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Posted: Thu 20th May 2021
Daniela Orrego is the co-founder of Loro Crisps, a plantain chips company inspired by memories of her favourite childhood snacks.
She shares the story of the brand and explains how an Amazon Small Business Accelerator Bootcamp helped her start selling products on Amazon's online store.
Loro Crisps started because we wanted to connect the two countries that we love - the UK and Colombia. What better way to do it than through our love for food!
My co-founder Natalia and I decided to start selling our favourite childhood snacks, plantain crisps.
After coming up with the idea and the vision for the company, we looked for a manufacturer. We knew we wanted to work with Colombian producers as the whole aim of the company is to bring the two countries together.
We went back to our roots and asked friends and family for ideas. It took us almost six months to find the correct supplier in Colombia.
We needed to make sure they had the correct certifications so we could sell to supermarkets internationally and the ability to scale with us.
Next came the best part of working in the food industry; making sure the product is perfect, which meant lots of sampling! We tested many flavours with our potential customers.
One of the best things we did was participate in a festival in Leeds. We had a stand with bowls of different flavours of plantain crisps. We monitored which were the most popular flavours which helped us decide on the flavours to use.
We went for salt, sweet chilli and lime. We called lime the 'risky flavour'. It's an unusual flavour for the British public but it's now one of the most popular!
Our main challenges were a lack of funding and lack of knowledge about the food industry.
For funding, we applied for many grants. With the support of Santander as well as winning some awards and competitions, we got the funding we needed.
For the second challenge, entrepreneurs in the food industry are very supportive. We joined many groups, such as the Food Hub on Facebook, which helped answer our questions.
We also reached out to friends who have been in the same position for support.
We believe that the best marketing strategy is to show your customers the real story, not just the wins but also the downsides and the challenges.
We have connected to our audience by sharing insights from behind the scenes which has helped us create a loyal customer base.
We have been very grateful to have a brand that is very colourful and we have had great support from Latino communities. We believe that by sharing your values and ethos first, the sales will come naturally.
We created 'Pepe the Parrot' as our brand ambassador who we feature on our Zipaquira Salt Plantain Chips packaging. 'Loro' means parrot in Spanish which is why our brand name is Loro Crisps.
We also feature a different parrot for other products. This has been great in terms of marketing as we run competitions on Instagram and Facebook for people to name the parrots. The best ideas win a free box of plantain crisps.
We have made the most of organic marketing on social media. As a first-time founder, it was challenging to put my face out there but we believe people connect with us in a stronger way if we are honest about the realities of being a business owner.
I have been part of the Enterprise Nation community for a long time and when I spotted the Amazon Small Business Accelerator Bootcamp, it was the perfect opportunity to get started with selling on Amazon to grow our online sales.
The pandemic made us think about the massive importance of e-commerce.
Our initial idea was to target the 'impulse buy' and 'grab and go' market, but due to COVID-19, most people were working from home and not going to their offices so that market was greatly reduced.
With the product already produced we had to find new and innovative ways to reach new customers.
The bootcamp was a great way to understand the steps for getting set up on Amazon.
It helped us understand how to get listed in the grocery category and I found it very beneficial that we had an account manager we could speak to directly.
We had some issues verifying our account but the fact that we had someone to talk to was great for making the process easier.
I love how Caleño Drinks and Plant Pops have used Amazon to grow their sales. I have been very fortunate to learn from the owners directly on how they have improved their listings and made Amazon work for them.
They both started by organically growing their business on Amazon, which is something I have done myself.
They told me that getting reviews is important. They recommended sharing news about our products on Amazon with our social media followers.
I believe that the best business advice I can give to anyone is just start. It's natural to want to make sure your product is perfect, but taking a lean approach is the best way to start a business.
When we started, we didn't have packaging ready, we barely had the suppliers, but we had the idea so we met with buyers. We showed them the product and presented our ethics and mission.
After a few meetings, we received the first couple of orders. We were then ready to start producing the first batch of plantain crisps in Colombia.
The second piece of advice is to always have a learning mentality. There is so much you need to know as a business founder.
The information is out there but don't expect to know everything straight away. Learning something every day is the key to success.
Be inspired by how small business owners are starting, growing and thriving with Enterprise Nation. Read more member stories
