Reinvigorating a "Trusty but Dusty” Category with Nikki Seaman
Meet Nikki Seaman
Nikki Seaman is the CEO and Founder of Freestyle Snacks, a premium olive snack reimagining olives as we know them. She is a proud Whisps, Bain & Company, and University of Pennsylvania alum. When she isn't spending her time taste testing olives, she loves trying new restaurants in Atlanta and exploring parks with her Sheepadoodle. Since launching Freestyle Snacks in 2022, she has gained distribution in over 400 stores in addition to being featured in Forbes, Southern Living, and NOSH.
Episode Highlights
During this episode of The Food Means Business Podcast, we discuss:
How an externship during her corporate career served as her CPG “bootcamp”
Reinvigorating the “trusty but dusty” olive category during the Pandemic
The first big steps she took when launching her company and her biggest investment
The strategy she used to expand from ecommerce into retail stores
Her first hire and the “village” it takes to run a food business
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00;00;00;16 - 00;00;24;29
Djenaba
You are listening to the Food Means Business podcast, which features the personal stories and secret ingredients behind what it's like to abandon your day job to start a food business. I'm Djenaba Johnson Jones, former marketing executive turned entrepreneur and founder of food business incubator Hudson Kitchen. Join a community of fellow food, business owners and subject matter experts to learn and laugh with us as we explore a startup world that's a little more culinary and a lot less corporate these days.
00;00;25;07 - 00;00;29;16
Djenaba
All right, Nikki, welcome to the Food Means Business podcast. I'm so happy that you're here.
00;00;30;00 - 00;00;31;26
Nikki Seaman
Thank you. I'm so happy to be here.
00;00;32;11 - 00;00;41;01
Djenaba
So we met, I guess, or became aware of each other when you participated in the We Stock Pitch competition that you won. Congratulations.
00;00;41;07 - 00;00;42;11
Nikki Seaman
Thank you so much.
00;00;42;12 - 00;00;50;06
Djenaba
So before we jump into your company, I would love to hear about your background and what you did before launching Freestyle Snacks.
00;00;50;19 - 00;01;19;04
Nikki Seaman
Yeah. So before starting Freestyle, I tried my hand in the corporate world. So I was working at Bain and Company doing management consulting, working with companies in CPG and retail, even did a little stint in power and energy, which was very fun and a great learning experience. And while I was at Bain, I really kind of built my toolkit of business and strategy, how to communicate most effectively.
00;01;19;10 - 00;01;45;05
Nikki Seaman
And it was a really great foundation for me to just learn everything there was, to learn about business and the corporate world. While I was at Bain, they actually gave me the opportunity to do an externship. So I kind of followed my underlying passion of food and beverage. So growing up, I was always really big into snacking. I was the household where we always had the best snacks.
00;01;45;05 - 00;02;23;02
Nikki Seaman
People would always try and steal them at lunchtime. And that kind of carried all the way through to when I was in college as well. And I started a famous food Instagram with a few of my friends from growing up. So that passion for food and beverage really always persisted throughout my life. And so when I had this opportunity through Bain to kind of risk free, try out something completely new and different, I knew I wanted to jump into learning more about CPG and you know, kind of more at a startup level versus some of the Fortune 50 companies that I had been working with.
00;02;23;23 - 00;02;49;06
Nikki Seaman
So I took the opportunity and I went to work at West where I was leading special projects, and that really gave me the ability to see everything that was happening. Know how do you commercialize new products? How do you work with co-packers? How do you have the most effective sales pitch? So it was a really incredible experience and that kind of gave me the CPG bootcamp.
00;02;49;06 - 00;03;01;02
Nikki Seaman
I needed to go out and start my own company with Freestyle. So it was while I was at West, it coincided with the pandemic and Freestyle was kind of born during that time.
00;03;01;12 - 00;03;03;29
Djenaba
So why call your company Freestyle Snacks?
00;03;04;17 - 00;03;33;20
Nikki Seaman
Yeah, great question. And so our mission is to revolutionize snacking on delicious whole foods. We are starting with olives because who doesn't love olives? Right. There are some people, but I kind of look at them funny. And so starting with olives, you know, making them easier and more enjoyable to eat. But we do have some exciting plans for the future to kind of move into other types of fruits and vegetables that are traditionally doomed to cans and jars.
00;03;33;21 - 00;03;37;21
Nikki Seaman
So keeping the name broad for some exciting innovations to come.
