200 Orders, 1,000 Bags, and a Milestone I Somehow Missed

A couple of weeks ago, Kanahele Krunch officially passed 200 online orders.

I was so excited. Two hundred orders packed at my kitchen table. Two hundred shipping labels printed. A headquarters constantly filled with stickers, kraft bags, boxes, and Krunch. And what feels like 200 trips to UPS—enough that I’m now on a first-name basis with the guy who’s there at 8:50 AM when I stop in on my way to work. He and his daughter love Kanahele Krunch.

It felt like one of those milestones worth stopping for.

But when I started looking a little closer at the numbers, I realized something pretty funny:

Somewhere along the way, I had also sold my 1,000th bag of Kanahele Krunch—and I completely missed it.

Actually, I didn’t just barely miss it.

As of the end of August, more than 1,700 bags of Kanahele Krunch have been sold and delivered between online orders and the little shops, markets, bakeries, cafés, and other businesses that have taken a chance on this tiny coconut snack.

And 1,000 bags has meant something to me since almost the very beginning.

“Shut Up and Sell 1,000 Bars”

When I first started Kanahele Krunch, I became obsessed with listening to stories about other food founders.

One that really stuck with me was the story of RXBAR. I discovered founder Peter Rahal’s story in those early November and December days, and I kept coming back to it.

He talked about building RXBAR out of his parents’ kitchen and shared a piece of advice his dad gave him in those early days. The sentiment was essentially:

“Shut the f* up and sell 1,000 bars.”**

I loved it.

Not because selling 1,000 of something guarantees anything.

But because there is so much noise when you’re starting a business.

What should the packaging look like? Should I change the logo? Do I need a distributor? How many stores should I be in? Should I be posting more? Is this even working? What happens next?

And that advice cuts through all of it.

Just go sell 1,000.

So somewhere very early in the Kanahele Krunch journey, 1,000 bags became a pillar for me.

I didn’t know when I would get there. I didn’t know what the business would look like when I did.

I just knew I wanted to sell 1,000 bags.

And Then I Lost Count

I launched Kanahele Krunch in November 2025.

Those first orders felt enormous.

I stamped packages by hand. I packed boxes at home. I remember the excitement of getting my first order from someone I didn’t know. I called basically every member of my family saying, “Someone in Vermont ordered!!”

I remember the first time I walked into a store with samples. The first wholesale order. The first reorder. The first time I saw a bag of Kanahele Krunch sitting on a shelf next to brands I’d been buying for years.

Slowly, the orders started adding up.

One bag became a few.

A few became cases.

One store became another.

Opening orders started becoming reorders.

My systems got a little more refined, and eventually I was producing 150+ bags a week.

And somewhere between packing online orders, baking batches, making deliveries around Northern California, dropping samples at shops, sending invoices, and trying to figure out how on earth to run a food business...

I sold bag #1,000.

Apparently, it happened back in July.

I had no idea.

More Than 1,700 Bags Later

When I finally sat down and added everything up, I couldn’t quite believe the number.

Between paid online and wholesale orders and farmers markets, more than 1,700 bags of Kanahele Krunch have made their way out into the world.

That number means a lot to me.

But what means even more is how we got there.

It’s the person who ordered one bag online.

The person who came back and ordered three more.

The shop owner who said, “Sure, let’s try it.”

The retailer who sold through their first case and emailed asking for another.

The friend who told a friend.

The customer who tagged Kanahele Krunch in their yogurt bowl.

The market that made a little room on its shelf for a brand being made just down the road.

Every one of those moments has built this thing.

And Somehow, We’re Just Getting Started

I don’t think selling 1,000 bags means Kanahele Krunch has “made it.”

If anything, I think I understand what that advice was supposed to mean.

You learn so much by just selling the thing—and selling that thing over and over and over.

You learn where people discover you. You learn which stores make sense. You learn how quickly a case can move. You learn what people come back for. You learn how much you can make in a week before your kitchen starts looking completely insane.

And you learn that a business isn’t built in one giant moment.

It’s built one bag at a time.

So yes, I accidentally missed bag #1,000.

And I kind of love that.

Because I was too busy making, packing, delivering, sampling, emailing, driving, and selling Kanahele Krunch to notice.

200+ online orders.
1,700+ bags sold and delivered.
And a whole lot more Krunch to come.

To every person who has bought a bag, reordered, shared Kanahele Krunch with someone, stocked it in their store, or simply cheered this little business on:

Mahalo.

Every bag also continues to give back, with 1% of sales supporting ʻAha Pūnana Leo and its work to preserve and revitalize the Hawaiian language.

From the Islands to the Bay, with aloha.

— Lani