Founder Feature: Maria Covarrubias of Cien Chiles

In this bonus episode of the Startup CPG podcast, Grace Kennedy sits down with Maria Covarrubias, the founder of Cien Chiles. Maria shares her inspiring journey from Guadalajara, Mexico, to becoming a chef in the USA, and the motivation behind creating her authentic, homemade-tasting salsa. They delve into her transition from a culinary career to launching Cien Chiles during the pandemic in August 2020, and how she balanced this venture with her corporate job until she took the leap to focus full-time on her startup in April 2022.

Maria opens up about the emotional and logistical challenges she faced, as well as the significant growth and recognition Cien Chiles has achieved, including becoming a finalist at Expo West. She highlights the importance of customer and community engagement through product demos, social media, and strong relationships with retailers. 

Don’t miss Maria's insightful tips on brand development, visual identity, and deepening market penetration.  Tune in now!

Listen in as they share about:

• Background of Cien Chiles
• Brand Development and Launch
• Expansion and Retail Partnership
• Expo West and Trade Show Strategy
• Technical Issues and Breaks
• Advice on Spending
• Building Community and Customer Engagement
• Future Plans and Growth

Episode Links:

Cien Chiles Website
Maria Covarrubias LinkedIn

Don't forget to leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify if you enjoyed this episode. For potential sponsorship opportunities or to join the Startup CPG community, visit http://www.startupcpg.com.

Show Links:

Transcripts of each episode are available on the Transistor platform that hosts our podcast here (click on the episode and toggle to “Transcript” at the top)

• Join the Startup CPG Slack community (15K+ members and growing!)
• Follow @startupcpg
• Visit host Daniel's Linkedin 
• Questions or comments about the episode? Email Daniel at [e-mail]
  
  

Episode music by Super Fantastics

Creators & Guests

Host

Grace Kennedy

What is The Startup CPG Podcast?

The top CPG podcast in the world, highlighting stories from founders, buyer spotlights, highly practical industry insights - all to give you a better chance at success.

Maria Covarrubia
For me, the biggest kind of, like, deal is having a community to like, bounce ideas from or building connections with different people. So being able to work at chosen also kind of like, I made a name for myself too, where people want to support me, you know. So having friends is always good. And one of the things that I mentioned too is like, it's very hard for me to not have community. But on the other side, like, I know that there's great companies that are like, just come work out of our headquarters and leaning really on the community to thrive because we're all in this together and we're all going through similar struggles and all this kind of like, list of things that we need to be taken care of.

00:58
Grace Kennedy
Hello, startup CPG listeners. Welcome back to the podcast. This is Grace and I am here with another founder feature. Today I am talking to Maria Covarrubias, the founder of CN Chiles Cien. Chiles is a flavor first condiment line with a focus on bringing authentic mexican condiments to the table. I first met Maria at Expo west this year, and for anyone who has talked to Maria for more than 30 seconds, you know what a joy she is to speak to. So I had so much fun interviewing her for this episode, and she has so much insight and learning to offer to our listeners. So I hope you enjoy listening and as always, let me know what you think. Hello, everyone. Today I am here with Maria, the founder of CN Chiles.

01:49
Grace Kennedy
I'm so excited for you all to learn more about her brand, which is an authentic mexican condiment brand. But Maria, I will let you introduce yourself and si and Chiles to our listeners.

02:01
Maria Covarrubia
Awesome. Hola, familia. I always greet the community. Thank you so much for having me. I'm super excited to be able to share my story with everyone and I hope there's little pieces of inspiration and it's definitely a journey. So my name is Maria Cubarruias and St. Chiles, or the idea of St. Chiles started when I moved to this country. I grew up in Guadalajara, in Mexico, and having fresh salsa available in my household was always a thing. So when I moved here, I was 25 years old. I came to become a chef at the Culinary Institute of America up in Napa Valley. And I didn't have a chance to make my own salsa because of course I was going to school and working in kitchens.

02:48
Maria Covarrubia
So I was like, oh my gosh, how I wish I could just grab a bottle at the store that tasted like homemade salsa. And of course, nothing was really available except like, valentina which is, like, more vinegary. So that's when, like, the thought started. Yeah, we'll get. We'll dive into it in a little bit.

