Women in Business Putting Food on Our Tables Part 4

Intro: [00:00:07] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios. It’s time for Women in Motion. Brought to you by Wbec West. Join forces, Succeed Together. Now here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:27] Lee Kantor here, another episode of Women in Motion brought to you by our good friends at WBEC West. So excited to be talking to the ladies we have. Today’s topic is putting food and beverages on our tables and we have some experts in the food and beverage industries excited to be sharing they’re doing and just their knowledge about the industry. Today on the show we have Rhonda Busnardo with Caesars, we have Verona Tang, with Little Jasmine and Arroyo Kitchen and Cindy Convery with PureWild Co Inc. Welcome, ladies.

Verona Tang: [00:01:02] Thank you. Thank you very much.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:03] So to kick off the show, I’d like to go around the table and get each one of you maybe to share the elevator pitch of your company. Cindy, why don’t we start with you?

Cindy Convery: [00:01:13] Oh, thanks, Lee I’m Cindy Convery. I’m based in Ojai, California, and my company is PureWild Co. It’s a wellness company that makes collagen infused products like functional beverages. We’re in about a thousand retail markets in all 50 states. The first ever collagen infused low alcohol wines, which I love, and collagen supplements that were formulated to support women recovering from breast cancer and autoimmune disease.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:42] Verona.

Verona Tang: [00:01:42] Yes, my business. Little Jasmine and Arroyo Kitchen. We are based in Los Angeles, California, and we are specialty food business. The concept of the business is we want to try to put international cuisine on your home table as well as some unique natural, essential oil and non-food items. And we are currently distributing our items nationwide about two 3000 stores and which including mainstream chain Kroger’s, as well as ethnic markets. And we have unique items such as organic seaweed, and we also have premium oolong tea as well as we have a fruit bottle tea and we are still developing a more unique and fusion items to our consumer.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:32] And Rhonda, do you mind sharing kind of a little bit about Caesars and your role?

Rhonda Busnardo: [00:02:37] No, my name is Rhonda Busnardo. I’m the director of Strategic Sourcing on the food and beverage side. Basically, I’m finding the best food at the best price to bring to customers at our restaurants and give them the best food experience across the nation.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:51] Great. So I’d like to kick off the show today to talk a little bit about health and a healthy diet. How does just kind of the overarching trend towards a more healthy diet impacted each of your businesses? And let’s start maybe at from the largest enterprise Caesars. Rhonda, why don’t you start with you and how important is kind of this healthy lifestyle in the choices you make?

Rhonda Busnardo: [00:03:17] And it’s actually very important to Caesars. We are obviously looking to bring the customers and consumers what they want, but we do that in the cleanest and healthiest way possible. One of the trends that we’re seeing is health foods and plant based items. It’s actually becoming more and more important to the consumer as they get more educated on health and and what we put into our bodies. So we try to match that and always have those options on our menus for the people that are health conscious.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:50] Cindy, can you talk about how important health is to your firm?

Cindy Convery: [00:03:53] Sure.

Cindy Convery: [00:03:54] Actually, I was just working on this pitch because I’m a member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, and Pure Wild is the only certified Native American woman owned brand within food and beverage with national sales. It’s a very small world. And the company was financed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. So it’s very much, you know, very much supported by Native American world. And I started the company because my mother was born in the Choctaw Nation in a house with no running water. A true and true, very true food desert. There were no healthy choices. So I grew up in a in an environment and a family that didn’t have access or education really about healthy food. So, you know, that was my foundation for starting the company. And then in June 2020, when I had my first products, it was the height of Covid. I emailed Erewhon Markets in LA seven stores. I think there are more now, but I emailed at eight in the morning and at noon they got back to me and brought in all of my functional beverages. You know that quickly because Covid was just driving that wellness desire for wellness. And what I’ve learned by expanding across the country is that really that middle part of the country is is just really hungry for healthy choices. You know, it’s my sales are much higher in the Midwest, in fact, which I think is a really fascinating because you don’t consider, you know, wide open spaces as big places to sell cutting edge wellness products. It’s an education.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:28] Verona.

