Founder Feature: Jen Liao of MìLà
The Startup CPG Podcast
Startup CPG
4.9 • 642 Ratings
🗓️ 23 August 2024
⏱️ 44 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this bonus episode of the Startup CPG podcast, Grace Kennedy is joined by Jen Liao, co-founder of MìLà, a brand renowned for its delicious frozen Chinese soup dumplings. Jen reveals the fascinating journey of transforming MìLà from a local restaurant into a thriving direct-to-consumer brand amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and the challenges of developing recipes for freezing, the complexities of shipping frozen products, and the ongoing process of product refinement.
Jen also delves into the strategic moves that have fueled MìLà's growth, including successful fundraising, high-profile collaborations with celebrities like Simu Liu, and expansion into major retailers such as Whole Foods and Costco. She shares invaluable insights on navigating both business and personal obstacles, including managing a significant facility relocation and balancing work with family life.
Don’t miss out on this engaging conversation full of entrepreneurial wisdom and behind-the-scenes stories. Tune in now!
Listen in as they share about:
- Background of Miele
- Transition from Restaurant to DTC Frozen Products
- Recipe Development
- Challenges in Frozen Food Logistics
- Advice for Other Frozen Brands
- Scaling and Planning
- Celebrity Endorsement and Fundraising Strategy
- Retail Expansion and Future Plans
Episode Links:
MìLà Website
MìLà Instagram @eat.mila
Jennifer Liao LinkedIn
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Show Links:
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Episode music by Super Fantastics
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, amigos. About four years ago, I got a message from a designer in Colombia who said she'd like to work with startup CPG to build her reputation of the U.S. |
| 0:08.9 | I couldn't believe how affordable her pricing was and the quality looked top-notch. |
| 0:13.6 | I started work with them for startup CPG and then a bunch of my other CPG projects as well. |
| 0:18.6 | Fast forward to today, they are the most beloved agency in our |
| 0:21.4 | startup CBG community. They've got dozens of happy customers like prickly and so many more. |
| 0:27.4 | I recommend them to absolutely anybody who will listen because the combo of top-notch quality |
| 0:31.8 | and very reasonable pricing is exactly what you want as a startup brand. You can hire them for |
| 0:37.2 | branding, packaging, your website, |
| 0:40.2 | or they actually have an awesome startup package that will do all three. |
| 0:44.0 | If you want to learn more, email them at StartupCG at Wagondesign Studio.com or check the show notes. |
| 0:51.3 | You could also post in our Slack for feedback and just be overwhelmed by how many people |
| 0:55.5 | want to sing their praises. |
| 0:57.1 | Grazias Wegan. |
| 1:19.9 | Because we haven't come from the CPG background or food world, we did things that other people maybe wouldn't have done to begin with, like manufacturing your own food or shipping frozen |
| 1:25.1 | food at all, is just not really a thing that normally happens. |
| 1:29.8 | But for us we're like, yeah, I don't know, why not? |
| 1:32.0 | Okay, we've encountered a roadblock. |
| 1:33.6 | How do we uncover this? |
| 1:35.2 | How do we unblock it? |
| 1:37.0 | And instead of looking around and saying, hmm, okay, there's a reason why no, none of these |
| 1:42.1 | companies exist. |
| 1:43.9 | Why is that the case case should we abandon this choice |
... |
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