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Rounding the Bases with Joel Goldberg Podcast was created to share the stories of men and women in business and entrepreneurship that are both well knowing and or hidden gems. Joel believes that everyone has a story and their story matters which is why Joel is eager to connect with individuals that are bringing value to their community through innovation, leadership, entrepreneurial journeys, and developing company culture. If you would like to be a guest on Joel's podcast please email us at joel@joelgoldbergmedia.com.

 

TRANSCRIPT:

Joel Goldberg: My guest on this episode is Daniel Egli. He is the Chief Financial Officer at Russell Stover chocolates and we have had this podcast scheduled in the works for a very long time.

Joel Goldberg: We just didn't think when we scheduled it that will be we will be in these times, but that's the world that we're living in Daniel, thanks for joining the podcast.

Daniel Egli: Thank you Joel, for having me. 

Joel Goldberg: It’s good to it's good to catch up. And I know way back to normal times you and I went for coffee on the plaza. And we had bad at an event before that. 

Joel Goldberg: So I do, as is the case on this podcast and I've told you this I like to think more, you know, big picture bigger concept. So I don't want to get too tied up with with how things are going. But we'll talk about it a little bit because, as this is released.

Joel Goldberg: A little bit after we've recorded this you know people are still adjusting to these times, and new normals, but how have you through all this and with your, your position of Russell Stover handled all the changing times.

Daniel Egli: It’s been it's been crazy, you know, we've been working from home now for two months, it's certainly been a big change.

Daniel Egli: But, you know, on a positive note. The think, you know, we're still making chocolate and the business keeps on going. The organization has definitely adapted well working remotely. And on a personal note, they've enjoyed spending more time with my family. So, so there's positives as well.

Joel Goldberg: There’s positives to everything. I really believe that. And I know for

Joel Goldberg: For some situations, many situations, that's easier said than done, but the family time truly has been great. My wife was talking about that recently. I mean, I'm never home.  I was home for Mother's Day from, from the moment we woke up to the moment we went to bed versus if I was lucky to be in town.

Joel Goldberg: You know there for a couple hours and then hopefully home for dinner. So there's been a lot of positives to, you know, you said something that's interesting to me, you said, while we're still making chocolate. And I think that when when there's a lot of stress eating going on.

Joel Goldberg: You know, and so I find myself. Definitely having more of a sweet tooth and you know that maybe maybe a few extra Bourbons is my choice and definitely a lot of a lot of chocolate but I assume that you are seeing plenty of demand for your product still

Daniel Egli: Yeah, I mean, people still eat chocolate in these times maybe even, even more so in these times, right, I mean you maybe want to treat yourself.

Daniel Egli: More and more often, when you say that. Oh, man. Yeah, well, that's, that's what we're here for.

Joel Goldberg: Exactly. That's what you're here for. So there's so much I want to talk to you about in terms of your background.

Joel Goldberg: And also in terms of culture of Russell Stover that was really the the original reason for why I wanted to have you on I'll, I'll preface, all of this by saying that you and I met at an event.

Joel Goldberg: And you may remember now better than me. I feel like it was February I don't, I don't remember, but it's right. Yeah, yeah. I've been, you know, a while back.

Joel Goldberg: And it was funny because I was moderating a panel of a bunch of executives, I was Scott havens, who many people know how to organize this at mariner wealth and Scott's with hub international and it was that marriage or wealth and he talked about what what I was going to ask everybody, you know, kind of going

Joel Goldberg: Down the line in terms of answers and perspectives and in front of an audience.

Joel Goldberg: And I think one of the questions was a baseball themed question in the front. I could see and hear the panic in your voice about it. Do I need to talk about baseball and and I assured, you know. And that was true for even now podcast that has the title rounding the bases. So this isn't important. But I figured my listeners will get a kick out of it on a scale of one to 10. What is your baseball knowledge.

Daniel Egli: Well, I'm still probably like two or three, I would say. 

