Frozen One - From a Ninja Creami in Austin to 1,464 Target Doors

Today we're speaking with Alan Chen and Connor Menig
co founders of Frozen One
high protein ice cream brand
I think in just just a little over a year
these guys have already secured placement
in some pretty major retailers
like Bristol Farms Wegmans
Central Market each pint packs 40
which I think is the highest in the category
under 400 calories 75% less fat
62% less sugar than traditional ice cream
pretty amazing um
so yeah excited to get into it guys
maybe just um yeah
first off for the listeners
that maybe aren't as familiar with Frozen One
love it just get start off
I just get a quick lay of the land
just in terms of kind of the origin story
and the why behind the brand
more products in the lineup currently
what it looks like today and then if there's any
that you just got on the shelf of recently
you wanna send people uh their way
feel free to call those out too
and then uh we'll go from there
yeah for sure
so Alan and I we actually met in college
we're both from Wisconsin
met at UW Madison together
we're roommates moved down to Austin
Texas at different times for different sales jobs
and it came to January of 2025
so just like you said 15 months ago
we were just complaining
about all the protein options that we were consuming
Austin like many cities now
is big on the health and wellness
big on the protein trend just
you know healthy products to stay
you know lively in our everyday life
and we were just sick of eating the same protein bars
protein shakes bad ingredients
high fat high sugar
all kind of tasted the same
um so we kind of looked at each other like
there has to be a better option out there
yeah yeah
so I when I moved to Austin in uh
that was September of 2024
I was a hundred and forty five pounds
and so I'm 6 1 so I was really skinny at the time
I was still like
pretty skinny but I weigh 175 pounds now
where I'm going with this story is that um
when I moved to Austin
with everybody being into the gym and fitness
and all sorts of stuff I was like
I need to fit in here somehow
started eating a bunch of protein
started hitting the gym and yeah
me and Connor were just complaining
we're like there just has to be an actually craveable
delicious enjoyable way to to
to hit your protein goals
um ice cream seemed like the most logical thing we are
went to some local stores around us
didn't really find anything like it
that night
we literally bought a Ninja Creamy ice cream machine
which we still have in a in our office here
we see we still have it memorialized
and sometimes we dig it out to a
to make a little test batch or two
but yeah
that's how we got started right then and there
from there I
without telling too much of the story here
grew really quickly
got into some local Austin stores in the area
we can dig more into that
but as of right now
we are now available at Central Market here in Texas
Bristol Farms Wegmans
I just went live at Raley's um
and then heinens and bushes and schnoeks as well
so some awesome retailers this Sunday actually
so I don't know when this will air
but on uh
April 26th is our official reset date into target
so we're going into 1,464 target doors
which is a just a dream
absolute dream it's a
it's pretty crazy yeah
fresh times reset is also here with us
we're gonna be launching at Fresh time
um we also
when we were at Expo West about a month ago we uh
we were one of the winners
of the Kroger First Pitch event
we're gonna be going into 200 Kroger doors
here in Texas um
and select uh
Ralph's stores on the West Coast
so it's been a really just an insane year
in terms of retail growth
it's been a it's been incredibly exciting
that's awesome man
that's amazing start I mean
it's crazy how much progress you guys have made
on the retail front in such a short amount of time
thanks so much but yeah
let's uh
dive into kind of
those early days of the formulation and R&D
pretty sure you guys you know
initially developed all three flavor recipes
that you have in the market now
at home with a ninja creamy
as you mentioned over
I think it was you know
few months of nightly iteration
yeah in terms of
like that those early days
playing out the creamy like uh
what did a typical you know
night in the lab night in the kitchen look like
how many different kind of variables and ingredients
and tweaks were you kind of changing per batch
and how are you kind of tracking what worked and what
yeah what did those early days of R&D look like
god that was such a fun time
it was like a the
the ninja creamy was at my kitchen at the time
so Alan and I don't live in the same place every day
after our day jobs we were still working at the time
Alan would call me like alright
it's 5:30 like
you ready and I'd be like
sure it would be
every night till 11:30 midnight
we got the ninja creamy we had like
six different cup trials to use at
at a given time so we'd be coming
test the batches the night before
whether it's a protein iteration or flavor iteration
we test them all um
come and go okay
let's make a tweak we'd run to the store
the ingredients or try the ingredients we have
so it'd be like
six different iterations roughly per night
we do it's like
