OffLimits - Offensively delicious: The company that's looking to shake up the cereal aisle

OFFENSIVELY DELICIOUS: THE COMPANY THAT'S LOOKING TO SHAKE UP THE CEREAL AISLE

OFFENSIVELY DELICIOUS: THE COMPANY THAT'S LOOKING TO SHAKE UP THE CEREAL AISLE

Yoseph Arsala, Head of Operations and Supply Chain at OffLimits provides insights into the company’s mission to reinvent the way we consume cereal.

OFFLIMITS

ere to elaborate on how the company manifests its motto of ‘Breaking the rules – starting with breakfast,’ is Yoseph Arsala, Head of Operations and Supply Chain at OffLimits.

Yoseph begins by describing the passion imbued into the company’s launch and journey to date.

“Off Limits is a better for you, fun cereal brand,” says Yoseph. “Founded in 2020 by our fearless leader Emily Miller, she created this brand with a goal to reinvent the way we consume cereal. We're 100 per cent plant-based, non-GMO, gluten-free and we avoid using any artificial ingredients.”

Yoseph joined OffLimits in 2021 to help the company scale up and

today he oversees the operations and supply chain, from point of origin, at raw material suppliers to manufacturing and outbound customer logistics.

Expanding on the company’s journey to date, Yoseph reiterates the importance of Emily Miller’s visionary leadership as CEO and Founder and lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Emily's background is in the breakfast category,” explains Yoseph. “She literally wrote the book on breakfast – she’s authored a cookbook on breakfast and helped world-renowned chefs develop breakfast events. She launched OffLimits combining her love of food and art, with eyes fixed firmly on being the next generation cereal brand for kids.

IS A COMPANY BUILT ON THE BELIEF THAT THE CEREAL MARKET HAS STAGNATED FOR DECADES AND CONSUMERS ARE CRAVING NEW PRODUCTS WITH FRESH FLAVOURS, BUT WITHOUT THE ARTIFICIAL INGREDIENTS, AND A STRONG EMPHASIS ON SUSTAINABILITY.

Emily Miller, CEO and Founder of OffLimits

“The brand first raised capital, produced and launched in 2020. It was tough to navigate, especially due to COVID-19. But the big creative vision was to shake up cereal while creating an organic emotional connection with our investors, suppliers and early customers. By the beginning of 2022, we started to gain more momentum by way of interest from premium regional grocery chains and distributors. During this time there were supply chain delays across all industries and lead times were incredibly long, but we were able to form a cohesive team internally to communicate clearly with our partners and also execute at a high level. Not only were we able to fill all our orders, but we also were able to reformulate and improve our flavour profile as well during this time.”

OffLimits not only champions the concept of balancing deliciousness and healthiness, the company also prides itself on how it strives for sustainability as a brand as well.

“At OffLimits, we're on a mission to prove it is wholly possible to do well and good as a business,” says Yoseph. “We have a clear plan towards our dream of being a fully regenerative snacking company one day. We work hard to ensure we use the best ingredients we can find from trustworthy and equitable

suppliers. At the same time, we ensure that our sales partners appreciate our sustainability goals in order to support the mission.

“As a small company right now, we can't do everything in one go. So while we first started by focusing on our ingredients, we're proud to announce that as of summer 2023 we're shifting our cereal cartons to fully recycled board that is compostable. It's a first step towards a complete packaging overhaul with people and planet in mind, which we hope will set a new standard in the cereal aisle. On top of that we're currently and constantly

reviewing our sourcing to improve sustainability across our entire supply chain. It's a journey that we're committed to right now.”

Now the company has spent the past two years creating its products and building its brand, Yoseph says there’s a tangible excitement at OffLimits looking ahead to the future.

“In 2023, we finally got our big break we have launched nationally at Target and Sprouts,” says Yoseph. “That's just so far this year. We're planning to spread the

goodness globally into Whole Foods beginning in January 2024. Beyond 2023, we'd like to grow organically with the customers that we have, while also focusing on marketing and expansion specifically by region.

“With regards to our supply chain, we're shaking things up this year to prepare for future growth. We've established a new relationship with a co-manufacturer that will decrease our lead times and increase capacity. At this stage, we've also decided that we're growing too fast to continue buying raw materials on the spot market. So I've been going out and signing supply contracts with both ingredient and packaging suppliers for us to be able to secure material at a fixed price for the foreseeable future, not only helping us increase our margin and lower our cost of goods sold, but also forging strong commitments from suppliers who are able to fill our demand.

"AT OFFLIMITS, WE'RE ON A MISSION TO PROVE IT IS WHOLLY POSSIBLE TO DO WELL AND GOOD AS A BUSINESS"

In the midst of this exciting new chapter at OffLimits, Yoseph explains that innovation, supply chain optimisation and new technology are crucial to the company’s strategy to not only maintain the momentum of the business but build on it and catapult it to new levels of success.

“We're a small but mighty team of four – the epitome of an innovative

startup,” insists Yoseph. “For us, innovation is truly a team effort and everyone brings their own unique creativity to the testing table. We're constantly innovating every single day and we have weekly meetings about new product ideas. Not only are we toying around with new cereal flavours, but we're also ideating products that will break off on each of the new categories. We don't really see cereal or OffLimits products

FMI’s mission is to provide creative flavour and ingredient solutions by partnering with our customers and leveraging the strength of our worldwide ingredient network. We combine industry experience, creativity, flexibility and quality control to meet our customers’ needs.

