Happy Trends Tuesday!

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In today's email…

• The rise of solo diners spells opportunities
• 3 lessons from a CPG co-founder navigating a tough pivot
• What we’re surfin’, from $27m plant blogs to prehistoric protein

Dig in!

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🚀 WHERE TO BUILD NEXT

Those who eat alone are in good company

This just in: Restaurants are fed up with parties of six hogging the table for hours on end.

They started either charging a large deposit, or only allowing large party bookings outside the dinner rush. 

For the food service industry, it's largely a convenience play. Big parties take longer to serve, and the extra income isn’t worth the hassle (Groups of 6+ made up only 8% of the 2023 reservations booked on Resy). 

You know who's NOT inconvenient to serve? Parties of one.

Online mentions of eating alone rose by 9% YoY. Source: Brandwatch

Eating alone – whether it’s sad, completely fine, or glorified – has divided the Internet for years. But the number of folks who enjoy it, or venture to try it, are steadily growing. 

In response, restaurants that traditionally thrive on two- or four-tops are adapting to the shift, adding single-portioned meals, special pricing, and optimized seating. 

If you want to seize the opportunity and build on this trend, here are a few suggestions:

Help the diners

Eating at a new place alone can be daunting – it's helpful to know what to expect. 

There’s tons of content reviewing restaurants, so why not build a database compiling the most solo-friendly spots in each city, and save diners the time to read 10 SEO articles? Include videos of actual foodies reviewing their experiences in local spots. 

AI can be a powerful add here – build a dating app-style UI, have people input their preferences, and “match” them with restaurants from your database. This would be popular among the growing solo traveler crowd. 

Help the restaurants

Offer design services to restaurants that want to cater to solo diners, and help them curate the “party-of-one” experience, from space design to music to lighting. Build’em a cozy nook – there’s a science to it.  

As a bonus, add on waitstaff training to make sure their service is considerate for solo diners, like not forcing them to sit at the bar, or assuming they’re waiting for someone (or judging them if they're wearing an Apple Vision Pro). 

Think beyond food

The popularity of solo dining signals that the society is making progress in de-stigmatizing “alone” experiences.

Notably, we’ll see a rise of single-person households in the coming years, which could open up a whole lotta opportunities. 

A quarter of 40-year-olds in the US were never married, and over 40% of them don't consider marriage or kids important life milestones. 

Globally, Asian countries like China, Japan and Korea have already been moving in this direction for years.

Those who build for the "single-minded" will see big profits. Think: One-person meal delivery services, furniture and home decor for small spaces, pet-related services, self care experiences, and many more. 

Source: Pinterest

♟️ OPERATOR WISDOM

How a small ice cream business pivots in tough times

The global vegan ice cream market is $685.3m in 2023, and is projected to reach $1.7B in 2032.

As more players enter the ring, the market’s becoming saturated. Not to mention, established brands like Unilever are making their own dairy-free play, which poses significant challenge to indie brands. 

Today we're hearing from the co-founders of Must Love, a dairy-free ice cream company that's saying goodbye to the product that put them on the map, and reinventing themselves in the space. 

Source: LA Weekly

Hannah Hong and Mollie Cha have a few things in common. They both:

💪 Grew up in entrepreneurial environments

😰 Became lactose intolerant in their 20s

🦷 Suffer from a case of sweet tooth 

So naturally, they co-founded a snack company, and started making dairy-free ice cream together. 

They got a taste of success, signing deals with retailers like Whole Foods and Sprouts Farmers Market, and making ~$3.7m in revenue last year. 

But they’ve also weathered some storms, like getting rejected on Shark Tank, and having to discontinue their flagship product and lay off most of their employees. 

I spoke to Hannah about her experience and lessons navigating the low points of entrepreneurship:

First, what happened? 

Must Love built early momentum riding the plant-based trend in 2017, but they still had major hoops to jump through: 

• Dairy-free is hard to compete with traditional ice cream
• High manufacturing costs of frozen desserts with healthy ingredients
• Competition from established brands

It was also difficult getting onto shelves at big chains like Safeway, Kroger, where more conventional shoppers go. 

“Our consumers were there, but not enough of them,” Hannah said. 

Last November, Sprouts Farmers Market decided to stop carrying Must Love’s ice cream – part of a product category reshuffle. 

The worst part: It was Must Love’s biggest distributor, contributing to over 50% of their revenue. 

They were still getting profit from Amazon, but practically no sale from their website. Losing a national retailer deal meant losing manufacturer discount, too. At that point, it didn’t make financial sense to continue making the ice cream. 

In January, Hannah shared the sad news on Must Love’s Instagram. 

A bittersweet pivot. Source: Instagram

But the co-founders weren’t giving up. Their next move? Graham crackers, with a Must Love twist. 

And this time, they’re armed with the lessons learned from their first venture. 

Read on to see the three key lessons from this pivot, and our main takeaway from their "breakup" story. 👇 

🗂️ OPEN TABS

🤫 Introverts: How to make an impact without being the loudest in the room

📝 From X: A sneak peek of Shaan's prep doc for an MFM episode

🪴 Watch: He built a $27m/yr business from a PLANT blog?!

🦣 Why not: How chefs would add prehistoric creatures into their menus