Verona Tang: [00:05:29] Yes, health eating health diet is so important for me. And what we want to present here and is a food that is healthy, but it’s also delicious. So what I’m what I’m trying to do here, we are providing a really transparent ingredients. And also we do we try not to compromise the flavor. Most consumer will think it’s a healthy, healthy product, and delicious product usually doesn’t have the equal sign. And we kind of want to close that gap. So we try to we try to manipulate the ingredients and bring a few items that is healthy and delicious. And and the delicious is also important so people can continue and and also wanting to eat healthy food, not only just if they just think about healthy food, but it’s not delicious. Usually people will not be um people can not last this consumer will not not keep buying the same food. So so that’s our more purchase approach. And I personally think that is very important.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:39] So let me put this out to the group. How can kind of emerging or smaller brands compete with the larger players when it comes to quality, high quality, healthy ingredients? Like how do you differentiate yourself and how do you position yourself in this very competitive world?

Verona Tang: [00:06:58] This question is from me, right?

Lee Kantor: [00:07:00] Sure. Anybody could start. Go right ahead.

Verona Tang: [00:07:04] Yes, because this is a great question. So first, I like to really be transparent to our ingredients. Little things here. There, you know, no corn sirup, no fruit toss. Um, like we have our bottle fruit tea and it is sugar added. Um, but it’s limited and we use cane sugar, so it’s still flavorful and delicious, but the ingredients pretty clean and natural, things like that. And also we want to differentiate ourself that how we investigate our manufacturer that we work with worldwide, we work with, of course, manufacturers in the United States, we work with the manufacturers in Taiwan, we work with manufacturing in Italy, in Europe, and we do an audit once, twice a year. And so we know exactly how, um, what kind of product we bring to our consumer, for example, that we just launched that high end Oolong tea and everything, the sourcing, everything is the tea farm from Taiwan. It’s a small, it’s a small lot. So we see all the quality control and we know the ingredients where they come from. A lot of time that when we buy food, we of course we see the label, but it’s not all the label and stated that where the ingredients come from and the ingredient is something which is very important. And so we are really we I personally emphasize on the ingredient and the origination and everything that how we can put everything together and differentiate ourself is delicious and it’s healthy enough and with a premium quality.

Cindy Convery: [00:08:57] Lee Um, I think my experience with customers and with differentiating a small brand to a large corporation, you know, there’s obviously the financial challenge because I don’t have the marketing budget to compete with somebody that’s got 5 to 10 million in venture capital or a Coca-Cola type brand, which is not our category anyway. But they do have a healthy options they’re trying to sell. But my experience is that customers are really looking for that individual, individualized brand where the founder really knows the product and really is targeting that particular customer by understanding what that customer needs. You know, I founded my product based on my needs. It’s a collagen product. I was really looking for a clean wellness choice. There wasn’t one. My products are the only certified non-GMO Marine collagen drinks. They’re the only clean labeled drinks, meaning five ingredients or less. They’re sustainably packaged. We don’t use any plastic, and my customers really respond to that. I get personal messages all the time. And, you know, it’s like a friend group almost. It’s a little it’s really fun. But I think, you know, that’s the difference with small brands is you really have to connect directly with your customer. One. One story is I just went into Sprouts. So that’s our largest accounts at about 400 stores, and I didn’t see any sales in the only sprouts in a town called Libertyville, South Carolina. So I went on Instagram and I found a micro account. You know, it’s like 2000 followers. It was a clothing store fashion account. And I messaged them and, you know, we talked about the product. And the next day the store inhibits hills. South Carolina was sold out of Pure wild. So, you know, it’s that kind of outreach that starts a nice grassroots connection that I don’t think the corporate companies can really compete with or connect with.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:01] And that’s great advice for the small to mid-sized business owner. You have to do some things that maybe aren’t scalable for these larger firms, and maybe these larger firms are automating some of the things that you’re doing individually and creating those human to human relationships that are really giving you that traction in some areas that are helping you get the momentum so that you can kind of grow based on all those individual touches.

Cindy Convery: [00:11:32] Yes, that’s what that’s exactly what happens. I mean, yeah, I don’t know how to scale that, but at least it’s fun. I mean, you know, at least that part makes it enjoyable. It’s not like a chore, but it is. It is challenging to try to scale that connection.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:47] Now, Rhonda, can you share a little bit about your view of things from that enterprise level when you partner all the time with these small emerging firms, what are some of the things that they’re doing to stand out to get on your radar and to give you confidence that they can deliver what you need them to deliver?

