How to Use Content to Grow Your CPG Food Business with Marlin Chan and Rachel Cheng
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Using Content to Help Your Consumer-Product Goods Business Grow…
This month, we’re highlighting members of Hudson Kitchen on the podcast and today, I’m chatting with Marlin Chan and Rachel Cheng of Yay’s Snacks beef crisps. The story of how Yay’s came to be (there was mistaken identity involved!) is fascinating, but even more impressive is the success they’ve found in their business with content creation, especially on TikTok.
In this episode, Marlin and Rachel share the story behind the Yay’s product, why they have a specific vision for their product packaging, and how they’ve leveraged Marlin’s extensive content creation experience to grow their business with videos on TikTok and other platforms.
We also chat about how having a team with complementary strengths is so beneficial to the harmony of their business, and how they stay grounded despite the needs of their business.
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...
[00:45] How Marlin and Rachel met, what they were doing before becoming food entrepreneurs, and the inspiration behind Yay’s Snacks
[14:28] The story behind their product packaging and why it attracts customers, plus how they learned to make beef crisps
[20:27] How Marlin has used his experience as a content creator for the Yay’s brand, and how his and Rachel’s strengths complement each other
[28:40] Marlin and Rachel share how entrepreneurship has changed them
[33:07] How they both incorporate self-care into their lives as business owners
If you want to hear more about how content creation can benefit your food business, be sure to tune into this episode:
Links mentioned in this episode…
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About Rachel Cheng & Marlin Chan:
Yay's is our thank you to the woman behind the recipe that has been a source of love and comfort in our family for generations. From humble beginnings Marlin's family escaped Cambodia as refugees to seek a brighter future in the US. Since then, Yay's has evolved to become more than just a snack, also representing the love and history that is behind each and every bite. It has become Yay's mission to share our unique snack and story with the world, with happiness in every bite. We hope everyone will try our special beef crisps and feel the urge to say oh Yay! when eating it.
Connect with Rachel & Marlin:
Connect with Yay’s on LinkedIn
Connect with Rachel on LinkedIn
Connect with Marlin on LinkedIn
Stay Connected with Djenaba Johnson-Jones:
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[00:00:01] 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 CPG food and beverage business. I'm Djenaba Johnson-Jones, former marketing executive turned entrepreneur and founder of food business incubator Hudson Kitchen. Join 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. Welcome to the Food Means Business Podcast. This month we are spotlighting Hudson Kitchen members. And today, I'm so happy to introduce you to Marlin and Rachel. They are the founders of Yay's Snacks. So welcome, guys.
[00:00:44] Marlin Hi, thank you for having us.
[00:00:45] Djenaba Absolutely. So we start out with your stories. We love to hear kind of your we call it a cubicle to CEO story. But I wanted to find out what were you doing before you launched Yay's Snacks?
[00:00:57] Marlin Okay. Sure. Yeah. So, hi, my name's Marlin Ramsey Chan. I've been a content creator for just over ten years now. I started creating content in 2011 out of my house, my childhood home, and just watching people like me on the Internet doing what they loved and one day dreaming that I could do the same. And so I moved down to L.A. in 2013 and pursued that passion full time, and I was able to kind of make a career out of it around 2014 and go full time with that. And I was able to create content since then, and now I'm lucky enough to still be able to do that in my position while creating a company.
[00:01:33] Djenaba That's awesome because most people say they want to create content and live off of it, but a lot of people don't, so that's pretty cool.
[00:01:40] Marlin Yeah. Yeah, it was definitely not a linear route, but I wanted to keep it concise because I also know the podcast is only like 30 minutes. We have like a 30 minute runtime. So I was like, I want I keep this for everyone. But yes, like lucky, I had a lot of big wins that happened that made it able for me to create content full time. So yes.
[00:01:58] Djenaba Awesome. So, Rachel?
[00:01:59] Rachel Yeah, I think adding on to Marlin's story. My favorite part of his story is telling his parents he was going to college in L.A., but going acting school instead.
[00:02:07] Djenaba Wait, wait, wait. Let's talk about it.
[00:02:09] Rachel Can I just add that? I love it because it's so like, it's so important to know for, like, later and like, how important his family really is to him, but like, him doing it because they were just so aligned. It was there for him and he's so talented at it.
[00:02:23] Djenaba You got to tell the story, so let's do it.
[00:02:25] Marlin Yeah, well, so for the people listening, it's like with my parents, it's I don't know for anyone else in the world, like it's easier to give them something they would understand, right? Like, I can't go. Hey, guys, Like, this is my plan. I'm going to go to L.A., I'm going to make these videos, and magically I'm going to be able to pay your mortgage. Like, that's just how the linear it doesn't process for them, right? Right. So for me, I'm like, okay, I'm going to go to Northridge and I'm going to be a director. That's like something it's like still farfetched, but it's like they understand and it's not like this massive lie because like, I knew my heart, like I'm going to make this happen somehow, but it's just easier for them to digest. And as Asian parents, they just they worry a lot, you know, and I try not to like, worry them too much. And I think if you ask them to this day, they had no idea. They just one day were just like, oh, like, okay, this is like this. Okay, this is cool. Like, people started in my small town. I'm from Stockton, California. People are just like, Oh, we saw your son's video. And then we would be like, What? Like we saw you on this video and that you go, What are you talking about? And eventually it kind of just built it from there. But yeah, that's part of the I think having that dialog with your parents I think is really important. Don't lie to your family kids, but telling them white lies, I think to kind of have them understand is okay.
