Dang Foods started by transforming toasted coconut into snack products, expanding from coconut chips to rice crackers and energy bars.
Utilizing social media influencers like Courtney Kardashian and media exposure helped boost brand visibility and market presence.
Facing challenges with failed product launches, the founders pivoted to new flavors and products, leveraging Asian ingredients and flavors for success.
Deep dives
Building a Brand: From Trade Shows to Grocery Stores
Dang Foods, an Asian American snack brand, was built by Vincent and Andrew by taking a Thai ingredient, toasted coconut, and turning it into a snack product. They started by getting table space in trade shows to create awareness and later secured deals with retailers like Whole Foods and Safeway to distribute their coconut chips.
The Power of Social Media Marketing and Influencers
The founders saw a spike in web traffic after Courtney Kardashian posted about their coconut chips on Instagram, demonstrating the marketing power of social media influencers. They also gained media exposure through features in The New York Times and endorsements from food editors like Florence Fabricant.
Navigating Partnership and Business Growth
Andrew joined the business full-time after initially helping out with packaging and operations. The founders navigated challenges around equity split, working together as brothers in a high-pressure environment. Their commitment and strategic approach, including a focus on packaging design and leveraging influencers, allowed Dang Foods to expand their product reach and establish a strong presence in the market.
Diversification Beyond Coconut Chips
The podcast discusses the journey of the company from initially focusing on coconut chips to expanding their product line by introducing vacuum-fried onion chips. Despite initial excitement and positive industry feedback, the onion chips failed due to customer concerns about onion breath. The company then experimented with various flavors for coconut chips but ultimately found success with sticky rice crackers introduced from Thailand.
Challenges, Evolution, and Success with New Products
The podcast delves into the challenges faced by the company, including financial hits amounting to about two million dollars from unsuccessful products. They transitioned from bootstrapping to seeking outside funding as they evolved into an Asian American snack food brand. Through persistence and experimentation, they found success with new products like keto bars and sticky rice snacks, leveraging Asian flavors and ingredients to meet consumer demands.
Vincent Kitirattragarn grew up in a Thai-Chinese-American household, which meant eating congee and lemongrass chicken, while also ordering chicken McNuggets with his younger brothers. He dreamed of opening his own Thai restaurant, but an exhausting stint working at one convinced him that his entrepreneurial path would never be in the restaurant industry. Instead Vincent's Asian-inspired snack food brand, Dang Foods, was born in 2011 when a delicious home-cooking experiment led him to start importing coconut chips from Thailand. Vincent's brother Andrew joined a few years later to help grow the brand through a series of snack product successes—and some tasty but colossal flops. Today, the company sells their brightly-packaged coconut chips, rice crackers, and energy bars in over 10,000 stores across the country.
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