No Time To Wait: Meeting Client Needs & Launching a Food Start-Up Quickly with Irene Liu & Jennifer Jolorte Doro
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Launching Your Meal Prep Company Quickly…
This month, we’re highlighting members of Hudson Kitchen on the podcast starting with Irene Liu & Jennifer Jolorte Doro, co-founders of Chiyo, a women’s nutritional therapy company. Despite being in the middle of the pandemic, Jennifer and Irene were so passionate about the impact of food on the fertility journey of women, they knew they had to get their business launched ASAP.
In this episode, Jennifer and Irene share how they got scrappy to get Chiyo up and running quickly, how they found aligned investors to make their business more sustainable, and how they got creative when it came to marketing a local meal prep company.
We also chat about how company values are literally built into the name “Chiyo” and how those values influence the decisions, direction, and expansion of the company.
Subscribe to the Food Means Business Podcast with Hudson Kitchen founder Djenaba Johnson-Jones to hear the personal stories and “secret ingredients” of abandoning your day job and starting a CPG food business.
In this episode, you’ll learn...
[02:23] Irene and Jennifer share the story of how they met and started their working relationship
[05:10] How Irene and Jennifer got scrappy and survived the scramble launching their business together quickly
[08:14] How Irene and Jennifer have found investors with aligned values and connections
[11:57] Where the name “Chiyo” comes from and how the values embodied by that name inform their whole business
[12:47] How Chiyo gets creative with their marketing to reach their customers directly
[14:15] How entrepreneurship has forged resilience and a growth mindset for both Chiyo co-founders
[16:17] Jennifer and Irene’s advice for other entrepreneurs thinking about starting a meal prep company
[20:51] What Jennifer and Irene envision for the future of Chiyo and how they’d like to expand as a company driven by values
If you want to hear more about expediting your meal prep company launch, be sure to tune into this episode:
Links mentioned in this episode…
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About Irene Liu & Jennifer Jolorte Doro:
Irene Liu & Jennifer Jolorte Doro are cofounders of Chiyo, a nutritional therapy company combining Eastern food therapy and nutritional science for women and families from fertility through postpartum. We design and deliver stage-based, symptom-specific nutrition programs for women. We do the research – and the work – of meal planning during fertility, pregnancy and early parenthood, allowing busy women fulfilling multiple roles and responsibilities to fuel their bodies with minimal effort.
Connect with Irene Liu & Jennifer Jolorte Doro:
Connect with Jennifer on LinkedIn
Connect with Irene on LinkedIn
Connect with Chiyo on LinkedIn
Stay Connected with Djenaba Johnson-Jones:
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[00:00:02] Djenaba You were 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 CPG food and beverage business. I'm Djenaba Johnson-Jones, former marketing executive turned entrepreneur and founder of food business incubator Hudson Kitchen. So in our 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. This month we are spotlighting Hudson Kitchen members here on the Food Means Business podcast, and I'm so happy to welcome Jennifer and Irene from Chiyo. Ladies, welcome.
[00:00:41] Jennifer Hi.
[00:00:42] Irene Thank you.
[00:00:43] Djenaba Before we talk about the business, I want to talk about both of you. If you could please tell me what you did before launching to you.
[00:00:52] Jennifer So previous to Chiyo, I did work in start ups, a tech startup processing payments, operations. Customer service started into pre and post-natal yoga and then got further certification. And then also my master's in nutrition and so very much started kind of a private practice addressing nutritional concerns individually and then also as a private postpartum chef. And then that's kind of where I read and I met.
[00:01:24] Djenaba Irene.
