February 29, 2024 • 20 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, she was the youngest person ever to be featured on the cover of Entrepreneur magazine. Alina Morse, CEO of Zolli Candy, is here to tell the story.
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we continue with our American stories. Our next story
is brought to us by the youngest person ever to
be featured on the cover of Entrepreneur magazine. Let's take
a listen.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
My name is Elena Morris. I'm sixteen years old, and
I am the CEO and founder of Zali Candy. Sally
Candy is all natural, sugar free candy that cleans your teeth.
But my entrepreneurial journey didn't start at seven years old
with Zali Candy. I had been coming up with inventions
and crazy outlandish ideas for products.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Since I was about three years old.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Around that age two three years old, my dad read
me the book Rich Dad, Poor Dad. What's an interesting
experience Because as much of the book that I didn't understand,
the thing that stuck with me was you can help
people through business. So I began writing all of my
(01:11):
inventions and compiling them into what I called my idea
binder and drawn what I had called a business plan,
but it was really more of just a picture with
some labels.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
And as I, you know, grew up, I grew up
with this binder.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
I would say some of the most prominent inventions from
that that time were definitely Robot Daddies. The name is
pretty self explanatory. It's a robot that can go to
work as your dad.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
And at this.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Time, you know, my dad, he was a CPA, so
he was going out of tons of business trips and
I really missed having my dad around, and I wanted
him to stay home and you know, we could hang
out and just among among those there was lots of
odds and ends of fun games or a new sport.
(02:00):
As much as they weren't cohesive ideas, they did keep
me occupied coming up with with fun new business plans
and pitching them to my parents. So really from that book,
I learned that I could help my mom, I could
help my dad, I could help my younger sister even
by coming up with an invention to make their lives
a little bit easier on the day to day basis.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
But as I grew up, you know.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Four, five, six, and then all the way up until
seven years old, I had added to this binder. It
wasn't until one just odd day I went to the
bank with my dad and the bank teller offered me
a lollipop, and it was just the typical action. But
my dad always told me he gave me the same
(02:46):
speech he gave me every time we went to the bank.
Candy's bad for your teeth, You'll get cavities. He goes,
it's up to you, Elena. But you know, if I
were you, i'd i'd make a smart choice.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
You know.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
After pondering it for a moment, I decided, you know, hey,
I'll let them win. I won't take the lollipop. But
as we were walking back to the car, I asked him,
you know, hey, if I can't have candy, and if
I can't have something that's bad for me, why can't
I create something that's good for me that you can't
say no to? And this idea really stuck with me.
(03:26):
I began writing a more extensive business plan than I
ever had before in my idea binder. And I decided,
you know, with a little bit of a push in
the right direction, to go do some research.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
And just on Google on YouTube.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
And so I started watching just videos on YouTube of
how they created candy on a mass scale, and it
made me question, you know, where other products came from,
and it really got me interested in kind of the
consumer packaged good industry as a whole, and just how
things were made and all behind the scene steps that
went into creating not just candy, but everything that we
(04:04):
see in the grocery store. It doesn't just magically happen,
you know, it has to come from somewhere. And I
started researching more about the ingredient lists and what actually
makes candy bad for you, what causes cavities tooth decay
is actually the single greatest epidemic facing kids in America today,
and that's according to the US Surgeon General. And so
(04:26):
that really prompted me to explore the idea of creating
something that's not only good for me in a sense
where there's no sugar, but something that's actually good for
your teeth, something that could help combat this epidemic. And
then the pieces just kind of clicked reading that book
at three years old, or having it read to me
(04:47):
for that matter, and coming up with this idea and
connecting the pieces of a great idea and helping people
and having a cause a mission. And so when those
pieces clicked in place, I knew that this was my time,
This was the time to create and you know, put
in the time, put in the energy, put in the work,
(05:08):
and get people excited about this idea.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Get people passionate about.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Zali candy or what was to be Zali candy. So
it was definitely a turning point for me getting my
parents involved, saying hey, will you support me?
Speaker 3 (05:28):
Will you support this mission, and doing.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Kind of the first of many big business pitches to
my parents to have them help support me through this journey.
And then we started looking at different manufacturing facilities or
what we call plants. We began taking tours of these
manufacturing facilities around the country to see, you know, who
(05:51):
could really make a sugar free candy that cleans your teeth.
