Allison Taylor: Co-Founder of Le Prunier

Episode 588

On this episode of The Kara Goldin Show, we’re joined by Allison Taylor, the Co-Founder of Le Prunier, a revolutionary beauty brand that taps into the power of plums. Alongside her sisters, Jacqueline and Elaine, Allison has taken her family’s century-old farming legacy and transformed it into a luxury skincare line that is as innovative as it is sustainable.
During our conversation, Allison shares the fascinating journey of how she and her sisters turned their family’s plum farm into a thriving skincare brand. We dive into the unique benefits of plums as a skincare ingredient, the challenges and rewards of working closely with family, and how Le Prunier has set itself apart in the highly competitive clean beauty market. Allison also discusses the importance of sustainability and how Le Prunier is leading the way with eco-friendly practices that honor the land their family has farmed for generations.
Whether you're passionate about clean beauty, interested in family-run businesses, or curious about the future of skincare, this episode is filled with valuable insights and inspiration. Tune in to hear Allison’s incredible story and discover the secrets behind Le Prunier’s success. Now on The Kara Goldin Show.

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Transcript

Kara Goldin 0:00
I am unwilling to give up that I will start over from scratch as many times as it takes to get where I want to be. I want to be you. Just want to make sure you will get knocked down. But just make sure you don’t get knocked out, knocked out. So your only choice should be go focus on what you can control. Control. Hi everyone, and welcome to the Kara Goldin show. Join me each week for inspiring conversations with some of the world’s greatest leaders. We’ll talk with founders, entrepreneurs, CEOs and really, some of the most interesting people of our time. Can’t wait to get started. Let’s go. Let’s go. Hi everyone, and welcome back to the Kara Goldin show. Super excited to have my next guest here. We have Allison Taylor, who is the co founder of La Prunier, an incredible, incredible brand that you are going to be so excited to learn about and hopefully try, if you haven’t tried yet, a very rich family history, along with her two sisters, Jacqueline and Elaine, Allison, has taken the concept of clean beauty to new heights by harnessing the incredible power of ready for It plums. So I had no idea that this fruit was this powerful, so and I love plums anyway. And I mean, it is so amazing. This product is so so great. And as I mentioned to Allison, I was not familiar with it, and I’m obsessed with it now. So very, very excited. And also love the fact that three sisters are working together, how great is that so in a family business, but taking it outside the family and really making it much more than it ever was. So I can’t wait to learn a lot more about that and dive into the journey of building what you have. So welcome to the show. Allison,

Allison Taylor 2:00
thank you so much. That was a very sweet intro. I appreciate it

Kara Goldin 2:03
very, very excited to meet you and meet the brand and have you here. But before we dive into La punne, can you share the journey that led you to founding it? Obviously, this was a you had grown up in a family farming business, but I’d love to hear it from you.

