The Startup CPG Podcast

Sarah Hartman
The first intern that we ever have is a young woman named Gwen. P.S. She's in the kitchen right now. She's an employee, full employee, and an operations associate. But Gwen has a problem with texture, and so she asked, you know, can we have just like a plain milk chocolate flavor, because everything else has, you know, salty, sweet, crunchy stuff on top. And I said, sure, but you're gonna make it. And so after like four rounds of testing, our milk chocolate flavor is exactly what it is now. And it's pretty special to have, you know, Gwen and the other members of our team, you know, visit the grocery store and go to the freezer and say, I made that.

00:53
Caitlin Bricker
Hey, everybody, this is Caitlin Bricker, editor at Startup cpg. We are back with another found feature. Looking for a frozen dessert that's both delicious and doing good in the world. Well, we might have found your new favorite. Today we're talking with Sarah Hartman, founder of Ve Sucre. With their zero waste production model, inclusive hiring practices and clean label plant de creme products, they're proving that values and growth can go hand in hand. From a kitchen concept in rural upstate New York to 450 plus strike doors across nine states, Sarah's journey shows how purpose driven brands can scale without losing their soul. We'll dive into everything from neurodiversity and manufacturing to building the makery as a separate entity supporting other small food brands.

01:42
Caitlin Bricker
Plus, this is your sign to take a page from Sarah's book, find out how the startup CPG community helped open the door. Okay. More like hundreds of retail doors and giving her brand a big break into retail. I left this conversation with Sarah feeling inspired and I hope you do too. Enjoy. Hey everybody. Welcome back to the Startup CPG podcast. I'm Caitlin and today I'm here with Sarah Hartman, founder of Vesucre. Sarah, welcome to the show.

02:16
Sarah Hartman
Thanks, Caitlin. Great to be here. Thanks for asking me.

02:19
Caitlin Bricker
Oh, I am so happy to have you here. The pleasure is all mine. So before we get into everything, I'd love for you to introduce Vesecre to our listeners. For anyone not familiar with your brand, can you tell us what it is?

02:32
Sarah Hartman
I certainly can. The Sucre, which side note, is a made up French word that means vegan sweets, is a woman owned zero waste frozen and refrigerated dessert company based in upstate New York in a place called Oneonta. We're about three hours north of New York City. We make clean and creamy desserts that are crafted by a neurodiverse workforce and we're currently scaling into 450 stores in nine states.

03:07
Caitlin Bricker
I have so many questions, and I'm sorry if I totally butchered the pronunciation of that. It's right.

03:14
Sarah Hartman
There will not be a test. The Sucre. So why don't I just tell you about that? So when I met with our trademark lawyer, this was early on, the name of our brand was Soleil and Sucre. So in French, that's salty and sweet, because that's the main flavor profile. And let's face it, like, that's the best taste combination in the whole wide world. So I learned an invaluable lesson in that meeting, that in the US when you trademark something, it doesn't matter what language it's in. It's the English translation that gets trademarked. And of course, salty and sweet is in use in a gajillion places. So she said, just make up a word, and that's the easiest way to get it through trademarking. And so went around and around and settled on vesucre, which to us means vegan sweets.

04:07
Caitlin Bricker
I have a confession to make that I have taken French classes for a decade, from middle school to high school, and then in college. I've always been so nervous to speak it because I've tried to lose my Boston accent, But speaking French with the Boston accent, it just doesn't really get me.

04:23
Sarah Hartman
I don't hear any Boston at all.

04:26
Caitlin Bricker
I love to hear that.

04:28
Sarah Hartman
Yeah, yeah. But it's. It's very funny because we'll be, you know, in stores or at events, and a French speaking person will come up and say, what is this word? This is not in the French language. What have you done? And, you know, then I explain it and they're like, oh, the accents are perfect. Keep going. Very well.

04:46
Caitlin Bricker
That is so cool. And I love the fact that you made your brand name up. I've heard of people making up their own last names when they get married. Instead of the husband taking the wife's name or the wife taking the husband's name, or partners taking each other's name, they just make up a last name. So I like that you've applied that same thing to your brand name. So I'd love to ask you what inspired you to start the Sucre? And how did you go from your kitchen concept to store shelves? I know that little piece of your background, but I love for you to share it with the audience.