And one of my first manufacturing facility tours, we got
to the end and my dad said, hey, Lena, so,
so what do you think?
Speaker 3 (06:03):
This is pretty cool?
Speaker 2 (06:05):
And I was thinking, yeah, Dad, this is great, but
where's the plant.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
He's like, what do you mean, Alena?
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Look around? This is the plant. No, Dad, you don't
understand the plant, the potted plant. I mean, I'm looking
all around. All I see is people, machinery, candy. I
don't see any plants. I think in that moment he
reminded himself as mature, as smart as my daughter could be, She's.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Still a kid.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
I took about two years of taste tests and trials,
and during that time, our only taste testers really were
my friends and I and I always like to say,
you know, my friend didn't sugarcoat it. If something sucked,
they were gonna tell me that it sucked. And eventually
(06:52):
we came up with, you know, six great tasting flavors
of lollipops. And what we found throughout nih Fund is
studies that ar byth retol on its own, which is
an all natural plant based sweetener from the US, it
actually raises a pH in your mouth and it neutralizes
the acid, so it takes away the bacteria that causes
(07:12):
cavities and tooth decay, and that bacteria is fed by acid,
and acid is really in every food that we eat.
Even bottled water has acid in it. And that's why
we call it the aft Wheat treat because you can
still enjoy your chocolate cake and your orange juice, but
if you have a Zali pop after, it helps remineralize.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Your tooth enamel.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Once we started finalizing the process of Zali candy, we
started having the conversations around our house about what we're
gonna do now. I have been a dancer since the
age of three. I'm also a tennis player, so I've
always had a busy schedule even without Zali Candy. So
(07:58):
really we began having those conversations about how we would
run the business on a day to day basis. We
are a family owned company, and we really made the decision,
and my parents took that leap with me, you know,
especially my dad quitting his job to work full time
at Zali as the business manager. A day to day
really looked like me going to school and then going
(08:20):
back to our office and working with my dad and
the team to help grow and develop Zali.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
And you've been listening to Zali Candy's CEO, Aleena Morse,
and I happen to be holding an orange Zali lollipop
in my hand as we speak. And what a story
it is. Her dad read her the book Rich Dad,
Poor Dad when she was two or three. Way to
go Dad, by the way, what a great book to
read any kid, because it's not about wealth the way
(08:51):
you're thinking about it. When you read the book. Wealth
is freedom and wealth could be wealth, spiritual wealth, all
kinds of wealth, but it also is money and what
business does, and that you can help people through business
and that's the thing about capitalism, folks. Free enterprise and
businesses serve. Your local restaurant serves, a car dealer serves,
so on and so forth. When we come back more
(09:14):
with this remarkable young voice, it sounds really like a
complete grown up. I'm talking about Elena Morris, CEO of
Zali Candy. Here on our American Stories, and we continue
(09:39):
with our American Stories and the story of Zally Candy
CEO Elena Morris, And right now I happen to be
holding my hand as Zalie Taffy. When we last left off,
she had been searching for a candy, a sugar free
one that was good for teeth. Let's pick up when
we last left off.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
So all throughout MYO, I've always had very supportive teachers
who have understood that I'm not leaving school to go
on vacation.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
I'm leaving school to learn.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
I feel like, in my opinion, at least, that real
world experience is even worth more than algebra. The first
retailer we actually got into was Whole Food's Markets, So
we luckily got a meeting and we were able to
drive down to southern California, and I'm so nervous. I'd
been practicing all week for the big pitch, and when
(10:33):
I walked in the door, I remember the look on
the buyer's face was just kind of puzzled of why
is a kid here? And the buyer was very patient
with me. I know that they could tell I was
nervous but also excited, and they gave me some great
advice and they said, Okay, well, we'll let you know
in a couple months if you get in. And one
(10:55):
day we just got an email that we had gotten
in and that was our first po So it was
our first big sale, and it was really exciting realizing
and getting to celebrate all of our hard work coming
to a head. And you know, it was the first
of many of many yeses that we've gotten from buyers,
but you know, there's also been a lot of no's.