Allison Taylor 2:24
Yeah, sure. So I mean, if I’m really starting at the very beginning, we’re going to go back to 1916 when our great grandfather essentially founded the family farm in northern California. So it’s up by Sacramento, about 35 minutes north of Sacramento, and the area has always been well known for agriculture. It’s, it’s obviously the farm has evolved over the years. We really started from very humble beginnings, you know, and it’s always been very much focused on eco friendly farming and sustainability. But I credit you know, my father essentially started farming organic dried plums almost 4050, years ago. So he decided to rip out half of the orchards that we had, like peaches and apples and walnuts. And he really had the foresight to see that this the dried plum, which is considered such an antioxidant, rich super fruit, was being kind of overlooked in California, and so decided to he also saw that there was a huge opportunity internationally, so decided to remove the orchards, plant only organic dried plums, and really grew the business from there. So my sisters and I, you know, we grew up doing harvest. We grew up doing farmers markets. That was kind of how we earned our spending money on the weekends during the summer. My older sister, she couldn’t quite drive yet, so she and I would hire one of her friends, older siblings, to drive us. And we would wake up at 5am we would pack the truck, do this all ourselves, and then, you know, go there, sell. That’s really how we learn to, you know, give change, interact with customers. What’s your sales pitch like? How are you going to present things? So that was super, super fundamental and helpful for us at an early age. Um, and, yeah, cut to my I don’t think my sisters and I ever honestly thought that we would be working back on the family farm. I mean, after college, we all went off into different industries and areas. And Jackie went to UCLA. She wanted to be a dermatologist. Kind of changed career paths, but her being in LA led me to go to USC, and I wanted to study marketing and communications and and So, long story short, we kind of came back together in, I want to say, 2014 she Jackie, I really do credit her with having the idea of wanting to upcycle the actual seed of the fruit. So she approached me after doing about two and a half years of testing on the oil itself, and we just started talking about how we could actually bring this to life. So I. Initially she had mentioned, you know, maybe we saw this as an ingredient to L’Oreal Estee Lauder, just the pure plum seed oil. And I, of course, come from more of like a marketing branding background. And I thought this would be amazing, but we have such a great opportunity to tell the actual family farm heritage story. So I said, I’ll do it, but let’s start a brand. And, you know, let’s get a lane involved, and let’s do the whole family thing. Let’s, let’s launch lepreneur as a brand. So that’s how it came together.

Kara Goldin 5:30
How did you come up with the name?

Allison Taylor 5:32
Oh, oh my gosh. We went through so many different variations of names. A friend of ours actually, one of Jackie’s friends from San Francisco tossed it out, and it was among the list of, I want to say, 10 or so that we were cycling through. And we just felt like Le pernier, which is French for the plum tree, was so much more elegant, beautiful, and it just, it kind of sticks with you. So that’s how we came up with it.

Kara Goldin 5:59
So you have the three SKUs, correct? And you talked about, before we hit record, you were talking about the the oil is that kind of the was that the first skew, and also, is that, still to this day, the the kind of hero product, yeah,

Allison Taylor 6:17
so we have three SKUs. We’ve got the plum beauty oil, our plum screen, SPF, and then plum body, which was our latest launch, and that’s a hydrating body cream. So as I mentioned before, everything is really focused on upcycling the plum kernels on the family farm. So the seeds were previously being discarded. We were actually paying people to come in and remove them by the tons, so truckloads. And that’s when, you know, Jackie approached my father said, Hey, let us work on this. We’ll buy them from you. And so that was sort of the genesis of the brand. It started with the plum beauty oil. And then we’ve just been kind of, you know, looking at other plum byproducts on the farm in order to create patented, patented upcycled ingredients. So that’s where I really think le pernier, you know, we’ve kind of carved out our niche and found our true north there, in terms of separating ourselves from all the other skincare and or brands on the market. We pride ourselves on creating patented plum ingredients. So plum screen SPF has something called plum superfood complex, which gives it additional SPF factor. Plum body, the body cream has something called Midnight mirror, which is essentially a supercharged plum extract. It’s about 18 times stronger than normal plum extract. Yeah. Yeah. So we’ve really, like, you know, I that’s, that’s part of the that’s the exciting part of the business, where we can really look at how we can continue to upcycle and utilize the waste on the farm, but create something that’s so unique and not on the market.

Kara Goldin 7:53
I love it. So sustainability, obviously, is such a buzzword, not just for consumers, but also as you’re getting your product into different stores. I’m sure a lot of the buyers, the decision makers that are deciding whether or not you can be on store shelves, you’re obviously available on your website too. But I love the upcycle piece of this, and I think it’s so central to your brand’s philosophy. Is that how you think about it?

