Staying Authentic while Scaling a CPG Brand
show notes
This week, Emily chats with Nola Morris, Chief Marketing Officer of Thelma’s Treats. Thelma’s was founded by her brother and named after their very own great-grandmother, Thelma. Nola has 20 years of experience across multiple industry verticals including financial services, tech, fashion, and consumer packaged goods. In this episode, Nola discusses her responsibilities as CMO, the tactics used to reach new customers and generate sales, and maintaining authenticity as a brand while growing rapidly!
Nola Morris, Thelma’s Treats
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Tune in for topics like:
1:15 Thelma’s brand origin story
2:59 Nola’s career journey
4:18 The day to day as a CMO
8:29 Grocery as a mix of new school and old school marketing
9:33 Evolution of cookie ice cream sandwiches as a category
11:48 Taking your brand from farmers markets to the next level
16:40 Tactics to reach people in new retailers & zip codes
20:38 Understanding retail media programs
25:02 Buyers being more aware of where their dollars are going
27:43 Maintaining an authentic brand with national distribution
30:28 What’s next for Thelma’s
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Emily Steele (00:12)
Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of local marketing school. My name is Emily Steele. I am your host and local marketing enthusiast. And today I have an exciting guest named Nola Morris. She's with Thelma's Treats. And I got to know Thelma streets over the years selfishly. I love love love their goodies or ice cream sandwiches. I'll go to a brewery and like specifically not get beer but look for ice cream treats right like this is who I am at my core. And so I'm so excited to interview and get to know you and get to share your story. So Why don't you pick it off by introducing yourself and a little bit of your background.
Nola Morris (00:44)
Yeah, of course. So hi there and hello. I'm Nola Morris from Thelma's Treats. As you already said, I am chief marketing officer at Thelma's, but I also happen to be the great granddaughter of Thelma and the sister of Derek, who is the CEO and founder of Thelma's. So my background is one story. The Thelma's background is another story. I don't know if you have a preference, Emily, on where I get started. I can kind of do both, but I can kind of share the origin story of Thelma's as a brand and then kind of jump in on my personal career background too, if that's cool. Okay, cool. So Thelma, we always said that she would laugh at kind of this whole story. My brother and my mom started Thelma's by taking my great grandma Thelma's snickerdoodle recipe and essentially making an ice cream sandwich out of it and selling those out of a little pushcart at the Des Moines, downtown Des Moines farmers market. If you know, you know.
Nola Morris (01:41)
And kind of the rest is history, but that's how Thelma started. From there, we entered retailers in the Midwest, kind of one by one, and kind of grew a footprint in the Midwest. And now we are a national, we have a national footprint and we're in over 6 ,000 retailers across the country. Still handmade in Des Moines. Our entire production facility is in Des Moines and we are very proud of that. We love Des Moines, we love Iowa, obviously. And we're excited about our growth and that we can do all of that from here. So that's the high level of Thelma's story. Real person, she's a real grandma. My mom was real, my brother is real. I'm a real sister, we're a real family. But when Thelma started in 2012, and so it was my brother's venture, he got everything started. Obviously I was around for the ride. I was pushing a push cart. I was giving a sample at a Hy-Vee store, helping. That was back when social media really wasn't an understood thing for business. It was very different than it is now. And so I helped get the social channel started, did all of that kind of on a consultative, sister cheerleader basis for over a decade. And I actually had a career across multiple industry verticals. So I actually started out in the fashion industry.
I'll give a little hat tilt to my mannequin in the background. So I started in the fashion industry and then found myself, as one does in the Midwest, in the insurance industry for over 13 years and had a wonderful journey across multiple parts of that industry, but specifically with a focus in marketing, social media, digital product development, digital marketing. And so I was able to get a Fortune 100, in a Fortune 100 corporate environment, you get different exposure to marketing, strategy, social media, all of that. And so I spent 13 years in the insurance industry doing that. And then the last three years were actually spent in the tech industry. And then more recently was led a tech organization through an acquisition. And I used that kind of as my milestone that was kind of occurring when Thelma's was experiencing some exciting growth and change and used that as my milestone to actually join Thelma's officially only a couple months ago. So I've been cheerleading and acting in a consultative basis for a very long time. And now it's my every day and that's pretty cool.
Emily Steele (04:13)
Yeah. Okay. So what is life as a CMO like? What are you going to focus on day to day?
