain field marketing things that

So many people, if you ask them, what is a cassava, they might have kind of an idea of the word or maybe recognize the, you know, because of Ciate and other brands, but they actually could never explain to you what it is, what it looks like, where it comes from. So that piece is still something we are actively trying to improve the education side. Education is expensive too. mean, takes manpower, takes time, money, investment.

So it's something we've learned a lot about, I would say, from the marketing point of view. I think my aunt and uncle and Maka, who was very involved in the first few years of Artisan Tropic, did a really good job of identifying our demographic and our value propositions. And so I think we brought Plantain and Casaba knowing very well that they are both gluten-free. They are both grain-free offerings. They're both certified paleo.

I had a very clear value proposition on the type of person we were wanting to target. Um, Maka is also, I mean, she is a food genius. And from the beginning, even before like this big wave we're seeing now seed oil free, um, she was adamant about using sustainable palm oil, um, serving a snack that was truly, um, very clean and nutritious from the ground up. Uh, so.

I think that helped a lot, bringing a product over that isn't necessarily an American staple. Will plantainic side chips ever be tortilla chips or potato chips? I don't know. is something that's been ingrained in American culture for so long. But yeah, it's been really good to grow and really cool to see that there is that opportunity to bring something that is different to the US.

Adam Steinberg (11:26)

Yeah.

Yeah, that's really cool. I think I read a little while back that

at least about 20 % of your raw inputs, assume that's mostly the actual plantains and the cassava was coming from actually farms that you guys own. And you have that goal to eventually get that to a hundred percent, which I think is part of this whole regenerative goal that you'll dive into here in a second, but just in general, like what have you found

are the benefits of really being a bit more vertically integrated and owning those raw inputs of your supply chain and any have there been any like challenges or drawbacks the other side too?

Juan Niño - Artisan Tropic (12:00)

Yeah, for sure. Well, first, I think the biggest benefit is you're very connected to the food you're eating. I mean, obviously, modern day culture, we've lost our connection to food, where it comes from. Even 100 years ago, most people were growing part of their food. And that connection to food and understanding where it comes from is really powerful when it helps us understand how important it is for our bodies that food can truly be medicine.

And so I'd say first that is really powerful, just being connected to the food. It's, yeah, I mean, it definitely has challenges. As you mentioned, it is around that. I think maybe around 15 to 20 % of the raw materials we use come from either land that we own as a company or land that we've rented out and are managing ourselves. And we have been working very hard to implement regenerative practices.

and all those farms that we managed down in Colombia. would say it's been regeneration is in this like straight line that we maybe thought it would be when we first started this process. There's it's been a roller coaster. There's been a lot of learnings, know, a lot of humbling moments where we thought this this plan would work and it didn't. But it is really awesome to say that, you know, we've completely eliminated chemical inputs from those

Those farms, we've established more rotation to really protect soil health. We've seen a lot of biodiversity come back, which is really, really encouraging. So yeah, I'd say that part of the process has been really motivating. ⁓ But being vertically integrated, I'd say generally has had a lot of positives. mean, mine and Uncle also own the manufacturing facility, so it really helps be able to control kind of that supply chain.

Adam Steinberg (13:34)

Yeah.

Juan Niño - Artisan Tropic (13:45)

But of course there's challenges, know, importing, mean, there's tariffs, know, you know, policies change from president to resident. Like it's a lot of stuff that you're always kind of on your toes to be able to ⁓ be flexible and manageable.

Adam Steinberg (13:58)

Yeah.

Yeah. I understanding that everything is pretty much a case by case basis, but if there is a path to do so,

would you recommend that they invest the time and resources to be a bit more vertically integrated, whether it's owning your raw inputs and or the actual, you know, manufacturing and production as well?

Juan Niño - Artisan Tropic (14:19)

I would say, mean, if there is that possibility, yes, it's 100 % worth it. I know it's not possible for everyone, for sure, as you mentioned, but yeah, mean, for us, 100 % worth it.