so anybody who has a ninja creamy kind of knows like
it's not that hard to make something that tastes good
straight out of the ninja creamy
cause the without getting too like
nerdy science here like
the temperature that it comes out of a ninja creamy at
is at like
20 or 25 degrees Fahrenheit
but the the thing is like
having a product that refreezes correctly
like ice cream is supposed to
anything that you make out of a ninja creamy
normally you're gonna put that back into a
back in the freezer and it will not scoop
it will not behave like ice cream is supposed to at all
yeah so that was like a
a rude awakening at first
I remember like
remember when we had the guys over the first night
and we like
we ran a batch and we're like dude
I think we like
got it the first try we like
found a recipe online we're like
this is not gonna be that hard
like this is like
exactly what it like
it tastes tastes amazing
but at the time we were using
you know like uh
flavored protein powders
and we put putting Oreos inside
and like
this is not a product that was gonna sustain long term
so learning actual ice cream science fundamentals
that freezing point depression
all the things that make up uh
the chemistry of ice cream was super important
um and that was a much longer process
that probably took a good few months
for us to get a handle on
generally has like
a fairly strong flavor hard to mask
sounds like you guys tested a bunch of different brands
and options
before you actually found one that you were happy with
like uh huh
um are you still using
kind of
ultimately a protein powder that you found works
or is that like
shifted at this point or yeah
what's uh
what does that what does that currently look like
in terms of the core protein source used in the ice
cream yeah yeah
we've shifted from obviously like
a branded version to you know
something that you can buy uh
more at mass um
for a long time
we were using a whey protein concentrate
we pretty recently moved to a milk protein concentrate
for a couple different reasons
availability being one of them
but we've we've found good results with ours right now
like you mentioned like the
the masking of that flavor
like protein at
I have 40 grams of protein per bite
the highest in the set like you said
there is like
a flavor that you need to mask for sure
and so that's just being really intentional
with our different ingredients
that we use to flavor our product
making sure that it uh
ultimately is a delicious product
because at the end of the day
this is ice cream it has to taste delicious
and I think we've uh
really figured something out
as much as you're um
willing to share
I'm sure a lot of this is kind of the secret sauce
but just that technical challenge of actually getting
packing 40 grams of protein into a pie while still
or
as close as anything else you can find in the market
there was a point with our product
that we actually were testing
50 grams of protein per pie
that was like
where we wanted to start at
um
we ended up moving down to 40 for a lot of this reason
like we kind of found 40
as the functional ceiling of a product
not only that we thought tasted delicious
had delicious texture had incredible texture
but also like
the feasibility of running that at scale
with our manufacturing partners
without going too far into it
like there's
there's definitely like
a protein ceiling that uh
different dairies will run without
you know like
the viscosity getting too high
back pressure and like
blowing gaskets at their facilities
and so we've kind of hit
what I think is pretty close to the functional ceiling
but who knows
maybe someone comes out with another one higher
that's like we're really
we're not trying to play the game of like
if somebody comes out with a 50 g of protein product
we're not gonna sweat it I think the
the product quality is the top of the first thing
with first yeah
so right away we knew we needed like
a classic chocolate see
one of the most popular ice cream flavors
so we have Dutch chocolate
now the second one we wanted kind of a medium fun one
peanut butter chip is our first one
that we added mix ins with it right
that you know
amazing peanut butter flavor with
with the chocolate mix ins
and then the third one was interesting
we wanted a wild card our friend one day
was eating one of those Chobani flips
where you can like
put the crackers whatever
into the yogurt and
and it was like a it was like an apple pie flavor
wasn't it like a cinnamon flavor of some sort
and Alan was going to the store
to actually buy ingredients that day
and was like interesting
that's a good idea so that's how apple pie came out
started with literally like
store bought apple juice and cinnamon
and like
I remember I tried it the first batch
and I was I called Connor and I was like
you need to get over here like
I think this like
this actually might really work
yeah um yeah
that's awesome that was core 3
we are expanding flavor lines
um I think I can say this now we uh
Salted Caramel Crunch is going to be releasing at
as our target exclusive so amazing
April 26th this is gonna be live also
which we're so excited about
that's the first edition to the core 3
so like for over a year now
