"Tice, who had owned and operated health food stores in Philadelphia starting in 1980, became an early supporter of stevia, a natural sweetener derived from an herb. The problem was, it hadn't been recognized as safe by the FDA. When that changed in 2008, Tice started dreaming up ideas.
"I had long believed that there was opportunity for a variety of foods to be sweetened with stevia," she says. "I began to try to create [stevia sweetened] chocolate, which is my favorite food, and for the first couple of years I tasted some of the worst chocolate that I've ever tasted in my life."
She and her co-founder (the company is named after his niece, a cancer survivor), felt they finally had a good product three years later, and Whole Foods agreed. It became the company's first retail partner, selling the stevia-sweetened chocolate bars nationally. Lily's is now sold in at least 5,500 stores. It's bestselling bar is Dark Chocolate Almond.
Entrepreneur spoke to Tice about the benefits of experience, her biggest challenge and solving problems for yourself.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
When did you actually decide that you had reached a point where you had a viable product?
By 2011, we decided we had a product that was marketable."
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/312409
"I had long believed that there was opportunity for a variety of foods to be sweetened with stevia," she says. "I began to try to create [stevia sweetened] chocolate, which is my favorite food, and for the first couple of years I tasted some of the worst chocolate that I've ever tasted in my life."
She and her co-founder (the company is named after his niece, a cancer survivor), felt they finally had a good product three years later, and Whole Foods agreed. It became the company's first retail partner, selling the stevia-sweetened chocolate bars nationally. Lily's is now sold in at least 5,500 stores. It's bestselling bar is Dark Chocolate Almond.
Entrepreneur spoke to Tice about the benefits of experience, her biggest challenge and solving problems for yourself.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
When did you actually decide that you had reached a point where you had a viable product?
By 2011, we decided we had a product that was marketable."
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/312409