But you got to take the good with the bad
(11:17):
with business. And so it wasn't until late twenty nineteen
that we actually got into every Whole Foods around the country,
which was very, very exciting and it was a very
full circle moment. And we recently actually went back and
visited one of the first Whole Foods that we had
(11:37):
ever gotten into when we just happened to be in
California and we'd gone in and there was a whole
wall and cap filled with Zalie candy. Just seeing things
like that make it all the more real to us,
rather than just seeing numbers on a piece of paper
or you know how many units per store per week,
(11:59):
or volume or margins. You know, seeing people with Zali
candy in their shopping carts, it was very exciting. We
really had been fortunate to receive a lot of earned
media and a lot of great opportunities being a small
family owned company from Michigan. But like any business, we
(12:23):
faced tremendous setbacks. Luckily enough, though, one of our major
setbacks happened very early on. So after we got into
Whole Foods, our second big account was Amazon dot Com.
And you know, if you know anything about Amazon, you
gotta ship worldwide, nationwide, and you have to do it in.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
A very timely manner.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
And so once we launched on Amazon dot Com, people
were super excited about Zali and began purchasing it very quickly. Unfortunately,
when it was delivered to their homes, specifically in more hot,
deserty dry climates, all the bags of lollipops were melted,
(13:06):
and we learned later on that this had to do
with the way that the candy was being made, the
temperature in which the candy was being made. But at
first we were devastated to see our Amazon ratings drop
in a matter of days, and we went from five
stars to like two stars because everyone was receiving melted candy.
(13:30):
And so it ended up being that the pops would
become hydroscopic, which means that they would suck up the
moisture from the air. And we realized at that moment
that this is why people had never succeeded in making
sugar free candy that's good for your teeth, because sugar
free candy tends to be hydroscopic, and nobody could figure out,
(13:55):
or you know, maybe they had given up too soon
to figure out that you had to create ate the
candy in a very specific condition in order to maintain
its integrity. Once we figured that out, we could begin
to start either creating it in a higher temperature or
a lower temperature, and eventually we actually did figure it out,
(14:17):
and then we began the process of apologizing and sending
out fresh batches of zali to everyone who had ordered,
and over time we did begin to regain some of
our ratings. But for a long time, even though we
had fixed the candy, our ratings were really low. And
(14:37):
I don't know about you, but whenever I'm purchasing something
specifically on Amazon, I checked the ratings first. You know,
it's important to see what other users are thinking about
the product before I order, and so it was a
very important learning experience. Eventually we came out with a
really fantastic product that was stronger than and even though
(15:02):
phones and electronics can't get shipped in vessels to China,
Korea in the heat of summer, Zali candy can. It's
basically bulletproof. You cannot melt this candy. So you know,
we're better off for it for sure, But yeah, it
was it was definitely a tricky roadblock. So in our
(15:24):
five years of selling, we have grown tremendously.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
We have a three hundred percent.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
Growth rate year over year, and we really.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
Have found a niche community of people.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Whether you're diabetic, whether you have food allergies, whether you
know you're on a keto diet, those are the people
that we've been able to impact with our product. And
we also you know, started a nonprofit alongside Zali Candy
where we give free Zali candy to schools across America
to teach kids about the importance of oral healthcare and entrepreneurship.
(15:59):
And it's called the Million Smiles Initiative. So teachers principles
can sign up on our website Zalicandy dot com to
get free Zali candy for their entire school, which is,
you know, just another way that I've tried to carry
through with our initial mission of keeping kids smiling and
helping reduce childhood tooth the k To date, we're in
about twenty four hundred retailers in the US. We're in CBS,
(16:24):
write Aid, Whole foods markets, Amazon dot com. We recently
got into Costco in Southern California, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado.
We're also available on Walmart dot com, Target dot com,
and Krogers. And you know, we've continued to grow our
(16:45):
presence internationally as well, in China, Korea, France, the Philippines, Morocco.
So when about twelve other countries, including the US, we
have been able to share Zali Candy across the world,
and we still are looking for new ways to.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Expand and new ways to grow.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
But one of those ways has been through expanding our
product line. So we don't just have Zalie pops anymore.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
We have Zaffy taffy, which is the clean teeth taffy.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
We have Zali caramels, we have Zalie drops, we have
Zali peanut butter cups, which we're a newer invention that
we're so so excited about and I snack on them
all day long.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
They're delicious. But all of our.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Products still have the same great teeth cleaning and allergen
friendly other than the peanut butter cups. Those have peanut
butter obviously, but we are still a very transparent and
clean company in terms of ingredients and the teeth cleaning aspect,
as well as being allergen friendly and diabetic friendly and keto.
