Advice Line with Stacy Madison of Stacy’s Pita Chips
Timestamps are as accurate as they can be but may be slightly off. We encourage you to listen to the full context.
Podcast Summary
This episode of the Advice Line on How I Built This features host Guy Raz and legendary entrepreneur Stacy Madison, founder of Stacy's Pita Chips, helping three ambitious founders solve their business challenges. The episode covers three distinct businesses: Sam Cagle's Dough Guy (a pizza steel and community business), Alex Hildebrandt's Suyo Pisco (a premium Peruvian spirit brand), and Stephanie Stuckey's revival of the iconic Stuckey's pecan candy company. (02:37)
- Main Theme: Scaling personal brands into sustainable businesses while maintaining authenticity and finding the right market positioning
Speakers
Guy Raz
Guy Raz is the host of How I Built This and several other successful podcasts. He's a former NPR correspondent and has built an entire media empire around entrepreneurship and business storytelling, interviewing hundreds of the world's most successful entrepreneurs.
Stacy Madison
Stacy Madison is the co-founder of Stacy's Pita Chips, which she built from a small food cart operation in Boston to a major snack brand that sold to PepsiCo in 2006. She started as a social worker before becoming an entrepreneur and has since been an investor in companies like Sweetgreen and Evolution Juice. (05:00)
Key Takeaways
Listen to Your Customers to Find Your Real Business
Stacy Madison's advice to Sam about recognizing when customers are asking for "bulk bags" of chips to take home represents a crucial entrepreneurial insight. The real business opportunity often emerges from what customers are actually demanding, not what you initially planned to sell. (10:39) This happened with Stacy's own journey when pita chips became more popular than the sandwiches. The key is proving the concept outside your immediate environment - taking products to stores, sampling them, and validating demand beyond your current customer base.
You Are The Brand Until You Build Something Bigger
For personal brand-based businesses like Sam's Dough Guy, Stacy emphasized that trying to remove yourself too early is a critical mistake. (17:37) Sam has tapped into the "secret sauce of the Internet" with 130,000 followers, and countless companies are trying to achieve what he's already accomplished. The value proposition is him personally, and he needs to stay at the center while building systems around him. Only after establishing strong brand recognition and market position can founders begin to step back and delegate operations.
Lead With Brand, Not Category
Alex's Pisco dilemma illustrates a fundamental marketing principle: consumers champion brands, not categories. As demonstrated in the conversation, there's no recognizable Pisco brand in the US market, creating a massive opportunity for Suyo to become synonymous with the entire category. (37:55) Rather than educating consumers about Pisco first, the strategy should be establishing Suyo as the go-to choice, then explaining what Pisco is afterward. This approach worked for brands like Aperol (aperitif category) and Patron (tequila category).
Double Down on What's Already Working
Stephanie's Stuckey's success story from $2M to $10M in revenue demonstrates the power of focusing on core strengths rather than chasing trends. (53:59) Stacy's advice to "flood the current older population" who already recognize and buy the brand makes strategic sense. The pecan log roll remains their #1 seller because it has authentic heritage and proven market demand. Rather than diluting efforts across multiple demographics, maximizing revenue from existing loyal customers provides a stronger foundation for future growth.
Maintain Product Integrity While Innovating Marketing
The discussion about whether to add protein powder to Stuckey's pecan rolls revealed an important tension between innovation and authenticity. Stacy Madison argued against changing successful recipes, citing her own experience with gluten-free requests for pita chips. (59:48) The authentic product that customers already love shouldn't be compromised. Instead, innovation should focus on creative marketing approaches, new distribution channels, or complementary products that maintain the brand's core integrity while attracting new attention.
Statistics & Facts
- Sam Cagle's Dough Guy has generated over $300,000 in revenue since launching in April 2024, with 130,000 Instagram followers. (15:08)
- Alex Hildebrandt's Suyo Pisco expects to do slightly over $400,000 in revenue this year, with 80% of sales coming from bars and restaurants. (32:32)
- Stephanie Stuckey revived the Stuckey's brand, growing sales from $2 million to $10 million in four years, now operating in about 4,000 stores nationwide with 65 employees. (49:11)
