Healthy Treats Never Tasted So Sweet with Maile Swint and Percy Swint

Good afternoon, and welcome to the Essential Ingredients Podcast. I'm Justine Reichman, your host. Today, we have Percy and Maile. Welcome. Thank you guys so much for joining me. How are you?

We're pretty good.

Hi, Justine.

Oh, it's my pleasure. I'm excited to have you on today and to learn a little bit more about Canele and both of you. So Percy, Maile, do you guys want to just introduce yourselves a little bit and talk a little bit about Canele? +

Sure.

Yeah.

So my name is Miley, like Miley Cyrus. And in 2015, I was all about the healthy eating and yoga lifestyle, but I had also gone to school for desserts and pastries. I thought, how can I eat chocolate every day, but still be fit and healthy? So I thought I would start a chocolate truffle company, and I played around with a few different ingredients and recipes that I had found online. I came up with this chocolate truffle recipe that had walnuts, cocoa powder. And I think I was using gobby nectar at the time and some coconut oil. And it was so delicious. I was eating it by the spoonful, and I had started just scooping out a little truffle sizes, and I went door to door just trying to sell this wholesale. And I thought this satisfies the dairy free gluten free vegan diet, so that's who my customers will be. So I just went around town and kind of sold Girl Scout cookies, would you like to buy some chocolates? And yeah, I was getting really busy within the first few months. I was doing everything from buying ingredients, to making the product, to delivering the product, marketing and graphic design as well as I knew how too. Two years, I met Percy and I was like, here take this. I don't know how to do a website I have right now.

Well, actually, we actually met when she started the company. But it wasn't until two years later that I actually joined her full time. How we met is kind of funny because my design, my experience is in graphic design. So she actually found me through Craigslist. I had to post and we connected through Craigslist.

It connected as a graphic designer.

Yes, I did forget that--

For a graphic designer?

I was. I remember I was at my dining room table. It was really late at night and I was like, I can't keep doing graphics anymore. I don't even think that what I was doing was actually graphic design. But I was on Craigslist looking for a graphic designer because I needed help with my logo, my website, my marketing materials, and Percy was the only one that actually had a picture. And I thought, okay, he's decent looking, and he's the only one for pictures so he must be harmless.

I'm sorry, decent thing. Let our listeners in on a little secret here. This decent looking man from graphic designer to now what?

To now husband.

That's quite a promotion.

Yes.

I'll have to get that story in a minute. Okay, so you're at your dining room table, you're going through Craigslist, you find an ad, you find somebody that's a graphic designer, he's got to pay better than decent looking for--

I'm over here in a work mindset.

You call him up, you hire him and he comes on board to be your graphic designer?

Yes, he was. I think he started with my business cards, and then he did the website, he rebranded the whole website marketing materials. I will also add that I was not the easiest customer. I'm very particular on things, even the smallest things. I knew that his requirements were, you get three proofs for free included in the price, and after that, you have to pay. I was like, how am I going to do this with just three proofs?

In the beginning, it was like on a contract basis, obviously.

You get married, you date, right? So this was two years ago. So you started your business from your living room or your house? You guys were working together. And where were you? You were selling these products like you're a girl scout. So does that mean you were outside the grocery store? Does that mean that you were pitching a tent in front of apartment buildings? That's my visual because I grew up in New York City, and people put the [inaudible] in front of me.

Yeah, so actually was a Girl Scout. And I always say, I was selling the truffles like a Girl Scout because I remember having to build up the energy to go to strangers and ask them, do you want to buy what I'm selling? So I use those skills that I learned as a Girl Scout to go cold call, and cold email, and cold sell to business owners at their store location. So my process was Google vegan, or healthy cafes, juice bars restaurants in the Los Angeles area, and I had that whole list. So I mapped it out. And I thought, okay, down the street, there's six places. So I have my six boxes with me in my car, you know, in the ice chest, I would have my marketing material, my box of chocolates. And I would either call in before to see when the buyer or the owner was in order. I would just go in and see what I would find. So the majority of the time given the samples, they would try it, they would love it right away. And they would say: "Okay, let's do a dozen boxes." So I was getting orders really quickly. Should I keep going?