(17:53):
So all of those amazing products. You can check them
out on our website zalicandy dot com or shop them
at Zali cat myshopify dot com. And if you're interested
in learning more about my story, you can check me
out at Alina Starmors on Instagram or at Zalicandy on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube,
or Twitter. And so we want to continue to grow
(18:18):
Zalie and increase distribution nationally and internationally as well as
you know, continue to be a beacon for other young
girls and kids who are interested in business and share
with them that you know, entrepreneurship is a real career
and a real opportunity and you don't have to have
(18:38):
a lot of money, and you don't have to have
a lot of business experience certainly not a degree to
start your very own company and become an entrepreneur. So
we want to continue to share that message, especially through
a nonprofit. But as for me, you know, college is
coming up soon and those decisions.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
Are really key.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
But I think you know wherever I choose to go,
so I'd like to study business and you know, hopefully
get to dance or play tennis or you know, still
enjoy the things that I've loved growing up and look
for other opportunities to help people, look for other niche
communities that you know could benefit from a functional product,
(19:21):
and whether it's Zali or whether it's something else that
I create down the line, Helping people is really the
most important thing to me.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
And a great job is always by Greg Hengler and
a special thanks to Zalie Candy CEO Alena Morris, and
we love telling stories about entrepreneurship and small business owners.
And my goodness, what she said is so powerful. Real
world experience is better than algebra. And she's thinking about
college right now, but she's right. Entrepreneurship is a real career.
(19:49):
You don't need money, you certainly don't need a degree.
And she is living proof her first orders Whole Foods
and Amazon, and then she experiences the setback. Every entrepreneur
does it, the screw up. Do they bounce back? Do
they fight back and learn from it? And she did,
which makes her an entrepreneur. The story of Teen Candy
(20:10):
Queen CEO Elena Morris here on our American Stories
And we continue with our American stories. Our next story
is brought to us by the youngest person ever to
be featured on the cover of Entrepreneur magazine. Let's take
a listen.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
My name is Elena Morris. I'm sixteen years old, and
I am the CEO and founder of Zali Candy. Sally
Candy is all natural, sugar free candy that cleans your teeth.
But my entrepreneurial journey didn't start at seven years old
with Zali Candy. I had been coming up with inventions
and crazy outlandish ideas for products.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Since I was about three years old.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Around that age two three years old, my dad read
me the book Rich Dad, Poor Dad. What's an interesting
experience Because as much of the book that I didn't understand,
the thing that stuck with me was you can help
people through business. So I began writing all of my
(01:11):
inventions and compiling them into what I called my idea
binder and drawn what I had called a business plan,
but it was really more of just a picture with
some labels.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
And as I, you know, grew up, I grew up
with this binder.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
I would say some of the most prominent inventions from
that that time were definitely Robot Daddies. The name is
pretty self explanatory. It's a robot that can go to
work as your dad.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
And at this.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Time, you know, my dad, he was a CPA, so
he was going out of tons of business trips and
I really missed having my dad around, and I wanted
him to stay home and you know, we could hang
out and just among among those there was lots of
odds and ends of fun games or a new sport.
(02:00):
As much as they weren't cohesive ideas, they did keep
me occupied coming up with with fun new business plans
and pitching them to my parents. So really from that book,
I learned that I could help my mom, I could
help my dad, I could help my younger sister even
by coming up with an invention to make their lives
a little bit easier on the day to day basis.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
But as I grew up, you know.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Four, five, six, and then all the way up until
seven years old, I had added to this binder. It
wasn't until one just odd day I went to the
bank with my dad and the bank teller offered me
a lollipop, and it was just the typical action. But
my dad always told me he gave me the same
(02:46):
speech he gave me every time we went to the bank.
