Chapter 2: This Journey Is Anything But Easy

Putting The Odds In Our Favor

Each day, our team (it’s three of us now) is faced with the hard realities of building an early stage Korean-American food brand within the stale and mostly sweet breakfast category. 90% of all CPG (consumer packaged goods) brands fail within their first two years. 85% of new CPG products never make it in the marketplace. We fully understand the statistics we’re up against. In fact, they almost stopped us from moving forward with Gamsa Foods. Almost. 

Over the last 6 months of this journey, we’ve been constantly reminded of how challenging it is to build within CPG. People have questioned our vision, determination, decisions, and even our character. In full disclosure, we’ve made plenty of mistakes too! We messed up our EIN (employer identification number) and NJ business registration, we ordered the wrong labels for our sample packaging, and we underestimated the amount of time everything can take.

So why are we doing this? Why do we keep going when the odds are stacked against us? Most importantly, how do we keep it up? 

It’s simple. The problem we’re solving is personal and we deeply believe in what we’re building. This motivates us to show up and try again and again. We know that all mistakes can be remedied or learned from. We also understand that each new attempt puts the odds further in our favor and that’s the game we choose to play.

So What's The Problem?

Breakfast in America is incomplete. Currently, there aren’t enough savory options that are healthy, quick, and convenient. Most of the existing convenient breakfast options are overly sweet and only keep you full for a short amount of time.

We believe breakfast should be more than that—it should nourish and comfort you, especially on the busiest of mornings. It shouldn’t be something you skip when you’re in a time crunch. We’re inspired by the meals that shaped us, the ones that brought comfort, tradition, and connection. And we’re determined to bring that to you.

We’re also building Gamsa because we see a gap in representation. Why haven’t any other challenger brands fully embraced Korean flavors in place of Asian flavors within the natural and specialty categories? Where are the Korean and Korean-American brands that proudly share their rich and diverse heritage? Gamsa Foods aims to create what is missing in breakfast (savory and convenient options) and celebrate what makes it special.

Hi everyone! As you may know, so much of Gamsa is inspired by my experience growing up Korean American. Breakfast was always savory—my favorite was rice porridge, a comforting dish my mom made for me when I was sick. It’s like the Korean version of chicken noodle soup.

That dish made me feel taken care of. It was simple, nourishing, and full of love. But it wasn’t something we could make every day—it took too long.

Gamsa is my way of sharing that tradition and bringing it into modern life. I want others to experience that comfort, even on their busiest days.

We know this journey isn’t easy, but we’re grateful for the opportunity to bring this idea to life—and even more grateful to have you along for the ride.

- Sarah

 

What We're Working On

• Conducting a nutritional and shelf-life analysis for our first product SKU to finalize the nutrition label and establish best by dates.
• Strategizing our launch plan to make the biggest impact in Q1 2025.
• Working on our commercial kitchen application.
• Fixing our NJ business registration (yes, we made a mistake—lesson learned!).