Joel Goldberg: Better. It was my way of leading to the fact that you are, for sure. The first guest that I had on the show that is from Switzerland, and I'm sure that that people heard the accent a little bit. So can you give a little bit of a background of how you ended up in the states and then eventually a Russell Stover as as a kid that grew up in Switzerland. Daniel Egli: Yeah, sure, sure. Well, I've been here in Kansas City with Russell Stover since December 17 but I actually worked out of Boston before joining Russell Stover So working with Gillette as part of the Procter and Gamble company I've been with Procter and Gamble for about 14 years working mostly in Europe, Geneva Zurich spent some time in the UK and then

Daniel Egli: Joined the Gillette business unit in Boston. So that's how I love to the United States. And then I was approached the you know about the the opportunity of Russell Stover that's that's kind of how I got to Kansas City certainly never thought that would you know, live in Kansas City. But here I am enjoying it.

Joel Goldberg: Yeah, I mean, it's always one of my favorite questions, not so much where you live, but just, could you have envisioned doing what you're doing when you grew up, or maybe better phrased. What were what were the dreams of the young Daniel Egli.

Daniel Egli: Well you know I as a high school student I spent a year in Canada, an exchange some year and ever since I have this desire to, you know, experience other countries and not just travel, they were on vacation, but also live and work in other countries. So

Daniel Egli: Since then, I was really aiming to have a an international career. And when I finished my studies join Procter and Gamble, which, you know, as you know, is an international company that offers. International career opportunities so was kind of from a pretty young age on my desire.

Joel Goldberg: So I'll backtrack, just a little bit and I would I would assume that Canada, much more similar to the United States than Switzerland or maybe not, I'm not sure. 

Daniel Egli: No, it is very similar to the United States. All that I think many Canadians like to make highlight the differences, but yes. It's pretty similar in terms of the lifestyle that we see the language. Same where i where i was i was in the western part of Canada so

Joel Goldberg: It was speaking part of where we're in. We're in Western Canada where you and I wasn't in Vancouver Island. Okay.

Joel Goldberg: Beautiful, beautiful. Yes. Yeah, sounds sound awful. And I remember you talking about that when we went for coffee truly one of the most beautiful areas in all of North America.

Daniel Egli: For anyone and and for me, having I've got really two connections. I guess to Canada one

Daniel Egli: I like to call myself quarter Canadian which basically translates into my grandmother emigrated to Canada, when she was a kid and she was the only one in a big family that ended up in the United States.

Daniel Elgi: Once she got married and all the rest of them. To this day, if they're alive or their, their offspring are still in Canada. So, you know, we would go up to Canada from time to time. Not as much now.

Joel Goldberg: As kids and then having a covered a lot of hockey for years. So I go up there and I've been a pretty much all the NHL cities and then we go in normal years. Not this year, I guess.

Joel Goldberg: We go to Toronto once a year. So it is a, it's a different world up there. But that's still a lot of similarities to to hear what what did that experience for you in molding you being an exchange student very far from home. How did that multi think to where you're at today.

Daniel Egli: Well, you know, I think it has a pretty big impact on the young person. I mean, you're definitely way out of your comfort zone when you you know I was 17 years old when I when I left there and

Daniel Egli: You, you obviously learn to kind of find your own way and the become more independent more mature. So yeah, I mean it certainly had a big impact. The think for me personally, I made a big step forward in that year and that I noticed that when I came back and you know you

Daniel Egli: Kind of, talk to your friends that were in the same place during that time and the, you know, this kind of, okay, how, how far you've come as a, as a person, how much you've developed mature.

Joel Goldberg: Was the was the interest in finance and obviously the chief finance officer at at Russell Stover now. And, you know, have all the financial history from Procter and Gamble and even before that, what was it always a

Joel Goldberg: Driver a passion to go towards, towards that. And the things the finance world.

Daniel Egli: I studied international business. So I was not something that I had in mind. At the very beginning when I when I entered university but

Daniel Egli: Yeah, it says just kind of through kind of trial and error different internships and you know different conversations kind of ended up in the in that in that area.

Joel Goldberg: And it's so now here you are in the, in the world of chocolate. Chocolate needs finance, I guess, and and so You know, you said before you never envisioned that you would end up in Kansas City, but not only you in Kansas City, you're working for a very famous company what what do you love about working in Russell Stover and beyond the chocolate.

