Success is in the smiles and spirits of these food entrepreneurs.
Maybe it’s all the Good Food Awards that Gordy’s Pickle Jar has won, but this girl knows how to smile even after a long day of pitching pickles.
The man with the name badge founded Chobani Yogurt. I guess Hamdi Ulukaya’s face isn’t on the yogurt so he had to wear the badge to get in.
Even so, if you took his advice, you wouldn’t know who he was. He talked about Chobani‘s first time exhibiting at the Natural Products Expo, unloading yogurt from a van. Oh, 7 years ago.
Now that the company is a multi-billion dollar enterprise, and even a couple of years ago when I first met him, he sticks to his down-to-earth roots. His advice for navigating a show and connecting: Don’t look at name badges. Talk to the person before you know anything about them.
Good advice, or he may have been too intimidated to approach me. 😉
Justin Gold is so well spoken and soft spoken, exuding friendly calm. Could the founder of a fast-growing company really be like that (and how can I become more like him!?) His smile answers as does the organic yet strategic way his company evolved (page 63). The company’s new peanut butter cups make me smile.
