Heritage, Heat, Heart and a Rebrand
Heritage, Heat, Heart and a Rebrand
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In this episode of Local Marketing School, Emily Steele interviews Alyzeh Rizvi, co-founder & CEO of Peepal People, a South Asian pantry brand bringing authentic flavors to your kitchen. Alyzeh shares her journey of creating a modern brand that honors her Pakistani heritage while appealing to a broader American market. We dive into Peepal People’s recent rebranding, their focus on healthy formulations with lower sodium and zero sugar, and their expansion plans into retail stores. Alyzeh shares such valuable insights for CPG founders about knowing their audience, being open to feedback, and the importance of iteration in product development!
TUNE IN FOR TOPICS LIKE:
2:30 Journey to founding Peepal People
5:25 Creating a unique low-sodium hot sauce with South Asian influences
7:52 Proving out product market fit before going full-time with Peepal People
11:27 Strategic decisions and key milestones in the rebranding process
14:18 Leveraging design expertise to create a distinctive and memorable brand identity in a competitive CPG market
16:56 Creating an intentional brand experience by incorporating storytelling
19:14 Moving from DTC to retail
24:18 Day in the life of a hot sauce founder
25:18 Advice for emerging CPG founders
26:48 What’s next for Peepal People
Listen to this week’s Local Marketing School conversation!
Other episodes you'll enjoy if you enjoyed Alyzeh's episode:
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Emily Steele (00:00)
Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of Local Marketing School. Let's dig into today's conversation with Alyzeh Rizvi. She's a founder of Peepal People, a South Asian pantry brand bringing vibrant, punchy flavors to American kitchens. She co-launched the company to showcase her cultural roots through fresh, small batch, low sodium hot sauces. Peepal People has been featured in Eater, New York Times, and Bon Appetit, and recently underwent a complete rebrand, preparing to launch in retail stores across the country.
Alyzeh is passionate about heritage and focuses on creating a modern South Asian pantry, blending cultural storytelling with innovative, better for you formulations. And she's based in Atlanta, Georgia. Today's conversation, we really focused on the journey of founding Peepal People, why does it exist in the world? And some of those early insights that she gained by getting out into the community, going to festivals, getting feedback from customers that really informed, you know, how to create something, and then sell something that people really, really love. Why do they love it? And I think her curiosity has really led her to some really meaningful adjustments in the brand. And one of the things we dive into is the rebrand process. Alyzeh is a designer, so that perspective of coming into being a founder as a designer is something really unique, I think, to her experience. so her talking about that experience of redoing, reimagining how Peepal People exist in the world is so intentional and I think it's just so beautiful to witness the process of how that unfolded and please do go see them on their website and Instagram and all the other channels because you will just be, I think you'll be captivated by just the intentionality of the brand.
So huge hats off to her. We talked a little bit about some of the retail stuff that's going on with her. She's in some of the earlier days of creating that retail shelf space, but excited to share that she does have things coming down the pipeline. And of course you can buy on her website. So I'm excited for you to listen to today's podcast. Let's get into the show.
Alyzeh Rizvi (02:20)
Hi, Emily. Thank you for having me. I'm so excited!
Emily Steele (02:23)
Yes, I'm excited you're here too. So can you tell us about your journey to becoming the founder of Peepal People?
Alyzeh Rizvi (02:30)
Yeah, absolutely. really it started with, you my husband and I, both of us were, you know, are born in really large families, joint families. We both grew up in Pakistan. We're both immigrants who moved here, you know, in our kind of, I moved in my twenties. He moved in his kind of late, early twenties, I would say, for college. you know, we just grew up in households where we would eat a lot of condiments with everything. I mean, anywhere from like three to four different condiments with every meal. So from breakfast to dinner, we're basically going through like 10 to 20 different condiments. And then, you know, when we moved to the US, you know, instantly we were living in New York, at least I was when I moved. And those early years, you would go a lot to like these farmers markets where we would find like hot sauces. And I think what happened was because our diets were also changing while being in the US, we were eating like less and less South Asian food.
We just started incorporating a lot of hot sauce into our diet. later, kind of going into this journey now further down, what we realized was for both of us, we developed these conditions, as a lot of South Asians do, are prone to heart-related problems. And Ahmer had hypertension and diabetes that he detected late in his 20s. I got diagnosed with high cholesterol. And I think that's when we kind of started thinking about all the things that we were consuming on a daily basis. And a lot of these condiments that we just eat, like, you know, have a lot of sodium without realizing how much we're putting on our meals. And so that's really how, you know, we started thinking about Peepal People we were in lockdown in Texas at the time with Ahmer's family and had a big backyard after New York. had all this space. So we planted a bunch of peppers and had a big yield and then fermented, which is something that's done culturally, you know, back in Pakistan and India as well. Fermented those peppers, made a few recipes and just boxed them up and sent them to friends. And to our surprise, we just started getting, you know, these messages from them, hey, do you guys have a Shopify? Like, how can we buy these? And both of us are like, we have full-time jobs, we're not doing this.