[00:03:37] Djenaba I mean, but you were doing something that didn't exist, you know, until recently. So it's like, how do you explain that things? So I kind of get it.
[00:03:44] Marlin That is true. Yeah. I didn't know how to tell.
[00:03:46] Rachel He had a plan.
[00:03:47] Marlin Yeah, and, and luckily it worked out. Otherwise they would just be very upset. Yeah.
[00:03:51] Djenaba Yeah.
[00:03:53] Rachel Marlen had a plan. For me, it was all my professional career. I've been very lucky enough to be able to be an entrepreneur, and my cubicle experience is probably going to be when I was interning in college in the fashion industry. And I loved it, like I wanted to be an analyst and a buyer, like the usual, just like corporate route of entering, like finishing college and doing that. And that's what I figured I would do after college. But life presented its ways like itself in different ways for me and different opportunities that just made so much sense when they were in front of me that I couldn't say no, you know, and I was lucky enough to not have to say no. And I said, All right, first it was Popcorn for the People, which was back my senior year of college. I was essentially a part of a school community based organization where we, like, nonprofit consulted and helped to build a business plan for small businesses in our area. And it was a nonprofit and it was wonderful and it was six years of doing that. And when I first met Marlin completely by accident, like popcorn happened by accident, it just fell into place. And then Marlin, I met completely by accident. I wasn't even the person he thought I was when he first said hi to me, like he thought I was complete someone else. It was a mistaken identity case, and in the end it worked out perfectly. And everything tells me what we are supposed to be where we are right now, like with the team we have. Ben's not on here, but we love Ben, and Ben is the third one that is so important to this team. And I couldn't have imagined like any better of a place to be and people to be here with.
[00:05:29] Djenaba That's awesome. So tell us the. How you met story because it is kind of a fun story.
[00:05:33] Rachel Marlin you got to explain it from your point of view.
[00:05:34] Marlin From my perspective. Okay. Yeah. Okay. So this is last year. Is this 2022? This is 2022. March 2022. I'm going to my first expo West ever. I am just a bright eyed young entrepreneur, not even CPG founder yet. I just am like, curious about it, you know? I was told by my girlfriend and a few other people to go check out this event. This is like the one of the biggest events on the West Coast or even in the nation. And so I go there and it happens to be, you know, where one of the biggest creator events is, too. So it's very parallel. So it's one of the biggest creator events called VidCon, happens at Expo West. I go there, I meet some friends, and I'm actually introduced to a woman who runs the U.S. arm of Irving's is Irving's Rachel Irving.
[00:06:19] Rachel Oh, you've said so many times that's confused me. I want to say it's Irvin's, but.
[00:06:23] Marlin Irvin's. Okay, we'll say Irvin's. It's a huge, like, snack company in Singapore. They import these, like, really, like, delicious salted chips. And it's really popular in the U.S. and Singapore. People wait in lines. So I met her that night. But everyone's wearing masks. This is like the tail end of COVID. Everyone's stil wearing masks kind of. And so I meet her and the next day I'm going to like all these panels. Like I'm like, if I'm going to exercise, I want to I have a free pass because I'm a creator, but I want to learn everything I can. I want to meet everyone. I can instantly absorb all of this because that's just my personality. And I was like, I want to be there. I went to a founders of color that was supposed to be the panel, founders of Colors. We're going have like four different CEOs talk about their experiences in the industry. And I'm like, Oh, I am. I am of color. I know I want to go like, look at these things. I want to also learn how to, you know, navigate this world. And last minute, that panel changed to the Mondelez collab, which is there. Mondelez is talking about their kind of accelerator program, right? And so I was there and I was really excited. Also, teachers was like, Oh, cool snack teachers. Like, I feel like I have potentially a future of snacks in my pocket. So I want to come here and I want to listen also. So I'm just going to sit at my seat and I look over and I see the lady who I thought I met yesterday. I was like, I see this lady. I know that's her. And for me it's like, well, it's going to be so rude if she saw me and I and I see her and I'm like, I'm this guy that I don't say hi again because I already met her. I'm so glad to see her again because this is just not going to be okay. So I'm like, okay, so after we watch the panel, I walk over and I'm like, Hey, it's me again from yesterday. So good. Glad to see you at this panel, too. And this whole time, this lady is just looking at me like, I don't know who you are or why you're talking to me right now or any of these things. And I start to register this really quickly and I'm like, Oh, okay. Like, she doesn't know maybe this is the wrong person or like, I don't know what's happening, but I just kind of like freeze. And I just the first thing I think to do is like, I have Ziploc bags of my snack in my bag. And so I just go like, Oh, this is my grandmother's snack. And also, like, she's really nice to me. And I just like, what a runaway, right? If that's what happened. Rachel But yeah, I remember like giving you this. It's a Ziploc bag full of beef crisps, my grandmother's beef crisps and then I just say, like, there you go. And I just, like, run away, basically. And that's how we first initially met.