Joel Goldberg: Which probably everybody that you know asks about chocolate or or that type of stuff. You got to be a very popular guy at Christmas time, I would imagine what what what do you like about working at Russell Stover

Daniel Egli: You know, I, you know, it's certainly a very interesting brand has been around for 100 years It's we're currently going through a transformation, really, you know, there's a lot of changes that happened in terms of consumer preferences, the way

Daniel Egli: You know shoppers shop nowadays. So it's really for me comes down to making an impact on a on a brand that consumers love that they know that has a long history and really having that impact and, you know,

Daniel Egli: Hopefully, you know, to the positive sense that, you know, finding a profitable way to grow in the future and the to continue to

Daniel Egli: The to make a good chocolates that PETA. People want so so that's what it comes down to, for me, and how, how have things changed. I mean,

Joel Goldberg: Nothing obviously in the world. I'm not talking about pandemic, but nothing in the world today is the same for a company that was around 100 years ago would have been sort of the biggest changes.

Joel Goldberg: In recent years for Russell Stover and the challenges of of keeping up with the time so i mean i chocolate good chocolates good chocolate.

Joel Goldberg: That I hope and would think would never change. But, but I know it's not that simple either

Daniel Egli: Yeah, no, definitely. I mean, you can look at this from different angles. I mean, there's, you know, the competitive landscape has changed so consumers have different choices.

Daniel Egli: Nowadays, there's new new products, new brands on the market. So that's, that's one aspect.

Daniel Egli: And then the other aspect is also how people shop. You know, if you know probably even now it's it's it's even accelerating, but people shop in a different way. Nowadays, many people shop online or they they go to different retailers. So that's also something that we need to adjust to and adapt.

Joel Goldberg: Again, I think that it helps when you have a brand name, An institutional name like a Russell Stover that

Joel Goldberg: Nothing's guaranteed right i mean good product and everything you're talking about matters but but what does it mean to have the Russell Stover name

Daniel Egli: Well, I think it's a huge asset. I mean, it's, it's a, you know, it's something. It's a brand that consumers trust that consumers know and i think that's that's an asset that we're

You know, we're capitalizing on. I mean we we have a big opportunity, I think in terms of, you know, the brand awareness and

Daniel Egli: You know, obviously focused on bringing new innovation that that help us grow in the future. One of those examples is sugar free, sugar free businesses doing

Daniel Egli: phenomenally well and has been doing well for the last few years. And I think that's just one of the aspects that is in our favor in terms of changing consumer tastes and demands that we can satisfy

Joel Goldberg: You obviously have a big role at Russell Stover and to the topics that I love to talk about certainly on this podcast and then also to

Joel Goldberg: You know, to audiences when I'm speaking our leadership and culture. Both are obviously elements that are extremely important to you in your world. My first question to you regarding that is about leadership and

Joel Goldberg: One, how, how many people are you overseeing and then the maybe the deeper question and one that I always like to ask is, when you come into a new role when you're new to an organization.

Joel Goldberg: I'm always fascinated by those initial discussions and you know how you build trust with your team and and you know adapt to that situation and

Joel Goldberg: And being the new guy, so to speak. So how many people, and what were those early days like for you. 

Daniel Egli: Yeah, well, you know, I’m besides finance also responsible for it procurement and supply chain planning. So it's a group of about a little over 100 people

Daniel Egli: Mostly based here in Kansas City and and yeah you know the first few days, I have to say that was a you know it's it's it was a big change for me. You know, I

Daniel Egli: I worked for the same company for you know 14 years and, you know, you kind of know the culture, you know, even even go to a different office. They're always kind of commonalities and

Daniel Egli: You know when you change company, obviously you don't have that familiarity. So, so it was you know spent a lot of time talking to different people meeting people and It's so obviously a lot of new information you have to absorb and a lot of it has to do with getting to know the organization, besides getting to know the business, obviously.

Joel Goldberg: And then what for you were the keys in building those relationships with your employees as, as I'm sure they're sitting there saying, you know, who

Joel Goldberg: Who is this. Who is this new guy and you know, and this guy isn't from here and and of course you've been in the States, a long time, but I don't care.