Candy's bad for your teeth, You'll get cavities. He goes,
it's up to you, Elena. But you know, if I
were you, i'd i'd make a smart choice.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
You know.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
After pondering it for a moment, I decided, you know, hey,
I'll let them win. I won't take the lollipop. But
as we were walking back to the car, I asked him,
you know, hey, if I can't have candy, and if
I can't have something that's bad for me, why can't
I create something that's good for me that you can't
say no to? And this idea really stuck with me.
(03:26):
I began writing a more extensive business plan than I
ever had before in my idea binder. And I decided,
you know, with a little bit of a push in
the right direction, to go do some research.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
And just on Google on YouTube.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
And so I started watching just videos on YouTube of
how they created candy on a mass scale, and it
made me question, you know, where other products came from,
and it really got me interested in kind of the
consumer packaged good industry as a whole, and just how
things were made and all behind the scene steps that
went into creating not just candy, but everything that we
(04:04):
see in the grocery store. It doesn't just magically happen,
you know, it has to come from somewhere. And I
started researching more about the ingredient lists and what actually
makes candy bad for you, what causes cavities tooth decay
is actually the single greatest epidemic facing kids in America today,
and that's according to the US Surgeon General. And so
(04:26):
that really prompted me to explore the idea of creating
something that's not only good for me in a sense
where there's no sugar, but something that's actually good for
your teeth, something that could help combat this epidemic. And
then the pieces just kind of clicked reading that book
at three years old, or having it read to me
(04:47):
for that matter, and coming up with this idea and
connecting the pieces of a great idea and helping people
and having a cause a mission. And so when those
pieces clicked in place, I knew that this was my time,
This was the time to create and you know, put
in the time, put in the energy, put in the work,
(05:08):
and get people excited about this idea.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Get people passionate about.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Zali candy or what was to be Zali candy. So
it was definitely a turning point for me getting my
parents involved, saying hey, will you support me?
Speaker 3 (05:28):
Will you support this mission, and doing.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Kind of the first of many big business pitches to
my parents to have them help support me through this journey.
And then we started looking at different manufacturing facilities or
what we call plants. We began taking tours of these
manufacturing facilities around the country to see, you know, who
(05:51):
could really make a sugar free candy that cleans your teeth.
And one of my first manufacturing facility tours, we got
to the end and my dad said, hey, Lena, so,
so what do you think?
Speaker 3 (06:03):
This is pretty cool?
Speaker 2 (06:05):
And I was thinking, yeah, Dad, this is great, but
where's the plant.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
He's like, what do you mean, Alena?
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Look around? This is the plant. No, Dad, you don't
understand the plant, the potted plant. I mean, I'm looking
all around. All I see is people, machinery, candy. I
don't see any plants. I think in that moment he
reminded himself as mature, as smart as my daughter could be, She's.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Still a kid.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
I took about two years of taste tests and trials,
and during that time, our only taste testers really were
my friends and I and I always like to say,
you know, my friend didn't sugarcoat it. If something sucked,
they were gonna tell me that it sucked. And eventually
(06:52):
we came up with, you know, six great tasting flavors
of lollipops. And what we found throughout nih Fund is
studies that ar byth retol on its own, which is
an all natural plant based sweetener from the US, it
actually raises a pH in your mouth and it neutralizes
the acid, so it takes away the bacteria that causes
(07:12):
cavities and tooth decay, and that bacteria is fed by acid,
and acid is really in every food that we eat.
