Intro: [00:00:01] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in South Florida. It’s time for South Florida Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:14] Lee Kantor here another episode of South Florida Business Radio, and this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, Diaz Trade Law, your customs expert today on South Florida Business Radio, we have Mandy Aran and he is with Insight Food Group. Welcome.

Mandy Aran: [00:00:33] Thanks, Lee. Thanks for having me on the show.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:35] Well, I’m excited to get caught up with you. But for the folks who don’t know, tell us a little bit about Insight Food Group, how you serving folks?

Mandy Aran: [00:00:42] Well, you know, it’s funny because. 15, 16 months ago, I made the decision of going out into the business world on my own and use those years of expertise that I have in the food and beverage industry and kind of offer that specialized service to customers. So what we do, it’s on really three different fronts if we think about it. Number one is I buy and sell broker raw material to suppliers. We further manufacture it. I also represent brands in the marketplace as far as presenting to supermarket chains, wholesalers, distributors, etcetera. And then there’s the consulting piece where I help companies that need a little help on whether it’s general business consulting, management, consulting or, you know, how do I get my international item into the US? What do I need to know and how do I get there? And those are kind of the services that I’ve been offering for the last 15.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:45] So now what are some of the learnings of having been in business now for these 15 months? Was it as easy as you thought? Was it as simple as putting your shingle out? And then, you know, you build it and they will come? What have you learned?

Mandy Aran: [00:01:58] Well, you know, it’s been a humbling time, to say the least. First of all, happy birthday to Inside Food Group. We are officially a year old now after many months of trials and tribulations. But, you know, the first year of operation has been kind of humbling and inspiring at the same time. You know, you start with a vision and work to execute that vision, and then the business starts to grow and evolve. And it’s nothing like you plan for, okay? That’s also the beauty of being an entrepreneur As your presence in the marketplace starts to expand, you make those informed decisions and you might end up in a different direction than you would plan. But that’s part of the learnings and the experience of year one, right? And I wouldn’t want it any other way. There’s been a lot of support from family and friends, colleagues and most importantly to my wife who’s put up with me the last 31 years that I’ve had her unwavering support. So it’s a team effort on the home front. It’s a team effort with your relationships and how you bring them opportunities that since you have that relationship, you’ve cut down that time cycle of trying to introduce an item or a product or a service because you’ve targeted them specifically and they trust you to bring them only items or opportunities that work in their realm.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:19] Well, you mentioned that you have been doing this for a minute. It’s not like you had this idea one day and said, Hey, let me start offering this to people. So you had a network already. How important was that network in terms of getting feedback from them in terms of, you know, hey, this is a great idea. I’ll think of you the next time. And for them to open the doors and kind of advocate for you and say, Hey, I got a guy that knows how to do this. Has that been paying off for you?

Mandy Aran: [00:03:51] It happens every day. Okay. I have got a short list of folks that I call colleagues. Many of them are friends. I mean, I’ve been in the business for over 40 years, and I can tell you 5 or 6 people that I still have as business partners and business opportunity folks that are also my friend. So they’re going to give you not only the good and the bad, but the ugly. They’ll tell you, listen, if you do it this way, things might be a little better for you or think about this. So when you talk about learnings and experience, that’s where you get a lot of your learnings and experience from those relationships that you’ve built up over the years. And it doesn’t make it any easier. But at the end of the day, if it comes to a tie and it’s you and somebody else, seven out of ten times you’ll come out winning. You’re not going to win every time, but you have a leg up because of those relationships and that they know the way you do business is the right way to do business. There’s a lot of folks out there that, you know, don’t don’t preach it. I preach it and I live it.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:09] And that’s great advice for other people that are looking to go out on their own. It isn’t like a sign of weakness to ask the people, you know, for help and and to just say, hey, I’m out here doing this. You know, think of me next time you have that need because you already know me. I might have been somewhere else, but I’m the same person where I’m at today. 100%. 100%. Now, a kind of a corollary to that is listening to your clients, are you finding that the people that you are doing business with, when you really kind of immerse yourself into their business and helping them be successful, that that also bubbles up opportunities that maybe neither one of you had thought of initially.