Alyzeh Rizvi (04:48)
We're doing this for ourselves, but like, and I think fast forward now, three years later, I mean, this is something that I do full time and, really started with the problem that we were trying to solve for ourselves. And, you know, and we frequented a lot of markets where we kind of heard from people who were like, we like this because it has lower sodium. So I think it was just a very natural way of starting a business, creating a product for ourselves, people liking it, and then opening up the doors for everyone to try it.
Emily Steele (05:19)
Cool, can you tell us a little bit about your product? Like what can people expect to buy from you when they're buying people, people?
Alyzeh Rizvi (05:25)
Absolutely. So we are really, you know, kind of authentic in that it is very unique to us that we use fermented peppers in that are lacto fermented. So they're not fermented in vinegar, which is usually what's done in the US. I mean, if you walk into your hot sauce aisle, you would find a lot of vinegary sauces that are very sour. Ours have like a little funky flavor. And I say funky because that's like the easiest way to kind of communicate what it tastes like Because lacto-fermentation is essentially when your peppers are in a salt brine, they're fermented in salt brine. So that's how we're able to keep the salt really reduced because it gives it flavor of the salt, which is essential for our flavor palette. But it's not salty, so it doesn't have a lot of sodium. there's that. And then we also add a lot of spices that are traditional South Asian spices, like you know, superfood spices like turmeric and pomegranate seeds and dried mango, which is all of these kind of spices that are used in South Asian traditional cooking. We also add a lot of produce in there. So you will see like fresh produce like onions and garlic and things like that. So if you think about a typical hot sauce that is available in the market today in the US, like you would expect it to be just, you know, salt, vinegar and peppers. Ours has like all of these different things. Because we really wanted when the South Asian audience tries it, they kind of equate it to a chutney because chutney is essentially like, less, right? Like everything that goes in, you just kind of grind it down or blend it to the point that it's really liquidy and you just kind of have it. So that's essentially what it is. There are three SKU's that we have ranging in three different flavors at three different heat levels from tangy, sour, fruity, to smoky. So just kind of something for everyone.
Emily Steele (06:54)
I love it. Getting me really excited to try. Like, should come prepared, like have like something to prepare and eat as we chat. That'd be very messy, I think, but you're getting me inspired. So I would love to hear, what are some of the key insights you gain from attending festivals and meeting customers in person in those early days? Right. You're sending your product, people are like, how do I buy this? Right. What other things were happening kind of early days before you went full time and doing people, people?
Alyzeh Rizvi (07:31)
Yeah, I mean, to be honest, I've, you my education is in design and as a designer, you're always kind of thinking about, you know, not necessarily the customer, but who are you designing for, right? And I think initially there was this kind of idea that, you know, I was designing for the South Asian audience. But I think what made me realize when I was going to a of these festivals is that people from all walks of life, you know, are coming there for different reasons. You know, families are there, college students are there in their groups and everybody wants to try something different, something unique. You also find that a lot of the festivals that we were attending, like there was a lot of this kind of local community that was there. So you would get to meet, so we would get to meet people who were working, you know, in commercial kitchens, like those connections that we developed there, they were actually really, really important for us now that we're in Atlanta to kind of get to these local stores. So I think what we realized at these festivals was just that, you know, how people responded to certain flavors. So for instance, one thing that we always do is, you know, we tell anybody who's dropping by at our booth, like, we're going to take you through a journey because these two sauces are so different that all the reactions that came from them, from, you know, the kind of end customer, were always ranging. for instance, you know, initially, before our rebrand, our sauces were named in Urdu, which is a language that my husband and I grew up speaking. We're trying to talk to our toddler in Urdu. It's not happening. But it's something that as two people who grew up in Pakistan, and that's what our parents speak, and we want to kind of... So we had names in Urdu. And what we realized was that while we started this business thinking like South Asian audience would really adopt us, it was actually a lot of white Americans who ended up loving our sauces because they were trying something that was cultural, was different. It was something that they could cook with because normally like hot sauces, you really can't cook with them because they have a lot of acidity. Ours because it has more kind of flavor than sourness. At one point, the customer starts telling you what they like about your sauce. So somebody will come up to us and be like, I love that you have turmeric you know, that is something that I always add in my meals because it's X, you know, or, or they would come up to us and be, I love cooking with these, or I love making cocktails with your, with your, you know, one of the sauces. So it just kind of, I think for us, it was just as a designer, like I've always felt that, you know, you create something and you put it out in the world, but you really don't know how it works until people interact with it and give you that feedback. So, I think we collected that feedback over
Emily Steele (10:12)
Mmm.