Rhonda Busnardo: [00:12:08] Um, well, I always encourage all the small businesses to go to trade shows, and even if it’s a show that might not be specific to your type of brand or product, it’s good to get out there and meet new possible customers. Like, you know, a lot of people think that we’re looking for a certain thing when you just never know. We have so many different types of restaurants and stores and little breakfast areas or what have you. There’s so much out there, so it’s always good to just get your items out in front of the face of the right people. I really like when there’s sample there or information on what the vendors have so that way I can bring that back to my team.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:01] Now, I’d like to shift gears a little bit and talk about maybe the food industry as a whole. What are some things based on your kind of lens of the food industry that you would like the industry as a whole to be doing a better job at? Where do you think there’s room for improvement?

Cindy Convery: [00:13:21] I definitely think there’s room for improvement in the retail world with smaller brands for larger retailers to try to support smaller brands and, you know, frankly waive some of the slotting fees and the types of things that that small brands can’t afford to get on the shelf. You know, I think that’s it’s a little, on my level egregious for a chain to expect a small individually owned brand to pay a slotting fee. So I would love to see. And and they do. And I must say they do talk about it. And there are webinars and emails and all kinds of outreach about it. But bottom line, when it comes down to it, there’s always a fee. So I would love to see them put their money where their mouth is, you know, just saying.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:13] Verona, what’s your view of this?

Verona Tang: [00:14:16] Yeah. You know, Cindy just said I just had a meeting prior, this one, and we were just talking about those fees. So my buyer was wanting me to to put more promotional fees. And I think, yes, I think a continuously said like for some of the distributors and they score each vendors and based on how much we support their program and I think we have to have we have to meet the middle ground that by supporting their program, if that is also supporting our business, somewhere in the middle will be really reasonable that if they are expecting me to put a half million on their promotion banner, which I only have three DC three distribution centers, it does not make quite much sense. So I think when they design those programs, maybe I think they can have a chart like based on the company’s scale and they set up a requirement. I think that then we can all play the fair game here. I think that’s what I just I just experienced it this morning. And also I think that’s a bigger picture is, um, I think I don’t think we have too much control on that. But the trend of the food business, um, I see sometimes is, is misleading consumers and that I mean of course going to each consumers but how they promote like many years ago there was an acting diet and then keto diet, all those things. And I think as a consumer, we also need to know how to choose the correct product for each individual. And Cindy said earlier mentioned each individual customers is different. And of course it doesn’t mean this particular food will match to my body constitution just because it’s it’s trendy. So I think those things we have to find a balance and maybe more, um, more fair like educational media’s out there and that we can share our opinions.

Lee Kantor: [00:16:37] Rhonda, where are you seeing the industry as a whole and where are there room for improvement?

Rhonda Busnardo: [00:16:43] Um. You know what? For me, it’s a lot different on my side because I’m technically, you know, buying from vendors like these ladies. And really, it’s just being able to access the product and get the product that we need at the volume that we want to. Um, you know that we need it. It’s been very busy even with inflation and everything else and just having the products in house to be able to provide the customer with the experience that they’re looking for has been a challenge for us. Yeah.

Cindy Convery: [00:17:17] And Lee, I have a question for Rhonda on this subject. Do you mind?

Lee Kantor: [00:17:21] Sure. Go right ahead, please.

Cindy Convery: [00:17:23] So, Rhonda, you know, we’re in in hotels as well as grocery stores. And there are absolutely best accounts. You know, they don’t charge the fees they pay on time. They’re supportive. You know, it’s a unique product. So, you know, like spa hotels, like the Ojai Valley Inn or or Montage Healdsburg or something like that. And it’s such a different experience that, I mean, at least once a week, I just think, why don’t I just do hotels? You know why I’m doing it? Yeah, because it’s so it’s it’s so much more pleasant, frankly, I must say.

Cindy: [00:18:01] Yeah.

Cindy Convery: [00:18:01] Do you. What do you think? I mean, do you have any thoughts about just that general direction?