Joel Goldberg: I don't care if you're coming from another place and other shop in town. You're the new guy and everybody's looking

Joel Goldberg: You know, what's my new boss, like what is, what is it going to be like to interact with. So what are, what were some of the strategies that you had coming in to build that rapport with your people.

Daniel Egli: And you know, it's, it's, you know, I've tried to be very open and, you know, communicate the log to share

Daniel Egli: Share with my organization more about my background where I'm at, where I am as a person what what my values are so that really making an extra effort to share more about me so they they know you know

Daniel Egli: me as a person and and also being open, you know, really.

Daniel Egli: Having an open to also encouraging people to to come up when they have questions or when they have an issue and and yeah, trying to do everything I could to to get the communication going and to maybe yeah, make make make people comfortable in speaking coming up with to me. 

Joel Goldberg: I Want to go back to a little bit of the pandemic, as we're recording this. What have been some of your strategies in terms of communication in a world that we're living in which, which has been dominated by zoom or whatever your, you know, whatever your choice platform is

Daniel Egli: Yeah. Well, we certainly spent more time communicating. So we, you know, it starts with the executive team where we have a daily connect instead of just the weekly

Daniel Egli: Meeting and then with my team as well. It's just, you know, spending quite a lot of time connecting with people. One on one or in smaller groups and making sure that

Daniel Egli: Yeah, we all kind of stay connected we know what we're working on and and not only from a business standpoint, but also checking in how people have people doing you know it's it's obviously it's been this this stressful time and people

Daniel Egli: Process this in different ways. You have the full spectrum you have some people that are worried about the virus situation you have others that are less so. So it's just kind of figuring that out and

Daniel Egli: That's kind of the approach I took. 

Joel Goldberg: I think you're there been so many lessons to learn in this to our their elements of communication or the way that they you have gone about your business. During these these unique times I guess I could call it that, that you'll take and not just learn from but but implement or other elements of what's going on now. That'll be part of the future.

Daniel Egli: And you know, I think. So we have more shorter meetings, but more frequent which I have to say, that's fine. Shorter meetings to be more productive. And that's, that's something that I think that I would want to continue

Daniel Egli: I think also having giving people flexibility, you know, maybe having giving people more room to work from home. When they when they need to, or when they want to, because I think we've shown that we can get the work done. Productivity, I think, is still in a good place. And I think that that is something that is of value.

Joel Goldberg: Yeah, I'm completely fascinated by what this looks like, you know, next year, five year whenever this is all done.

Joel Goldberg: Just the way the world changes and you know the way office space changes and communication and all that we've certainly had our eyes open.

Joel Goldberg: To a lot of different elements. Oh, one more thing pandemic related to a minute. I think what you know is so interesting about these times, is this is not just a

Joel Goldberg: A certain cities problem or a certain countries problem. Everyone in some form or another is dealing with this around the world. What do you hear from back home in Switzerland.

Daniel Egli: And yeah, it looked at said it's a similar situation is here. People you know restaurants were closed shops were closed are now starting to to reopen

Daniel Egli: I think it's fairly similar. I have to say it was not as strict as the situation in Italy. So, you know,  Not, not quite as bad as that but the I think pretty comparable to how things were handled here in Kansas City area.

Joel Goldberg: All right, I want to get to my baseball themed questions which once again I assured Daniel would not be baseball questions. I assure that to every guest but

Joel Goldberg: If he is saying that the baseball knowledge is somewhere around a two or three out of 10 this will not be anything about baseball strategy.

Joel Goldberg: baseball predictions or anything of that matter. I'm in the baseball prediction business, I guess, and I give up after what's going on during the pandemic. I'm not going to try either, but the baseball theme question is this. Professionally speaking

Joel Goldberg: You know, in all your years and I'm, I'm looking through the LinkedIn profile and whether it be the 14 years of Procter and Gamble, I should I should do a quick sidebar here.

Joel Goldberg: It says that you are a financial analyst know three to five for financial animal analysis and planning Western Europe denture care and whitening. I didn't so

Joel Goldberg: That's that's unique background for a guy that found Russell Stover I would think.