00;03;37;29 - 00;03;40;15
Djenaba
That's great. So let's talk about why olives?
00;03;41;09 - 00;04;13;18
Nikki Seaman
Yeah, it's most people's first question, right? Because you know, no one really gives too much thought to olives. But I love the fact that it's a trusty but dusty category, and I really wanted to reinvigorate it for the modern day olive lover like you and I. And so it was during the pandemic, as I mentioned, that Freestyle was born because I discovered the pain points that existed within the olive category with the pandemic, olive bars and grocery stores had shut down.
00;04;13;18 - 00;04;36;12
Nikki Seaman
And so for the first time, I found myself in the olive aisle as I only started to like olives, probably, you know, six or seven years ago. And so face to face with the olive aisle, I was just really disappointed with some of the options. They didn't have jazzy packaging. I couldn't really tell what was going to be a higher quality olive or not.
00;04;36;20 - 00;04;58;18
Nikki Seaman
And so I tried a few packages and when I got home from a taste perspective, they just didn't really live up to the olive bar experience or what you would get at a restaurant. I found them to be more bland and watery, not that freshly marinated feel. And then on top of that, I found the jars and cans to be extremely inconvenient.
00;04;58;26 - 00;05;21;04
Nikki Seaman
Because you had the brine. The liquid would get everywhere if you tried to eat them. You're trying to pour the liquid down the drain and losing a few olives along the way. And so I realized there had to be a better solution for kind of bridging that gap between really delicious, high quality, marinated olives and convenient liquid free packaging.
00;05;21;16 - 00;05;34;11
Djenaba
So let's talk about how you just did everything. I understand you had a kind of the boot camp when you were doing your externship, but really, let's like, okay, so now you've made this decision that you're going to start this company, you're going to start with olives. What was the first step that you took?
00;05;35;06 - 00;06;22;09
Nikki Seaman
Yeah. So like I mentioned, I think the West experience really was was key in helping me to unlock what do these steps look like to actually commercialize a product from idea to market? And so one of the first things I did was focus on the product, right? So I tasted olives from seven different countries, over 50 varietals to really see, you know, myself, of course, but also what my friends and family really gravitated towards and found that the olives from Greece and Italy really popped as the top tasting olives objectively and also did some more qualitative research to see, you know, if there are these different claims on the pack of grown in Greece versus
00;06;22;09 - 00;06;49;23
Nikki Seaman
grown in Italy or Spain, you know, what do people want to see? So making sure I had a really amazing tasting product base was the first step. And then the second big step, I would say, was working with a packaging design agency because unlike other entrepreneurs who may take the, you know, farmers market path where they kind of test the product there and then they kind of build into their packaging.
00;06;50;09 - 00;07;18;21
Nikki Seaman
From my experience at West, I understood how important packaging design was right out of the gate. And so I spent most of my investment dollars in starting freestyle, actually on packaging design. I worked with Pulp and Wire, an amazing female founded agency, and they really helped to bring my vision of Freestyle Snacks to life through packaging that would really stand out on shelf and make people kind of pick it up and try it.
00;07;18;21 - 00;07;25;02
Nikki Seaman
So product and then packaging are kind of the two biggest steps I took to launching freestyle.
00;07;25;10 - 00;07;29;21
Djenaba
So for that product, like how did you land on the flavors that you decided to launch?
00;07;30;12 - 00;07;56;29
Nikki Seaman
Yeah, that's a great question. I did a lot of kitchen at home taste testing. I knew that I really liked the combination of lemon and garlic and other foods that I would eat. And then similarly, I knew that I wanted some type of spicy olive product, but I tasted many different types of peppers and we ended up landing on a Calabrian chili flake as what we use for our hot and spicy.
00;07;57;05 - 00;08;20;18
Nikki Seaman
And so it was kind of interesting to see how the different spices actually interact with olive base. And so it was a lot of kitchen testing with my palate and then friends and family from there. And luckily, you know, once we did start selling, the consumers love the flavors that we offered. So, you know, looking to add more in the future but really happy with our current set.
00;08;21;08 - 00;08;31;03
Djenaba
So you mentioned that, you know, one of the pain points of buying olives at the grocery store was the fact that there was the brine and, you know, it's in a jar. So tell us how your packaging is different from that.
