From Homemade Snack to Health Food Hit with Abigail Wald Founder of The Yes Bar

Nov 2, 2017

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Today we have the founder of The Yes Bar, Abigail Wald. The YES Bar was born in 2012 in their kitchen in California. Her younger son had a lot of food sensitivities and health challenges, and she had to say "no" to most things he wanted to eat. She wanted to create something that she could say YES to every time. People can get a Yes bar on yesbar.com, Amazon, and they are in about 200 stores across the country.

Here's a glimpse of what you'll learn:

[1:05] Jeremy introduces his guest, Abigail Wald.
[3:00] Abigail talks about her son's adverse reaction to a vaccination.
[14:30] How Abigail created her first snack bar.
[25:00] What was it like getting that first product on the shelves?
[28:00] Different Yes Bar flavors.
[31:00] The next step Abigail took to bring her product to market.
[33:00] Wholesale vs. Direct to consumer.
[36:00] Bring partners into the business.
[44:00] Challenges faced along the way.
[48:15] Milestones that Abigail has celebrated.
[50:30] What's next for The Yes Bar?

In this episode…

What does it look like to scale homemade snack to become a health food hit? What lessons can business leaders take away from this kind of story? On this episode of Inspired Insider, you'll hear from entrepreneur and innovator Abigail Wald. Abigail started The Yes Bar first, as a way to provide healthy snacks for her family. As the product gained a following among family members and friends, Abigail began to scale the product and the company was born. Listen to this episode as Abigail tells her story, shares lessons learned along the way, how she connected with her business partners, and so much more! Don't miss this motivational and informative episode!

What would you do if your child's diet was so sensitive and restrictive that you had to say no to almost everything on store shelves? It sounds like a nightmare for most parents but for Abigail Wald, this was a daily reality for her and her family. One day, out of frustration and desperation, Abigail turned to the cupboards at home and started to experiment. Out of that experimentation, she developed the first "Yes Bar." Through trials and setbacks along the way, Abigail perfected the equation and was soon encouraged by family and friends to bring her creation to a wider market. On this episode of Inspired Insider, Abigail goes into detail about her journey and how her son's health improved once they changed his diet and started to include delicious healthy foods like the Yes Bar to his diet. Learn more about Abigail's story on this episode!

Do you know what is in the food that you eat on a regular basis? No, not produce or basic products but things like bars, chips, and other packaged foods, what are their ingredients? For most consumers, this is not a question they typically consider, but shouldn't we? Abigail Wald brought her product, The Yes Bar to a wider market not only for children with sensitive diets like her son but for people who deserve to know what is in the food they snack on day in and day out. This was the inspiration behind the multiple flavor options that Abigail and her team worked so hard to bring to consumers. She didn't want the Yes Bar to only appeal to kids or a select few, she wanted to bring a diverse array of flavors that almost anyone could enjoy. Make sure to listen to this episode of Inspired Insider to hear more about the Yes Bar!

How can great ideas like The Yes Bar breakthrough and make it to the shelves of big-box retailers? The truth is, most people with great ideas won't be able to what Abigail and her team have been able to do. The system is set up in a way that doesn't encourage or welcome new and risky ideas. They want to play it safe and bet on the predictable results they've always received. Is there any hope for the little guy? Of course, there is! But the route of going directly to the consumer has its own difficulties and challenges. To hear how Abigail and her team are reaching consumers directly with their amazing product, listen to this episode of Inspired Insider! You don't want to miss it!

When is the right time for small business leaders to reach out and begin to connect with outside business partners to take their company to the next level? That's a difficult question to answer. Each business leader and situation is unique but the one thing they all have in common is that they long for exponential growth. On this episode of Inspired Insider, you'll hear from innovator and disruptor Abigail Wald. As Abigail's company, The Yes Bar continued to grow and expand, she soon realized that the one thing holding the company back was her lack of business knowledge. It took a lot of humility for Abigail to admit that she couldn't take her company to the next level she wanted it to reach. Fortunately, she was able to connect with high-quality business partners that shared her passion and excitement for their product. To hear how the process of finding the right business partners played out for Abigail, make sure to listen to this episode!

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