[00:08:44] Djenaba That is crazy that you run away, but you also end of reconnecting, right? So give us a little bit of that, Rachel.
[00:08:50] Rachel Marlon wasn't as timid as he. She had more confidence and I was proud that he did because it didn't make me feel like I was eating this questionable snack in a Ziploc bag. I mean, if you first saw it, it was literally just a Ziploc bag with a random sticker on there. Right. I was like, I don't know you. You're feeding me food and I should not eat this. So, like, if he was more timid, I would have probably not eaten it, you know? I mean, because I would been like, yeah, how what is he doing? Where is this possibly from? Like, I don't know. But he was very nice. We shortly figured out that I was not the person he was talking to yesterday, but he was like, so kind and like, welcoming and he was like, Hey, I am also meeting like other like I talked about my background that I was running popcorn for people, that kind of stuff, and that we were part of the program for Mondelez that year. And I was explaining it to him and like it was a small like dialog, but he was very nice and he was like, Oh, I'm also like hanging out with other friends later this evening if you're interested in like meeting other people. And I was like, Yeah, sure, maybe, you know, but I have my other agenda and I just met this person who wasn't actually the person I thought who thought I was like, I'm not going to, you know. But he gave me his business card. I actually ended up trying the product later in my hotel room, might I add alone and I was like, if I was poisonous, he would have tried to poison me and made me eat it when I was there, not when, like I'm gone. So I somehow something told me that it was safe to eat, it was delicious, and I saved it for my boyfriend to try. Because David and I just love finding new snacks. Like some of our dates are literally just in the grocery aisle, you know? So.
[00:10:21] Djenaba I do that too, with my husband. That's what we do on Saturdays. We're grocery people. That kind of. That's amazing. Okay.
[00:10:28] Marlin I love. I love a good grocery date. Yeah.
[00:10:30] Rachel I think it's within you. You have to choose to want to do that. You just. It's naturally something. And I'm grateful that I found someone to do that with. But, yeah, it was a moment of like, we think back to it and I feel like that moment was so clear in my head. Never what I thought that this person who walked up to me, I picture what Marlin was wearing. He had his nice, poofy hair. He had his denim jacket on, and he had a nice tote bag with a bunch of little beef snacks in there. And I was like, What? You know? But like, that moment was so like, as Marlin would call it before, serendipitous and whatever put us in that room at the same time, I think it was like. This was meant to be something bigger than we ever thought when we first met, so.
[00:11:16] Djenaba Yeah. Yeah. So tell us about the product. What is it?
[00:11:19] Marlin Yeah. Okay. So, yeah. So we have some right here for you in studio. Obviously, it's made there where you.
[00:11:25] Djenaba But I can eat as much as I want just FYI.
[00:11:30] Marlin The super awesome secret ability to do that. But Yay's is my grandmother's take on beef jerky. You know, she had no idea how to make her own beef jerky, so she was curious on how to make that. And so she ended up slicing really thin beef and dehydrating a lot longer than regular jerky and ended up making this, like, delicious, crispy, savory, salty, spicy snack that tasted good to her and for us Yay's is an inspiration for my grandma. That's a premium take on that. And our mission is to bring a taste of Cambodia to every single home.
[00:12:03] Djenaba It's really good that I'm not just saying that. I think it's really good and I give it to people and they like they want more and more and more. So it's exciting.
[00:12:12] Rachel It's awesome to hear it, you know, Like I like it. And that's what pulled me into this in the first place. But it's like it's validation when you got all that great feedback at the fancy food show and just like giving it to people in our kitchen, like, like should be like, I need you to try this. And he's like, any time, any time. Give me a try. I'm there. Like, I'm already here. It's just it's a whole feeling. Like when you're eating it, you're not sure what to expect because it's not like people are like, Oh, beef jerky. But Marlin's genius girlfriend thought of this wonderful thing where on the bag it says artisanal beef jerky, but it's crossed out and it says crisps. And it's because, like, that's the best way to describe it. It's like, first of all, if I said beef, you would think, like, what is that really? Right, right. But the fact that we're trying to like, transition people's mind to thinking about it in a little different way makes more sense. Instead of having to, like, longwindedly explain what it is. So it's a labor of love, A 24 hour labor of love and production is always a great time with this. But in doing this whole thing, it's a big symbol of how much Grandma wanted this product to be it to help support her grandchildren, you know, and her family. And so, I mean, yay means grandmother in Cambodia. Yeah, but in my but in English, it's just a happy feeling. And that's what we hope that everyone feels when they're eating this, because that's how we feel.