it's been that core three flavors
but we are iterating on a couple new ones right now
super excited yeah
there's gonna be new flavors coming out
and they're gonna taste delicious
we're we're so excited
you know in the lab
in the in the ninja creamy for a few months
you finally nailed down the formulation
felt like you got something that was gonna work
then you obviously started
I assume started looking for a co packer
actually really scaled us up
how'd you go about I guess
kind of finding the right partner for ice cream
specifically from what I know
it's a pretty small universe
that are actually ice cream co packers
yeah what did that process look like for you
mm hmm yeah I
and so we got really lucky in the early stage
I always say this kind of about ice cream in general
I bet there's a lot of categories that
that are like this but
you either find a small co man
who is comfortable doing like
really small batches or you
there's just there's really small commands
and then there's like really really
really big commands yeah
there's kind of not a whole lot in the middle
and so we got really lucky
that there was a pretty small command
about an hour west of us here in
in Austin okay
that we ended up starting and scaling with
and just like
so much thanks to them that those early days of running
like hundred pint runs and like
these tiny little test batches
and dealing with a startup like us
yeah no yeah
it was like it was certainly was not the most like
unit economic efficient way to start
of course but it was comparative that we had that like
small
local copacker that was willing to take a chance on us
and help us grow up to the point where we are
so we got really really lucky from that front
and honestly I
I don't know if we didn't have that like local
smaller facility local dust
I don't know how we would have done this
and I like I know
there's plenty of people who don't have that option
and just go straight to a larger copacker
and that's sounds perilous
to get raked over the coals
from a terms and pricing standpoint probably yeah
yeah for sure for sure
I talk to a lot of brands
often times when they're going from kind of the
to actually you know
you know scaling up from a commercialization standpoint
often times there's trade offs that have to be made
or tweaks that have to be made
sort of
the formulation to actually be able to accommodate
what that co packer's capabilities are
and just to be able to support much larger scale uh
production did you have to make any kind of
trade off sacrifices in that front
are you able to
pretty much stick to what you had made in the kitchen
with the ninja creamy and basically
bring that formulation over to the co packer
and they were able to just scale it up from there
yeah you know
there was some tweaks that needed to be made
but I always say this I think like
by some alchemy we actually created a formula that
like all of these different ice cream
the multiple different ice cream combos we worked with
to this point
they sort of just worked remarkably smooth
through both their mix side
as well as the the the
the frozen actual creating the finished product side
yeah it's really been remarkable
I think that by I always just say by
by some alchemy we figured out a formula
that runs really well at our protein concentration
um I couldn't
couldn't be happier on that front
that things have worked out for us
from a manufacturing side
found a great co packer got off the ground with them
maybe just for some other founders that are actually
doesn't have to be ice cream
but um
any does like a
you know a few things that jump out uh
that they should maybe keep top of mind
as they're going through this search process
for co packers and or things to kind of watch out for
that can trip them up along the way
for sure I just think you need to find
especially if you're in a situation like us where
you know me and Connor
don't come from a frozen food manufacturing background
we don't come from a food background at all
you need to find people who you trust
I think that trust is one of the most important things
with the co man there's definitely people out there
that will take advantage of you
and so you need to find
I would definitely just be thinking about
every time you go find a new co man
I think one of the best things you can do
is just ask for a reference check
ask them hey
can you give me a couple of the brands
that you work with and connect me with them
there's probably not a better way out there to kind of
suss it out because at the end of the day
as well as you know your product
I think that if you're in a similar situation to us
like that
co manufacturing partner is going to know the industry
so much better than you do
so you need to lean on them in so many different ways
and so finding someone who you could truly trust is
is just so important
a partner that's more than a business transaction
had co pack relationships
now we just learn from them
like every call of that line
it's not just make this much ice cream for us
it's how do we do this like
what's the process and they're really educators
which has been really good
of finding the right partners are willing to do that
