How to Launch a Food Brand From Your Home Kitchen

Nekeia Boone: Hey, thank you for having me. Kathryn Finney: I'm so excited to jump in. We connected because we both have beloved grandmothers. And one of the themes of the podcast has come over and over again, is sort of the early influencers in our lives. So early, it'd be a grandparent, maybe it's a teacher, a friend, someone early in the entrepreneurial journey when we're children who sort of influenced us. So tell us a little bit about Grandma Tootie. Nekeia Boone: my God. Well, first of all, it's such a dream come true to even have a platform like yours in this moment to talk about my grandma, Tutti. know, so many things that I do today are in spite of the things that she just didn't have the privilege to do just simply because of the time that she was born and when she lived. But, you know, despite any challenges that society or finances would have brought her way. My grandma, Tootie, always was joyful and always made us feel loved, always had a house filled with good smelling foods. And really she just like, you know, she would do everything she could to just make sure that you had a good meal and you felt fulfilled when you left her. And yeah, and it's why today, you my family just misses her so much and why we, you know, still laugh about her stories. She just really lived every moment. And I don't even know if she realized how special and important those moments were, because it really seemed to me that she just did this because she thought that's what people and mothers and grandmothers were supposed to do. Kathryn Finney: Yeah, I think it's, know, when we think back, particularly being black women, and we think of our grandmothers and our mothers, but especially our grandmothers and how the world really limited them. And I think that's something that's missing, that discussion on the limits that were placed on these brilliant women because of the time in which they were born. Right. And I think of my own grandmother who Nekeia Boone: Yeah. Kathryn Finney: really should have been like a big fashion designer. I mean, she could have been like, know, Christian Dior. But she happened to live in Kansas during the 1930s, 40s, 50s, where that possibility was not given to someone like her, right? And so, you know, I think for us as we build, particularly women of color, particularly black women, honoring that sort of the ability for us to create and create these lives that our grandmothers dreamed of. But because of their dreams and because of their love and joy, we're actually able to manifest their dreams. We're living their dreams. And so you grew up in Harlem, which has a vibrant food culture. Note, I lived in Harlem for a really long time, so I... Nekeia Boone: Yeah, 100%. Yes. Nekeia Boone: Yes. Kathryn Finney: I have the pounds to prove the food culture. What was that like growing up with all these different types of food and cultural influences? Nekeia Boone: Yeah. So, I mean, I was born in the late seventies. So I was, you know, a child in Harlem in the eighties. And this was a moment where, you know, the city started to become unsafe. But what that meant was that, you know, I particular, you know, friends of mine, we spend a lot of time indoors. So that also meant too, that, you know, I was spending time with my grandmother in the kitchen. You know, we connected a lot by, yeah, just me hanging out with her while she cooked, you know, and also having so many friends who were doing the same thing. I mean, it was a beautiful gift to be born into such a rich, cultural black neighborhood that I didn't realize how special that was until my family moved away from it. So it meant that like we moved to California. Kathryn Finney: Where did you move to? Nekeia Boone: in the late eighties. but yeah, so because this was such a rich, vibrant community and, know, there was a lot of accountability. That's probably the word to use here. There's accountability when you live in a neighborhood like Harlem, because this is generations of families that have been there and families who go to church together on Sundays or, you know, we have the street cookouts and You know, we know each other. And so it also meant that like, when I would go to a friend's house, that, that level of respect and that level of care, cooking a meal for me, like it was just, it was part of my upbringing. And it helped me to also now seeing this as an adult, I understand why my grandmother was who she was because someone also paid it forward to her to. Yeah, to nurture her, whether she was blood family related or not. Kathryn Finney: Yeah. Do you have a specific memory of being in Grandma Tootie's kitchen that kind of you bring into your company now? Nekeia Boone: I'm laughing because it's a memory that has nothing to do with the business. But it's just one of these funny cooking moments because my grandma's collard greens were legendary. we, none of us really understood what it took to make these greens. We just knew that she was in there for a while. Kathryn