00;08;31;03 - 00;08;56;16
Nikki Seaman
Yeah, definitely. So our packaging is completely liquid free, so you just rip open our pouch. Packaging you can reach right in the olives are coated in extra virgin olive oil. So they're not dry. They're they're moist. But I know some people cringe at that word, but it makes for a super delicious olive. Kind of like the olive bar in a bag is how I describe it.
00;08;57;06 - 00;09;16;23
Nikki Seaman
And our pouches are resealable as well, so you could save it for later. There's about 25 to 30 olives per pack, so it really gives you the versatility to use the olives as you like, whether you want to snack on it throughout the week, put it out for guests or kind of use it in a salad than a recipe at night and then a snack the next day.
00;09;17;26 - 00;09;31;15
Djenaba
Got it. So, okay, so you focus on the product, obviously, because that's the most important thing and then you then and then packaging because based on what you learned, I actually am also like a fan of packaging. Like I walk around grocery stores in my know what's pretty neat.
00;09;31;15 - 00;09;32;02
Nikki Seaman
To me.
00;09;32;11 - 00;09;39;25
Djenaba
That catches my eyes. I do think it's very important and also the functionality of what you're doing is great. So what was your next step after that?
00;09;40;21 - 00;10;10;13
Nikki Seaman
Yeah, I would say next step after that was finding a co-packer who would actually help me to produce the products that would be marinating the olives in the flavor combinations that I had come up with and then packing them into these liquid free pouches. The manufacturing industry is tough. I called over 250 co-packers and ended up with two who were willing to kind of take the risk on on me and my my crazy idea.
00;10;11;00 - 00;10;36;25
Nikki Seaman
A lot of the olive co-packers in the country, they only have the machinery to pack in jars and cans. So the, you know, this pouch, liquid free packaging was completely new and and maybe a bit scary to them. So ended up with two potential options and then ended up working with one who has been a really great partner in helping us to get started and grow.
00;10;36;25 - 00;10;49;02
Nikki Seaman
So, you know, it was it was definitely challenging to find the perfect partner, but, you know, persistence and grit and and over time, you are able to define them. So I give up on it.
00;10;50;13 - 00;10;56;08
Djenaba
Sorry. So you have your co-packer. So what is next? Let's talk about marketing the product. Yeah. How how are you selling and marketing it?
00;10;56;27 - 00;11;24;15
Nikki Seaman
Yeah. Marketing is interesting. My strategy was kind of to test and learn with every possible thing, sell across influencers, organic, social paid, social SEO, email marketing, you name it. I just kind of wanted to see what was going to resonate most with with our customers. And I would say, you know, organic, social and email marketing had been working best for us.
00;11;25;11 - 00;11;46;03
Nikki Seaman
But it is interesting to test all of these different marketing forms. And so that's what we did to start. I'm sure over time we'll kind of pick back into things, whether it's influencers or bloggers and kind of see how those fare as we grow. But we kind of went with the throw it at the wall and see what sticks and methodology to start.
00;11;46;16 - 00;12;04;22
Djenaba
That's what's great about social and and digital marketing is that you can test a bunch of different things to see what works before you move forward and make tweaks as you go. So that's great. So talk about see, we talked about how you're marketing the product. How did you get yourself in front of and are you you're in stores or you're just doing e-commerce right now?
00;12;04;28 - 00;12;06;26
Djenaba
And how do you get this stuff in front of stores if you're doing that?
00;12;06;27 - 00;12;32;12
Nikki Seaman
Yeah, great question. So we started online on our website and then we launched on Amazon about a month after that. And now I guess almost ten months later, we're in a little over 400 stores. So our biggest retail partners include Fresh Thyme, Central Market, Erewhon and Juice Press. Hopefully we have some exciting retail launches coming up in 2023.
00;12;32;20 - 00;13;07;28
Nikki Seaman
But yeah, getting into retail, our strategy was to really start local. So I'm based in Atlanta, so I went to all of my neighborhood shops that I that I shot that and you know, they obviously knew me as a customer. And so it was kind of fun to make that transition to a vendor to them and really kind of built up awareness locally and was able to use that data of how we were doing in retail and kind of expand that to working with other retailers in different locations and at a larger scale.
00;13;07;28 - 00;13;30;04
Nikki Seaman
So, you know, being data driven, I think I got a lot of that from working at being kind of using those numbers to to build up my story and and why a retailer should make room on their shelf for this, this new product. So I think that's been really helpful. And then, you know, the fact that freestyle is so innovative, I think also helps helps our case.
