Scaling an Omnichannel Brand with JiMMYBAR's Jim Simon

The CPG Guys

The CPG Guys, Sri & PVSB, are joined in this episode by Jim Simon, the co-founder & CEO of JiMMYBAR, a family company with a female co-founder & creator of "Bars With Benefits" meaning high protein-low sugar great tasting bars with Functional ingredients like immune boosting fruit, Collagen, Turmeric, Guarana Caffeine, Keto friendly nuts.

Follow Jim Simon on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jisimon/
Follow JiMMYBAR on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/jimmybar-whole-food-bars/
Follow JiMMYBAR online at: http://www.jimmybars.com
Jim answers these questions:
1) You were involved in tech M&A and your sister was running a restaurant, what made the two of you decide to start up a nutritional bar business?

2) Did you hit the right recipes right off the bat or how did you evolve them into actual products?

3) There are many things in my life that are non-negotiable. What was non-negotiable from an ingredients or taste perspective in your products?

4) What were some of the ROI obstacles that you faced in getting your products listed in physical retail stores and how did that drive your Go To Market strategy, particularly as it relates to food service?

5) How did JiMMYBAR develop into an omnichannel brand? How did you go about building and marketing your own brand site and when did you decide to enter the Amazon marketplace? On Amazon are you 1P, 3P or a combination?

6) What are the tools and techniques you leveraged to grow your business on Amazon, particularly around supply chain and retail media?

7) Your physical retail strategy has been quite successful. Hardly a week goes by without seeing you post on LinkedIn new retail listings: Commissaries, CIBO, TravelCenters, GetGo, GTM, Rite Aid, CVS, Costco and many others. What made it ROI positive when earlier it did not and is there a common path to listing success?

8) You seem to have been a travel warrior as you built out your business. What has been the impact of the pandemic on your selling?

9) Early in your startup, you made a conscious decision not to seek VC as you built your business. How did you manage scaling your business without substantial external capital and how has that changed?

10) How do you think about developing innovation that scales successfully? What are the key elements of this process and where are you focusing for expansion?

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