Nola Morris (04:18)
man. Well, so one of our core values is no one is above the work. That's one of Thelma's core. You heard it here first. Yeah, that's one of our core values. And I say that as a response to your question because I say that as a response to your question because obviously we all wear a lot of hats. We're still a small business. We're cranking away. We learn something new every day. So, you know, sure, I'm chief marketing officer. There are standard things that I own, but at a high level, anything that encourages the customer to put our product in their basket. The word basket is kind of a CPG industry term, a grocery term. So putting our product in their basket, I kind of own that. But of course, there's a lot of other things that happen leading up to that. The sales team is at a high level responsible for getting our product actually on the shelf and everything else is kind of up to marketing. And so, but we cusp are small. That means a lot of things. That means brand strategy. That means creative.
That means packaging design and development, managing that process. It means running photo shoots. It means social. It means having relationships with our brokers. We have broker relationships for some of our retailers. And so it means also a really big part of it is understanding retail media programs at each retailer's level. They're all different. And we have Very different. The phrase retail media is pretty universally used now, but even now it's still not really not always used. And every retailer has a different has different marketing packages you can take advantage of. Every retailer, like any brand, knows their customer and they develop their marketing packages to reach their customer. And so it's kind of on our marketing, I say our marketing team, it's me and our marketing director, Lauren. So let me paint the picture. I'm not doing any of this alone at all. I certainly have Lauren on my side in doing all of this. So shout out to Lauren. But we have to kind of learn all the nuances of all these different retailers and flex all the time. So, you know, when we're talking to Fareway that looks one way. When we're talking to Kroger, that looks another way. When we're talking to Meijer, that looks another way.
We have smaller, more boutique chains and we have large national chains. And the way we understand their marketing programs and execute those marketing programs are all very different. So that's a huge piece of what I do. But it covers the gamut from brand, creative, strategy, retailer relationships. And I am part of the pitch process. So when we're in the process of, which kind of never really ends when you're in the process of you know, pitching your product to a retailer. I am part of part of those conversations as well. Yeah. That was a lot. Here I am like, what do I do? I'm sure you do the same when someone asks you what you do, you're like, well.
Emily Steele (07:19)
So it's a lot.
Well, today, like some people have this perception like CEO of a startup, like you must just like work with your board and manage spreadsheets. I'm like, no, at this stage of a startup, it's like all hands on deck. So it's funny the perceptions that like people have. So it's thank you for sharing that it provides some clarity even to people tuning in that are maybe early on in their CPG journey. And they're like, okay, I'm gonna bring on a marketing person like, call them whatever head of marketing, CMO, director, like what's kind of what they do and like you sharing that is like, yeah, it's a lot. It's a lot of hats.
Nola Morris (08:03)
Yeah, it's a lot. And you didn't hear any CPG in my background when I explained my history. And I reflect on, it's crazy the things I reflect on every single day. Like, wow, I learned that 500 years ago in the fashion industry. Or, I remember this from when I had to do something super structured and strategic in a Fortune 100 environment. There's all sorts of things that I apply on a daily basis, but I'm still learning the world of grocery. Right? Like, Grocery is kind of a mix of old school and new school. It's kind of coming along and trying to react to the modern customer expectations. But there's a lot of old school stuff that works in grocery, like a classic promotional schedule. That still works. Giving a sample in a store totally still works. And that's where I was, we say no one is above the work. You will find me working at all of our summer events because I love it so much.
Nola Morris (09:02)
I love interacting with customers. You will find me in some of our retailers, our grocery stores, giving a sample of an ice cream sandwich. It's part of it. I will never not do that. And so that's kind of why I mentioned our core value as an answer to that question, because it's like, we wear a lot of hats, but there's also just some things that you always want to stay in touch with, no matter how big or small you are or what you do in a day, just to keep you grounded. Well, that's a big part of it.
Emily Steele (09:27)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And really understanding that customer and their perception of like, what are they saying? Like what's changed from probably 2012, 13 to 2024? Like, are people more excited about ice cream sandwiches today than they were? Was it more introductory at that time and now it's common knowledge? Like, have you seen any of that or heard that through your experience? Like, I don't know, it felt so new to the market in some ways.
