Subriana Pierce Of National Sales and Marketing On 5 Things You Need To Create a Successful Food or Beverage Brand

An Interview With Martita Mestey

As a part of our series called “5 Things You Need To Create a Successful Food or Beverage Brand”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Subriana Pierce, co-managing partner, Navigator Sales and Marketing .

Subriana Pierce is a results-driven, visionary leader in the food and beverage industry. With nearly thirty years of experience, Pierce has been heavily involved in her industry. She has received several honors and recognitions, including the 2021 DEI Industry Leader by The Shelby Report and Woman Entrepreneur to Watch by Insights Success magazine. As founder and co-managing partner of Navigator Sales and Marketing, Pierce works with CPG brands to helps them navigate the corporate retail environment, and grow sales, distribution and brand recognition.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a bit about your “childhood backstory”?

I grew up in Jackson, MS, and then went on to my beloved Spelman College where I majored in economics. I had an amazing upbringing. We didn’t have much, but our family and extended family was very close. The importance of education was at the heart of my family. After graduation, I went into banking for a couple of years, but decided that’s not what I wanted. So, I went back to get my Masters from the University of Chicago. That’s where I got into the business of food by interning at Dominick’s. My first job at Jewel Osco, a regional supermarket chain in the Chicago metropolitan area. My Dad always said “Everyone has to eat” and it was a safe industry to be in so the grocery business became my career. The rest is history.

Can you share with us the story of the “ah ha” moment that led to the creation of the food or beverage brand you are leading?

The “ah ha” moment for being a part of Navigator Sales and Marketing was actually my role at the retailer where I was senior vice president. I realized how much of our focus was on the BIG brands. It was the 80/20 rule for sure. But I knew about some of the smaller brands that deserved a space on the shelf, but didn’t see it happen often enough. So, my goal with our company now is ensuring these brands have a voice and leveraging my relationships to at least help them get a seat at the table.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Well, it wasn’t funny then but funny now! When we were defining our rates, we didn’t know enough about the industry to realize that there are consulting rates and commission rates. We met with another couple who had been successful brokers and they gave us ideas of how to charge for our services. They joked that if we came out the gate with a commission only strategy, our first check could be $125! Well, we didn’t implement their ideas quick enough and sure enough, after months of work, our first check was $125. We pivoted to the right structure immediately! But the learning was that meeting with these types of mentors early on and not after you’ve made the mistakes are critical to early success.

What are the most common mistakes you have seen people make when they start a food or beverage line? What can be done to avoid those errors?

Not having the right infrastructure. So many new entrepreneurs in this space start out thinking they will make it because they have the “best-tasting” whatever. And that’s important, but actually doesn’t have anything to do with the success of the brand. Brands have to be funded to be able to get on the shelf via slotting/placement fees. Once on the shelf, there has to be a strong marketing plan for the consumers to know who you are. It’s expensive and I see a lot of entrepreneurs go in without having a budget for success. This is why we launched the Navigator Lighthouse Foundation, a 501c3 created to help train, educate and mentor brands specifically in these areas, including getting funding.

Let’s imagine that someone reading this interview has an idea for a product that they would like to produce. What are the first few steps that you would recommend that they take?

Research the industry. Is the category you are trying to get into a trend, a fad, declining, growing? Know the category. Then dive into what really makes your brand unique. This key point of difference is how you’ll sell it in. Make sure you have everything trademarked and strong co-packer contracts. Some of the initial expense is a solid finance and legal support so you start out right. There’s so much more but these are just tips for getting off the ground.

Many people have good ideas all the time. But some people seem to struggle in taking a good idea and translating it into an actual business. How would you encourage someone to overcome this hurdle?

I’ve seen a quote that says “Life has many hurdles. But you have to jump to be in the race.” Some great ideas won’t be realized because some are afraid to jump. I say all the time, that the CPG entrepreneurs are doing the hard work, whether it’s commercializing a family recipe, or taking their love for cooking to a bottle. I have the easy part. I just help them sell it. I would also encourage them to stay grounded in the industry, and become a student of the industry. Learn as much about the business as possible, and surround yourselves with experts, like incubators, industry webinars, accelerators, etc. There are so many organizations that are helping brands to launch, take full advantage of them. It will make the hurdles a little easier.

There are many invention development consultants. Would you recommend that a person with a new idea hire such a consultant, or should they try to strike out on their own?

Not sure about an invention development consultant as I’ve not heard of that. But YES, you have to spend the money to hire support. Whether it’s a product development team, a food service expert, a grocery expert, etc. There is so much support. I’d never strike on my own. This is a people business and you need good people and experts to help launch.