[00:13:37] Marlin That's yeah, yeah. So that's the exact kind of feeling and like mindset we want people to feel when they, when they open a bag of Yay's, it's just the happiness. And I think you got to witness that firsthand, like kind of letting people sample it at the fancy food show, you know, it's like, that's like my favorite thing. I love showing my friends new foods or, you know, going to different places or Rachel's in town we want to go to different restaurants. Or when I'm in town, Rachel takes me to a restaurant to just blow my mind. Being able to do that with your own product or having a product that you're a fan of is like really cool. And being able to do that on a mass scale, that's all we could really hope for and dream of.
[00:14:11] Djenaba So we took Yay's Snacks to a fancy food show. Hudson Kitchen had a booth, and people would come and taste the product and then they would come back again and start asking questions. And it was really great. Yeah, It was really fun to see the reaction of people's faces. So that's like one of the best parts of this for me. So cool. So let's talk about the packaging, because that was also one of the things that it really attracted people to the product. When you first came to the kitchen, you were using a different bag with a sticker, I believe, right? And so then you transitioned to this packaging. So I'd love for you to talk a little bit about the inspiration behind it and and everything. Okay.
[00:14:48] Marlin Yeah. Yes. So initially when we started, my grandma used to use it to sell it out of Ziploc bags, like $2, $5, whatever, out of a Ziploc bag. That's where the original form Rachel tried in was a Ziploc bag. And then, you know, we didn't want to stop any momentum from happening or like, that's just we wanted to keep it going. So we got the clear bags that you guys saw with the sticker on it as like the next iteration and then the next version of it, the final form, which we have it now, or I guess it's not final because it's probably always going to be changing. The form we have right now is kind of an embodiment of where we think kind of the future of snacking is going. You know, we think our snack is a premium product and we want it to have that premium feel without being too, like snooty in that way, right? We want people to see like, oh, this is a really well-made product and it has a lot of intention and thought being put into it while not being too prestigious that you can't just buy a snack online. So I think a lot of the choices we made were inspired by what was happening in the industry right now as a whole. But it really kind of goes for that that premium feel without being too, too big.
[00:15:54] Rachel Yeah, I mean, I think on production side, we wanted good shelf life.
[00:15:59] Marlin Yeah, that's Rachel's production side.
[00:16:01] Djenaba Yeah, that's kind of important. I don't know. Yeah.
[00:16:05] Rachel Fortunately, when you're selling a product that's advertised as crispy, it has to remain that way.
[00:16:09] Djenaba Exactly. You know.
[00:16:09] Rachel So we really toyed with, like, having the window and keeping the window basically, like, every step that was made was in order to ensure better shelf life. Like Ziploc bag to Metalized back bag with clear front was basically just that upgraded Ziploc bag for better shelf life. And then this is like a fully metalized bag with barrier properties. And it was just important to make sure by the time it gets to our customers right now we're fully D to C online store and everything that it's same condition the way it left our facility.
[00:16:43] Marlin I was going to say, and Rachel gave us a lot of pointers for designing the bag. It's like, make sure you you know, this tip for other students. Like you go to the actual store where your product would be. Right. Like having pictures of it or prototypes of it there and seeing how it would kind of stand against those. And that's kind of like part of the process that we use to kind of come up with this bag because there's many color iterations and different designs that we went through that I mean, like the person in Design Express speak more on it, which is my girlfriend. But from what I remember through the process, like it was a longer process to get to the bag we have now, but it's definitely worth it.
[00:17:17] Djenaba Yeah, that's so cool. So wait, how did you guys learn how to make the beef crisp? Can you talk about that?
[00:17:23] Marlin Okay. Yeah. So learn from Grandma. Yeah. Yeah. Rachel, We actually flew Rachel in, and she learned directly from Grandma herself. You know, like we had, you know, some videos and film that my dad would film of my grandma making it and this whole process and, you know, one of the most humbling experiences for us or for me as a founder was learning how to make these, you know, come in like was like, oh, yeah, like, you know, I'm young, 28 year old, but I could just like, take this and grandma has all these steps. I can just, you know, we can just this step and do this stuff to make it more efficient. It's like, no, this is a delicate product. And Rachel can speak on to more of like that because she's handling all the production on that side.
