Ep 25: How to market your food-based product business with Anna Szymanowska

Problem: How do you develop and sell a food-based product?

Food-based products can come with their own set of issues. Today we are joined by Anna Szymanowska, the founder of Fighter Shots, a ginger-based energy drink which helps boost your immune system and well-being. Today she is sharing her story and the story of Fighter Shots, to help entrepreneurs break into the food-based product business.

This is something that I, myself, would buy and pay money for. Having this confidence that it is a good product makes it easier to make a business out of it.

What is the metric you use to measure food-based products?

1. The benefit of the ingredients

How do people feel afterwards? Are they getting the desired effect?

2. Taste and flavor

Though the taste is important, it should not be weighed more than the effect of the product

It’s hard to create a habit if you’re meant to take something you really hate.

How do you mass produce a food-based product?

There are different stages to the production of a product (food-based or not) and all of these stages are different with each product. For FighterShots, the process looks a bit like this:

1. Mixing the ingredients
2. Pasteurizing
3. Filling the bottles
4. Capping the bottles
5. Labels
6. Packaging

Automation can make it a little simpler but it is never 100% people-free. While Fighter Shots might look small and it might appear easy to produce, there are plenty of steps to making each bottle of Fighter Shots, which can complicate production.

We definitely tested it with a few people and then decided, ‘Okay, this is what we go for.’ But that doesn’t mean it’s all finished. I always believe that you should always improve.

What is the food-based approval process?

In the UK, there are two certifications that your factory should have: 

1. SALSA (Safe and Local Supplier Approval) 
2. CRC Certification

Every batch has to be tested to ensure that it meets health requirements. Any change (for example, a change in suppliers), could result in different results, which is why a sample from each batch is tested on a regular basis.

We definitely tested it with a few people and then decided, ‘Okay, this is what we go for.’ But that doesn’t mean it’s all finished. I always believe that you should always improve.

How to sell your food-based product in in-store markets and online

Now, because of COVID, Fighter Shots wholesale has stopped, but there are many other avenues and markets they can use for sales. 

Learn more about marketing

Anna just finished and highly recommends the book, 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, by Al Ries and Jack Trout. She encourages anyone who is looking to up their marketing game, to read this book.