"Together Talks" feature # 135: Mid-Day Squares presented by KLS, freight company
Some Background on Mid-Day Squares
For today's edition of "Together Talks" campaign, KLS had the opportunity to speak with Mid-Day Squares and Co-Founder, Jake Karls. They are chocolate manufacturers. The creator of the first FUNCTIONAL CHOCOLATE BAR.
Mid-Day Squares is their idea of what a healthy afternoon craving killer should taste like. It was designed for those on the go that want to cut their hunger and cravings in between meals. It’s made entirely with superfoods and all of their ingredients are raw, vegan, gluten-free and organic. Most importantly its made with real chocolate and tastes just like chocolate.
When did the company begin?
We were founded in August of 2018.
Story of how it was created? My sister was making this snack, a version of Mid-Day Squares for years before August of 2018. She was making it as an afternoon snack for her husband, now my brother-in-law, who is our business partner. She was giving him something that was indulgent, but also functional for the afternoon. It kept him full and he didn't have to eat junk chocolate bars that are full of sugar and palm oil. She was doing it as a hobby. They decided to work on something and food was the common ground of theirs. Then they stumbled upon a report that dark chocolate was growing year over year, that refrigeration was growing year over year, and that plant-based proteins were also growing year over year. My brother-in-law being the data guy he is, said, "you're making a baby of these two, these three massive categories."
That's when they decided that was the product and they were going to commercialize it. Soon after, they approached me in June of 2018, I think it was, and they're wanted me to blow up this brand. I was good with brand building and community and they said the challenge was within the food space. Instead of being one product out of 40,000 in a supermarket, we need to stand out, to make us shine bright like a diamond in that store.
I came on and we launched Midday Squares in August of 2018 and the idea was build the next biggest chocolate-snacking company in the better-for-you space while using real food ingredients.
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What have been the biggest challenges?
We are self-manufacturers, we do not co-pack our product. That was out of necessity. When we went to different co-packers across the United States and Canada, not one of them was able to replicate the way we make our bars. We decided to go build our own manufacturing, and that was extremely difficult because it's custom machinery, being a self-manufacture and being a brand is difficult. Being one or the other is just difficult, so it added a complex layer.
We built our own facility, and now we operate out of it, and it could produce 90,000 bars a day. Close to six years ago, we were making only 60 to 80 bars a day. It's been a journey, but that has been the hardest part of this business. It's been also most exhilarating and rewarding at times, as well. There's no right or wrong, outsourcing or self-manufacturing, you can make great businesses either way. It's just the path we took was a necessity and when we did it, we realized that this is no walk in the park. None of us were manufacturers in the past, especially food manufacturers. This was all new to us. And it still is somewhat new. But we become a lot better and we're building and it's quite wild. Also I want to add that there's not enough young manufacturers in the world.
Reflect on a goal you set and how it made you feel to accomplish it?
Opening the plant was definitely a huge milestone, that was definitely surreal.
I think some other amazing stuff that we've done is building a community, a real fan base that loves the brand. I say fan base, I mean it, I don't mean customer base. And I think that's what we're really good at is making consumers feel something, feel part of the journey. We have found when you do that, they don't just go buy your product, rather they go buy it, they shout about it. They get you opportunities.
They want you to win so badly. Our community is what keeps us going, keeps us moving, and keeps us inspired. They keeps us energized and having that as a base and to look back at every day is extremely rewarding. It creates extreme momentum. A company can build manufacturing plants or build great products, but it's very hard to build meaningful fans because you can't buy that. For that privilege, I think that's something that we've worked really hard on and continue to work every day on. And that's definitely an asset of ours.
Goals for upcoming year + Next phase of the company?
In the next three years, we're focused on getting this company into about 100 million of revenue. And the reason why say 100 is just it's a large number. It's what we put forward as our plan to our board and to our investors. And the idea is we're just reversing everything to get there. We evaluate what it takes every year and what we need to do in terms of distribution, in terms of manufacturing capacities, in terms of margin.
After we get to the 100, we're going to re-look at it and ask what's next? What's the next three years look like? And how do we get there? We always do something called "promise made, promise kept."