Rhonda Busnardo: [00:18:07] Yeah. I mean, it’s a big industry. Hotels, casinos. You know, people don’t realize too you know, you have a casino. Most of the casinos also have a hotel connected to it. So casinos and hotel industry is is its own thing. And yeah, I mean, you’re not having to pay those overhead charges the same way that you would for a regular retail store. So I don’t think that that’s a bad idea. You know, I wouldn’t suggest giving up on the retail just because you want yourself out there and available to consumers, you know, if they’re trying to find you. But it’s definitely a great opportunity to go and look at.

Cindy Convery: [00:18:48] Yeah, I almost feel like the retail aspect is just for branding, it’s just for marketing. And the on premise would be the profit because our our best account is frankly a mob casino, the San Manuel Casino. I think it’s just casino in California. And you know, we have a native product and casinos are native owned and all of that is a good fit. But yeah, I just think that our retail is going to end up being a big advertising ploy.

Rhonda Busnardo: [00:19:16] Yeah. And I mean, you don’t want to pull it out completely and then have a customer see you in a hotel and want to go be able to bring that to their home and not be able to. So it’s good to be out there, you know, still and have your footprint, I guess, in the retail side so you don’t lose that. But if you look for a bigger part of your business being the hotel side and casino side, that’s that’s always a great way to get out there, too, and deal with less of the retail hassle.

Cindy: [00:19:45] And what.

Cindy Convery: [00:19:46] Trade shows. You mentioned going to trade shows. What trade shows would you recommend for that market?

Rhonda Busnardo: [00:19:53] I actually a big one that I always promote that I go to is market vision. Market vision is just about the entire market and the food industry. It has everything from paper products to food beverages, and it’s a really great show that brings you together with a lot of different people from all over the world. They have, um, they have two shows. They have one on the East Coast and one on the West Coast. So if you prefer, you know, depending where you live to stay closer to home, you can choose one instead of both. I go to both of them, but there’s a lot of big casinos and vendors out there. And I also go to partner summits, so look into group purchasing organizations. They have a lot of benefits for vendors, you know, and I can provide you with more information offline if you’d like. We can talk more.

Cindy: [00:20:45] Oh, yeah, I’d really appreciate that.

Cindy Convery: [00:20:47] Thank you.

Cindy: [00:20:48] You’re welcome.

Lee Kantor: [00:20:49] Now, Rhonda, can you explain those group things you just mentioned? Like, what does that mean? And what is its mission and purpose?

Cindy: [00:21:00] Yes.

Rhonda Busnardo: [00:21:00] Group purchasing organizations are organizations that hold contracts with vendors. And then if you’re a member of that, then you get the benefits of their pricing. And, you know, there’s a lot of other things that are tied into it. Um, you know, if you’re a member of those on the vendor side, you get access to all the members that are customers, like the casinos, the hotels, the restaurants and all of that. And then for me, I have the benefit of having the pricing that is a group pricing that brings it down for everybody and be a part of the programs. Um, you know, that they have that they have within their. Within their contracts.

Lee Kantor: [00:21:43] So are their vendors usually the biggest players, or are they also those smaller emerging brands as well?

Cindy: [00:21:50] Now they have.

Rhonda Busnardo: [00:21:50] They have a lot I mean, they obviously have a lot of the bigger players. But any one I’m sure the smaller vendors can also be a part of it. There’s a lot of smaller vendors that I’ve met through group purchasing organizations, so it was definitely something that I would look into if I were them.

Lee Kantor: [00:22:08] Good stuff. Verona Are you part of any of those?

Verona Tang: [00:22:12] Um, we do trade shows a lot, so I joined the trade shows with the my distributors and as well as we go to the distributor shows such as like a key shows, we do fancy food show, we do Natural Product Expo, and we sometimes go to those Ramen Expo. That’s for ethnic markets. So yes, we do. We do join a lot of the events.

Lee Kantor: [00:22:38] Now, have you found a good strategy? When you go to these events? How do you get the most value out of attending or participating in one of these events?