Allison Taylor 8:24
For sure? I mean, I think growing up on a family farm, we’ve been raised to really understand and appreciate those principles, and we knew that when we launched lepronier, we wanted that to be at the forefront of our brand as well. So, you know, I often think back to when my my father decided to switch to organic farming in the 80s. It was so, you know, ahead of the trend, if you will. It was just something that he knew was better for the environment, better for the community and for our bodies as a whole. So, you know, we grew up with really understanding that organic farming and sustainability was just something that was like inherent it. We needed to do that within our business as well. So yeah, of course, as we continue to expand the line, we’ll definitely continue to follow those, those principles as our true north. And yeah, I think plum, Plum beauty oil is kind of, as you mentioned, that hero skew where everyone fries it. It’s so good for all skin types. It’s really nourishing, very gentle. And it’s the one product that I feel like you try it, you get hooked, and it’s you just keep coming back for it. It’s such a good product. I

Kara Goldin 9:34
love it. So when you mentioned that your sister, kind of Jackie, came up with this idea, Jackie or Jacqueline.

Allison Taylor 9:43
Jacqueline, I call her Jackie,

Kara Goldin 9:45
but yeah, you call her either one. Okay, so Jacqueline, when she came up with this idea, how long was it before you actually started selling the product? I mean, from the front to developing sort of testing. Then actually getting it out there. What was, what was that timeline like,

Allison Taylor 10:03
really? We started discussing it in 2014 she had spent two and a half years testing beginning 2014 came to me in like 2016 I decided to go full time with her then. And then in 2017 we launched at Indie beauty Expo in November of 2017 and we had prototype packaging. You know, it was just funny, because she really had never have had much experience in the retail sector, and kind of was just like, you know, if, if you feel confident this will work, go for it. And so I just kind of put together a rough website, and I did prototype packaging, and we went to this indie beauty Expo, and fingers crossed that it just went well. And lo and behold, that’s where we met Neiman Marcus. And so it was really exciting, because they they decided they wanted to launch the brand in January of 2018 so that was our first retailer, which, of course, opened a lot of doors. And then credo beauty followed shortly thereafter, and still to this day, they’re one of our strongest partners. We really appreciate and value that relationship, both of them. When

Kara Goldin 11:09
did you know do you think that that was kind of the moment that you said, Okay, we’re on to something. I mean, we’ve got Neiman Marcus, right, that is interested in what we’re doing. I mean, that’s so awesome that, like, when was there any other points in kind of those, those early days when you said, Okay, it’s gonna this is, I always think about it as a timeline that definitely when we were growing hint, there were pieces that that were that just created things that took off. And they weren’t all always tied to getting a certain retailer, but some of them were. But other points where you just definitely saw the spike. Were there other points along the way when you said, Oh, wow, this is, this is a big deal.

Allison Taylor 11:56
Yeah, no. I mean, I think for us, we there’s, there’s been a few moments, and they’re always so exciting. But I think the largest one for us was when, um, Chrissy Teigen, she jumped on Instagram, unbeknownst to us, and she talked about the plum beauty oil, um, on November 11, 2020, actually, it was so funny. Oh, wow. I know I was like, oh, 1111 What a lucky day. Pretty crazy. Um, but so she talked about it late at night, and I remember waking up the next morning looking at Shopify, and was for sure something was broken. I was like, Oh my gosh, Shopify, something is completely wrong. We have it was, it was insane. So I called my sisters, and we just were scrambling. And yeah, overnight, we had sold out around the world, and we had amassed a wait list of 30,000 people. So that was incredibly exciting, also challenging. We rapidly tried to scale the business. And while, you know, it was just all hands on deck, we were all up at 5am for like, months after that, just trying to work through things is very good.

Kara Goldin 13:05
Definitely. That would that would absolutely do it. So when you think about innovation, and obviously you have three SKUs now, do you feel a lot of pressure to create a lot more SKUs? Or do you think I’ve talked to a number of different brands, and I think it’s interesting, because I feel like people are going with less pro less skews today, that they’re really that seems to be a trend in beauty. Definitely. I’m just curious what you think.

