About the Show:

"I've never pivoted so much. Not even when I play post on pickup basketball do I pivot this much and this hard."

– Blanca Maldonado

Blanca Maldonado and Danielle Reynolds are back. If you caught their first appearance on I Am Northwest Arkansas® back in 2022, you already know these two are something special. A lot has changed since then — and in the best possible way.

In this episode, host Randy Wilburn sits down with the duo behind Sugar Apple Co. for a real, unfiltered conversation about what it actually takes to grow a small food business in Northwest Arkansas. We're talking Rice Krispie Treats — handmade, delicious, and now the centerpiece of a brand that's been tested, pivoted, and built with intention. Blanca and Danielle open up about customer feedback that changed their direction, creative marketing on a budget, the honest truth about shipping experiments, and what resilience really looks like when you're building something from scratch.

From pop-up events to a direct-to-consumer website, Sugar Apple Co. is proof that staying nimble and knowing your customer can take you further than any business plan.

If you love entrepreneurship, food, and stories of people betting on themselves — this one's for you. Pull up your favorite podcast app and give this episode a listen today.

Key Takeaways:

• Pivot Often and Stay Open: Blanca Maldonado and Danielle Reynolds show how adapting to customer needs and market feedback led to Rice Krispie treats becoming their signature and most successful product.
• Community Matters: Support from local mentors, colleagues, and places like Hill City Popcorn, Pearl’s Books, local commercial kitchens, and the Fayetteville Public Library made a big difference in their journey.
• Know Your Strengths: The Sugar Apple Co partnership works because each person stays in their own lane—Danielle focuses on food science and numbers, and Blanca takes on marketing and outreach.
• Test and Learn: Market research doesn’t have to cost thousands. The team used social media and QR codes to get quick, valuable data straight from real customers.
• Dream Big, Start Small: Sugar Apple Co is aiming for national distribution, but they’re building a solid foundation with direct-to-consumer sales, niche markets like runners and bikers, and steady local support first.
• Insider Tips: Hear shipping hacks, why quality and shelf-stable products are important for scaling, and how even a failed business attempt can spark a future win.

All this and more on this episode of the I Am Northwest Arkansas® podcast.

Important Links and Mentions on the Show*

• Sugar Apple Treats – Shop online (Use code IAMNWA for a special discount!)
• Sugar Apple Treats on Instagram
• Sugar Apple Treats on LinkedIn
• Pearl’s Books – Fayetteville, AR bookstore
• Fossil Cove Brewing Co – Fayetteville, AR
• Two Friends Bookstore – Bentonville, AR
• Hill City Popcorn – Fayetteville, AR
• The Momentary – Bentonville, AR
• Spring Kitchen – Commercial kitchen in Springdale, AR
• Fayetteville Public Library – Studio and kitchen resources
• FindItNWA.com NWA’s Hyperlocal Business Directory

This episode is sponsored by*

Signature Bank of Arkansas "Community Banking at its Best!"

*Note: some of the resources mentioned may be affiliate links. This means we get paid a commission (at no extra cost to you) if you use that link to make a purchase.

Connect more with I am Northwest Arkansas:

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• Email Us at hello@iamnorthwestarkansas.com
• Connect With Our Facebook Page 
• Connect With Us on Threads
• Connect With Our Instagram 
• Connect With Our LinkedIn Page
• Join The Facebook Group 
• Connect with our Fearless Host, Randy Wilburn on LinkedIn

Thank you for listening to this I am Northwest Arkansas podcast episode. We showcase businesses, culture, entrepreneurship, and life in the Ozarks.

Consider donating to our production team to keep this podcast running smoothly. Donate to I Am Northwest Arkansas

Mentioned in this episode:

Signature Bank of Arkansas "Community Banking at its Best!"

FindItNWA.com

Looking to discover the best local businesses in Northwest Arkansas? 🌟 From cozy cafes to essential services, FindItNWA.com has got you covered. Connect with your local community with just one click and explore something great. Visit finditnwa.com today! #LocalBusiness #CommunitySupport"

FindItNWA.com

It's

time for another episode of I Am Northwest Arkansas,

the podcast covering the intersection of business, culture,

entrepreneurship, and life in general here in the Ozarks.

Whether you are considering a move to this area or trying to learn more

about the place you call home, We've got something special for you.

Here's our host, Randy Wilburn.

Hey folks, and welcome back to another episode of I Am Northwest

Arkansas. I'm your host, Randy Wilburn, and I'm excited to be with you

as always. I am actually here in the Center

for Innovation at the Fayetteville Public Library.

For those of you that do know, I am the director of

communications and marketing at the Fayetteville Public Library, so I really

enjoy that role, and I have the benefit of actually

having access to the sound studio.

And it's nice to be able to come down here on my lunch break if

I need to record a podcast or to do something on the weekends. And so

I'm excited to sit down with actually two people that are not

only previous guests on the podcast, but they are also

friends. And I'm speaking of none other than

Blanca Maldonado and Danielle Reynolds. And

Danielle and Blanca are the owners of what they were

originally called was Sugar Apple Baking Company. And that was the

company when I interviewed them back in 2022,

August of 2022, was episode

181. Can you believe that? Yes. That's crazy.

It's been a minute. It's been a minute. So, in August of

2022, and this was kind of during the pandemic, we

met upstairs on the 4th floor of the Fayetteville Public Library in

one of the study rooms, which I recorded over 100

episodes in. And since then I've recorded all over Northwest

Arkansas, and I'm really, I'm excited that I'm able to do that.

