We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Crystal Phillips a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Crystal thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?

I wanted something catchy for both children and kids at heart. The Characters I came up with for my children’s stories and plushies were food based, so I came up with the name “Foodie Friends.”

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m Crystal Phillips, born and raised in hot, humid Florida. I’ve been creating for as long as I could remember. I Majored in Computer Science and Fine Arts in college. Once I graduated college I joined an artists group at my church and the lady who ran it drew talent out of me that I didn’t know I had. I’ve had an Etsy shop since 2010 where I sell my art and handmade goods. In 2022 I was making tiny plushies and decided that I could also make them big, so I created giant plushies. My son took a video of me in the midst of my making them. The video was posted, went viral and the rest is history. I’ve been writting children’s stories and designing plushies for my new Plushie company “Foodie Friends” ever since.

Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.

For manufacturing the products, I started making them by hand when I first started. But with a viral video, it was nearly impossible to keep up. So I found some videos on youtube on how to get overseas manufacturers and OMG, it was a Godsend!!! The process ended up being so easy, the entire process was amazing. MUCH easier than I would have ever imagined. I used Aliexpress and used the credentials the youtube videos suggested. For instance, you want a seller who has been on the platform for many years, has good reviews and many little badges. The biggest thing that had me biting my nails was shipping the goods to me. Everything was paid for and you just sit and wait and pray all goes well from manufactures door to your door. THINK of all the exchanges in between!!! You pay for everything but the goods still have to go to port, make it through customs, port again, find a smaller shipper over land, then to your door. Everything went good, but I’m sure companies have dealt with lost or damaged goods.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

I had decided to grow my company and had been working for over a year and saving every penny I could. I had initially wanted to open a brick and mortar boutique, but covid hit and changed all that. It ended up being a blessing anyway, as everyone hopped online and all eyes were on social media anyway, as everyone waited out quarantine. Plus brick and mortar would have cost a lot in overhead, so this way my only payment was really in product production. Working really hard and saving every penny I could, living very frugally (which was easy during covid) was how I was able to put up the capital myself. Though at the time it was a bummer to not have a physical little boutique, it was a bigger financial blessing in the end.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://foodiefriends.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shaman_crystal/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LadybugOnALeafDesignsbyCrystalPhillips/