[00:18:02] Rachel So what we learned, the process, I think we tried to make it like in different ways a few times before, and then we went to visit Grandma and do it the way she does it at Marlin's, you know, family's home. And it was like, How did you figure this out? You know, like, how did you to achieve this exact product? I got to tell you, it's so much more precise than I thought it would be to get the exact texture and taste. The ratios have to be perfect. You can't change the sugar. You can't do this. You can't do that. And I was like, Oh, great, I want to make this like the healthiest it can be. You know what? Like what tasting good. But I was like, and then, like, I tried it. I was like, don't touch it. Like, do not touch a thing. And we plan to have iterations one day and different flavors and things like that. But for right now, this is what grandma made for 30 years and there's a reason why she did it like this. And there's a reason why Marlin wanted to start a company out of this. And so this will always be our original flavor If we have variations in the future, that's a different process. But like, it was actually such a genius recipe and production process that, like, I'm trying to make things more efficient and where I can and more consistent for the process of scaling and some things have been able to do. But like other things, there's a reason why she did it, you know? And I don't think we can make custom machinery until we are hundreds of millions in revenue. One. Or able to design something. But right now it's fully grandmother's recipe down to like the the method of how we lay out the meat in the marination process, which is just laborious, but it's okay.
[00:19:43] Djenaba Yeah. Yeah, that's really cool. One of the things that I think is important is that you guys are focused on this one product and not trying to have all these like different types of you could be doing like mushroom crisps or whatever. And not to say that that might not be in the future, but like the focus on getting this right I think is so important. And I've seen in the, you know, in our kitchen, like when someone is focused, they're going to be successful. So that's really important to me. I think that's what I look for, like when I'm looking at working with businesses, like, yeah, the focus there.
[00:20:12] Marlin Yeah, we're really focused on product and just creating the highest quality product we can, you know, aside from our story. But I think that's just the type of people we are in general about. That is we want to make the best quality product and have people be excited every time they get a bag.
[00:20:27] Djenaba So Marlin, let's talk about you being a content creator and how you're able to take that experience and kind of lend it to Yay's. I mean, is obviously like part of what business owners do now is have to create content or for their brand. So can you talk a little bit about what you've been able to do and some of the successes you guys have had with video?
[00:20:47] Marlin Yeah, content creation. I think I'm very lucky. It's a different kind of school that I went to in terms of a business school, because running a content creation studio or a production company is basically about how to do for five years when I was just doing just solely my production. And you kind of have to learn on your own really fast, right? All of a sudden, you know, you're making videos in your bedroom and then like two years later you have a team of like six. And you know, they're asking you like, what? What do we do? You know, what are we doing? And you have to tell them. You have to give them the answers because you're paying for everything and you have to make sure that, you know, the ideas are doing well and people are getting paid and and all these things. So the transition from being a content creator to actually being a founder was a lot less difficult than I thought because towards the end up kind of not the end. I'm still a content creator now, but towards the end of my personal, just my production company itself, before fully focusing on Yay's, I had to learn to work with other people and to be able to delegate and to be able to trust people. And you know, with Yay's, I'm really excited because like I think my you just my biggest if I were to say like my biggest talent besides making content is being able to look for talent and finding people that have that thing. I don't know what like I can't describe to you that thing, what that thing is. But like when I, like, looked at Rachel in her eyes, like you could see it right now you're sitting next to it, But when you looked at Rachel in her eyes like, you know, you just know that there is a successful person in there, there's a multi-billionaire in there. And I can't explain to you why.
[00:22:13] Djenaba I completely I agree. I completely agree with you. I actually you've been talking about this internally because I have Brittney as our sales rep. And I'm like, we're looking for more Rachel's like, we just are looking for more people like her and she has that it factor. But I want to be able to articulate what that is, and we haven't been able to do that yet.
[00:22:29] Marlin I know. And that's something you just can't buy. You can't replicate that, you can't teach that. It's just something someone born with, you know? Right. And same goes for Ben. Ben's not here right now. I've never said this. I don't think on a podcast or even to Ben precisely. And if I think he wrote something that I would say about him, it would be like, Oh, he's so good at strategy and analytics and blah, blah, blah, but that's actually not it at all. Like, yeah, I'm lucky enough to hang out with Ben outside of work and met him through work and understand all these other facets of him, like he's so interested and, you know, gardening and culinary world and biking and all these other things that other just regular people aren't well-rounded enough to have to become into a team and like kind of be a person, you know? And because there's so many smart people, when you're going to build a team, like I could go meet a ton of people that went to Harvard or, you know, work that being in different places that could show me how to run a company and, you know, show me my numbers and metrics every day. But that's not really what I was looking for. And when finding Rachel and Ben I was like, Wow, I'm in a gold mine of people that want to help me bring my vision to life and I want to help them in any way I can, too. And you know, initially when before even me and Rachel got to work together, my plan was like, oh, like when we were just talking about business, I was getting so excited that like, Oh, I'm going to my vision for it. I was like, okay, I'm going to work on this really quickly. I'm going to sell it and then I'm going to work with you on a project because like, I feel like you're just said, we should do this, like we should make something right. And so I was lucky enough that all the pieces fell together that we're able to work together. That's like one of the biggest things for me. It's like I get to work with wonderful, really smart people that are smarter than me in their own kind of niches. And that's been kind of my transition right now is understanding like, okay, I can just fully trust Rachel on the production side and fully trust Ben on the, you know, strategy and finance side. And I can really think about content as a whole and the vision is on the company as a whole, and that is like massive because I don't think a lot of people have that luxury. And I think it's a huge luxury, a huge mental luxury to be able. And I don't take it for granted at all any days. And I know my team's value.