But this is even more special because I get to sit down with you guys

once more to learn about some new things that you guys

are doing. And I just want to, I want to lay this out for the

listener because I don't want you to think, oh, well, yeah, Randy's just recycling old

guests on the podcast. That couldn't be further from the truth. One of the

things that I have had the privilege of doing specifically with you

guys and Danielle, we, we call her Dani and Blanca

is Blanca. And the thing that we, that I've enjoyed is being

a witness to the growth of their

business and the iterations and the iterative nature of

entrepreneurship. And these ladies have never let

grass grow under their feet. They have never taken no for an

answer, and they are always looking for ways to

continue to leverage their brand and to get the word

out about the amazing treats that they make. And so, on today's

episode, and we'll, we'll link to episode 181 so you

guys can hear them, you can hear the before and after, because this is going

to be new. But yeah, the growth. But on today's episode,

we're going to kind of break down their journey since

2022 to today. We're now in 2026. And

they said, they reached, Blanca reached out to me a couple of weeks ago and

said, I've really got some news I'd love to share with you. We're working on

some new things. We're about to, well, I'll let them tell the story. But

without further ado, again, I want to welcome Blanca and Danny

to the podcast. How are you guys doing? Great to be here. Thanks for

having us back. Absolutely. Absolutely. Like I said, I meant every word of

what I said, but So listen, just real quickly, catch us up

on who you guys are. Just give us the quick

overarching superhero origin story, and then I want you to get into Sugar Apple

because you guys are doing some unique things. So, Dani, why don't you go

first? Yeah, so Dani Reynolds, I actually graduated from

the U of A with a food science degree. I remember in our, our episode

before this, we talked about how my family is like in the food industry, and

I have aunts that you know, have bakeries and all these different things.

And one of those aunts was a food scientist. She did a lot of like

research and development for a flour mill called ECGC in the

Caribbean. And so as a kid, I was in all these factories and I loved

it. So I have a food science degree and then, you know, life took over

and I taught for a while and now I'm in the CPG world and

I've always wanted to have a CPG product. I've been a CPG freak since I

was a kid. I could tell you all the things about a Twinkie

down to, you know, what machinery they use. And that it used to be

banana flavored before it was vanilla, because that used to be the most popular

flavor was banana, not vanilla. And I just love CPG

products, and I love being able to leverage, one, my

culinary experience, but also my love of food into a

product that is just nostalgic and I

want to eat. Yeah, I love that. Now, before I go to Blanca,

because now you got me curious, because I was actually— I'm ashamed to say

this— I was a Twinkie eater back in the day. I also saw a

study of a Twinkie that was kind of left out. Yes. And

the preservatives that are in it clearly keep it— it looked just like it

did the first day it came out of the package. But it does. When did

they switch over from banana to vanilla? I think it might have been

in the '60s. Okay. So that was— okay. So by the time I

started, because I'm certainly not that old, by the time I started eating

Twinkies, it was already vanilla. Yes. Yeah. But banana was like the original

flavor. Wow. Interesting. And banana is like one of my favorite flavors. So.

It's the number one, like, produce item in the United States. Yeah,

easily, easily. Which is amazing. Yeah, it is. Wow. Okay,

Blanca. Yes. Yes. Okay, so what about me?

I have fully embraced that I am an

entrepreneur with this journey between Sugar Apple

Baking Co. and going into Sugar Apple Treats and the Rice

Krispies CPG. I feel like I get to

marry all my favorite things about business and creativity

into this business. Like, growing up, I used to love making music

videos with my friends and my cousins and my brothers, and now I

treated Sugar Apple Baking Co., when I used to record

the process or behind the scenes, the same knowledge and

playfulness. Yeah. Into those videos as well. Yeah, that's

interesting. I mean, Yeah, I don't know if you mentioned the video thing back. No,

I didn't. I was— that was something that has been revealing

itself since 2022 because I'm like, why do I enjoy this so much?

Where is this from? And my mom sent us some home videos

and she's like, remember when you made this music video with your brothers and had

them dance? How old were you? Oh, 11. Okay, 12,

13. You know, I find that to be interesting, and I'm gonna just take a

quick tangent and tell a short story around and why that's

significant because I think a lot of times people struggle with, you know, what their

calling is or what they like to do. And a lot of times

we ignore or we don't give much weight to some of

the things that we did as kids because we say once we become

adults, well, we put away childish things and all that. But sometimes

there are breadcrumbs that are left in the activities

and the things that we did as children that really provided us with

a level of a high degree of comfort and

passion and just excitement. Joy. Yeah,

and joy. And I remember, and just to kind of tell a story, a

friend of mine, I remember when she was opening up a

bookstore and people were like, man, you really, you're really good at this.

She had never opened up a bookstore before. And her mother

said to her, and I think she had forgotten this, that, you know, as a

little girl, used to take books out in the neighborhood and make people

check them out as a librarian. That was her thing back in the day. And

she had had totally forgotten about that. And I always— that story always

stuck with me because sometimes we

ignore the things that we're most passionate about or that

we have a skill set for or proclivity towards because we

feel like, oh, well, that was just what I did as a kid. Yeah, it

has no bearing on my future or on where I am as an

adult. And I honestly believe that couldn't be further from the truth. And

that's just one example, one story. Your story is another one.

I'm sure there's some listeners out there, and I'd love to hear from you if

you had an experience as a child that has manifested itself

in what you do for work now, or what you do for your

business, or something along those lines? Because sometimes, you know, we

tend to overlook those signs. Yeah. And,

you know, I did for a long time. Yeah. And then my mom,

she was sending us these home videos, and I would tell the stories to my

friends. Daddy knows about the music videos I used to make with my brothers. And

I remember one when we got a video recorder, a camcorder,

and I was always excited to like get the family videos, but I

would record them in a way that it was like a novella. So there was

a lot of drama. And one time, like, my aunt and uncle,

we went to DC and they were like having a fight. So I

recorded it like a breakup getting together video, and I was

narrating it. Oh my God. So I feel like a lot of that has been

spilling over into Sugar Apple Treats, and it's been really

fun to revisit that side of myself. Yeah, yeah. So we

did— Blanca shows up to my house with this like

screen in the back and these like silky PJs, and I'm like, what are we—

what's going on right now? What's happening? So we were gonna be vendors at a

TLC concert at the Momentary. Oh, I remember that.

Blanca sets it up in my living room and has me

recreate the TLC video. It was like, what is happening

right now? That's hilarious. It was like, why do you have all this equipment? I

went ahead, I I know we like

jokingly said it, and I was like, if you're serious, I can make this happen.