You're summoning up pretty well, definitely.

Oh, I think there's so much to this that I think our listeners would really appreciate because a lot of our listeners are founders. I know that the story in of itself is really inspiring because you really hit the pavement, and you went full force, and you went door to door, and you didn't stop until you got them in the stores, the restaurants and the cafes. That's inspiring. That's a true founder really getting it out there and sharing your story and your product, and not taking NO for an answer. And the proof was in the putting. People were demanding them, they were asking for them, and they were getting sold. So from that, I'd love to know a little bit about what the impact that you were trying to have with these truffles as it relates to the future of food.

Yeah. At the time, I had just a handful, a small handful of vegan friends. I was not vegan myself, but I was all about Whole Foods and Real Ingredients. And I had tried some of the vegan options that I found at these stores that I was already shopping at. And honestly, they tasted like cardboard or just dirt. And I thought, okay, this is just what I need to endure if I want to eat healthy food. And when I created this recipe, I thought I must be doing something wrong because this is so delicious. It can't be good for you.

So differentiator.

Honestly, I think it was the good quality ingredients and just keeping it simple. So there are no preservatives in the truffles. And I think the fact that they melt in your mouth and they don't have any refined sugar, which is what I was definitely always looking for in the food that I was eating.

Let's talk about that for a second. So there's no preservative, how do you deal with the whole shelf stability?

Yeah. Honestly, I think it's the coconut oil that has a really long shelf life. And at the time, I was adding walnut truffles as the base ingredients. But I saw that they were going rancid after just a few weeks. So I thought, let me cut that out and add more cacao powder, and add a little bit more maple syrup. And that's what did it. So they solidified quickly and there was no walnut oil that was making the product go rancid. So it was just that small adjustment.

So what's the shelf stability now?

So now we say six months. And honestly, it does last a little longer if you keep them refrigerated, and it has to be sealed so there's no air that gets into it.

Are these the truffles that we find in the refrigerator next to Hail Merry?

It would be something like that. Yes.

Wonderful. It's amazing to be able to find a product of that quality without any preservatives.

Yes.

I can't wait to try it though. I'm curious, can you talk to me? How has COVID impacted your ability to have this impact to be able to produce such a good quality product and meet the demand?

I would say, it's been really tough. The majority of our customers are actually restaurants, cafes, coffee shops and juice bars. And ever since the pandemic hit pretty hard in LA, even now, it's pretty hard. But a lot of our partners, they close their stores down. If they're shut down, we can no longer serve them or serve their customers. So that was a huge load on our revenue, our monthly sales dropped significantly so we had to think about new ways to get our products to people and to their doorstep. Back in 2000? Pretty much when this all started out, we decided to switch to e-commerce, and e-commerce has its pros and cons. But it was still very challenging because a lot of people were also losing their jobs. So people weren't buying these novelty items as much as they were. Christmas, we did very well on Christmas with COVID. But another huge disaster that happened was the post office delays. So we switched from wholesale to e-commerce, but we can no longer get the product to the customers because the post office had four week delays for some of the orders that were ordered. And we can't guarantee that our chocolates will be good after three days. So they got there, even if they got there for days, it was pretty bad. And a challenge early on for us when we started shipping our chocolates was, our product is so temperamental, it has to be refrigerated so it's almost like an ice cream, it's like trying to send just packages of ice cream across the nation and make sure they stay good. And some products just took four weeks to get there so it was pretty tough.

