Today we have Sarah Chalos co-founder of I Heart Keenwah with Ravi Jolly. I Heart Keenwah makes “superfoods” accessible to consumers with a range of tasty food products, including quinoa based snacks such as Himalayan pink salt chocolate quinoa puffs, peanut butter chocolate quinoa puffs and many more. They can be found in thousands of stores across the U.S. and globally in places like Whole Foods, CVS, 7-11 and of course on Amazon and their website. Before I Heart Keenwah, Sarah studied engineering at MIT, worked in R&D, manufacturing at Abbott Laboratories, earned her MBA at Chicago Booth and consulted for big corporate clients at Bain & Company. The most impressive part is that Sarah does all this while raising 2 kids.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
- [1:10] Jeremy introduces his guest, Sarah Chalos.
- [3:00] Sarah talks about getting different labels and certifications for her product.
- [4:00] Why is Bolivian quinoa a superior crop?
- [7:30] Sarah’s go to quinoa recipe.
- [8:30] What is on the horizon for I Heart Keenwah?
- [9:30] What made Sarah decide to grow her team? Who did she hire first?
- [11:30] Which conferences and trade shows do Sarah and her team attend?
- [12:30] What’s worked and hasn’t worked on the marketing front.
- [14:00] The lowest moment in business so far.
- [15:00] Sarah talks about a proud moment in her business.
In this episode…
What is the process of successfully marketing and building a business around a superfood? How do you make sure your product stands out among all the others on grocery store shelves? On this episode of Inspired Insider, you’ll hear from entrepreneur and innovator Sarah Chalos. In her conversation with Jeremy, Sarah explains how she markets her product, challenges she’s faced along the way, her favorite quinoa recipe, how she built her team, and so much more! You don’t want to miss a minute of this fascinating episode with Sarah!
When it comes to marketing a superfood or a food product in general, what are some of the best practices? Is there a magic formula or is all up to chance? On this episode of Inspired Insider, you’ll hear from Sarah Chalos as she goes over some marketing efforts with her superfood product that worked and a few that didn’t. One of the methods that worked out well for Sarah and her team is spending time in grocery stores and providing demonstrations of their quinoa products. Sarah also mentions the importance of having a lot of funding available as food products don’t often have a good return on investment starting out. To hear more tips about marketing food products from Sarah and so much more, make sure to listen to this episode!
Have you ever worked in a horrible team environment? How did you survive it? What would you have done differently? What can you do to ensure that your organization has a healthy team environment? On this episode of Inspired Insider, Sarah Chalos opens up about her experience building her business, I Heart Keenwah and when she decided to start brining in a team. While it wasn’t easy, Sarah says that her first hire made a huge difference in her work load. Her first hire was to get a team member who could focus on outreach and growing the business while Sarah and her business partner could focus on making sure the business itself stayed profitable. Learn more about building a team from Sarah by listening to this informative episode!
Resources Mentioned on this episode
Rise25 is where entrepreneurs of 6,7, and 8 figure businesses come together live and in person every few months to solve their biggest business challenges through this high-level Mastermind group. Each member leaves each week with lifelong friendships and actionable steps to take their business to the next level. Check out Rise25.com – a group run by myself and cofounder John Corcoran. Rise 25 is application only.Sponsor for this episode
