BEZI

Sometimes I think I’m a little too much of a dreamer to be a CPG founder… and sometimes I think maybe that’s exactly what we need :) In December 2024—so about 9 months ago today—I had the idea of making Hot Honey Labneh 🧀🍯🌶 Basically, mixing BEZI Plain with the pine honey I grew up with and Urfa chili flakes for our 4th SKU. That meant literally mixing the artisanal ingredients in my kitchen—no honey flavoring, no run-of-the-mill industrial stuff. Thank god I took pictures this time—this is from the very first day I made it in my Istanbul kitchen, December 23rd, 2024, while I was back home for the holidays. And this is where luck comes in. I’m so lucky to have a rock of a co-founder like Hasan Bahcivan and the Bahçıvan Gıda team. Nine months later, that SAME authentic mixture of BEZI Plain with pine honey and Urfa chili flakes is hitting shelves in the New York Market this week. Made with artisanal ingredients from the Aegean—no additives, no flavorings—crafted at our scale with a real shelf life. Basically what I bought at the farmers market in the winter, now possible in a CPG product format. Pine honey is unique to the Aegean—only Turkey and Greece produce it—with a complex, non-sweet aroma. Our pine honey comes from Altıparmak Gıda , the best honey makers in Turkey, made from bees feeding on pine trees around Bodrum (Mediterranean/Aegean area) in May-November every year. Our batch even carries a DOC mark. The Urfa chili flakes come from the Southeast region of Turkey, adding a layered, spicy kick. So, this is our love letter to a New York staple—Hot Honey—told through our Turkish roots. And this week, Hot Honey BEZI hit select New York stores. Soon, it’ll be on shelves at one of my dream retailers in the Northeast. We’ve been a little quiet, working behind the scenes to share this good news. And what a way to celebrate our very first year in. If you see it and taste it, please let me know. #bezi #cpg #emergingbrands #innovation #dips

Nothing we love more than sharing labneh 🧀🧀🧀🧀 We’ll be at Summer Fancy Foods—at a table at Booth #836 with our distributor, World’s Best Cheese. All of the labneh gang will be there: Plain, Everything, Red Pepper, and our newest one on the block (launching late August!)… Hot Honey 🔥🔥🔥 Come say hi!!! #fancyfoods #summerfancyfoods #labneh #bezi #sfa #emergingbrands BEZI

What happens when you choose strategic growth over rapid expansion? 🎯 Ilay Karateke, CEO of labneh brand BEZI, launched direct-to-retail in handpicked NYC stores, doing her own distribution and running 5-10 demos weekly. Every expansion move is calculated to maintain positive cash flow while building brand equity—no brokers, no distributors, just meticulous data and strategic decisions. For founders questioning whether building on your own terms can compete—this proves strategic momentum beats rapid expansion. 💪 Tune in at thegoodfoodcfo.com/podcast #BABOYOT #thegoodfoodcfo #cashflow #foodfounder #cfopodcast #datadriven

It’s hard to believe, but BEZI is almost 8 months old. In that time, we’ve grown—patiently and purposefully—into nearly every local grocery chain in New York City (not bodegas—we learned early on they’re not the right fit for us). And we’ve said a lot of no’s to anything that didn’t align with our purpose. By purpose, we mean, only localized New York City and only with: 🏡 The right merchandising in the right store 👯 The right demo cadence—to drive trial while ensuring constant check on our shelf presence in key stores 🚚 The right distribution—we started distributing with our own truck and added in right partners, which our velocity enabled us to prioritize staying flexible, growing on our own terms first Today, you can walk into almost any neighborhood grocery store in NYC and find BEZI on the shelf, with real velocity numbers. If you’ve heard of us, it’s probably because we caught your eye in the aisle—or because we handed you a sample while you were doing your grocery shopping. Sure, there are still a few big names in NYC we’re not in yet… more to come on that soon :) I’m here to celebrate a major milestone with you: With that same intentionality and focus.- we’ve started growing outside of New York. Starting with San Francisco, you can now find BEZI in the amazing aisles of Bi-Rite, Rainbow, and Berkeley Bowl—huge thanks to our early retail partners for believing in labneh as a category, and an even bigger thanks to a distributor we’re proud to consider part of the BEZI family: World's Best Cheese. So with that… Hello San Francisco, BEZI is here 🧀🧀🧀 And on that note… we’re hiring for our demo team in SF! If you know someone who’d love to be our Labneh Lady in Charge, tag them in the comments! Hasan Bahcivan Cheezwhse.com, Inc. Bi-Rite Family of Businesses Berkeley Bowl Produce Inc. Gordon Edgar

🏅BEZI is the BEST NEW PRODUCT OF 2024 by Nosh.com🏅 Just 3 months on the shelf, doing our velocity test in NYC. We are so humbled, so excited. And will keep making labneh a thing!!! Hasan Bahcivan https://lnkd.in/efUBF3_t

BEST TIME OF THE YEAR 🚨‼️🎁 Snaxshot Holiday Guide is here 🎶 Best viewed with 🔊 volume on! How it works— 100 brands No sponsored placement No affiliate links Featuring emerging brands Featuring small artist Featuring international brands Curated just for you 👁️ Featuring some of my favorite new brands of the year like: BEZI Sorry Nonna Shuug OOSO Sparkling Tea Algae Cooking Club New item from— Ghia Fishwife MADRE MEZCAL And more! Enjoy below 👇