We were lucky to catch up with John Terry recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi John, thanks for joining us today. So, what do you think about family businesses? Would you want your children or other family members to one day join your business?

I think family businesses are great. I think that a child’s relationship with a parent allows for honest and productive discussions about business strategy and goals.

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?

Hey everyone! My name is John Terry. I started doing the keto diet back in 2011 while I was in high school. After graduating college, I worked for Merck, a large pharmaceutical company in the diabetes market, where I saw America’s deep struggle with obesity and the need for delicious healthy options.

In 2016 my mom, a veteran french pastry chef unhappy with her weight, decided to try the diet that I had been a fan of for so long. The results were so incredible that I spent the next 2 years convincing her to quit her job and start a business sharing her keto creations with the world. In 2018, we both quit our jobs and founded Ketonia.

Ketonia: a place where you can lose weight by eating the foods you love.

From our humble beginnings at the farmers market in Katy, TX, we have had multiple Amazon bestsellers, been featured in Woman’s World magazine, verified on Pinterest, and launched in over 475 Walmarts across 14 states.

The main thing I want customers to know is this. We want to partner with our customers on their keto journey. Stop by our website KetoniaFoods.com or Google Ketonia to find over 350 keto recipes, video tutorials, a free keto nutrition calculator, and much more!

Follow us on all social media @KetoniaFoods & tune in every week at 5 PM on Youtube Live, Apple Podcast & Spotify for our podcast “Is Vodka Keto?” Where my mom and I kick back, talk keto, and try to answer some of life’s most important questions. Submit your keto questions to [email protected] for your chance to have a live video cooking lesson on the podcast!

Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?

We make Keto Baking Mix and Keto Coconut Macaroons. Both products for probably the first 2 years were manufactured by my mom and me in a commercial kitchen. Everyone has the dream of hiring someone else to make their food, so they can just sell it, but especially in the beginning when you’re modifying recipes frequently and working with smaller batch sizes, it really doesn’t make sense to go to a co-packer right away.

We found our co-packer when we could bring enough volume for a single run to be financially worthwhile for our co-packer. You’ve got to think of each player in your supply and distribution chain as needing to make a profit and account for that in your price calculations.

Find a co-packer you trust preferably in a place that’s either close to you or that you don’t mind visiting. Establishing good relationships with a co-packer is a two-way street make sure you abide by their procedures but don’t shy about setting standards for what you expect.

Communication is key. Update all key players as quickly as possible. When you move to a co-packer you shift from being a lineman to being the quarterback.

I could talk for hours about the things I’ve learned about manufacturing along the way, from forecasting to supplier management, to cost controls, but I would say the most important thing I’ve learned about manufacturing is the importance of accrual basis accounting.

We’d love to hear your thoughts about selling platforms like Amazon/Etsy vs selling on your own site.

I sell on Amazon. There are a lot of pros, most notably the exposure and the ability for anyone to make a name for themself on a national scale.

The big draw backs of working with Amazon come from being a small fish in a big pond. Lots of negative things can happen (We had a competitor flag us as a pesticide, which we are not and our listings were taken down for 5 days) that can be devastating for the business, but because you are a small fish, it can take significant time to get things fixed.

Also, you don’t own any of your customer data with Amazon, which makes remarketing off Amazon more difficult.

Lastly, Amazon FBA fees can be incredibly high if you don’t structure your offering correctly.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://ketoniafoods.com
• Instagram: @ketoniafoods
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Ketoniafoods/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ketoniafoods
• Twitter: @ketoniafoods
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRmLcJa_MrAoyWpKiLG78rA
• Other: Pinterest @KetoniaFoods

Image Credits
Geri Terry John Terry