Mid Day Squares

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Waddup Fam. It’s Alex.

I recently spoke with Nick Saltarelli, Co-Founder of Mid-Day Squares about how they’ve built a better-for-you chocolate empire in only 4 years. He shared enough growth wisdom to last a lifetime. Seriously - my buzzword vocabulary almost 10x’ed after talking to Nick.

So, I distilled it down into an all-action playbook.

But, first a big thank you to our partner Magic who lets us create content for a living.

Taking on the 800lb gorilla ain’t easy. Especially when those gorillas are Mars Inc. or Hershey’s. That means it ain’t no gorilla. That’s King Kong.

Well, the Mid-Day Squares team must’ve watched Training Day with Denzel when they got going because all I’m thinking about is…”King Kong ain’t got sh*t on me.”

Without further ado…

1. Getting Off The Ground

Chocolate is a $142 billion industry globally, completely controlled by just 4 players. Hershey, Ferrero, Nestle, and Mars.

To take them on, you gotta play your own game and that starts with three components:

• Innovate (not for the sake of a buzzword - more info in the next section)

• Disrupt a stale category

• Ride a trend on the upswing

Which is how Mid-Day Squares started to…

2. Stand Out In A Crowded Market

It's like walking onto the tennis court and expecting to beat Serena.

Like, why even try?

Nick described his philosophy towards products in a way I’ve never heard before.

Ok…these obviously all need their own sections.

3. Form Factor

You have to create a unique feel.

Whether that's a slight twist on existing leaders or a complete redesign - you need to create novelty.

Chocolate has a very clear form factor across all of the incumbent players. Reese’s is known for their cup, Hershey’s for its bar.

Which is why they have established mind-share with consumers across the globe.

Mid-Day Squares decided to create the best squares in the chocolate biz.

Which is a shape their competitors never owned.

And a shape ready to get mastered.

4. Supply Chain

The consumer for big chocolate is used to cheap prices. Which is why entrenched companies are scared to change the supply chain to meet the modern consumer.

The healthy chocolate consumer has a different stomach, palate, and set of preferences entirely.

Eventually, Hershey’s or Mars will have to go through turbulence to upgrade their ingredients to meet future consumers where they want to be.

Meanwhile…

And shelf-stable means tons of processed ingredients.

Refrigerated brings a fresher connotation and is where MDS intends to win.

5. Marketing and Distribution…

It’s social first, and then everything else.

Take notes here. Because how Nick and the team launched in their native Montreal was brilliant.

Any startup in the 2010s likely led with FB ads. To Nick, this can create a false positive of product market fit. He wanted the real thing.

For a food product, people had to talk about it. So they created content strictly for the Montreal area on Instagram, priced the bar at $0.55 (a loss), and did everything they could to get it in people’s hands.

Tips for starting your own brand

Nick made it clear. Mid-Day Squares was only possible because of his previous failures.

And here are the takeaways:

And that’s how you take down the giants…

TL;DR:

1. Disrupt a stale category or ride a trend on the upswing → Is there a category or product that hasn’t innovated in years?

2. Stand out through form factor → What’s a 3% change that differentiates your product from competitors?

3. Differentiate on supply chain → Can you use this to create a new category?

4. Go hand-to-hand marketing to create fans → Go find your true 1000 fans by meeting them in-person

5. Use hand to hand marketing to collect UGC → Use in-person moments to convert customers into fans and create content for social and paid ads