[00:01:25] Irene So I worked in a lot of different spaces. But kind of the common thread was that I've always been interested in nutrition, education and healthy food access. And so I worked in private sector. I've been doing consulting for several years on anything that was grocery and retail focused, and then also at a nonprofit on the South Side of Chicago, setting up mobile grocery routes as well as city government, so that all all three trifecta working on economic development to figure out how to use public private partnerships to uplift the whole community and kind of working on maternal health came because my aunt had a baby the summer of 2020. And so I saw how my mom was taking care of her in this way and got really deep in my research into what other countries were doing to support new mothers with nutrition at the core and kind of with mine nutrition, education, healthy food access, interest. I was like, Why doesn't something like to exist for the U.S.?
[00:02:21] Djenaba So how did you guys meet?
[00:02:23] Irene Yeah, we met on the internet. Yeah, I'd been following Jennifer on Instagram for a bit already, and then when I had this idea, I was like, okay, well, I don't have the nutritional expertise, so I need somebody who does. And so Jennifer and I kind of started very fluidly, just starting with the pilot first to just test that idea, then kind of over time, continue working with each other. And now it's been over two years now. Once we kind of after that pilot, we're like, okay, I think this is working. Like, let's let's explore this further.
[00:02:57] Djenaba So describe the pilot a little bit. Tell me about what you guys did and what the outcome was.
[00:03:02] Jennifer Yeah, so we met August 2020, very much pandemic times. So lots and lots of zooms and meetings virtually. And then scrapple. We created this very random website and it was one of those things where like we were like, okay, we figured out the configurations, like we have a website and then we launched it and we're like, okay, are people just going to like, buy it? Like, how does that work? So thinking of just like even very early partnerships and things like that and then essentially around kind of like November, November to December, about six weeks, there was a time where we had up to 12 clients at a time and we still very much had the same configuration that we have now breakfast, lunch, dinner, broths, snacks, tonics. I was cooking all of the food from my kitchen, doing all the deliveries, all the packaging. And then Irene was handling all of the customer service delivery routes, all of those things. So very much for a long time it really was just us, which seems like a thousand years ago now.
[00:04:14] Djenaba But how did you get to where you are now? Because now you're in Hudson Kitchen, which I love. Thank you so much. But in your team is fantastic. But there's, you know, six or seven people working in the facility. How do you grow from, you know, making the food in your home to where you are right now? Give us a little bit of that journey.
[00:04:35] Irene That it's many, many chapters of kind of the first chapter. So after our pilot, we actually then this is December of 2020, like Jennifer and I thought, we just have some time to think about it, figure out, you know, do we need to raise money for this and make the product really good? And our customers were like, No, you don't have time for that because we need organic Google search result, which was while.
[00:04:58] Djenaba Oh, wow, wow.
[00:05:00] Irene Wow. Tens of dollars and preorders on the Shopify store that I had built. And we're like, where is this coming from? We literally have no place to make the food and no team to do it. Yes, it's organic Google search. And so we're like, Oh, wow, These are like newly postpartum moms. Like, we can't ship it to them later. They've already entrusted us with their care. And so in January of 21, we cobbled it together, like working in a restaurant. They had a day off on Monday. So all day we just produce and ship and got some Michelin star chefs that were out of work because of COVID, literally cobbled it together. Then, like we could only be there for about a month because it really wasn't like a permanent space. And so then we were in a kitchen in Lower Manhattan, just because that was convenient and relatively easy process to get set up. And we're just the whole point is just ship the product because we got like a New York Times feature on a petite feature all in our first quarter of business.
[00:05:59] Djenaba That's crazy.
[00:06:00] Irene Not ready for this. Also, like Jennifer still had her pilot practice. I was in graduate school full time doing this, so like, really, we were on eggshells. Surviving. Yeah, but basically, like, we knew we were outgrowing my kitchen for months before we finally made the jump to Hudson Kitchen. And there was basically like a breaking point in the kitchen where, like literally everything was spilling over. Like our chefs were super unhappy because there wasn't enough space. Like it was also becoming extremely expensive. Whenever we were like, okay, we just we need to leave. Like everything is like falling apart because of the constraints and figuring out how we could actually ship nationwide out of this facility was just bonkers. So I remember Jennifer and I, we, I think we're looking at a random space. We had like done some research about New Jersey, but literally were just driving around New Jersey and.