Any resources you'd suggest for other companies? 100%, a resource that we use and we invest tremendous amounts of capital and time in, is having a therapist for my partners and I. We go to a therapist together and we speak, we have open conversations, hard conversations weekly. It's definitely been an amazing experience and a much needed one. I think every business should have that type of coaching when they can afford it or if we're to invest the time and care into it. That's been one of the most successful tools we've used.
What were your concerns about making this transition?
The world didn't need another chocolate bar, right? The odds are stacked against you, especially in the consumer package world. There's typically 5-10 companies that dominate and own a bunch of the grocery store. I said to my partners, "it's going to be really tough mountain to climb. If we want to even get there like, we must have the best product in the game. That alone doesn't mean we're going to win at the long game or the scale, because it takes time and it's painful.
Personally, I made every excuse in the book to try not joining, but then I just realized at one point, I believe in my two partners tremendously as operators, they're great CEOs. I thought the product is great, which gives this the potential to be something different. The challenge seemed fascinating to me. We haven't looked back since. I joined with the idea that we're going to go against all odds and try to win. That wasn't out of "happy, go lucky", but there was conviction. Once I got that conviction, I was all in.
I didn't even care about anything else, I was just focused on that build. I really believe, even if it's delusional or crazy to start chocolate bar company, because it no longer made a difference. Once you believe, you believe.
How have the 3 of you dealt with being the face of the company?
It's hard. The way we tell our story and market our company is we tell the story of "the good, the bad, the ugly" across social media, like a reality show on entrepreneurship. We did that because we wanted the customer to feel part of the journey, which would then turn them into a fan or a friend or a neighbor or family member, that type of energy and feeling.
By doing that, our face is always out there. Being authentically yourself in front of thousands, sometimes millions of people, sometimes you feel scared or nervous. I looked at the entertainment world and asked how they're building all these fans? They are telling a story.
I asked my partners, why in the food space are we not seeing brands that have this emotional deep connection, such an intimate experience, you're eating the product, you're consuming the product, but yet you're not talking about it, you don't care to show it off, you'll buy another brand. I said, the way we could do that is to just be radically transparent with our story on how we build this business on social media.
We're a chocolate company, that's building a company and we're showing you how we do it good and bad what goes on behind the scenes. It gives people this idea that they know us. When they go to that grocery store, they literally feel they're buying from a friend. That connection allows us to separate ourselves from the other 40,000 products in the shop and pop out.
How valuable is it working with your family?
We didn't go into business because we're family. I say we're partners because we complement our skill sets. We're actually good partners whether family or not. But it's great to be family and in partnership, as long as you have strong communication and open conversations. That allows trust within the partnership.
During the good times it's an unbelievable celebratory experience, it's surreal getting to experience that with family. On the opposite end, it's still incredible too because there's a lot of deep love there as well. It's just once tension builds, it's very dangerous. It could build very quickly in terms of competitiveness and velocity. The way we protect against that is having the therapist. Having that coaching once a week in good or bad times to keep showing up for our partnership and belief in it. Showing that we're willing to work through disagreements and hard conversations. It literally works, it just takes time, effort and commitment.
What have you learned about entrepreneurship?
The biggest thing I learned is that you need to block out the noise and be able to withstand immense amount of pressure if you want to win the game of entrepreneurship. The game of entrepreneurship is not glamorous. There's moments of tremendous glamour, don't get me wrong. But many moments of the journey are pain and hardship.
You're going to be misunderstood, made fun of, you're going to be lonely. There's going to be moments of depression that happen because it's really hard. Any business has a low chance at actually succeeding, very low chance. You're going against the odds. The one who can deal with the most mental pressure and staying a little longer is usually the one that wins.
There's a ton of noise trying to tell you how to operate. But if you listen to that noise, you're never going to get anywhere. That's the lesson. If you're not up for that, then this is not for you necessarily. But again, the reward is freedom. The reward is potentially a strong outcome with immense upside.
You've chronicled how you've developed your ability to public speak, can you share with us?
I was never good at public speaking prior to this company. I was always scared and fearful, because I was worried about the judgment. I have some learning disabilities, I have some stuff that prevented me from doing well academically. My fear centered around the thought that everyone would think I'm dumb. But then I just started to try it.
