Dionne Laslo-Baker has a food product hit on her hands. The company she started a little over a year ago now has its natural, tea-based popsicle products in nearly 500 stores, including Whole Foods, Choices and Wegmans, a grocery store chain in the United States.
But while it’s easy to get excited about rapid growth, Laslo-Baker said it’s been important to slow down when making decisions. Laslo-
Baker, who was a medical researcher before she started her own business, says that includes making sure you “know what you don’t know.”
“Any time I felt that I didn’t know anything about an industry or terminology or a request, I would immediately call someone who had expertise in that area,” she said.
When a big grocery store comes calling, it’s easy to get excited. But Laslo-Baker said taking the time to calm down and ask for feedback from her staff and others in the industry has often led to saying no.
“You think, I have to get in there because it doesn’t often happen that a big retailer will say they want your product,” she said.
“Some of these large retailers have done very well for some companies, but they can also make you bankrupt. There’s often pressure to reduce your bottom-line price.”
Baker believes taking the time to do her research has helped her make better decisions. She’s also happy to expand the company slowly.
“There are some companies that have grown so fast because they’ve gone that route, and I’ve been treading very lightly and very cautiously,” she said.
“We actually haven’t negotiated with the big retailers yet because more than 20% of my business would be in that account. We need to be larger before we go to that place.”
On what’s next | “Right now we have three products in development that have never ever hit the marketplace. We expect them to be as successful or if not more than the product we already have. We’ll be launching them in the next few years.”
Has a work or life lesson taught you a key career lesson? Contact Jen St. Denis at [email protected].
