Amazon, Ecommerce & Inventory Strategy — 2026-04-03

Meeting type: Quarterly strategy call
Attendees: Mark Hope, Gilbert Barrongo, Karly Oykhman, Avokerie Onorimuo (Asymmetric); Lucy Doudlah, Mark Doudlah, Jason Doudlah (Doudlah Farms)
Recording: Fathom

Overview

Wide-ranging quarterly review covering strong financial momentum, a blocked popcorn launch, a critical yellow popcorn inventory risk, and two new strategic initiatives: a lower-priced bean sub-brand and a cooked bean co-packing program. VAPG grant reimbursement delays and Natural Grocers retail expansion were also discussed.

Financial Performance

• A 5% price increase was implemented across all channels (website, B2B site, Amazon) to offset rising fuel costs and general inflation. Lucy to also apply the increase to Fair pricing.
• Margin improvement is being driven by a significant rise in organic (non-ad) units — the flywheel effect of consistent inventory availability.
• Subscribe & Save enrollment has accelerated sharply after a long flat period.

Top Sellers & Inventory Status

Top 4 products (last 30 days):
1. White Popcorn (Doudlah Farms)
2. Yellow Popcorn (Doudlah Farms)
3. 5 lb Black Beans
4. Cornmeal

Notable inventory positions:

⚠️ Critical Risk: Yellow Popcorn Inventory

• Only ~120,000 lbs of yellow popcorn remain after the final three semi-loads go to the cleaner.
• The next crop is 8–9 months away (earliest: January 2027).
• At current sales velocity, Doudlah Farms yellow popcorn supply appears manageable, but Old World yellow popcorn is at risk of stockout.

Contingency plan: Source organic (non-ROC) yellow popcorn from an outside supplier to fulfill Old World brand demand, preserving Doudlah Farms' ROC-certified stock for the premium brand.

Popcorn Launch: Status & Blocker

Blocker: TS Foods refused to use Doudlah's preferred Wildly Organic coconut oil, citing flavor contamination risk to their production line. Their current supplier (Nutivia) uses conventional oil that Lucy considers inconsistent and potentially contaminated with heavy metals.

Resolution: Doudlah Farms will supply refined Wildly Organic coconut oil (flavorless; eliminates contamination concern). TS Foods will remove the oil cost from their per-bag price.

Competitive context: TS Foods is also co-packing a competing ROC popcorn brand ("NS" company). Doudlah's Demeter biodynamic certification is a key differentiator — confirmed present on the bag design.

Launch actions:
- Lucy to contact Wildly Organic for refined oil pricing and container options (likely 5-gallon pails or 55-gallon drums), then relay to Mark Hope.
- Mark Hope to notify Justin at TS Foods that Doudlah will supply the refined oil.
- Lucy to send all popcorn product data (UPCs, SKUs, images, descriptions, weights, dimensions) to Mark Hope/Karly.
- Lucy to email Jen for the updated bag graphic with transparent background; CC Mark Hope and Karly.
- Karly to assign Gilbert to build Amazon listings once assets are received.
- Karly to update the website "coming soon" page with the final bag graphic once received.

New Brand Strategy: Lower-Priced Bean Line

Rationale: Doudlah holds significant non-ROC bean inventory (e.g., one semi-load of black beans) that cannot be sold under the Doudlah Farms or ROC labels. Pinto beans (~127k lbs) are also perceived as a commodity and may benefit from a lower price point.

Strategy: Create a distinct sub-brand — positioned below Doudlah Farms, similar to the Old World popcorn approach — to sell non-ROC and commodity-tier beans at a lower margin.

Packaging options under consideration:
- 4 lb poly bags (~$0.25/unit; ~half the cost of Doudlah Farms bags)
- 1-gallon pails (more distinctive; potentially interesting for bulk buyers and schools)

Brand name: "FarmRite" (F-A-R-M-R-I-T-E) was previously trademarked by Doudlah Farms but allowed to lapse. Asymmetric to propose additional name ideas for next call.

Actions:
- Lucy to research packaging options (4 lb bag, 1-gallon pail) and pricing from Johnson Bags; share with Mark Hope.
- Mark Hope's team to propose brand name ideas before next call.

New Product Strategy: Cooked Beans

Opportunity: Bean Vivo reached out requesting supply for new recipes (navies, yellows, small reds, pinks, pintos, cranberries). Separately, Doudlah is exploring co-packing cooked/prepared beans as a value-added product line.

Co-packer: Valley Foods (contact: Justin Giambattista) is the identified candidate. An invoice of ~$51,000 from Valley Foods is due imminently (invoice date 3-5-26).

Pricing strategy for Bean Vivo:
- Open at $1.35/lb, target settlement at $1.25/lb (up from prior $1.10–$1.20 range).
- Beans are sunk cost in the bin; moving inventory at a reasonable price is preferable to holding.

Recipes: Lucy has a plain bean recipe; sourcing school unit sizes from Sherry Howard.

VAPG connection: Grant reimbursement is needed to fund the cooked bean initiative.

Actions:
- Mark Hope to email Justin Giambattista (Valley Foods) re: cooked bean co-packing pricing and MOQ; include DPI recipe.
- Lucy to finalize plain bean recipe and source school unit sizes from Sherry Howard.

Channel & Operations Updates

Website

• Revenue up 181% YTD and 200% MoM (March: ~$41k gross; February: ~$19.8k).
• Growth driven by Google Ads, Google Shopping, and retargeting campaigns.
• Returns are near zero.

B2B Site

• Launch pending a final shipping calculation error fix (Shark working on it; expected within 1–2 days).
• Strategy: offer 10–20% first-order discount to drive adoption; eventually transition all B2B orders exclusively through the portal.
• Actions: Karly to add Mark Hope and Lucy to the B2B email database.

Retail: Natural Grocers

• First target: Lake Geneva store. Personal introduction via Alan (Natural Grocers founder connection).
• Slotting fees expected to be waived.
• Actions: Lucy to complete and submit the Natural Grocers intake form; Mark Hope to join the introductory meeting.

VAPG Grant

• Approximately $55,000 in marketing reimbursement is delayed due to a difficult USDA inspector (second failed approval attempt).
• Inspector has requested data on total popcorn sales and clarification on the 20% Asymmetric marketing allocation.
• Action: Mark Hope to schedule a call with Daniela (grant administrator) to resolve outstanding inspector requests. Resolving this is critical — up to $250k in total grant reimbursement is at stake.

Labor

• Jason needs help for planting season.
• Mark Hope following up with a local Hispanic community contact for labor leads.

Donations

• Action: Lucy to send donation bank account details to Karly; Karly to link to donation platform.

Key Decisions

1. 5% price increase implemented across all channels immediately.
2. Refined Wildly Organic coconut oil to be supplied by Doudlah to unblock TS Foods popcorn co-packing.
3. Old World yellow popcorn to be sourced from outside organic supplier if inventory runs low, preserving ROC stock for Doudlah Farms brand.
4. New lower-priced bean sub-brand to be developed (à la Old World) for non-ROC and commodity beans.
5. Bean Vivo pricing to open at $1.35/lb, targeting $1.25/lb.
6. Natural Grocers identified as first retail expansion target, starting with Lake Geneva.

Action Items

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