Adam Steinberg (14:30)

Yeah, we touched on the regenerative piece a little bit. I know this is a big focus of the supply chain from your standpoint and a big part of the brand story. What does your strategy look like generally in terms of educating consumers about this regenerative aspect and how do you integrate it within your overall marketing and messaging strategy?

Juan Niño - Artisan Tropic (14:53)

That's a great question. I mean, I think like our vision as a company is to produce food that is truly nutritious and does good for our employees, our communities, and our consumers. And so everything has to stem from that. I mean, we'd be lying and greenwashing if we're not genuinely and actively investing in trying to do that.

we have learned that the food we eat is only as healthy as the soil in which it was grown. If the soil is full of herbicides, the food that comes from that soil will be full of herbicides. And that's scientifically proven. That's why there's third party testing now for glyphosate, which is the most used herbicide in the world. I think that not everyone cares. And that's true. Not everyone's going to care that.

a brand is investing in Region Ag and that the product is certified free of glyphosate or that is certified sea of freed oils. But there's a huge community and it's definitely growing of people that are starting to see food as medicine. you might pay a dollar 50 more for our bag of plantain strips, but you know it's certified and third party tested for a lot of things that in the long run will be harmful for your body. ⁓

Adam Steinberg (15:59)

Yeah.

Juan Niño - Artisan Tropic (16:00)

And so from a marketing perspective, it's inviting people to come along the story with us. It's educating people on why this matters for you, the consumer, because we believe that long term that will impact not just our planet's health and the soil's health, but human health.

So yeah, the market size is really interesting on the region. I mean, like, it's definitely growing and you kind of get into that bowl of other brands that you're around and that we know and it's like, this is a big thing. But but you know, you go into like your local Walmart and you look around and it's like, it's not that big of a thing yet. But but that's the goal. And it's it's the more you dive into it, the more you see that it's just going back to the way things were done by farmers back.

years ago. mean, it's going back to ancestral roots of how farming was approached of protecting the land, soil and biodiversity. Because it really is like all connected, you know, if the soil is healthy, animals are healthy, if the food is healthy, humans are healthy. And it's a beautiful cycle. So yeah, for me being able to kind of lead the marketing and be a big part of the voice for our brand on the storytelling side.

Yeah, something I really take to heart and hope to continue to spread and be able to educate people on.

Adam Steinberg (17:13)

some people care about these types of things more than others.

I mean, it feels like on some level the proof of the pudding. Like you said, you're able to charge a dollar, dollar fifty more and you guys are obviously having a lot of success with it. it's having some level of impact. got, there's definitely some level of the market that really cares about it, right?

Juan Niño - Artisan Tropic (17:28)

Yeah. And I mean, obviously, you know, as a business, you want to be competitive. You know, I mean, that's a reality. Like you have to sell, have to be profitable and you want to be competitive because price is important. You know, markets like Whole Foods, there's a ton of great brands doing good things. And so you want to have a clear value proposition and you want to have a good price. mean, inflation is real. Families have all sorts of different situations. ⁓ But, you know, if our core values are aligned with that, then our product has to...

Adam Steinberg (17:48)

Yeah.

Juan Niño - Artisan Tropic (17:55)

align with that. And I'd say MAKA really has been the one that's really spearheaded our certifications and the why behind it. you know, for our newest certification is C2O Free certified. So we're third party tested by the C2O Free Alliance. And even though we've always been C2O Free, having that third party testing and transparency for consumers, I think adds a lot of value.

So yeah, I mean, obviously, like as you mentioned, some people, yeah, won't care. But I do think the education around food is growing a ton. People are becoming more aware of how important it is.

Adam Steinberg (18:34)

Yeah, totally agree. totally agree. shifting gears a bit, I believe you guys launched in Costco, like somewhat maybe recently, unless I'm a bit behind the times. Costco is definitely the dream retailer for a lot of brands. So just tell me a bit about that journey of actually getting on the shelf at Costco in terms of getting that first buyer meeting, getting that commitment and all the steps that kind of led up to a successful launch.