seems like this kind of protein ice cream categories
is starting to get more competitive these days
as you were kind of thinking about
you know building out the brief for whatever agency
designer or what not you work with
actually kind of build out the
from a visual ID brand identity
packaging design standpoint
what were some of the key variables
that were top of mind for you
funny enough so our uh
packaging right now
we're gonna give a shout out to uh
Sam Cotlin he's uh
one of our one of our good friends from back home
me and him and the team we largely designed it in house
we didn't go to like
a real packaging agency we designed it in house
I think so much of it was just figuring out
what is essential to our brand
and what is the real reason why the consumer buys us
versus the 50 other ice creams on the shelf
for us by and large
you know like the
the very first thing
that's going to catch their attention
in our eyes was
you know the big 40 grams of protein
so we had that front and center
stuck that right up front um
that was always really essential to us
there was just so many design iterations that went by
we're probably not good people to ask about this
honestly cause we did like
did not go the professional agency route
as much as I love our packaging right now
I think that we're
we're in the middle of a packaging rebrand right now
um I think that like
going to an agency in the early stages is super smart
but if you're trying to be scrappy and cost effective
like we are just figuring out
what is the reason why people buy your product
and how do you illustrate that unpack
what did the naming process look like
the last thing like
yeah it was like the last thing
we were like oh
we gotta create a name cause we gotta trade market
and we already having multiple recipes in the kitchen
at that point we're like
what's the name what's the name
it's impossible to find a name
chat G B t is not helpful
right so
we finally came across the idea of the chosen one being
frozen one that's kind of the
the little ring on it if if
if people get or they don't um
that's kind of how we came across it
but I think more than that it
it has a very strong presence
frozen one and that's kind of what we've seen
resonating a lot more yeah
it's memorable for sure yeah
in terms of the retail side of things
I think your first retail accounts were
five or six Royal Blue grocery stores in in
in Austin where you guys live
I think that was just like
just a few months going from
yeah tell me about that journey of getting on the shelf
with those first few doors
in terms of how you went about getting that
meeting with the buyer how you approach them
what the pitch look like and how you're able to yeah
yeah so
once we had our first product produced from small co
packer outside of Austin
in packaging I right away we're like alright
what's the first what's the first store to go to
um so
Royal Blue six
six locations downtown Austin
nice little like little small convenience groceries
but they've been great partners
this far but I just rolled in there with um
a little portable freezer and a little cell sheet
that has what our pricing was
and what I thought it should be
I'm ingredient profile and then gave samples to him
I had to go multiple times
cause all the managers not here
or I'll go talk to that roll Blue grocery
but it took multiple times until finally um
I got the manager there one day and she was like
this is great will uh
we'll bring them to the team
and I remember when they were reviewing the product
Alan I got an email one day and they're like hey
we want to take you guys in
we'll order two cases each at each store
and we were like that moment was like
so exciting we're like
holy crap
like we just got into a retailer in five months of
of the idea of this company
um I remember like
just like being like we made it like haha
the job's done little
little did you know it hadn't even started
yeah yeah
the the backpack and self sheet
aren't from what target asked for
but uh yeah
it was it was exciting
what did um
what did your thought process look like back then
when it came to pricing the product and
and now year and a half whatever later
as your approach
approach and thought process change it all since launch
around pricing yeah
it's a good question I
so the very first retailer we ever had
Road Blue Grocery we were
and still are actually 9 99 there
that's our price obviously
the economics of a smaller grocery
it's a it's more of a market from the distributor
etcetera but I think it's a good like analogy
at first
I think we probably thought ourselves more like
super premium and like
pricing ourselves super premium
I think that was kind of
a little bit more of the start to the company
and as we've grown with scale
we've realized like
this is a product
that is not just good in the downtowns of America
that doesn't perform well just in downtown
upscale bougie groceries
like I think it does fantastic there
we've done incredible losses at Royal Blue um
but we really realized that
this is a product that's ready for mass um
like conventional mass accounts
we and with that
you have to adapt a price
pricing strategy that makes sense
and so the majority of retailers now are between