05:19
Sarah Hartman
It's a super fun story, and I'm just, you know, at this stage feeling really grateful for the path that we've been on. Because it's moved fairly quickly. And I'll start by saying that I started eating a vegan diet, and I'm a foodie, and I could not find a frozen dessert that I really liked. For me, they were chalky or icy or pumped with refined sugar or gums or stabilizers. And so I challenged myself to create a formula that was super clean, didn't have refined sugar, was vegan, no soy, no gluten, and no dairy, but still provided this very rich, decadent, and special experience. And I truly was inspired. And here's a little French influence coming in here, but I was inspired by the very first taste of French ice cream that I had in Paris.

06:16
Sarah Hartman
Bertillon, if anyone has had that, is almost like a frozen custard. It's this incredible texture. So that's what I was shooting for. And I did develop the formula in my home kitchen. It is a pretty unique combination of oat, sesame, and date. And those three things together create this really rich, fabulous, I think, texture and taste experience. We call the product plant de creme. Early on, we tried calling it vegan ice cream. And, you know, several people pushed back and said, you know, this is not ice cream as known in the United States. You know, if. If I ordered this and this is what I would was served, I don't think that I would like it because it doesn't feel like ice cream to me. It's something special.

07:04
Sarah Hartman
So we describe plant de creme as a cross between French ice cream and a creme brulee. It's single serve in a cup, creamy and frozen on the bottom, crunchy on top for texture. And I, although I am a devoted foodie, and I have some very close friends who are food experts and stylists and chefs and instructors at culinary institutes, you know, so I'm really surrounded by this amazing circle of people who, especially in the beginning, gave amazing critical feedback and experience guidance. At the time, I was working in sports and nonprofit. I was helping to launch the US Blind soccer team with the Paralympics. And that job was just way too much travel for me, having moved from Brooklyn to upstate New York to care for my parents, who were in their mid-80s. Just, you know, way too much travel.

07:58
Sarah Hartman
And so I would say a critical moment for me in the process was calling a really good friend of mine, college undergraduate friend, who has had several exits from some pretty successful frozen natural food brands. So how lucky is that, right, that I have this great friend? I explained everything to him. And I explained, most importantly, besides this incredible, you know, taste and experience that we wanted to have an inclusive company that provided work opportunities for people who are neurodiverse, meaning that they have intellectual or developmental disabilities, and that we want it to be a zero waste operation. I can talk a little bit more about that. So Kirk said, I think you've got something.

08:43
Sarah Hartman
And when I was coming up, some major CPG brands mentored me and advised me, and it's my turn to pay it forward, and I'd like to be your advisor if you'll have me. And I was like, let's go, Mr. Miyagi. I'm your karate kid. And he's been a big part of the story to this day. We're still working closely and, you know, he's the one who trained me up and gave me my master spreadsheet on, you know, cogs and margins and all of it. It would not have gone as quickly without Kirk.

09:13
Caitlin Bricker
Shout out to Kirk. Sounds like he really did help wave a lot of magic wands for you as you were building the business. So I'm interested to hear you mentioned that you did get a lot of feedback that helped you build your brand. Does anything stand out specifically in your mind, was there one piece of feedback that really changed the game for you?

09:32
Sarah Hartman
I'll say that there were two experiences that made a huge difference. One, I have one of my foodie girlfriends, Ellen, works at the Culinary Institute in Austin. And so early on, we had not even launched yet. She had me down to the school. She and the chefs, we took everything apart, we put it back together, we tweaked, they gave process, feedback, we tried all kinds of stuff, and that was incredible. That got us on shelf. And from there, we received a scholarship from Cornell from their center of Excellence, and they do a food commercialization program called Food Spark. And we did that kind of late 2024. We were already on shelf in maybe about 50 retail locations. Really focused on building the brand at that point, and that was incredible.

10:31
Sarah Hartman
I would recommend anybody who's building a brand in New York state, and that is one of the requirements to do the program to apply. Hopefully you'll get a scholarship. It is end to end, a fantastic program. Plus, you get to work with their food scientists who are like rock stars. And in doing that program, we improved our process and we doubled our shelf life. So that was really amazing. And, you know, I would be remiss if I did not give a shout out to you all at startup CPG because it is just such an extraordinary resource. I can't wait to share the story about our launch at wakefern Food Corp. Which, you know, had its. Its the seeds were sown by startup CPG on this podcast. So super grateful for everything that you do for us.

