Image: Courtesy of Party Of. The Lertlumprasert sisters
That idea finally took shape in February 2023, after a family trip to Thailand left them with a suitcase full of snacks their American friends loved. Identifying branding as a key competitive advantage, they invested $28,000 to work with branding agency Outline.
Combined with their frustration over the “better-for-you” snack options available in the US, the trip inspired their Thai-inspired popcorn brand, Party Of. Recipe development and inventory costs stayed low early on, since Lisa used ingredients already available at her restaurant, bought corn and brown bags, and applied a “ZingPop” sticker, later rebranded Party Of, that Charlene designed on Canva. The Lertlumprasert sisters, Lisa, Lita, Charlene and Charlie, had talked about starting a business together since childhood. Here’s how the Washington, DC-based sisters built the business from a homemade batch into a side hustle generating steady monthly revenue. To get the business off the ground, the sisters began by defining what Charlie, a product manager, called the six dimensions of product-market fit, target customer, problem, value proposition, competitive advantage, growth strategy and business model. The StartupCPG Slack group later became an invaluable free resource for learning and connecting with other CPG entrepreneurs.