As a former military intelligence analyst and culinary school graduate, Robert Strong has a particular set of skills. Marketing isn’t one of them.
“It’s my biggest weakness,” admitted Strong, co-founder and CEO of the specialty sauce and spice brand Pretty Thai. “I have no business background whatsoever. Let’s just say launching a consumer packaged goods (CPG) brand has been a learning process.”
Today, Pretty Thai—which started as a food truck based out of Austin—is a top selling brand, producing the best-selling Thai peanut sauce in the Amazon store. Strong never intended to become a CPG brand but realized the potential of bottling his sauce when customers of his Austin-based Thai food truck, Pretty Thai For A White Guy, kept asking if they could purchase his sweet chili sauce to take home.
“I realized we were on to something,” said Strong, who with his wife Kristen, started bottling his sauces and selling them at farmers markets and from the window of his food truck in 2014. It wasn’t long after, that he was discovered by the Texas supermarket chain Central Market. By 2017, Pretty Thai sauces were available in 10 Central Market locations across Texas. Unfortunately, the success of the business coincided with the most difficult period in the Strongs’ lives. Their newborn son, Palmer, was born with Heterotaxy Syndrome, a rare disease that resulted in him having several serious congenital heart defects. Palmer would later pass away that same year.
“I thought about quitting,” admitted Strong. “But I also saw the potential to use the business to keep Palmer’s memory alive and to build a legacy around his name.” Strong said he and his wife made a promise to Palmer to use their sauces to spread his name and story across the country. “The Passion is in the Promise,” he said.
Using the proceeds from Pretty Thai, Strong launched the Palmer Nicklaus Foundation in honor of his son. The 501(c)(3) non-profit provides funding and support for families affected by Heterotaxy Syndrome and CHD, as well as meals for families with a child in the hospital. In addition, the foundation also supports Veteran causes, with Pretty Thai being a certified Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business.
“There are terrible life situations that arise for people, and we help where we can. The goal is to build the brand big enough that we can continue to support more families in need, and develop culinary programs that can provide emotional support; feeding not just them, but also their souls,” he said. “For now, we are dedicated to putting good into the world in Palmer’s honor.”
In 2022, Strong saw an opportunity to expand the business by launching in the Amazon store. He invested in developing his brand story with Amazon A+ Content to create engaging product images and interactive content to appeal to a new, more national audience. It was a strategy that paid off—within six months, his Amazon sales grew 83%.
“We started to see traction almost immediately,” marveled Strong. “We doubled our sales in our first year with Amazon.”
As a former intelligence analyst, Strong values how Amazon empowers him to draw insights from data with tools like Amazon Brand Analytics. By understanding what search keywords his customers use to find Pretty Thai products, he’s able to create more effective Amazon Ads that reach buyers at every stage of their purchasing journeys.
Strong also conducts product research by using Amazon Vine, a program that quickly connects brands with a network of trusted reviewers. He is dedicated to reading customer reviews, using feedback to make tweaks to his recipes.
“You’ve got to constantly be on the forefront of the customer’s mind and never be afraid to update or make changes based on their behavior,” he said.
Sometimes, Strong admitted, the breadth of Amazon’s tools can be intimidating, but he likes how he can try out different approaches to see what works.
“With Amazon, you can try a multitude of different tools and approaches to see what works,” he said. “When it comes to trial and error there’s minimal risk, with a much higher potential for a reward.”