Ross MacKay, the innovative co-founder of the plant-based chicken company Daring and founder of the performance beverage brand Cadence, recently gave a live talk to Entrepreneur readers, sharing his expertise and experience in placing products in over 40,000 stores nationwide. Ross’s pioneering vision for Daring led to him raising $125 million from leading investors and celebrities such as D1 Capital, Peter Thiel, and Drake, and with Cadence, he aims to unite his personal passion for fitness with a drink scientifically designed to help athletes and business leaders to thrive.
Over the course of this insightful 30-minute session, he addressed some key questions that many startup founders share, including:
- What are the best strategies to get your brand into multiple mass retail locations?
- Should a new brand pursue retail partnerships, or focus on building an audience first?
- How can a brand choose the right retail partners to approach?
- What are effective ways for a brand to generate awareness and demand without relying heavily on external funding?
- How crucial is the direct-to-consumer model in 2024?
Watch the video above to hear Ross’s advice, and check out some of the main takeaways below, which have been edited for length and clarity.
His CEO story
“I’m originally from Scotland in the UK, now living in LA. My original business, Daring, started in 2018 where I was back home working on our plant-based chicken for a couple of years. We were fortunate enough to come over to the U S in the back half of 2019 when I was able to take my first meeting with an investor. He believed in the business and the brand and over the last four years, we’ve scaled and found distribution across the country thanks to relationships with Starbucks, Walmart, Whole Foods — you name it, we’re there and doing really well. Over the last three months or so, I have transitioned out of being the CEO day-to-day of that company. I’m now the chairman of Daring and I’ve recently launched my new performance hydration company Cadence with my co-founder George Heaton.”
Find the place where your customer is shopping
“Should you go e-comm or be in physical stores? It’s a great question. For me, when it was about my plant-based chicken product, I always comped against the chicken market. That was my biggest competitor. And if you look at chicken consumption, it’s rarely bought DTC. I don’t know about you, but I don’t buy a lot of my protein or even food directly from a website. I buy it through grocery stores: Walmart, Target, even Instacart, which is coming from a traditional brick-and-mortar retailer. So I think the question at the beginning is: Where are your customers buying today? And understanding that if they’re traditionally buying online, then maybe a DTC strategy makes more sense. But if it’s something like milk or almond milk or food products or beverage products, retail channels might be the decision to make.”
The numbers that really matter
“Success in retail is not measured by the number of stores. It’s not measured by total distribution points. It’s measured by units per store per week. And you’re going to get the buyer comparing your product to the other products in that category. So what’s important to understand is how it sells versus its nearest competitors. If it sells a wee bit more, you’re going to be in the top percentile. If it sells less, you’re going to be in the bottom percentile. And retailers will evaluate once or twice a year and ask, ‘Do we want to keep this product or do we want to replace it with something else that is potentially a higher velocity item?’ It’s better to sell five units a week in 500 stores than to sell one unit a week in 2,500 stores.”
Getting your foot in the door with buyers
“I used LinkedIn to connect with Jack Sinclair from Sprouts. I messaged him and just said, ‘Hey, I’m a fellow Scot, there’s only a couple million of us! I’ve got a product that’s going to change your retailer.’ And he said that sounds good, we met and the rest is history. Jack gave me my first opportunity to land in America and was my first retailer, so I’ll always be grateful. I think LinkedIn is a great platform. You’d be surprised how many people will get back to you if you have a good message and you’re trying to offer them a great opportunity. Their job is to find the best products in the world, so you’re not doing something they don’t want to see. Put yourself out there.”
Selling your brand to buyers
“Having a strong brand identity and a strong value proposition are really important. You need to understand the white space that you fill within a category because that’s the number one question I get from buyers: ‘We already have this product and this product, what makes you different?’ Is it pricing? Is it your branding? Are you partnered with a celebrity? Are you using an ingredient that’s really unique and is trending in the market? You need to understand your brand’s unique value proposition and its positioning in the market, and then ensure that your brand messaging is really clear, consistent and resonates with that store’s audience.”
Packaging is vital
“You need to optimize your packaging for retail. A lot of brands will be really successful selling online with minimal packaging. But that does not always translate in retail. Shoppers are met with this shelf of 50, 100 — sometimes 200 brands. You only have three to five seconds to get that consumer to pick your product up. So you need packaging that stands out on shelves. Communicate your brand story and benefits clearly.”
Entrepreneurship is a marathon
“Being an entrepreneur is a stressful experience. You’re always on. It’s years and years where you just feel like you’re just burning that candle. One of the reasons I launched Cadence was personal health. I spend a lot of time taking care of my physical and mental state. Starting and running a business is a marathon without sounding cliche. It’s not a sprint. You’ve got to make sure that you can do this for the long term versus just a couple of years. Entrepreneurship is amazing, but there’s a lot of uncertainty. There is risk and then there’s also that concept of work-life balance that I’m still trying to figure out now in my second company. The isolation and time commitment is like nothing else. So I applaud anyone who’s on their journey.”
Related: The Restaurateur Who Created a Safe Space for Celebrities to Eat in Peace in NYC
The role of influencers
“At Daring, we were fortunate enough to get some interest from quote-unquote celebrities. We raised some capital from the likes of Drake, Cam Newton, and Naomi Osaka, as well as a lot of musicians, actors, sports and personalities. We also did some campaigns with the likes of the Kardashians and so on. But I think very rarely is it needle-moving for a retail brand. One thing I’ll say always is that no one is going to change your business for you. No one is going to spend 12 hours a day on your company, 80 hours a week doing the hard work. No one but you is thinking about your business every single second of the day, so don’t rely on a partnership to change your company. It comes from you.”