11:21
Caitlin Bricker
I love hearing that. I think that's such a good testament to how important community is. As you're building a brand, I mean, shout out to all the entrepreneurs out there who are doing it solo and they don't have any help. But I really do think when you have more eyes and ears on your brand and you're open to receiving that feedback as you grow, magic really does happen. And you're a living proof of that. So that's really cool. How did you find the Cornell Foodspark program? And I know you're a graduate of it, and that's clearly shaped your journey. Tell us a little bit more about that.

11:54
Sarah Hartman
So I learned about Foodspark through my advisor at the sbdc. And that's, you know, something I would say to a startup entrepreneur if they haven't connected with their local SBDC Small Business Development, please do. They are a free, incredible resource. And my advisor Michelle has been there since the beginning and told me about the Foodspark program. So that's how we got in or, you know, that's how we got the application. Once you do this program, you're a part of Cornell's center of excellence, which means that they just keep opening doors for you and creating more connections and, you know, introductions. And one of the big gifts they gave us was a countertop in at the summer fancy food show last year in the debut. And it was a great show went to. You know, we had some major goals and we crushed them.

12:48
Sarah Hartman
But, you know, that's a huge gift. Cause it's really expensive to participate in those shows. And we made the very most of it. So again, highly recommend and I'm happy to make an intro. I would say that in a similar way that Kirk felt, my advisor felt like he should pay it forward. I'm starting to sit in the same place and we can talk about, you know, our program that we're launching here called the Makery, which not only helps visukre scale, but helps other small entrepreneurs bring their products to market.

13:22
Caitlin Bricker
Well, let's get into the Makery now and then I definitely want to come back. I want to talk to you about Wake Fern. I want to talk to you about zero Waste, and I want to talk to you about having a Neurodiverse staff. So first, let's talk about the Makery. Cool.

13:38
Sarah Hartman
So. Oh, I'll tell you about our kitchen. I'm going to be super honest with you, Caitlin and listeners. It's please, honestly, something that's important. Yeah, it's something that's really important to me and wanted to start this brand with some pretty serious values. Honesty being one of them, inclusivity being another innovation being key in what we do, and then also sustainability. So as we scale up, I think I mentioned that we're now in 450 plus stores, nine states. Much of that is due to the Wakefern Food Corp. I will tell that story in just a second. We're now in our third commercial kitchen. So when we started we're super gritty and we run lean and fast and so, you know, we borrowed space in somebody else's kitchen. We quickly outgrew that. We got our own kitchen in a building that houses a health food store.

14:35
Sarah Hartman
Outgrew that in less than a year. And were given this extraordinary opportunity to be in residence at the building that I'm in now. It's called the Springbrook Adult Day Hab facility in Oneonta and it serves adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities. So they come here for the day. And it has this massive commercial kitchen because it's a former school. So it has all of our freezers here, port, plenty of room, super cool kitchen, great, you know, dishwasher, all of it. And it's been amazing to be here because many of their participants actually work in our kitchens. So I'll just share that. From the beginning we wanted to employ a neurodiverse workforce. Oneonta where we are based, happens to be home to three major organizations who serve those folks. So Springbrook where we're in residence, the Arcot, Sego and Pathfinder Village.

15:33
Sarah Hartman
And they all have state supported employment programs where person who. What is usually the case with us is that somebody has some interest in food or working in a kitchen and they have a job coach and they come and they work a part time shift. Sometimes they start as an intern depending on the program that they're in with New York State. And the way that we work with our participants is it takes a little time in the beginning to figure out what they like to do and what they're good at. So you know, I like to say our folks aren't just washing the dishes and cleaning the floors. They are developing their own flavors of plant de creme. They are dipping our protein truffles into the vegan chocolate and topping them with the pink sea salt.

16:20
Sarah Hartman
They are making the Oat milk, which is the main ingredient that goes into our products, our plant de creme into and I don't think it's off base to say that the joy that we all experience in the kitchen shows up in our products. It's a really incredibly joyful place. So here we are now exploding out of our Springbrook kitchen and the Makery. The URL is themakeryoneonta.com Oneonta is spelled O N E O N T A. The makery is our solution for scaling up Vesucre but also supporting other brands who would. There's basically five different pieces of this project. Number one, we're going to co manufacture. So all the equipment that we're investing in for ourselves we're extending to other people and we already have a waiting list of clients which is super exciting. In coman I'm not saying anything that people don't know.