[00:06:50] Jennifer We had never even thought of. We were like, okay, like maybe we can go to Jersey. But like, yeah, our clients are in Manhattan, like, and we tried the Jersey thing and like, the tunnels, like the traffic is so daunting. And I remember that day it was just the two of us again, just like driving around and just like, oh, like people have been talking about how much they love this place called Hudson Kitchen. And it's right over here. And I was like, okay, like, it's close. Like, you know, it says we need to make an appointment, but we should just stop by like Irene, just, like, knocked on the door and Raymond And he was like, literally our angel. We were just like, Yeah, this is perfect.
[00:07:35] Irene No. Yeah, like, we like, like I snuck in where you were.
[00:07:38] Djenaba I was not there. Close. Sunday, I he called me and he was like, I just showed the kitchen around and he's the only person that's done that, by the way. But like you, definitely it was like showing you guys around. I think I met you a couple of days later on Zoom, but like, yeah.
[00:07:50] Jennifer We were like, Let's please, we need it so good.
[00:07:56] Djenaba I'm glad you guys, you know, stop by the kitchen and that he was able to show it to you on his craziest night.
[00:08:01] Irene And it's like night and day working in her kitchen.
[00:08:04] Jennifer I will. I'm. I'm like, Oh, my God, I love this place so much. It's amazing. Like, just this space and just everything about it. It's just amazing.
[00:08:14] Djenaba Thank you very much. I have a question. Did you guys decide to do any fundraising at all or is everything bootstrapped?
[00:08:21] Irene Yeah. So our first year and a half, so like January 21 until April of 22, it was it's like bootstrap business pays for itself subscale. And then we raise like a angel round that April, which was a wild time, I'll say, for another salary. Yeah. And so we've raised an angel, friends, a family round and then actually have taken like more angel checks since then. But nothing, nothing that like institutional. Yeah.
[00:08:49] Djenaba So what do you look for in an angel investor other than money? Like, what do you like? There's got to be a person that's really attracted. Your business.
[00:08:57] Irene Yeah, I think that's been really great about what we're building is that it kind of weeds out. People like you either are super passionate about what we do and really understand the need or you don't. We're not going to like you wouldn't consider us next to like, a crypto investment, Like it's like, completely different. And so I think as a result, like we've attracted a lot of angel investors who are moms and actually a lot of working professional women who have large networks and actually in addition to capital, want to help us grow and connect us to other people. And so actually a lot of, you know, our hires or advisors have come through our investors, and that's been really important for us with our strategic angels, is that they provide not just capital but a lot of helpful connections and help us grow in a way that you don't need. Like we haven't raised that much capital. And so a lot of it is like they're opening doors for us.
[00:09:50] Djenaba That's great. So here I have what is this? This is a buckwheat waffle with Goji Berry stir up right here. Yeah. You can't wait to try this. This one. I haven't tried this one yet. I have tried the chocolate quinoa. Oh, I was just telling your chef Camilo that we're in love with those, and I actually had one, and then I took them home, and there's no more. So just. Yeah, talk about the product that you're making and, like, talk a little bit about the type of person that you serve as well.
[00:10:19] Jennifer Yeah. So we very much create meal programs for fertility pregnancy through postpartum. Again, I mentioned the configuration, so it's either typically like a three day or a five day or even up to a seven days, especially in postpartum. And I think our core product is definitely our postpartum product. We have a lot of folks who generally seek us during the postpartum period. Sometimes they're first time moms, sometimes it's like a second or third if they very much remember kind of the postpartum period and maybe how difficult it could have been. And so we started out local, but obviously we ship nationwide now, too. And so our clientele, they're typically very research oriented and very interested in kind of like the cultural aspects around kind of postpartum care traditions around the world. How do they have aspects of that, but then also a bit more modern than kind of like the traditional, say, for 40 days that is well known around the world?
