GoPicnic - Healthy Meals Spark New Business Ideas
Written by Dianne Molvig Tuesday, April 12 2011
Snapshot: Julia Stamberger
It doesn’t take long to spot two clear tendencies in Julia Stamberger’s history: an entrepreneurial streak and a propensity for nurturing both sides of her brain.
A glimmer of the entrepreneur-to-be emerged in junior high, when she bought candy at discount stores and then turned a profit by selling it at competitive prices to her fellow school bus riders. In college, she started a disc jockey company. In her mid-20s, she launched worldspyder.com, an online international travel guidebook and social networking site.
Later, she operated a music management business while working a day job at United Airlines. And today, she’s president/CEO of Chicago-based GoPicnic, the company she founded in 2006, when she was only 31.
While an undergraduate student at Miami University of Ohio, Stamberger earned two degrees, with majors in marketing, creative writing, and French. Her minors were international business, economics, and women’s studies. This academic mix was a matter of seeking left brain-right brain balance, she explains, adding that for an entrepreneur, everything you’ve ever learned comes in handy somehow.
Stamberger holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. She also serves on the advisory board for Miami University’s Thomas C. Page Center for Entrepreneurial Studies.
Womenetics: What is GoPicnic?
Julia Stamberger: We offer grab-and-go meals that are shelf-stable, delicious, nutritionally balanced, and ready to eat. You can take them anywhere; there’s no need for refrigeration or preparation.
From the first day of operations, we have used only foods that are free of transfats, monosodium glutamate, high-fructose corn syrup, and artificial flavors and colors. It’s like food you make in your own kitchen, rather than something that comes out of a science lab. (Examples of GoPicnic offerings are salami and cheese picnic, hummus and crackers, tuna and crackers, and steak nuggets and cheese.)
GoPicnic has several meal offerings, including some that meet special dietary needs, such as gluten-free, kosher, halal, and vegan. We work with quality food manufacturers, including Late July Organics, Old Wisconsin, and others. We’ve also developed some of our own brands, such as Sweet Perry Orchards and Copper Cowbell. Sometimes we can’t find the products we want in the marketplace, so we make our own.
Womenetics: What was the impetus for this business idea?
Stamberger: I was hired by United Airlines as an entrepreneur in residence to develop in-flight merchandising – things like gifts and so on for on-board passengers to buy. Then the major airlines agreed to stop giving away free in-flight meals. They couldn’t keep doing that because of the competition they were getting from the discount airlines.
The airlines started selling in-flight meals prepared by catering companies. But they couldn’t predict how many would sell so there might be outages or they’d have too much and it would have to be thrown away at the end of the day. There was a lot of waste. Plus, they had to provide refrigeration. There were all sorts of problems.
But it seemed that food should be a part of our in-flight merchandise mix. We thought, why not prepare a shelf-stable meal instead of a fresh meal? Why not put together a meal that could ride for several months, rather than a day? We launched the first program on United in October 2004.
Womenetics: How did that experience turn into GoPicnic?
Stamberger: I got lots of requests, even from coworkers, about where to get meals like this for their kid’s Little League games or to take on a road trip, not a plane trip. Then a couple of United’s partners, such as hotels, said they’d like something like this to give away to premium guests when they check in late at night.
So it seemed like an interesting idea for a lot of different settings. I left United to start GoPicnic. The idea was to service airline and other institutional clients and, at the same time, to work on a concept that would work for retail.
We quickly got some airline clients and developed private-label programs. But getting a product that would function well in retail, rather than in food service, was not easy.
Womenetics: What were the key challenges in jumping into retail?
Stamberger: In the airlines market, we’re producing large batches for a particular client. They can determine their own margins and set the end price. The flight attendants can tell people what the product is and walk them through the food options. You can have a seat-back card that shows pictures of the items.
In retail, you’re competing with other products for shelf space. It’s an unusual concept people don’t understand. You need packaging that will display well on the shelf and that explains quickly to people what the product is and how it works. There’s no one standing over their shoulder to explain that to them. You have to set price points that allow a profit, but also allow for retail markup and for distributors in the middle. So retail is a completely different ball game with vast complexities.
Womenetics: But you figured it out?
Stamberger: Yes, after lots of testing and trial and error. Last fall, we launched a line of eight ready-to-eat meals in the retail market. We’re in grocery and merchandise stores such as Cost Plus World Markets, Wegmans supermarkets, and T.J. Maxx. We’re in about 70 airport stores nationwide and about 100 college bookstores, soon to be in about 300 more through Barnes & Noble. So GoPicnic is everywhere from grab-and-go in travel environments to school environments to mainstream grocery stores. We’re adding more outlets all the time. We’re also available directly to consumers through Amazon.com, Costco.com, and our website.
Womenetics: Are you pleased you took the leap to start your own business?
Stamberger: I don’t have a long shelf life myself in working for corporations. I always knew I’d end up running my own company. You don’t have a crystal ball, though, so the reality never quite matches the vision. Your vision always continues to evolve.
Dianne Molvig is a Madison, Wis.-based freelance writer who writes regularly about business management, financial services, law practice, consumer education, and other topics.