17:20
Sarah Hartman
It's number one, very hard to find a frozen co manufacturer. Number two, hard to find someone with low minimums and you know, those high minimum major commands can really can be hard when you're a startup. So we want to help bring more people to market. Two, we have commissary kitchens. So locally there are no licensed commissary kitchens so we want to be able to provide that locally. But then also to the brands who are working with us, they can rent kitchen space to develop product tests, etc. Three, there's a retail shop where products that are being made at the makery are sold. Then there's brand incubation and consulting services and here's where it gets kind of cool. So we have some stakeholders who are involved with the project, of course, Springbrook, the arcot, Sego, Pathfinder, all providing folks for supported employment opportunities.

18:16
Sarah Hartman
So we're going to have more people with disabilities have, you know, more job opportunities. But then we have some academic institutions that are involved. SUNY Oneonta, that State University of New York, SUNY Delhi, SUNY Cobleskill, Hartwick College and Cornell have all jumped on board. They'll be providing apprentices, interns. So there's a super like path to employment for people who want to work in food manufacturing or they want to, you know, start up their own brands, et cetera. We're really excited to be able to provide that. And the fifth piece of it is that we then also provide certifications through those academic programs, whether it's ServSafe or you know, manufacturing certifications, that kind of thing. And I guess I can go ahead and say this I've shared it, you know, shared it a lot at fancy Food, and I don't think that John would mind.

19:08
Sarah Hartman
I'm speaking of John Lawson, who's the local forager for the Northeast at Whole Foods. And it just so happens that John has a home that's about 20 minutes from here. And so it's been really fun when he comes upstate, you know, to get to know him. And he recently visited our kitchen here, and among other things, he expressed his interest to be part of the makery. So he will be on the advisory board. And I think it's a pretty unique opportunity that, you know, you're bringing a new brand to the shelf and you have someone, you know, with really incredible credentials like John, to guide you through that process. So this food hub, we believe that we have secured a building. We're really excited about the location. It is in Oneonta. This is a rural two college town, I think I mentioned.

19:55
Sarah Hartman
It's about three hours from New York City, which is great because there's proximity to the Albany capital region and to central New York, also the Hudson Valley and the Catskills. And we're all about food and innovation.

20:08
Caitlin Bricker
Wow, that is a lot. So many good things. I. I just. I can't believe how much you're accomplishing for your own brand. And now you're giving people opportunities for work, meaningful work that they can feel good about. And now you're also helping propel other brands to be in that same position that you are in right now and to have John Lawson on board. I think you're doing something right here, Sarah.

20:33
Sarah Hartman
Oh, thanks. It's an incredible convergence of people who are seriously invested in food especially. I mean, this is a beautiful part of the country in terms of our farms, our dairy, our produce. It's just. The sky's the limit, and we're really excited to get to work and provide more opportunities. And I did want touch on the zero waste thing, which I mentioned is, you know, early on was one of the most important pillars for Vesucre. So I mentioned that oat milk is the main ingredient in plant de creme. And our folks in the kitchen do a great job making it. Anybody who's made that kind of milk before knows that you have to strain it. And then there's this kind of leftover byproduct, and we turn that into other things.

21:22
Sarah Hartman
So, for example, behind me, I have this is the espresso brownie flavor of plant de creme. So on the bottom is like a frozen coffee ice cream air Quotes. And then it's topped with a local maple salted brownie. And the main ingredient in the brownies, that leftover oat product, they also go into things like, this is a fairly new product. These are our protein truffles. We call them truffs. There's three double chocolate pink spring salted little protein balls in this bag. 10 grams of plant protein, very clean label. But it has the residual oat product in there. So zero waste, super important. And I don't know, I'm seeing that more and more as a trend, and I was delighted to see a lot of that at Fancy Food this summer.

22:11
Caitlin Bricker
I'm very interested if there have been any standout challenges that you've run into with maintaining a business that is achieving and wants to continue down the road of having zero waste for the brand. What have you run into?