Juan Niño - Artisan Tropic (18:58)

Yeah, so my brother Jose and our CEO is another Juan with a lot of Juans in the family. They really kind of spearheaded that project. They got connected to a broker who had really good relationships with some of the buyers in certain regions.

and started the process of presenting the product. Costco, I you have to really rethink a lot of the product. mean, obviously it's a club size offering. you create a new bag, really plug into a lot of numbers of Costco goods sold. What does the volume look like? And so it was definitely a process. mean, I know Jose and Juan worked extremely hard for about a year and a half probably before.

our first rotation. And then, you know, once you're in, you're rotating. I think there's been a lot of learning lessons for us as well. You know, Costco shopper is obviously very value driven, but also Costco, more and more, they're extremely good, high quality products. And so kind of finding that sweet spot of we are offering value, but we're not losing our value propositions has been

a lot of learning lessons there. then, you know, launching successfully, I mean, I would say have a really good plan in place. Don't just hope for, you know, we hit the floor and people are just gonna like buy this like, like crazy. Have a good marketing plan in place. Instacart's a great place to...

To move units, they power Costco's one day delivery, extremely good cost per unit move for brands there. Whether that's activating influencers for awareness, partnering with Costco for demos is obviously a very good strategy. But have a plan in place, have clear idea of how you're gonna really maximize that rotation opportunity you just got. Because the performance needs to be there, mean, Costco moves.

an incredible amount of money and the products that are everyday items move an unbelievable amount of velocities. So it's really good to have a plan in place to really maximize that opportunity because the opportunities come and if it doesn't go well, it won't come again. So thankfully we've had some really good rotations and are hoping for more rotations this year.

Adam Steinberg (20:53)

Yeah.

That's great. What have you found is key to winning in Costco that's maybe unique compared to some of the other big box retailers?

Juan Niño - Artisan Tropic (21:08)

Yeah, mean, Costco one has a like everyone knows very cult following and then it's and know people are very into Costco and so I would say.

from an awareness perspective, find the right people to partner with. mean, there's, there's a lot of really good Instagram accounts, influencers that just focus on Costco and that they're, they're well-respected voices within that Costco community. I would say if, if you're approaching Costco and starting to have those first conversations and, know, looking at a first potential rotation, go walk Costco's frequently analyze the trays that people use. you're a chip, I mean, it's, it's just low hanging fruit.

go analyze what they're calling out, how the trays are made, where are the certifications on a bag at Costco, for example. That's something we did, we kept the certifications where we usually have them at Whole Foods, but you have a tray, so a third of the bag is covered by the tray, so where do want really people to see those two seconds you got to really call someone's attention. Analyze sizes, just walk the floor, I think it gives you really good sense of what will be valuable for a consumer.

Adam Steinberg (22:02)

Great point.

Juan Niño - Artisan Tropic (22:15)

very kind of a snapshot of a time you got to capture their attention. And then, know, as I mentioned, obviously like pricing is huge for Costco, it is value driven. And then I would say like another learning lesson perhaps is trying to be open to just adjusting a bit to Costco and ideas that maybe the buyer has, they're very vocal, so.

Just kind being open to, okay, well, this has worked really well at Whole Foods, it might not just be exactly what Costco needs. So being able to just kind of tweak here and there, think being flexible would be important.

Adam Steinberg (22:47)

Yeah, that, makes lot of sense. Maybe in terms of outside of Costco, in terms of kind of retail tactics in general, like what have you guys found

that a brand should have to really, you know, one, to be able to like pitch buyers really effectively and also achieve sustained success at retail? So I'm talking about like, you know, whether it's like sales decks for pitching the buyers, like sales used in one pagers, maybe it's like the shelf talkers or.

I aisle violators, end caps,

what comes to mind on that front?