Finney: Hmmmm Kathryn Finney: Did she share it with you or was she just like, no, it's a secret recipe? Nekeia Boone: It took a long time to get this out of her. I think I was maybe in my mid twenties when she finally started to like give some hints, but still, no, we just had to watch and observe and write down and learn. But one time, I guess this batch of greens had like a tiny little worm in it. This could happen. Kathryn Finney: Thank Kathryn Finney: Yeah, yeah. Nekeia Boone: You know, they come from the earth. And she had washed these greens already for like a good 30 minutes and was like re-washing and getting ready to like start cutting one of them when she saw some tiny little worm and came screaming out of the kitchen through the batch of greens in there. God, I can just remember that like yesterday and how like she swore off the greens for months and we were so upset. Kathryn Finney: You're like grandma when we gonna get the greens back Nekeia Boone: No, we're get the green. This was like a one off that's it's not gonna happen again, but she wasn't having it. Kathryn Finney: Yeah. You know, for those who don't come from cultures where you fix things like greens and spinach, you know, things like that, washing greens is a process. is not. It's a process. It's, you know, a good 30 minutes to an hour. You got to add the salt in the water. And, you know, there's a lot of people who were like, you know, I just don't eat anybody's greens because I need to make, you know, the same with chitlins, you know, pig intestines. Nekeia Boone: the process. Nekeia Boone: Yeah. God, yeah. Kathryn Finney: I need to know this person knows how to clean some chitlins. I need to know this person knows how to clean some collard greens before I eat them. Because you don't want the gritty little dirt. actually had a friend who is white and who was coming over for Thanksgiving. And she was like, you wash them? And I'm like, yeah, you do. You wash your greens. Nekeia Boone: That's right. Nekeia Boone: deeply. Kathryn Finney: You wash them well. was like, do not say that around another black family. I'm your black friend, so I can tell you this, but don't say that. Because then people are not going to eat anything from you. Nekeia Boone: No, ever again. Kathryn Finney: And so, you you go from from Grandma Tootie's kitchen to Amsterdam into the Netherlands. And how did you get there? I mean, that's, you know, L.A. to Amsterdam. That's a that's a jump. Nekeia Boone: I mean, this was one of these classic stories of following your heart and, you know, fallen in love and moving for love. You know, I, so I was in New York until the late eighties. Family moved to California, pretty much grew up there from like teen and adult years was, was California. And then, eventually meet someone who was planning to move. One thing leads to another, I end up moving with him. And when I first arrived in Europe, it was, well, 2009. So I was leaving the recession in the States only to enter Europe right when theirs was starting. So I had a career in advertising at the time that, yeah, was just kind of over after that move. Kathryn Finney: You Kathryn Finney: Yeah, when recession happens, marketing and advertising are often the first to get impacted. Nekeia Boone: Yeah. So that's how I ended up there. And then my background in being a writer is what led me into tech because at that time, well, UX copywriting was, it wasn't even called that back then. I was hired as an e-commerce copywriter and yeah. And that was where my tech career began. Kathryn Finney: Okay. Kathryn Finney: Awesome, and so you're in Amsterdam, you're in love, you're working in tech. What was the company that you worked for? Okay, so we all know Booking.com where you book travel. A lot of people, I think, don't know that that was a European-based company. Yeah. Nekeia Boone: for booking.com. Nekeia Boone: It's a Dutch company at that. I worked at the headquarters in Amsterdam. Kathryn Finney: which is like a special European. Nekeia Boone: Yeah, I mean, the Dutch are very proud of Philips, Shell, and Booking.com. Kathryn Finney: Those are the three Dutch companies. And I think a lot of people who haven't traveled to Europe, I think, don't understand how actually geographically small Netherlands is. It's actually a small country. And so to have big companies come out of it, successes, it is a big deal. Do you know what the population of hamstring is? Nekeia Boone: Yes. Nekeia Boone: Yeah, there's a million people in Amsterdam and 17 million in the entire country. Kathryn Finney: So it's not like, you know, I live in Chicago. We have three million in the city and probably another, I don't know, eight million or so in the metropolitan area. So to give people context of Europe and then also geographically how close everything is. so full disclosure, I'm a supporter of Trudy's Kitchen, supporter, small investor. I've had the food, it's amazing. Nekeia Boone: late. Nekeia Boone: Hehehe. Kathryn Finney: You know, I think people don't understand how close