Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in food and beverage but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Jonathan Weinstein, co-founder of Wonder Monday, located in Boston, MA, USA.

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

Wonder Monday makes the 1g net carb, 0g added sugar, 100 calorie cheesecakes. Our cheesecakes are keto, gluten-free, and contain zero artificial ingredients.

Our customers are anyone who loves cheesecakes (everyone!) but doesn't want the sugar and junk. Millions of Americans live with diabetes, pre-diabetes, and gluten intolerance. For these folks, there's simply no option for delicious cheesecake that fits their lifestyle.

For decades, a few major players like Sara Lee and The Cheesecake Factory have dominated the market. Most supermarkets carry just a single brand of cheesecake. Wonder Monday is the first new cheesecake brand to hit the shelves in decades. It's the best cheesecake you ever had, minus the sugar.

Tell us about yourself

In the middle of the pandemic, my girlfriend quit her job to start something new. At the time, I'd just finished up at the last startup I co-founded. We had no idea what we would do next but knew we wanted to make something awesome together.

A few months later, we won a small grant to create a novel dairy snack. We're both obsessed with food and love reinventing classic recipes to make them healthier. Walking down the grocery store aisles, we were shocked to find there were no healthy cheesecake options.

So we decided to make our own. We didn't start with a family cheesecake recipe that's been passed down for four generations. In fact, at the time, I'd never even had a cheesecake in my life! So we spent over a year crafting a recipe that could compete with the best cheesecake you ever had, minus the sugar.

What gets us up in the morning is our passion for crafting an incredible product and the impact our product has on our customers' lives. Creating a business together as a couple is also incredibly rewarding and gets us excited every day.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

We're entirely self-funded. Running a CPG brand is notoriously capital-intensive due to the inventorying requirements. We're very cash efficient and focus on healthy business fundamentals, something that's easy to lose sight of when you raise money.

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

Maintaining a consistent emotional experience even though your business experiences major wins and losses every day. Dissociating your experience as a founder from the micro-outcomes of the day-to-day is challenging. But incredibly important for having a positive journey along the way, and for constantly holding the long-term vision in mind.

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

First, have an incredible product.
Second, know how you're going to distribute it.
Third, focus on break-even to make sure your business is sound.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://wondermonday.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wondermondaysnacks/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wonder.monday/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-weinstein-aaaaba28/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

Feel inspired to start, run or grow your own subscription business? Check out subkit.com and learn how you can turn "one day" into day one.