Juan Niño - Artisan Tropic (23:14)

Yeah, well, I think a lot of things come to mind. would say first, I would have a really clear understanding on who your customer is or who your hero is. We, about two and a half years ago, Juan, our CEO, led us through a book called The Story Brand by Donald Miller.

extremely good book and just I think a really good perspective on business and how to make sure that you're identifying your hero, which should be the customer and the value proposition you're offering to them. think that really helped us start really kind of gearing our sales materials decks in the right direction. You know, when you're pitching a deck to a buyer, the buyer should be the hero of that deck. And how am I offering value to his set? What does my product bring that?

his set currently doesn't have. think presenting in that way is really powerful and that really shifted after we did that and we've opened up a lot of new accounts. I manage our e-commerce by my brother's director of sales and we have two other sales guys that we've all implemented making the buyer or the person in charge of making those decisions the hero and are seeing the results. We've opened up Thrive Market, we've opened up

our crackers and a lot of different retailers the past year, Sprouts, Harris Teeter. We were growing a ton into the food service area, which is one of our sales guys that's crushing it there. We've opened up at Netflix, Metta, all these big high scale offices and really threw a lot of that framework of understanding who the hero is. It's not you, it's your consumer and the buyer. So I'd say that's important. I think another thing we've learned a lot

Adam Steinberg (24:50)

Thank

Juan Niño - Artisan Tropic (24:56)

from our CEO and an advisor that we work with, his name is Elliot Began, is really measuring well everything you're doing as best as possible. Have something that you can measure performance with. Even if it's just a simple influencer campaign, like what is my measuring stick for this campaign? What are the KPIs that I'm expecting? And having a control group, some sort of way to measure the impact of what you're doing. I think a lot of brands, you know, they...

They maybe have a lot of funding or the capacity to power a lot of money behind what they're doing, but maybe they're not measuring extremely well that performance. think cost-prevent move is a good measure for brands, making sure what you're activating is moving units at a reasonable price. It's not sustainable to move units at an extremely high price over a long time. So I'd say those are some tips that we've seen a lot of good results in past two years.

Adam Steinberg (25:48)

That's all really helpful.

Yeah, that really helpful. A similar question I had,

it seems like the more retail distribution footprint expands, the more like one-off requests a brand gets from each kind of retail or retail group that they're working with, whether it's special SKUs or pack sizes, like you said, for Costco, or maybe it's like, you know, the Sprouts group is asking for some other specific SKU or maybe it's just like,

retailer specific media and ads that obviously take a fair amount of design resources because you have to design them specifically for that each one off retailers rather than having something you can use everywhere. Like how should brands think about balancing the need to go above and beyond for retailers versus obviously maintaining margins and staying within your budget?

Juan Niño - Artisan Tropic (26:30)

Well, I it really depends on your goal. think not a lot of brands in food and have a goal of being profitable. I think the goal for a lot of brands, especially emerging brands, is just to have massive growth because that's what a lot of investors want. They just want massive growth and then not necessarily a profitable business. So I'd say it depends on the brand. But

I think as far as adhering to specific requests from retailers, it really depends on the depth of the partnership, the volume that that partnership will move for your brand. For us, there's certain retailers that their specific requests will be taken very seriously because of the amount of revenue that they produce for us. While not that these other retailers aren't as important, but their impact for our bottom line is not as big.

There's maybe more stuff that would have to be considered to adjust the specific needs. I really believe our sales team does a very good job of having personal relationships with a ton of our retailers. But you only have so much manpower to be able to kind of provide that. But I would say it depends on just percentage of revenue. If a retailer is producing 40 % of your revenue, then your marketing spend and your investment should align with that.

percentage of the revenue. So yeah.

Adam Steinberg (27:44)

Yeah.

That's a totally logical way to look at it for sure. Let's talk about packaging for a minute. I know you guys executed a packaging refresh rebrand. I think it was like a year or two ago, maybe. If let's just say if I were, if I ran marketing at a better for you brand and I told you

I'm considering a packaging refresh as well,

what kind of questions would you ask me that helped me confirm? Like if this is even the right strategy to do, do a packaging refresh at all?

