You need to have an edge over your competitors and clearly know what it is. I’m lucky to have a unique product that is patent-pending. But it doesn’t have to be a unique product, it could be the community, the location, the service, or anything else that makes you different.
Fiona Raphael, an Aussie mum and lawyer, never imagined starting a business. But on maternity leave, a simple experiment of storing veggies in a damp cotton and PUL bag sparked The Produce Pod.
Sales trickled for nine months, but in 2023, an influencer image led to orders blasting off, selling out within days. From $50,000 to almost $250,000 in one year, Fiona’s innovation now helps families across Australia save and avoid waste. Her story is this Founder Friday, a mother’s passion turning a fridge hack into a thriving, sustainable business.
The birth of The Produce Pod
Fiona’s decision to launch her business stemmed from a common problem: keeping vegetables fresh. “I’ve struggled with veggie storage, probably like most people,” she shared. She tried various methods, but nothing seemed to work. Her turning point came unexpectedly when she wasn’t focused on solving storage problems but reducing plastic waste. “I loved the idea of using PUL bags instead of plastic ones because they’re reusable and machine washable,” Fiona explained. She envisioned a world free of plastic bags.
It was during her quest to cut down on plastic that Fiona had an epiphany. She wondered how her veggies might last if stored in a PUL bag instead of a plastic one. “I decided to try a damp cotton layer surrounded by PUL,” Fiona recounted. The results amazed her. “Condensation, which normally leads to rotting, seemed to escape from the bag, and veggies lasted much longer.” She shared her discovery with her sister, but didn’t think of turning it into a business just yet.
I had never envisioned myself starting a business, but I felt that this was an opportunity too good to pass up and I just had to give it a go.
It wasn’t until a chance encounter with a bunch of mint from Woolworths in early 2022 that Fiona began to consider the potential of her idea. After forgetting about the mint for three weeks, she was astonished to find it in pristine condition. “I expected to find a wilted mess, but I was totally shocked to find the mint in pristine condition,” Fiona recalled. She continued to test the storage method, eventually keeping the mint fresh for over six weeks. “At six weeks, ninety percent of the bunch was still fresh and green. I was shocked, and I started to think I had discovered something amazing,” she said.
Although Fiona never envisioned herself starting a business, she felt compelled to pursue this unexpected opportunity. “I had never envisioned myself starting a business, but I felt that this was an opportunity too good to pass up,” she explained. And thus, The Produce Pod was born.
Fiona Raphael attributed much of The Produce Pod’s growth to her strategic use of social media, which she decided to leverage from the very beginning. “I knew from the start that I would be leveraging social media as much as possible because I didn’t have the budget or the confidence to spend big on marketing,” Fiona explained. Instagram was her platform of choice, and she realized that video would be the perfect way to showcase the effectiveness of her product. “Video was the perfect medium to demonstrate the difference in longevity between veggies kept in a container or plastic bag versus veggies kept in a Produce Pod,” she noted. Even before she had a fully developed prototype, Fiona began creating and sharing videos to build awareness.
Though the organic strategy took time to gain momentum, Fiona was patient. “The downside to the organic strategy was that growth was slow to start off with. However, the upside was that it wasn’t costing me money, and I was content to take it slow,” she reflected. For months, the sales came in slowly, but everything changed when a caravanning influencer shared her positive experience with the Produce Pods. “It was a genuine recommendation, which is something that money can’t buy!” Fiona said, noting how the endorsement led to hundreds of sales and a complete sell-out in just a few days.
Standing out in a crowded market
Fiona’s strategy evolved as the business grew. She continued to collaborate with influencers and affiliates while also integrating meta ads into her approach. “They work well together because UGC style ads are the best performing creative,” she shared. This combination of organic content and targeted advertising has played a key role in The Produce Pod’s success.
The Produce Pod stands out in a crowded market by addressing the specific challenges that Fiona Raphael once faced herself. “The Produce Pod has a combination of features that you don’t find in other veggie storage options,” she said. Many customers, like Fiona, struggle with the environmental and practical downsides of traditional storage methods. “Plastic bags are a disaster for the environment, and they promote rotting,” Fiona explained. On the other hand, containers tend to be bulky, trap condensation, and are particularly inconvenient for storing whole vegetables.
