Insight
CPG founders must leverage retail chains to force distribution deals
“And that's the big catch-twenty-two of starting a food beverage company, is in order to get a store, typically a store chain, you need a distributor. And in order to get a distributor, you need a store chain. So what you really need to do is convince some stor…”
Insight
Light ice cream offered better defensibility against incumbents than frozen Greek yogurt
“All of these Greek yogurt companies, whether it's Chobani or whether it's just Ben and Jerry's or something, they could make a frozen Greek yogurt at the snap of their fingers. Whereas my little light ice cream concoction was much more unique and had a differe…”
Insight
Whole Foods builds brand image, but Kroger and Walmart drive real profits
“The real money is made in the Kroger's and the Walmarts, you know. But it's very cool to be able to say that you're in Whole Foods, and it definitely helps the brand image.”
Assertion Supported
Early Facebook ads let brands link page likes directly to in-store purchases
“They could track if you liked a page on Facebook and They could track that, link it to your wallet, and find out what type of products you were buying at the store.”
Assertion Supported
Halo Top generated more revenue in March 2016 than all of 2015
“In March 2016, in that month alone, and March isn't a great month for ice cream, March 2016 alone, we did more revenue than the entirety of 2015.”
Disclosure
Burnout drove Woolverton to refuse a multi-year earnout when selling Halo Top
“That was one of my conditions, because like I said, one of the reasons I wanted to sell was that I was just flat out burnt out, and so one of the conditions was, I'm not doing a thing. I mean, I was willing to stay on for three to six months to transition to t…”
What-if
Woolverton credits the Greek yogurt boom for enabling Halo Top
“I don't think there would be a Halo Top without Greek yogurt.”
Disclosure
Woolverton experimented with adding vodka to prevent Halo Top from freezing solid
“I actually at one point experimented putting a little bit of vodka into Halo Top. I'm not kidding. I'm not kidding.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Woolverton personally placed Halo Top in 25 stores before securing a distributor
“I think I got into about just like, 20, 25 stores on my own, and then I got into a certain chain that was big enough that they then forced their distributor to take me on.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Woolverton financed early Halo Top with $300,000 in credit card debt
“I was funding it through my legal salary and through about 300,000 in credit card lines, credit card debt.”
Disclosure
Halo Top intentionally targeted Greek yogurt fans rather than ice cream purists
“Our main target was, I always just basically said soccer moms. The type of people who liked Greek yogurt, you know, more or less. It wasn't ice cream Gourmet people who tended to be the people who hated on top the most.”
Assertion Not publicly verifiable
Halo Top became America's best-selling ice cream pint with 50% brand awareness
“Our brand awareness at that point when we became the best-selling ice cream, our brand awareness was just over 50%.”
What-if
Severe burnout forced Woolverton to sell Halo Top instead of competing
“If I were refreshed, I probably would have just held onto the company and kind of relished the challenge of getting through all these competitors and having a competitive market, but I was just burnt out, to be perfectly honest, and I was like, I cannot deal w…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Retaining 100% control allowed Woolverton to sell Halo Top without board approval
“I did have a hundred percent control, so when it came time to the sale, there, it was extremely easy. I mean, if we like the terms. Yeah, I, but just with a signature, you know, you could kind of, there was no board to run it past or anything like that.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Woolverton held $300,000 in student debt despite a $200,000 legal salary
“Well, that's actually the issue was my student debt was so high at 300,000 that even though I was making, you know, clearing 200,000 a year, I was still living like a law student.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Woolverton incorporated Halo Top just three days after buying an ice-cream maker
“Between the time I bought an ice cream maker I founded a company within three days. I was just that convinced on the concept.”
