Building the Next Big Pistachio Brand via C-Stores | Cody Allen & Alex Bennet, Joon

On this episode, we’re joined by Cody Allen and Alex Bennet, Co-Founders of Joon Foods, the award-winning pistachio brand that’s gone from zero to roughly 1,500 doors in just seven months.Built on a 300-year-old family recipe and a modern, flavor-forward approach, Joon is showing consumers what pistachios “really taste like”.We get into the realities of formulation and R&D, how they approached finding the right manufacturing partner for a unique cooking process, and why they chose to start with just three flavors instead of chasing constant innovation.They also unpack their go-to-market strategy - from leaning into C-stores early (thanks to Cody’s family distribution background) to using Faire as both a revenue driver and an unexpected marketing engine. We talk pricing, velocity versus door count, grocery delivery platforms like Thrive and Hungryroot, and how they think about scaling without getting ahead of themselves.This is a tactical, in-the-weeds conversation about building a modern snack brand the hard way through distribution, data, and discipline.---------------Episode Highlights:🥜 Turning a 300-year-old family recipe into a modern CPG brand🚀 Growing to ~1,500 doors in seven months via C-stores🏭 Formulation, R&D, and finding the right manufacturing partner🌿 Clean-label flavor strategy (no seed oils, no artificial flavors)🎨 Brand identity, naming, and award-winning packaging design💰 Pricing a premium product across channels📦 Lessons from multi-generation food distribution🛒 Using Faire as both a sales and marketing engine📊 Velocity vs distribution and avoiding overexpansion🔍 Snack brands and trends Alex and Cody are watching---------------Table of Contents:00:00 – Intro01:06 – Origin story04:05 – Formulation and R&D07:08 – Finding and partnering with a co-packer08:45 – Flavor strategy12:49 – Brand identity, naming, and packaging design19:49 – Pricing22:52 – Lessons from Cody’s family distribution business25:22 – Starting with C-stores28:26 – Faire29:15 – Grocery delivery30:22 – Velocity vs distribution, Faire41:02 – Brands and trends Alex and Cody are watching---------------Links:Joon Foods – https://eatjoonfoods.com/Follow Cody on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/codyallen24/Follow Alex on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/alFollow 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.