22:27
Sarah Hartman
I think I'm going to answer that question by turning it into a positive. Had very little problem other than at this stage, maybe having too much residual oat. So we're, you know, very savvy about how it's frozen and how we can repurpose it. We are getting some other food makers in the area to use the residual oats, which is great. I think it really is just a pivot or a shift in your thinking about what's possible and what's usable. It tastes delicious and it feels really good to do it. And it certainly cuts down. You know, it gives us a bigger. A larger margin, which is fantastic.

23:08
Caitlin Bricker
That's great to hear. And I can attest to the fact that it is delicious. These products are unbelievable. I mean, I got the opportunity to meet you at Summer Fancy Food, and when you brought samples over, which had samples before, but I was very happy to receive more and taste some. When you brought it over to our booth at Fancy Food, I think there were four of us, and were just all kind of like with our little spoons, just passing the cups back and forth to each other because they're so good. We didn't want them to go to waste. And were happy to eat them in front of you, too.

23:39
Sarah Hartman
You guys were so fun and so focused on the food. And I like, you know, fancy food is just like three days of eating and eating. So I thought, oh, they're going to not have room. But no, you were very focused on finishing them. And I was really glad that you got to try the new flavor, the lemon bar, which is very special, super delish.

24:00
Caitlin Bricker
That flavor was unreal, especially like in the New York City Heat in the summertime. It was just like so bright and refreshing and delicious. And I am curious too. Are you only selling the single serve sizes? What led you to making that decision? It's very personal because I could certainly sit there and eat an entire pint myself.

24:21
Sarah Hartman
Yeah. So this package is considered a generous single serving. And the package itself is literally a half pint. You know that a pint of ice cream is not necessarily a pint these days. You know, sometimes it's 12 or 14 ounces. So a lot of brands have kind of shrinkified their pints, if you will. But very honestly, when I buy a pint of ice cream, I eat a pint of ice cream. And so I went with this size because I want to feel good about what I'm eating. It is definitely decadent, but not in the way that a pint of ice cream is. It's got really healthy fat. They come in at between 8 and 10 grams of protein per serving. There's a ton of fiber in there. And I think I mentioned, you know, there's no refined sugar.

25:11
Sarah Hartman
So we use date, which I was also so stoked to see so many date products at Summer Fancy Food. They are a magical ingredient and they're part of the. The recipe for us, for sure.

25:26
Caitlin Bricker
I am such a freak for dates. So I was super excited to see that you were sweetening with dates because it is my favorite sweetener. And you are so right. There were so many date products at Fancy Food. Well, I am stoked about your products. I hope to see them in a store near me soon. But let's talk about Wake Fern people who are near those stores. I want to hear about this success story with startup CPG and Wake Fern. So please enlighten us.

25:53
Sarah Hartman
So this is what I would call our big break. And it came about a year and a half into our journey. I went on to rangeme and I applied for the Wakefern Food Corp. Local supplier summit. Now, we'll leave that there for just a second and say that simultaneously. Daniel did a podcast interview with Glenn Cunningham, who is from Wakefern Food Corp. And his. For those who are not familiar with Wakefern, the largest cooperative grocery brand in the United States, they have something like 400 plus stores in nine states. Their major banner is Shoprite, but they also have stores like Pricerite and in New York City, Fairway and Gourmet Garage. So Glenn oversees the stores, a bunch of shop rights, but then also Fairway and Gourmet Garage. Side note, I've spent Most of my life living in Brooklyn, living in New York City.

26:53
Sarah Hartman
Fairway is, you know, a big part of who I am and my foodie history. So I listened intently to what Glenn and Daniel spoke about, and I followed Glenn's instructions to the letter. Started with a message on LinkedIn, and then he told me to send him an email, and then he asked for samples. And so simultaneously, I'm doing this. This application on RangeMe, Wakefern was seeking two local brands to be what they call the winners of their local supplier summit. And were selected as a finalist. There were maybe 10 of us who were asked to come down to new Jers, to the headquarters and pitch Shark tank style to a bunch of the execs and the buyers and the owners. And I was just so delighted to be selected as one of the winners, along with Becky Deary, who owns Day Out Snacks.