Next thing you know there was momentum that kept going and going. It got to the point where, you know, I felt extremely comfortable and excited and energized. It became a huge skill of mine, one I didn't know I even had. Now it's very useful because I speak at all these conferences, all these companies, TV, media, etc.
I'm confident in what I'm doing, I'm not arrogant, I'm confident in my ability to do it. I feel good about it. I know I should be there, I belong. If I would have listened to those voices in my head prior, I would have never done it.
Share a mistake and what you learned from that experience?
We make mistakes every day, I think being right more than you are wrong over time is a winning formula. that's one of our core values, and it's worked. But to give you an example, two years ago, we changed our packing from two bars in a pack to one bar per pack. We had a UPC code change. Everything was ready to go, we were so excited to launch this new packaging and format.
Once we got it to the stores, we weren't getting reorders. Nothing was happening. There were like all these complaints coming in from customers that the product wouldn't scan at the store and it was happening all over. We ended up having a major problem where the UPC code was too small. So they couldn't scan in any store. The stores were just writing in as a grocery item or as a produce item and that doesn't count towards our stock. We never knew when we needed more stock, reorders weren't happening. We had to deal with this problem.
The reason why we made that mistake is because we went to one store, scanned it and it worked at that store. Now we know there's a simple software that will tell you if it scans. It over a million to solve this problem which lasted over eight months. We finally overcame it and it was a huge lesson for us that things can go wrong very quickly. Even small things can cause tremendous, tornadoes.
Do you remember when you felt like the company felt some positive traction? We were working so hard, 12 hour, 14 hour, maybe even 18 hour days occasionally. There was this moment we really started feeling the wins when we started seeing the customers turn into fans. We started seeing people actually in love and invested in our company.
It is incredible. we thought this is insane. We put a lot of our attention towards continuing to build that bond and relationship with our customer base. It seemed like not a lot of businesses. operated like that. We decided we guns blazing full, full energy, all gas/no breaks for five and a half years straight.
Mental health is important to you, what have you learned when overcoming adversity?
There's many moments of us wanting to throw the towel or I cry myself to sleep. There's been moments that you just want to give it up and it doesn't seem like it's working. It seems impossible. It seems like there's no movement. But if you can just stop fighting with that, in those moments and questioning why me or why is this happening you have the opportunity to change your perspective. When you approach it understanding these are some of the greatest experiences to go through, the learnings that you can experience, you learn to appreciate the struggle.
The privilege to be on this journey and experiences as a human is fascinating. I always say, when you make average decisions, you're going to have an average outcome. Most people make average decisions, so they have average outcomes, I'd rather be unaverage and have an unaverage outcome, which can be either good or bad. Because even if it's bad, you could always learn from it, right? It is always an opportunity to take that learning or that failure or that loss and turn it into gained knowledge.
How did the dancing start and what significance does it hold in your heart? When you try to bring the child out of someone, that's their most joyful moment of their life. I realized I have so much fun when I'm doing that and fun is what life's supposed to be. Forget about business, forget about your personal life. You're supposed to have fun. We have a short time on this earth. You're supposed to have a good time and if I could be part of that good time for anybody else and encourage that or bring it out of somebody, then I'm winning my purpose.
I'm winning bigger than selling chocolate bars, right? Dancing brings smile, joy. It brings the dopamine, natural dopamine out and I think the world needs it more than ever now. I'm committed to doing it and I have fun with it and I try to show it because life doesn't have to be so serious. There's moments where it does. But you could also take a second to enjoy and have fun and worry less about what people think and worry more about you having a good time.
You'll see a huge return on that and that's what I did. It's always been in me. That's been part of my DNA and it's my purpose. That's why I dance, I LOVE to dance, and I will never stop dancing.
What is your why?
To spread good energy every day or try to spread good energy every day and make people feel something deeply inside of them. When you can inspire and then watch someone show the world who they are as an individual, being unapologetically you is so fulfilling. That's my mission. Fortunately Mid-Day Squares has given me an ability to show that and build that with our fans. That's huge.
I hope that when people look at me, they see that boldness. They see that unapologetic behavior. They see my transparency and that it's okay to be you. You could win by being you, you could run a business by being yourself. That is my goal. That is my vision. That's the why.
Lesson regardless of entrepreneurship?