Daniel Egli: Yeah, well, let's say it was a interesting business to work on. Definitely. Yeah.

Joel Goldberg: That was the maybe one of the stars of the career. Like, I guess. Yes. Many years ago, so I'm assuming that that's not the big home run.

Joel Goldberg: But the question, what's the biggest home run. You've had professionally in your career or in

Joel Goldberg: In layman's or non baseball terms would spend the biggest moment for you. What's been that you know that the huge impactful moment in your career.

Daniel Egli: Yeah, sure. Well, you know, I, I would say that, you know, I've been very fortunate to grow throughout my career and, you know, assuming

Daniel Egli: More responsibilities as I changed into different roles. So I would say that at any you know those different stages, there were always kind of those homerun moments, but you know when I reflected this today, I would certainly say that you know I love the role that I'm in right now.

Daniel Egli: For me, you know, being able to shape the direction the strategy of real Stover and starting to see the results of that work that's that's been hugely satisfying. You know, we had a good year in 2019 in terms of the business results. And also, frankly, from an organization standpoint. So you know we measure that organization health via a survey quarterly survey.

Daniel Egli: And, you know, we've made some really good progress. And that's, you know, I'm proud of that the progress that we're able to make here at Russel Stover.

Joel Goldberg: Okay, so that's the the positives. Let's go to the negative, which I don't necessarily view as a negative i. The swing and miss question to me.

Joel Goldberg: Is essentially a learning experience. You know what, what, what's something you missed on that you learn from. And I think we grow from those that that's my personal opinion. So what's a big swing and miss. You've taken in your career. And what did you learn from this

Daniel Egli: Well, I would say that, you know, some of the most important decisions I make our people relate to them, you know, hiring decision.

Daniel Egli: And moving people into different roles, maybe for all being the responsibilities. So, you know, as you do that, you obviously take risks and you know in many, many times. This worked out well. But, you know, obviously it's not the 100% success rate.

Daniel Egli: So sometimes those decisions don't work out as planned, and You know that's that's what I would say to that to the learning for me, you know, in terms of hiring. For instance, you know, there's certainly and methods to, you know, how you conduct an interview, there's

Daniel Egli: Certain best practices. You can follow in terms of having several people interview person references, etc. But I think there's also the maybe the the less tangible part which is maybe your, your gut feel. And your, your instincts that I feel are equally important as you as you make those decisions. And that's certainly something that, you know, over the years, and

Daniel Egli: I have kind of improved on our learned on from from experience. 

Joel Goldberg: Yeah, I just want to follow up on that, because that's that's always fascinating to me too. How much, how much do you weigh that gut feeling.

Daniel Egli: Well, you know, I, I'm more an analytical person and focus more on kind of the facts and all that, but I think there is an element of judgment because obviously when you interview people you only see them for a very limited amount of time and

Joel Goldberg: Some people are very articulate and others maybe struggle a little bit more right to convince you in a in a short period of time. So I think that's, that's something that over time. I, I kind of refined, more and I find that I could be more maybe use that for the more I rely more on my instinct now than I did earlier in my career. Definitely. Yeah.

Joel Goldberg: So intrigued by that. Just on a side note, because in the baseball one. I think it's true in anything you have sort of your

Joel Goldberg: Non numbers go by the gut. In in in athletics. It's usually the former players that they trust their eyes and then you might have sort of the younger or the new school that that have the numbers. And what happens over time is

Joel Goldberg: Eventually, those that trust the numbers.

Joel Goldberg: Will start to go a little bit of the gut instinct and those that that live on the instinct start to learn more about the numbers and he kind of start to marry some of that together, so it's

Joel Goldberg: I think if there's always kind of a, a harmony to that when you can when you can when you can blend it all together and use it all as tools. So this is my take. But

Joel Goldberg: The final baseball. Question is what I call the culture question and and and I'd like to put it in terms of Russell Stover because I’m I'm interested in in the culture there. We know about chocolate but it's small ball. Meaning, what are the little things.

