2022 will be a big year for Affouet Price and her beverage startup Hibisbloom. She is working on big changes to her packaging and a physical location for fans of her products to gather.
Price, who was previously a supply chain buyer in high tech, started Hibisbloom in 2019. The company’s product is based on a traditional drink in Price’s native Ivory Coast and in West Africa called Bissap. It’s a hibiscus-based, non-alcoholic beverage.
She sells a ready-to-drink bottled product as well as concentrate. Products are available online or at local retailers such as New Seasons and Market of Choice.
To make the product a bit more accessible, she is in the process of switching her packaging for the ready-to-drink products from 16-ounce glass bottles to 12-ounce cans with slight carbonation.
“(Cans) are not as heavy and there are low rates of waste and damage to the product,” she said of the switch. “And when it comes to convenience, it’s more convenient. People can buy it and not worry about storage. It will help us catch a different demographic of customers.”
Price is funding this project with a $25,000 loan from New Seasons as part of the retailer’s Partner Fund. Through that program she said she was able to get better terms than traditional lending.
“The New Seasons fund was the friendliest to makers. And they are local and know how tough it is,” she said.
Price has graduated from making the ready-to-drink product herself in a shared commercial kitchen and now works with a local manufacturer who will handle the canning as well. She is shipping 25 to 35 cases of a dozen bottles a week.
The other big plan for her this year surrounds a foodcart she bought in January. She is in discussions over a location and hopes to open the cart in the Portland suburbs this summer.
“It has been an idea that I have been nourishing for a while. I want to have a cool, fancy tasting room to represent Hibisbloom. A headquarters for meeting and tasting,” she said.
However, a traditional brick-and-mortar location isn’t in her budget. However, an adviser suggested she start with a more capital efficient location.
“This was an epiphany,” she said. “It’s a way to raise money to place that bigger dream.”
She is working on the cart now, and plans to apply for a liquor license once she has a location. She wants to create a West African cocktail bar that will sell Hibisbloom as well as cocktails, mocktails and to-go mixers. She also plans to serve West African food, likely with the cooking help of her mother.
“Once I find the perfect spot, we will be there for a long time,” she said of the cart.
The Hibisbloom team is small, but she is bringing on two seasonal employees this spring and summer to help with the cart and at Farmers Markets where she has stalls.
As raw material prices have gone up, Price is using her know-how in supply chains to try to stay ahead and stock up on items. She said the raw sugar she uses was $42 for a 50-pound bag in 2020 and it now costs $55. So far, she hasn’t increased prices.
When she initially priced her product she ensured there was enough margin to absorb cost fluctuations.
“I haven’t been in the position to increase prices, but I would love (costs) to go down so I could lower my prices and make (the product) more accessible,” she said.
