How Green Bay’s Nutorious went from incubator start-up to award winner in the fancy snacks business

Story by John R. Ingrisano

This past summer, Green Bay-based Nutorious co-presidents Carrie Liebhauser and Jennifer Gille walked up the red carpet at the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade show in Chicago to accept the top honor for their Nut Confections’ Cranberry Orango Tango, which was named the Outstanding Snack in the 2010 sofi Awards (short for Specialty Outstanding Food Innovation). 

Not bad for two women who were borderline strangers five years ago, who had no food industry experience, and who nonetheless decided to launch a business with three snack nut recipes, a belief in their products and a willingness to work hard. Oh, and they’re making money, too. From $15,000 in sales as a part-time venture in 2005, they are on track to gross more than $800,000 in sales for 2010. Here’s how they did it.

Chance beginnings

Liebhauser and Gille first connected while putting together a charity auction in 2004 and afterwards decided to do something together. Armed with an old family recipe, they set out to become the next Mrs. Fields, explains Liebhauser.

Still, don’t get the impression they were a couple of golly-gee kids. Liebhauser is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and spent years in banking, at one point serving as a district manager over 15 branches, and also managing a car dealership. Gille has a Masters’ degree in social work. 

They started out slowly, taking advantage of the facilities at Algoma’s Farm Market Kitchen incubator and doing their market testing in the teachers’ lounges at their children’s schools. They initially sold their products in three Door County outlets – Door County Gourmet, Main Street Market and Seaquest Orchards. 

Things took off from there, growing steadily each year. From $15,000 in business in 2005, sales grew to $265,000 in 2009, and then exploded, tripling to $800,000 in 2010. “We bought over 100,000 pounds of nuts this year,” says Liebhauser. 

When they first started, the two partners used their own money to finance the business. That meant that their marketing plan had to be focused and cost effective. “We had a vision that we wanted to grow the product as much as we could,” says Liebhauser. “Our business plan has evolved. We review and revise and update it every six months or so.” The marketing strategy calls for participating in two fancy food shows a year and showcasing their products on QVC. Before each show, explains Liebhauser, we ask, “‘What’s our goal?’ for the show. Then afterwards, we ask if we accomplished it.” 

Their growth has been propelled by smart marketing and quality clients. In addition to the sales network QVC, they now have their products in a number of retail outlets, including the specialty chain Le Gourmet Shop, T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, and Whole Foods in Chicago. This year they received a Sam’s Club order for 42,000 units. 

Today they distribute nationally through a network of independent brokers who sell to retailers and distributors. “We just started selling internationally in 2009,” says Liebhauser, and they now have products in Canada, Japan, Hong Kong, the Bahamas and Dubai.

The big question: How?

The world is full of start-ups that go from zero to nowhere in decades. How did Carrie Liebhauser and Jennifer Gille take Nutorious to the top in just five years? Among the factors that have benefited Nutorious’s growth are: 
  
  

1. A quality product and faith in that product. The original product came from Liebhauser’s family recipe that people raved about. “Most nut products on the market are a glazed nut or roasted nut. Ours has a light meringue coating that keeps it crunchy. Plus, we both have a lot of faith in the product. We’re very passionate about it,” says Liebhauser.
  

2. A solid brand and attractive packaging. Their original packaging was very basic. Several years ago, recognizing that eye appeal is important when competing products are sitting side by side on a store shelf, they contacted an agency and invested in a rebranding process. “We wanted a clean look,” says Carrie, “something that reflected our all-natural ingredients, something to make the product pop when on the shelf.” 
  

3. A solid business plan. Nutorious’s success did not happen by chance. It was part of a plan from the start, a plan that had to be updated and revised to keep pace with their growth. “We stick to it and revise it, test it and question it,” says Liebhauser. 
  

4. Hard work. The two partners both put in long hours, perhaps 60 or more a week. However, it is “kind of a 24/7 work week,” says Liebhauser, “because you’re never not working. I’ll take my son to tennis and take my laptop with me and work during tennis. I don’t necessarily have to be in the office, but I always have work with me.”
  

5. Quality employees and a family-friendly management approach. Nutorious has 10 part-time employees. Family members themselves, Liebhauser and Gille do their best to maintain flexible scheduling. “We communicate and tell what production needs to be done,” says Liebhauser. “The employees work it out and let us know who is available. Family always comes first. Because we are flexible with them, they are flexible with us. That is the key.”

Final advice

When Liebhauser and Gille launched Nutorious, they did their homework, asked lots of questions and invested in research. “Make sure you plan,” says Liebhauser. “Know the market. Surround yourself with people who can be resources, and then be willing to listen to them.

“And when it comes to money needs, over plan,” she stresses. “If you think you know how much you need, then double or triple it. That’s what you’ll need. Oh, and work hard. Running a business is much harder than anything else. You have to work hard and like what you’re doing.”

Carrie Liebhauser and Jennifer Gille set out five years ago to become the next Mrs. Fields, the gourmet cookie entrepreneur. They are well on their way and, in all likelihood, in a few years some other start-up entrepreneurs with a dream will decide that they want to become the next Nutorious.

John Ingrisano is a Wisconsin-based business journalist, marketing strategist and public speaker. If you would like John to review your company’s needs or do a presentation for your business group, contact him at john@thefreestyleentrepreneur.com. Or call (920) 559-3722.