Mingling with the best

A lack of seasoning options in the supermarket aisle was what led Melbourne-based entrepreneur Jordyn Evans down the path of establishing her own brand. With demand for natural and “free from” products impacting all segments of grocery, Evans spotted an opportunity in seasoning and was quick to act.Here she shares how she built Mingle Seasoning from the ground up with a little help from Chobani.Inside FMCG: Tell us about your motivations for starting Mingle Seasoning.Jordyn Evans: It started four years ago in my kitchen when I was cleaning out my pantry. I discovered the seasonings that I had been using contained a whole lot of nasty ingredients. Sugar, high amounts of salt, vegetable oils, emulsifiers numbers and colours. I wanted flavour that was packed with a punch and didn’t just taste like salt.When I got to the spice aisle I realised there wasn’t a healthy range of seasonings and went home empty-handed. I no longer felt comfortable using these products and went to the supermarket to find a healthier alternative. That’s when I had my light bulb moment and had the vision to shake things up in the spice aisle with a healthy seasoning product that was also fun, colourful and made me excited to cook. For a category that’s all about flavour, this aisle was pretty damn bland when it came to packaging and branding too. I knew I wanted to create the demand outside the retail store first, though, and so launched an e-commerce website initially and had a strong social media presence to build that direct relationship with my customer. That made it easier to transition into retail two years later, knowing I had a strong customer base and demand for the product. Inside FMCG: What obstacles did you encounter when establishing the business?JE: Scaling manufacturing and not coming from a food technology background has certainly had its challenges. Four years ago, I started Mingle in my kitchen and it was like breaking bad style. I was rocking the hair masks, blending the spices myself and within a month or so that really quickly became unsustainable.Timing is everything, though, and I was lucky enough to get into the Chobani Incubator program. Chobani’s team has helped me immensely with scaling my manufacturing, ensuring quality is consistent as we have moved from facility to facility, and being able to knock down doors that would previously not have spoken to me as I was the little spice business with a big dream.Inside FMCG: How did Chobani’s Incubator program help get the business off the ground?JE: Chobani was pivotal in assisting with building relationships with Coles and Woolworths. In the Chobani Incubator program, we were lucky enough to head up to Woolies in Sydney for an incursion. Woolies took us under their wing and really gave us the 101 of working with them, which put me at the forefront when I had the opportunity to pitch to them soon after.Mingle has always been a long-term play and the focus has been on sustainable growth. That’s why we have decided to do a 17-store trial in Victoria with Woolies initially, with the full range to get our product mix right and drive our online customers instore. This has been a credit to buyers, Shane Fraser and Andy Han, who have really supported Mingle’s vision and we’re excited to grow with Woolies in 2020 as our customers are hungry for it.The concept of starting small to learn the retail ropes was from my experience with Coles. About 1.5 years ago they launched Coles Local, which was my first opportunity in mass retail and really was what I call the kindergarten version of retail. In a small-scale store I got the opportunity to learn everything from distribution centre (DC) slots to working with category buyers to promotions. This also allowed Coles to test my product in a smaller format and, due to the popularity, allowed Mingle to grow from there.We were lucky enough to have Sioned Read, the category buyer for herbs and spices, give us the opportunity to sell two of our flavours (Curry in a Hurry and Spag Bol) nationally in Coles last year and we’re pretty excited for what’s in the pipeline in 2020 too. We wake up every morning for our customers and we’re going to be making our products more accessible across Australia in 2020, which is exciting for our business.Inside FMCG: How have Coles and Woolworths helped propel the brand?JE: Working with these retailers has allowed our customers to have greater accessibility to our products. This honestly has been a game-changer and allowed the brand to be consumed by thousands of Australians. The influx of images we get of Curry in a Hurry and Spag Bol creations whipped up by mums, dads, friends and people from all walks of life has been one of the most rewarding things and very satisfying for our team. The Mingle team has a great sense of purpose now and really has driven us to think bigger and impact more households.My opinion of retailers really has shifted in the last two years. That’s been a game-changer! Before transitioning the business to retail, I did have hesitations as FMCG is highly competitive and tough. So far, though, working with both buyers has been collaborative and enjoyable.Read the extended interview in the April issue of Inside FMCG. Subscribe here.