things are because, you know, LA and New York and the United States is far away from each other, right? It's a five hour flight. But you can take a quick, easy two hour train ride between Paris and Amsterdam. It's pretty, pretty quick. Amsterdam and parts of Germany. It's really, really quick. It's really, really close. So Europe is such an interesting space. So you're in love. You're in tech. You have this amazing career. Nekeia Boone: Right. Right. Nekeia Boone: Yes. Kathryn Finney: How did you pivot to ice cream? That's a pivot. Nekeia Boone: Yeah, that's a mad pivot that I didn't plan. I didn't plan any of this. I think that's right. That's really where this story really takes off because nothing that's happening in my life today was something that I consciously decided to do or was striving towards. I just had to lean into where life Kathryn Finney: The unplanned pivot. That's the key. Like the unplanned pivot. Yes. Nekeia Boone: had brought me and where certain circumstances dropped me. Yeah, I around the same time went through a divorce and a corporate burnout within the same year and a half. yeah, and you can't ignore that one had something to do with the other. Like I was in pretty deep denial at the time around Kathryn Finney: That's how it goes. Yeah. Nekeia Boone: Well, my role in all of these things, but more importantly, how one, I guess, collapse was impacting the other. And yeah, and as soon as I, you know, stepped away from this partner, stepped away from the office to take what I thought was going to be a short leave of absence, because I felt like I was losing my mind and my health was suffering. It was about three months into this leave. that March of 2020 pops up. And that was the big unknown that nobody was ready for. Kathryn Finney: Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think it's so interesting talking with people about the pandemic and how so many of us made really life changing decisions during the pandemic, mostly because we had to stop and there was nothing else we could do. There wasn't there wasn't anything to do but stop. mean, if we remember we couldn't travel, we couldn't leave the house in many places. We couldn't interact with people. And so we were forced to do this. Nekeia Boone: Great. Kathryn Finney: unplanned pivot, right? were forced to do unplanned pivots happened a lot. And not only in business, but also in life. I got divorced during the pandemic. I think a lot of people kind of realized, maybe this isn't the life that I thought. And so you're in the pandemic, you're in middle of pandemic, you're in Europe. How was Amsterdam impacted by the pandemic? Nekeia Boone: We're not. Nekeia Boone: or not. Nekeia Boone: Ooh, well, it's an interesting story because, you know, the, guess the hub or epicenter, if you will, of the European pandemic happened in Italy and in the, you know, the Northern part of Italy, the ski region. And it was like a couple months earlier where you started to hear some cases and, know, of course we already knew that something was happening in China. Kathryn Finney: Yeah. Nekeia Boone: But like everybody else, was, well, this problem's over there. it's just affecting those people. it's going to go away. So it was the same human reaction that nothing happened until we were forced to do something about it there. And it quickly went into, you know, the rules of you got to wear the face mask. We got to stay home. People were not having it at the beginning. Kathryn Finney: Yeah, yeah. Nekeia Boone: Like this idea of, you you can't enter the store unless you hand sanitize. Like people were very, very, very resistant to falling in line. And then I think that's what rushed the lockdowns to happen because the cases were spreading like crazy because nobody was respecting the rules. And then that's when, yeah, life got really real. you know, what turned into or what was supposed to be, you know, the two, three week lockdown, then got extended to a couple months. And you know the story. It was, was the same thing. and I think maybe it impacted this country differently because it is so small and it probably has had the luxury. This is now me making assumptions, but has probably had the luxury of not Kathryn Finney: in. Kathryn Finney: Yeah. Nekeia Boone: being subjected to things that are happening in bigger nations because it is so spread out. Amsterdam sure does have a million people, but nonetheless, most of the country is rural. So I can only imagine how and why this was just so hard to adjust and accept reality. Kathryn Finney: Yeah. But out of that came Tootie's Kitchen, right? And so you're taking this break and now you're trying to figure out what's next. How did you get to Tootie's Kitchen, the business? Nekeia Boone: Right. Nekeia Boone: Yeah. So after I realized, okay, so this lockdown's not gonna be over anytime soon, I just leaned into the moment. And, you know, I'm sure you can relate to this too, that there was never a moment till then that I had the luxury to stop, to do nothing because there was