03:06
Grace Kennedy
Yes, absolutely. And I definitely want to hear a little bit more about your culinary background. So you sort of had this thought of, I miss these salsas that I ate at home, and I wish I could have them here that were easy, that were available and fresh. What then inspired you to actually take the leap to say, I'm really going to do this now?

03:28
Maria Covarrubia
So my culinary journey brought me in Napa for a few years, and I moved to New York and worked over there as well. And the restaurant industry, as many of you know or may not know, it's very intense, it's very adrenaline driven, and ours are just crazy. So when I finally decided to move to San Diego, I really wanted to get into professional corporate job where I would work from nine to five and working or, like, getting myself into a corporate job. I went into innovation. So I honestly gathered a lot of experience creating different products, like dressings and cooking sauces and fresh guacamole with a fellow company here in San Diego. And then the pandemic hit, so I was really, like, gaining amazing momentum, creating, like, skews for them. And I always had, like, my salsas in the back of my brain.

04:27
Maria Covarrubia
And the pandemic hit, and my husband lost his business. And it was that type of thing where I really felt called to, like, not think outside the box, but really, like, support my family in a different way. And that's when I decided to launch with the help of my husband. And he's the organized brain, and I'm the creative brain, so we make a very good match. And, yeah, it was then. So we launched St. Chile's August 2020, and that was kind of like the push. I obviously, I kept my corporate job, and this is something that is pretty relatable to a lot of us founders in the CPG industry, where you don't have the means to just be an entrepreneur, you know, it takes ability, it takes a lot of money, it takes a lot of your time.

05:13
Maria Covarrubia
So it was long nights, it was busy weekends, manufacturing locally. And we first started doing just local, like we said, like, okay, let's do just e commerce. Because it was the pandemic, right? So everybody was mostly at home. So that was kind of, like, big silver lining for us to leverage on the world situation. So, yeah, the pandemic was like, the little push to be like, okay, I'm doing it.

05:40
Grace Kennedy
I'm doing this now. Yeah, and I think that is a very common thing that happened to a lot of people is people lost their jobs or just they had more time on their hands, even if they just still had a job because they were working from home. And so they were like, this is the inspiration now to finally take a leap on this, you know, idea I've had for a long time. But I also love that you were saying, you know, the restaurant world is so fast paced and stressful. And I was like, and then you entered the startup world, and that is also exactly kind of fast paced.

06:11
Maria Covarrubia
So I'm going to 16 hours days now. It's like almost 24/7 that you have to be on it, on it all the time. And it's hard, you know, with my husband and I being involved in this. And I know a few companies also that are in the same situation with kids or we have a five and a half year old. So it's hard, you know, when we need to, like, take ourselves out of the business mode and be just a normal family talking about barbecues and the pool, you know? So it is tough. It is tough some days to take ourselves out mentally and all that, but it's wonderful. We definitely do have a great team.

06:50
Grace Kennedy
Yeah. And so speaking of the team and the village that it takes to create a brand these days and any day, I suppose. But when you guys decided to jump in to create this brand, it sounds like from March 2020 right to August 2020, when you launched, it was a pretty short amount of time. So what sort of resources and connections did you leverage to actually develop cnglas in those six months?

07:18
Maria Covarrubia
So I had, like, been talking to a friend of mine who is a brand creator, and she's, like, great strategist, Asha. And she and I kind of, like, had a little session to talk about my idea and the concept, and it was like, but maybe for later, like, it wasn't anything. So it was from a casual conversation, we literally, like, hit the pedal to the metal. When I decided to launch, and it was like, from March, when the pandemic started, it was like, yeah, it was like, let's explode it and hopefully launch it in August. So it was just great to watch. So I'm very proud of my mexican heritage, so I wanted that to be showcased in the packaging, too.

08:02
Maria Covarrubia
So that's the kind of, like, the money or the largest chunk of money was spent in developing the brand, spending time with the designers, and having, like, creating the basis for what we had the vision for. So that is definitely something I highly recommend when you are thinking of starting a business, like spending the time to really, like, solidify what your vision is for your brand and where do you see yourself going and where do you want your product to be? Creating a brand with value and kind of, like, for me, it's like, you can tell. I hope you can relate to the passion I have for bringing people together through my brand. So I highly recommend to spend the time to spend the dollars. Cause it's not cheap.