I think another thing that we dealt with was, I would say about two or three years into the business, we did try to do direct to consumer shipping, and it was a failure. We kept trying to ship and we either didn't have enough ice packs, or we didn't have enough padding so they were just all over the place by the time the customer got them. So in a way, COVID kind of pushed us to really hunker down and figure out how we are going to ship this product. Because we have no other choice, all of our restaurants and cafe partners, they're all closed. So we will say, we now have figured it out. It was a really long journey, but that is one way that we are dealing with COVID. Another way we're dealing with COVID is through Instagram. We are reaching out basically to our customers who would have bought our products at the cafes and restaurants. And if what they're following is all about healthy foods, vegan and gluten free, it brings value to their followers, and it also gives us some exposure. So it's a win-win for both of us.

Yeah. And another way we were able to get our products in front of people's feed on their Instagram pages was to do a lot of giveaways. So in the fall and winter months, we've been partnering with a lot of different companies and kind of just partnering with them and leveraging each other's audiences. And it's been very successful in just finding people who are interested in this. If it's good for e-commerce, or if the pandemic, everything goes back to normal, maybe switching back to wholesale. So we've been able to adapt, but definitely had its trials and tribulations.

Yep, we feel it.

Okay, Maile, can you tell me what are your greatest challenges were in Canele?

Yeah, definitely. So like I said, starting out, I did everything from buying ingredients, to making a product, to receiving a payment even if that was a month and a half later at times. So not only was Percy able to bring on all his graphic design skills and marketing brain, but he also, after he was done with all that, he was like, how can I help you? Now that I'm full time, how can I help you in the business? And I said: "I don't know, just do something because I'm so busy with all these orders." I remember in the first few days, he would just observe me and he would watch me hand write out all the ingredients I needed for this week's orders. And he would ask me really annoying questions like, why are you doing it that way? Or there's an easier way. And even it was just like pestering me with these questions that I did not have the mental capacity for, but he did take the initiative to look into all that. And a couple weeks later, he came back to me and he said: "We're barely breaking even with all of these orders." And that really just broke my heart. I felt like, how is that even possible? I'm getting checks all the time, we're getting all of these orders, and I'm able to survive financially. How is this happening? And you're here full time working with me. So he showed me everything that he found and he said: "Why don't we do it this way. I can make a sheet." I don't really know what language he's speaking, it was some kind of like math language. But he presented this tool where all I had to do was enter the orders for the week, and it would spit out how much time it was going to take, how much it was going to cost to buy all those ingredients, what we needed to have on hand. I mean, it had so many things on it.

Yes. I kind of think in a nutshell to answer your original question, what her challenge is. She didn't know what her challenges were. When I came on board, she was just busy doing a million different things in a lot of different hats. And I just had to really just step in and just observe her, look at her, just see how she worked throughout the day, see what type of processes she used to fulfill orders, see how she managed inventory, see how she received payments from customers. She was actually chasing money sometimes. It's just like, there's an easier way and more efficient way to do these things. So I just started first by just creating this very rough Excel. My goal was to see if this business was profitable. Because from the outside looking in, it looks like it's doing very well. And like she said, I just found out, no, this business is not profitable. You're barely breaking even. You can continue to work this way, but it'll be more of a hobby, not necessarily a business and you won't grow at all. So basically, we had to have that hard talk. And I said that we need to raise our prices, we need to adjust our customer, our audience, and we need to find a way to reduce our expenses. So she was freaking out. She was like, we're gonna lose customers. And I was like, it's either that or just keep doing what you're doing.

Like, what was the big surprise here? Our listeners want to know. At the end of the day, what happens when you raise your prices?

Well, we did lose a lot of customers.

But what else happened?

Yeah. But the big surprise was that we actually got bigger orders from these customers. We also got quality customers who I wasn't having to ask, hey, it looks like you're low on inventory. Do you need more products? When do you want to order? They were calling us, they were coming to us and saying, when can I get this product? How can I order this product? So it was a huge surprise. It did take away a lot of our original customers, but it brought so much more quality and low maintenance customers, I would say, because we weren't having to really sell them on why they need this product. The customers who we were now getting, they were saying, we know why we need this product. It's so valuable, and this is what our customers want.

