Daniel Kitay put everything he had—his savings, his mortgage, and two months before his first child was born—on a container ship full of sugar-free gummy lollies from Switzerland. When a $250,000 shipping bill landed before he'd sold a single product, he had no option but to make it work. Five years later, Funday Natural Sweets does over $100 million in retail sales across 8,000 stores in Australia alone, selling a product every single second.
In this interview, the founder of Funday breaks down how he convinced Chemist Warehouse to submit a purchase order before he had funding, why he deliberately avoided the confectionery aisle to sidestep Nestlé, Mars, and Mondelez, and his brutally honest take on when retail will make you—and when it will destroy you.
What you'll learn in this interview:
• How Daniel convinced Chemist Warehouse to submit a purchase order before he had a single dollar of funding
• Why a $250,000 shipping bill with no backup plan was the moment that forced Funday to work
• The $50,000 stock mistake that accidentally invented their limited edition drop strategy
• Why he deliberately launched in the health food aisle—not the confectionery aisle—to avoid competing with the multinationals
• The symbiotic DTC and retail flywheel: how retail drives online discovery and online fuels in-store velocity
• Why he spent $25,000 on a brand agency before launch—and the real reason behind that decision
• His brutally honest take on retail: when it's the biggest unlock for scale, and when it will wreck your margins
• How Funday runs a $100 million business with just 25 employees—and the two-part hiring filter that makes it possible
• Why he's launching into US retail nationwide in September, and the economies of scale that finally made it possible
If you're building a CPG brand, weighing up when to take the leap into retail, or trying to figure out how DTC and bricks-and-mortar can work together instead of against each other, this conversation will fundamentally change how you think about distribution, risk, and what it actually takes to build a category from scratch.
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CONNECT WITH NATHAN CHAN
CONNECT WITH DANIEL KITAY
0:00 From Sugar-Addicted Kid to $100M Confectionery Founder
1:23 Spotting a Gap: Sugar Free Lollies That Don't Destroy You on the Toilet
5:14 Getting Chemist Warehouse to Submit a PO Before He Had Any Funding
8:37 The $250K Shipping Bill That Almost Ended Funday Before It Started
11:35 The $50K Stock Mistake That Accidentally Invented the Limited Edition Drop
13:33 Going All-In With a Mortgage, a Pregnant Wife, and No Plan B
16:28 Why He Faked Being a Woman to Land Influencer Partnerships
19:28 The Genius Aisle Placement Strategy That Bypassed the Confectionery Giants
22:12 Why DTC Will Never Be His Core Business (And When It Should Be Yours)
27:53 Pricing a Premium Lolly When Allen's Is 20% of the Price
34:50 Why He Spent $25K on Chemist Warehouse's Own Branding Agency
38:25 The Brutal Truth About Retail: Margins, Risk, and When NOT to Do It
46:10 How He Runs a $100M Business With Just 25 People
50:28 What Luxury Escapes Taught Him About Running a Business
54:15 Final Thoughts and Wrap Up
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