Even bottled water has acid in it. And that's why
we call it the aft Wheat treat because you can
still enjoy your chocolate cake and your orange juice, but
if you have a Zali pop after, it helps remineralize.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Your tooth enamel.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Once we started finalizing the process of Zali candy, we
started having the conversations around our house about what we're
gonna do now. I have been a dancer since the
age of three. I'm also a tennis player, so I've
always had a busy schedule even without Zali Candy. So
(07:58):
really we began having those conversations about how we would
run the business on a day to day basis. We
are a family owned company, and we really made the decision,
and my parents took that leap with me, you know,
especially my dad quitting his job to work full time
at Zali as the business manager. A day to day
really looked like me going to school and then going
(08:20):
back to our office and working with my dad and
the team to help grow and develop Zali.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
And you've been listening to Zali Candy's CEO, Aleena Morse,
and I happen to be holding an orange Zali lollipop
in my hand as we speak. And what a story
it is. Her dad read her the book Rich Dad,
Poor Dad when she was two or three. Way to
go Dad, by the way, what a great book to
read any kid, because it's not about wealth the way
(08:51):
you're thinking about it. When you read the book. Wealth
is freedom and wealth could be wealth, spiritual wealth, all
kinds of wealth, but it also is money and what
business does, and that you can help people through business
and that's the thing about capitalism, folks. Free enterprise and
businesses serve. Your local restaurant serves, a car dealer serves,
so on and so forth. When we come back more
(09:14):
with this remarkable young voice, it sounds really like a
complete grown up. I'm talking about Elena Morris, CEO of
Zali Candy. Here on our American Stories, and we continue
(09:39):
with our American Stories and the story of Zally Candy
CEO Elena Morris, And right now I happen to be
holding my hand as Zalie Taffy. When we last left off,
she had been searching for a candy, a sugar free
one that was good for teeth. Let's pick up when
we last left off.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
So all throughout MYO, I've always had very supportive teachers
who have understood that I'm not leaving school to go
on vacation.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
I'm leaving school to learn.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
I feel like, in my opinion, at least, that real
world experience is even worth more than algebra. The first
retailer we actually got into was Whole Food's Markets, So
we luckily got a meeting and we were able to
drive down to southern California, and I'm so nervous. I'd
been practicing all week for the big pitch, and when
(10:33):
I walked in the door, I remember the look on
the buyer's face was just kind of puzzled of why
is a kid here? And the buyer was very patient
with me. I know that they could tell I was
nervous but also excited, and they gave me some great
advice and they said, Okay, well, we'll let you know
in a couple months if you get in. And one
(10:55):
day we just got an email that we had gotten
in and that was our first po So it was
our first big sale, and it was really exciting realizing
and getting to celebrate all of our hard work coming
to a head. And you know, it was the first
of many of many yeses that we've gotten from buyers,
but you know, there's also been a lot of no's.
But you got to take the good with the bad
(11:17):
with business. And so it wasn't until late twenty nineteen
that we actually got into every Whole Foods around the country,
which was very, very exciting and it was a very
full circle moment. And we recently actually went back and
visited one of the first Whole Foods that we had
(11:37):
ever gotten into when we just happened to be in
California and we'd gone in and there was a whole
wall and cap filled with Zalie candy. Just seeing things
like that make it all the more real to us,
rather than just seeing numbers on a piece of paper
or you know how many units per store per week,
(11:59):
or volume or margins. You know, seeing people with Zali
candy in their shopping carts, it was very exciting. We
really had been fortunate to receive a lot of earned
media and a lot of great opportunities being a small
family owned company from Michigan. But like any business, we
(12:23):
faced tremendous setbacks. Luckily enough, though, one of our major
setbacks happened very early on. So after we got into
Whole Foods, our second big account was Amazon dot Com.
And you know, if you know anything about Amazon, you
gotta ship worldwide, nationwide, and you have to do it in.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
A very timely manner.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
And so once we launched on Amazon dot Com, people
were super excited about Zali and began purchasing it very quickly. Unfortunately,
when it was delivered to their homes, specifically in more hot,
deserty dry climates, all the bags of lollipops were melted,
(13:06):
and we learned later on that this had to do
with the way that the candy was being made, the
temperature in which the candy was being made. But at
first we were devastated to see our Amazon ratings drop
in a matter of days, and we went from five
stars to like two stars because everyone was receiving melted candy.
