If you’ve ever been on Instagram before, you’ve probably seen a picture of JARS by Dani. Each jar is a mini masterpiece, consisting of various layers like fudge brownie, vanilla cake, chocolate mousse, sprinkles, and more, all perfectly layered in a mason jar. Founder, Dani Beckerman, practically invented Instagram-worthy food porn. Luckily, I had the super cool opportunity to sit down with Beckerman and ask her about how her business has expanded in the past year, since the publishing of this previous article.
Only a year after graduating with a major in Psychology at University of Maryland, Beckerman decided to attend culinary school, which aided her in turning her passion for baking into revolutionary food business. Though her Psychology degree didn’t directly help her in becoming the entrepreneur she is today, Beckerman did spend a lot of her time in college cooking and baking, especially late at night. After making some jars for a dinner with friends, Beckerman decided to turn it into something more and JARS by Dani was born; the rest is history.
A Quickly Growing Business
Since the last Spoon University article, just a little over one year ago, Beckerman’s business has nearly quadrupled, most evident during this past holiday season. Though Beckerman does not do anymore of the hands on baking, she did say it “got close this Christmas; it was an insane change.” However, a business with the popularity of JARS by Dani does not just happen overnight. Beckerman was (and still is) a huge hustler and hand delivered the jars for the first seven months of her business. “I was shameless,” Beckerman said after telling me that she got her first Glamour article by riding the elevator at Condé Nast with JARS in her pocket.
Influence of Social Media
Along with major hustle, Instagram and social media have played a huge part in JARS by Dani’s immense growth. This year, Beckerman has been featured on Insider, with a video that got over 500,000 views and partnered with amazing restaurants like by Chloe and Black Tap. With Insider, Beckerman instantly saw a huge spike in website traffic and every single day, she still receives orders that come directly from the Insider video.
As for partnerships, Beckerman says, “they help to raise brand awareness, reach out to similar audiences, and spike our growth. Plus, they are super fun to do.” With her collaboration with by Chloe though, Beckerman was able to open up her market to a whole new group of people: vegans. Beckerman’s collaboration JAR with by Chloe is completely vegan and being sold in all of by Chloe’s NYC locations. Also, both Beckerman and founders of by Chloe, Chloe Coscarelli and Samantha Wasser, are huge girl bosses and have revolutionized the food industry, especially on Instagram.
Food bloggers have helped Beckerman promote her business: “people look on their pages to see what they want to have for lunch; the reach that they have is incredible—they post what people want to see.” Oftentimes, Beckerman will send bloggers her monthly JARS, which compromise of flavors like Chocolate Covered Strawberry, Mint Chocolate Chip Fudge, and Crème Brûlée, which is this month’s flavor. As for coming up with the flavors, Beckerman told me it honestly helps if she waits until the day before, “crunchtime,” she calls it. If not, Beckerman’s fiancé is usually down to help. If a monthly flavor does well enough, Beckerman will make it permanent. The second best selling flavor, Cake Batter, started as a monthly flavor, but now is available all year long.
The Expansion of JARS by Dani
However, Beckerman’s achievements this year go beyond collaborations. Beckerman has gotten her JARS placed in various supermarkets, including Garden of Eden, Westside Market, and most impressively, Fairway. With Fairway, Beckerman plans to expand into New Jersey, Long Island, and Connecticut, meaning more JARS for everyone. Eventually, Beckerman’s goal is to get JARS into supermarkets across the country; clearly, she is moving in the right direction.
Along with placement into supermarkets, Beckerman opened up her first brick and mortar this past October. Though Beckerman was only planning on staying open until the end of October 2016, the pop-up has been doing so well that it’s now staying open until this September. Along with JARS, the pop-up sells JARS by Dani clothes, swag, and in typical JARS by Dani fashion, only drinks in glass bottles.
Clearly, it has been quite a year for Dani Beckerman but the quick expanding excites her: “It’s more overwhelming when there’s nothing to do.” Though Beckerman has experienced immense success, it isn’t always easy. As someone who started a business completely from the ground up, Beckerman is constantly learning about the food industry, how to scale up production, and distribute across the entire country. Nevertheless, JARS by Dani and Beckerman continue to take the food world by storm.