I have to be— I have to be careful about my like what-ifs.

Yeah, you know? Yeah. And I'm a big what-if

person. I like to say that like the world is filled with endless

possibilities and none of them are in your past. Yeah. So it's like

limitless. You just— and I just love being like, Blanca, what if?

And so even Rice Krispie Treats were a what-if. Yes.

We originally sold Rice Krispie Treats because I

needed something that was a staple for Sugar Apple Baking Co.

Because a lot of items for the time were super adventurous. Like, I'm making

guava pastelitos from scratch. Nobody knew what those were. I was like, okay,

we need one item that if someone shows up and they're unfamiliar

but they want to support us, I need something that they'll be like, oh, I

know what a Rice Krispie Treat is. Yeah, and everybody knows what the Rice Krispie

Treat is. And originally— not the nasty ones. No, in the blue

container. No, ours have brown butter. Yeah. They are

brown butter and ground vanilla beans and real caramel, and

it's a whole thing. Oh yeah. But the original ones were just wrapped in plastic

wrap. Oh my God, it was just plastic wrap. Nothing on them. Yes, Saran

Wrap. Yeah. And then we got this lady

messaged us, she was like, hey, I want to buy 50 for my office party.

And I called Blanca and I said, Blanca, I can't be dropping off 50 Rice

Krispie Treats wrapped in Saran Wrap. I can't do it. So that

happened. And every time something like that has happened for us, we're like,

okay, we're going to meet the moment. Time to step up. Time to step up.

So then we got an impact sealer and we were heat sealing them. Okay,

you know, some labels printed out, some labels. I was like, what if? And that's

my what if. I'm like, well, what if these people love it so much that

somebody buys 100? Yeah, you know, I want it to look better. And then it

was like, then we figured out size. I was like, okay, what if it was

smaller? And that was because I would sit with customers,

especially in Pearl's Bookstore, and I would have a million

questions. I'd be like, who are you buying this for? Oh, it's just for you?

How long does it take you to eat that? Because they used to be massive.

We used to call them— Yes, right. And then the people that have

been with us from the beginning have seen all the iterations of us testing out.

I'm raising my hand. Yes, at one point we had them in bags.

Yes, we were like, what if pouches work? Let's see how this goes.

And then we learned quickly it's time-consuming. Yes.

And people wanted the brick. I was like, okay, they want to cut it themselves.

Yes. And then I would ask, I'd be like, okay, well, you

buy this and you say it takes you 3 days. What size do you cut

it? It may be like half. So I was like, okay, B, I think we

have to go smaller because I don't want somebody to open up the package,

have a half, and then the other half goes stale while they wait. Yeah. So

it was just talking to customers, getting feedback. At one point

when we were trying to figure out flavors, we sold a sample box with 10

flavors that had a QR code on it with all these questions

because it's like, I want to be a company that is

customer-centered. Yeah, not one that's

just for my flavor palette. Yeah. So it's

been a fun ride and I'm often just amazed at how

open the community is to help us and give us feedback.

Yeah, I've seen you guys out in your element, whether it was at the Black

Expo or other events where you were, you know, handing out or giving

or selling items or, you know, like you'd come to the Black Expo and

by midday, early midday, you'd be out of most of your

products. So I would always be like, hey, save a Rice

Krispie for me because I know they're going to be gone. But, but I

mean, that is a sign, right? That the market is

speaking back to you. Yeah. And I like the fact that you have

been patient enough to really listen to what the market says,

and that has actually informed— and that's probably why we're here today having this

conversation, because you've decided to kind of pivot a little

bit on the original version of Sugar

Apple Baking Company into Sugar Apple Co.

And so, I'd love for you to maybe talk about that and why we're

even here talking about this today. I have to tell this story. Every time

we pivot and something gets bigger, I always remind Blanca.

Blanca does not like Rice Krispie treats. She likes my Rice Krispie treats and

our Rice Krispie treats. I didn't grow up on Rice Krispie treats. Yeah, that's true.

In our household, when we've been doing pop-ups, I've been learning people

make it at home, have been making it growing up. And I tell Danny, I

was like, Latinos do not make Rice Krispie treats. Interesting.

It is not part of our culture. And the

only one I had was, you know, the nasty one. Yeah. So when Dani

brought that up, I was like, oh, you can make so many better things. Why

are we gonna make Rice Krispies? And she explained the explanation she gave me. I

was like, I always follow her lead too, because I'm like, what if, what if,

why not? Let the universe say no to me. Yep. Not myself. I'm not gonna

block myself either. And I'm glad I'm that way because a

lot of the great stuff that happened to me is because I let the universe

say no. Yeah, and redirect me or pivot. And that's why I say I'm

like, I really feel like an entrepreneur because this journey, I've

never pivoted so much. Not even when I play post on

basketball pickup do I pivot this much and this hard. That's

funny. And it's really fun. I love that Dani's my business partner

because she's also the same mentality where she's like, let's try

it out. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Let's just see. Let's just see. Yeah.

So 2 years in, I'm looking at the sales numbers and we had just kind

of flatlined, right? Like we, I think we just tapped out

on markets and pop-ups. And so the next

step was either be okay with that or it was time to like

step it up. So I started just digging into our sales numbers and

turns out over those 2 years, 65% of our sales

were from the Rice Krispie Treat. So I was like, okay. And this is our,

yeah. I'm like, this is selling a lot of them. A lot.

And the last year we only sold Rice Krispie Treats because we were testing this

idea out. Yes, we only sold Rice Krispie Treats in 2025.

That was it, really. And we like narrowed down what events we want to

do, and you know, we read a bunch of books and took their guidance too.

And one of them was very specific about tying it to an event,

and that's why— how we ended up at the Momentary and doing all the concert

events. Okay, so that moment, we get a lot of really fun

stories about how they were at the concert and they took a bite of our

pistachio honey Rice Krispie and they associate that moment.

