The Irresistible Factor Kristi Bridges

“We’ve had some opportunities in places that we had to say, “You know what? Not yet.” You know, we’ll come back in a few years when we’re ready to make that step because we want to make sure that we can support our customers and that you know, their customers are seeking a product like ours, right?”

Today on the Irresistible Factor Podcast, Kristi is joined by Claudio LoCascio, the CEO and President of Mochidoki. Mochidoki has been around for about seven years, looking to elevate the mochi ice cream experience. Mochidoki makes premium ice cream-filled mochi that is portion-controlled, low-calorie, and easily made vegan. Their diverse flavors range from black sesame to vegan leche to habanero chocolate (yum!). Not only do they taste amazing, but they look gorgeous too.

During their conversation, Claudio tells us how before he joined the team, they were growing predominately through food service. His job was to take the brand to the next level and make it a consumer-facing household name. We dig into the challenges of being in multiple different channels– like supply chain logistics, varying cost structures and separate marketing strategies. And of course, he leaves us with some crucial entrepreneurial advice – make time to manage your emotions and celebrate your wins.

This is an episode you won’t want to miss!

“I knew I wanted to meet farmers as often as I could. I wanted to learn from them, and I wanted to buy cocoa beans directly from them without a broker, without a distributor. I've done that in every bean buy I've ever made in the last 16 years.”

Kristi is honored to have Shawn Askinosie as a guest on this week’s episode of The Irresistible Factor. Shawn quit his prosperous job as a criminal defense lawyer to follow his passion of making chocolate from scratch. His passion led him to invest his life savings into starting one of the first craft chocolate companies in the U.S. - Askinosie Chocolate.

Shawn tells us about his transformative experience in the Amazon learning about bean-to-bar-chocolate and how it inspired the way he sources his beans (directly from smallholder farmers). He explains that working closely with cocoa farmers is what really sparked his passion.

In this episode, Shawn shows us that you don’t need to have it all figured out before you can use your company to do good for others. Askinosie Chocolate has funded millions of school lunches for children in need, started a charity in Tanzania, and put thousands of kids through their Chocolate University Program. Additionally, Shawn explains the importance of understanding where you are with cash flow every week, putting together an advisory board, and why as an entrepreneur, you need to have some level of of humility.

Tune in to hear all about Shawn’s inspiring journey and the heart behind his mission.

“We’re four years in and we have consistently been acting as if we are way further ahead than we are. We’ve just been caught up in internal growth which is really unhealthy when you’re not seeing commercial success and when you don’t even know if you have product market fit, who’s your customers. “

Today’s guest, Sorosh Tavakoli, has big dreams of reducing the world’s carbon footprint and putting an end to climate change. When he decided he wanted to start another company, he knew that he wanted the business model to be fully aligned with that goal. This led him to start Stockeld Dreamery, a brand of vegan cheese that currently features a plant-based cream cheese. Interestingly, even though they only have distribution in 2 bagel shops in NYC, Sorosh managed to raise quite a bit of capital before the economy caused the capital raising belt to tighten.

Being in the very early stages of the business, Sorosh tells us about the challenges of starting a company and speaks incredibly frankly about their biggest mistake so far – raising too much early capital growing the company prematurely. At the moment, Stockeld Dreamery is a relatively big team with a very small distribution footprint. Sorosh talks about his plans to navigate this imbalance.

Tune in for Sorosh’s advice for entrepreneurs wanting to start plant-based brands and learn all about one of the newest (and most delicious) entries in sustainable plant-based cheese!

In honor of all of Kristi’s new subscribers, she is bringing back one of her most dynamic interviews, Nick Saltarelli, the Co-Founder of Mid-Day Squares. Nick was one of our very first guests and since that conversation, his company has grown tremendously. Today, Mid-Day Squares is selling around 50,000 bars per day and is number 1 in their category! Have a listen and there’s no way you won’t be inspired by what he has to say and more importantly, what his team has been able to achieve in a relatively short time. There is also tons of great advice for entrepreneurs.


Here’s a little bit of his story:

In our conversation, Nick shared how he is building his chocolate empire at lightning speed and working his way toward his goal of $100 million in revenue. "When you go into ultra-competitive saturated markets,” he told me, “it's harder to fuck up than going after niche markets, but — here’s the big caveat — it requires real innovation. You cannot go into a saturated market without having a product that’s 10x better than everything else.”

Nick and Kristi dive into some of the disruptive things he’s doing in the category and some of the valuable lessons he learned from his previous entrepreneurial ventures.

This is a must-listen if you want to hear tips and tricks on what it takes to build a brand of the future.

“…The world doesn’t need more stuff. Better packaging or a prettier can is not an answer, it’s not a solution. What is the problem that currently exists in the world that your product is solving? That should be number one.”

On today’s episode of The Irresistible Factor, Kristi is thrilled to be joined by powerhouse Alison Cayne, CEO and Founder of Haven’s Kitchen. Alison’s passion for sustainability and cooking led her to open her own cooking school in the Flatiron district of New York, Haven’s Kitchen. Haven’s Kitchen aimed to make cooking less stressful and more enjoyable, and quickly became one of the most beloved cooking schools in NYC. Shortly after, Alison realized she could reach a larger audience by selling her popular sauces in pouches.

While not an easy undertaking, Alison saw a need and Haven’s Kitchen went from a cooking school to a brand-new category of fresh sauces that is now a staple in many homes. Alison’s incredible sauces elevate any home cooked meal, including flavors like herby chimichurri, gingery miso, and red pepper romesco.

Alison tells us about how she got national Whole Foods distribution the very first week of the pandemic, and how her key mission has driven her company to major successes. Alison also speaks about the many challenges she faces every day while producing a fresh product. Lastly, she goes into detail about her belief that finding a group of people who truly love your product is far more important than going viral on TikTok. This episode is packed with amazing advice for early-stage founders. Don’t miss out!

"What we don’t need is more sustainable Doritos. We need total transformative solutions and this is a mechanism that I think can do that, and that’s why I’m running in this direction because we need to do it.”

In this week’s episode of The Irresistible Factor, we welcome Outlaw Ventures CEO, Anthony Corsaro. Anthony tells us about how his autoimmune disease and his upbringing in a fresh produce family distribution business led him to his passion of using food as a tool to improve the well-being of ourselves and our planet. Anthony recently started his own venture fund and is investing in early-stage food and agriculture businesses. In this episode, we talk about how he started Outlaw Ventures, and why he believes the best way to do anything in life is to just start doing it, and learn along the way.

Anthony tells us how he evaluates prospective brand partners, his challenges around raising capital, and how he is navigating the daunting task of finding a partner that complements his own skill sets. We also talk about why founders are being asked to show more profitability upfront, and the importance of “trifurcating” things when evaluating the potential success of a business by analyzing the investment, the business, and the team separately. Lastly, we talk about Anthony’s thoughts on controlled farming, synthesized proteins, and the successes and failures of the plant-based movement. This is an episode you won’t want to miss!