Alyzeh Rizvi (10:40)
a period of two years. And then when we reached a point when we were ready to kind of take this to retail, that feedback kind of changed, right? Because then it was very specific to how things move in a physical environment. Like it wasn't direct to consumer anymore. It was just kind of like, how do you share everything about your brand and your product in a glimpse of the second with the customer?
Emily Steele (11:15)
I love it. was really so inspiring. Okay. So as a designer, you're thinking about all of these inputs and the things you're hearing from consumers and you decide to rebrand Peepal People. What was that process like? How did you know it was time? You're probably getting retail ready, right? A lot of things happening. What instigated that?
Alyzeh Rizvi (11:59)
Yeah, I mean, you what I realized was that one, we didn't really have a retail strategy going in because, it was a product of the pandemic and we kind of relied on that storytelling to be online, be, you know, custom, like facing the customer, right. In, in, let's say your farmers markets and things like that and the festivals that we were attending. so what really happened was that I had been kind of gaining all this feedback and getting all this feedback for the past two years and we were in about 60 stores across the country where our customers who bought us online were buying us in stores. I basically applied and for this distributor, program, which was essentially a distribution across the U S one of the largest distributors in the U S. we got shortlisted for the kind of final round and then we had a very direct conversation and that direct conversation really opened my eyes because you know, a lot of times what happens is founders are so close to their brands that, you know, people are not able to give you that direct feedback. And because they don't want to hurt you or they don't want to, you know, they don't want to see you get defensive about your product. In my case, I think of Peepal People as, yes, it is my baby. It's what I've created. But I always also think of it critically. Like I'm the first critic for my brand. what I heard from this distributor was that, look, like sauces are great. You know, everything looks great. The story is amazing. You know, these are low sodium. They are far lower sodium than anything that we have. However, the names, like the names and the packaging doesn't really stand out on the shelves. I mean, you have three seconds. customer has less than three seconds actually, when they're walking down an aisle to make a decision. So what is unique about your brand and what is unique about your product? you know, how would you convey that? And I think for me, that was the moment where I was like, okay, I'm going to stop everything. I'm going to stop whatever I'm doing. And I'm going to focus on this because this resonated with me a lot.
Emily Steele (13:58)
Yeah, yeah, that's a huge moment where you're like, okay, I'm roll up my sleeves, we got some work to do. Yeah.
Alyzeh Rizvi (14:12)
Yeah, and you know, for us too, this was like last October, I knew I was going into holiday season and we had enough inventory at that time to go through. So we just, you know, we're working in the back for the past year. I didn't really convey anything to our customers that we were up to. And then began the rebrand process.
Emily Steele (14:16)
Okay, I haven't talked to many founders of CPG brands who are also kind of like the lead designer. I don't see that combo as often. So is there any challenges that come with being the designer and the founder?
Alyzeh Rizvi (14:49)
Oh my God, I have a whole list. I think the biggest for me is, you know, what I've realized is that I am in some ways so lucky that I can see my brand in that light. What's the hardest is being so close to the brand, right? You know, sometimes the conversations that in the past I would have with my clients is, you know, it was a lot to do with the data and you know, what we felt is kind of the qualitative, right? Like how do people feel, emotions and what do you want them to feel? And I think I really had to go back to the drawing board for this one. You know, when we created Peepal People four years ago, the branding of Peepal People, I created it with a friend of mine from college and I distanced myself from it. I did the illustrations myself, but for the most part, I, you know, kind of handed it over to her and I let her do the thing.
But I think what I realized was that because I didn't have any agencies who had experience, you know, kind of in this CPG area, I really had to pull up my sleeves, figure out all the different stakeholders who interact with the brand, right? You have your customers, but then there are experts in the industry who have so much more knowledge about how product moves, you know, what are people looking for? How do you highlight the values of your product on a shelf and the category that you're in, right? so for me personally, I think the hardest thing was to kind of put aside my perception of the brand, what, what, how, what it means to me, how I started it. then think about the, for me, the North star, which was the culture piece, right? Like I didn't want the culture to be removed from the brand. That was essentially my focus, but at the same time, highlight the values that the brand brings to the category. so Yeah, it was a very tough, a very long and tough process, I would say, took us seven months. Whereas most companies, you know, if I had hired somebody, it take two to three months. But, you know, we doubled that time and really, really tried to hone in on the things that mattered to us.