And that's part of like the entrepreneur thing of just

learning and applying. We apply really quickly. We do. As soon as we

learn something new, we're not going to waste our time. And well, that's

the nimbleness, right, of entrepreneurship, that if you are not so

stuck in your ways, right, and you're willing to

go with the flow of the market at times, then that's,

that is a perfect testament to that. So, I mean,

I think that's huge. Yeah, that's huge. I want to share the story about our,

our sample. It was so, it was another

random late night conversation I was having with Dani, and she was trying to figure

out what, what flavor should we try it? I was like, let me just see,

let me just put it on my DMs. On my, uh, Instagram stories that we're

gonna be selling samples, and maybe we get like 6 orders.

People will be from all over, and it's gonna only live for 24 hours.

Randy, it was a lot. We ended up getting

45 orders off of one story on my personal Instagram

account that is private, from California to New Jersey

to Florida to Arkansas. And I kept telling them, I was like,

what is happening? And I just like, I remember being like, once

again, we are in the find out stage. Yes. Yes, I had to

quickly figure out how to package, ship,

and work through the process. One thing Dani's really great at is visualizing it.

She sees the whole process and I have a hard time with that. So she

balances me out. She gives me the roadmap and I get to

put the pieces together. And halfway doing the sample box, I

told Dani, I was like, I have to change the packaging because they're going to

meld together and the flavors are going to— they're not going to be good.

Again, we pivoted and I quickly had to make handmade

plastic and individual. So what's 45 times

10? Too many. 450 different little squares that

I package because each package had 10 of them. Wow. But quickly I was

up to like— I thought I also have time blindness. So I was like, oh,

it's going to take me a couple of minutes. It's going to take me 2

hours. And I was up till like 2 in the morning.

I was like, I'm not going to say anything. But I think for

us, it's like, we always joke. I'm like, listen, I might mess around, but I'm

not gonna find out. Yeah. You know, I'm like, there's no finding out. I'm not

gonna find out. Yeah. So as soon as I'm like, oh, I'm like, okay,

let's get this together quickly, you know? And I think like it's that

nimbleness for us where if I get an

opportunity, I'm gonna take it. Yeah. At least some

version of it. And not to say like, I do— there have been things we've

turned down 'Cause I was like, we're not ready yet. We're not at capacity. If

we do this now, I don't think we could grow fast enough or

what happens after that. Yeah. So, I'm always like, we talk all the time

about like where we want to be in 30 years, 40 years, 50 years.

And that a lot of times is like our guideposts. Like, is this

thing that we're doing, will it lead to more growth

or will it put us in a position where we're going to be so bound

up that we can't grow? So that's like always like

sometimes a push and pull. And sometimes we disagree where I'm like, I don't think

we should do that yet. And Blog is like, we should. And when that happens,

I'm like, okay, I'm going to get my numbers together. You get your numbers together.

And I've been wrong sometimes where I'm like, all right, you're right. The numbers say

something else. But even that, it's like open-mindedness when

we disagree has been helpful. Yeah, man. And it's

so much, I mean, can you, well, First of all, actually, I want you

to finish this story about sending off these samplers.

How did that end up, and what did that tell you about what you

decided to do? So I got a rush. I learned

that I love the pressure, but I don't— it

gave me— I also had an idea of how to ship things out because before

Sugar Apple, I had an apparel company. So that gave me an idea

of how to streamline it. Just thinking through it as a food item though was

new. I had to think of it, the integrity of the

package getting there versus clothes, like the post office could toss it

around. So I had to find the right size box. I had to find

what's the best way to ship it where it's not going to cost us a

bunch, but also get there like fast and get there fast. And another

one of my side hustles was I was flipping sneakers

and one of the hacks is using a shoebox but put it in

a poly bag. They charge you as a polybag mailer instead of a box.

Okay, so I was like, we're gonna do that with the Rice Krispies. Wait, so

wait, so walk that back because actually my wife sells a lot of shoes on

Poshmark. So if you put— put your shoes in a box

and a polybag. Yes. Okay, and you get the polybag shipping

price. Really? Yes. Huh, okay,

interesting. Yes. So do you still flip sneakers? Not as

much. I don't have time. I'm— I'm right now flipping Rice Krispies, trying to stack

this money. Yeah, that's it. I like that. Yes,

but it's funny how different experiences inform other things that

we're doing. So that's why when she mentioned, let's do the put it on your

DMs and ship them out, I wasn't like,

how am I gonna do this? I had like a skeleton idea of it. Yeah,

the only new thing was the product. It's a food product now. Yeah, but it

went really well. I got— people were sending me their

shipping address, I'd send out the invoice, and they were paying. So A lot of

times I was like, I'm gonna send out the invoice. By the time they get

the invoice, they're not going to pay. Everybody was paying and I was like,

Danny, we're at 15. Danny, we're at 30. I'm like, it's

only going to live for 24 hours, so eventually it'll die out, right?

And it finally died out at 45. Wow. And it was a really

exciting learning experience. It's also curated

intelligently. Danny was also getting market research.

She's always thinking of I like numbers, grabbing information

so that we can utilize it for growth. Yeah.

So like from that send out, I use that

information. There was like, I had an entire ranking system for Rice Krispie

Treats. I used that information to figure out our

top 4 flavors. Okay. And then also using that to figure out, okay,

what should be like a limited run because it was popular but not

majority. Yeah. And even then I took feedback, like we had

one that we tried out that was toasted coconut and someone wanted more toasted coconut.

So I really looked at that feedback because otherwise market

research, if you're a CPG company, is hundreds of

thousands of dollars. Sure. And that it's literally what we did. It's

having somebody do a sensory panel and then rank items. And I was like,

why don't we just do that? Yeah. You know, to everybody that helped us with

that, I appreciate it. I still looked at it when we were setting up our

website. Okay, I still had all the information up. They gave us reviews

from it. Yes, we use the reviews. And I mean, we

couldn't do without our community either. No, we had 100 respondents.