Nola Morris (09:36)
Yeah, it's funny because I feel like when we kind of hit the scene, if you will, whatever, whatever scene when we hit the scene, you know, it was kind of a unique product. It's, you know, we have to use the phrase cookie ice cream sandwich often, because when you say ice cream sandwich in grocery, a lot of people think the classic rectangular wafer with frozen dessert in the middle, which that's a thing. I celebrate that on its own. We love we love that ice cream sandwich, too.
Emily Steele (10:12)
Yep. Yeah.
Nola Morris (10:20)
But when we hit the scene, a cookie ice cream sandwich wasn't super common. There were a few on the market, certainly not one that has a super soft buttery cookie straight out of the freezer. But once we were getting footing and we had our presence in the Midwest, there was a bit of a trend happening with ice cream sandwiches. A lot of more brick and mortar ice cream sandwiches, brands creating them more in super, super, super small batches.
And that trend, I think it kind of helped with the category in general, just general awareness, like, I can have an ice cream sandwich as a treat. I don't have to have just a pint or just a wafer sandwich. There is, the category has a foothold now and we're part of that category and we're excited and, you know, survive, I shouldn't say surviving a trend. I'm not saying that it was like such a wild trend, but knowing that the ice cream sandwich is here to stay, the cookie ice cream sandwich is here to stay.
Nola Morris (11:18)
We're excited to be part of that and to be part of that story. Yeah.
Emily Steele (11:23)
super cool. Okay, so going back to 2012, like I would love some of these early day like memories to capture because you know, someone's listening who either has an idea and or like in those early days of being at a farmer's market, or like, okay, there, I've got some legs here, like, how do I know it's time to like, get my own like brick and mortar and or like take it to the next level? Do you have any memories around that time where those like critical events were happening?
Nola Morris (11:24)
Yeah, I think that's such a cool question because there's a lot of times we get asked, do you have a store? That's the phrase we hear, like, where's your store? Do you have a store? And that's a normal consumer question, especially when they're experiencing you in such a one -on -one farmer's market environment. And so very early on, we strategized around what is the growth plan? And really it's two paths. It can be both. But it's do we wanna be a small local business with a brick and mortar and see what happens there and maybe turn into a franchise or grow that way? Or do we actually just wanna focus on making a really delicious ice cream sandwich that we know it's right here, it's really good. We trust Grandma Thelma, her snickerdoodle is the best. Do we wanna actually just get really good at making that and make sure that that gets to as many people as possible? And that's kind of the, obviously you have to do that local awareness, that local marketing, that local connection, because you have to start with your own community, right? You have to, will you literally like, here's an ice cream sandwich. Tell me if you like it. That's how it starts, you know? We, and so we said, okay, we know our product is good. We're getting good feedback at the local level. We still need to act locally. We will always have that in our hearts. We still need to market ourselves in a local way, but we knew that getting on shelves at retailers, was the way that we could make sure that Thelma's gets in the hands of as many people as possible. And so that's the route we went, but there's that constant balance of navigating being in your local community and reaching your local, your people that have been cheering you on from the very beginning. We will never forget the first people that walked up to us at the farmer's market or push cart. I have goosebumps because I remember we're like, okay, the ice cream can't, we didn't know what we were doing. Like the ice cream can't melt. We have a push cart. You know, like, it's not like we grew up in an ice cream family. You're like a frozen dessert family. So we are figuring it out as we go. And we'll never forget all of those people that, you know, ran down to what, what booth number are you in on this Saturday? What booth number are you in that, you know, we're coming down like, we'll never forget that. And those moments matter most. And that is what really keeps us grounded because we always started with something that meant a whole lot to us and something that we knew was so good that we knew we just want to put smiles on more people's faces. So as we've grown, scaling that is really what we are charged with. And that's, we kind of call it our recipe for success. So our recipe for success, no matter how big or small we are, no matter where we are, is tell them our story and give them a taste, full stop.
Nola Morris (14:39)
The thing is, you have to scale that. Because that's one thing when you're standing at a push cart in a farmer's market. Let's talk, eat an ice cream sandwich. Tell me in real time if you love it. Give me feedback. And that's how we grew, right? Like that's how we got our hold in the Des Moines market. And then it grew into the Midwest because we could physically go be in grocery stores, tell a story. Grandma's home was real. I'm a real sister.
