Otto’s Naturals
Although gluten isn’t a health problem for me, over the last decade, my wife shifted her diet to watch out for gluten in the foods she eats. So, this has made me extra aware of the food products introduced as gluten-free. Like an explorer searching for the holy grail, finding great-tasting gluten-free products has been a struggle. Mushy, chewy, and tasteless products abound.
We eat Udi’s English muffins, Glutino pretzels, and Tinkyada pasta and a range of other brands, but we hadn’t ever found a flour that could be a substitute for wheat flour. Most of these gluten-free products use brown rice flour, which my wife can digest. However, we hadn’t found a grain-free, gluten-free flour we could use to bake.
As readers of my, The Marketing Sage Blog will recall, my wife and I spent thirteen years marketing Rachel’s Brownies throughout the U.S. So baking is in our bloodstream.
I started to explore alternative flour options for making products at home. I stumbled upon Otto’s 
Natural Cassava Flour and found that Sadie Olsen, the founder, was a connection on LinkedIn. Like many folks, I sometimes get a request to connect and don’t get a chance to follow up. Already being connected was a delightful coincidence.
So, I called Sadie, who is the founder of Otto’s Naturals. And since she lives in New Jersey, not far from where I grew up, I liked her immediately. Otto, her son, could be overheard sharing his drawings with his mom during our call, and I knew this would be an enjoyable conversation. Sadie’s husband John, helps with the business too, as well as homeschools Otto, and like me, is the head chef at home.
Holy Grain
Sadie’s journey for interesting foods has taken her all over the world, but it was an unexpected pregnancy (with “the Real Otto” as she likes to call him) that ended up being the catalyst for Otto’s Naturals. Since she has digestive issues with all grains, not just the rice-based grains that are common ingredients in gluten-free products, this created a real problem when faced with pregnancy cravings. She knew she needed to take her health more seriously, but struggled to find a grain-free flour that was easy to use and tasted, well, NOT grain-free.
Could she find a flour that can be used as a direct substitution for wheat flour that could create products that taste great and don’t challenge digestion?
A natural explorer, Sadie loved to visit specialty and ethnic markets wherever she traveled, both abroad and through the U.S. Eventually, she stumbled upon cassava flour – made from the yuca root. She found that while it was suitable for a grain-free diet, the fermented flavor profile didn’t suit Western palates. The flavor of fermentation is fine for sauerkraut, but not so much for cookies. She wanted a cleaner, more neutral-tasting product that would not only work both in baking and cooking but also satisfy mainstream American taste preferences. From this, premium cassava flour as Otto’s Natural’s first product was born.
What Sadie created is a product that is compliant with the autoimmune protocol, low FODMAP, Certified Paleo, Plant Paradox approved, non-GMO project verified, Kosher, Top 8 allergen-free, and the first food product to bear the Autism Approved logo.
Building a Cassava Community
With over fifty-seven thousand Instagram followers and a singular focus, Otto’s is on an education mission.
Three Marketing Attributes for Other Foodpreneurs
Sadie has done more than three things to be successful. It is worth highlighting what she has achieved to guide future foodpreneuers.
- HELPFUL: She has created a huge online recipe repository for the category with expert answers to help build trust and engagement. So she is both selling her product and creating helpful ways to use it through her marketing.
- FOCUSED: She is focused and sees the value of serving a community with common problems and needs. She knows her WHY and has a clear framework for considering how to grow and expand her business without distractions from line extensions that don’t fit with her brand.
- DEDICATED: Talking to Sadie reminds me of how important it is to be fully committed to your mission. You can sense from speaking to her that she is driven, and I’ll bet her team loves to work with her as she exudes leadership.
Follow her brand @ottos_cassava_flour on Instagram to watch a royal effort to build a brand or visit her website to learn more.
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Photos courtesy of Otto’s Naturals