00;13;30;04 - 00;13;33;06
Nikki Seaman
And of course, that pretty beautiful packaging doesn't hurt.
00;13;34;23 - 00;13;44;20
Djenaba
So what about funding your business? Talk a little bit about what you did to get started and what your future plans might be to to to fund the business.
00;13;45;09 - 00;14;19;06
Nikki Seaman
Yeah. So to start, I put in personal savings and then since then have been bootstrapping the business. But you know, I think that becomes increasingly more difficult as you expand into, you know, with more retail partners and it requires more marketing support behind that and larger production runs. So the plan is to continue bootstrapping as long as it is feasible and then would move to raising probably, you know, a few months down the line.
00;14;19;06 - 00;14;28;19
Nikki Seaman
We'll see how the economy continues to do, but, you know, want to continue to build the business as much as possible before before I'm moving that lever.
00;14;29;16 - 00;14;39;23
Djenaba
So you've accomplished quite a bit in the past, I guess less than a year. So talk a lot about the challenges that you faced as you were starting the business and to where you've grown it to now.
00;14;40;17 - 00;15;04;06
Nikki Seaman
Yeah, I mean, I'm sure I know you know, this and I'm sure everyone listening also knows that starting your own business is a rollercoaster. Lots of ups and downs. So we've faced our fair share of challenges. I mean, starting from how I mentioned, it was really close to impossible to find a co-packer to actually produce this product and and bring it to life.
00;15;05;03 - 00;15;30;05
Nikki Seaman
And then, you know, we faced issues with the global supply chain and just not having enough ingredients or packaging material and having to delay customer orders, which has been really hard. And, you know, I think there's also the challenges of getting told no by a retailer, but I've already learned within that ten months, like I've turned a lot of those no's around to yeses.
00;15;30;05 - 00;16;03;27
Nikki Seaman
And so, you know, for every challenge there is a solution. Sometimes they just take a little longer to to arrive there. But yeah, I would say supply chain finding great vendors to partner with. And then, you know, luckily so far a few has really been keeping up with demand, which isn't a bad problem to have. But you obviously we want to make sure our customers are receiving products as soon as they can because we just want them to have their delicious olives.
00;16;03;27 - 00;16;14;09
Djenaba
So I found that getting support as a business owner has been really important to the growth of my business. Can you talk a little bit about like do you have team members right now? And if so, what does that look like for you?
00;16;15;01 - 00;16;38;18
Nikki Seaman
Yeah, so I actually just hired my first full time employee. They started on Monday, which was awesome. And, you know, they've they've been great. I actually worked with him in the past, so we kind of had that rapport already. And he is leading operations for us. So as I mentioned, a lot of our issues were kind of with the supply chain vendor relationship.
00;16;38;18 - 00;17;04;25
Nikki Seaman
So it's going to be really great having him on board. And then on top of that, I have a lot of amazing contractors that I work with from creative work to PR, you know, administrative work. So, you know, it takes a small village for sure to to make this happen. But I'm excited to have a first full time member of the freestyle team.
00;17;05;04 - 00;17;18;13
Djenaba
That's great. So what about other types of support? So I've also found that, you know, being and being able to access other entrepreneurs to kind of talk about through those challenges, it is really important to me. So do you have a support group that you work with?
00;17;19;09 - 00;17;42;01
Nikki Seaman
Yeah, I wouldn't say it's a formalized support group, but I especially before I started freestyle, I tried to get in touch with every single food and beverage founder that would give me the 15 or 20 minutes on the phone, because there's always, always something to learn from someone who is in this, whether they're to steps ahead or two steps behind.
00;17;42;01 - 00;18;04;06
Nikki Seaman
You know, there's little tidbits that are going to give you so much value. So I was really great about that before launching Freestyle. You know, I still try to stay in touch with a lot of my mentors who have had a food business, you know, for three or four years or so. And they kind of help me and answer my questions from the silliest stuff.
00;18;04;27 - 00;18;37;08
Nikki Seaman
How do I invoice a customer? You know, what system do you use? Oh, it's QuickBooks, obviously, too, you know, all the way to like, is this a good retail partner to work with? Do you think? The timing makes sense? For me, it's so what kind of tactics did you find best in partnering with this retailer? So it's it's really valuable to have that support system in those relationships because, you know, 98% of the time, people are really, really willing to help and want to see us succeed.