Verona Tang: [00:22:47] I think we need to focus on the items since we have over 30 items, SKUs. I think depending on the show, we need to know the niche and we need to not to try to present everything. I think we need to target consumer and present a just few items there so that way we can focus and of course we also so people can try our items, see the package and know more. And from there we can expand the business.

Lee Kantor: [00:23:21] Cindy, how do you attack these events?

Cindy: [00:23:24] Uh, well.

Cindy Convery: [00:23:25] Because I’m part of the native food organization. It’s called Intertribal Agriculture. They actually pay for attendance to some trade shows. So those are the ones I’ve been able to go to and one I don’t know if you’ll be there, Rhonda, but it’s American Food restaurant show in Miami in September. You know, so anyway, I’ve been able to go to some of the shows through this group, but they’re not necessarily the shows that are going to serve the product. And I don’t know, they randomly choose the shows. And I went to Expo West, you know, and had to pay for that. But again, you know, it’s 10 to $15,000 to attend a trade show. So it’s this challenge of there’s like a pain point when you start a new brand where you can grow really rapidly locally and then when you want to expand, you have to have venture capital, but you don’t get venture capital until you’ve expanded. So it’s the whole chicken and egg dilemma that I think everybody goes through. And trade shows are part of that chicken and egg chase that I’m in every day. So it’s a.

Cindy: [00:24:35] Lot of fun. Yeah, well, just.

Rhonda Busnardo: [00:24:38] Keep going to whatever ones they send you to because you don’t know who you’re gonna meet and who can maybe get you into another show. So it’s kind of like running into the right people at the right time and just getting your name out there and continuing to do that, especially if you have the Indian reservation casinos and things like that. You know, a lot of them can just be your foot in the door to a bigger part of the corporation, too.

Cindy Convery: [00:25:00] Yeah, they have, you know, the annual casino show. I don’t know if you go to that. There’s an East Coast and a West Coast one.

Cindy: [00:25:06] Yeah.

Rhonda Busnardo: [00:25:07] I usually stay away from that one because it’s more gaming and I try to stay away as much as possible.

Cindy: [00:25:13] Oh yeah. I wasn’t sure it was a.

Cindy Convery: [00:25:15] Fit for food.

Cindy: [00:25:16] And beverage. Yeah, I get.

Rhonda Busnardo: [00:25:17] Enough of the casino life, so.

Cindy: [00:25:19] Yeah, that’s what I thought.

Lee Kantor: [00:25:22] Now, Cindy, have you had the benefit of any mentors, anybody that or any group or organization that’s helped mentor you in this venture?

Cindy: [00:25:32] Yeah, actually, I have a well, I’ve.

Cindy Convery: [00:25:34] Had some mentors that, you know, some of the advice was valid and some of it didn’t apply. So that was, you know, just just along the way. But the mentor who really made a difference is a woman named Sandra Velasquez. And she started a beauty company that’s Latin Latina focused consumer. It’s called Nopalera. And man, she just like hit it out of the park. She she launched in 2020. She got almost 3,000,000in VC. The next year. She’s I think she’s looking at 404 million in revenue this year, you know, from making soap in her apartment in Brooklyn. So she worked in distribution, which was one of her big secrets. She worked for Van Lew and Ice Cream, and she worked for a beauty product called High Bar. So what she did was she went in and worked for other companies, kind of like when you want to open a restaurant, you work for another restaurant and learn where the pitfalls are. And she did that. And then the great thing that she did for me and she still does is she shares her information. She shares her contacts. She has a podcast. She talks to people all the time. You know, she’s not she doesn’t come from a fear based mentality. She comes from a generous mentality. And that’s the kind of mentor that I wish everybody could have because it’s been wonderful. And it’s a friend. She’s a friend. So it’s, you know, Sandra Velasquez, Nopalera, putting a plug for her and now Verona.

Lee Kantor: [00:27:05] Have you have you had any mentors learn.

Verona Tang: [00:27:08] More about Personal mentor Because I think in order for us, we are the minority. And in order for us to stay strong and continue to grow the business, we have to have a very healthy and balanced lifestyle. Um, so I do have personal mentors that more we are talking more about spirituality, more about energy, more about positive views, vision board and which, which. That way I can balance and I can strengthen myself, empower myself to face my day, to face my daily tasks.