nowhere else I could be. And... After, yeah, spending all this time fighting it, I just said, you know what, to hell with it. So I'll enjoy this moment. It may never happen again. So I started cooking a lot, watching, you know, cooking shows. I've always been comfortable in the kitchen because of Grandma Tootie, but it became a real like deep hobby. It was something that like rescued me mentally. because the kitchen has always been this space that it's like a Zen space for me. It's probably the only activity that I do that I don't think about. just feel when I go. And in all of that, I started, you know, making ice cream recipes because one, I'm obsessed with ice cream. I have always loved ice cream. It's always been my... Kathryn Finney: I think a lot of people would agree with that. We're all a little obsessed with ice cream. Nekeia Boone: It's always been my favorite dessert. So I was watching a cooking show where I may have even been Nigella, that she made like a quick ice cream recipe with, it was just like a whipped cream and some bananas and whatever. And that kind of led me to like exploring this a little bit further and now playing with ingredients that I personally like, whether that's chocolate chips or maple syrup. for bourbon. Right. And yeah, and then after kind of perfecting this a little bit more, then friends could start coming over, I would serve this ice cream for dessert. And people were just gobsmacked that I made it. They kept asking, where did you buy this? Kathryn Finney: Yeah. It was that also happened during the pandemic too. Yes. Nekeia Boone: Like what you made that here on that tiny little machine in the kitchen. And just, think this level of excitement and enthusiasm was the first spark of maybe this could be a thing. Kathryn Finney: Yeah. Kathryn Finney: Yeah. like when you, you know, a lot of people have ideas, a lot of people think they're great cooks, right? But few translate it into a business. And I think for a lot of people listening who are interested in sort of translating the product that they make, maybe they make a great brownie, maybe they make, you know, roasted nuts or what have you into an actual business. What were some of the first steps you Nekeia Boone: Yeah. Kathryn Finney: you did to translate it into a business. Nekeia Boone: Yeah. Well, this is now where I put on my business hat and my experience hat of working in advertising and marketing for 10 years and then working in tech for 10 years. I am proud to say that product development is something that I'm deeply skilled at. It's really all I've ever done in my career. Kathryn Finney: So it's taking the skills from your corporate, because I think what a lot of people don't do when they're making this transition, again, the unplanned pivot that a lot of people are experiencing right now, is thinking about how to take the skills you learned and you developed in your corporate career, your government career, wherever you're coming from, and translating it into your business, and really thinking about what were those skills that I developed? Nekeia Boone: Yeah. Nekeia Boone: white. Nekeia Boone: Yeah. Kathryn Finney: and how can I apply them rather than recreating the will? And I think a lot of people think of their corporate, previous corporate government, whatever, previous job life, completely separate from their entrepreneurial life. When really the skills you learn, you should really figure those out so that you can translate them and make your entrepreneurial journey easier. Nekeia Boone: Yeah. Nekeia Boone: yeah, definitely. mean, first of all, if someone back then would have told me that learning how to run A-B tests, how to do like product development and product optimization, how to use qualitative and quantitative data to form insights and how to accept failure so you move quickly to rapidly iterate and make it better the next time around. I never thought that any of this stuff was going to be transferable in real life. I really didn't. but I suppose because of where I was at in the moment of kind of brainstorming, Judy's kitchen into a business. Those were the only skill sets that Well, not the only, it was the core of my skill sets. was what was at the forefront of my thinking because I had been doing it for so long. So I approached setting up this business the same way that I would have if I were in one of my tech teams in helping us to create a new feature or a new, I don't know, tool for us to use. And I thought about, well, what's the why behind this? What's the mission, the vision, the goals? How would I measure any of my success or failures from a short, long, medium term sort of strategy? Really thinking about like, okay, now from the advertising side, like who is this brand? What is the message I'm trying to get across with it? And how does this product as delicious as it may be, and as much as I love it, how do I actually position that in a way that says that it's unique? It's filling a market gap and fitting it into all of these frameworks that I just mentioned. And