you know 6 99 and 8 99 on shelf
um and so we've definitely moved more into
we want to be accessible to the masses
we don't want to be something that's uh
that feels too elitist we want to be something that
you know the average person in Middle America
you know the
the mom the parent that anybody's ready to go grab
not just a you know
coastal elite brand totally what it in that
in those first few stores and maybe
you know beyond or a blue the
you know the first few after that
what it um
what it early velocity numbers kind of look like
and I I guess another question to build on that is like
what kind of quantitative or qualitative data
were you tracking in those early days
in the first few doors you're in
that would kind of indicate alright
we have something special here
we need to start really doubling down and
and putting the pedal to the metal
yeah so we uh
right when we launched Royal Blue um
on average pretty much the first year
we're doing 25.9 units per store per week
cross all three flavors which was pretty impressive
that data was pretty much just collected by our invoice
ordered drop off
obviously I was
every week
I was driving with the portable freezer in my trunk
making the deliveries in my Jeep Compass
and that's kind of the extent of
of how we're doing it
and it was definitely got sick of that work
it was hard to stay on shelf
for sure it was hard to stay on shelf
there was weeks where the managers are texting us hey
we need to restock hey
we need to restock and I'm like again
it's crazy but yeah
that's kind of how he's attractive yeah
and then how did you um
I mean maybe it was just
you know selling itself
but did you was there anything you guys really focus on
and those first few doors from a marketing and
you know demo
stamp on
all the other things to really help push velocity
and like
was there kind of playbook you guys are focused on
or is it things are just kind of flying off the shelf
regardless and
it was more
just trying to focus on keeping inventory on the shelf
tons and tons of demos around Austin
that was like
definitely key in the beginning
I think like
we still we still do
do do a ton of this
but I think building that grassroots momentum
in your home base where you have fans
where you have followers
where you have a support network
it's so so important
and I think just having a really
that getting the base of that
and just also having a really strong product
in a category that people were looking for
I think that um
as well as you know
some help from some local influencers
I think that that was a that was really kind of the
what propelled our sales
and we've been carrying that momentum with us since yep
as you mentioned
you guys just recently secured a place on
in a thousand plus target doors which
which is amazing yeah
tell me just a bit
about how that target opportunity came
about reality yeah
so for target we were at a expo in Denver
Colorado in August
um and there was like
their accelerator new brand opportunity team there um
and I'm like I ran up to him
I was like hey guys
we're frozen one gave him the pitch
and they're like wait
this is really really good
like this is a phenomenal product
we love products like this
we'd we love to bring in something like this
um and it was just like
their accelerator's team and great conversation
didn't hear anything for a few weeks
and then
we got an email from the frozen ice cream buyer
like an inbound email from our website
it goes to the website and we were like
is this spam for a second
and we looked looked her up
we're like wait
this is legit this is actually the ice cream buyer
so that's how the conversation started with target
which was really exciting
uh we brought in a broker
started meeting with the head buyer in November
December um
and then January
when is when he gave us the official authorization
amazing once you got that order
that commitment you obviously
had to get ready to start producing
a whole lot of ice cream
what a kind of a working capital
operational standpoint what are those next
I guess between you know
that end of January until
you know where we are today
you guys are about to launch
like what what did that look like between then and now
for sure that was a
I always say like it was
I remember the buyer explicitly being like
you're ready for like
we're talking about 15 hundred dollars here
like you're ready for this right
and we were like absolutely
like of course
like we
you know we
we could we could go make it tomorrow
knowing full well we had
did not have the ability to go do that at that moment
but it became a really like a
like a scramble for fundraising at that point
it was very much we know
we have all of this pent up momentum
we have all of this demand
how do we actually go about execute this
and obviously catch is
catch is king catch is what you need to
to go and do that and so if you remember that time we
like we first thought like
obviously you can find like
a working capital loan or something like that
I'm like financing yeah
inventory financing
and yeah we had Learned pretty quickly that
just because we had little to no historical financials
at that point and we were like less than a year old