You don't have to be an entrepreneur to have the freedom and you don't have be an entrepreneur to be unapologetically yourself. I think that that's the key. It is said entrepreneurs have freedom, but everyone in the world has this opportunity and choice. Everything's a choice and I think we tell ourselves stories that if we work for somebody else we can't be ourselves. While that may be true for that place you're at, then it's time to get up and go somewhere else or do your own thing. But there's always that choice that you can be yourself no matter where you are.
Do you have a moment that brings you the most joy?
The people. I get to work with my partners, my family, the teammates we have, but also the community that we're building. That's the most fun, I'm telling you we're not building a typical transactional relationship. This is a friendship and it's happening at scale which is fascinating. When I go to a different city, every time I see one someone I've never met but we feel like we know each other, it's the craziest thing.
Piece of Advice?
Remember to stay in it a little bit longer, just a little bit longer. What I mean by that is, the one who wins is the one that stays in it the longest.
Interested in being featured with "Together Talks"?
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Contact us as we would love to learn your story and share it amongst our audience.
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In Closing
KLS wants to thank Mid-Day Squares and Co-Founder, Jake Karls for today's "Together Talks" feature. Follow along for their journey with their social handles below!
Business Resources!
Look at our new page HERE designed to provide excellent opportunities that may be of interest to you. These are a compilation from our chats within our "Together Talks". If you have any suggestions please let us know as we would love to provide more valuable insight to our community!
Klimson Logistics Solutions - Together Talks with Mid-Day Squares feature # 135
*Klimson Logistics Solutions is an Industry Leading Customer Service 3PL. Our focus and commitment to our clients has us striving to be the BEST customer service 3PL for LTL, FTL, Reefer, and Drayage in the country. KLS, freight company, is a 3PL providing nationwide logistics solutions. KLS shipping services include: LTL freight, FTL freight, Reefer LTL freight, Reefer FTL freight, and Drayage. Klimson Logistics Solutions thanks you for viewing our marketing campaign, "Together Talks". If you have any interest in being featured or questions regarding your freight operations please contact us today!
Why KLS?
Our precise and reliable effort.
We handle every shipment with the exact same process. It does not matter if you move one shipment a year or ten per day, you will receive the same level of customer service from us. When we started this company, we had one goal in mind, treat every shipment like it was our own. With our vast knowledge of the industry, we understood what a customer would want from a communication standpoint. We applied that process to be the standard here at KLS. Our reliability and being able to depend on our consistency is why we have such long-standing relationships with our clients.
Our Process?
Every shipment in our industry starts with a quote. We are firm believers that time is money, thus we strive to have quotes back in a 5-10 minute reply time for LTL and FTL, any FCL quotes are at the mercy of the carriers getting back to us. For LTL we have the flexibility to quote both off of NMFC and also Density depending on the carrier. Utilizing our services, you’re allowing us to use our expertise to class your freight accordingly to ensure we are providing the best rate we possibly can.
Once a quote has been submitted and a client chooses to proceed with KLS handling the arrangement of the shipment our full process begins. We create the BOL that will be used for the shipment. If it is a new location for our system, we will obtain all the important/special details (reference numbers, contact details, shipping hours, closed for lunch, dock/doors, etc.). We meticulously build every detail into our software for all future shipments involving that location. After we have both locations built and necessary reference numbers have been applied we will tender the shipment to the carrier. We use this method because it provides us a real time pickup number from the carrier to obtain updates prior to pickup. Our staff will either email the BOL directly to you or to the shipper (at your request) the minute after the tender has been accepted by the carrier. LTL carriers require a 2 hour window prior to close time in order to schedule it for a same-day pickup attempt.
The following morning you’ll receive an email from us. It will either provide the reason the pickup was missed (driver’s trailer filled up, driver missed the close time, truck broke down, shipper said no freight, etc.) or if the pickup was successful you will receive the PRO (tracking) number from us, along with the eta for delivery. Our staff will track it throughout the duration of transit and advise if anything happens that will alter the estimated delivery date. The day the shipment delivers we will email you with confirmation and the POD (Proof of Delivery), should you require it.
Your shipment has been quoted, scheduled, picked up, and delivered. The next step is waiting for the carrier to invoice us and make sure the rate matches up. If it does, we close out the invoice from the carrier in our system and automatically your invoice is created and sent to the requested party at your company. In the event the carrier has an additional charge on their invoice “Variance”, we will never send you an invoice with an additional charge without first identifying you of the charge.