Nola Morris (15:07)
He's a real brother, that's our real mom. We use real ingredients, we are real ice cream. That's one of our differentiators outside of the cookie being soft out of the freezer. It's real ice cream. No shame to anyone else in our category, but a lot of other frozen novelties are frozen dessert. And so we continue to prioritize those ingredients and make sure that people know that we take that seriously. But we always say that we wish that we could be in all of our markets and give hugs and have one -on -one conversations.
and we can't. So everything we do is okay. How do we scale that recipe for success when we can't be there like we used to be?
Emily Steele (15:41)
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Okay. So I'd love to double click on that. So let's say, do you remember like a retailer that was maybe a little bit further away than like driving distance and you're like, okay, we're now and let's just say Kroger, for example, and maybe it's another example you have. But like, it's gonna be harder to physically be there. We need to get people to know about us because I think something that I've really understood, like I am not someone from the CPG space either. Right. So I've learned very quickly, like it's all, you have to move the product off the shelves to prove viability to the retailer, correct? Like that's, yeah. But you also need to generate sales simultaneously for like the growth of the company. So it's two, like two sides of it. So a lot of pressure to kind of stay afloat in one retailer and location and also like keep growing as a company. So you're in a new location in a new zip code, new city. You're thinking about like,
Nola Morris (16:14)
You got it. You got it.
Emily Steele (16:35)
how you're gonna reach people and how they're gonna get excited to see you in that grocery store or that retailer, what's the approach? Is it the retail media? Is it like a mix of things maybe depending on the city?
Nola Morris (16:47)
It's a, our hearts want to get in our cars and drive there and give everyone a hug and a sample. So we start there and we like, okay, that's not possible. And yes, it's a mix. So our mix includes things at the brand level that we control, that we know that we can do to reach those customers immediately with the retail media and retail media. Typically I just described, you know, it's different for every retailer lead times look drastically different.
Yet just yesterday I saw one that was a week and I've already dealt with some that were, you know, eight plus weeks. And so lead times are very different for different retail media programs. And so even when we know that we're on shelf at a new retailer, sometimes I may have missed some of the lead times that were cooking before we knew we would actually be on shelf. And so we have the mix. We know, okay, there's some stuff I can control at our brand level that we can do. And then there's things that I can do at the retail media level. What can I do now to reach them as soon as I can during peak ice cream season, which is mostly May through August, depending on the market we're talking about. Mostly it's May through August. You know, what can we do now? And it's going to sound like you paid me to say this. You did not. I'm saying it. I'm saying it. You did not. But I will tell you, I've said this multiple times to the hummingbirds team, one of the things that I do immediately is get the hummingbirds out Let the birds loose. It is the quickest way. Let the birds out of the cage.
Nola Morris (18:23)
Okay, so we can talk about our brand on social. We can do paid social to reach audiences in those new markets or shoppers of, the affinity belongs to the grocery store, right? So if I'm gonna buy a new product, my affinity is with my grocery store first for a new brand, right? So.
There's limitations on what I can do at the brand level because we only distribute through retailers. We do not have brick and mortar. So if you don't know Thelma's, you don't know Thelma's, but you do know Kroger, you do know Meijer, you do know Hy -Vee. I feel like I need to give shout outs to all of our retailers. We love them all equally, but I can't rattle them off in a list. But that affinity sits there with those folks. So the birds help us by saying, hey, I'm a grocery shopper in Milwaukee. And my friends are also grocery shoppers. They're buying for their families or their partners or their own selves. And we send the birds in to make sure they know where Thelma's is and what they share with their followers and their audiences. And it's authentic, which is the whole point, right? It's not, we respect formalized influencer marketing too, that there's a place for that. But that local authentic feeling of my friend shopping for groceries. I know she goes to, you know, Meijer all the time. How did she get that? That matters to us. That's, I know exactly where that is on the shelf. I know that it was delicious and the birds help us tell our story. So they help us share. Thelma's real. It's a real, you know, real family that started the business. It's still handmade out of Des Moines, Iowa story and taste. The birds are getting the taste. That is kind of how we've been immediately activating in new markets and then longer term it's just that solid mix following our recipes for success but things we can do with brand mobile and then that longer term retail media strategy.
Emily Steele (20:09)
Yeah, so retail media for anyone who is like entering a new retailer. I don't know. How does that, what do you get to take advantage of? What are the things that are offered within like the Myers of the world for you to take advantage of and improve product movement?