as soon as I sat down to really like get into this, I found myself making a PowerPoint presentation that was just for me, but in six hours flat, and I'm really not exaggerating this, I had a full fledged like vision of what this could be. Kathryn Finney: Hmm. Nekeia Boone: And reading it back to myself, just thought, okay, I guess there's no turning back now because this this feels correct. Kathryn Finney: Yeah, I think a lot of times when you are starting out in your journey, your entrepreneurial journey, and you're formulating the idea, it happens. When it's the right idea, it's not hard to operationalize it, right? It starts to come together rather quickly. Nekeia Boone: rate. Kathryn Finney: And for those who believe in the universe or God, my mother is always like, when you're doing right, God will make it easy. When you are doing what you're supposed to be doing in your vision and it's correct, and it's aligned with who you are, it's aligned with the skill sets you already have, then getting started, the vision becomes pretty clear. And then you just have to work on executing it. But executing a vision like this, kind of, Nekeia Boone: Yeah. Kathryn Finney: unique ice cream flavors in a place like the Netherlands, which can be a little, yes. You said it, not I, because you live there. You know, like the Dutch are like gentler Germans. That's why I tell people, like a little bit nicer Germans, right? If you've been to Germany, you any time there, you know exactly what I'm saying. So how do you translate this brand that's culturally coming from Nekeia Boone: Thank Nekeia Boone: Thanks for Kathryn Finney: a community that's not well represented necessarily in the Netherlands to a market like the Netherlands that's predominantly a certain sort of cultural market, how do you translate this sort of idea into that and get them to believe in it? Nekeia Boone: Well, I think the first thing that's important to mention is, you know, because the Netherlands is small and because Dutch culture is not so widely known outside of Europe, the Netherlands and particularly Amsterdam have deeply embraced other cuisines that come from the outside. mean, mainly, of course, like Italy, France and Spain, because it's right there. And these are culinary, like, you know, capitals. Kathryn Finney: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Nekeia Boone: but just as much Americans as well. So, you know, there's a bit of an advantage that I was really leaning into to take advantage of the fact that Dutch cuisine is not really a thing. You know, they know that. I'm hot. Basically a stew, but I wouldn't call that original. Apologies to those people listening, but. Kathryn Finney: Yeah, except the stupal, right? The stupal. that's the... Yeah. And the little, what is the little waffle thing that like the little waffle cookie that has, yes. Nekeia Boone: Yeah, that's also very good. But you've got two things you just mentioned and Kathryn Finney: That's it. The cookie little cookie thing. Nekeia Boone: And that is it. And they're aware of it. And so that said, their mindset to be open to new and adventurous foods, they're primed for it. And I knew that already living there at this point for, well, 10 plus years. Then I guess the other part of it too, is that there is a pretty rich black center in the Netherlands by means of Suriname. So Suriname used to be a Dutch colony. A lot of Surinamese people moved to the Netherlands in the late seventies and eighties. So there is a pretty huge black population there, particularly in Amsterdam. But what they're, I think, not used to are, how can I put this? Like how black Americans are very bold and defiant, dare I say. to really pursue our dreams without these limitations of what may feel restrictive because of where they come from. So that said, I had the black community really cheering me on, really proud of, wow, this is a first. I'm the only black owned ice cream brand in the Netherlands. And now I'm really coming to discover in all of Europe. Kathryn Finney: Yeah Kathryn Finney: Yeah. Kathryn Finney: Yeah, I believe it. Nekeia Boone: So that said, it was, it was me taking advantage of the fact that I was in this place and I was the other, but yet there was a lot of space and opportunity for me to just take advantage of the fact that I had something different to bring a different perspective of how to do it with a beloved product. Kathryn Finney: Yeah, think when you hit on something I think is really interesting about being African American. Because you know, black diaspora is rich. I mean, it is Caribbean, it is South American, it is European, it is African, it is parts of Asia. But being African American, is something, the privilege of the American part of that. Because we, Nekeia Boone: Yes. Kathryn Finney: And of course, this may change where we're at now in our history, American history. Hopefully it doesn't. the comfort of having that Americanness that we know, you can't deport us to a place that's not going to be sort of OK. So if I'm