"WE JOINED FORCES WITH ONE OF OUR SUPPLIERS, FLAVOR MATERIALS INTERNATIONAL (FMI)

EARLY ON, AND IT WAS AN IMMEDIATE, POSITIVE AND CREATIVE COLLABORATION"

as just a breakfast item, but as an omni-snack. All of our future product brainstorms abide by a ‘Play With Your Food’ mentality. We joined forces with one of our suppliers, Flavor Materials International (FMI) early on, and it was an immediate, positive and creative collaboration. We get to nerd out with them regularly on global ingredients and wild flavours to create all our omni-snack cereal creations that we bring about. FMI share the same vision as us for responsible sourcing and no artificial ingredients.

“The toughest challenge with innovation is keeping the pipeline

open to new products and ideas, but also to be able to trial these ideas without carrying a huge financial burden. We do this by strategically scheduling trials and working with our robust R&D Team at FMI, who are capable of listening to our outlandish flavour ideas and matching them scientifically. One example of our latest product innovations is our new cereal glitter. It's the only cereal glitter available on the market. It's an edible glitter you can sprinkle on your cereal, turning the milk blue. It went viral on social media and we’ve seen a lot of influencers playing around with it. We're looking to grow that product line this year and will officially launch it into retail later this year as well.”

As OffLimits explores new flavour profiles, products and innovations, Yoseph reiterates how supply chain optimisation and developing new technological solutions are major enabling forces as the company scales up its operations – but they need to be deployed efficiently and effectively.

“Operating in a startup environment, optimisation is of course something that we look forward to, but we can only explore it when we reach certain thresholds,” explains Yoseph. “At OffLimits, supply chain optimisation is becoming more and more of a priority as we scale. I've been working with food and beverage startups for the past eight years now. It

"AT OFFLIMITS, SUPPLY CHAIN OPTIMISATION IS BECOMING MORE AND MORE OF A PRIORITY AS WE SCALE"

really varies by category, but there is a certain threshold that once crossed, you can start transitioning your focus to optimisation. Prior to reaching that threshold, you're basically in survival mode. We're now at a point here at OffLimits where we have enough purchasing power to bid out our business across the entire supply chain. This allows us to not only lock in

favourable terms on ingredients, but also within manufacturing and distribution channels. For us it's not just about price, it's about building strong, meaningful relationships with suppliers that are able to grow with us. It also means we can enter sustainability conversations with a larger force of purchasing power and trusted retailers behind us.

"FOR US IT'S NOT JUST ABOUT PRICE, IT'S ABOUT BUILDING STRONG, MEANINGFUL RELATIONSHIPS WITH SUPPLIERS THAT ARE ABLE TO GROW WITH US"

“We've also begun investing in new supply chain technology and we recently onboarded with an enterprise resource planning system (ERP) that will help us centralise information and business processes,” says Yoseph. “We plan to use this organisation to plan better, sell through inventory efficiently

and communicate with our suppliers effectively. We were managing everything in spreadsheets prior to this. Now we have a central information system for all of our orders, all of our inventory and we're also able to pay our vendors in one place.”

According to Yoseph, strong partnerships have catalysed these

optimisation efforts and are of paramount to the future growth plans at OffLimits. But what does the company look for in these partnerships?

“First, it's about attention to detail and second, it’s about intention – we look for partners who offer us the

ability to scale and can commit to our mission,” summarises Yoseph. “Early on when I came on board, we were working with some suppliers that had just been recommended to us by other people in our networks. Those suppliers weren't real stakeholders in our business. We've now transitioned to suppliers that

ADDED VALUE GROUND UP MENTALITY

Yoseph is passionate about the food industry and feels incredible gratitude to the mentors who have guided him along the way in his career.

“It's super important to start from the ground up, have quality mentors and build a strong network of resources that you can rely on for support in the process,” says Yoseph. “I started my career after graduating with a bachelor's degree in finance, and unwillingly I went directly into a kitchen of a frozen food manufacturing plant.

“I had no idea what I was in for – I took a job that was recommended to me by someone I trusted who was an executive in the food industry. After working

in the kitchen for a few months, I moved into production, warehousing, planning and procurement. Fast forward a few years, I was leading operations for food and beverage brands across many different categories. Starting on the assembly line was probably the most valuable experience I've ever gained. I'm now able to walk into a factory and engage with employees on the ground, and I'm also able to work with suppliers and understand what their operations look like. It's helped me select and develop long lasting relationships for the brands that I work with. But it also means I can call the many mentors or teachers I've had along the way to ask them for advice. Connecting with and learning from industry veterans has been extremely valuable for me.

“I’m incredibly grateful to all my mentors but there are three in particular I want to thank. Emily Miller has taught me how to think outside

really believe in our brand and aren't so worried about their bottom line as they are growing with us, more as partners. Those are the type of people that I want to work with. I want to collaborate with suppliers who understand that we're here to shake up the entire cereal category and are constantly checking in on

us to make sure they can help us achieve that goal in any way that we need along the way.”

For further information about OffLimits and to explore the nextgeneration of omni-snack products in its portfolio, visit www.eatofflimits.com.

the box, be creative and she's a terrific and unique leader to work for. I have a former mentor in Lenny Leibovich, who is the founder of Pre®, a grass-fed steak startup, who approaches business with his investor hat on and has taught me how to look at things quantitatively and qualitatively. The original mentor of mine is Carlos Angulo. He's someone I grew up around and he’s the man who started me in the kitchen and recommended getting into the industry. I couldn't thank him enough for starting me where he did even though at the time, I wasn't too thrilled about it.”

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