Lee Kantor: [00:27:51] Rhonda Have you had any mentors? Have you benefited from any mentorship?

Rhonda Busnardo: [00:27:56] I’ve had mentors as personal mentors and businesses that I’ve been involved in that have been great. Just even especially, I have another woman in business that was a personal mentor of mine that really helped me move forward and have the confidence to be a part of the business world when I was pretty young. So, um, yeah, mentors are very important and I think very helpful for everyone.

Lee Kantor: [00:28:24] Does Caesars have any mentorship Protege program?

Rhonda Busnardo: [00:28:28] They do. Yeah. There’s a ton of different mentor programs and being part of, you know, being someone else’s mentor as well. They’re big on just, you know, we’re big on diversity, we’re big on sustainability, we’re big on mentorship. It’s it’s a really support, you know, driven company.

Lee Kantor: [00:28:50] So let’s throw out maybe everybody look in their crystal ball and think about the next coming years. Are there any trends or any things that you foresee that can help benefit your businesses moving forward?

Cindy: [00:29:08] No, sorry. No, go ahead. Go ahead.

Verona Tang: [00:29:11] Go ahead. Go ahead.

Cindy: [00:29:12] Go ahead.

Lee Kantor: [00:29:12] Verona.

Verona Tang: [00:29:14] Okay. Um, I’ve been doing so many food shows, and actually, we just went to the Western hospitality shows, and we finished it yesterday. And we I’ve seen a lot of plant based product and which will benefit my business because I’m not a vegan vegan company, but I’m a vegetarian company. We don’t sell any animal proteins or animal products. So I think this will be a really positive sign and a positive direction. And I see, yeah, plant based items is the trend that I’ve seen recently.

Lee Kantor: [00:29:57] Cindy.

Cindy: [00:29:57] Yeah, no.

Cindy Convery: [00:29:58] I agree with that. And you know, especially even last year and the year before at Expo, it was always about plant based. And I think that’s, you know, due to the environment and meat, you know, cows causing methane gas in its simplistic way that straying away from me to supporting the environment or animal products. So you know, just sustainability continues to be the trend. I don’t know that this is a new trend that’s starting now. I think these are just trends that are growing sustainability and plant based.

Lee Kantor: [00:30:32] And Rhonda, are you seeing that as well?

Cindy: [00:30:35] Oh, yeah.

Rhonda Busnardo: [00:30:36] Client base is huge. Always. It’s been in every show that I’ve been at. It’s been a very large group of vendors that are plant based. There are so many out there now from, you know, just plant based to like get rid of meat, but to also plant based dairy, plant based ice creams and things that you wouldn’t even think of plant based sushi, you know, for people that have dietary problems as well. It’s very, very large right now. I’m also seeing a lot of, you know, colorful and bright natural color foods. A lot of different exotic fruits coming out to the table and definitely a lot of international flavors being brought back to the table. I just attended a breakout session with a spice company and a lot of their new trends are international flavors. So that was good to see.

Lee Kantor: [00:31:36] Is that something that everybody is seeing? This kind of the consumer is being more adventurous when it comes to spices and they’re looking for something new or exotic or something that maybe they had never heard of before.

Cindy: [00:31:54] Yes.

Cindy Convery: [00:31:54] Yeah, definitely seeing that, I’m seeing cardamom everywhere.

Cindy: [00:31:59] Yeah, I’m happy about.

Cindy Convery: [00:32:02] But, you know, I love cardamom, so that’s fun. But, you know, a couple of years ago, I was seeing ashwagandha everywhere as an adaptogen. So it’s fun, you know? I mean, I love seeing all these things that are in my cupboard that are appearing all around, so it’s great.

Lee Kantor: [00:32:18] Now, how do you, as a business owner, especially of a smaller emerging brand, how do you kind of know when it’s time to try one of these things that you’re seeing as a trend and and protect yourself from it being something that’s here today and gone tomorrow?

Cindy: [00:32:37] Um, I don’t know.

