Baking & Snack - November 2019 - 40

STARTUP BRANDS

"Legacy brands
have done many
things incredibly
well and have
immense innovation
in house. The
challenge is letting
these innovative
ideas come to
the surface and
flourish."
Natalie Shmulik,
The Hatchery Chicago

Many startup founders
are filling a void with a
product that is personal
to them as consumers.
Lindsay Widell

analyzed by a handful to a roomful of people before it is
implemented.
"Legacy brands have done many things incredibly well and have immense innovation in house,"
Ms. Shmulik said. "The challenge is letting these innovative ideas come to the surface and flourish. There are
many restrictions within legacy brand structures, which
make it difficult to create an environment where team
members can comfortably test ideas."
In 2017, Mr. Stengel published Unleashing the
Innovators: How Mature Companies Find New Life with
Startups. In this book, he featured information from 100
startups and 100 legacy companies that had recently
partnered. When startups were surveyed about the top
sources of frustration when working with legacy brands,
50% said the speed of decision making, or agility. The
second most frustrating aspect was the resistance to
change and the rules and policies in place that prevented
innovation from happening.
"This is what legacy companies can learn from startup
brands," Mr. Stengel said. "They need to ask: 'How do
startups make decisions? Who makes the decisions?
Why are they faster?' "
While quicker product innovation can get a legacy brand on the consumers' radar, another way that
startups are getting attention is by showcasing their
non-traditional products in new shopping spaces.
Ms. Shmulik said these include fitness centers, c-stores,
pop-up retails and festivals. Consumers' purchasing

40 Baking & Snack November 2019 / www.bakingandsnack.com

habits have changed, and they often shop these alternative channels, so disruptive products are noticed there.

Up close and personal
If there's one thing startup brands do well, it's being consumer-centric. They get personal, which allows them to
be remembered, receive detailed feedback and garner a
greater awareness of where their category is headed.
"There's a magnetism to startup brands that a lot of legacy brands don't have," Mr. Stengel said. "Consumers want to
see what's behind a business and a brand more than ever."
One way to make a connection with purchasers is having a personality, or a voice, especially on social media.
This is an area in which startups are ahead of the game.
Some brands have a sassy approach, others have an informational tone and still others get noticed for their humor.
Take Los Angeles-based PeaTos; it has a voice that's
unashamed of its exaggerated photos, use of memes and
playful responses. This tone matches its message that
PeaTos is a "junk food" made from peas, a healthy alternative. On the other hand, a well-rooted company, Wendy's,
Dublin, OH, caught on to the importance of personality a
few years ago. It won the interest of consumers on social
media for its sass and ability to start playful fights with
people commenting on its Twitter feed.
Consumers recognize personality, but more importantly, they remember a story. And startups almost always have both to share. "Entrepreneurs are expressing
off-the-chart interest in developing new snack ideas and

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Baking & Snack - November 2019

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