[00:11:24] Irene Yeah. I think what's been really heartening about our customers that we've learned recently actually, is that there's more awareness around postpartum depression and people are more vocal about it. A number of our customers have told us that, like she was part of their care plan around managing or avoiding developing postpartum depression or postpartum anxiety, which that's like the whole reason of why we do this.
[00:11:50] Djenaba You're really making a big impact for sure. So let's talk about the name where the name Tio come from.
[00:11:57] Irene I feel like every part represents like a wild story. So yeah, basically it's a Japanese baby name. It means thousands of generations. And why that was important for us is because two things like one, a lot of where we draw wisdom from is from thousands of generations of women abroad that have figured this out. And I think for us, what's been important is being able to bridge that with Western clinical science, but also give credit to where we got it from. And also because a lot of the practices are from Eastern Asia. And so you also want to make sure that we honored that.
[00:12:36] Djenaba Awesome. And then to talk about marketing, I think you guys recently at Jennifer, you mentioned before we got on that you were in L.A., I believe that was for a comment. You talk about a little bit about how you reach your customer.
[00:12:47] Jennifer So many different ways. At least we try to. So obviously we're not like super gen-z ears in the sense that like Tik Tok is like probably not our main form. And so like thinking about just truly all the different ways that we can reach out to people. So obviously Instagram, social media, email, in-person events. And so for example, I was just in L.A and cooked dinner for a moms group. And so thinking about ways that we can obviously reach our customer directly through mom groups or clinics or midwife offices or doulas very much directly to kind of their periphery of whether it's resources or practitioners, whether that's also acupuncturists, chiropractors, anyone else kind of related to the birth community since we very much work within that range and lifecycle. But I think something that we are trying to explore as well as even just kind of like related parents. So like whether that's beauty or. Jewelry or obviously, as we talk about reaching the fertility customer, it's like maybe they're not necessarily ready to have a baby right away, but thinking about maybe hormone balance. So like period care, kind of other adjacent, maybe like femtech or hormone health products as well.
[00:14:15] Djenaba Talk about entrepreneurship and how it's it's changed you. I mean, you guys both have a corporate background. And I'm just wondering, like it's been a couple of years since you've been in this business and just wondering, like, how has changed for the better?
[00:14:29] Jennifer I feel like that's kind of a loaded question. Obviously, Irene alluded to just a lot of the really wild stories and experiences we've had. And you know, you can't obviously predict entrepreneurship and it isn't like a very pretty journey. And I think so many people kind of think that, oh, wow, like it's only been a couple of years and like you've gotten a lot of great press. You obviously only kind of see like the highlight reel. And so, you know, thinking about even just the hard things and they were just so hard. And I, I still don't know because those now thinking about it seem like a thousand years ago and really it wasn't last year, right. You even just thinking about the highs and the lows and the challenges, I think a lot of it is like resilience and maybe I think we've talked about this a lot. Irene and I, in terms of just being kind of like naive to what was happening or what could happen, learning a lot, but just kind of working through those challenges and again, surrounding us with really great advisors and people who have been through it. And so knowing that like you're not alone and in all of the kind of ups and downs.
[00:15:54] Irene I mean, yeah, I think similarly, I think the biggest thing for me has been mindset. Like resilience is like the first step and then the second step is like regardless of whatever is happening outside that you have like focus and a positive mindset and an abundance mindset, I would say, so that you don't get like down in the weeds when things are hard.
[00:16:17] Djenaba No, I think that's really important, especially the abundance mindset because like, what's for you will be for you. Like you will receive whatever that thing is versus like thinking about it as like someone else has something that you don't. Because like, I think if you focus on yourself, then the abundance that the things will come that you want. So I think that's really important, Yeah. What advice do you have for someone that's just getting started? And because you guys, I mean, you essentially do a meal prep. So I'm wondering like, what have you learned? Like when advice do you have for someone that's doing a meal prep company?