08:51
Maria Covarrubia
It was kind of like the biggest capital we spent in the beginning was to build a brand, to have the website be visually enticing and photography. So all these things that went through for a very short period of time, we created it was. Yet, it was kind of magical.

09:08
Grace Kennedy
Yeah. And how long or are you still working your other job? Or how long did you keep that job before you decided to go all in on CNG lace?

09:16
Maria Covarrubia
So I kept my corporate job until last year, so I quit, or I left my other job April of last year. So a little bit over a year ago, I finally felt like knew it was time for me to step away and dedicate myself. Of course, I don't think we ever feel entirely ready to make this jump or, like, financially ready to do it, but it's the type of thing where if you're not spending enough time, then how is it going to grow? So it was like a big, like, weighing of all of our kind of, like, our thoughts and capabilities to be like, okay, I either spend more time in the business and growing it, and then we won't have, like, not, like, the money and the capital that we're getting from my corporate job. So it was like, yeah, tough balance.

10:07
Maria Covarrubia
But of course, like, I really, truly believe CN chiles has everything to grow and become even just as big, or maybe not as big, but, yeah, as my other corporate job. So it was that type of thing where, yeah, I chose to go after or chase after my dreams and dedicate more time and get in front of people. Like, for the longest time, weren't able to do demos locally because it was tough. Like, I could do, like, maybe on the weekends, but then it would take away, like, time from my family. So it was an interesting period of time where we finally. Where I was able finally to be travel, do demos, and be in front of people. So, yes, yeah, no.

10:47
Grace Kennedy
And I think that's a sort of crossroads a lot of founders find themselves in. So many people start out sort of keeping their corporate job or their more traditional job as they're building a brand on the side, and then you reach a point where you do have to decide, am I going to risk it and go all in, or am I going to kind of stay in this zone of safety? And so since you did leave your full time job and now your full time job is seeing glaze, have you seen your, you know, commitment to the brand sort of pay off in different ways?

11:17
Maria Covarrubia
Oh, my gosh. In so many ways, it is. I feel like since last year, like, it was a few months of, like, kind of, like, switching gears and kind of, like, getting used to this world, which can be a little bit lonely and different and so even emotionally. Right. It literally plays a trick on you to be super excited, but then you're like, oh, man, like an office to go to and talk with people about, like, their coffee, you know, like, that community that I'm. I'm a social butterfly. So for me, it was, like, a big shock on living.

11:51
Maria Covarrubia
But I really feel that from April to December, it was, like, a lot of, like, gear switching and defining swimming lanes and, like, my husband is an amazing brain to have everything, like, super organized and, like, having all the information kind of, like, set up for me to, like, jump in and be like, okay, I'll take it from here. Da da. Like, all these things. And then the beginning of this year, 2024, has been just, like, a wave of, like, literally, I feel like we've been surfing all year on the momentum, and were, like, finalists for pitch Lam.

12:24
Maria Covarrubia
We were in the top five of the pitch lamp for Expo west, and then being able to experience Expo west without working in, because I worked it with my previous company for eight years, you know, so it was kind of wild, you know, to kind of, like, be on the flip side now of being a very backpack brand, as you. You call it, being a backpack brand and walking around and meeting people, and that has been or just been this whole year, riding the wave and that momentum of growth and, yeah, investing the time and kind of, like, watching the fruits grow.

12:57
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, absolutely. And sometimes it. It does take that to really see it, and it also takes a lot of time, and then it feels like it's all of a sudden. But in reality, you've put in four long years of very hard work developing this brand. But since you mentioned Expo west, and it sounds like you have so much experience there as both working for this corporate company and then working for your own brand as a backpack brand, there are sort of two things I want to dive into. But first, we'll start with some of the other exciting momentum that I know CN Chile's has that has sort of come out of Expo west, which is you recently launched or are launching in central market in Texas.

13:35
Grace Kennedy
And we at startup CPG had buyer meetups at our booth at Expo West 2024, and we'll be doing it again in 2025. And we also are doing it at all our other trade shows that we'll be at. But anyway, you had a meeting, or you were selected for a meeting with central market for a one one, face to face meeting. So I'd love for you to speak a little bit about what it was like to have that first meeting and then how you actually converted that meeting into an actual retail partnership.