Juan Niño - Artisan Tropic (28:09)

Wow, the packaging. my gosh. ⁓ Endless hours we've spoken about packaging. Yes, we did do an in-house packaging refresh and it was actually about four years ago now. But it really hit the market about three years ago now. I just laugh because man, holy cow, we've learned a lot about packaging. I would say if you are an emerging brand,

Adam Steinberg (28:11)

Hahaha

Juan Niño - Artisan Tropic (28:31)

and you have the capacity to hire an agency that specializes in food and buff packaging, go for it. It will save you a lot of headaches in the future. There's people that are specialists, they understand really well the hierarchy of a packaging, what are the right value propositions. And that's something that we just transparently, I think, learned maybe a little bit the harder way. And it's not bad. It's part of our journey. I feel really proud that we in-house produce our current packaging. think...

Adam Steinberg (28:57)

Yeah, totally.

Juan Niño - Artisan Tropic (28:58)

I think for not being designers, it turned out really well. But there's definitely some pain points that we've noticed the more we've learned. think the hierarchy in our packaging isn't ideal. Our brand name or brand recognition, if you look at the packaging, gets a little lost. So I'd say start there. Definitely define if you want to be a more brand forward packaging.

or a more product forward packaging. And both scenarios can be the best option depending on who you are. There are certain categories where maybe the product itself is much more important to the consumer than the brand. But I think long term, if you really want to grow, I think brand is really important. I mean, you look at brands that have been acquired recently, Poppy, Simple Mills, Siete, Lester Evil. I think they nailed the brand and it was

You just couldn't miss this yet a bag like I could spot it from a hundred yards away. ⁓ Massive logo, really good hierarchy. Same with simple mills, very clear value propositions. So I would say if you are approaching a refresh first, ask yourself really is our our in-house team have a very good understanding of what they're going to do?

Adam Steinberg (29:53)

Totally.

Juan Niño - Artisan Tropic (30:10)

Because not everyone can afford an agency and that's totally okay. And if you are going to work with an agency, then have a really good idea of your vision, your mission, who your brand is, so that can be really reflected in a visual way on whether it's a can, box, But yeah, we've learned a lot and we're still learning, but excited for things to come.

Adam Steinberg (30:12)

Cheers.

Yeah, totally. I

A question on that front.

how do you balance that need for like a fresh look

Also with the importance of keeping some of those familiar legacy brand elements for the existing customers that they know and recognize? So when they come in and try to find the product on the shelf, like, they're still going to know, okay, this is the brand I'm familiar with and comfortable with, and I know how and where to find it?

Juan Niño - Artisan Tropic (30:40)

Yeah.

Yeah, that was hard in the refresh for sure. mean, you want to be able to kind of bridge the gap of what you were and the new refresh. I think we did a really good job of keeping the logo structure and the overall kind of hierarchy was the same. We just added a bit more color and movement, some new elements. So.

It wasn't too drastic, but I mean that is like something we've talked about internally is like if we do see that there's a need to really enhance our packaging in a more brand forward way that we really want the brand to be the hero.

from what we have right now that would require a lot more of a kind of a restructure. And those are big questions. There is certainly brand equity already. We've been in business for 11 years. And is it too late to do those changes? And I think these are stuff that every team internally can analyze. I think it really depends on where you're at at that moment. If you're still an emerging brand and you don't have it.

big national footprint. I would say if you're going to go for it, then go for it then and not when you're growing. I don't know, I think there's always opportunities to change your packaging if it's really going to align with your long-term goals. yeah, I think that refresh we did really well. And then if we do do it in the future, I think it just really depends on where we see ourselves in the long term. But yeah.

Adam Steinberg (32:12)

Yeah.

Juan Niño - Artisan Tropic (32:15)

Packaging is fun. It's deep world.

Adam Steinberg (32:18)

For sure.

Totally. There's a lot of nuance to it. Shifting gears a bit, talking about talent... What does your team look like in the marketing side of things? And that could be, you know, include internally also, you know, contractors, agencies, like I guess your whole internal and extended team, let's say.

