By
Sara Friedman
Executive Manager - Acquisition Marketing - My Business
OMNI SALT has been a member of My Business since February 2021
What is OMNI SALT?
OMNI SALT is a range of seasonings made from quality seeds and spices, inspired by the popular ‘Everything But The Bagel’ seasonings sold in the United States.
Our blends are mixed using the very best Tasmanian sea salt and locally-grown poppy seeds, and they can be sprinkled on almost anything for additional flavour and crunch. OMNI SALT bagel seasonings are gluten free, keto-friendly and vegan.
WHAT IS THE INSPIRATION BEHIND OMNI SALT?
In October 2020 I began to notice people making homemade versions of ‘Everything But The Bagel’ seasoning on TikTok and thought I’d try it myself. It was an ordeal. I visited four different shops in my area to get the ingredients I needed in tiny (and expensive!) packets. Costly and time-consuming, and I hadn't even set foot in the kitchen yet.
I got to measuring and mixing, and once I'd finished, I began to see what the hype was about. After the first taste sprinkled on some capsicum spread with cream cheese I was instantly hooked.
My family and I ate our way through the first batch pretty quickly. I wondered if I could buy a ready-mixed blend instead of making it myself. A quick online search and I came up with nothing nearby. The only option was to get some shipped from the United States via Amazon. I realised that there was maybe a gap in the market for pre-mixed seasonings made here in Australia and that if I purchased the ingredients in bulk it could be quite cheap to produce. So — here we are! I decided to do it myself.
The inspiration for the name ‘OMNI SALT’ came from my dinosaur-obsessed five year old son — he reckons the seasoning “turns people into omnivores because it makes everything taste good!” He’s been involved in helping me out during every stage of building the business, and we love going out and making local deliveries together.
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THERE’S A LOT INVOLVED IN TURNING A VISION INTO A REALITY. HOW DID YOU GO ABOUT TURNING AN IDEA INTO A VIABLE BUSINESS?
I wanted to take my idea to market as soon as possible to make the most of the current social media buzz. I took a leap of faith and spent $400 on ingredients, packaging, and labels and I worked through the night on the branding, website, and content creation.
I’ve been able to keep my costs low because I’ve done literally everything myself and haven’t had to pay for any external help. I managed to get a basic website up and running in 24 hours and was able to begin selling immediately.
OMNI SALT’s first paying customer was the very next day, and they’d come to the website after seeing our Instagram marketing and the recipe ideas we’d been posting there. I tripled my initial financial outlay in the first week and decided to keep going and keep scaling up!
WHAT’S YOUR BIGGEST PIECE OF ADVICE FOR BUSINESS NEWCOMERS?
Just start. Move fast if you see a gap in the market, then adapt and refine as you go.
WHAT DID YOU DO TO GET THE WORD OUT AFTER YOU’D LAUNCHED?
In my day job, I work as a digital marketing consultant for small businesses, so I understand the power of social media marketing. My first task was creating lots of content and to begin building an audience on Instagram. I connected with local businesses in my area, and forged relationships with other like-minded entrepreneurs.
I spent some time determining where our ideal customers spend their time online and reached out to influential people in that space. For OMNI SALT, it was getting exposure to people who eat gluten free meals, people on the low-carb and keto diet, and busy people who want to add flavour to home-cooked meals with little fuss. So, I reached out to some Instagram influencers in this category and sent some OMNI SALT blends for them to review.
Genuine word-of-mouth testimonials really are priceless, and this helped us build trust and gain some early traction. In three months we’ve built an engaged audience of over 1,000 followers on Instagram, and judging by the analytics around 70% of our sales are referrals from our Instagram page.
HOW WILL YOU EXPAND? WHAT ARE THE NEXT STEPS?
There’s been some positive interest from retailers, and we’ve got OMNI SALT seasoning varieties on the shelves of five different stores in Tasmania. We’ve also started selling wholesale to bakeries who are using the seasoning on bread and bagels, so that’s really exciting to see.
I’ll keep at it and see where the business goes. I’m proud of the product — the key to success for me personally is feeling that pride seeing other people enjoy OMNI SALT as much as my family and I do.