American, I'm in Europe. You send me back to Chicago, I'm good. I'm more than good. So the fear, we don't have that same fear. And it's also a thing about being American, regardless of your culture or your race, is that we carry with us that we belong wherever we're at. That's not necessarily true, but we believe it. As an American, I've been called on it myself, of wherever we are at, we belong. That we have the sense of belonging, that we deserve to be in any space room. Nekeia Boone: Yes. Kathryn Finney: And it's really interesting to say that as an African American woman that I carry that because often in America we don't have that same sense when you're African American or a person of color that we could be wherever we want to be. But when we go abroad, I've seen it, we, so we can carry with us a boldness that others who are part of the African diaspora maybe can't because we don't have the fear of being sent back to someplace that. may or may not be safe for us. And so it's interesting, you, you scale, so you create this company, you're building it. Where are you cooking your, where are you cooking, you don't cook ice cream, but where are you making ice cream? Wait, do you cook? Actually, talk about like, how do you actually make ice cream? Nekeia Boone: I mean... Nekeia Boone: Yes. So the earlier recipes, definitely I was at a stove cooking because whether you're making a small batch for you and your family, or you're making enough to sell at a supermarket, there is still this moment of, well, pasteurization, guess, is the simplest term to use here. Even if you're using pasteurized milk, the milk the cream and the sugars get cooked to a certain temperature, mainly for the purpose of emulsifying all the ingredients. Once you've done that, it then gets moved into the churner where it freezes it and becomes ice cream. And so if you're making it small batch, like enough for a couple of cups, you're probably standing at the stove and you're slow. like, you know, stirring the milk and the cream and the sugars and yeah, putting it in the fridge, you gotta let it cool and then you put it in the churner. You know, high powered machines do all of this in a matter of minutes and pass the hot to the cold and to the cups. But back then when I was making it on my little KitchenAid frozen mixer, that's how it was happening. And I really had to think about it. and like a two day process, because step one was the cooking to bring all the ingredients together. And especially if I was making a specific flavor like chicken and waffles. So it had to cool overnight before I could even get to the ice cream part. Kathryn Finney: And so how did you go from your kitchen to industrial kitchen? Because one of the questions that often comes up is how do you scale? Like how do you turn it from a hobby into an actual business? Nekeia Boone: Yes. Nekeia Boone: Yes. So it started with me having this small client, actually small, but yet very well known. There's a local supermarket just near my place who specializes in really unique products. They focus a lot on local brands, also small businesses. And they knew me because I have an adorable little dog and I'm walking by or coming in with the dog. Kathryn Finney: Yeah. Nekeia Boone: So one day I went in and I mentioned to them, you know, I've just started this ice cream brand and like full disclosure, I am not a professional cook. I have made this in my apartment. However, I think this is something special because I've got five really interesting flavors that I noticed you're not selling here. Maybe you'd be interested in taking a few. And they said, okay, you know, sure, leave the samples. We'll get back to you. Kathryn Finney: Mm-hmm. Nekeia Boone: And I did not sleep that night because these were really the first human beings who tasted my babies, who weren't friends and who didn't have to like, know, they didn't have to like it, but they did. And they called like first thing in the morning and were super excited. They basically wanted, they wanted six pints of three of the flavors, like as soon as I possibly could. Kathryn Finney: We didn't have to like it. Nekeia Boone: like that's gonna take me a damn lifetime to make this whole machine. But I didn't tell them that I just said, okay, like, you know, give me a little bit of time, but I'll get these products to you. Made that batch. And I'm thinking, okay, that's it for a moment. And then they called me the next week, because all of those had sold out, like, okay, happening now. Kathryn Finney: Yeah. Kathryn Finney: Hahaha Nekeia Boone: And then I noticed that on these production days that in order for me to have space for everything in the fridge, I didn't have any food in the house. Like my whole fridge was milk and cream and batches of different flavors cooling to be turned the next day or bowls just sitting with like infused ingredients and the freezer was stuffed. So That was the moment that I was forced to scale as I ran out of room at home. Kathryn Finney: Yeah. And so you scale to industrial