Probiotics With Good Intentions

Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in food and beverage but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Erika Gilmandinova, Co-Founder of Kefir Lab, located in San Francisco, CA, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

Kefir Lab is a Biomedical startup focusing on the R&D and production of probiotic cultured dairy & plant-based products to boost our Microbiome and increase people's immune system, digestion, and productivity thanks to the positive effects of Probiotics.

Tell us about yourself

I grew up in Moscow, Russia, in a family of medical doctors and scientists. Since I was a kid, my parents taught me about a healthy, active lifestyle and the gut-brain connection. Thus, having probiotic kefir in my diet was essential, like drinking water and eating food. The need for probiotics arose when I moved to North America and couldn't find a functional kefir that met my standards. After a while, I started experiencing drastic changes in my well-being and overall performance. The lack of quality probiotic products motivated me to create my own kefir with the help of my Italian husband. Functional and Delicious.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Being able to release in the market a product that changed my overall health drastically thanks to the power of probiotics and gut health. The passion that motivates us every day is educating our customers on having a healthier lifestyle and increasing brain performance, digestion, and immune system with tangible results on their health from day one only by improving the health of their microbiome. We currently sell in over 100 stores in California and Texas, and many more chains are on the way to releasing our products.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

Being able to remain focused on your idea and values all the time without compromising the quality of your product. Along the way, many stakeholders want to change your product for their interests, like increasing shelf life for better distribution or lowering the quality of your ingredients for a lower price point. Remain focused on your customers and always with delivering the maximum value to them. It is important to grow organically and find your early adaptors and work with them to improve the product. Understand your early data in distribution and use them as a competitive tool when boarding other larger chains. Don't run trying to increase revenues without a proper targeting of customers and stores. Others will push you to boost your sales from the beginning but won't help your brand in the long run. Always create a strategy and follow your heart.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

PRICING: Make sure you have room to maintain your margins from day 1 to the end. A business's main responsibility to its customers is to keep being sustainable.
BEING 10X BETTER: There are too many average companies on the market; if you are on the quest to create yet another one, make sure it's ten times better than the competition; otherwise, don't waste your time.
MAINTAIN YOUR VALUES: Always put customers at the core of your growth, delivering real value to them. Your product needs to solve the problem they're trying to solve and make it simple, easy to understand, and concise.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://kefirlab.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/erikaamericaaa/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erikagilmandinova/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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