Nola Morris (20:27)
Yeah, yeah, yes.
Yeah. whoo. Everything. Yeah. so usually, you know, there's a decks can read the decks I receive that, you know, walk through retail media programs are anywhere from like 10 slides to 60 slides. And you, you name a tactic it's in there. So there's onsite and offsite marketing, right? So we are marketing to the consumers actually in the store. And we, I would say, you know, with our capacity and our size, we usually focus on onsite. So we know that only 15 ish percent of customers are actually buying their groceries online. That's different than a lot of other industries. And so when you're a new brand, entering a market for the first time, a new customer is only going to see you and make that purchase while they're actually physically in the store buying something else, especially a frozen product. It turns out ice cream melts. It's a bummer. It's a bummer. It's a bummer. So they're going to make that decision in store. And so most of our tactics immediately fall under the on-site marketing realm. So it might literally be, an aisle blade where there's a sign in the aisle that talks about Thelma's and indicates placement. Thelma's is here, in store monitors, in grocery stores, just anything that we can do to physically reach the customer while they're physically in that store. So retail media programs span across all digital tactics. You can even work with your retail partners to execute offsite marketing, search, paid search, SEO, all of that. But we focus on that on -site marketing.
Emily Steele (22:41)
It doesn't make sense like category right? You don't necessarily you're walking by the ice cream you're like, I didn't know I wanted ice cream today but my gosh, my kid would love it. What am I gonna pick? Right? Like that seems like I that'd be my buying behavior at least like I know what I need staples I need at the store. And then everything else is like, hmm, what are their treats, you know?
Nola Morris (23:01)
Exactly, because we love it when we hear that we are on the everyday go-to grocery list. That's a goal, obviously, but we are a premium. We're a premium treat, right? So you're actually probably going to grab us when we're the right price, when we're in the right spot, and when you know that we're there. Now, if you can get the taste and the story in there, that's our recipe for success. That's like the perfect scenario.
Nola Morris (23:28)
But that's when you're going to make that decision, right? Like that looks fun. That looks authentic. It's the right price. I haven't seen it here before. Puts in basket. And then it's all about repeating that behavior. But you're right. It's probably not when you're intentionally online picking your bananas, milk, eggs that you're frantically doing, you know, your curbside pickup for. It's when you're strolling.
Emily Steele (23:36)
Yeah, yep. Mm hmm. gosh, I have just become, I don't know if this is a trend that I've just like latched onto because of whatever is influencing me on Instagram these days, but I have become like a grocery store girly. Like I like get me into a grocery store and I'm gonna spend like an hour there like looking at things and like trying to like learn about brands and I don't think and I it might be a product of being a mom of two very young kids and I feel like they're kind of like getting older maybe I have more time like today things like there are really cool brands that are emerging and like really interesting things to eat and discover now and so I go to the grocery store and I have such a like learning like curious mindset of like, here's like the yogurt, like I want to understand like, I think I saw featured, you know, by this creator, whatever. And it does like does something in my mind and gets me really curious. So I definitely resonate with all what you're saying for sure.
Nola Morris (24:34)
Yes. Thank you for being our focus group of one in this moment, because that's real. You're not alone, Emily. You're not alone. I think we know that a lot of consumers are doing that. Now, do they do it for enjoyment and do they do it for multiple hours? We don't know, but they are experiencing new brands. I think every buyer, there are different generational segments that are doing that, and they're saying, where am I putting my dollar?
Emily Steele (24:51)
Nola Morris (25:11)
what brand am I actually giving my money to? Whether it could be sustainability, it could be ingredients, it could be I wanna know that it came from an authentic story, it could be a combination of those things. So they're standing in the aisle considering those things and making their purchase based on those. And so if your brand's not there and if those things aren't really true for them, they're not gonna grab your product. And some of those things I shared are kind of like baseline marketing concepts, but really, that really is in grocery, that's what it is. They're in the, you got to catch them while they're in the aisle. And you're immediately the second they put your product in your mouth, that's when you're building trust and creating that second purchase. And that's when all of those other tactics start mattering. And so internally, we actually segment our retailers depending on how long we've been on shelf with those retailers. So we have new retailers. So that's our establishing segment. And then we have the maintaining and growing and we treat all of those retailer, we don't treat the retailers differently. We execute our strategies differently based on, okay, we're reaching a bunch of Emily's. They've never seen us before. Emily is going to stand there and we need to make sure we reach her because we haven't been on her shelf before. And then there's the Emily's that she buys us when we're the right price, when there's room in the budget, when there's room in the cart. And you're familiar with our brand. And so we'll reach you in different ways. And that's when some of those external offsite digital tactics come in play, retargeting all of that. And then, you know, the growing retailers that we're in, where we've been around for a long time, we're familiar on shelf, we're feeling good about our placement. That's when kind of that that's like goal state where the mix is alive and all everything's at play.