most places just like weren't willing to
to lend to us to take a risk on us
and so yeah
we just went really aggressive on the fundraising front
to that point
we had raised a few hundred thousand dollars
from local influencers Angels um
but we needed to put the pedal to the metal and uh
we ended up back channeling
through meeting with a bunch of different folks
we got in touch with um
Adam and Chris over at Angel Group
yep which obviously
you're a you're a member of here at them
yeah those guys took him out
took a took a real chance on us
I remember after our first uh
after our first call they were basically said hey
let's schedule another one for the next day
and we thought that had to be a good sign
they really saw something in us
saw something in the product
saw something in the way that we presented ourselves
and uh
they took a chance and they LED our last round
so the folks over at Supernatural Ventures
and the Angel Group they LED this last round for us
we also had contributions from Tonic Ventures
and Lindsay Capital
and a bunch of great strategic angels
but
we ended up being oversubscribed for our first round
so it was $2 million it's given us the opportunity to
to get to this point
have our target launch successfully
and we're so so excited and grateful to them
you guys just raise
how much of that is going directly to supporting
production for target
and nor just all things target launch related
I'd say probably when you put in all target stuff
that's probably a good half of it
yeah that's what I would figure yeah
in terms of um
just kind of you know
I know you haven't launched in target yet
but I'm sure you've been interacting with them
getting ready for launch over the past few months
um
you're
you were in a fair amount of retailers before that
what have you found is kind of unique about just
compared to other retailers
what should other early earlier stage brands
that are gearing up for a target launch
keep top of mind based on what you've Learned so far
yeah yeah
I mean obviously the scale is just different
you know we're in a bunch of amazing partners
but the scale is different
but also I think the intricacies of like
how granular their data is
obviously they have Rogdell
their uh
retail media network that was kind of our first time
this is our first time working with uh
a retailer that has a retail media network
the level of granularity
of data that you can pull from it
and yeah
the uh
the roundel side has been really
really interesting to
to learn more about shopper marketing
retail media all that sort of stuff
so
I think that that has been the most unique part of it
and figuring out how do we maximize on that
to the fullest extent because it's an opportunity that
uh as amazing as robo grocery is
they they
it's like it's
it's an opportunity you don't have it at stores like
totally yeah
multiple banner opportunities
ones
you're trying to scale all together at the same time
like how do you
or kind of sequence these different launches
or kind of you know
yeah it's a
it's a challenge for sure
like it's a
it's a good challenge though
but it's a it's a challenge like
making sure that there is dedicated resources
going to every single account
every single launcher
making sure those are all successful
I think it's it's
it's one of those things where
when we started
we did not expect to get as many yeses as we are
when we were presenting to all the retailers last fall
we weren't expecting to get this many yeses
yeah so it's been about really scaling our operation
scaling our marketing team
having detailed briefs like
strategies for every single retailer
this is our social post this is the
the ads that we're gonna run behind it
this is a kind of having like
a playbook um
for every single retail launch
and frankly
we're still in the process of building that out
and figuring out what works the best
we're doing a lot of a B testing between retailers like
hey did
do we feel like this worked better
or did this work better
it's a work in progress for sure
but uh uh
it's just I guess you gotta stay organized on it
in terms of what's really having an impact on velocity
or is it still demos are are having the biggest impact
I think packaging and product
I think
there's all the additional things that you can do to
to influence velocity and
you know there's shopper marketing influencer
there's ads all that sort of stuff
but it really comes down to packaging and product
those are the two things that ultimately
the fundamentals at the end of the day
I think we've done a good job of getting our packaging
and our product in a place that we're super happy with
that our customers love
that our customers are resonating with
I think that's the most important thing
that's the the one thing that all the extra stuff
can't overcompensate for a lack of that
let's just say one tip
to another first time CBG founder
that's about to start raising
let's just say official first round
if you had yeah
one thing to one tip to give them
what would that be one tip
just don't afraid to be curious
and just not know things
I think people genuinely wanna help
the right people
always wanna help those who are starting something
