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Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/623506
✔ Gluten Free ✔ MSG Free ✔ All natural favors ✔ No artifcial colors ✔ No hydrogenated fats or trans fats Thick cut potato chips hand cooked in small batches Thick cut potato chips hand cooked in small batches Distributed in the USA Exclusively by BWI, Inc. tel 818-991-6644 www.bwi-imports.com WFFS16 Booth #3123 Winter Fancy Food Show Booth 3123 Winter Fancy Food Show Booth 632 Prizing the Customer Above All Else Jun remains grounded in the same instincts that drove her to start SeaSnax: listening to the customer. In the same way she followed her daughter's palate with their first round of products, she incorporates feedback as she expands the line. Two suggestions she considers to be huge successes were creating a bigger sin- gle-serving snack bag and adding holes to the top of the packages. A lot of people, men especially, had said the existing single serving wasn't enough to eat in one sit- ting, but they didn't want to open two bags at once. So Jun came out with the slightly larger Big Grab size. The hole in the package allowed stores to hang the product and display it on shelves, increasing in- store visibility. For One, For Everyone When Jun reflects on her homegrown suc- cess, she is, in many ways, still baffled that kids and adults love SeaSnax. "In my genera- tion, my husband and I had to secretly enjoy our seaweed on the playground because kids thought it was weird, or something strange." Today, people still find it strange—but in a different way. The company's tagline is "Strangely Addictive." "It actually comes from hearing it time and time again from our customers and friends," notes Jun. Just as the story of SeaSnax began with a mother and daughter, the story of seaweed itself is about mothers and chil- dren. In Korean folklore, Jun recounts, "Our people observed that mother whales, right after giving birth, would eat tons of sea- weed." Mothers subsequently saw seaweed as a nourishing, live-giving plant, and Jun identifies that as the driving force behind SeaSnax. "It was something I thought I was creating for my daughter, but it turns out that it was something I was actually creating for everyone." WINTER 2016 81 Olivia Kingsley is a creative writer based in San Francisco whose work can be found at olivia-kingsley.com