[00:16:50] Jennifer Oh, lunch. I mean, I think for someone who is obviously interested in food and food is can be so beautiful and very much obviously our philosophy is food is medicine. And I think one of our biggest things too, is just taking care of your team. That's really important for us. You know, obviously there's a lot of people, but you really want to consider who you're choosing and I think who can help and who's excited to help. But I think also like just taking care of them in the sense of like in a kitchen culture, for example, it's like voicing appreciation and creating like a family meal, asking people to be a part of projects or getting insight or their feedback. I think all of those things are really, really important and trying to consider each individual's unique personalities or contributions or skills or experiences. I think obviously as we grow and manage more people and some full time some contractors, obviously hiring is always going to be very challenging. But we've been super lucky too with the people that we have met or people that have been a part of our team, how great their experiences and skills and just they've been able to really help us throughout the whole experience.
[00:18:15] Irene I think in a similar vein, the perspective I'll take is like how as a founder? Also, like what needs to be true is like, know your "why." I think that if you don't know, you're y it's it's hard and you're not going to get through all the peaks and valleys. So you really need to have like the end vision of what you want to build and what impact you want to have. And I think that's also super important so that you can communicate and motivate your team and help them see the end of the line or end of the tunnel as well versus kind of like sometimes the day to day is not not exciting. Yeah.
[00:18:54] Djenaba No, that's definitely true. So your company is all about women taking care of themselves. How do you take care of yourselves? What do you guys do for self care?
[00:19:03] Jennifer I do Acupuncture Weekly or once a month, my husband and I, we switch off. I think being outside with my kids is really important. So whether that's a new hike or visiting a new place, that's new to all of us, you really fun. I love reading. So when I'm not too tired, I love reading a new book about really anything. And learning I think is fun in in the sense of whether that's inspiration for children or, you know, new ways of marketing. Things like that are fun for me.
[00:19:42] Irene So yeah, I think for me it's probably two things. Like one is protected mornings like I will wake up at 6 a.m., I don't have kids, this will change and I have kids, but I don't like wake up at.
[00:19:54] Djenaba Night when you get up earlier, like, what are you talking about?
[00:19:59] Irene Oh, my God.
[00:20:01] Djenaba Okay, so 6 a.m.. Yeah.
[00:20:02] Irene So I like, wake up at six and just, like, have like, me time coffee. Go for a walk. Just, like, clear my head so that when I am working, it's like, fully cleared. And then also I think what I've realized about myself too, is like I actually do of working. I love building things and.
[00:20:19] Djenaba Yeah, I'm the same.
[00:20:21] Irene Same. Yeah. If anything, it's more that I let my brain wander. Like that is self-care for me because it's exciting and, and it's like fun and challenging. And so typically, like, I don't know, I might have some new business ideas and I write it on a page and then just park it because I don't have time for it. But like, that's like fun for me or I'm like reading a new book or going to a museum or taking a walk and like, you know, looking at the different trees. But it's more about like the kind of mental escapism, I.
[00:20:51] Djenaba Think having that space to think about whatever it is like makes you more creative and you can bring it back to the business. So I think that's really important and I try to do that same that same thing as well. And I have a question because I was talking to Liz and we were like going back and forth and like looking at the research for this podcast and just wondering, is there another life stage that you might be interested in focusing on? Like I'm just wondering about like perimenopausal, menopausal women? Just curious. Like to me it would seem interesting looking at, here's my vision for your company now. So it's like you have like a girl that is like, you know, starting to menstruate for the first time. And then you have where you are now, which is like, you know, people are in the stage of they want, you know, wanting to have children and or being postpartum. And like, it would seem to me that it would be interesting to also look at it in a positive way.
