One year ago, we launched our organic skincare line in a handful of supermarkets in Berkeley, California. I started this company out of a desire to get an effective, clean, and meaningful product on grocery shelves. I had no real prior experience to achieve this. What I did have was a lot of confidence in our products, drive to get our line in consumers’ homes, and a lack of fear for rejection. I can’t tell you how many fun/scary/crazy/exciting/disappointing/amazing stories we have accumulated over the past 12 months, and we have learned so much. Going forward, I always say that we will never stop getting “better”, whether it is strengthening our product, giving back more, improving our company processes, etc.
As we look back on Year 1, I thought I’d update you on what we accomplished and where we stand today:
- We are currently in 500 supermarkets and organic stores in the world
- We have a presence in 29 states in the U.S., and we’re also distributed in Australia and Hong Kong
- Our supermarket partners include select Whole Foods, HEB, Safeway, independents, and coop stores
- We have moved from a home-based office to a REAL (still startupy) office space in downtown San Francisco
- Each teammate volunteered an average of 25 hours with local non-profit organizations, and in December, we plan to donate thousands of dollars to these organizations
- We expanded our product range to 12 SKUs
- We achieved our organic certification and successfully passed our first annual organic inspection
- We remain a self-funded company
- We continue to produce our products ourselves in Berkeley, California
As we enter Year 2, we’re working on many initiatives to make our company and products “better”. Here are some things you can expect over the next year:
- We are becoming an official partner of the Fair Trade USA organization, and certifying our organic virgin coconut oil ingredient as Fair Trade
- Six of our SKUs will become certified VEGAN!
- We look to at least double our store count and expand our presence to 40+ states in the U.S.
- We are expanding our store partnerships, including working with Costco
- We expect to add four to five new products
- We will increase our time and dollar commitment to our nonprofit partnerships
As you can see, we have A LOT of exciting stuff planned for our future. We’re so thankful for the support from our consumers, including all the extremely helpful feedback that we have received. We’re also thankful for our retail partners and in-store teammates, and crazy supportive broker network (all incredible people!). Lastly, as the CEO, I’m the most thankful for the small team (including my family!) that I work with that has helped the brand grow and allowed me to steer the company through (sometimes rough) waters.
Thank you so much for following us and loving our products, and we always welcome hearing from you (email me at priscilla@cocokind.com or the company at info@cocokind.com).
Happy ONE YEAR to us…woohoo!
-Priscilla Tsai
Founder/Owner