Yeah. I would say, it's above and beyond that we actually qualified our customers. We no longer had to chase customers for orders or payment. None of that. We created a system that was efficient and worked. All we had to do was worry about fulfilling orders and the customer experience. And it was like a breath of fresh air, especially for her as she was managing every single role. And our sales jumped to like 300, and they increased by 20, 30% in monthly sales. So we were actually making a profit and actually able to grow the company. And it made our rebranding experience that much easier.

Dare I say, working a little less or more efficiently?

Definitely saving time and money.

Definitely more efficiently. Like she was saying, the sheet, that same rough excel sheet that just helped us see our profit margins turned into this almost like a fulfilling calculator. So usually, she would run back and forth from the store to see, or because she was in the middle of fulfilling the order, she would say, oh, man, I don't have enough coconut, I don't have enough cocoa powder. Now, I have to run to the store and go grab some. As a small business, she didn't have the luxury to buy in volume. She didn't have storage space to save all these things so she was running back and forth between fulfilling orders. And I was like, okay, let's stop. Let's avoid this at all costs. So I just created this, kind of like this, a fulfillment calculator where she can just enter in the number of units you needed to fulfill, and it will tell you exactly all the ingredients she needed, how much time, how much it was going to costs, and it just saved this, I would say 15 to 20 hours a week. So it was super helpful.

So perfect. Can you tell me more about this fulfillment calculator? Because now, I'm curious. I know we touched on it a little bit, but it sounds like this would be a great tool for so many other founders. I know that we've got a lot of founders listening to us, and it sounds like it would be a great resource for so many of them building their businesses. So can you tell me a little bit more about it?

Yes, I agree. It is definitely something that is useful for a lot of small businesses who were in the circumstances that we were in. And I think after we created it only to scratch our own itch, we never thought about, wow, we can take this tool and just share with everybody. It wasn't until Maile just whispered in my ear and said, hey, this can be an amazing product for people just like us.

There was a point where this tool really changed my life. I know it sounds like I'm exaggerating. But from where I was trying to balance everything, trying to fulfill orders on time, it really was a life changing tool. Percy would make small adjustments to improve the sheet, and I said that there has to be other small businesses out there who are in the same situation as us right now. I said: "Why don't you try to maybe sell this or put it online so people can use this also."

Can you tell our listeners that are here today that are curious about this Excel sheet that we're talking about? What's the name of the company? What's the name of this sheet that we're talking about?

Yeah. So back in 2018 was when I finally said: "Okay, I'm going to make this possible. I'm going to share this with the world." And that's when I came up with the profit sheet. So Prophit is fo P-R-O-P-H-I-T. And in a nutshell, it helps us manage the health of our profit margins, First and foremost, because we want to know that we're creating a product that is actually going to help us earn money, not losing money. So that's the first thing. And then the second thing is it helps with fulfillment in time efficiency, helping you get time back so that you don't have to waste time doing these manual processes by hand. So the sheet is awesome. It helps us manage our profit, helps us manage our inventory and saves time on order fulfillment. So it's awesome. And yeah, it's available now on our website.

Are there some mistakes that you constantly see people making, that they might be able to avoid by using this sheet?

Yes, I think so.

Maybe two or three that you might be able to share with us.

I know one. one would be, I'm the creative as far as like in the kitchen, so I'm always wanting to make a new product and sell it. So I'll create a new product, it'll be so delicious that I want to sell it right now. So I'll say, personally, we need to take a picture of this and put it on the website now. And he says, okay, let's go back to the sheet, enter the ingredients, all the prices of the ingredients and make sure that this is profitable. So we usually have to now go through that process, but that does help me not waste my time and also adjust ingredients accordingly.

That makes good sense.

Yep.