Emily Steele (16:48)
Yeah, yeah, that's really special. mean, it's in there so much of a story, personal story to it too. So like it feels even more, there's more at stake it feels like to get it right and to honor the history and the family connections and the culture. So I think kind of on that, is there anything related to storytelling you feel like you've really been intentional about doing with Peepal People or anything you can share there?
Alyzeh Rizvi (17:25)
Yeah, I mean, you know, just the idea, actually, I had this idea for the, I don't know how closely you've seen the bottles. I'm definitely going to send them to you after this, you know, we have these kind of specks of silver on there and then we have a silver band. And I actually had this idea on a night after I did my brainstorm session and I was like lying in bed and I said, okay, how do I, Alyzeh, if I need to travel somewhere, where do I go for it? And immediately I thought of YouTube. When I want to travel somewhere and when I'm right about right before I travel someplace, I go to YouTube. I search that place and I see what that landscape is like. And I think for Pakistan specifically, people don't go to Pakistan. It's not a country where you ever see tourists walking on the streets. you know, we have this idea of like what India looks like and people have been, I've been, but people don't know what Pakistan is like. So I think I, when I went back to the drawing board, I was thinking about What is the design language that represents Pakistan? And how do I bring this to the US in a way that feels modern? It doesn't feel too ethnic, I guess, but it feels like it belongs to everyone and anyone. And I think that silver was essentially the trucks in Pakistan. I'm not sure if you've seen truck art in Pakistan. But if you YouTube about trucks in Pakistan or just streets of Pakistan, you see a lot of metal, know, metal utensils on the streets that we have food carts. Like a lot of uses of metal on the streets where you have like, you know, kind of your trucks and road stops and side stops. So I wanted to bring that metal, which is a hint on the, on the labels and the bottles and those shapes as well. The shapes that you see on the bottle are all derived from shapes that you will come across in Pakistani art and architecture. So It was a lot of just kind of very subtle way of telling a story and also just kind of thinking about how the brand will take the story forward, right? So Peepal People were calling it a new kind of South Asian brand free brand. And for the reason that, you know, I want to bring more products that are unique to South Asian flavors, culture, a fresh new perspective for the modern South Asian diaspora.
Emily Steele (19:19)
Yeah. So exciting. As you think about people, people expanding, I'm sure you have a very big vision. Can you talk a little bit about how you're clearly doing direct to consumer? How are you thinking about retail? What are your next, I don't know, year or two going to look ideally?
Alyzeh Rizvi (20:10)
Yeah. So yeah, ideally in an ideal world, my God, there are so many ways to go about this. But I think, I think, you know, one of the things that I really want to do with Peepal People is we have a lot of amazing South Asian brands that are doing amazing work in bringing very culturally relevant products. I think I want to, how I want to do this is I want to be authentic to myself. I am a product of the East and the West. My day to day looks like, you know, very different recipes that I am inspired by from all different cultures. And, you know, I feel like the way that I want to take this forward is definitely be retail ready. So the packaging now we feel is retail ready. And we are kind of hoping to get to Natural Grocers next year. were already in conversation with two of them and very, very excited to bring the sauces to the market.
Emily Steele (21:05)
Really?!
Alyzeh Rizvi (21:06)
Yeah. And I think the other thing is like, you know, just being honest about what our palates are like, right? Like, you know, when people try our sauces, they're like, my God, this is very hot for me. But, you know, if you ask any typical South Asian kid, they have mothers or grandmothers eating raw peppers. That's how I grew up. So I don't want to take away the element that is very integral to our how we eat and how we consume.
Alyzeh Rizvi (21:35)
I also know that South Asians today shop 96% in stores. So, you know, we have this kind of, you know, data that backs the fact that we need to be in retail. We do have a direct to consumer presence too. Like we are, you know, we have a, we have an online store where people could buy us. But I think for me, it's important to see the flavors in stores so that, you know, we can bring, we can answer. The second largest Asian population in the US today is South Asians. And we need more of our flavors represented in natural grocery chains and just chains in the country.
Emily Steele (22:08)
Mm-hmm. It feels like something you get to do and like that has pretty incredible impact beyond like, I have a new exciting product on the shelf. Like you get to represent so many different people in our country that are probably missing this type of things being available to them so easily. So what a cool, cool gig you have. It's adding so much value.