14:06
Maria Covarrubia
Yeah, we got, I think there was, I don't know if hundreds of companies, but it was, I know it was a lot of people that applied to have some FaceTime with the buyers from central market. And, yeah, literally, when you said it, like, I got the chills thinking about it because it is really like a big journey and, like, you need to have, like, the right connections and talk to the right person to be able to navigate, you know, getting into a new retailer. So we sat down at the startup CPG section with a central market buyer, and, you know, I started sharing my story and where I'm coming from and as, like, she tried my, like, she really loved watching the product. I should probably have a bottle here, but she, like, really loved. I can grab one to have a visual.

14:51
Maria Covarrubia
I'm very visual. So she just, like, just what? Like, hearing me talk about my story and then looking at the product, and then when she tried it, she was like, oh, my God. Like, this is phenomenal. Like, it was kind of like an automatic in. She's like, yes, I want to bring you in. We'll start the paperwork, all this and that. And again, everything takes time. But on the flip side, my husband's so organized that when they send all the forms, like, he's kind of like, plug and play. Like, he knows every detail that needs to go on those forms, which is also very time consuming, where probably if he would let, like, if I would have to do it, I would take double the time or triple the time to do what he does. And that was also communicated from the buyer.

15:35
Maria Covarrubia
He's like, we're already on shelves. So this was March, and we're on shelves right now at central Market. So everything happened so fast. So the beginning of May, I went to see the buyer again. She invited me to present my product to the rest of the buying team, which was a huge deal for us, coming into the central market like headquarters and being able to share my story and the product with the rest of the team was really special, and she shared it with me. She's like, I can't believe how quickly you guys, like, moved everything to be able to be on shelf. So, yeah, you. I mean, it's.

16:13
Maria Covarrubia
It really takes a village, but again, a lot of organizational skills from my partner in crime to have the ball rolling and paying attention to all the, like, small details that go into these big forms that we probably of, a lot of us understand and the fine print and all these things. So, yeah, it was an amazing connection to be able to have. And again, we're reaping the fruit from that.

16:38
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, absolutely. And I think you bring up a great point, which is things do take a lot of time usually, but we should be prepared to have things move quickly if they do. So, you guys, it sounds like you and your partner were extremely prepared to move forward and launch in central market. And so things moved really quickly. And so if you can be prepared and organized and ready, think the ball can maybe move a little bit faster? Because, yeah, I've definitely heard stories from other founders where they're like, we talked in March and then in November we launched. So, really exciting for you guys, and congratulations for that launch.

17:18
Maria Covarrubia
Thank you.

17:19
Grace Kennedy
Yeah.

17:20
Maria Covarrubia
Yes.

17:20
Grace Kennedy
Another question I had was more about Expo west in general, given that you have all these years of experience, both vending or not vending, having a booth there with your company, and then now as a backpack brand with CN Chiles, do you have any advice for a brand who might be listening, who's thinking about going to Expo west next year? Expo West 2025, as a backpack brand, or if they do have a booth, any advice you might have from your years with your corporate company?

17:49
Maria Covarrubia
So resources are scarce for everybody, I feel, when you're at this stage in the games. So for me, I would highly recommend for you to, like, if you're brand that, like, is under or a little over, like $100,000. From like 100,000 to like, half a million dollars, like this is. I wouldn't spend the money setting up a booth, like, maybe with startup CPG, that you guys make it a little bit more affordable to set up a booth. I would consider it, but the experience that I had on the flip side, like I said, was so much worth it to be able to walk around to meet buyers in the hallway and because we all know who we're looking for also, like, it was for me, just a different experience.

18:33
Maria Covarrubia
I mean, it does have value that you have a booth set up, but again, you're kind of tied in to whoever walks to you. And there's so many companies. Like, there's so many people, there's so many things going on that I don't think we're ready to make that big investment of setting up a booth, because I know, like, it's not only the cost of the booth is traveling, is hotels. It's the product you're going to give out for sampling, shipping to expo west beforehand. And the heading that is, like, I feel like I got to see many years of back and forth and the logistics behind it and swag and, like, all the expectations that it's, or, like, everything that's expected for you to show up and have X, Y, and z, it is definitely something to consider.

