Innovation and Integrity - Loren Castle - Not Another CEO Podcast - Episode #4
Joining the show this week is an entrepreneur who is passionate about combining good taste and good for you ingredients. This leader in the good for you sweets industry is none other than Founder and CEO of Sweet Loren’s, Loren Castle.
Loren joins host David Politis to discuss their journey from surviving cancer in her early 20’s to being sold in over 25,000 supermarkets. Loren reflects on how her experiences led her to focus on creating sweets that tasted good, didn’t make you feel bad after eating them, and were available to those with gluten or other food allergies. Discover her insights for creating a strong core product, the importance of product quality, and the tactical brand impact of maintaining high standards.
Takeaways:
- The impact of quality. Sweet Loren’s is an allergen free brand, so mitigating health and safety risks is their top priority. By investing in and maintaining the quality of their allergen free food, they built a trust with their customers.
- Standing out in the crowd. Loren had to stand out among a sea of thousands of competing products. This drove her to focus heavily on conveying her products’ top selling points on their packaging design.
- Make it easy for your customers. Customers in the modern market demand excellence, so it is important to both provide excellence and make it as easy for the customer as possible to implement your product into their lives.
- Importance of standing by your brand. When a supplier sent a large order of contaminated flour, Loren made the decision to not compromise on her brand’s integrity and took a loss for not using any of that contaminated shipment.
- The importance of mentorship. Sweet Loren’s took off from day 1 and she quickly realized how overwhelming it could be. Having business mentors allowed her to be vulnerable about herself and the business and get constructive feedback to boost her confidence.
- Creating a strong core product first. Many in the food industry expand into new items within a few years, but Loren took 9 years to cement herself in the cookie dough market before exploring other product offerings.
- Building a team. Having a second daughter made her realize how important having a capable team around her was. Hiring a president allowed her to focus on what she was good at and step away if needed to without impacting the day to day of the business.
Quote of the Show:
- “Honestly the bigger our customer base gets, the more passion I get about it because the more we have people saying you've changed our lives.” - Loren Castle
Links:
- Twitter: https://x.com/LorenBrill
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/loren-brill-castle-56887121/
- Website: https://sweetlorens.com/
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