[00:24:34] Djenaba No, they're definitely amazing, that's for sure.
[00:24:37] Rachel Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes I just sit back and I'm just like, I love this team. I love them. I could not have imagined. Like, there's no better. Like strength and balance weakness than, like, the team we have here. Like, my exact weaknesses are Ben and Marlin's exact strengths. It's crazy. Like, Marlin will shoot a video and, like, I'm not use that lifestyle or he'll just, like, start recording things. I'm just like, do I need to, like, put this here? Like, little ignore? Like, just ignore me? Like I'm he's doing his thing and it's just like everyone's autonomous and so good at what they're doing it just like it's like seamless integration and it's like a beautiful, like symphony. And it's just it's amazing. And Marlon just literally a genius at what he does. I could not see things the way he does and the angle he sees it and he just gets it. And same with Ben. There's just a different way of looking at how to tackle a business, and it all just is. It's so satisfying. Yeah.
[00:25:32] Marlin Yeah. And I would also add to that, like, I don't think there's one way to do a business, especially just from like, all the podcasts and research I've done. Okay, there's not one way to do this. So in terms of like content creation and building a business, I kind of wanted to do it my own way, which is like my way, Marlin's or whatever that is. Like we're still in the process right now. So, you know, we'll do a one year check up soon and see what happens. But I yeah, whatever that is and authentic to us. And as long as we're having fun and, you know, building an amazing business with an amazing message that makes the world a better place, I'm happy.
[00:26:06] Djenaba Cool. So talk about TikTok. There's been a little bit of a frenzy happening in the kitchen. I mean.
[00:26:13] Rachel I've been telling her we sold on TikTok.
[00:26:16] Marlin Oh, yeah. So for TikTok. And I think being a creator in the space for so long, you can start to notice late trends or you can start to notice when certain platforms are heating up or what's kind of like what you call them meta in a certain situation, right? Like at one point, Facebook ads was like the biggest thing, right? People wanted to invest in Facebook ads right away because you can hit these targets and certain realize that you wanted to hit right now. TikTok is really pushing their initiative towards being able to sell products and D to C products online to customers. And I see it as a huge moment in TikTok time where we could actually use the platform really well to, you know, grow a brand like this, something that is D to C direct to consumer right away. And I think it's a huge moment that they're looking for brands like us that are like solid brands that have missions that aren't just I think a lot of the things you might see on there are just like more like candy stores and other things like that. They're looking for like brands that they could get behind to try to really show people like this is a real marketplace, you know? And for us, we've been lucky enough to have some videos do really well for us and, you know, sell out all of our inventory really fast. And it surpassed all of our expectations. I think I remember telling Ben and Rachel, you know, like I know how to do content. The time period is going to be like between, you know, now it is August and December. I don't know what's going to happen, but I would run Rachel through like ideas. I'd be like, okay, what happens if a video goes viral tomorrow? What's your plan? Right? So we'd always like, do these kind of plans over and over, talk about them and talk about them just so she had something in mind, but we wouldn't know when it would happen, right? It happened December or it just happened recently here in August. And so, you know, like Rachel is prepared and she worked super hard, so we didn't skip a beat.
[00:28:01] Djenaba Because she really did it. Like there was like a really plan in place. And then like, I see people working and it was great.
[00:28:07] Rachel Yeah, I went from one of the orders coming in to, Oh my God, they're here, they're here, they're here, and they're piled up.
[00:28:14] Djenaba And we're like chasing down the mailman and everything.
[00:28:17] Rachel Djenaba has been saving me. And I tell Marlin that we'll just, like, Djenaba just saved me. The mailman came and she took care of it.
[00:28:23] Djenaba Yeah, it's good that we have, we're on a first name basis with a lot of our delivery people.
[00:28:28] Rachel So I just give them some Yay's and hopefully they like it enough to, like, you know, care about us. But I know they're busy and it's just it's a lot. It's it's a whole it takes a village.
[00:28:38] Djenaba It definitely does, that's for sure. So can you guys both of you talk a little bit about how entrepreneurship has changed you? I know you both have basically been entrepreneurs for quite some time, but I'd love to to hear about your thoughts on how great it is to be an entrepreneur.
[00:28:54] Rachel I really do think about how grateful I am to get to do this. Like I know and I see it with just like within my relationship with my boyfriend. You know, he took the corporate route and I took the entrepreneurship route. And we're both very much the person who's interested in entrepreneurship now. And I'm just grateful that I was able to kind of choose my destiny in a way like I don't have control of solely what happens in a startup. No one really does, but like, it just feels it feels different. Your wins are so much bigger, right? You know, in the wins or for the people that you care about the company you built this with the team that you love. But on the contrary, your your your problems and your lows are like. Life ending and it just feels like the world is going to burn. But you know, it's not going to seem dramatic.
