Mar 7, 2017
Today we have Pete Spenuzza Founder of Rise Bar. After acquiring a small operation in San Diego Pete turned around the healthy snack company. Rise Bar can be found in select Whole Foods, Sprouts Farmer’s Market, Vitamin Shoppe and many more online and offline. Their facility is entirely free of wheat, cane sugar, GMO’s, meat, eggs and peanuts ensuring the products are gluten-free, and soy-free.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
- [1:02] Jeremy introduces his guest, Peter Spenuzza.
- [1:45] Who are the key people you put in place for success?
- [3:00] What were the early days of business like?
- [4:55] Once you clean house what were your next steps?
- [7:00] Why did Peter bring on a high level executive team?
- [8:50] How did Rise Bar get into some of the big retailers?
- [10:30] What are the drawbacks to getting into the big retailers?
- [11:30] Peter and Jeremy talk about the Rise Bar.
- [15:10] What does a successful product launch look like?
- [17:10] What has been the lowest and highest moment in this journey?
In this episode…
Hiring the right people can be a difficult task for any CEO. Many leaders hire from a place of urgency or desperation. Is there a better way? Peter Spenuzza has determined that taking their time and waiting for the right people to come along is a central piece of Rise Bar’s continued success. On this episode of Inspired Insider, Peter talks about the ingredients of success, what he LOVES about his company’s product and the difficult aspects of having quality team members. If you are looking for insight and helpful lessons in business, you’ve come to the right place!
Why is Rise Bar so successful? Peter Spenuzza is convinced that they are successful because they produce a high-quality product that is healthy and delicious AND because they hire the right people. Peter is quick to tell you that they were able to ride the consumer wave of an increased demand for transparency - their bars only have a handful of ingredients. They’ve also excelled in being patient and hiring the right people for each job opening. It hasn’t always been easy but this patient approach to hiring and the transparent approach to product development has paid large dividends in success for the company. To hear more insights from Peter, listen to this episode of Inspired Insider!
When you see your business or product take off into stratospheric success that usually will count as a “High point” for most entrepreneurs but for Peter Spenuzza, it’s different. Peter isn’t crazy, of course, he LOVES that his company’s product has taken off and is sold at retailers like Whole Foods. But what fires Peter up is getting texts or emails from friends or acquaintances who snap a picture just to let him know where they found his product and that they are HUGE fans of it. To this day, that gets Peter fired up more than the numbers and spreadsheets - they are making a difference in people’s lives and that is huge!
One of the most difficult aspects of hiring the right people for the job is watching them leave. You invest a lot of time, training, and resources in building up and equipping a talented individual and sometimes that person will move on to new opportunities. On this episode of Inspired Insider, business leader Peter Spenuzza talks about watching talented people move on as being one of the most difficult aspects of running a successful and thriving company. Peter is gracious and understands why people leave to pursue other opportunities but it still stings - you get attached to people! To hear more about Peter’s story with Rise Bar, make sure to listen to this episode.
Resources Mentioned on this episode
- Rise Bar’s website: risebar.com
- Amazon.com : Rise Bar Gluten-Free, High-Protein Bars