She Started a Dating Site for Foodies. Killing It Was the Best Decision She Made.

Michelle Mazzara's first business was an online dating site for foodies. She was first to market. Six months in, she shut it down. Twelve years later, Luvafoodie is a clean-eating spice brand sold through regional grocery — and about to make the jump to national. In this episode of the Command Your Brand Show, Jeremy Ryan Slate talks with Michelle about what it actually takes to kill a good idea fast, build a consumer brand from nothing, and get a product onto a grocery shelf and keep it there. In this conversation: - Why she walked away from a first-to-market idea after six months - How selling caramels in local Minnesota stores became the test that proved the brand - Why short shelf life killed the chocolate line — and led to spices - A heart disease misdiagnosis, and the salt-free product line that came out of it - The spice blend she developed for her dog Lucy, who lived to 17 and a half - Why packaging aesthetics are "the communication that happens before communication" - The scary move she's making right now: spice tins to shaker jars, and a new co-packer - Be a big fish in a small pond first — the local-to-regional-to-national path - Exactly how she got from single stores into a grocery chain's distribution center - What she won't co-brand with, and why - Being a solo woman founder: total freedom, and nobody to check you If you're building a physical product, or you're sitting on a first idea you suspect isn't working, this one is worth your time. 👇 COMMENT BELOW: What's the thing you should have quit six months sooner? CHAPTERS: 00:00 Intro 00:25 Where the brand came from 00:39 It started as a dating site for foodies 01:32 How do you know it's the right pivot? 02:00 Testing the brand with caramels in local stores 03:01 Why chocolate didn't work — and spices did 03:36 A heart disease misdiagnosis and the salt-free line 04:30 Why she couldn't compete with Match.com 05:51 Was the pivot hard mentally? 06:41 25 years in consumer packaged goods — Target and Walmart 08:02 The salt-free niche nobody was serving 08:52 Food dyes and the clean-eating shift 10:07 Spices for dogs and cats 10:57 Lucy: seizures, a wrong diagnosis, and 17 and a half years 12:20 The science of the retail display 13:00 Why aesthetics sell food 13:49 The scary move: spice tins to shaker jars 15:59 "The communication that happens before communication" 18:02 How she got the message out for 12 years 19:35 Be a big fish in a small pond first 19:57 From single stores to a distribution center 21:08 What's in the line now 23:01 What she won't co-brand with 23:52 Solo founder: freedom and its cost 24:51 How do you command your brand? 25:50 Where to find Michelle 26:59 The Puglia culinary tour CONNECT WITH MICHELLE MAZZARA: Luvafoodie: https://luvafoodie.com The Making of a Luvafoodie Brand (memoir/cookbook): https://www.amazon.com/Making-Luvafoodie%C2%AE-Brand-Clean-Eating-Revolution-ebook/dp/B0DLH84YB8 Luvafoodie Spice Blends Cookbook: https://www.amazon.com/Luvafoodie-Blends-Cookbook-Michelle-Mazzara/dp/1708273026 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-mazzara-83853b7/