[00:29:43] Djenaba The lows are low. That's for sure.
[00:29:45] Rachel Yeah. I mean, there are times where I'm just like. Okay. Why did I do this? And then. But luckily, the highs. The second you feel that high. And I had someone who told me who was also an entrepreneur, a very successful one, who said, like, when you have those highs, you got to record yourself, you record yourself, you write those things down, you make a folder to look back when you're in the lows because those highs should be worth all of your lows. And that's so absolutely right. And then Ben shared this wonderful meme that I think about all the time. It was like, you know that alien hands.
[00:30:16] Marlin What which one, though?
[00:30:18] Rachel One Like two weeks ago, he was like, gave.
[00:30:20] Marlin Describe it to us. To the people who can't see.
[00:30:23] Djenaba Well, we'll link it up in the show notes also, but go ahead.
[00:30:25] Rachel I don't know. It's a weird it was it was an alien picture on there. But basically it was just like, you know, corporate versus entrepreneurial route. And it was saying how the entrepreneurial route. It's not that like you don't have problems in the corporate route. They tend to become repetitive. You know, in the entrepreneurial route. There's a new problem every single time. Yeah. And it related it it made a metaphor of like six alien hands slapping at you at one time, and you're just like, all the hands look different because they're an alien. And I was like, okay, you know? And that's like a great way of describing it because it's like, What is this? I've never seen it before, and it's all hitting me at once. Yeah. So, yeah, I would just it's very relatable.
[00:31:04] Djenaba How about you, Marlin?
[00:31:05] Marlin For me, being an entrepreneur, I think one, it's just been in my family for so long, I didn't even realize it. It's one of those things. You wake up one day and you're like, Oh, like you hear stories of your mom selling, you know, noodles outside to pay for rent or grandma selling beef jerky outside to pay for rent. And you don't coincide those things up like entrepreneur. But then as you get older, you start to go like, oh, like that's what they were doing. They were running their own business. You start to think of those things and I think about, you know, what could I really do? And I'd try all these things that I can do. And I go, Oh, I can't do anything else. Like, I can only do this. It's like I literally can't. I think Ben, you know, he could go work at another, you know, Fortune 500 company or go do something else or Rachel I'm sure could do. I'm like, I can only do this. I feel like I could really only like this is my one thing. And I'm like, and that's how it's kind of always felt for me. And it makes it forces you to kind of like, work on yourself more too. And I really believe that I really am a huge kind of advocate for self-growth and kind of like taking your ego out of everything. And you learn that really quickly. Being an entrepreneur and a leader, you have to be able to look at yourself, at me, like, how am I communicating? How am I there for others today? You know, and how can I get my head out of my own body to think about everyone else and my team? And that wasn't always the easiest thing for me, you know, being a YouTuber or a content creator, you know, it's me, me, me all the time and being like kind of a more traditional entrepreneur now it's like, how can I think about service for others and taking care of people around me? And that's I think the most amazing thing about being an entrepreneur is you get to work on yourself and create things that help the world. And I think you have a like this like platform that you get to have that you can shape and mold in any creative way you want to. And I think that's really exciting.
[00:32:51] Djenaba Yeah. So let's talk about self-care a little bit. I know that as entrepreneurs we are constantly working and thinking about their businesses. Talk to me a little bit about what you guys are doing to just take a break and relax. And if you.
[00:33:05] Rachel I like how we're both putting our hands on our chins and we're like hmm. Because if our significant other watches this thing. No, I think the most part, the best part is like my family and my support system keeping me grounded. And luckily that I have a great one because sometimes I wasn't able to find that balance. Like, sometimes I just want to keep going and I feel like Marlin and I really connect on that part. We're just we're just like, Go, go, go. Yeah, But life happens to like.
[00:33:35] Marlin Yeah.
[00:33:36] Rachel Life has been so fast these past few years that, like, I have to remember to, like, bring everything else that's important with it. Like, my life is not just my job, not just my company. It feels weird to say that because I'm still working on really learning that, but I think it's really trying to separate what time is appropriate. Right? And of course, sometimes things bleed, you know, but really working hard to find that balance. So I'm really trying hard to like, make sure I get enough pickleball time. Exactly. I love pickleball and just get enough time to connect with like the people that matter in your life because they won't always be there waiting for you to finish what your own goals are if you don't give them the time throughout that. So I'm still definitely working on it, but I think I'm getting hopefully better.
