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

Hi David, thanks for joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

FRUITLOOTS was created when my good friend (and now Co-Founder) attempted to send gifts for Pride Month and found it incredibly difficult to find a singular place to shop LGBTQ+-owned businesses and give them as gifts. We found ourselves buying from multiple sites, then repacking, and then shipping. We needed this to be easier, more elevated, and more modern.

In the Summer of 2021, we launched FRUITLOOTS.com. A singular website to shop LGBTQ+-owned businesses alongside other minority-owned brands. To elevate the experience, we also designed all the packaging in which the gifts get shipped. Customers can choose from several “gift wrap” sleeves that are wrapped around our gift boxes. This along with gift notes are complimentary with every gift box purchase.

In addition to our community of small businesses and products, we also design many products ourselves. This includes our range of candles and apparel. All exclusive and all

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?

At FRUITLOOTS, we are constantly searching for makers across the US that bring something new to our customers. From pottery to keychains to snacks and notebooks, we are always on the hunt for the next great gift.

When you visit our website, you can shop by the curated collections of boxes that we have created, or you can choose to build your own. With each product, you are introduced to a small business or maker and know that you are supporting their dream with each purchase. These are not national brands or brands with tons of money, so it truly goes a long way when you purchase their products In fact, we encourage you to shop them after you discover them.

When we bring new brands on board, we always do a feature on them so you can get to know them and why they started their business. So make sure to check out our “FRUITFEED” to get to know the faces behind the products.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

Allan (my Co-Founder) and I have been friends for over 20 years. We met as young teens working in the mall for some of the big retailers. We both went on to grow in those careers, Allan in Graphic Design & Visual Merchandising and myself in Corporate Sales and Product Development. We had always talked about doing something together but it wasn’t till FRUITLOOTS came about that it truly made sense. His expertise in design and mine in sales just made sense. Plus, Allan and I always had an affinity for gift-giving so it all came together perfectly.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

If there is one thing that I have learned in my sales career, is that the customer will tell you what they want by how they purchase and the feedback they give you. You always hear stories about people pivoting when this happens and we did as well.

We did tons of pop-ups and markets and got in front of the customer to get feedback. The one thing that we kept hearing over and over again was that our customers wanted FRUITLOOTS products and not just the packaging that we gave them. From there, we invested in some of the basics of the gift-giving world: candles and apparel. These two product creations grew our business overnight and gave us marketing tools to get into retailers and begin our wholesale business.

We would not have started that without feedback from customers and the reinforcement of their sales.

Contact Info:

• Website: fruitloots.com
• Instagram: @heyfruitloots
• Facebook: @heyfruitloots
• Other: TikTok: @heyfruitloots

Image Credits
All FRUITLOOTS owned.