Building a Differentiated Brand in an Ancient Category | Amy Zitelman, Soom Foods

On this episode, we’re joined by Amy Zitelman, Co-Founder & CEO of Soom Foods, the chef-quality tahini brand she built with her two sisters. Amy and her team went with a foodservice-first go-to-market strategy that earned brand credibility with top chefs and eventually generated demand at the consumer and retail level, before launching on Amazon and eventually into national retail.She shares how a COVID home-cooking surge kicked things into another gear, ultimately leading to her first fundraise 8-10 years after launch, a big rebrand, a national Whole Foods rollout, and eventually an expansion into other major retailers like Walmart and Publix.—---------------Episode Highlights:🥄 What makes Soom’s tahini different🍽️ Why foodservice was the fastest path to credibility and pull-through🛒 Expanding into Amazon📈 COVID’s demand spike and inventory strategy that accelerate growth💸 The first fundraise 8-10 years in🎨 Rebrand lessons that set up a Whole Foods leap🏷️ Shelf placement, promos, and driving velocity in center store🏬 Walmart expansion🔭 Trends Amy’s watching across global flavors and better-for-you—---------------Table of Contents:00:24:18 – Origin story02:09:11 – Building Soom with Amy’s two sisters05:10:11 – Building a differentiated Tahini brand09:30:20 – Foodservice19:06:10 – Expanding into Amazon24:43:04 – COVID accelerated growth28:05:19 – 1st fundraise 8–10 years in, the what and why29:15:24 – Rebrand, recs, catapulting into Whole Foods3514:04 – Whole Foods national launch38:31:29 – Where Soom sits in the store42:09:07 – Walmart44:14:18 – Trends and brands Amy’s tracking—---------------Links:Soom Foods - https://soomfoods.comFollow Amy on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-zitelman/ Follow me on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-martin-steinberg/ For help with CPG production design - packaging and label design, product renders, POS assets, retail media assets, quick-turn sales and marketing assets and all the other work that bogs down creative teams - check out KitPrint.Shout out to my friends over at Glimpse, the go-to partner for automating retail-related back-office operations and unlocking margin trapped in invalid fees and manual processes.Are you in the market for a new flexible packaging partner? Check out HD Packaging. Third-generation, family-owned and built for the needs of category leaders like Newman’s Own and A Dozen Cousins. Faster launches, lower costs, and no artwork fees.