[00:34:25] Marlin Yeah, for me it's learning. I don't know, like when people say there's too much like balance, as much as I hate to admit it, but it's a balance that's sometimes not always balanced. Does that make sense? Like as the balance of being able to work really hard and also take care of myself and my significant other and setting those clear boundaries of myself and letting myself know that, like this opportunity is not going to run away from me and not feeling that kind of scarcity and that in that moment and, and knowing that you need to take care of yourself because we've experienced this before Marlin, you know, you've worked, you know, all these years before and you got burnt down and you don't feel creative, and then you really can't help the people around you, you know? And so it's really important to take care of yourself and again, stress taking care of yourself and kind of your mental health, putting that really high up on the totem pole. Because if you can't have a healthy body and then your energy starts to lack and everyone really suffers from it. So things I do, I've always been a really big runner, so I ran my first marathon last year. Oh great. And like me and my girlfriend have a really great morning routine to kind of like we call it our morning armor to like set us up for the day to have a really strong morning routine. I think it can be different for everybody for and we've had a lot of different testing periods of like, okay maybe working on the evening or maybe work out of that. But for me it's like, okay, I have it's a non-negotiable. I have to work on the morning right when I wake up. Yeah. And then kind of get in our whatever. That would be my 10 minutes of meditation or reading time just to like, really kind of get myself there before checking any emails or texts and then getting off to the day, you know, And that I find that helps me see more balance. You know, that's not something I can do perfectly all the time, but I try to get it in a row as much as I can.
[00:36:05] Djenaba Yeah, that's cool. I'm a big workout in the morning person too. Like I go to a 5:00 class all my classes, like. And so it's easier. Like, they're small. It's 12 people. They do all the programing, and I show up and I'm like, I get it by 345 and I get my coffee and pop a podcast on and like, drive to the gym. So, like, that's my thing.
[00:36:25] Marlin And that's like your time, you know that That's yeah, it's, yeah, it's an hour time and like, you can't trade that for anything. I'm like, That's amazing. Yeah.
[00:36:32] Djenaba So cool. So what are you guys thankful for?
[00:36:34] Rachel Oh yeah, for a while I knew everything. Going back to the support system. That was wonderful team. And the team includes everyone from Marlin and Ben to my wonderful Sherry Pollitt. Right? And honestly, the whole Hudson Kitchen staff. And I'm just saying that because of like what we're doing right now. But like, I mean, you know, like, I think Marlin knows that, like, it's a support system. It really is just feeling. It's all about your head space. And everyone around is like they're just you're on the same page, you're going for the same goal and it feels good. And it and they're there to support you. And, you know, we all have our bad days and it's really, really nice that I have the people. We have people in our corner and I'm thankful that I get to play with beef jerky everyday. Beef crisps.
[00:37:23] Djenaba Yes. You have a really great team. Yeah. The ladies are awesome.
[00:37:26] Rachel They're so wonderful.
[00:37:27] Marlin I yeah.
[00:37:28] Rachel I love them all. I really do.
[00:37:30] Marlin Yeah. I have so much to be thankful for. And, you know, I have a gratitude journal every day, and there's only three spots, so I'm like, okay, what I'm going with looking for things, you know? But I always have to have my family in there because I, I am just really grateful for my family. But that extends, I guess when I write it, write about to my team and to my significant other and and not just my immediate family, just everyone in my life that comes into contact with me. I consider family, you know, Hudson Kitchen's family now because. Yeah, yeah, because we're doing this together. We're in this together. And I'm really grateful and thankful to just be alive and experienced the things we experience, you know, from the lows like we're talking about to the highs of this kind of living on the spinning rock thing.
[00:38:12] Djenaba Yeah. At Hudson Kitchen, we have what I call the money bell in the lobby that we like to ring when we're celebrating something. So I'm wondering what you guys are celebrating.
[00:38:26] Rachel Oh, the TikTok, I guess. I guess.
[00:38:32] Marlin I mean, we celebrate the TikTok, and I mean, the our reviews I'm most proud of are of years when people get it like. Yeah. And I see the Henry interviews. People take time to take a picture with them and let us know that the product was like, I try to place the product in their mind, like how good it's going to be already. And I'm kind of like, there's a balance between that because I don't want to overhype it, but at the same time, for them to be as excited or even more for it to like, surpass their expectations even more, that's a huge win for me and for Rachel, because, you know, she's the one creating the product and it's just an incredible feeling to have someone actually truly become a fan of your product. So every time we have a real fan, I would love to to ring the money bell on it because that's all we can ask for, you know, just creating true raving fans. Yeah.
[00:39:19] Djenaba Awesome. Well, thank you, guys. I appreciate you being here. Let everyone know where they can find out about Yay's Snacks and both of you.
[00:39:26] Marlin Yes. Yes you can find us on www.snackyays.com and on Instagram and all platforms at snackyays.
[00:39:33] Djenaba Cool. Thank you.
[00:39:34] Rachel Thank you.
[00:39:36] Djenaba 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 Sandys, and I'm your host, Djenaba Johnson-Jones. Follow Hudson Kitchen on Instagram at thehudsonkitchen and to get Food Business Bites right in your inbox, sign up for our newsletter at thehudsonkitchen.com/newsletter. Listen, follow and leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get podcasts. Until next time.