That is amazing. Yes, to get 100 people of their own free

will, not paid, to try products,

fill out— and it was like 30 questions, you know, it wasn't short—

to rank things, to provide feedback on every single one. I thought

we would have gotten 20, you know, and 100, it almost like

brought me to tears because I was like, whoa, that was

shocking to me to get that many. Yeah, because we also did it here at

pop-ups. It wasn't just the— that one was just to test out

shipping and if it would like hit around the nation. Yeah, because we were

entertaining the idea of getting a website up and like

solely going to Rice Krispies. But we did do some here at Pearl's Books.

Pop-up at Fossil Cove, and they all had the QR code. And didn't you guys

do something at Two Friends up in Bentonville? And you were at The

Momentary. I mean, you guys have been all over the place. Yes, yes. So,

okay, so two questions. First is, you guys seem to really

complement each other, right? I mean, your energy is, is

infectious. I'm just sitting here with goosebumps just listening to you guys

talk. And I always enjoy being around you because you guys just put off

a good vibe. How much of a challenge has it been

for you to work together? You know, sometimes they say partnerships, you

know, don't always work. Yes. Right. I've had that

experience too. Yeah. And so, and I've talked to a lot of entrepreneurs that are

like, hey, this is a Kay Solo show. I don't do it with anybody else.

Cause I mean, I have people that I hire, but I don't, you know, I'm

not doing this with anyone else. And a lot of times I feel so lucky.

Yeah. Cause I have had an experience where it hasn't worked out. And

even in disagreements, like she said, we work so well

together. I feel so blessed to be able to tell her

my worries and what our growth or even dreaming

together. I know I credit Danny a lot for getting to dream huge.

I was never thinking of having a CPG company nationwide.

Yeah, yeah. Danny likes to dare to dream huge. Like,

I love it. That's something I learned in our entrepreneurial process

because even if we don't get there, I've gotten a lot of it.

Just the excitement, the wins. But it's been—

it's just compatibility has been— I don't know, I haven't

felt any friction. I think we're good at staying in our lanes too. Yeah.

You know, like, I'm like the data and the numbers person and the

sales and projections. And you're the chef. Yes.

Yes. But even— yes. But even Even the

way I do it is it's not as creative as

everybody thinks, you know, it's really food science

heavy. So it's down to, we tested out different

marshmallow creams because I wanted to see how

the marshmallows would slip in our product over time. So I was

literally testing like, what's the right ratio of brown butter to marshmallow

so that if a consumer got it 6 months later, I don't want them to

open up the package and then all the marshmallow has like slipped to the bottom.

'cause we use real marshmallow and real butter. So that's like a genuine concern. How

do I stabilize it? So a lot of what I do is trying to

balance like what the customer will experience over

time with our Rice Krispie Treat with flavors. But I'm a lot like, I

don't, I have marketing ideas, but I know my limitations.

I'm not making any music videos. I'm not, I'm not

recording. And that's the balance. That's the balance that you

get between Blanca and yourself. Down to, I'm terrible at

emails. You know, I'm terrible at emails. I'm terrible about scheduling

things and Blanca is good at that. So even when we were just,

you know, doing pop-ups in an alley, I remember like one of the first

conversations we had, I was like, okay, what do you think you're good at?

And I was like, this is what I think I'm good at. I was like,

I'm good at the numbers. I'm good at figuring out our margins. I can

be really organized this way. And I was like, this is, these are the things

I don't want to do. and luckily for us, the things that I didn't

want to do, the things that Plonk is great at. So I think some

of it is like having the self-awareness to know what your limitations

are and to seek that out in whoever is going to be your business partner

or whoever you hire. Cause I don't think that I am

good at everything. I know my limitations. I knew that being

responsible for taking pictures and marketing, there's no way I would have done

it. I'm an introvert that like rises to the

occasion. Yeah, but I'm not naturally the type of person— like

when we were trying to find bank loans, Blanca would walk into banks.

Yes. I would never do that, Randy. I was like,

who do you know? I'm always asking, who do you know? I talked to you

about it too. That's how we landed here the first time. Yes. Was

Blanca, I think, emailed you? Yeah. And I remember when she said that, I was

more— she was very forward. Yes. I was like, it was all good. I was

like, you did well. I taught a long time ago

that a closed mouth doesn't get fed. Yes, period, right? And I know

that's like a witty-sounding thing, but it's really true.

And, uh, and my grandfather used to say to me, are you man or

mouse? Squeak up, right? And he would be like, you know, you got to speak

up for yourself. And that always stuck with me even as a kid when

I would hear that. And I get that, you know, there are some people— I

mean, there's a really great book out called Quiet about people that are

really laid back and reserved in the business marketplace,

because a lot of times people don't take you seriously if you're

not vocal and bombastic and just kind of in your

face. And, but not everybody's cut that way. Right. I'm not. And

yeah. And, and I think, I mean, I think to me, when I think about

that, that's actually one of the tangible benefits to

a properly constructed partnership. Where, you know, you don't

bring sand to the beach. You— each of you brings a unique skill

set and ability to the table that rewards what your

efforts are but also allows you to

play off of each other. Yes. Yeah, in a healthy

way, right? Not in a competitive way. No. Yeah, I also stay in

my lane. I just listen to what Danny's telling her the numbers are

saying, and I'm like, okay, I'm gonna go make a video that targets that

customer base. Yeah, because she's the queen of research and going

down rabbit holes of just the market research part. Yeah,

that's all her. And she'll say, hey, this flavor is

popular, make something that invokes these feelings. Yeah.

And I, I'm enjoying that part. So why Sugar Apple

Treats, and what did you ultimately come to the conclusion of?

Because again, I've tasted everything that you've made, and there

was not one thing I did not like. Obviously,

I am, like you said, I'm a fanboy of Rice Krispie

Treats. I did grow up, unlike you, Blanca, I grew

up, my mother on Friday night or Saturday night would make Rice Krispie

Treats as a treat. Yeah. And she would make them fresh. She would

buy the Kellogg's Rice Krispies. We'd get, you know, some butter and

we would get the marshmallows, and we would go to town, and I

loved it. And the thing I always remembered is that I would get all that

stickiness all over my hands at the end of it, and it's just like, ah.

