Charlene Li on Her Wine and Spirits Infused Popcorn

Please share a brief introduction about yourself and your business:

EATABLE was started in 2019 by Toronto husband-and-wife team Charlene and Vincent Li. Their journey began while the pair was living in Boston, and their desire to find a community in a new city led them to nurture a lifelong passion for food at a local commercial kitchen. When a unique Whisky-infused caramel popcorn they'd been making in their own kitchen for years ended up winning in a pitch competition, EATABLE was born.

Frustrated by the lack of clean, yet flavorful snacks on store shelves, Charlene and Vince worked for over a year to perfect recipes featuring the flavours of classic wines, spirits and cocktails, collaborating with professional pastry chefs and Sommeliers to learn the art of confectionery and chocolate making.

The result was the “perfect pairing” of two loves: A good snack + a good drink!  Their artisanal gourmet popcorn is hand-crafted in small batches with non-GMO corn kernels, and locally sourced, natural ingredients.

EATABLE’s mission is to celebrate life’s pleasures through food. We honor joyful experiences through mindfully crafted, sensory-driven snacking experiences that connect people and enhance personal well-being.

Who are your customers?

We currently sell both D2C and B2B to high end gift and department store retailers, hotels/spas, event spaces and specialty grocery stores. Our target customer is a millennial female who enjoys discovering new trends and experiences in food and drink, and enjoys "hostess with the mostess"!

What was your background prior to starting your own business?

After spending more than a decade in finance as a CPA working for one of the Big 4 accounting firms and a large Canadian bank, I decided to pursue lifelong creative and entrepreneurial aspirations.

I started out by designing wedding invitations and stationery after my own wedding, and running an award-winning boutique design company. I eventually joined my husband in growing EATABLE and bringing our creative approach into food!

What made you take the leap to start your own business?

I've always sought creative freedom as a break from a very regimented finance and accounting career. I saw entrepreneurship as a way to explore my creative passions and bring joy into the world with tangible creations.

Did you always know you wanted to be an entrepreneur?

I think I always had the entrepreneurship bug within me - From a young age, I was trading my drawings for collectibles on the playground with friends, and selling clothes on eBay for side money in high school. I didn't think of entrepreneurship as a "career choice" until I was 10 years into my finance career, and was seeking an escape from the corporate life.

Take us back to when you first launched your business; what was your marketing strategy to get the word out and did it go as planned?

We first launched EATABLE after working alongside Paris-trained pastry chefs for over a year in a commercial kitchen before we launched 3 confectionery popcorn flavors on a Shopify store!

Being an online business, we knew we had to invest in a social media strategy, and really leaned into the Instagram of 2019! We found local influencers and content creators who where willing to try our products in exchange for photos that helped to push the boundary of when and where popcorn could be enjoyed - Instead of movie night or at the carnival, we showcased popcorn being enjoyed in the bath, in the car at a drive-in, used as a cake and dessert topper, on charcuterie spreads and that got people noticing why EATABLE was unlike any other popcorn out there!

Through our socials, we got our first major retailers in Canada and USA reaching out to us to stock our products, and even had the opportunity to work with the Oscars to create custom popcorn with 24k edible gold!

What is the biggest challenge you have encountered along the way so far and what have you learned from it?

One of the biggest challenge of running a business in today's online world is the constant change - Never a dull moment as an entrepreneur, and you are always pivoting to keep up with the speed of evolution.

I've learned to keep in check with my mental health, and try not to get too carried away by some of the "noise" and "imposter syndrome" that's out there. We're all figuring things out together, and there's really no one-size-fits-all way of doing business. 

We can choose to run our business in a way that works with our lifestyle, which is also one of the BEST things about running a business in today's world - there has never been more resources and community support out there for women founders!

What accomplishment are the most proud of to date in your business?

Because we actually have a chef on our team, and we manufacture our own products, we've had the opportunity to work with some of the BIGGEST names in retail, lifestyle and entertainment out there!

We've created gourmet popcorn through high-profile brand collaborations with beverage brands such as La Marca Prosecco, Barefoot Wines, Bacardí, and even created custom 24k edible gold popcorn for the 95th Oscars® in partnership with The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.

EATABLE has been featured on NBC’s The TODAY Show, CBC's Dragon's Den, Chatelaine, The Globe and Mail, CTV and Food & Drink Magazine. EATABLE has also been featured at movie screenings at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), and included in the Juno's 50th Anniversary VIP Attendees’ box as well as the Grammys!

