SUNSCOOP, CARLI BLUM: Vegan Ice-Cream Becomes a Reality
In a recent study, more than 54% of the US population was reported to react positively to one or more allergens. As our population increasingly becomes more sensitive to what they are putting on and in their bodies, brands need to adapt and cater to new segments. Welcome, Sunscoop, a vegan, allergen-friendly ice-cream brand fulfilling your craving one flavor at a time.
We caught up with Carli, Blum, the founder of Sunscoop, a vegan, plant-based, dairy-free ice cream brand. Yes, you read it correctly, dairy-free ice cream. As an ice cream lover myself I had to try out the product before interviewing Carli for this feature. The review? I absolutely loved it! Not only is Sunscoop the perfect match for those with IBS and other inflammatory conditions, but it is also low in calories and does not contain any refined sugars. Win, win, win!
“I suffered from food allergies my whole life and realized that there was no one doing vegan, plant-based ice cream that was allergen-friendly, and tasted good”, says Carli.
Having grown up in San Diego to a family of Doctors, Carli never imagined herself following the medical path. Instead, she took a more creative route and graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology with a major in Marketing. It wasn’t until 2016 that Carli thought about launching an ice-cream company, but we’ll get into that shortly. Her early career involved working in the fashion industry as a stylist at Nordstrom. “School was never really my thing. I always got experience from working and was very creative in how I went about getting jobs. I literally walked in Nordstrom’s in LA and got myself a position as a wardrobe stylist. However, I quickly realized that fashion wasn’t my calling and that food was my purpose.”
The Aha Moment
Carli left fashion to go and find herself in Bali (like many of our other founders) in 2016. At this point she was building an app with the former editor of Lucky Magazine to recommend specialty items that match with your basic clothing. “We would partner with retailers to help you build your wardrobe with pieces you already owned. I was very successful from a sales perspective but found myself more interested in what women were eating versus what they were wearing. I left the company to explore Bali and was blown away by the plant-based options available. Given my allergies to soy, nuts, dairy, and gluten, I came across a vendor selling fresh coconut ice cream that I could finally indulge in. It was so exciting to finally be able to eat ice cream that I had an aha moment and wanted to bring this experience and product back to New York.”
“After doing some research, I discovered a woman out in Missouri who was sick and had to incorporate a plant-based diet into her life so she started selling coconut yogurt with cultured prebiotics at doctor offices and local food fairs.”
Carli read about this woman in the news and convinced her to join forces by establishing a co packing relationship. “She jumped on board immediately. That’s how I produced my original product, which was a cold-pressed coconut cream soft serve.” Carli launched in 2017 under the brand name of Koku after raising $125,000. “I had a lot of people tell me I would never be able to do this because I did not have the operational skill set needed, but I was very determined to make this happen.” She hired a COO from a D2C consumer company who helped her hire talent, fundraise, and set up operations in the early days. However, they ended up splitting ways after a year and a half.
On Testing the Idea
Instead of launching D2C, Carli wanted to gain traction and validate her business hypothesis. As a result, she launched Koku at Smogasburg during their 2017 summer fair (for those who don't know, Smogasburg is a food fair where all the foodies conjugate to experience new tastings).
“We got published in Well + Good and sold out by 1 pm on the first day of the event! The next day we sold out by 3 pm and kept selling out week over week. Towards the end of Smogasburg, we were selling 700 cups a day and had two flavors, vanilla tart, and dark cacao.” Next stop, Sweetgreen! “I got invited to partner with Sweetgreen over the summer for their pop-ups in 6 locations.”
Wanting to prove traction a step further, Carli launched a pop-up at Bowery Market for one week to gather additional feedback. “Buzzfeed covered us and from the PR video, it was very clear that we were creating something meaningful.” Fast forward to modern-day and Koku has been rebranded to Sunscoop due to trademark issues, but to also tell a better story and create a striking new identity. Sunscoop can be found in over 150+ stores across the Northeast, including all Whole Foods. Talk about nailing down their distribution strategy!
“You can’t be everything to everyone.”
When it comes to the obstacles of launching a CPG company, it all comes down to your product and manufacturing. Carli tells us how she originally launched the product with raw honey and received a lot of feedback on customers wanting the product to be vegan. “We are now a hundred percent vegan.” In addition to product, Carli struggled with nailing down the manufacturing in the early days. “We had formulation challenges. I didn’t own the full recipe at first, big mistake! We also ran into a huge co-packing issue right before launching in Wholefoods and I had to find a new co-packer two weeks before our launch.” Luckily, she managed!
The Advice
With over 6 unique flavors, 170 calories per serving, and a robust distribution strategy, Sunscoop can also be found online. Although the journey was a long one, Carli’s success can be attributed to having determination and manifesting your beliefs. Her advice for those looking to launch a food and beverage brand:
Trademark your name right away!
Learn how to slow down. It is critical to get things right, especially in the beginning. You only have one opportunity to impress customers.
Create market validation before fundraising by pilot testing and proving out the concept. Unless you previously worked at a high-growth startup, Investors will typically not fund your idea.
Be patient and do not hire too quickly.
Manifest and visualize what success looks like for you and then turn that into a reality.
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Looking to taste the future of ice-cream? Get 15% off and free shipping this month when you shop Sunscoop online.
Photo courtesy of Sunscoop.
Written by Alysha Malik.