Yeah, definitely. Because the common mistake is when people enter the market, sometimes, they just observe with their competitors or companies they want to imitate, what are they doing? What price point are they yet? But they forget, or they are unaware of their competition, they're unaware of their manufacturing process, or their labor force, or what type of equipment they use to produce their things. So the number one thing is, don't try to imitate your competitors too much because you don't know what type of leverage they have, what type of talent that they have on staff. So the first thing is, find out what you are capable of buying as far as ingredients, raw materials and things like that, and try to save as much as possible. At the same time, creating a quality product. If you're an existing business, of course too, you can figure out ways to reduce your expenses by finding new packing material, or speeding up your production process. Or if you happen to have people who are producing your product for you, teaching them how to more efficiently make your product, or thinking of equipment that you can bring in to kind of speed up that process. So these are just a few things.

Yeah. For instance, Percy, he was still observing me and I was hand scooping every single truffle, and I had classic sized truffles, and I had many size truffles. And he said: "There has to be an easier way for this. What if we get a mold?" And I said: "No, there's no mold for this." He goes online, he spends a couple of days looking up molds, and he orders that. It comes in and he says: "Now, you just have to pipe the base into each of these truffle molds, put them in the fridge and then pop them out." Well, that saves so much time. I was hand scooping them, then rolling them and forming them into the shape that I need. So that's just one example of how you can speed up the process of your manufacturing.

Yeah, yeah, that's great. And I actually just had a call the other day with another guy that's doing 3D molds. Which interesting conversation, introduce you to them as well. So as we wrap up, we've been going through this pandemic and I know that people are at home and we're all sheltering in place, and everybody is doing something different and spending time in different ways. But those of us that are into food often make various recipes. Are there any pandemic favorites that you want to share with our listeners?

So one of the brands that we've partnered with, they make cookie dough mixes. There's a lot of herbs and adaptogens in their products, so that is one thing that really stood out to us. We did partner with her.

What's the name of it?

It's called You Again.

You Again, okay.

I actually just made this recipe the other day. I made the cookie dough, and I put it on the bottom of the pan, and then I used our caramel sauce that we have, and I poured that over. I sprinkled some toasted chopped up almonds, and let that sit in the fridge, and then I sliced them into bars. I did that in chocolate because I just dip everything in chocolate and beyond delicious. So it's very easy and you can do that with any cookie dough, or any caramel, or any sort.

You Again, Y-O-U-A-G-A-I-N.C-O-M?

Yes.

Okay. So now, for our listeners or viewers that are here watching today, where would they find your truffles? And for our listeners, is there anything special you guys want to offer them?

For truffles and our caramel, you can find them on our website at www.canelepantry.com. I forgot what it's called now. And our Instagram is Canele Pantry. And for Prophit--

You're not talking about Prophit right now, we're just talking about Canele.

We're talking about anything that you want our listeners to know. So here's the opportunity with a little enthusiasm folks. We want you guys to check out both the truffles and Prophit, and we want to make sure that you have their websites. Any discount codes that Percy and Maile want to send your way.

Yeah. So for Canele, there's a 20% discount for Justine and her viewers. Just type in Justine21 and you will get that 20% discount. And for Prophit, you can also use the same code. To find Prophit and our sheets, you just go to prophitapp.com that's, P-R-O-P-H-I-T-A-P-P.C-O-M, and you'll also get a discount there. I'll save you $40 if you buy our earnings and fulfillment sheet, so you can also use the same code Justine21.

Awesome. Thank you guys so much for joining me today. I'm excited to try your truffles. I think that any founder would be excited to see your Prophit sheets. It sounds like it's a great resource and can save them a lot of time and energy on so many things. I say that as a founder myself. And I want to thank our viewers for tuning in. If you like this episode and you want to tune into others, don't forget to subscribe if you haven't already to the Essential Ingredients Podcast. You can find us on iTunes, Spotify, iHeartRadio or any of the regular channels. These episodes as always are sponsored by NextGenChef. You can download the app for free. It's on iOS and Android. So Percy and Maile, I invite you to download the app for free and connect with other food and beverage entrepreneurs, as well as our listeners. It's a great way to meet all the founders. It's a great way to meet all the guests and be able to connect, collaborate and innovate. So I look forward to seeing you guys again here soon. Continue on your journey, and I look forward to catching up again in months to come to see where you are then. So until then, thank you guys for joining me.