SMALL BITES N°3 Priorities

I tend to bite off more than I can chew. And even though this is Small Bites, it’s been too much to munch monthly while growing LXB alongside my day job.

The good news is I didn’t burn out—I’ve learned when to pull back after three startup attempts. The bad news is this newsletter is the last of my priorities. I had to pause these updates along with some other moves to restore balance in my life.

What brings me joy is working out, eating well, and spending time with family. All of which I had sacrificed in my first year running LXB. I always told myself it would be temporary and owed it to myself to keep my word.

It’s been a few months, and I’m back to my workouts 3x a week (goal is 4x), cooking my own meals, and I’m still working on carving out more social time. Progress is the goal here, not perfection.

So, how did I find time to get my priorities back on track? I ceased my weekly pop-up markets. They were never a long-term goal but a marketing strategy to support our Erewhon launch. And with three months behind us, it was a great part of our strategy.

LXB launched at Erewhon with amazing stats; we’ve been steadily growing! I remember when my goal was to break 100 units sold in a week, and now I’m aiming for 200. 🤯 With only 2 SKUs on shelf in 9 doors, LXB ranks in the top 5 brands (of 20+ in the fridge) for average dollars per SKU per week.

I also hired an assistant. I didn’t think I was ready for a first hire, but you find a way when talented people come along. Finding the right help has been the most impactful factor in keeping my priorities to continue bringing clean, organic luxury desserts to more people.

Without further ado, here’s our July menu! Enjoy, and thank you for following along as I build LEXINGTON BAKES into the next great American bakery brand.

🔥 Spicy Appetizers 🔥

• LEXINGTON BAKES LAUNCHED AT EREWHON! 🚀

• LXB quickly became a TOP 10 brand in category at EREWHON! 🥳

• Our Friends at Erewhon Giveaways were a huge success!

• Foxtrot opened 5 new doors and brought LXB to each one!

• Caffe Panna x LXB ice cream pints delighted NYC! 🍦

• We debuted LXB Minis for events and sampling!

• LXB Minis served at Lonely Ghost x Springy Jeans pop-up in LA!

• Dixie D'Amelio shared LXB to 23M followers on IG 🤯

• LXB sold nearly 400 units in first month at Pop Up Grocer NYC!

• LXB among top performing brands at Pop Up Grocer NYC!

• Kicked off rotation 2 at PUG NYC with a 5th SKU!

• Lex interviewed by VoyageLA!

• LEXINGTON BAKES LAUNCHING AT MOTHER’S MARKET! 🚀

Analysis 👨‍🔬

Updates from Last Time

• Fleur de Sel Brownie is actually 100% Organic! Not 99%, forgot salt is excluded from organic calculations. 🤦🏻‍♂️🥳

• Fired our first co-man. 🔥 Couldn’t deliver what they promised.

• Onboarded incredible new accounting partners.

• Bubble rejected us because of sugar, even though it’s unrefined & organic. 😢

• Non-GMO Project Certification almost completed! 🥳

• 2 of 7 target accounts secured on our 2023 Roadmap! 🥳

• The rest are delayed because we don’t have enough inv. (no co-man).

• $100K SBA loan deposited (and mostly spent)! 💸😅

• Weekly markets were incredible awareness building events.

• Fair Trade certification is a mess. Two diff bodies and no overlap? 😵‍💫

• Organic certification will have to wait until we kick off with new co-man.

• B-Corp certification on pause.

• New flavors on pause. Prioritizing updating existing SKUs to organic.
  Next one is our Hazelnut Gianduja Brownie, and it’s ready to launch.

July Tasting 👨🏻‍🍳

🍫 Top Priorities

• Complete Non-GMO Project Verification

• Bring 3rd SKU to Erewhon. Submitted last week 🤞

• Pilot run with new co-man in August 🤞

🍪 In the Oven

• Packaging design updates (in production) 🔥

• Building custom sales dashboards

• Source Organic White Chocolate (no stevia, sugar alcohols, or soy)

• Source Organic Piedmont Hazelnuts (raw, blanched) 🌰

• Source Organic Caramel chips (no stevia, sugar alcohols, or soy)

• New product photography (gold labels make this SO challenging!)

🍭 Sprinkles (dropping soon)

• Erewhon 3-month performance review

• Podcast interview coming up 🎙

🧊 On Ice

• PR Strategy

• Vegan Coconut Crème Brownie

• Black Forrest Cake Cookie

• Brand Campaign

• TikTok programming

À La Carte 🛒

🍿 Savory Insights, Research & Reports

• “Fast-food industry drives workers to homelessness” via CBSNews

• Since enough companies complained, WHO declares safe to drink 9 to 14 diet sodas with aspartame a day…, sure Jan. 🤦🏻‍♂️

• Vegan Food Market growing fast with 12.95 % CAGR 🙌

• New honey truffle sweetener on the horizon via Asia Food Journal

• “Less than half of food retailers report online sales profitability”, via Grocery Business

🍭 Sweet Content Shares

• Speaking of co-mans, here’s a master class in working with them on StartupCPG #97 Co-Packing 101.

• In the Sauce with Janica Lane at Piper Sandler is super insightful on what makes a food & bev startup attractive to investors and acquirers.

• Learn about the power of creating for someone, not everyone in Subscribing to Wellness #81: Jash Mehta, Pop & Bottle.

• Gluten may be blamed for more problems than it’s actually solely responsible, learn why on this episode of Science Vs. Gluten.

• Hear from the founder of Blue Bottle Coffee, James Freeman on where coffee is heading on this episode of This is Taste.

• TCHO, the chocolate we use in all our brownies, was featured in one of the hottest shows streaming now, The Bear. Learn from Josh Mohr, SVP Marketing at TCHO on how he and team made that happen.

😋 Tasty New Treats Worth Trying

• I can’t get enough Erewhon Malibu Mango smoothies.

• Eager to get my hands on some Sweet Nothings Nut Butter Bites!

• B.T.R. Nation’s strawberry shortcake bars look and sound delish!

• I love Meati mushroom root meat and now they’re national.

• I finally tried Daily Crunch’s Nashville Hot almonds and I’m hooked.

• Lemon Cookie Ice Cream from Straus is amazing!

• I’m not a matcha fan, but the new TCHO Perfect Matcha bar in collab with Third Culture may change my mind. 🍓🍃

Simmering Thoughts ☕️

• Brands don’t spend enough time distinguishing their experiences for DTC vs Retail. Huge miss IMO.

• I really want to open a scoop shop in LA. I know, I know, stay focused Lex!

Thanks for reading! Feel free to strike a chat about anything you've read here—that's kind of the point. 😉 Esp if you can help with any of my agenda items.

Until next time,
💛 Lex

P.S. I’m taking the next two weeks off to enjoy time with family in Italy. PRIORITIES!! Follow my IG stories for a taste of Sardegna, @lexevan.