Emily Steele (26:58)
Yeah, so fun. So do you find that you put more emphasis on focusing on geography or retailers or more of like, because you're in 6,000 locations, is that what you said? Like you're more focused on like a national brand players. It's such a mix at this point because you've been doing this now for over a decade.
Nola Morris (27:11)
You know, I think that forever might be a strong word, but I think we'll always be balancing that mix. But part of that is by choice for us because we want to maintain that local feel. I don't know if local is necessarily always the word for us, but that authentic feel. But we also have to portray, we have to make sure that nationally consumers trust us.
Nola Morris (27:47)
we want them to feel confident in putting our product in their freezer and feeding it to their families. And so, you know, but we will never act like a giant national brand, until it makes sense to do so. And I think even then we'll still hold true. You will still find me at the Iowa state fair selling ice cream sandwiches. Cause it's just such a fun time. Like I want to do that til the day I die.
Emily Steele (28:16)
you just did a really like unique brand activation to and I don't think you will probably do these often right is kind of what you're saying with the bridal shop opening but it was like perfect way to meet you first and foremost. Nola's walking around with this like literally like a tin purse with what did it have dry ice in it.
Nola Morris (28:34)
It was my grandpa's vintage lunchbox that he actually used that somehow was in pristine condition. Yes, a actual lunchbox with dry ice.
Emily Steele (28:39)
seriously. And you have like six to seven ice cream sandwiches in there and of all different flavors. It was incredible. And you just like come up and you open your little this lunchbox and there they are but like that to me was like, my gosh, like at a local level nailed it right like the perfect collaboration. And I imagine like can't scale those efforts but i just had i just thought that was like such a brand moment for me with Thelmas and i was so excited to at least mention it today
Nola Morris (29:11)
Well, I'm so glad you did. And honestly, that's a perfect example of we always come from a place of yes, right? Because we love our community. And in that case, shout out to the girls at Kalon because they're part of revitalization of a certain area of our community that is being revitalized. And it's so exciting. And we love that. And we want to be part of celebrating that. And we came from a place of yes with that. Now, totally not scalable.
Totally not something you'll see us doing in other markets that I can't get to, but are we gonna do that to celebrate that in our own community? Absolutely, because that will always be part of who we are and part of how we connect with customers. And that was such a fun thing, and it was lovely to accidentally meet you in person that day.
Emily Steele (29:57)
surrounded by beautiful gowns. I'm like, my gosh, don't touch any of them. Like, be careful. I mostly still have the mindset of having like a toddler around me all the time. Only don't touch anything.
Nola Morris (30:00)
My gosh, yes, and I'm carrying ice cream. I'm like, don't spill.
Emily Steele (30:11)
be very, very careful. I love it. Yes. So that was a really unique activation. I just wanted to call out but okay, so it's almost like two years, five years from now, like any big vision beyond like, is it mostly like retail expansion, location expansion, like getting more product in people's hands? Like, what do you see?
Nola Morris (30:18)
Yeah. Yes to all of that, but also authentically. So we use the phrase low and slow like barbecue. It doesn't mean that we're doing things slowly. We are moving rapidly, but we take growth seriously. We take, we consider growth. We don't just grow for the sake of growing. We want to make sure we're reaching customers that are going to respond well to our brand where our category is performing well where our story will resonate. So it's authentic growth. We have to end growth never at the sake of not being able to tell our story or not being able to put an authentic product on shelf. But yeah, we are focused on staying sticky in the new retailers that we've been so lucky to be on shelf with this year. I keep mentioning Meijer. That's a great one. Has a great footprint in the Midwest and beyond. It's been you know, we've only been on shelf for a couple of months. So in that example, yeah, it's great. But, you know, you're not on shelf forever. It's you have to work to stay on shelf and make sure that the customer is still know you're there and that they're still putting you in their basket. So we want to stay sticky. We don't take growth lightly. We want to stay sticky in those new retailers that said yes to Thelma's. And of course we will always be seeking new retailers in new markets. There are.