I think that's what thing Alan
I noticed early on is like
people are really just excited about founders
who are taking a risk and doing what we're doing
and I feel like early we're like
timid of asking questions
and sound like an idiot
about certain things that we don't know
and whether it's fundraising or just the product
and staying curious and maybe just being vulnerable
of the things you don't know
people really go out of their way to help you
and I think that's what was really
really helpful and just networking
finding the right investors
finding
eventually coming across the angel group and right away
they were like yeah
like there's things that you guys are really good at
there's things that we can help you guys with
and that was really really exciting about that
being early on but staying curious for sure
I think it's just been just
basically the two of you full time
up until very recently or are still to this day
you're
obviously about to scale into a thousand plus targets
multiple regional banners
figure out how to scale a cold chain
a logistics piece of business
which I know is also super challenging
um a lot of stuff going on
growing super quickly
how are you guys thinking about building a team
from here on out for sure
I think like that is quite possibly
the most important thing that we can do right now
is build out the right team around us
it's it's incredibly exciting
it's also like we're just realizing from
it's really hard like
it's really hard to uh
to to build the
the right team um
and there there's so much importance behind it
obviously
I think the way that we're looking at this right now
three main hires that we think
if we get these three killers in place
like we can we can kind of run for some time here
first is somebody on the sales side of things
like a director of sales or VP of sales
something like that
somebody who you know
not only is going after and hunting new accounts
and has a bunch of connections and uh
and experience in that world
but somebody also with retail execution
like that being the other half of the job
retail execution
making sure promo plans are done properly
making sure that the store list that we're given
making sure we actually are merchandise on all shelves
and all that sort of stuff
we're learning the
the importance of that and how hard it is for
if that's not the only thing you're focused on
and you're getting pulled in other directions
how hard it is to
to properly stay on top of all that stuff
especially with how fast we're growing
we've had a couple like
inbound retailers in the last uh
couple of weeks here and so
having somebody who can really handle that side of it
is is gonna be key
other two things
somebody who has real frozen ops experience uh
knows how to take a company from 500K in revenue
to 5 million in revenue to 50 million in revenue
it knows how to what it takes to do that
the last thing
somebody on marketing who really understands digital
really understands driving virality online
I think those are the UH
three things that we're looking for
so if anybody uh
anybody listening to this pod here he
he knows anyone we'd uh
we'd love to be introduced
perfect we'll
I'll definitely call that out in the
in the notes too so people can
I can get some inbound thanks
actually on that front
in terms of if people are interested
if they're if they are interested
yeah um
choose an email so my email is Connor
CEO and an er at frozendashone.com
and then Allen's is just Allen a L N
a L a N at frozendashone.com
perfect our
our website also has an inquiries tab there
our Instagram is at Frozen One Protein
we're super responsive hit us up in any way
and we'll make sure to get back to you
yeah perfect
zooming zooming out a bit on this
on the in the ice cream category
overall we talked about the protein
ice cream category
is definitely getting more competitive
how are you just guys
thinking about
strategically continuing to stay ahead of the pack
as you guys continue to scale up
and soon to be sounding like a leader in the category
and starting to have to get in a position where
rather than you know
trying to trying to capture
trying to trying to capture market share from others
actually defending your territory
sure sure sure
yeah I
think that the biggest thing for us
is being fanatical about product
I think that we're in a category where
you could probably maybe say like
a lot of people would think
the product is not gonna taste good
I think like
when you hear the words protein ice cream
like we say this like
it almost sounds like derogatory
like it
like getting referred to as like
a protein ice cream like
it's not
like it doesn't sound like it's supposed to taste good
and so being like
relentless on making the product taste good
making it have the right taste
the right texture I think that
that is the single biggest thing that we can do
to stay ahead of uh
the competition
I think that that is what has allowed us to scale so
so fast to this point
is because we have a fantastic tasting
fantastic feeling product
that's the
that's the thing that we are most razor focused on
this just like
it isn't it's ice cream
at the end of the day
we're not a supplement company that really like