But there was nothing like it. And even to this day, like, we've taught all

our boys how to make Rice Krispie Treats, and only one— shout out to Nathan—

uh, makes them with regularity, and he actually does a really good job

of them. But that's something that we definitely enjoy.

So, but yeah, I'm curious to know Sugar

apple treats. Yeah, it was, it was the most

scalable option. Okay. It was shelf stable. If

it doesn't need to be refrigerated, I didn't want to worry about cold chain

and worry about having a frozen product that I had to ship to a warehouse

and then ship out. It's nostalgic and

there's not that many on the market that are good. So that was my thing

too, is I'm like, if I'm gonna try Blanca talks about me dreaming

big. I dream in terms of like legacy, which

I, I think about all the time, you know, cause I think about like my

aunts and the things that they've built. And when I go back home to the

Caribbean, it's like, I see my family. So I think

like I come from a family of legacy builders. So I think that

way, I think like, okay, when I'm not here anymore, what will still

be here? So it's like, if I'm building a brand or

even a company that's legacy building, what does it need to be? What would

our core values be? And people love like putting their core values on,

on their website. Yeah, I think that should be a you thing. Because I

think even as just individuals, you need to know what your core values

are for you. So for me, it was like, I, whatever I

make, I want there to be high quality ingredients. I want there to be

intentionality behind a product, and not just

a money play. You know, I don't want it to be that we started a

Rice Krispie Treat company because we thought it'd be fast cash. I want this

to be around. I want to pass this on, or I want

my grandkids to be shareholders if that's possible. So it's like,

how do we want to grow? Who do we want to be? So it's like

high quality, good flavors, intentional, and I want it to be

customer-focused because those are the things that I'm like, if we can make that

part of our core values as a company, those are the kind of

things that people care about long-term. That's the kind of thing that makes

me in 30 years from now a competitor to Kellogg's. It's

like being able to stick around for a long time versus—

it's like, it's hard in business because there's so many times where somebody will

tell you no. Yeah. Yes. And because I know where I want

to be and how long I want to be here, when somebody tells us no,

I'm like, it's a no from you. There's going to be somebody right

behind you eventually who's going to tell me yes. So it's like, all right,

no from you. I'm like, it's a no right now. I'll see you later. Yeah.

You know, and that's— or you just say next. Yeah. To the next person. But

that's, that's always been my like attitude. Attitude in life is I'm not

rejection sensitive. No, I'm like, I'll take a no and then I'll keep it

pushing. So Rice Krispie Treats are scalable, they're

shelf-stable, the packaging is already available,

and I make a good Rice Krispie Treat. And I've got 3

years of data telling me like what our customers like and

how to give them value. Yeah,

well, man, I love hearing that. Blanca, do you want to add anything

to that? At all? No, I was like the

Rice Krispies. The data is what have our anchor

flavors. We have pistachio honey, salted caramel,

vanilla bean, and birthday cake. Oh yes, okay,

birthday cake. That sounds different. Are there sprinkles in there? Okay,

okay, I like that. So what has Northwest

Arkansas meant to you guys as a place to launch this business?

People here are unusually kind and

helpful. Yes, this— in this process of scaling,

we had the opportunity to work with the owner of Hill City

Popcorn. Sure. In Fayetteville. Yeah, she was so

kind. She didn't have to be. Yeah, I'm so grateful for her.

Why did you choose her? Well, we were looking for a

machine that can— we can scale and make Rice Krispies. And there

isn't one that isn't like $30,000, right? But Danny,

Danny was also like, well, this is, these are the components we need from a

machine. And she researched it and she came to

thinking outside the box again. She goes, let's find a popcorn maker

because if they can coat popcorn without crushing it with caramel,

can most likely coat the Rice Krispies too. Cause that was the concern that we

didn't want it to crush it. And I was like, okay. So she was like,

there's one in Fayetteville, give them a call. So I went ahead and I called

her. I can't make phone calls, right? Right. That's why you have Blanca. Yes. I

was like, yes, she gave me the roadmap again. I was like, perfect, I know

what to do, I know what I want, let me go find it. If she

doesn't work out, we'll drive to Little Rock if we have to. We're gonna go

somewhere and try this. Somebody will say yes eventually. Yes. Yeah. And she got on

the phone with me and all she asked was like, so you're not interested in

popcorn? I was like, no. She goes, because I'm not gonna train my

competitor. I was like, I promise we don't want to do any popcorn. So we

came in and she showed us the machine and we saw it

and Danny's like, this is going to work. I think, I really feel like this

will work. And right there on the spot, she said, do y'all want to run

a test batch? And I was like, yes, if you let us. Yeah, we'll definitely

want to run a test batch. And what, like 4 days? We brought our

ingredients and ran a test batch and it worked. And that was it. And that

was it, man. That's what this community does. Yeah. They,

yeah. And I, and I don't, I don't know, I can't remember her name,

but she's actually a parent of a soccer player that plays with

a local soccer team here, and I've run into her several times. I

just can't think of her name right now. But yeah, shout out to Hill City.

Yes. For contributing to your dream.

Yes, in a big way. Things off the ground. Yeah.

Yeah. Do you remember her name? No. I worked with Emily. Emily. Okay.

Okay. I worked with Emily. It was her Employee. Oh, as an employee. Okay, yeah,

I got you. Well, yeah, I think that might be Jessica.

Yeah, well, we'll give a shout out to Jessica and Hill City Popcorn. Yeah, show

notes. So yes, yeah, so, and actually have really good popcorn. My son's—

yes, they do. Still the dill popcorn. He's having like

a, like, they have a bunch of different flavors. Lemon. They have flavors that shouldn't

be popcorn flavors, right? Delicious. Yeah, it's crazy. The flavor

profiles are just Wow, this actually does work. Yeah, that's another thing. We

connected on the flavor profile. She understood what we were trying to do as well.

She goes, speaks your language. Yes, that was really fun to meet

someone like that too. She was like, yeah, on the holidays. And we started yapping

about business too. Very good. But this community, that was amazing.