19:23
Maria Covarrubia
So I think, like, cost wise, it's probably like, if you pay x amount of dollars, I would say 50% of that over the x amount of dollars for the price of a booth, you'll have to spend on logistics and sampling stuff and all these things. So I always, or when people ask me, is, like, to be completely honest to my last boss I chose in my corporate job, he was like, Maria, I like, if I were you, I would spend the dollars in selling shows versus shows like Expo or fancy food show. Like, if you are already in a large distributor, you want to spend good, like, smart dollars. I would go for tabletops at distributor shows.

20:08
Maria Covarrubia
That way you can convert and sell rather than just, I mean, everything has obviously, its pros and cons, but his advice was invest the dollars where you can convert the dollars rather than spend the dollars where you don't know if you have a buyer walk by or, you know, like, if you'll gain 10,000 followers or less. So, yeah, not even. I think 10,000 is a lot. So my advice would be to pace yourself and kind of, like, think about really, like, where you want to spend those smarter dollars.

20:41
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, absolutely. I think that's really great advice that I was actually just interviewing another brand who was a backpack brand this year, Gia of hot pot queen. And she was saying the same thing in terms of her focus this year, which is more of those distributor shows, things like that, where she can really meet her distributors clients, which are the retailers.

21:02
Maria Covarrubia
Retailers.

21:03
Grace Kennedy
So another thing I wanted to talk to you about as you brought up followers was your social media, because I love your social media presence. It's so just sweet and genuine, and it really feels like it's not this corporate brand. It feels like it's really you and your spirit behind it. So I was wondering if you had any advice to other founders who might feel a little bit nervous about showing up on social media or who might feel a little icky about selling themselves on social media. Because I know that's something that many founders struggle with, but also know that it's so important to show up on social media. So what's your approach to Instagram, TikTok, all these things? And, yeah, what advice would you give to other founders?

21:49
Maria Covarrubia
So I love, like, I really, I've always loved being, like, up on stage. Like, I have no issue. I love to sing. Since I was literally, this weekend, I was back home in Mexico, and were watching videos from when were younger. And my sisters, I'm the youngest of four or five. I'm the youngest of five. And it was like, just watching me as a little kid, like, okay, like, it's Christmas time, everybody has a little show. And my sister's like, why didn't you, like, dance with the kids your age? Because, like, they're doing, like, I just can't wait to be king. And I'm like, no, because I probably said I wanted a show for myself. Sure enough, literally, like, the next act, it was me with my entire. Literally, like, I'm dancing. And for me, there's no issue to present myself.

22:41
Maria Covarrubia
And it is very time consuming. I don't think people realize how much or how long it takes. You know, whenever I'm creating content, like, it's the filming, it's the cleaning up, make sure it's perfect. Like, editing. Like, it takes hours for me to, like, post a video, you know, or a reels with a recipe. But on the other hand, I feel like nowadays people want to support small brands. You know, they don't want to. I mean, I don't know. Maybe it's just my impression, but what I've heard also from consumers is like, oh, I much rather, like, support a brand like you. I know it's dedicated. I know it's there.

23:18
Maria Covarrubia
I know you're packing my orders than a faceless large corporation where maybe the quality is not there, but, like, having the support from the people and how they watch you grind and how they watch you have a bad day. I feel that's what really makes you connect with people. And that's, for me, that's kind of like the push for me to be in front of the cameras. And, you know, even when I have a challenging day, I show up, and I'm like, hey, I'm not wearing any makeup. I'm kind of sad today. And people relate with that. We're all human at the end of the day, and we're fighting our fight to make it out there in the market. And on the flip side, too, or, like, the other side of the coin is, like, people do want to support small brands like yours.

24:00
Maria Covarrubia
So even if it's challenging for you, as a founder, I would highly recommend, you know, that you get out there and show your face and, yeah, have that FaceTime with community because you never know who's watching and who can relate to you. And, you know, like, it's. We now have a small warehouse, or, like, we share this wall of this warehouse, and that's, like, big deal for me, you know, to be able to share with people that now went from my mother's garage to just storing here, and now we have a whole, like, a little section of the warehouse just for us, you know? So. And that has been the growth, and it hasn't been easy, and it's a journey. And not every day is sunshine and flowers, but. But I tried for it to be sunjan in flowers.

24:47
Maria Covarrubia
You know, even if I'm having a so day, I'm a very, like, I'd always try to look for positive in my day. So, I don't know. We're so kind of, like, blessed and gifted to be where we are and trying to make impact and bringing people together through delicious food. That, for me, is, like, making it, you know? So I highly recommend for any founder, you know, to show up and people want to connect with you.