yeah it has to
it has to taste amazing yeah
or to the top of your mind
you know other than the obvious target thing
what do you feel like there's like
beyond that
some of the biggest opportunities for the brand
right now great question
I think on the risk front
the way that we've been thinking about it is
if we don't build the right team around us
I think that there's risk of just
kind of getting over our skis if we don't build out
and we have an incredible network of advisors
that have helped us so so much
and so that's been got us to this point
but I think where we are right now
starting to build up the team around us that
you know
helps execute on all of the demand that we have
I think if we don't build that proper infrastructure
that's probably a bigger that that's
that's that's the risk
the opportunity is like
there is so many retailers right now
where there is not only not frozen one
but there is no like
a high protein ice cream option out there
there are so many like
this is still such a white space
yeah there's so many different formats and flavors
that have yet to be touched by uh
this category and so I think that there's uh
an incredible incredible opportunity
and it's something
we talk with our investors and advisors about
all the time like
the ceiling on this is just so
so high um
it's just a massive category
and so we're so excited to be
you know one of the
one of the
people that are innovating in ice cream right now
totally well yeah
um you guys are just in the CPG world
been in for the past you know
year and a half or so in retail every day
sure you're just watching things
what's happening in the space closely
outside of your category
any particular brands specifically that have been
peak your interest you guys are like
looking up to and
or just general categories that I haven't been
peak your interest lately
or that just seems interesting
not that you know
you guys are thinking about getting into yourselves
but just just in general
things that have
peak your interest and look interesting
there's a ton of brands that we admire
I don't know why this one came to mind
but like what Fruit Riot is doing right now
is in the freezer door also like yeah
it's just a truly a delicious product
and like it's just like they're
they're fun branding I
I think it's obviously very different than our product
but I think there's a lot we can learn from there's
there's so many just cool insurgent brands right now
they're one of the
one of the first that came to mind though
I think they are
they absolutely crushing and really idolize them
I think what what Groza did with olive oil
I think Groza just did the branding right
it's a beautiful product it's a
it's the first olive oil
that people want to keep out on their counter
when you walk into their kitchen
yep no
it's not I always put olive oil in the cabinet
but it's like you walk into people's households
and they want it on the counter
just cause of the way it looks
and it's it's a status symbol
it's a brand symbol
and the way they did that with their brand
was really cool yeah totally
and I've got some
the Ollie Pop frozen cherries in my freezer right now
so I I'm saying
yeah we're all
we're all the same people
at the end of the day we all got the yeah no
but
there's so many brand crushes that we have out there
yeah we we
we can go on and on for sure
totally well
yeah guys
this has been awesome appreciate the time
I think this has been super helpful for people
what's the best place for
to follow along with you guys individually
and then what's the best place for people to
follow along with the brand
these days as well
yeah uh
so for us
our Instagram for the company is Frozen One Protein
you can find us there yeah
we already plugged our emails
but again it's mine is Alan a L a N
at frozendashone.com perfect
and Connor's is Connor's C O N N E R
at frozen dash one dot com
um I say your social
also our linkdins as well
Alan likes to post business updates
things that are going on
LinkedIn is obviously a great channel
yeah awesome
my personal Instagram is Alan dot c h e a E n n
and yes is mine is c dot menig
we probably butchered that
nobody will follow our personal Instagram
so that's fine we'll list it on the notes
people will figure it out
awesome guys
appreciate the time I think that's
think that's the pop thanks so much
40 grams of protein
it's not that hard to get it
making the taste and texture and all those things
how do you decide what flavors to launch
so eventually you guys were in the
larger scale co packer and really
maybe in kind of the frozen side of things
from a brand identity packaging design standpoint
it took us forever to like
the Ninja Creamy test to getting on the shelf there
expanding beyond those first few doors
kind of the way that target works so far
growth efforts with each one of these retail partners
anything different you found
looking back and now if you had to just give
let's talk about hiring for a second
what's the best place for people to reach out to you
what do you guys feel like is kind of like the biggest
last last question for you guys
I have the Graza bottle on my shelf

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