048 Amy Zitelman and Julie Garber - Soom Foods

Summary

Alysse Asaro introduced Amy Zitelman, CEO and co-founder, and Julie Garber from Soom Foods, who discussed the company's journey in popularizing tahini since 2011, their comprehensive digital strategy supporting Amazon, third-party e-commerce, and grocery sales, and their plans for 2026. They detailed Sum Foods' marketing focus on education through approachable recipes and user-generated content, effective Instacart leveraging for retail support, and strategic Amazon advertising, with future plans including increased investment in chef partnerships to drive growth. The participants noted Sum Foods' accelerated consumer sales and expansion, including national placement in Whole Foods, with plans to refine their strategy to focus on increased content and new product launches, transitioning the brand toward a lifestyle focus.

Takeaways

• Soom Foods built early credibility by focusing on chefs and restaurants before going direct to consumers.
• Education is central to demand—recipes and everyday use cases make tahini approachable beyond hummus.
• Content works best when it shows simple, repeatable uses, not just aspirational cooking.
• Influencer efforts focused on authentic product seeding, not paid one-off posts.
• Retail performance data is more reliable than influencer metrics for measuring real traction.
• Instacart plays a key role in discovery, removing friction between interest and purchase.
• Amazon is treated as a discovery and trial channel, not just a sales platform.
• Lowering purchase friction helped bring in new-to-brand customers.
• The brand is shifting toward long-term content and lifestyle positioning rather than short campaigns.
• Continued growth will come from expanded content, trusted partnerships, and new product launches