Do you have any recent wins from the last year that you'd like to celebrate with our community?

Yes - We secured some amazing licensing and partnership opportunities with some amazing partners within the entertainment industry like Disney/Marvel, Netflix, and we even made popcorn for Dean Martin's estate!

I'm proud of our company's ability to be true chameleons within the food industry and transcend verticals - this has kept us relevant and nimble in today's ever-changing business environment and has allowed us to tackle some really unique projects along the way!

What's next for your business? What can we expect to see over the next few years?

We'd love to continue growing brand awareness for EATABLE throughout Canada and USA. We're looking to launch a fundraise to help us scale in mass retail and grocery and make our delicious products more accessible to people looking to make cleaner snacking choices, while bringing more joy and deliciousness into the world!

What is your top productivity tip? 

Time-blocking is everything! I first learned this when my first baby wasn't a very good sleeper, and I had to learn how to be productive within 45-minute sprints!

On the flip side, how do you avoid burnout?

I took up meditation during the pandemic, and it really helped calm my anxiety. I realized that I need lots of alone time to recharge, since lots of things in work and family compete for my time and attention.

It could be something as simple as 15 minutes a day locked in my room listening to the Calm app, or reading a good book before bed, and my mood shifts very dramatically.

What is your approach to work-life balance / integration?

I truly believe women can "have it all", just not all at the same time, so organizing your time and being intentional about how you spend your productive hours will help you do more with less time!   

I look at my week holistically and ensure I plan balance between work, life, and family. I'm still learning everyday how to do things better!

I've also learned that outsourcing things in either your work or personal life is NOT a bad thing - it truly takes a village to run a business and a family, and you have to lean on your support network in order to maintain balance and sanity!

What is one thing you wish you had known when you started your Entreprenista journey?

I wish I knew how important community really is. Since I'm naturally an introvert, I thought I had to "build in secret" in the early days, for fear that competition would catch wind.

I've since come to realize there is truly space for all of us, and there's nobody out there who can truly duplicate your style of doing business or running your company.

It's such a powerful thing to find a community where there is a safe space to learn and share your vulnerabilities as an entrepreneur, and I wish I leaned into this WAY sooner, rather than feeling like I had to figure things out on my own!

When hiring, what is your go-to interview question?

"What's your zone of genius or special power?"

I always try to find a match for a person in the role, and understand truly what is that "magic spark" that motivates someone. What would someone LOVE to do that makes their job not feel like work?  If my company can create that space for someone to bring their best to their work every day, then to me that's a win-win.

If you've raised capital for your business already, what are some of your best tips or lessons learned?

Not yet - I'm a first-time fundraiser, and looking to learn from those women who have done this before me to navigate this space!

Are you a Mamaprenista? If so, please share your best advice for simultaneously managing a business and a family:

Same as above:

I truly believe women can "have it all", just not all at the same time, so organizing your time and being intentional about how you spend your productive hours will help you do more with less time!   

I look at my week holistically and ensure I plan balance between work, life, and family. I'm still learning everyday how to do things better!

I've also learned that outsourcing things in either your work or personal life is NOT a bad thing - it truly takes a village to run a business and a family, and you have to lean on your support network in order to maintain balance and sanity!

Do you have a co-founder? If so, how did you find the right one for you and what are your best partnership tips?

Yes, my co-founder is also my husband and life partner. Our entire relationship was based on trust and open communication, and it has been a blessing to be able to bring that into our business as well.

It definitely also comes with its challenges at times, but we try to draw boundaries between our work life and personal life to make it work!

What's the one app on your phone you absolutely cannot live without and why?

Google Calendar - I spend so much time planning my days, that once I'm in "go" mode I just want to turn off my brain and execute! Google calendar keeps me organized both in my personal and work life.

What is your favorite business tool or solution and why?

Dext - It's an easy way to scan receipts and invoices and connect them with our cloud-based accounting software to support all our business expenses. I was introduced to this by our bookkeeper and it has been a game-changer ever since. No more keeping our receipts in a shoe box, and easy breezy during tax time!

What advice do you have for aspiring Entreprenistas?

Seek progress over perfection - Fail fast, then pick yourself up and try again. I truly believe success is within reach, you just need to stay in the game for long enough to find it, while always keeping an eye open for new opportunity.

Learn more about the Entreprenista League and join today!