Every step they help us. Like Pearl's book, when we started doing

Rice Krispies— I mean, our baking for Sugar Apple Baking.

But in every step, the momentary they've been helping us out, just getting

us in the spots to sell at the concerts. Yeah, it was so

fun to like sell at a TLC concert. I'm a '90s kid.

Like, that was what— yeah, what I always tell Danny, I was like, oh my

God, I love being here. Like, I get to watch this show. You know what

they say, don't go chasing waterfalls, right? Right.

Like, that was such a memorable moment. Oh man, growing up on their

music and I get to sell at their concert. Yeah,

so what's next for you guys? I mean, what are you gonna do now that

you have this— I think you have found or set upon a plan

that you think is going to work that's going to allow you to take your

creation nationwide. Yes. How do you plan to do

that? I like to joke, I'm like a crispy in every mouth, you know?

Like, that's my, my start with mine right here. I'll take one right away.

Yes, that's my— like, when everybody's like, what's your goal? I'm like, a crispy in

every mouth in the United States. It's usually how we start the conversation. Yeah, it's

ridiculous, but it's that Like, I don't

know how to dream small, you know? Like, I dream, like,

I think, what is the biggest what-if that I could achieve? And then

I, like, work my way down to, like, actionable steps.

But it's so hard for me to be like, well, I want to do this

small thing. I'm like, my brain just doesn't work that way. I'm like, what is

the biggest thing that I could do? And I'm like, oh, what if I'm a

household name and everybody knows me? And then I'm like, all right,

you're getting real. You're like 20 years from that, but, like, work your way back.

Yeah. But this year, it's like the next 2 years, for me, the goal

is to have as much market exposure as we can

afford, you know? Because let's be real, if you're a small business, there is a

limit to what you can really do for like advertising

and like getting yourself out there. But as much market exposure that we

can afford, because I want to figure out where we're popular. Yeah, what if it's

like— I've seen all of this market research on Utah as like

sweet consumption state I'm like, what if we're big in Utah?

Yeah, I've never even been to Utah. Yeah, because they don't drink coffee.

Yes, um, there's a number of things they don't mess with. So, but they like

sugar. They like sugar. So I'm like, what if Utah, you know?

Or like, a lot of market research is like Maine. I'm like, Maine?

I haven't been to Maine either. I'm like, how do we— so it's like, I

want to see, I want to see like where we land. And I

guess it's that like openness, is I'm not set on, oh, we're going to be

really popular in Dallas. I don't know, maybe we will be. But I just want

to see like where we go. And I'm so excited to see like

nationally where this resonates. Yeah, I think that's going

to be such a cool project. Yeah. What were you going to say, Blanca? I

love learning like the niches that we want to target. So one of them is

runners clubs. Okay. Runners and bikers, they like it as a

pre-workout. Yeah. You know, so my mind has been like, how do

I help them visualize this on their run? How do I help them

visualize this on their bike ride? What's the video going to look like? What's

it supposed to feel like? So like as a sports head, I'm like

Nike. Yeah, I figure out how to be the Nike of Rice Krispies. There you

go. There you go. Have you guys read the book Shoe Dog

about Phil Knight? So about the founder of Nike, Phil Knight,

he wrote a book called Shoe Dog, which is absolutely incredible. I have

not read the book, but I watched the movie. Oh, yeah. With Jordan. They're

up there. Yeah. Yeah. And yeah. So and he kind of touches on some a

little bit. Yes. But you have to read the book. I highly recommend it.

Because, but you also guys said you, you've been reading some books

lately that have informed you. What are one or two that really stood

out to you that you would recommend to our audience? One that we read,

I'm so sad that I can't remember the title, but it was the best. It's

the best one. It gave a roadmap, not of like

CPG success, but of CPG failures. Oh, you know,

and that has been more valuable than reading about

success stories for us. Because it's like, what are the pitfalls and what do we

avoid? Yeah. And one of them was he talked about

plateaus. Yeah. And when you reach a plateau, it doesn't mean that

your business is failing. It just means that you need to either need to step

it up or you need to figure out how to reduce your

costs. Right. And that was one that I was like, whoa, I haven't thought about

that. So, a big pitfall is like a CPG company will

plateau on sales. Yeah. And instead of looking at their

entire budget and going, hey, we're at a point now where we can renegotiate

logistics contracts. Contracts or wholesale orders.

Instead, they'll dump a lot of money into advertising, but they

haven't reduced their operating costs any. So then they get in the situation

where their advertising budget and their sales are creeping up

really quickly, but they can't sustain it because their operating

revenue is messy. So it's like, some of that was like so

useful because then it's like, every time that we buy a product,

I'm like, okay, B, when we get to this threshold, Maybe we need to reach

out and figure out who our next purveyor will be so we can reduce costs.

Yeah. And that one was great. Instead of it being like, to be a successful

CPG company, you need to be gritty, blah, blah, blah. It was

like, hey, your first 2 years, if you're tripling your

numbers, you need to take a break and see what's up because you're going to

outpace your operating revenue. That's like, whoa. Because it's like,

everybody's like, you want all this success. But as

a business owner, there's a lot of times where you have to throttle

yourself because you don't have an unlimited amount of funds.

Yeah. You have a limited budget and you need to throttle and make sure that

like the way you're spending your money is adding value. That is once again,

like it's that sustainability piece. I don't want to be a company that we

get hot for 5 years and then it's like, oh,

you're out. You can't grow anymore because you've tapped out on everything. You know, I

want to be around forever. So that one, I will find it and take a

picture and send it to you. Do. Yeah, we'll put that in the show notes.

It was excellent. The book to be named later. Yes,

it was amazing. We will definitely— we did a whole book study together. I

was like, okay, Blanca, we're gonna read 2 chapters and then we're gonna talk to

each other about what we got out of it. Yes. And that was a little

book club. Yes. And that was so funny

because I took numbers out of it and Blanca took marketing

out of it. We're reading the exact same book. I got the Red Bull

marketing out of it. Yes. Well, I mean, a lot of times you

it's that reticular activator. It's the thing that's top forefront in your

mind, you know. And, and so it's like, it will— that's the

thing that you will glean out of whatever you read or look at. So

yeah, I think that's huge. Well, I'm excited for you guys. So now, are you

going to be in normal retail outlets,

Walmart, Target, or are you going for more

higher-end confectionery places? Or what, what's the

end game? Or what would you like to see happen in, in the near future?