kitchen. And I think a lot of folks, that pathway is very similar. You start in your own kitchen. You start with where you're at, your kitchen, the local store that knows you. think a lot of entrepreneurs think you have to go from your kitchen to Target or to Walmart right away. And no, you can start where you're at. Nekeia Boone: I did. Nekeia Boone: No. Kathryn Finney: and start with those who know you, the local businesses, to get a sense to even product test your product, to see what people are buying. Because they know you, they're a little bit more willing to give you the feedback because shelf space is one of the hardest things to get when you have a product that depends on brick and mortar. And so getting into a store, any store, helps you test it and it also helps you get the data as you grow and scale. Nekeia Boone: Yeah. Nekeia Boone: Right. Kathryn Finney: which is what you've done. So now you're in, and I'm gonna say this last name so wrong, because I always get Dutch names wrong. Albert Heinz? Nekeia Boone: Albert Hein. Yeah. Kathryn Finney: Hein, okay. It's always a J. They always throw like a J or G. You Dutch people. Okay. They always just throw something in there, Dutch people, make us, just to trip you up. and, and, so you're in one of the major, major grocery chains in the Netherlands. yeah, yes, but no, but how did you go from your local Nekeia Boone: And J's pronounced like a Y. Nekeia Boone: Just to trip you up. Nekeia Boone: Now I guess. Kathryn Finney: retailer to this major chain. Nekeia Boone: Yeah, so there's a couple of steps in there. And I'll start by saying that this is where sometimes just a little bit of luck and a little bit of magic does come into the story. And I knew that I wanted to be an Albert Heine from the beginning. Like I would walk past the freezer section and just like literally visualize my ice cream in there. Like I really manifested this moment. And I, some ways kind of forgot about this, like put it in the back of my head because I was just focused on the work for every day, day in, day out of how do I perfect this recipe? Because every time I scaled at first, I was realizing that I needed to make adjustments because the batches were getting bigger. Kind of like when you're making cookies, you can't take the same recipe to make six cookies to make 6,000. It just doesn't work. So the next thing that I focused on was really coming up with a scalable recipe. This was the crucial part. And I worked with a food consultant to help me figure out how do I maintain quality and flavor the same way I'm doing when I made it in the kitchen was Kathryn Finney: Yeah. Nekeia Boone: my ask of this person. And that gave me the confidence when the moment came to be able to scale this, because I could stand by the quality at that point. But in between those steps, like, you know, going from the small store, I started doing some food festivals. I was, you know, at local markets. I did pop ups for a short stint. had my own store. Which you got to visit. Kathryn Finney: which I got to visit and eat some ice cream. Nekeia Boone: And in that journey, I meet one of the members of Albert Heine. This in some ways came to me through a personal channel, but also because of being connected with this industrial kitchen. I was invited, or he was invited to come to the kitchen to talk to us entrepreneurs about scaling to big retail. And luck would have it, he already knew who I was, had been following my brand for a good year or so. And it was because his family member used to be one of my old colleagues at Booking. She shares with him, Hey, you know, I know this girl, we worked together. She went through some mess leaving this company and I can't believe she started this product. Kathryn Finney: Mmm. Kathryn Finney: Yeah. Nekeia Boone: He just happens to be the person in charge of bringing in frozen desserts into Albert High. Kathryn Finney: The problems are, I think. I mean, you highlight something that I think is really interesting about one, your network, and it may not seem that your old network is connected to your new path, right? So you're in corporate America, you may not get that, you know, your old network working at a, you know, tech giant. Nekeia Boone: And yeah, and really the rest is history. Nekeia Boone: Yes. Kathryn Finney: is going to help you get into the frozen food section of a grocery store. But really keeping that network, and not just keeping the network, but keeping your network informed of what you're doing. And the default I always have in life, but even as an entrepreneur and an investor, is you maintain those relationships and assume that people want you to win. Nekeia Boone: Yes. Kathryn Finney: assume that the universe is conspiring for your greatness and that the universe wants you to win. And when you start off with that mindset that the universe wants you to win, it's amazing how the universe will help you win, right? And maintaining those sort of relationships. And the other thing I want to highlight is the importance of the