[00:21:44] Irene There's just yeah, no 100%. It's like that's kind of the end goal is that we're women's health company for every stage of transition so first period to menopause and something that like I have to tell investors this a lot as well as like we're not there for the every day. We're there when it matters most.
[00:22:01] Djenaba I like that there's.
[00:22:03] Irene 5 million companies out there. The rest.
[00:22:05] Djenaba Yeah, that's awesome. I love that. Cool. So tell me what you guys are thankful for.
[00:22:11] Jennifer I'd probably say my kids and I think now I mean, even just where we are, I think we also, again, with the peaks and valleys, it's like thinking of like where we were to where we are today. So just again, kind of having that mindset of like, I'm really thankful that like the journey that we've had, but then also like the exciting things that we look forward to, to.
[00:22:35] Irene Yeah. I think similarly, like I'm I'm thankful for all the people that have allowed us to do what we do. And that's right. That's like Jennifer being on this crazy journey with me. That's the team that has gone on this crazy journey with us. That's our advisors, it's our investors. And like, of course, my husband and my family, like, doing a startup takes over your life.
[00:22:57] Djenaba Yeah, it does.
[00:22:58] Irene And so, like, everybody is involved.
[00:23:01] Jennifer Yeah, even like our best friends who have helped us at events. One of my best friends used to help, like print labels, like the most random things, and we're super lucky to have a lot of great support to help us with the most random things.
[00:23:18] Djenaba Yeah, I had that in the beginning too. Like my friend and her husband had a creative agency, and so, like, they did the logo and like, they designed all of the things to do a ton of in-person events, kind of getting back to now. And she designed it because I came from a corporate background because I had access to a marketing department. I was like, Oh my God, I need a 30 by 40 blow up. I need this printed invitation. And she would do all these things for me and crazy and like, found a place for us to get it printed and, you know, friends working the front door at the, you know, like checking people and events and stuff like that. So it's like, so nice to have that, like community people that support it. Really great. Yeah. I wanted to find out what you guys are celebrating. As you know, Hudson Kitchen, we have this bell in the lobby that we like to ring when people are celebrating something. So tell us what's going on. It could be personal or professional. Does it matter?
[00:24:12] Jennifer Well, Irene's getting married. Yeah, I have relations.
[00:24:15] Djenaba That's exciting.
[00:24:17] Irene We had a civil ceremony last year, but we're.
[00:24:19] Djenaba Doing the thing with the. With the white dress and everything. Yeah.
[00:24:23] Irene Amazing woman.
[00:24:25] Djenaba I mean, that is. Congratulations.
[00:24:27] Irene Thank you.
[00:24:28] Jennifer Business wise. I mean, I feel like so many exciting things all the time, small and big. But I think the thing that we're excited about are probably like clinic partnerships. So we partnered with some fertility clinics and some ongoing. So that's really exciting to be able to reach people in a different way. And I think even just like when our clients share small wins, when they let us know that they're pregnant or they just had a baby, I think those little wins are exciting for us too.
[00:25:00] Djenaba That's really great. So guys, thank you so much for being here and thank you for being members of Hudson Kitchen. I mentioned before, but like your team is fantastic and I really enjoy working with them on a day to day basis. Please let everyone know where they can find out about you and to you.
[00:25:16] Jennifer So on Instagram, @weareChiyo and our website is weareChiyo.com.
[00:25:22] Djenaba Well, thank you.
[00:25:24] Irene Great.
[00:25:25] Djenaba Thanks to the Food Means Business Podcast was produced by Hudson Kitchen. It is recorded at the studio at Carney Point and mixed and edited by Wild Home Podcasting. Our theme song is by Damien de Sands, and I'm your host, Robert Johnson Jones. Follow Hudson Kitchen on Instagram at the Hudson Kitchen and to get food Business Bites right in your inbox, sign up for our newsletter at the Hudson Kitchen Icon for its last newsletter. Listen, follow and leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts. Until next time.