Allison Taylor 13:36
Yeah, you know, I think my sisters and I have always kind of just our inherent nature is to kind of use less is more. I don’t think we we ever intended to set out and build a company that has 50 plus SKUs, or even, like 10 SKUs out the gate, like many companies do, we’re also fortunate in the sense that we’re still self funded. We really intentionally did so. We ended up taking out a loan. We paid it back and been profitable, and it’s wonderful. But, yeah, I, you know, there’s, of course, a little bit of pressure from retailers, but I don’t think, I don’t necessarily feel like it falls in line with our brand to ever have, you know, tons of launches. I think next year we will have two launches at least, which is exciting, because this year we didn’t launch anything. But we’re always really intentional about those actual product development, you know, conversations, what are, why are we creating this? What is, what is it changing? What white space is it going to fill? Like we’re, we’re not just trying to Launch, to launch.

Kara Goldin 14:39
No, I think that that’s, that’s powerful. So do you think so obviously your family has this extract, and would you ever put it inside other products? Because it sounds like that’s what you initially started thinking about. And then you thought, I’m going to build a brand.

Allison Taylor 14:56
You mean for other other companies, or other brands?

Kara Goldin 14:59
I. Their brands?

Allison Taylor 15:00
Yeah, you know, I don’t, I don’t think at the at the moment, we’re interested in that. I feel like, you know, we of course, there’s a potential to license things down the line, but as it stands, we’re really excited about just building out our brand and growing it, and that’s where our main focus is at the moment. So there’s certainly been interest, and we fielded some questions, but no nothing at the moment. Yeah,

Kara Goldin 15:24
I think it’s, it’s an interesting at hint. I mean, our extracts are really the reason why we’ve been able to build the brand, and that probably a couple years in people started wanting to get the extracts. And, you know, because it’s just, we don’t use flavor houses, and not in the same, you know, way that, like a Coca Cola uses flavor houses, and it’s just, you can tell the difference in the product. And I think it’s an interesting kind of fork for a brand, because I think if you’re, if you’ve got an ingredient, that will be a decision that you have to make along the way. And we made the decision that that was core to our brand and our uniqueness. And even though we didn’t, you know, we don’t talk about it in sort of consumer marketing, or any you know, like, that’s really what makes it unique, but that really is what makes it unique, but it’s, it’s an interesting thing, because I think as you start to look at growing your brand, there’s a lot of private label companies or large, I would imagine the large companies will come and ask you for it, and I think it is a Decision, and sometimes it’s like, oh, I don’t know, seem seems great, but then you start to wonder if it’s actually interfering with what you’re really trying to do. Because oftentimes they’ll put two drops in of something versus what it really takes. And so it sort of kind of hurts the, you know the ingredient and sort of what it’s known for, too. So sure, if that makes sense, but, but it’s, yeah, interesting, interesting challenge. So what other challenges like, what’s been kind of the biggest challenge for you? This is obviously your first start, startup. What is kind of the first, the biggest challenge for you that maybe something that you just didn’t expect in a company when you’re trying to get shelf space. Did you think it was going to be much easier, grow faster, or what other challenges kind of came about? I

Allison Taylor 17:39
mean, I feel like we’ve been really fortunate. I mean, the Chrissy Teigen moment was sort of a unicorn moment that doesn’t happen to brands frequently, and so we were able to really kind of parlay that momentum and success into scaling the business and really investing heavily in our machinery and our clinical studies in building the team. So I think in terms of biggest challenges, it really was that moment in figuring out how to, you know, alchemize it and turn it into something that was really positive and sustainable for the brand. Because at the time we had, maybe I want to say, honestly, it was like four people plus some contracted employees, and so we just really rapidly had to figure out how to sustain the growth and manage the supply chain. You know, I think, if anything this, this past year, we were up against a few ingredient delays, not necessarily related to our plum ingredient with something else, and we are out of one of our hero SKUs for quite some time. So, you know, managing that, working out the Kingston supply chain and bringing on additional support just to ensure that those things are, you know, they never pop up again. It’s, of course those things happen. But, yeah, I think that’s been our big focus this year, is really streamlining those processes and just being super on top of it so it doesn’t happen.