25:14
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, absolutely. I think that's great advice and also just to be honest and you can show up as your honest self. And I think that's something that people get concerned about, is they feel like if they show up on social media, they have to show up as this perfect version of themselves. And it's definitely something I fall victim to myself, and then I just don't post that much on social media. But I think it's really great advice. There's a community out there that wants to support you, but you have to put yourself out there to let them support you.

25:42
Maria Covarrubia
Exactly.

25:43
Grace Kennedy
So in terms of letting that community support you, what are some of the other ways that you have been working to cultivate that CN Chile community and get them to go to the central market in Texas and buy your product or go to the many other retailers that you guys are in? How are you getting them to not only support you on social media, but also show up and purchase your product.

26:06
Maria Covarrubia
So for us, demos have been really moving the needle a lot. So we're in San Diego, so the whole foods and the Bristol farms that are within reach for us, I literally, I planned a trip with a friend of mine. I'm like, hey, I know you have a ten month old baby. Would you come with me to do demos? We did ten demos in three days, like two nights staying in LA area, and we did all of, like, both of us did two demos each a day. So it was four demos a day, and it was like, pow, pow powder. Like, literally one after the other, eating in the car and just being in front of people, you know, like people do, like, and also nowadays it's a higher price point for a hot sauce, so. And it's great quality.

26:50
Maria Covarrubia
But again, nowadays, where, how the financial situation is where everybody spending x amount of dollars with a hot sauce is like, what if I don't enjoy it? Or whatever the reason is? So being able to show up and have a demo and people to try is like, wow, you know, mind blown. I want to take all of that. So doing demos has really moved the needle for us. Whole Foods, Bristol, and even locally, there's an amazing chain here in San Diego called Fraser Farms. We just got into Jimbo's, so it's just, yeah, showing up for the community, you know? And that really does incentivize people to not only support you, and always people are like, you're the founder. We just refreshed the label. So now I have a little picture of me in the label. So it's like, oh, my gosh, like, it's you.

27:39
Maria Covarrubia
And I'm like, yes. You know, like, it's not that people are always so impressed that it's not this massive corporation which is sharing your story again. And not all people do social media. So having that Facetime with the customer in your retailer, that's like, you already, like, converted someone for life, you know? And the other thing that we really take pride on is customer service. Always take care of your customer. We get somewhat like, not that our complaint where, like, the last one was like, oh, I bought this the, like, the tiebird at the store, and for whatever reason, like, it kind of fermented. And I know from the quality side of it was probably left out or whatever reason it is, without hesitation, we're like, we would love to make it up to you. Let's send you a fresh bottle.

28:26
Maria Covarrubia
So taking care of your community is just as important as showing up and doing that initial switch over. So I feel like those two are kind of like top priority at Sien Chiles. We're showing up in all the retailers that we can and also taking care of our community and whatever, like request or.

28:46
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, no, I think that's both really great points of advice and good things to remember. And also just from a person who's tried Maria's CN chile sauces. They are truly delicious and they taste very fresh. And you look at the ingredient list and it is truly just the normal ingredients you would expect to find in tomatoes, onions. Exactly. Nothing scary. No, like words you don't recognize. So that's always nice. And then also, yeah, to get to see the picture of the founder and to know that it's you and it's your stories is so special and moving. And I do think there is a real desire from consumers to support a brand with a story, with a person behind it, a person that they can reach via email who's going to address their concerns.

29:31
Grace Kennedy
And I know, again, for myself as a consumer, I'm willing to spend a few extra dollars to have that personal connection to something that I feel happy to support, rather than just like, this is another random product in my house. So I think that's really great advice for all founders listening or thinking about how they want to go about expanding their brand or launching a brand in the first place.

29:53
Maria Covarrubia
Great companies are like, just come work out of our headquarters and leaning really on the community to thrive because we're all in this together and we're all going through similar struggles and all this kind of like, list of things that we need to be taking care of. Leaning in each other is like really awesome because either someone else already has a contact or, you know, just literally leaning on our community to make it better. That's what I love about the slack startup CPG, because it's like, oh, like, I'm looking for a three pls. People are like, no. Like, oh, how about this one? They're like, I had a bad experience. How about that one? You know, like, just being upfront and honest of your process has also been helpful and challenging to find X and Y, whatever it is.