Mandy Aran: [00:05:56] 100% agree with you on that one as well. You know, I remember having a simple breakfast meeting with a dear friend of mine who recommended that I reach out to a gentleman at the Latin American Chamber of Commerce here in South Florida called Carmichael. Now. They are a membership based organization. So I obviously became a member. But, you know, it’s not always being at the right place, at the right in the right time, but it’s also trying to give back to the folks in the community that you live in. Okay, So I’ve done a couple of workshops for them, both in English and Spanish because I am bilingual, you know, And that in turn led me to be a participant at a couple of trade shows as a presenter. Again, you’re giving your time, You’re giving your your expertise. Not only for the health of the organization, but in turn to help yourself. You know, there’s been plenty of opportunities where I’ve done some community outreach, gone to farmers markets, for example, where those start up brands start, you know, and get to know the folks and hear their passion about their business and their brand and what makes them a little bit different. That is eye opening When you get down into the grassroots of people that this is what they do all day, every day. It’s a little humbling when you can help them, when you can take them to the next step, when you can get them slotted into a small store opportunity where only, you know, the organization may only have 4 or 5 stores, but to them that leap into retail, into that marketplace is a tremendous opportunity. So, yes, to your point, there are learnings that come from all of this, but a lot of it comes from putting yourself out there, giving your time to others and helping them as much as you can.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:54] Now, as an entrepreneur now, and I’m assuming that a lot of your business is you, right? It relies on you to acquire the business and a lot of times it relies on you to execute the business. How do you kind of balance that, you know, your daily or or weekly workflow in terms of how much how often are you wearing that business development hat and how often are you wearing that consultant? Do the work hat.

Mandy Aran: [00:08:26] Well, thank God there’s 24 hours in a day. Lee You know, the most important thing for my organization, for Inside Food Group is to generate revenue, period. It’s if we don’t generate revenue, none of this helps. So I tend to spend and block hours of the day to do nothing else. But. Obviously, if there’s a, you know, a dumpster fire somewhere, you go and you solve it and you fix it. But I organize my day by blocking hours of time to dedicate my entire focus to that particular task. If it’s business development, then that’s what it is. If I am engaging with customers and following up on emails and phone calls, then that’s what I do. It’s getting yourself into a routine that you make, the time that you need to make the time some days or more, some days or less. There are no weekends and there are no holidays. You work and I have found that that recipe so far has worked well for my customers, my prospective customers, and for my work life balance. Okay. You make the time. You do what you need to do when it needs to be done and good things will come in the long run.

Lee Kantor: [00:09:44] Now, when anybody is starting any venture, it’s very tempting to just take business from wherever it it kind of bubbles up. Have you gotten to the point where you feel confident that you know that ideal client for yourself, the one that you wish you could clone, The one that if you had more of them, you could really serve the heck out of them. And that becomes the sweet spot for your business. Is there an ideal client persona for you?

Mandy Aran: [00:10:13] Well, the biggest thing that I’ve seen over time is a lot of folks think that they’re ready to take that leap. Okay. Of having someone represent their brand or having someone have someone help them generate all the necessary paperwork to come into the country. And more chances that than not, you find that those folks are just not quite ready. Because once you start peeling that onion and looking at the different things that the organization has done and that the organization needs to do, and you bring this to life to them, they start thinking about, Oh, you mean I needed to do this before I manufactured all that product? Yes, sir, you do. And that’s why it’s important to count on a consultant like myself that knows those steps in the progress and knows that step in the systems so that when you say you’re ready, you’re ready. There’s no worse feeling than, you know, going through the whole rigorous process of getting your brand approved and having it ready to go. And then you find something else over here on the side that you didn’t think about or you should have thought about and you weren’t ready. So part of that consultancy piece is make sure your customers are ready to go to market with everything, full guns blazing.

Mandy Aran: [00:11:42] You’re ready to go. And that in turn generates. The interest coming from the retailers when you tell them, listen, I’m licensed, here’s my distribution point. This is my marketing budget. This is how we plan to strategically place our products in your store. And here is an ad calendar, for example, of what our thoughts in because the leading presence in this marketplace, you’ve got to support your brand and there’s no backup. Yes, the brand is wonderful. The product is what you say it is. The retailer sees value and what you’re bringing to them, but there isn’t a plan behind it. The product just isn’t going to sell itself on the shelf. You have to create the excitement. And that’s what inside food groups and the other companies that I use to assist me in my business, you know, add that level of seriousness and integrity. You have to have all your ducks in a row. Everything has to be pristine because as I mentioned the last time on the show, you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression. And that first impression is critical.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:54] Now, is your ideal or an an ideal client fit for you, somebody that’s here in America that wants to expand in America? Or would it be somebody in another country that’s trying to get into America and then expand into America?

