“Through my product development and launch experience in the past, I learned very, very early on how important the quality and integrity of our products is.” – Jessica Glendenning
We recently interviewed Jessica about JIT’s role in supporting her organization’s private label and product launch. Throughout her career, Jessica has worked with brands like GoPuff, Mars, Brandless, Catalina Marketing, and Target.
Launching and selling private labels meant owning inventory and owning the relationship with vendors and brands they worked with. Jessica was tasked with creating products, across multiple categories, specifically for their customer base, which is why she turned to JIT.
She needed a reliable partner in the private label and private launch industry that could help take their product ideas from dreams, into purchases in their clients’ hands.
“It’s incredibly difficult to find a consulting organization that has or can get the expertise in each of those areas. JIT’s ability to do that was huge. Just from an efficiency perspective, it was ideal for us to be able to leverage one organization for all those different categories.”
Read on to learn more about her experience working with JIT.
Thanks for taking the time to talk with us, Jessica! What made you decide you needed to seek out assistance from a CPG consultant?
First and foremost, when launching a private label, we have one shot to get our customers to try this for the first time. That first impression has to be amazing.
So, thinking about who our co-manufacturers partners are, the quality of the product, the documentation, the ability for us to do this the right way from the beginning must be very front and center and that is why working with JIT was important.
What was important to you as you were looking for a CPG consultant?
We needed experts with a wide range of experience. JIT is unique and fantastic because they can go so broad with the types of categories they have expertise in. And, they have a lot of experience in each of those categories. I knew we were going to do food and beverage, health and wellness, home essentials… you name it. The categories were all on the radar in terms of where we would launch products.
Was there anything in particular that attracted you to working with JIT?
I’ve worked with the founder, Neshat, in two other organizations now so I personally know how talented she is, and I know she has a vast and broad network of experts in the industry. Again, across all categories.
And she has this unbelievable resourcefulness where she can just find the information needed based on where we’re going.
So that flexibility, that really drew me in, as well as her background that included years of experience. There was experience in large corporate environments, in brand new start-ups, in manufacturing – you name it.
All the areas that they bring expertise in were the biggest thing that drew me in.
What was it like when you first started working with JIT?
It was a very, very smooth onboarding.
For others, I think the key to that is ensuring you are sharing as much as you know about your strategy, what you are embarking upon, what you need, and where you might go with JIT.
The more you can arm the folks at JIT with your strategy and what you plan to do the better they can connect you to the right information. If there are other resources you might need, it helps them understand where they need to dig, and what questions they need to ask working with co-manufacturers.
So I would say onboarding is a lot of information sharing both ways initially. Then you’ll really be creating a structure for how you’re going to work moving forward from there.
What were your main pain points before you started working with JIT?
Our main pain point was that we were at was starting from scratch.
There was no business, we were building one. Our needs were everything from building out processes to building out our product development, to our launch process, to working with some of our partners and co-manufacturers, to helping structure the team and capabilities.
By the way, JIT is fantastic at processes as it relates to having a stage gate, as far as go, no-go decisions, decision trees and process flows, and then building that out to make it really easy to onboard new people to my organization. I had new product developers and new sourcers coming in and it was something that really helped them understand how we were going to work this process.
We also spent time talking about what is important as an internal team member hire vs. where should we leverage JIT or bring in other partners so it really included many aspects of our business in terms of the type of support when we were just starting.
What did the process look like when JIT was up and running?
When JIT gets up and running – I always say they become an extension of your team. They naturally integrate into the key places where you are working.
Internal teams never hesitate to bring them in. If they’ve got questions, if they have conversations and need to dig deeper and need their expertise on it, so, very much so an extension of your team.
What about JIT’s practices made them an extension of your team?
They bring a nice balance of helping create structure where you need to build it from scratch but then also understand how your organization works, and how they plug in as well. So it’s a really nice combination and balance between those three elements.
They’re great at thinking through things like… what existing meetings do they need to plug into, or what pieces of communication can we dovetail into, etc. They help build structure and also align to the structure and process you have as an org.
Those sound like a lot of great tangible benefits to get from a consultant. What other benefits have translated from those?
I would say honestly peace of mind is a huge piece of it. When you create and launch products from scratch that are put in the hands of your customers, there is a massive responsibility that comes with that.
You want to make sure it’s the highest quality and of course safe and efficacious. It needs to work the way you say it’s going to and it needs to taste as good as we say… and so on and so forth depending on the category.
JIT ensures the quality level that is needed, and that you have all the right documentation and can substantiate everything you’re saying about the product. They help ensure your customers have an awesome experience. That gives the whole team peace of mind.
How is it different working with JIT vs. other consultants?
First, the breadth of what they can cover. Like I said, it’s everything from building processes to vetting co-manufacturers, to helping with regulatory and compliance in every category we want to be in. So it’s really from beginning to end the places that they’re plugging in.
Every experience that I’ve had in the past you’d need to leverage multiple experts or organizations in order to be able to do that, so that’s something that absolutely sets them apart.
They are also just fantastic people as well. When I say they become an extension of the team, that’s from a process perspective and the way that they work, integrating into meetings, working seamlessly through documentation and things like that, but also just in their working styles and the way they interact with the team feels very much like they are in your organization as well.
What would you tell someone else who was considering working with JIT or looking for an expert consultant?
In terms of expertise, knowledge and coverage, JIT is unmatched. And when you combine that with the flexibility they bring it’s really a huge differentiator.
Anything else you’d like to share that might be helpful for someone looking for a consultant?
In this industry and product development, there’s never a dull moment. There are surprises that happen all the time. Whether it’s something before launch we find out about the product or something after launch we find out about the product, there are always things that are unexpected.
I really appreciate the way JIT takes things in stride and works through it and figures out a plan. I feel like there’s nothing I brought to them that’s been a, “Hey, sorry we can’t help you with that. You’re going to need to go somewhere else.”
Even if it’s not within their core wheel house they are helping find a resource and find the answers. I think that’s something that’s incredibly beneficial as well.
If you’d like help with your consumer packaged goods business, private label, or private brand launch, reach out! We’d love to support you, too.