industrial kitchens. And a lot of places have them, both globally in Europe. know a lot of cities does. I know in France, they have a pretty strong Nekeia Boone: Yeah. Kathryn Finney: industrial kitchen network that's funded by the government, their federal government. And here in the States, a lot of cities have numerous industrial kitchens in Chicago. We have a number of them. And how, as you scale from kitchen to Target or to Walmart or Cub Foods or wherever you're going to be in a grocery store, how the industrial kitchen, getting into a good industrial kitchen, can help you so much in your path. Nekeia Boone: Yeah. Kathryn Finney: as you were looking to make those connections. And so this kind of leads into the storytelling. You have a lot of storytelling baked into your brand. But how do you balance the storytelling with the need to do the day-to-day stuff as an entrepreneur? Nekeia Boone: Well, this is where me being a writer by craft helps tremendously. And from all the work that I've done, I'm just already primed to think about how I market something with the story behind it. But that said, I really also leaned into the moment because pandemic and post pandemic world has changed us. And we make decisions differently. It matters now more than it did 10, 20 years ago. Who's behind the product? Where did the product come from? Why does it exist? And why do I want this? technology? Yeah. Technology also has made it so easy for us to have virtually anything, anytime from anywhere in the world. So all of that said, like I knew that Kathryn Finney: Why do I want this? Nekeia Boone: I had one thing unique about me that even if someone copies this product and makes 10 different versions of it, that the one thing they can't replicate is me, me, my story, Grandma Tutti, the legacy that came into this, the pain and suffering that I went through to even come up with this idea. Like that's original and it will stand the test of time. So. Kathryn Finney: Yep. Nekeia Boone: I made sure to always lean into that in terms of, yeah, the brand building. Kathryn Finney: And so, as we kind of wrap up, I'd like to go back to this idea of the unplanned pivot. And so, for other entrepreneurs who are experiencing that, what are some tips and advice that help them follow their gut as they're building and going through this unplanned pivot? Nekeia Boone: Yeah. Nekeia Boone: Yeah, I would say the most important one is to allow yourself to fail and to make mistakes. You know, it, we live in a world where Instagram is showing you that everyone's lives are perfect and that they woke up like this and no one is exposing all of like maybe the 19 retakes before getting that photo correct. Kathryn Finney: Cool. Yeah. Nekeia Boone: You know, being like accepting the fact that you are human, you are going to fail. It's not going to be perfect. Some things are going to happen. That's already enough to be ready for the moment when failure shows up. And you also have to learn to like embrace that failure is the it is the literal signal that gets you back on track that helps you to quickly see. Okay, so don't do that next time, but what worked about that and keep applying what you learned each and every step. This again is what the tech world brought me. I like intuitively think this way. Now I'm super brainwashed in a positive way to think about how to just take a step forward, even if it's not perfect and to like already have some sort of strategy to figure out how I'll roll back. Kathryn Finney: Yeah. Nekeia Boone: if things don't go the way I expect. Kathryn Finney: Risk taking, risk taking. The pivot is unplanned, but the risk can be planned. Well, thank you so much, Nakia. That's a wrap on today's episode of Build a Damn Thing. If Nakia's story taught us anything, it's that your past doesn't define your path. Your passion does. From Harlem to Amsterdam, from tech decks to desert, you know what? Nekeia Boone: risk-taking. Nekeia Boone: Yes. Kathryn Finney: I'm going to do this again, so you guys will have to cut. Because that's right, desert. It's dessert. Kathryn Finney: That's a wrap on today's episode of Build the Damn Thing. If Nakia's story taught us anything, it's that your past doesn't define your path. Your passion does. So from Harlem to Amsterdam, from tech decks to dessert spoons, she's building something bold, delicious, and deeply rooted in culture. And guess what? So can you. If this episode sparked something in you, inspired a pivot, a passion, or just made you crave some chicken and waffle, ice cream, which is really good. I'm telling you, and you're in Amsterdam, some. Do us a favor. Subscribe to Build a Damn Thing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Leave us a review. Those stars and words help other entrepreneurs find this show and feel a little less known on their journey. And share this episode with one friend who's sitting on a dream they haven't built yet. I'm your host, Catherine Finney, and remember, you don't need permission. You just need to build. See you next time