Mandy Aran: [00:13:12] It’s a little bit of both, Lee. There are folks that are have a presence in other states, for example, in Florida and are looking to break into the Florida market. Then that’s one opportunity. The second opportunity, obviously, is the international customers. Now, those take a little bit more time because there’s regulations that have to be met in labeling requirements. And, you know, something as simple as a UPC code. A lot of folks don’t think about that. But if you don’t have a UPC code, you can’t come to this country because there’s no way to distinguish what categories are coming in. So it’s a little bit of both. I’d like to call it a little piece of humble pie, for lack of a better term, where you got a little bit of a mix. You’re not, you know, depending on one category of business to run the entire business. So it’s good to have a nice mix of both and both opportunities exist and are being carried on every day.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:12] So what is happening in your prospective client’s business right now, where they should be going? You know what? I got a call, Mandy, at Insight Food Group. I think they can really help me. What is the challenge that they’re facing? What are the things that are keeping that person up at night when in terms of growing their business where they’re at today?

Mandy Aran: [00:14:38] Well, a lot of it has to do with with prior planning, right? The retail sector in the US is very strategic. It’s planned out your typical life cycle of entering a product into the US and getting it on the shelf is somewhere between 12 and 18 months. And that’s just the reality of the process, right? By the time you find that retailer that you’re interested in pursuing because it’s a geographical winner or whether it’s close to a port or something like that, you have to have somebody in place that really knows how to manage that process, that knows the process on the back end, so that when you’re guiding your customer, you’re giving them 100% solid information. Now, some customers insist on going another way. My job as a consultant is not to tell them what they want to hear, but tell them the realities. And that’s where folks learn to like you. That’s where folks learn to respect your opinion. And it’s a matter of guiding them in the right direction. Do I bring on every customer that I deal with? I wish. But that’s not the reality of this world. The reality is you’ve got to give them a reason to like you and seriousness, your experience in the marketplace. Anyone that comes in that wants to know what I do and how I do, the first thing I like to do is give them a reference to an existing customer. Here’s a number, here’s a name. Call them up and talk to him about what I’ve done for them. And I have that relationship with my customers where they’re excited to tell two people about me.

Lee Kantor: [00:16:24] Now, you mentioned going to these farmers markets and seeing all these people that are just out there taking a shot and grinding a lot of them. And a lot of times this is their first time, you know, they might have a day job and this is just a passion for them. They want to, you know, put it out there and see what the public thinks. Is there any advice for that person that is aspiring a food and beverage entrepreneur that you can share that can help them maybe get to a new level? You know what, Some of that low hanging fruit that these folks that you see that if they would just do a little more of this, maybe that would help them a lot.

Mandy Aran: [00:17:05] Well, the one thing I can tell you is when I go into these farmers markets and I talk to these startups or entrepreneurs, however we call them, I don’t come in there with a standard corporate grade. Okay? Many of them are working hand to fist, hand to mouth on keeping their business alive and keeping their dreams alive. So. I do. So I’m not going to say it’s free, but I do so at a much reduced cost so that they can take the expertise that I have and the experiences that I have with these organizations and elevate it a little bit. At the end of the day, they have to be committed to it. And yes, it’s going to require a little bit of an investment, but much less than if it were a standard organization coming in from an international organization just because of the level of work. Number one. Number two. You get to feel their passion. A lot of what we do when we’re out there selling is we tell a story. We tell a story about how that organization is, how it started. What’s driving them to get to where they are. And there is no better feeling than going to one of these markets on the weekend, talking to someone engaging and then two, three, 4 or 5 months later, you’ve got product on the shelf for them. That can be the next piece of sliced bread that America wants to buy. And you never know. And I want to give them that opportunity to succeed and be that Amazon of product of the week or what have you. That’s what gets me going. That’s what wakes me up every day saying, let’s make a difference for them. And I feel that with my expertise and the folks I know and the relationships I’ve built, I can give them that shot. And when this shot hit, the sky is the limit for them. And then in turn, I’m sure things will work out nicely for me as well.

Lee Kantor: [00:19:10] Well, mainly if somebody wants to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you. What is the website? What is the coordinates to get a hold of you?

Mandy Aran: [00:19:21] Okay. My coordinates are w w w dot insight food group.com. There’s a button down the bottom that says to link up or let’s chat with me or hello insight food group and I can take it from there.

Lee Kantor: [00:19:39] Well thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Mandy Aran: [00:19:46] Lee, I thank you for the opportunity and hopefully I’ll get back on the grid next year and give you an update on year number two.

Lee Kantor: [00:19:53] Sounds good. All right. This is Lee Kantor. We will see you all next time on South Florida Business Radio.