Going too far with your founder story

why Pistachios haven't dropped in price, remember raisins?, one thing about Casey Means' book, and B.t. as a biological is expensive

2-min read

Are you making too much of your founder story? Nobody cares. Your founder story is not going to be the reason someone buys your product, even if you are a category expert, which most of you are not.

Don’t get me wrong, your founder story does have an important place, just probably not to the extent you are taking it.

Here’s about how far to go with your founder story on pack.

Fishwife is making tinned fish premium, gourmet, and cool — differentiating from Chicken-of-the-Sea in about as many ways as possible. They have 6 panels to play with. Their story is on a side panel, and it’s really all I want to know: 1. someone was inspired, and 2. what the term ‘fishwife’ means.

Bachan’s is a family recipe. It tells you on the front and the story is on the back. Family is really THE thing about this brand, and no one else in bbq sauce is doing it.

Most of you had an experience that led you to an ah-ha moment, and that is the beginning of your story. You may have developed an expertise, but that does not make you a category expert.

Don’t make too much of things. Instead, focus on what your brand can claim that no one else can. Communicate that as simply and beautifully as possible — online and on pack — and don’t limit yourself to words, but think about design.

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Remember raisins?

To all the commodity marketing boards out there: cool collabs can be had

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Pistachios may never drop in price

We are supposed to be entering an oversupply of pistachios leading to lower prices. But demand keeps climbing and this year’s crop is coming in short. Kernels (shelled pistachios) are >$7/lb. In-shell opening prices for new crop might be even higher than they are today.

For a good explainer on pistachio dynamics, read Matt Woolf from Terrain

From Matt since that was published:

What I’ve been hearing is that the crop could be under a billion which is strange to think about given the 1.5 billion of last year. So even for a short [year] crop the expectation is that it’ll be short. If you go to the Westside it’s clear the crop is small.

On the demand side things have been steady with YTD shipments currently 38% above last year. Another way of putting that is that demand has been higher than ever. The combination has meant stable pricing all year.

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Last week I told you I picked up Good Energy, by Casey Means M.D. and her brother, TrueMed cofounder, Calley Means. It’s nice to read about food as medicine from a medical doctor that had real patients under care.

Shout out to the small and emerging brands listed in the book!

The only thing about this book is it says everyone should eat only the freshest, organic, regenerative, pasture raised etc., and I’m sorry but only people with househusbands can eat that way.

Rex brought these in from the garden (he does have a day job but I can pretend) and said, make sure to wash them, which is how I learned B.t. is a biological (i.e. organic, and very expensive) pesticide.

Happy summer!

All my best,

Jennifer