30:44
Maria Covarrubia
But leaning on our community, like CPG community has been extremely important and special that we have each other and it's a big platform to thrive. Really. So that's been challenging and great.

30:57
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, absolutely. And I'm so glad that you found the certifcpG slack useful, and I know that it is a great place to ask questions if I ever start a brand, which I don't think I will, knowing everything that it takes, but if.

31:10
Maria Covarrubia
I ever did, you know, yeah, I.

31:13
Grace Kennedy
Would definitely go to this slack first. But as we wrap up, I would love to hear a little bit about what the rest of the year looks like for CN chiles and what else is coming down the pipeline and what are you excited about in the year to come for CN Chile?

31:26
Maria Covarrubia
Totally. So I've been asked, like, what's next, what's coming? And that also is a big challenge, innovating and bringing more products. So we originally launched with these four sauces, and not every retailer carries all four. Most of our retailers, or we have the three sauces highly distributed, or like the hot sauce and the larger distributor and the mustard, not as much. So for us, growth or right now, our focus, or our main focus is to grow deeper where we are. So like build strong roots with the retailer or like retail partners that we have. And that way we can continue to branch out. Sometimes it is hard and that was like a big wake up call.

32:10
Maria Covarrubia
So partnering with a certain retailer that really wasn't a good fit for us was kind of like a learning process for us to be more mindful of where we want to have our product and make sure, like really doing your research to see if it's going to be a good fit for you. Because otherwise it turns out to be extremely expensive because of the expectation of having promotional calendars and investing on their marketing or whatever it is, you know. So for us, a focus moving forward and like closing this year is to build solid roots with the current retailers that we have so we can continue this growth and this momentum to continue to thrive.

32:52
Maria Covarrubia
That having strategic growth or like a vision of strategic growth has made us be here today and spending those dollars wisely and learning from our mistakes and learning from other people's mistakes to be like, I don't know if I would go X and Y because of this and that. So ask around. I feel like there's a lot of people that are open to talking about their experience. Yeah, we're super excited for what's coming.

33:20
Grace Kennedy
And I think that is another common refrain I've heard from some other brands is the idea of going deeper this year rather than trying to go so wide and trying to be everywhere all the time, because it's simply not humanly possible, especially when you're a small brand and you're a small team and you want to support the places you already are. So my final question is how can the startup CPG community, the people who are listening right now, how can they support CN Chile's?

33:49
Maria Covarrubia
So definitely, you know, like trying our sauces, giving a follow on Instagram, on TikTok, sharing it with your friends. Like, that's what makes us who we are right now. You know? Like it's maybe we don't have a huge following, but that's organic and legit, connecting with our consumers and people getting excited about recipes and different applications where our sauce is so you can get our [e-mail]. We're already in 18 different states or 19 different states and in certain retailers, but our website can tell you if you have a store near you, which is super cool and yeah, amazing.

34:31
Grace Kennedy
So exciting. And everybody should follow CN chiles on Instagram or TikTok or whatever your social media app of choice is. It's genuinely a joy. Maria greets the stories every day with Olafamilia and I'm like, sign me up. I want to be a part of the family. I'm on board.

34:48
Maria Covarrubia
I love it.

34:48
Grace Kennedy
And everybody should check out your website as well. But this was such a pleasure to chat with you, Maria, and learn more about CN Chile. And also, if anybody has any questions or wants any advice from you, they can always reach out to you on our startup CBG, Slack. And I just look forward to seeing where CN Chile goes in the future. And hopefully you'll be in Pa soon in the Philadelphia area where I am, so I can go to the store and support y'all. But yeah, a pleasure as always, and thank you to everyone for listening.

35:18
Maria Covarrubia
Thank you, Grace.

35:21
Grace Kennedy
All right, everyone, thank you so much for listening. If you enjoyed this episode of the podcast, it would help us out so much if you left a five star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. I am Grace Kennedy, the editor for starter UPCPG, so feel free to add me on LinkedIn or reach out to me on slack. I'm always on the hunt for new and exciting brands to feature, and if you're a potential sponsor that would like to appear on the podcast, please email partnershipsartupcpg.com. And finally, as a reminder for anyone listening, if you haven't already, we would love for you to join our community on Slack and you can sign up via our website, startupcpg.com dot.