Alyzeh Rizvi (22:32)
Absolutely. Thank you. Yeah, I just I'm just really, you know, rather in this phase right now where I'm kind of getting feedback every day. And it's it's just helping me kind of understand what my next step should be. So really iterating every day.
Emily Steele (22:43)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What kind of feedback do you find helpful at this stage of where you're at with People People?
Alyzeh Rizvi (22:58)
I mean, think, know, operationally, there are a lot of challenges that small brands have. What's been amazing after the rebrand is just that the feedback has been very positive. Like every meeting that I have with retailers, I mean, they really value the values that we have on the packaging that it is lower sodium and zero sugar. mean, think about it, right? Like for somebody like me, when I was walking down the aisle, trying to look out, they look at hot sauces you know, take a typical store, you have anywhere from about 100 to 200 SKUs that you're looking at. You don't know what zero sugar, you don't know what's lower sodium. We're the first ones to highlight this value on the packaging because we are significantly lower sodium. And I think that, you know, it's just the value that it brings to the customer is that instead of taking 30 minutes in that aisle, they can just grab the sauce. And just leave that aisle as quickly as possible. So I think what's really helpful to me is that, how do we get nailed to packaging? And now we're kind of taking feedback from our customers on what they want to see next. What's next for Peepal People in terms of products and flavors that we want to highlight and bring forward and what's the natural next step for us.
Emily Steele (23:53)
Yeah. Cool. Cool. So you get to do people, people full time. Now will you tell us, like, what's a day or week in the life?
Alyzeh Rizvi (24:23)
Week in the life is, mean, I don't even like this last week, I also love to host a lot. So I have had a pretty packed social calendar the past few weeks. My parents arrive in a week. we're gonna have a very packed social calendar again, but a typical week. I mean, to be honest, I'm doing everything right now from our socials to our marketing to our, you know, fulfillment of our larger orders to business development to pitching. I last week I was in Arizona pitching to Sprouts and I don't know what becomes of that, but you know, it's just kind of doing all these different things and I'm really excited to be doing this. I think I have right now I have the energy to do it and the bandwidth, but I think we will reevaluate in the new year how I'm feeling.
Emily Steele (25:02)
Yeah, you've got as of now a month and a half. So just full steam ahead. Like, yeah, it's just like staying so focused and like, what can I accomplish? What can I do? And then reassess like, is this working for me? Is this working for the company? Okay. As you've gone on this journey and other CPG brand founders are listening, any advice you would give at the stage you're at that maybe you wish you would have known a year ago or back in 2020 pandemic times.
Alyzeh Rizvi (25:48)
my God. mean, just really knowing your audience. think who, who is it that you are speaking to? Who do you want to bring value to? I think what I've realized is I have some customers who've been with me for three years and I keep going back to them and I keep, you know, kind of honoring them and listening to them. mean, I, kind of emails and messages that I get, you know, from people who talk about, wow, we've never seen Pakistani in the forefront in the US. think my message to founders really is one, always know that if there's something that you can't figure out yourself, there are people who can do it. Don't try to take on too much or yourself. Be open to conversations and feedback. I I think that the rebrand really was a reflection of all that I had been absorbing in the industry, going to expos and things like that so really to value those conversations and whenever you feel it's time and it's possible and you have the bandwidth, if things need changing, don't be just too attached to it. Any product that exists today goes through many, cycles of iteration. So just think of that feedback in that way. And I think those are the two most important things, I would say.
Emily Steele (26:55)
Cool. Yeah, I really appreciate you sharing your story and your perspective. Anything next for Peepal People to wrap the conversation today?
Alyzeh Rizvi (27:16)
Yeah, I mean, just, you know, we're excited to bring the sauces to the market. Hopefully you can get them in more stores near you. And other than that, you know, we're working on some new products for the next year. Some exciting things that I'm super excited about and I can't share much so we're gonna have to stop here but the exciting stuff but if you know, folks who are listening to me and have tried Peepal People and have an idea of what they think we should do next and tell us as well. We're always open to know what the community needs and yeah.
Emily Steele (27:54)
Yeah, I love your openness to feedback. It can be hard sometimes as a founder to be so open when you have so much conviction around like, no, I really think this is like, this is it, you know? So kudos to you for being open-minded to that. It doesn't always come easy. So thank you so much for being on the podcast today. It was such a pleasure getting to know you and sharing your story.
Alyzeh Rizvi (28:07)
Thank you so much, Emily. Honestly, I love the conversation and thank you for featuring us.
Emily Steele (28:23)
Yay! You are so welcome.