Cindy Convery: [00:32:38] That that is even a process that I go through because when I formulated, I went to cooking school and I worked at a restaurant called Chez Panisse in Berkeley. So I made the drinks in my kitchen and that’s why they’re clean label with five ingredients or less. And I made what I wanted to make and what I thought would taste good. They happened to have turmeric when skew happens to have ginseng and the other one has holy basil. And this was about four years ago. So they’re trending now. Um, I don’t think it’s about trying to chase a trend. You know, it’s really about creating something that’s true to the brand and true to the creator and then sticking with that. And, you know, when you’re a small brand, you can’t really create and launch new SKUs and test things. You just have to, you know, create the best product you can and get behind it. But it really is about being authentic and creating that product that, you know, you know, in your heart is the right product.

Lee Kantor: [00:33:39] Verona.

Verona Tang: [00:33:41] Um, I think on that aspect, I’m pretty lucky. I don’t chase chase the trend. I work very closely with my buyers and actually a lot of time that they request me, um, to source some products for them. Um, they see their distribution maybe needed certain items that they think I have the ability to create with them and they will ask me to do that. And of course I will always add my own concept in there. So the product they ask me to sourcing is fitting my concept. So, so I work closely with my buyers, not necessarily follow the trend as well. Yes.

Lee Kantor: [00:34:24] So sometimes I would imagine that you you go and create something and then maybe it has a slow launch, but over time it kind of builds a following.

Verona Tang: [00:34:36] Exactly. Exactly. I don’t have that luxury. I never had that luxury experience. It’s always take it slow. I would say two, three years would be a very reasonable amount of time for me to build one skew or that category.

Lee Kantor: [00:34:54] Yes. Did you know that when you first started that you’d have to have that level of patience?

Verona Tang: [00:35:00] Yes, because I’ve been in this industry for over 25 years, so I’ve seen the items that need some time to build. So usually I give my new item 2 to 3 years.

Lee Kantor: [00:35:16] Cindy, has that been your experience as well?

Cindy: [00:35:19] Well, I’ve only.

Cindy Convery: [00:35:19] Been in this business, you know, I put my products on the shelf in June 2020, so I frankly don’t have, you know, I only have the experience that I have. And, you know, I’m impressed by having the 20 years of experience that, you know, that could really enlighten how you create a product. But but so far, you know, I’ve had such great reception and I believe that it’s coming from that cooking school culture of using the best ingredients and making something delicious that people respond to. And it doesn’t have to be on trend per se.

Lee Kantor: [00:35:57] So you’re so everything you put out has been kind of progressed in a manner you’re happy with or has some things just not worked at all. So you’ve had.

Cindy Convery: [00:36:06] Well, I don’t know if marketing dollars, but, you know, I just feel like I know my customer and if I had marketing dollars, I could probably have a bigger conversation about it. But, you know, I have this collagen infused rosé that I knew people who are drinking wine don’t want empty calories necessarily. So I thought, how can I make a low alcohol wine with 60 calories and zero grams of sugar and a boost of wellness? How can I get that out into the market? So I just you know, I the reception that I’ve gotten from test results has been extremely positive. And the reception from the drinks, the, you know, kind of like Ronda described staying in retail for a marketing experience. The wine is piggybacked onto the drinks and then the my supplements that I have for women recovering from breast cancer which don’t really apply to, you know, the market that we’re talking about food and beverage. But my customers are looking for that type of product as well because it supports bone health and osteoporosis. Breast cancer treatments cause bone loss. I’ve had seven friends, including my mother, recover from breast cancer, and so I know a lot about bone loss. And I worked with an oncologist to create that product. So they all kind of link together in an interesting way. And I don’t even know if I’m answering your question anymore, but.

Lee Kantor: [00:37:34] You mentioned the wine, so how did that wine come about? Like you partnered with a vineyard and then.

Cindy: [00:37:42] Yeah, I was.

Cindy Convery: [00:37:43] Drinking a glass of wine and I threw in a big scoop of collagen and stirred it up and it disappeared. And I thought, Well, there you go. You know, there’s the product. So I found I grew up in Northern California and I knew a little bit about the wine business and wineries from my restaurant experience. So I found a custom crush where they do your own bottling and we worked with them and it was not easy to create a wine that could have collagen in it because the Bureau of Tobacco and Alcohol does not make it easy to create a wellness alcohol. They don’t want alcohol to be perceived as a health product. I get it. You know, it’s like, you know, candy flavored cigarets for kids or something. But, you know, this is a low alcohol wine with a small amount of collagen. So I was able to, after about a year, get it pushed through and that, you know, that took up the whole wine budget right there. So I’m hoping that I have an offer out to a couple of celebrity brand ambassadors and seeing if I can get that person to launch the collagen wine into the market.