Kara Goldin 19:07
Yeah, exactly. So when you think about the clean beauty industry, what, what do you see? I guess, as confusing, like you wish consumers knew more about not only your product, but I think about the industry overall, that is like I think that the challenge for so many entrepreneurs, no matter what industry, if you’re doing something totally different and you obviously you’re creating A new category. I mean, people aren’t, weren’t using the plum extracts. And so you’re, there’s a lot of education that goes on around that too. And I would imagine that at times it’s like, you might see something that consumers think is comparable, but you’re like, oh my god, it’s so different, right? Yeah. So what do you think is. Kind of the most like something that consumers don’t really know about, clean beauty, that is, is kind of, you know, frustrating, I guess is,

Allison Taylor 20:09
I mean, a couple things come to mind. I think just being that, you know, our family farm, it’s kind of, it’s operated, operates as the largest organic grower of dried plums in the world I’ve I’ve seen so many brands that kind of have just dove into the space and are using the words sustainability and just slapping on everything you know, and from from a brand or a family and a brand that’s really been focused on that for decades, I think that there’s a lot of confusion around that sustainability story. People are just kind of trying to make up some sort of story to whether it’s be relevant or, you know, create a storyline. It’s just, you know, I find that, you know, our brand specifically, we’re there’s so many seals out there that you can also apply to to try to validate the brand and bring clarity. But I feel like we’ve kind of tried to shy away from that, to be completely honest, because I feel like at the core of our brand are those principles. So we’ve really just, you know, instead of just following the bandwagon and signing up for everything, we’re just really trying to continue to tell that, that story and very clearly that it’s something we’ve been doing for decades. As far as clean beauty goes, oh gosh, I feel like, you know, as you mentioned, we really did have to create the market for Plum beauty oil as an ingredient. It didn’t exist. We did so many trade shows, we shook so many hands and we tried to explain our story. And I feel like, I think the biggest thing for us and what we’re seeing now, what we’d like to continue to see are the clinical studies and the research that are also combined with those clean ingredients, so you can really continue to recognize how powerful these ingredients are, despite them being clean or natural or, you know, derived from some sort of a plant or fruit. So I think, you know, I really do credit my sister Jackie. She focuses so much on on the R and D and the formulation and and that’s really her favorite area of expertise, if you will. But yeah, she’s, worked super closely with our patent attorney, and of course, my younger sister and I chime in, but those are areas where we feel it just we require more focus in those areas, and we hope the rest of the industry kind of follows suit there,

Kara Goldin 22:35
too. I love it. So what’s it like working with your sisters? I mean, it’s it. I bet you never in a million years thought that you were going to be, you know, you didn’t think you were going to be working in the family business. And certainly, probably wouldn’t have imagined, you know, and whatever, years later, you and your sisters would launch a company together. I i launched him with my husband, and people always ask me this question, and I think there’s a lot more trust, right? As long as you guys have different roles and different passions and skill sets, I think it like can definitely work, but I would imagine there’s a big trust issue, you know, where you can just talk to them and, you know, and, and I think that that’s a really powerful thing. But I’d love to hear your response to that. Yeah, definitely.

Allison Taylor 23:23
I mean, my sisters have that. We’ve always been best friends. We still are best friends. There’s obviously moments. I’m sure you can relate. When you start something with your family or husband or sisters, they’re going to be moments. But the wonderful thing is, there is that inherent element of trust. You trust them more than anyone in the world. And with that also comes the ability to be just extremely direct. You know, we, if there are things you maybe agree upon or don’t agree upon, we can kind of cut through the noise and just say, hey, no or yes. Let’s do it like this. And and I think, fortunately, the three of us are very good at different things we really enjoy and also respect each other’s kind of, you know expertise. So Elaine, she’s extremely talented with focusing on the operations and kind of the finance side of things. And Jackie and I, are we when you start a company, as I’m sure you understand, you you have your hands in every single area. And I think as the team has grown, it’s been such a delight to kind of step away from being in the nuance of everything. And so, yeah, I’ve always focused more on the marketing, the creative storytelling, and Jackie with R and D, and we really let each other. Do you know our thing, which is nice, that’s

Kara Goldin 24:39
awesome. What have you learned in your journey today that you didn’t know when you first started?