27:51
Sarah Hartman
She's also an active member of startup cpg and her protein balls are unbelievable and also clean label. And, you know, she's just amazing too. But what this means, this local supplier summit, is that Vesucre plant de Creme, we have three SKUs that have gone into all of their stores and we're live as of this month. So the toffee crunch plant de Creme, the espresso brownie plant de Creme and the milk chocolate plant de Creme have launched. And, you know, there's no slotting fees, there's no charge for marketing. There's a TV commercial that we're working on. It's just a gift. I feel like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. I feel like, you know, I won it. Just, I'm truly grateful.

28:41
Sarah Hartman
And, you know, if you think about it, startup CPG and all of these things again, converging right place, right time, but it's a game changer for Vasukre because now we're, you know, right where we expected to be at this stage in our evolution. And we've been really intentional about our growth. We don't want to go too far, too fast. Going back To Kirk, my Mr. Miyagi advisor, you know, he told me some horror stories about, you know, early on with his first brand and over promising and under delivering. And so we know that we wanted to go, you know, from New York to the northeast and we hope to go southeast before, you know, moving across the country. So this positioned us that way. And this month we are also launching in Hannaford. That's an Ajul Delheis brand of stores, mostly in the northeast.

29:41
Sarah Hartman
We have Five in New York state that we'll start with through their local program. So I'm immensely proud. And I will say I mentioned the milk chocolate plant de creme. That product is a little different than. Than our others in that it's just a plain, like, chocolate ice cream, if you will. There's a story there. The first intern that we ever have is a young woman named Gwen. P.S. She's in the kitchen right now. She's a. She's an employee, full employee, and an operations associate. But Gwen has a problem with texture. And so she asked, you know, can we have just like a plain milk chocolate flavor? Because everything else has, you know, salty, sweet, crunchy stuff on top. And I said, sure, but you're gonna make it.

30:26
Sarah Hartman
And so after like four rounds of testing, our milk chocolate flavor is exactly what it is now. And it's pretty special to have, you know, Gwen and the other members of our team, you know, visit the grocery store and go to the freezer and say, I made that. You know, it's very. It's very unique.

30:45
Caitlin Bricker
I'm sure it feels the same way for you when you walk up to a freezer. But to have your employees really have a stake in this, that is so special.

30:54
Sarah Hartman
Thanks.

30:55
Caitlin Bricker
And I would like to also shout out Glenn and his team because they have been such amazing partners for us and they have been so great with our brands, the feedback that they give, the openness that they have. So shout out Glenn and your team. You've been amazing. Sarah, it's been so nice chatting with you. I would love for you to share with our audience where they can find you, how they can get in touch with you, where can everybody learn more?

31:22
Sarah Hartman
Absolutely. Please feel free to reach out with questions or interest in the makery or, you know, would love to help. The URL for our website is vesucre.com so it's v like Victor E S like Sam U C R E. I mentioned earlier the makeryoneonta.com for information about the launch of our Coman Food Hub brand incubator opening in upstate New York. So check that out if you want to email me. It's S. Hartman and that's Hartman with two n's. So s H A R T M a n@thesuperay.com Amazing.

32:03
Caitlin Bricker
I'm sure your inbox is probably going to be flooded after people hear this episode.

32:08
Sarah Hartman
Bring it.

32:09
Caitlin Bricker
So thank you for your openness too. Thank you for sharing such a beautiful product with the world. I love everything that you're doing. Your hiring practices, your ingredients, your product. You're amazing. Thank you for being on the show. Thanks for joining us.

32:24
Sarah Hartman
Thank you Caitlyn. And right back at you. Thanks for all that you're doing and absolutely the support of Visukre. It really means the world.

32:32
Caitlin Bricker
Thanks, Sarah. We'll talk soon. All right, everyone, thank you so much for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, do us a solid and leave us a five star review on ratethispodcast.com startup cpg I'm Caitlin Bricker, the host of the Founder Feature series and editor at Startup CPG. Feel free to find me on LinkedIn or reach out to me on Slack and get on my radar. I'm always keeping my eyes peeled for new and emerging brands to spotlight. If you're a potential sponsor who would like to appear on the podcast, please email partnershipstartupcpg.com and finally, as a reminder for anyone listening, if you haven't already, we would love for you to join our free CPG community on Slack. You can sign up via our website or@startupcpg.com See you around.