Let us repeat, NEVER WILL WE JUST BILL OUT AN EXTRA CHARGE WITHOUT YOU BEING NOTIFIED.
You are our customer, we represent you. Should the carrier provide an extra charge on an invoice, “Lift gate, additional weight, reclass, detention, etc.) We notify you of the charge via email first. Second, within that email we identify what is required should you choose to dispute the charge. Again our goal is to honor your request, if you want to dispute, we will dispute. During a dispute we will provide you updates every step along the way. Once a dispute is closed out, whether it is approved or rejected, then we will invoice you as the invoice has been resolved.
For reference, our company only had 6.2% of all shipments go to dispute in 2022 and we successfully won 91% of those disputes on behalf of our customers.
This is our process for every single shipment you move with us. We don’t cut corners, we don’t hide from difficult situations. We believe in being available, honest, and transparent. We don’t ever want to tell you that a shipment is lost, damaged, misrouted, but it is our duty to notify you the second we find out something has gone wrong. We hate to present bad news, but it is part of the job. What you can guarantee is that we will work a shipment all the way through and turn over every stone until we get a resolution for our clients.
Services offered?
Our core business is LTL and FTL. Within these options we have options for both dry and refrigerated/frozen. We also offer FCL/Drayage options. Our company as a 3PL has nationwide options and services clients across the US.
Let’s breakdown our services more in-depth
LTL:
Standard and Guaranteed
CFS (Imports & Exports)
Tradeshows
Hazmat
Anything that is on a pallet can be moved LTL. Typically LTL is up to 10 pallets, but the sweet spot for a carrier is 6-8 pallets at most for an individual shipment. LTL quotes are good between 5-30 days depending on the carrier. LTL can be quoted either via NMFC or density to determine the class (we do this for you).
Volume:
Anything over 10-12’ of space in the truck is the technical rule for a volume shipment. When we run a quote for you we will determine if it qualifies for volume and provide you a rate if available. Volume moves allow you to get a reduced rate for larger shipments. The caveat to volume shipments it the quotes are only valid for 3-7 days and they move on capacity between terminals. If a terminal is backed up they will move their LTL freight first before the volume freight, which can lead to longer transit times for volume moves.
FTL/Dedicated/Expedited: 53’ Dry and Reefer 26’ Box trucks with lift gate Sprinter Van The main difference for FTL vs LTL is space and transit time. For standard pallets you can fit either 26 or 30 pallets in a 53’ dry van. The other main difference is transit time, for FTL each day counts in the transit time, whereas LTL does not count the day of pickup, weekends, or holidays in their transit time.
Reefer/Frozen:
LTL and FTL
We specialize working in the CPG space with food manufacturers. We regularly deliver to
the following locations:
Kehe
UNFI
Core Mark
DPI
Wegmans
Cugini
H.T. Hackney
Netrition
HEB
ALDI
Chambers and Owens
EBY Brown
Nassau Candy
Harris Teeter
Wakefern
NU INC
Long Distribution
What makes KLS different?
There are thousands of freight brokers and 3PL in our industry. Barrier to entry is rather easy and agents or owners will often hire sales people without any intention of properly training them. It results in high turnover for many freight companies and a forgettable experience for the client. We choose to operate differently through our consistency. We truly care about doing right by our clients and prospects too. While we would love to help provide our services to every company we speak with, that just isn’t realistic. We won’t always be the right fit for every company that moves freight and that is ok. Our authenticity as a shipping company sets us apart from the competition and that is backed up by our testimonials. We also run a marketing campaign bi-weekly called “Together Talks”. We interview, highlight, and promote two businesses every week. Our goal is to grow our network, make new connections, and learn something new with each collaboration. Check it out on our website and if you’re interested in being featured reach out.
Our company also runs a year long charity promotion. Book your first shipment through KLS and we donate to the charity of your choice in your name. Our way of thanking you for giving us an opportunity to show you the KLS way and what makes us one of a kind. This entire package is what we offer to every prospect and every client. Our goal is to help provide answers that customers may have when it comes to shipping. We want to always be available as a resource and will always offer a lending hand whenever we can.
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