(13:30):
And so it ended up being that the pops would
become hydroscopic, which means that they would suck up the
moisture from the air. And we realized at that moment
that this is why people had never succeeded in making
sugar free candy that's good for your teeth, because sugar
free candy tends to be hydroscopic, and nobody could figure out,
(13:55):
or you know, maybe they had given up too soon
to figure out that you had to create ate the
candy in a very specific condition in order to maintain
its integrity. Once we figured that out, we could begin
to start either creating it in a higher temperature or
a lower temperature, and eventually we actually did figure it out,
(14:17):
and then we began the process of apologizing and sending
out fresh batches of zali to everyone who had ordered,
and over time we did begin to regain some of
our ratings. But for a long time, even though we
had fixed the candy, our ratings were really low. And
(14:37):
I don't know about you, but whenever I'm purchasing something
specifically on Amazon, I checked the ratings first. You know,
it's important to see what other users are thinking about
the product before I order, and so it was a
very important learning experience. Eventually we came out with a
really fantastic product that was stronger than and even though
(15:02):
phones and electronics can't get shipped in vessels to China,
Korea in the heat of summer, Zali candy can. It's
basically bulletproof. You cannot melt this candy. So you know,
we're better off for it for sure, But yeah, it
was it was definitely a tricky roadblock. So in our
(15:24):
five years of selling, we have grown tremendously.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
We have a three hundred percent.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
Growth rate year over year, and we really.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
Have found a niche community of people.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Whether you're diabetic, whether you have food allergies, whether you
know you're on a keto diet, those are the people
that we've been able to impact with our product. And
we also you know, started a nonprofit alongside Zali Candy
where we give free Zali candy to schools across America
to teach kids about the importance of oral healthcare and entrepreneurship.
(15:59):
And it's called the Million Smiles Initiative. So teachers principles
can sign up on our website Zalicandy dot com to
get free Zali candy for their entire school, which is,
you know, just another way that I've tried to carry
through with our initial mission of keeping kids smiling and
helping reduce childhood tooth the k To date, we're in
about twenty four hundred retailers in the US. We're in CBS,
(16:24):
write Aid, Whole foods markets, Amazon dot com. We recently
got into Costco in Southern California, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado.
We're also available on Walmart dot com, Target dot com,
and Krogers. And you know, we've continued to grow our
(16:45):
presence internationally as well, in China, Korea, France, the Philippines, Morocco.
So when about twelve other countries, including the US, we
have been able to share Zali Candy across the world,
and we still are looking for new ways to.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Expand and new ways to grow.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
But one of those ways has been through expanding our
product line. So we don't just have Zalie pops anymore.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
We have Zaffy taffy, which is the clean teeth taffy.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
We have Zali caramels, we have Zalie drops, we have
Zali peanut butter cups, which we're a newer invention that
we're so so excited about and I snack on them
all day long.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
They're delicious. But all of our.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Products still have the same great teeth cleaning and allergen
friendly other than the peanut butter cups. Those have peanut
butter obviously, but we are still a very transparent and
clean company in terms of ingredients and the teeth cleaning aspect,
as well as being allergen friendly and diabetic friendly and keto.
(17:53):
So all of those amazing products. You can check them
out on our website zalicandy dot com or shop them
at Zali cat myshopify dot com. And if you're interested
in learning more about my story, you can check me
out at Alina Starmors on Instagram or at Zalicandy on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube,
or Twitter. And so we want to continue to grow
(18:18):
Zalie and increase distribution nationally and internationally as well as
you know, continue to be a beacon for other young
girls and kids who are interested in business and share
with them that you know, entrepreneurship is a real career
and a real opportunity and you don't have to have
(18:38):
a lot of money, and you don't have to have
a lot of business experience certainly not a degree to
start your very own company and become an entrepreneur. So
we want to continue to share that message, especially through
a nonprofit. But as for me, you know, college is
coming up soon and those decisions.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
Are really key.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
But I think you know wherever I choose to go,
so I'd like to study business and you know, hopefully
get to dance or play tennis or you know, still
enjoy the things that I've loved growing up and look
for other opportunities to help people, look for other niche
communities that you know could benefit from a functional product,
(19:21):
and whether it's Zali or whether it's something else that
I create down the line, Helping people is really the
most important thing to me.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
And a great job is always by Greg Hengler and
a special thanks to Zalie Candy CEO Alena Morris, and
we love telling stories about entrepreneurship and small business owners.
And my goodness, what she said is so powerful. Real
world experience is better than algebra. And she's thinking about
college right now, but she's right. Entrepreneurship is a real career.
(19:49):
You don't need money, you certainly don't need a degree.
And she is living proof her first orders Whole Foods
and Amazon, and then she experiences the setback. Every entrepreneur
does it, the screw up. Do they bounce back? Do
they fight back and learn from it? And she did,
which makes her an entrepreneur. The story of Teen Candy
(20:10):
Queen CEO Elena Morris here on our American Stories
Host
Lee Habeeb
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