Nola Morris (31:55)
Turns out there's only so many grocery store chains in the US. And so, once there's complete Thelma's domination, we'll be good to go. But even then, you have to nurture the relationships and make sure that customers know you're still real people and maintain the relationships with the retailers. But I will say, I have to give a shout out to our four packs that we did. Our entire story has been grounded in our individual six ounce single serve ice cream sandwich.
Emily Steele (31:59)
Yeah. Yeah.
Nola Morris (32:25)
That is who Thelma's is, but we know that a lot of consumers are looking for a multi -pack in your example. And you said you had two kids. If you're coming home with one ice cream sandwich, you better eat that in the car before you get home. You also need a box to bring home to your family so they don't know you had your own snack in the car. Yeah, so we launched our four pack because we know customers are looking for a little bit smaller of a sandwich with a few in a box that fits in their freezer. So we launched that this year, which is exciting. And we don't.
Nola Morris (32:55)
We don't take launching new products lately either. That was a very thought through around what the consumer actually wants, what price point it should be, how that changes our production process. So we are going to be focused on our four packs because we know that our single serve certainly helps us gain trial in a new market because it's a single sandwich someone can buy in different locations. A single serve is better suited for those locations, but the four pack is something you're more familiar with buying in your grocery store, you see a box of a novelty and you grab it. And so we're focused on getting those to be really sticky alongside our other sandwiches. And just being really intentional about our product assortment and that growth and our actual physical growth in retailers.
Emily Steele (33:40)
So exciting. I love I've learned so much about this space. Thank you.
Nola Morris (33:42)
Yeah, yes, I mean, we could talk forever. I can already tell we should do part two and 10 of this. This is great, because I feel like I'm just on the tip of the iceberg. There's so many other things about our brand that we could share. We have a mystery flavor coming. Maybe I should give her a shout out before. Yes, if you are in the Midwest, again, it's a great example, actually. We do.
Emily Steele (34:02)
when is this happening?
Nola Morris (34:09)
we put a lot of love into our local activation still. And we kind of use our Midwest customers as our sounding boards and feedback folks for what we're going to do longer term. And so instead of us just launching a new flavor and pitching it to retailers to get a spot on shelf, we're going to actually launch it as our mystery flavor for our summer events.
Emily Steele (34:23)
Okay, how does one go about deciding the mystery? Like, how do you do this? Is it too mystery you can't even tell me?
Nola Morris (34:37)
I, you know what, I will say everyone heard it here first that that's even a thing on this podcast, on your podcast. So I haven't even really, we haven't really even talked about it publicly that we're doing a mystery flavor. So that's fun, but we actually follow our regular flavor development process, our regular product development process. But instead of just saying, Hey, this is our new flavor. We're actually going to get customer feedback first and see if the flavor that we think it should shine through as is the actual flavor it shines through as for you. And so we will be launching that at a few of our summer events in the Midwest. So if you're in the Midwest, for sure the state fairs. Iowa State Fair, Minnesota State Fair, maybe we're hoping for Hinterland as well. We should be sharing that as well. So yeah, if you want to experience the Thelma's Mystery, find us this summer. Love feedback before we actually give the final name to this labor and put it on shelf.
Emily Steele (35:39)
How fun is that? I love like a secret exclusive offer. Like nothing gets me more excited than being like, I can try it before anyone else. Like just speak to that early adopter me. Thank you.
Nola Morris (35:48)
Yeah. Okay, well, I expect to see you first in line when we are live.
Emily Steele (35:53)
Yep. Doors open, we'll be there. I'll bring my kids. It'll be a cool thing. I love it. Well, thank you for spending time with me this afternoon and just sharing the story of Thelma's and really how you've approached growth at the local level to scaling. I think it's so you really shared some very tangible things you've done that I think will really resonate with people who are exploring this maybe for the first time or really trying to double click on their local marketing strategies. So thank you, Nola, for being on the podcast today.
Nola Morris (35:57)
Great.
Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it. Can't wait for next time.
Emily Steele (36:24)
Yes.
