414: Bubble Goods is Offering a New Avenue for Food Brands with Founder and CEO Jessica Young
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In this episode, Alan and Jessica talk about Bubble Goods, who it serves, and how they are helping emerging food brands and unique consumers alike. 

Jessica Young is a fan of Fufu and the founder and CEO of Bubble Goods. With 10+ years in the food and wellness industry, Jessica saw a gap in the market: food brands were innovating (specifically in the health foods sector), but they didn’t have the digital know-how or right platform to launch and scale on. It was becoming harder and harder for these brands to get onto Whole Foods, launch and scale within Amazon, and drive customers into their singular e-commerce channels. Jessica saw an opportunity to launch something similar to what Etsy has done in the handmade goods space by creating and curating a marketplace for innovative, truly strict-label, independent food brands. When she was starting her career, she didn't intend to enter the food industry, but her passion for cooking triggered an evolution that led her to it, and she never looked back. After going to culinary school, she worked as a chef in NYC in Michelin-starred restaurants for a while before she became burned out and began exploring the online food space. She transitioned to the food startup scene in 2013 and eventually became the first employee and Head of Product and Operations for Daily Harvest in 2015 before launching Bubble Goods in 2019.

Bubble Goods is a drop-ship marketplace that curates brands for their users and gives small independent food and beverage brands the ability to market nationally. Jessica tells us they have a strict vetting process to make sure they are only delivering the best to their customers, but there is no order minimum so they can remain start-up friendly and keep their finger on the pulse of emerging trends. Bubble Goods has two main groups of customers: one is interested in discovering innovative foods, and the other is searching for foods that adhere to lifestyle and dietary restrictions. Bubble Goods prides itself on being low-lift and high-impact for the brands it partners with, and for many of its brands, Bubble Goods is their first retailer. To help brands succeed, Jessica and her team work hard to be good partners by putting brands in front of the right customers and giving them resources when they onboard for everything from legal resources to marketing partners. 

In this episode, you'll learn about:

• What inspired Jessica to start Bubble Goods?
• What benefits do brands get when they partner with Bubble Goods? 
• Who is the target consumer, and how are they targeted? 

Key Highlights:

• [02:00] The first professionally trained chef on the show
• [03:40] Fufu is having a moment.
• [06:15] Bubble Goods: what they do and who they serve
• [08:00] Who is buying from Bubble Goods? 
• [10:00] Bubble Goods role in helping newer brands 
• [11:30] The importance of transparency
• [15:10] Who is making the food, and does it matter?
• [17:30] How marketers should leverage Bubble Goods
• [19:20] What is coming next?
• [20:15] Lessons from the kitchen 
• [22:30] Advice to her younger self 
• [24:30] New-school and old-school tactics
• [26:00] Snaxshot and CPGD
• [26:45] The AI portion of the show

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