00;18;37;16 - 00;18;55;11
Djenaba
It's so true. Like I've I've found that if you just ask most of the time they're willing to, to help you, it's I reach out to people I don't cold email and cold call people that I don't know. And I've gotten a lot of help that way. And in addition to that, I've gotten people referrals from people I don't even know.
00;18;56;11 - 00;19;14;17
Djenaba
But it's been pretty great. I think the food community is pretty, pretty fantastic and was really welcoming to me as well. To you, that's great. What about a piece of advice that you have for someone that is in your shoes, you know, in your shoes now that where you were kind of like a year ago?
00;19;15;28 - 00;19;38;11
Nikki Seaman
Yes, I kind of alluded to it earlier, but I would say, you know, having that grit, the perseverance and passion to just keep going and not taking no for an answer. There have been so many moments where it's so easy to just feel like I might have something on the table. This is a disaster. How are we going to make it through?
00;19;38;11 - 00;20;08;29
Nikki Seaman
This retailer is huge and it was a no for the time being. So, you know, just keep your head up and keep going and persevere. All, you know, all through those opportunities that seem all too easy to just give up. And I think that is really the key to success, is just to keep going, obviously pivot as necessary, you know, don't stay on the same exact path, but, you know, it's your dream and you're in charge of making it a reality.
00;20;09;26 - 00;20;23;29
Djenaba
That's great advice. So what do you do for fun and to relax? I know like you, we're constantly working and you've accomplished so much in such a short period of time. So talk about how you take a breath.
00;20;23;29 - 00;20;48;03
Nikki Seaman
Yes. Sometimes I have to remind myself to take a breath, but I think one of my favorite things is living in Atlanta and just being able to go outside and take a walk with my dog. She's a sheep, a- doodle. She's so adorable. I'm so getting that fresh air clearing my head sometimes I'll listen to a podcast, but other times it's good just to have the silence and and really get all of my thoughts out.
00;20;48;03 - 00;21;05;29
Nikki Seaman
So I think that's really helpful. I love taking a hot shower. At the end of the day, it just really kind of closes off the day for me, especially since I work from home. There's no, you know, transit to mark that that end point. So the shower kind of does that for me.
00;21;06;28 - 00;21;23;00
Djenaba
That's funny. You do have to kind of create these, I guess, boundaries around your work day so that you can kind of transition. So I do the same thing. So at Hudson Kitchen, we have a what I call the money bell, which we bring when we're celebrating something. So what are you celebrating right now?
00;21;24;10 - 00;21;57;29
Nikki Seaman
Yeah, a bunch of things, honestly. So the new hire that I mentioned started last Monday. That is something that I'm incredibly excited about. We have a few retail launches coming up next year. I can't announce them just yet, but I will definitely let you know as soon as I can. So that's been really exciting too, to get that news and then, you know, on the supply chain piece and some of the challenges we've been having, we are kind of up and back running with production.
00;21;57;29 - 00;22;03;11
Nikki Seaman
And so that's been another huge win that I would love to ring that virtual bell for.
00;22;04;18 - 00;22;11;25
Djenaba
Congratulations. Fantastic. So, Nikki, thank you so much for being here. Please let everyone know where they can find out about you and free snacks.
00;22;12;17 - 00;22;42;04
Nikki Seaman
Definitely. And I mean, think of you so much for having me. It's been a pleasure talking through all of this. And I love just talking with other foodie founders but to find Freestyle were available on our website freestylesnacking.com. We're also available on Amazon if you prefer that Prime shipping. And then some of the retailers I've mentioned Central Market in Texas, Erewhon in L.A., Juice Press in New York and then Fresh Thyme across the Midwest.
00;22;42;09 - 00;22;52;02
Nikki Seaman
And then we're in, you know, pocket fulls of independent, awesome, awesome retailers across the country. So you can check out our store locator if you want to find something a bit closer.
00;22;52;15 - 00;22;53;25
Djenaba
Hey, thank you so much.
00;22;54;06 - 00;22;55;03
Nikki Seaman
Yeah, thank you.
00;22;55;29 - 00;23;18;19
Djenaba
The Food Means Business Podcast is produced by Hudson Kitchen. It's recorded and edited at the studio at Kearny Point. Our theme song is by Damien de Sandies and I'm your host, Djenaba Johnson Jones. Find out more about Hudson Kitchen by visiting the HudsonKitchen.com or follow us on Instagram at the Hudson Kitchen. Listen below and leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.
00;23;18;21 - 00;23;19;15
Djenaba
Until next time.
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