175: The Horror Story of Finding a Co-Packer for Your Product | Laurie Nadeau of Smokin Mary

175: The Horror Story of Finding a Co-Packer for Your Product | Laurie Nadeau of Smokin Mary

Background on Laurie Nadeau of Smokin Mary:

Laurie Nadeau, the owner of Smokin’ Mary Smoked Bloody Mary Mix, is always all dolled up in her signature red-and-white polka-dot dresses, but don’t let the pinup girl persona fool you. Nadeau is a savvy, successful businesswoman, and major players from the food-and-beverage world are taking notice.

She and her husband of 14 years, Marc, pour about 500 to 1,000 samples of the competition-winning concoction at the 45 or so food-and-beverage shows they attend each year. She enjoys watching the reactions people have when they taste her Bloody Marys for the first time. To her, it’s more exciting than the dozens of competitions she has won.

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

[3:44] Laurie explains why they prefer doing business in Texas rather than in California. There are several things to consider such as freight cost and taxes.
[6:55] Their main product is the Bloody Mary mix, which is a cocktail consisting of tomato juice, vodka, and others.
[8:44] Laurie believes there’s always a better way for everything, which made her decide to give her own take on Bloody Mary.
[12:17] In the beginning, Laurie prioritizes on testing the market and laying out their marketing process before they launched the product.
[14:24] Offering a small percentage of Laurie’s company to a branding company was one of her strategies to save on funding.
[17:50] It took Laurie some time to test the market and establish their logo and brand.
[25:51] In their second year, Laurie was in a big industry trade show when she received a very troubling phone call.
[32:23] Another valuable learning lesson for Laurie is when she visited the Co-Packing facility that she was doing business with.
[35:57] A new co-packing facility in Texas was willing to work with Laurie. However, it turned out to be a disastrous experience and cost her a lot of money.
[43:51] After dealing with the mishap of the last co-packer, Laurie tried contacting another co-packer.
[48:52] Smokin Mary won a lot of awards in the Sunset Magazine annual competition, which resulted in more engagement for them.
[53:35] Laurie talks about the trademarking process and how she had it done easily.
[57:47] Using the Virgin Mary logo got the attention of Richard Branson.
[1:01:36] She explains further about the trademark process and its cost.
[1:04:25] Having a team of people that can help with your business is very important for Laurie.

This Episode Sponsored By:

[15:39] Raine Mahdi and Austin talk about how to start a business at $500 or less, the types of businesses that work best, how to do it, what resources you need to use, all of it is there. If you want to check out that episode, you should become a Patreon member by visiting: millionaire-interviews.com/patreon
[49:37] Looking to start your own podcast? If so, we can help you launch a successful podcast that'll help you & your business grow! So if you lack the time, resources, & knowledge to figure it out, then send us an email at: [email protected]

Fabulous 4 Questions:

📖 📚 Favorite Book(s)? Compound Effect by Darren Hardy
🙌😎 Favorite Amazon.com purchase? Too many to list….
🌱💸 Favorite Tool that's GROWN your Business? Canva and Buffer
💭💡 BIGGEST Challenge keeping your Business from GROWING? Outside sales, Getting distributors