Joel Goldberg: That add up to the big things in baseball terms. It's not all about the homerun I call it you know the little bits of foundation. What make you who you are or culture, the backbone of the company. What is small ball. What are the little things that matter at Russell Stover

Daniel Egli: Yeah, I think you're, you're right, the kind of the link to culture, you know,

Daniel Egli: So reflected on that. I think it's really walking the talk and culture. You know, we have a

Daniel Egli: We have documented our values, our culture. You know, it's a nice piece of paper, but in the end. What really matters is that the day today and how you show up with your team and how the rest of the leadership team shows up with their teams.

Daniel Egli: So it's really the small things that you do, day in, day out, that are consistent with those values that we have all agreed on. So that could be, you know, sending a thank you note to somebody who's done a nice job or recognizing somebody in a town hall meeting.

Daniel Egli: Things like that is small, small things that are, you know, it's just consistency point consistency with the values and that's what that's what I would highlight i think that's that's the important aspect of the culture, not so much what you say it is, but it's what you do, day in, day out.

Joel Goldberg: Really interesting and couldn't agree more. So that's it.

Joel Goldberg: It's my favorite question actually, because there's never one simple answer to that everybody has so many different perspectives, but

Joel Goldberg: I haven't heard a lot of the you know the handwritten note or the personalization and all that and and how far it goes. Okay.

Joel Goldberg: For final questions I have not discussed these with you and else I don't say that in any way to to scare you, or anything like that but

Joel Goldberg: Oftentimes these are and it's what I call my rounding the basis for final questions there. They can be light hearted, they might not be. But they're, they're kind of things that popped into my head.

Joel Goldberg: As I'm going over the course of an interview. And so the the first one that that I would ask you is, in terms of sports. We talked about

Joel Goldberg: Not growing up with baseball. I actually, I think I asked you this in person. But what was the sport. What were the sports growing up that you enjoyed in Switzerland.

Daniel Egli: Well, I used to play handball when it was young and then it was a little bit older in high school I started playing rugby and picked it up in Canada and played that when it came back.

Daniel Egli: So those are the sports a it actively I was a ski. I like outdoor sports hiking, skiing,dabble a little bit and golf, although not very successfully.

Joel Goldberg: It sounds like you and I could golf together. Because, because, because dabbling is being generous. For me, it never goes well, but it's still fun so it's it's nice to get outside always

Joel Goldberg: Say that much. Okay, the obvious question. My second question is we round the bases favorite, favorite product or chocolate.

Joel Goldberg: For you at Russell Stover assuming that you do enjoy chocolate. 

Daniel Egli: I do enjoy chocolate. Yeah, well, you know, the, the, the product when when I

Daniel Egli: Start with your product that most surprised me was our sugar free products and they test taste really surprisingly good. I mean, considering they don't contain any sugar. It's Stevia sweetened so I really love our sugar free line.

Joel Goldberg: And like I would agree with that and an important one. By the way, too. Right. I mean, in, in a world with

Joel Goldberg: With you know diabetes and other issues that that that becomes a great option for for so many third question, as we round the bases. It's more of a geography or culture question actually two biggest differences and similarities to Kansas City and Switzerland.

Daniel Egli: In Terms of culture, and well, I would say, what's the first thing that comes to mind is, I think, a strong work ethic. I think that's, you know,

Daniel Egli: Something that I hear often about people when people talk about the Midwest and that's something that I would say applies to to the Swiss as well.

Daniel Egli: Yeah, I would say, kind of a work ethic kind of down to earth mentality that that that's the first thing that comes to mind. 

Joel Goldberg: What’s the, what's the kind of traffic and population and everyday living how, how those different

Daniel Egli: Oh, well that's very different. I mean you know you. I'm sure you know, for those who have traveled to Europe, they'll know i mean you have much less space in Europe, it's more densely populated then here in Kansas City.

Daniel Egli: You have a lot of space. I mean, obviously also around Kansas City. But there's, you know, it's the layout of the city is very different. It's much more oriented towards you know, using the car is

Daniel Egli:no shortage of parking spots and it's it's a different lifestyle definitely in Switzerland. It's much more, you know, you walk in a city or use your bicycle or public transport and and here it's it's all designed around using your car.