Allison Taylor 24:47
You know, I think we, we went into it with a healthy dose of reality, realizing it would take time, especially funded. We knew it was going to take a moment. But I think. Think, I think I would have tried to find a really strong growth marketing agency like early on. I think we worked with some freelancers. And I think when we experienced such rapid growth due to that, you know, overnight kind of sensation, sensational moment online, I wish that we would have really had a very strong growth marketing agency in place that would have even catapulted that growth further, because we just had so much traffic coming to the website, so many people, you know, coming to our email list. And it was pretty, you know, astonishing and amazing. So I just kind of wish we would have, it’s a little bit more expensive to do that early on. So yeah, you know, we’re scaling the business slowly, but I wish we would have invested a little heavier in that area. But yeah, there’s so many things that we’ve learned along the way. I wouldn’t change a thing. It’s

Kara Goldin 25:56
been Yeah. Well, I think you do learn a lot, and I think that building it, I think also there’s no overnight night success, right? And I think that so many people who go and hire the big growth agency, or the, you know, the big agency, to have the right packaging, then you find out that you’re always going to change and adjust, and you have to be able to be able to doing that. And I think that you know, the more smartly you can do it, you know, the better. In our case, when we we started in San Francisco and built out in the bay area, and we went pretty quickly to New York, which I think it was, and especially in the beverage industry, it’s a different market, for sure, but it’s like up and down the street, and there’s just a lot of doors in New York. And so we stayed in New York, but it was very expensive to for us as a company, to be in New York, and I think that that’s like something where I don’t know that I would have gone to New York as fast, but having said that, I also believed that if we could make it there, you know, we could make it anywhere. And and I think that that was, I still think that that’s true today. And so if you can get attention on one, you know, in New York, I think that you can definitely be a West Coast brand, but I think you still it sort of shows whether or not it can be a national brand, I think if you’re in both coasts, so but I always go back and forth on that, you know that? But I think it was so much more expensive to launch the brand in New York and really have an up and down the street presence, because you have to have a lot of people and, like, I just had no idea I lived in New York for a while, but, you know, there’s like, three or four stores every block in New York. There’s just a lot, and it’s a different industry than what you’re you’re in, but it’s just yeah,

Allison Taylor 28:01
yeah. So I’m sure, I think the beverage industry is so fascinating too, because there’s just constantly something new. And you, you guys have remained very relevant. I actually was at the airport last night, and I bought a hint on my way home.

Kara Goldin 28:15
I love hearing that. So great. Well, listen Allison Taylor, co founder of La Prunier. So great to meet you. And love, love, love your product. So very excited. And good luck with everything. I’m sure it’s going to go great. Everyone needs to purchase all three SKUs. There’s not that many, so you can all do it and and it’s, really terrific. So thank you again, Allison,

Allison Taylor 28:43
thank you so much for having me.

Kara Goldin 28:44
Thanks again for listening to the Kara Goldin show. If you would please give us a review and feel free to share this podcast with others who would benefit and of course, feel free to subscribe so you don’t miss a single episode of our podcast. Just a reminder that I can be found on all platforms at Kara Goldin, I would love to hear from you too. So feel free to DM me, and if you want to hear more about my journey, I hope you will have a listen or pick up a copy of my Wall Street Journal, best selling book, undaunted, where I share more about my journey, including founding and building. Hint, we are here every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Thanks for listening, and goodbye for now. Bye.

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