245: From Fashion Model to Nutritional Bar Startup! How Lizanne Falsetto Sold her Business & Started a New Brand: betterland foods™.

245: From Fashion Model to Nutritional Bar Startup! How Lizanne Falsetto Sold her Business & Started a New Brand: betterland foods™.

Background on Lizanne Falsetto of Betterland Foods:

Lizanne Falsetto is the Founder and CEO of betterland foods. Years before she became a world-renowned CEO, Lizanne Falsetto began her entrepreneurial journey at her kitchen table, inspired both by a family recipe and desire to solve a personal problem. On that table, the original thinkThin bar was created: a revolutionary bar that would become one of the most sought-after health foods on the market.

Lizanne is a prescient food pioneer and protein expert who understood the benefits of a high-protein, low-sugar lifestyle 20 years before the widespread adoption of the ketogenic diet. As thinkThin scaled to reach a global audience, Lizanne became the first in the industry to stamp “gluten-free” on product packaging, ultimately paving the way for an entirely new retail category on store shelves: the nutrition bar. Lizanne’s original instinct for a clear market opportunity in health food evolved into a 20-year tenure as CEO of one of the fastest-growing health food brands in history. thinkThin was acquired by Glanbia in late 2015.

Lizanne founded Betterland Foods on the vision of a kinder, more sustainable food system. She and her team are committed to innovating in several categories to deliver the next evolution of accessible, clean, and protein-rich products that deliver superior taste and health while treading gently on our planet, creating a better food future for all. Lizanne is also an active member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO), a board member of the Global Health & Wellness Network, Mayo Clinic Champion, host of the Vitality podcast, and the 2021/2022 Chapter Chair of the Pacific Coast Gold Chapter.

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

[1:28] Lizanne Falsetto runs a business called Betterland Foods, which is committed to producing products that are better for you with great taste. They focus mostly on dairy and candy.
[3:25] During the COVID pandemic, Lizanne started paying attention to the alternative protein space, which is something she has already started in 1993.
[5:52] By baking her own protein cookies and bringing them to her work, gave her the idea to start thinkThin in 1993.
[7:28] Lizanne talks about Betterland Foods.
[9:21] Some of the retailers that Betterland Foods is looking into are Sprouts, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, and Costco.
[11:21] Lizanne eats Woo Bar every day.
[12:01] Every one of the people who work at Betterland Foods is carefully chosen by Lizanne. She has a no-asshole rule when it comes to business.
[13:56] Being the Founder and CEO of Betterland Foods, Lizanne is doing almost everything in the business.
[14:56] When it comes to following, Betterland Foods is starting to build its following.
[20:10] Building their following involves mostly social media. They are going to start their campaign on Sept 1.
[23:05] In terms of funding the business, Lizanne is personally funding Betterland Foods. She believes that investing in yourself is the best investment because it drives you harder to achieve your goal.
[24:47] For Lizanne, she built the business because she loves what she is doing and not for the money.
26.44 As a child, Lizanne learned a lot about food through her grandmother. She shared her life story from her school days to her early modeling career.
[32:33] Modeling earned her a good amount of money. She describes it as crazy money.
[34:59] She learned early in life to save her money.
[36:11] Lizanne talks about her transition from modeling to starting a business.
[38:22] Madonna liked her cookies, which kicked off her thinkThin brand.
[44:12] Her husband supported and empowered her in her business endeavor.
[49:51] Lizanne discusses the milestones and lessons she had learned during her time in thinkThin.
[55:34] Because Dr. Atkins died from an accident and a huge deal being pulled out, Lizanne had to rebuild her business.
[1:00:12] After losing her father, Lizanne decided to focus her attention on protein instead of low carbs. She reformulated the brand that is geared towards protein.
[1:01:56] In 2012, she decided to sell thinkThin.
[1:05:36] After selling thinkThin for a couple of hundred million dollars, Lizanne fell into emotional turmoil.
[1:06:26] Lizanne talks about protein and how much a person needs in a day.
[1:07:50] A few tips and suggestions on how to take care of relationships when the business starts to take most of your time.
[1:10:01] Lizanne talks about her work schedule in thinkThin and today in Betterland Foods.
[1:15:49] The way she approached her success with manufacturers is to build a relationship with the owners, pay on time, ingredient transparency, and transparent pricing.
[1:18:46] Lizanne talks about the specifics of transparent pricing with manufacturers.
[1:21:36] Some suggestions and tips on how to find the right manufacturers.
[1:28:33] Lizanne has one last word of wisdom for the listeners and new entrepreneurs.

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Fabulous 4 Questions:

📖📚 Favorite Books? Animal, Vegetable, Junk by Mark Bittman
🙌😎 Favorite Amazon.com purchase? All the cast iron, outdoor cooking gear
🌱💸 Favorite Tool that's GROWN your Business? Zoom! Zoom is how I created and run my business.
💭💡 BIGGEST Challenge keeping your Business from GROWING? The education platform of the who and the why – it's something that will happen over the process of building the category, and is not an immediate gratification.

Key Point from the Interview:

“Madonna was at this event and we were sitting on a makeup chair and she was way at the end, and one of the girls said hey Lizanne throw me one of those bars, I said okay so I grabbed it and threw it over. Madonna said what is that? I said it’s nothing, it’s just a cookie that I’m making and she said no let me see, throw me one. So I handed it to her, she didn’t say anything, nothing, not this is good, this is delicious, nothing. She took a bite, she took another bite, and that was it. Then about 4 months later, in Style Magazine, which was People’s Magazine’s sister, had launched, and in that magazine was the choice of your day and it was Madonna saying what was your pick of the day, like a drink or a restaurant and whatever it was, and she told the story about me.”

Resources Mentioned:

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