The Produce Pod offers a solution to all of these problems. “It’s reusable and machine washable, which is fantastic from an environmental perspective,” Fiona pointed out. The product is designed to be compact and adaptable, able to squish down to fit into tight spaces. “It’s useful for anyone who’s short on space, but essential for people with small fridges such as those in caravans,” she said. The convenience doesn’t stop there: there’s no need to separate different veggies into different bags, making it a practical solution for busy people. “And most importantly, it works incredibly well to extend the longevity of vegetables,” Fiona emphasized.
In addition to its functionality, the Produce Pod also features eye-catching artwork, making it a standout item both on the shelf and as a gift. “We also have really eye-catching artwork on the Pods, which makes it stand out on the shelf and it’s a beautiful gift,” Fiona noted.
At its core, The Produce Pod appeals to customers who are passionate about reducing plastic and food waste but need a practical solution that fits their busy lives and often overstuffed fridges. “Our customers are people like myself who are sick of plastic waste and food waste, but who need a convenient solution that fits into their busy life and their over-full fridge,” Fiona explained.
One of the biggest challenges Fiona faced in growing The Produce Pod was managing the rapid increase in demand. “The rapid growth of the business was an enormous challenge,” she admitted. The systems that worked when she was handling just a few orders a week were quickly overwhelmed when the business scaled up. “The systems I was relying on to manage a handful of orders each week were inadequate when it became a few hundred orders in a week,” Fiona explained.
Lessons in delegation
When the time came to outsource and set up some systems I found it hard to let go of the personal oversight, as well as committing to the cost associated with having other people take on certain tasks
At the start, Fiona had been intentional about keeping costs low by managing everything herself. “It’s a difficult balance because I was quite intentional about keeping costs low at the beginning by doing everything myself,” she said. However, as the business grew, she realized she had to let go of some tasks and outsource certain aspects of the business. “When the time came to outsource and set up some systems, I found it hard to let go of the personal oversight, as well as committing to the cost associated with having other people take on certain tasks,” she reflected.
Ultimately, Fiona recognized that scaling required better systems and delegation. “If you want to grow and scale, even if you’re talking relatively small scale, you do need efficient systems that won’t break when you get an influx of orders,” she noted. Additionally, outsourcing certain tasks allowed her to focus on long-term growth. “It’s also essential if you want to free up your time for strategic growth. It’s been said a thousand times, but you can’t be working ‘on’ your business if you’re working ‘in’ your business,” Fiona added. Once she outsourced functions like packaging, order fulfillment, and running ads, she was able to dedicate her time to thinking about how to expand her business.
Through her experiences with The Produce Pod, Fiona has learned some important lessons that have shaped her journey. “It took me a while to realise how much knowledge is already out there and how much I could learn from others who have already done what I’m doing,” she shared. In the early days, Fiona was navigating the business on her own, learning as she went. “For the first year or so I was really winging it with very little guidance,” she admitted.
It wasn’t until the business grew and became harder to manage that she began reaching out to others in the ecommerce industry. “It was only when the business started growing and getting unmanageable for me that I started reaching out and making friends in the ecommerce industry,” she explained. Learning from the successes and failures of others has been invaluable to Fiona. “Learning from their successes and failures has been invaluable.”
Another lesson Fiona emphasizes is the importance of understanding the financial side of the business, even if it’s not her natural strength. “I’ve also found that it’s essential to know your numbers,” she said. Although she doesn’t consider herself a “numbers person,” Fiona quickly realized how crucial it is to keep track of cash flow in the unpredictable world of ecommerce. “Cash-flow is all over the place in ecommerce, and you really need to know where you stand,” she pointed out.
As a successful entrepreneur, Fiona Raphael has some valuable advice for anyone looking to start their own business. First and foremost, she stresses the importance of having a clear edge over your competitors. “You need to have an edge over your competitors and clearly know what it is,” she emphasized. The ecommerce space is highly competitive, with many brands vying for the same customers. Fiona considers herself fortunate to have a unique product that is patent-pending, but she believes that innovation can take many forms. “It doesn’t have to be a unique product; it could be the community, the location, the service, or anything else that makes you different,” she said.
Another key lesson Fiona shares is the need for patience and persistence. “Patience and persistence are essential,” she stressed. Entrepreneurship often comes with its fair share of disappointments, slow sales periods, and logistical hurdles. “You are signing up for lots of disappointments, slow sales periods, self-doubt, and logistical challenges,” Fiona acknowledged. However, she reminds aspiring entrepreneurs that building a brand takes time and resilience. “But building a brand takes time, and you need to be able to weather the storm,” she concluded.
You can find the Produce Pods at www.producepod.com.au
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