What are your thoughts about bootstrapping vs looking for venture capital? What is the best way to decide if you should do either one?

What is the best way to decide if you should do either one? Well, in VCs you’re having to give up part of your business and you don’t want to do that too early. But bootstrapping isn’t fun either, especially when you lay out the costs of doing business. But there are so many options, including revenue-based funding, mission-based funding, traditional SBA loans, etc. I would work on funding in order to scale your company, because if you don’t need it to launch, you’ll need it to scale.

Can you share thoughts from your experience about how to file a patent, how to source good raw ingredients, how to source a good manufacturer, and how to find a retailer or distributor?

You definitely want to use a lawyer to figure out the patent filing. However; if you are a student of the industry, you should meet some like-minded individuals that can help you source a co-packer. You’ll also want to get references so you get to the right people, but make sure your lawyer is looking at that contract. Retailers and distributors are more down my alley. Make sure you align the retailer with your brand. For instance, there are certain ingredients Whole Foods doesn’t accept. You should know those. If your brand has that ingredient, then you don’t need to put Whole Foods on your list. Is your brand mainstream, specialty, ethnic? Find the retailers that align with your brand. From a distributor standpoint, retailers usually have their go to distributors. Find out who those are so you have some education before pitching to retailers. There are local distributors throughout the country as well as the big ones, like Kehe, UNFI. They will carry over 40,000 plus items so you might think about starting with the local smaller distributors to start getting sales and distribution.

Here is the main question of our discussion. What are your “5 Things You Need To Create a Successful Food or Beverage Brand” and why?

1. Know your consumer and your category. You have to become a category manager. What are the trends you’re seeing and how are you a disruptor? Then you’ll be able to hone in on who your consumer will be and can develop the marketing plans around that. Be a student of the industry and your category.

2. Develop your brand. Have a strong logo, image, website, etc. As everything is an extension of your brand. And don’t forget about you. You as the entrepreneur are part of your own brand. Make sure it’s an integrated story of branding the item and yourself in the community. Make sure there’s consistency across the entire brand. It should also be consistent with your selling presentation and sales materials.

3. Start in your backyard. I’ve seen new brands that come out the box eager. They are ready to take over the world in the first year! What those brands need to know, is this is a marathon and not a sprint. Start selling in your backyard. You can sometimes get local news or papers to pick up the “hometown” story. You can start distributing locally, so you have an understanding of consumer feedback, SKU ranking, packaging feedback etc. Win at home first before you take over the world.

4. Understand the legal implications of getting into business. As mentioned before, spend the time getting the right trademarks, and sign co-packer relationships and distributor agreements that don’t tank your business. This is a community of great partners. Do your part to seek them out!

5. Don’t stop. This is a tough business. If you feel you really have something, don’t let the “no’s” or the naysayers stop you. You may have to pivot from time to time but don’t give up.

Can you share your ideas about how to create a product that people really love and are ‘crazy about’?

Start with your story. You are normally getting in this industry because you have a personal story for why you are passionate about this idea. Start with that story. Then research that industry and the trends of the category. Be a student of the industry. My kids hate grocery shopping with me because I never just shop. I’m looking at shelves. Looking at trends. Looking at the brands I’ve placed on the shelves, what’s right or what’s wrong. It’s a deep dive in our industry and when you’re passionate about your crazy idea, others get passionate as well.

Ok. We are nearly done. Here are our final questions. How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

I have tried to be a voice in our industry for diversity and inclusion. The grocery industry is not very diverse in the senior positions in manufacturers and retailers. However, it’s an industry that understands the importance of diversity because that’s the community we serve and feed. As such, I’ve implemented and launched a number of initiatives in our industry, including Illuminators. Illuminators is a manufacturer organization where I helped to launch a board focus on diversity, and now we train the entire industry here on the West Coast in various areas of diversity. I serve as executive advisor to NextUp, which focus on career development of women in our industry. There’s not a lot of others that look like me in this industry so I’ve tried to stand up and use my voice, bring others along so I’m not the last.

You are an inspiration to a great many people. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

I would love to even the playing field in funding and lending for women and entrepreneurs of color. For entrepreneurs of color to only receive less than 3% of VC funds, the industry has to do better. We already know the inequity in banking loans and how those inequities negatively affect people of color. If we just somehow figure out and solve for equity in funding, it solves a lot of problems along the food chain. There are some organizations trying to do something about it but it’s not enough and not fast enough. Solving at the foundation of funding, allows these brands an even playing field when they make it to the buyer’s desk. A winning model for future entrepreneurs.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

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