Welcome to Incubateme’s newsletter, written by Christina Chao, edited by Alice Zhang.
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Dear all,
Hope you all had a great Valentine’s / Galentine’s Day!
This past weekend had us thinking about our cravings, especially with all of the holiday promotions for chocolate. However, as someone who is health-conscious, I found myself searching for a category in the sweets where I could indulge, and also do it mindfully. Little did I know, this healthy-sweets consumer trend has a significant growth opportunity, especially during a time where there is an increased focus on wellness.
In this issue, we focus on some market research results impacting the development of sweet treats, and we also feature a new brand of healthy candy, called Behave founded by Mayssa Chehata. These gummy bears are unlike your typical candy — with low sugar and great taste, you’re free from the guilt of indulging in too many sweets.
Also on February 18th, we will have a dialogue with Alysha Malik, co-founder of Radiche, a blog dedicated to featuring the latest consumer brands, and we will discuss what makes a good product and how to scale your product.
Lastly, if you are interested in being featured in our weekly newsletter, please sign up below!
RSVP: How to Launch a Consumer Product with Alysha Malik, Product & Brand Strategist, February 18 @noon PST on Clubhouse & Zoom
RSVP here and we’ll make sure you have access to the exclusive event. See you there!
Top 5 Sweet Treat Trends To Look Out For
Storytelling: Every brand should have a good story, and with sweets specifically, the focus is on artisanal production, cultural celebration, and ingredients.
Plant Based Revolution: There is a demand for more natural, eco-friendly products with more recognizable ingredients.
Sustainability: 87% of consumers expect companies to incorporate more sustainable products. This could involve changing the packaging, and/or repurposing more fruits/vegetables in snacks.
Mood Food: Consumers are looking to balance their busy lives, and snacking healthily while they’re at it.
All About Texture: The novelty of a product could be its texture. 7 in 10 global consumers think texture gives food a more interesting experience.
Source: Innova Market Insights / Candy Industry
Featured Business: Behave Candy
Company URL: www.eatbehave.com
Location: NYC
Founder(s): Mayssa Chehata
Founded year: 2020
🍬 Tell us about yourself, your company, and how you got started. I was working at Daily Harvest, a health food company, and trying to improve my own health and eating habits, but candy was the one vice I couldn't let go of. I reached out to celebrity chef Elizabeth Falkner, shared my vision with her, and she was on board! So we got started developing the first product. My background is in brand marketing and partnerships - so I knew brand and community would be core to what we built.
🍬 How did you acquire your first batch of customers? We build a bit of a social media following on Instagram prior to launch, and we were really lucky that we had some really great press coverage when we launched which helped a ton of new people discover our brand.
🍬 Did your business pivot in the pandemic? Or, how did your business start during this time? It certainly impacted our business, we had plans to launch in the Spring, but our manufacturing was delayed and we ultimately launched at the end of the summer. We also pivoted our launch strategy from having plans for some retail presence in our home market of NYC, to deciding to focus 100% on DTC.
🍬 What is your plan for the future? What trends do you foresee for your industry? We plan to continue creating delicious, low-sugar candy products that delight our customers. A huge focus for us is unique flavors that are atypical for candy and which are premium and elevated, and we plan to continue to bring that into all of our product and flavor development. We are seeing such strong demand for low-sugar products, so we feel that we are focusing on a really relevant trend, and we believe that sugar reduction is really not a trend but a lifestyle shift that is here to stay!
Craving More Healthy Indulgence?
🍪 Meet Plant-Based Functional Foods Founders: Sabeena and Scout and their hedonistic health cookie dough brand Deux - Read their profile story HERE.
Other Upcoming Events
🌟 Marketing & community building in health & fitness sector - Alexa Cawley - ex-Lululemon & ex-SoulCycle - RSVP!
🌟 The mint of million-dollar, one-person business - Elaine Pofeldt - Author of “Million-Dollar, One-Person Business” - RSVP!
🌟 Define Passion Economy - Adam Davidson - Author of “The Passion Economy” - RSVP!
🌟 Wealth Planning For Micro-entrepreneurs - Taylor Matthews - Founder of Farther Finance- RSVP!
Missed Our Last Event with Polina from The Profile?
☀️ No worries, you can find the recap / recording HERE.
Exclusive Partnership Offerings!
🎹 Interested in working with Tik Tok creators to amplify your brand? We are partnering with Creatorhood to recommend Tik Tok creators for boutique brands. Sign up for Micro-entrepreneur Community and we will curate!
🗞️ We are partnering with the much acclaimed Copy.ai to help make your copywriting easier! Receive Incubateme exclusive 65% off coupon code, if you sign up for our Micro-entrepreneur Community!
You made it to the end!
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