Success Stories
Nuts + Nuts
“It has been great so far: Thomas is a mentor that can be there for me and keep me accountable.”
PCV is highlighting our AAPI small businesses for AAPI Heritage Month! Next up we’re featuring Cyrilla Suwarsa, the owner of Nuts + Nuts: a San Mateo-based woman-owned business selling small-batch roasted cashews ethically sourced from small Indonesian farms.
Originally from Jakarta, Indonesia, Cyrilla studied graphic design in the U.S. before having to move back home in 2003 after being diagnosed with Lupus. In the two and a half years that she was living in Indonesia gaining her health back, her sister had Cyrilla help out with the packaging design for a roasted cashew venture she’d started with farmers in Central Java. Their roasted cashews were a hit, and together the sisters decided to create Nuts+Nuts, distributing the product internationally in 2010. After Cyrilla relocated her business from New York to California in 2018, she reached out to Pacific Community Ventures seeking guidance on how to improve her logistics and supply chain management while reducing cost. We paired her with Thomas, the former director of an international nut import-export business.
Meeting on Zoom and on WhatsApp, Thomas quickly identified that Cyrilla was spending too much time on her shipping and administrative process when she could be focusing on her marketing and business development. Together, they tracked the hours for how much time spent to process and ship, learning from the data that Cyrilla could better streamline her process by pre-packaging bulk orders and hiring someone to help with the packing. Thomas and Cyrilla regularly use WhatsApp to communicate quickly and efficiently: they recently connected when Cyrilla realized she’d outgrown her almond contract packer and Thomas jumped in to find a new one through his network in the San Joaquin valley. Of the partnership, Cyrilla says: “It has been great so far: Thomas is a mentor that can be there for me and keep me accountable.”
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