Success Stems from Trial and Error | Caroline Cotto | Renewal Mill

Caroline Cotto is the Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer of Renewal Mill, a venture-backed startup creating a new circular economy of food by upcycling the byproducts of food manufacturing into ingredients. A food marketing and nutrition specialist, Caroline has experience at the UN World Food Programme in Cambodia, the White House (for Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative), Techstars Farm to Fork Accelerator, and HubSpot, where she ran the women’s diversity program globally. Caroline grew up in food, working for her family’s ice cream business in the town of Sandwich, MA. Caroline serves as the Board President of the Upcycled Food Association, and formerly served as a Fulbright Fellow in Taiwan.In This Conversation We Discuss: [00:00] Intro[01:00] What is Renewal Mill?[01:41] Validating the idea for Renewal Mill[03:06] Renewal Mill’s first product[04:32] Workarounds of introducing a new product[05:04] Renewal Mill’s ideation process and timeline[05:43] How Renewal Mill entered the Ecommerce space[06:15] Driving awareness for upcycled food[06:58] Renewal Mill’s B2B go-to market strategy[07:50] Considering B2C to generate short-term revenue[12:59] Challenges of being a new B2C business[13:40] Two ways Renewal Mill overcame the challenges[14:17] Driving traffic to their website through partnerships[14:59] Partnerships are both a win and a challenge[15:38] Finding ways to stand out from other brands[16:00] Brand advocacies vs what consumers actually care about[16:28] Tailor brand messages to appeal to customers[16:57] Leveraging upcycling as their Unique Selling Point[17:31] The power of interviewing your customers[18:12] Know where customers live online and offline[18:45] Staying in traditional retail for impulse buyers[19:21] Limited offers to reel in loyal customers[20:00] Where to support Renewal MillResources:Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on YoutubeUpcycled, crave-worthy, & climate-friendly food renewalmill.comFollow Caroline linkedin.com/in/carolinecotto/Schedule an intro call with one of our experts electriceye.io/connectTake your retail business to the next level today shopify.com/honestSign up for a one-dollar-per-month trial periodSchedule your free consultation with a Sendlane expert sendlane.com/honestIf you’re enjoying the show, we’d love it if you left Honest Ecommerce a review on Apple Podcasts. It makes a huge impact on the success of the podcast, and we love reading every one of your reviews!