So the next 2 years, the goal is build a really

good direct-to-consumer base of customers. Okay,

that's really important if you're a small brand, is to be able to have revenue

that is just yours without there being like a large

percentage of margin that's going to somebody else. But in May, we are

going to start actively looking for retail locations.

But for the next 2 years, we're aiming for small chain

grocery, coffee shops, anywhere where

it's like a little bit of like a niche market. Yeah. Because it's

like everybody wants— as much as my big goal is like a

Krispie in every mouth, you know, it's like the best way to do it if

you're a company our size is to go after multiple different

niches until you are saturated in that market. That's how you

get to being in the total market. So it's like going after runners, going

after cyclists, going after high-end coffee going after a

specialty grocery. Eventually, if we keep finding our niches,

then we'll have enough distribution to go broader than that. Okay,

so the goal is coffee shops, small chain groceries,

and direct-to-consumer. Yeah, so narrow focus for right now, but

then you will expand. Absolutely. Yeah, that makes sense. And I like the whole

D2C approach because if you can perfect that vehicle—

yeah, what nowadays with how easy it is to get stuff out into people's

hands, it's like, it's huge. Go to our website and see how easy it is.

Yeah, to check out, because that's how— what's the website address?

Sugarappletreats.shop.

Sugarappletreats.shop. Go to our website

and we got a treat for all of Randy's listeners. Oh, I created a

coupon code that says I am NWA. Yes. And you get a

discount at checkout. Yes. And that NWA stands for Northwest

Arkansas. Yes, yes, just to be

clarified. So I was watching Straight Outta Compton the

other night and I'm like, man, I don't want people to get confused. I like

that coupon code more now. Yes, yes. So yeah, I'm gonna put

so much, so much music to that,

man. So, okay, I appreciate that. So if, if folks go to

sugarappletreats.shop

and then they use the coupon code I am

NWA, okay, and they'll get a discount? Yes. Okay, there you go.

So everybody that's listening to this whose mouths are watering

just thinking about, I've got to have a Rice Krispie treat now.

And please, please do not go out, even if you have some of those blue

packaged Rice Krispie treats, and you know what I'm talking about, put those

down because you got to get a real one. You got to get a real

one. Treat yourself. That brown sugar, that brown

butter, and just the fresh vanilla and

everything. It's just, there's something about it. It just hits differently.

So I really want to encourage you to take advantage of what these young

ladies are doing both here in Northwest Arkansas and soon to be

throughout the United States and beyond. And we're doing it now. Our

website is live. We have orders coming in. We're getting ready to

rev up and do our first run. That's the

first for us. That's awesome. We got— we ended up getting that kettle cooker.

Okay. And how many Rice Krispies you said? Oh my gosh, that cooker at max

capacity can make about 750 Rice Krispie

streets. Wow. And we're making them here in Northwest Arkansas, right?

Springdale. Yeah, Spring Kitchen. Yeah, shout out to Spring Kitchen.

Yeah. And we have a number of, of amazing kitchens that have popped up.

And even right here where we're recording this at the Fayetteville Public Library, you can

use your library card to get access to the commercial kitchen that they have here.

So I mean, there's all kinds of options. So even if you're like it— if

you're listening to this and you have a food product that you want to start

and you're inspired by what Blanca and what Danny have done

with Sugar Apple Treats, then you need to come on down to the

library, maybe test some things out in the kitchen. Maybe you don't make a mess

in your own kitchen. Yeah, you can come to the kitchen here and do that

with your library card. That— and the library has entrepreneurship classes

too. Yes. Oh my gosh, absolutely. I do. This is— this was supposed to be

a commercial for the library. We love it. Yeah, we've

used the studio here to take product pics.

Yeah, I've taken classes for editing videos here with

Illustrator and marketing. Yeah, I love that their programs here

are— have been invaluable. Nah, I love that. Well, keep doing that and

keep coming back to this library, but more importantly, you know,

do not water down this wonderful dream that you guys have had. I saw

it when I first met you guys. You had a glow about you, that

entrepreneurship glow, and now almost 4 years later,

you still have that glow about you. So I'm your biggest

cheerleader and biggest fan, and I just want to encourage you to keep going.

And I look forward to the next iteration of what this becomes,

to the point, like, I was joking with you, but I wasn't. I was like,

man, either y'all going to end up on Shark Tank or somebody's going to

sign a national deal with y'all and, you know, let you take it

everywhere. But I'll at least be able to say, I remember them when,

you know, and I could point to the podcast episodes as proof. That

I was here to tell your story. So, uh, from the beginning, from the beginning.

So Danny and Blanca, thank you guys both so much. The website

address again is sugarappletreats.shop.

Sugarappletreats.shop. And don't forget this special

code, I AM NWA. Use that code

and you'll get a discount. I don't know exactly what the discount is, but I

bet you your stomach's gonna appreciate it. Yeah. Thank you guys both

so much. Thanks so much for having us. Thanks for having us. Absolutely. Well, folks,

there you have it. Another episode of I Am Northwest Arkansas. We

really appreciate you guys tuning in to the stories that make

Northwest Arkansas happen on a regular basis. Remember, we cover the

intersection of business, culture, entrepreneurship, and life right here in

the Ozarks. And if you love what Danny and Blanca were talking

about today, you need to check out with them, follow them. I'll put all that

information in the show notes so you can stay abreast of everything that these

wonderful entrepreneurs are doing right here in our own backyard. And remember,

if you're here in Northwest Arkansas, anything is possible. Let this

story be a testament to you that you can get your dream off the ground

and make it happen. I'll see you next week with another new

episode of the I Am Northwest Arkansas podcast.

Peace.

We hope you enjoyed this episode of I Am Northwest Arkansas.

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