"Digital has never been more important. In order to thrive in 2022, businesses need to discover and harness the intersection between online and retail."
David Habib is an Executive and Founder in the Natural Foods Industry. As the Founder & CEO of Yo Mama’s Foods, David leads an international organization that specializes in Natural Pasta Sauces, Salad Dressings, and Condiments. Headquartered in Florida, Yo Mama’s Foods ships nationally to over 11,000 retail stores and internationally in 8 countries.
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Table of Contents
We are thrilled to have you join us today, welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Tell our readers a bit about yourself and your company.
David Habib: Yo Mama’s Foods is on a mission to bring the word back to the table through healthy and delicious foods. Launching on Mother’s Day of 2017, Yo Mama’s Foods is making waves across the United States with their natural and delicious pasta sauces, salad dressings, and condiments. As Amazon’s #1 best selling brand of Pasta Sauce, Yo Mama’s Foods has delivered strong growth over the past 5 years. Yo Mama’s Foods is available in over 11,000 stores nationwide including Walmart, Whole Foods, Sprouts, Publix, Meijer, HEB, and many more.
Led by David Habib, Founder and CEO, Yo Mama’s Foods is continuing to grow significantly in the natural foods industry.
2020 and 2021 threw a lot of curve balls into business on a global scale. Based on the experience gleaned in the past couple years, how can businesses thrive in 2022? What lessons have you learned?
David Habib: Digital has never been more important. In order to thrive in 2022, businesses need to discover and harness the intersection between online and retail. COVID has expedited what was inevitably going to happen in the food world and in order to adapt and grow in today’s marketplace, brands need to be prepared to invest heavily in online. By doing so, brands can focus on the bountiful intersection between online and retail to drive brand value and in-store velocities.
The pandemic seems to keep on disrupting the economy, what should businesses focus on in 2022? What advice would you share?
David Habib: Businesses need to focus on building resilience by building a strong supplier network.
A business should have at least 4 companies they can all on for any specific item. By focusing on diversifications, businesses can withstand harmful disruptions.
How has the pandemic changed your industry and how have you adapted?
David Habib: The pandemic has exponentially grown online and retail growth. It has also allowed customers to “trade up” and be more aware of what they are cooking and sharing with their family. Ingredients and clean eating have never been more important and customers are no longer willing to settle for subpar ingredients from food companies.
What advice do you wish you received when the pandemic started and what do you intend on improving in 2022?
David Habib: I would have wished to know the importance of building a diversified supply chain. This has been our focus and continues to be our focus.
Online business surged higher than ever, B2B, B2C, online shopping, virtual meetings, remote work, Zoom medical consultations, what are your expectations for 2022?
David Habib: We are expecting online to grow by another 50% this year.
How many hours a day do you spend in front of a screen?
David Habib: At least 10.
The majority of executives use stories to persuade and communicate in the workplace. Can you share with our readers examples of how you implement that in your business to communicate effectively with your team?
David Habib: Using stores and podcasts are an effective way to drive a point or share a strategy. Here at Yo Mama’s Foods, we are big fans of Master Class and How I Built This. By listening to other storytellers and entrepreneurs, we have discovered relevant and unique examples to help us reach our milestones.
Business is all about overcoming obstacles and creating opportunities for growth. What do you see as the real challenge right now?
David Habib: Inflation and a consistently changing supply chain are all real problems for us today (and most businesses).
In 2022, what are you most interested in learning about? Crypto, NFTs, online marketing, or any other skill sets? Please share your motivations.
David Habib: I am continuously fascinated by e-commerce and the growth that all companies are seeing. I am also interested to learn more about sustainable ways to package and learning more about disruptive and innovative ideas to help save on packaging expense. Most businesses today are dealing with inflation.
A record 4.4 million Americans left their jobs in September in 2021, accelerating a trend that has become known as the Great Resignation. 47% of people plan to leave their job during 2022. Most are leaving because of their boss or their company culture. 82% of people feel unheard, undervalued and misunderstood in the workplace. Do you think leaders see the data and think “that’s not me – I’m not that boss they don’t want to work for? What changes do you think need to happen?
David Habib: I think most honest leaders will look at the data and say, “we’ve been there.” Part of growth and building company culture is being able to take resignations as important lessons for growth. Culture eats strategy for breakfast and one bad apple can ruin a team’s collective outlook and behavior. As the captain of the ship, it’s important to be transparent with employees and acknowledge failures. Communication is key and in today’s technology driven world, the more face-to-face meetings you can establish to address successes and failures, the better. Nobody likes feedback over virtual methods or email.
On a lighter note, if you had the ability to pick any business superpower, what would it be and how would you put it into practice?
David Habib: In my opinion, the most important business superpower is resilience. You have to be able to successfully captain your ship through calm waters and stormy waters. You also have to be able to withstand the massive waves. Most important to resilience is establishing a strong crew and foundation. Many times, we all waste time on the “anchors” of our ship. It is important to acknowledge these anchors and throw them overboard before they sink your ship. Failing to do so will make the stormy seas much harder to navigate through.
What does “success” in 2022 mean to you? It could be on a personal or business level, please share your vision.
David Habib: Success for us in 2022 means continuing to drive happiness and growth within our company. We are looking at growth in 2 main buckets – 1) International Growth and 2) Big Box Growth with retailers like Sam’s Club, Costco, and BJs.
Jed Morley, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank David Habib for taking the time to do this interview and share his knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with David Habib or his company, you can do it through his – Instagram
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