Joel Goldberg: It's a different world for sure over there and and really you know my opinion of amazing when I've not been to Switzerland. So I'd love to add that to the list. I guess the closest I have then will be will be France and Paris. And of course, you know, and

Joel Goldberg: In that world over there. You hop on a train and you can, you know, get through to a number of countries in any given day, which is

Joel Goldberg: I don't know. I don't know what what we have like that here. I guess it's kind of like like being in Boston, where you live and being able to hop on a train and get to New York, or DC or whatever it is, but

Joel Goldberg: We don't really have anything quite like that. Okay. Final question the walk off question and it's a Russel Stover question for you with, with all the history of this great company and the brand name, where, where do you see this going

Joel Goldberg: 10 years 20 years down the road so often I have guests on this this podcast that are

Joel Goldberg: That are startups and they've got these dreams of hitting a big Russell Stover obviously has been big for a long time. But as you suggested

Joel Goldberg: In this episode, that there's constant evolution. You can't stay still, the market changes, where do you see the world going in terms of chocolate in terms of Russell silver and then the next 10-20 years

Daniel Egli: Look, I'm very optimistic about the future of Russell silver. I think that brand is as well. No, I think there's many opportunities for us to grow still

Daniel Egli: So obviously we have a successful sugar free align that continues to grow. We have strengths and other parts of the business. So the Valentine arts or, you know, Easter rabbits and our gift box that you may enjoy in the in the Christmas period.

Daniel Egli: So I think that for me, it's, it's about, you know, coming up with innovation that you know make the brand rejuvenate the brand, make it

Daniel Egli: More relevant to also to to a younger consumer group and getting getting more people to buy Russell silver chocolate. I think we we have, you know, some interesting you know innovation in the pipeline and I'm looking forward to seeing those in the market place soon.

Joel Goldberg: Well, it's always changing. I know that. And then some things of course will in some form or another. Always stay the same. I mean, there, there are

Joel Goldberg: People have certain elements of sweets and chocolate that they will always love there there we can call whatever we want guilty pleasure, whatever, whatever it is that, that'll always be around, so it's it's interesting to see.

Joel Goldberg: How things are going to change how they evolve and certainly you talked about it before, too, in terms of in terms of selling and online and all that the world will will continue to change so well.

Joel Goldberg: That these are my two hopes and promises one hope we can get out for coffee again when when the time is come down or when they become safer and and what I, you know, I've got this like, you know, thought or hope that I can at least get your baseball interest from like a 2 to a 4

Daniel Egli: I'll work on my baseball and all its yeah but looking looking forward to the season, starting at some point.Hopefully I can get out there and watch the game, some time. 

Joel Goldberg: Well, I'll help you with that. Not that you need the help, but you know, I'll try to do my part, I don't need to convert you or anything like that. I just want to make sure that I've at least tried to do my part in this one is not all about baseball and but you know it's a bit of my world, so to speak, so

Joel Goldberg: Yeah yeah hey we both have we both have jobs that people can understand or at least brands that they understand. So, you know, certainly people always want to talk baseball with me and I'm

Joel Goldberg: Sure, there's not a day that goes by that that people don't ask you something. Chocolate related, but hopefully this was a conversation more than that. And it was

Joel Goldberg: It was great to be able to dive into the the culture and in your background. It's been a long time coming. So Daniel. I really appreciate you spending the time I'm glad you're here in Kansas City, and I

Joel Goldberg: Can officially say that my first ever Swiss guest on rounding the bases. It took like 90 episodes was Daniel Egli, so it's groundbreaking for me. But hey, I appreciate you spending the time best of health to you and your family and I look forward to seeing you soon. 

Daniel Egli: My pleasure. Thank you.

Joel Goldberg: That's going to do it for another episode of rounding the bases, I'm Joel over. You can reach me at joelgoldbergmedia.com you can email at info@joelgoldbergmedia.com or find me on social media. I'm all over the place there.

Joel Goldberg: Thanks for listening. I'd love it if you jump on to and give a five star rating on iTunes hope to catch you next time on rounding the bases.