Juan Niño - Artisan Tropic (32:34)

Yeah. So we as a marketing team have kind of shifted and involved a little bit. My cousin Maca was director of marketing for, I'd say probably the first six, seven years of the company. And she just did an extremely good job of building up a really, really good community of people through her newsletter, social media.

We have such an engaged community. I think she really laid kind of the groundwork for that. And I was able to come in and continue that. Right now, our marketing team really is me. We do work with a kind of we're kind of working a little bit with an agency on a few things. And then we occasionally work with a graphic designer down in Colombia, really talented guy.

helps us with a few things here and there. I think ideally, we would have a bigger marketing team, but right now where we're at, expanding our talent is not a priority for our budget and our goals. But I think it's also been a really awesome opportunity. think if you have the opportunity, which so many emerging brands do and entrepreneurs do, you learn a lot about a lot of things. And so for me, it's been this really special and I'm so grateful for that.

Adam Steinberg (33:31)

Sure.

Juan Niño - Artisan Tropic (33:46)

I've learned how to design packaging. I've learned how to use Klaviyo and activate flows and campaigns and design newsletters and SMS. And then I've also learned a ton about field marketing and shopper marketing and how to set up Instacart ads and Google ads and an endless amount of stuff that if I would have been in a bigger company, which isn't a bad thing, but I wouldn't have learned because my role would have been much more focused on one thing or a few things. so I'd say if you are able to

to have that opportunity to do a lot of the marketing side. think in the long term, it's so beneficial because you understand a lot of the nuances and ins and out. And when your team does grow, you're able to really provide a lot of and value to the people you work with.

Adam Steinberg (34:25)

as you're thinking about as a brand grows expanding your team and or there's other hires you guys have on the team has made overall. What, what do you look for when you're on the search for talent and like whether whatever role it is, is there anything that feels is like a must have across any role to hire?

Juan Niño - Artisan Tropic (34:43)

Yeah, I think Juan Arcio and my uncle have done a really good job of first prioritizing just character. My aunt always says that the most important thing is good attitude.

And so I think they've done a really good job of bringing in just a really good human kind of aspect for our talent. mean, everyone for Artisan Tropic is incredibly flexible, is really positive, very good attitude, very open to helping even if it's not necessarily their role. I think they've done a really good job of that. First, prioritizing character, honesty, integrity, hard work.

And then obviously, you you do want to bring people that understand different aspects of the business that can offer experience and value to different positions. I think as we grow, mean, for sure someone else on the marketing team is something that, you know, we really want to bring on potentially a chief financial officer and also a chief operational officer, just people with experience that can help guide

kind of takes to another level on our finances and operations. So yeah.

Adam Steinberg (35:46)

Yeah,

totally. Yeah, those all sound like smart hires. Well, yeah, Juan, this has been awesome. appreciate the time. I think this is going to be valuable for a lot of upcoming CPG operators. Where can people find you and follow along? And where's the best way for people to follow along with Artisan Tropic as well?

Juan Niño - Artisan Tropic (36:02)

Yeah, follow us on Instagram at artcentropic. Please subscribe to our newsletter. I think our newsletters are, yeah, very valuable. Provide a lot of good information as far as food, educational, have a really cool community there. And you can find our products nationwide at Whole Foods, Market, Sprouts. We're rotating more frequently in the Costco, Harris Teeter, Fresh Market, Hannaford, Fresh Time, HEB.

And if you ever I mean I truthfully say this if you ever have questions just want to pick my brain Please reach out to me through email. I love connecting with people or find me on LinkedIn My email is J N I N O @ artisan tropic dot com

Adam Steinberg (36:41)

Awesome. Wow, that's super generous.

We'll definitely share a link out to the newsletter when we post this. yeah, I appreciate the time, Juan. This has been great. All righty. Yeah, likewise.

Juan Niño - Artisan Tropic (36:49)

Thank you, man. I really enjoyed that. It was good to see you.