Lee Kantor: [00:38:54] So how do you go about developing a partnership like that? Was it just like you just were shopping for a vendor or you had to find the right person who kind of had to be open to this type of concept?

Cindy: [00:39:06] The winery, Right.

Cindy Convery: [00:39:07] I just called, you know, I just had a list of wineries that did Custom Crush Crush, and I called. A lot of people were like, What? You know what we can’t do? You know, I thought it was crazy, but I found a fantastic winemaker that was really open to doing something different. And, you know, people get bored doing the same job over and over, bottling this wine, bottling that wine. And they were really interested in doing something new and fresh. And I had a fantastic label design, so I sent him the label and then they saw what the product would look like, you know, and people can see it. Then they understand it. It’s hard to see it when it’s just words.

Lee Kantor: [00:39:49] Now, Rhonda, in your experience, have you seen that kind of these kind of unusual mash ups where two seemingly, you know, totally different products come together and form this unique product that, you know, maybe has never been done before?

Rhonda Busnardo: [00:40:06] Well, yeah, I’m seeing it more and more, especially like, you know, with things that are not only health based, but even vanity based, you know, even things like putting glitter in wines and, you know, maybe glitter as a topping on a cupcake. Um, you know, just look at the Barbie trend right now. You know, everything pink. It’s like you’d be surprised what they can come up with. People come up with some very interesting ideas. But just like I was mentioning earlier, who would have ever thought that I’d be eating plant based sushi? You know, trying that at a show That was definitely never in my in my wildest dreams. So it’s very interesting to see what type of things they can come up with. But I see it a lot. Absolutely.

Lee Kantor: [00:40:54] And is that a situation in your. World at Caesar’s that maybe you’ll you’ll discover an ingredient or a product and then you share it with the chef and the chef then takes it and then creates this whole new thing, using that as an element of a larger product.

Rhonda Busnardo: [00:41:12] It could be I mean, with the mash ups, you know, on my side, there’s not a whole lot for, you know, the things that I look at that that can go with. But you never know. You know, you just don’t know what these chefs can do with these products. Um, you know, like infused products or, you know, have you it’s it, I completely promote it and say go for it. If you can find something new. Like Cindy said, people get bored, you know, with just the regular everyday thing. And that’s where really cool items like this come up.

Lee Kantor: [00:41:48] Good stuff. Well, we’re getting ready to wrap Verona. If somebody wants to learn more about your firm, what is the website? What is the best way to get Ahold of you or somebody on your team?

Verona Tang: [00:42:01] Thank you very much. Yes, my website is little Jasmine Food.com or our royal kitchen.com so they can go in there and check out our product. And we also have contact information there. And we are small operations, small business. So definitely we we reply quickly to our consumers.

Lee Kantor: [00:42:23] Cindy.

Cindy: [00:42:25] My website is pure wild echo.

Cindy Convery: [00:42:28] Com. Pure wild echo.com. And you can reach me at Cindy at pure wild echo.com and you know everything is on the website email and contact. So there you go.

Lee Kantor: [00:42:39] And Rhonda, if somebody wants to learn more about Cesar’s, the website for Cesar’s and maybe the best way to get Ahold of you.

Rhonda Busnardo: [00:42:46] Yeah, I definitely encourage everyone to go on seizures.com and check it out. I think everyone that isn’t really familiar with Caesars Entertainment doesn’t realize how many properties that we have across the nation. And you can go on and see everything that we own from east to west coast. It’s a pretty large list of places, and to contact me directly, you can contact me at armazenado@caesars.com.

Lee Kantor: [00:43:15] Well, ladies, thank you so much for sharing your story. You’re each doing very important work and we appreciate you.

Verona Tang: [00:43:21] Thank you very much.

Cindy: [00:43:22] Thank you so much. Thank you. That was fun.

Lee Kantor: [00:43:24] All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Women in Motion. Thank you.