They have hired seven employees thus far, and plan to have 12 by the end of the year. “We’re big fans of nepotism, but we’ve run out of family members,” said Greg, facetiously. That entails providing displays for their soaps tightly tracking their supplies, orders, and sales and hiring new - non-familial - employees. “We are going to get slammed by Whole Foods,” said Greg. Now, soap production has to drastically increase. They now offer a variety of soaps - hemp, beer and wine - that are made with local ingredients, such as a soap made with coffee brewed at Spill’n the Beans Coffeehouse & Bistro in Troy. has been producing their soaps, creams, at home. Since their inception seven years ago, Sue and Rad Soap Co. Until they moved into the new space, they were producing 3,000 bars of soap – all inside the kitchen of their Cohoes home. Before Whole Foods, weekly soap production was based on Sue’s estimate of the volume of sales farmers markets and craft fairs would yield. For right now, the Kerbers are focused on transforming a literally in-house craft business into a fully formed wholesale operation. After that, she is hoping to have her products in 11 Whole Foods by the end of August, with products on display throughout the chain’s 30 northeastern stores as soon as possible thereafter. With those stores, Sue is looking to prove her product. six months before they could send their first shipment to a Whole Foods store - in Ridgefield, New Jersey - but since then, they have signed up five more stores. As she explained, Whole Foods’ supplier requirements are very stringent. “It takes awhile to get into their process,” said Sue. “We were screaming.” Seven months later, the family has moved into a 4,000 square foot warehouse at the intersection of Fuller Road and Railroad Avenue, but the path has not been easy. They wanted her to submit an application. “It’s not like Whole Foods comes up here.” That day, however, Whole Foods was “up here.” After exchanging business cards, Sue received a call the very next Monday - her birthday - from a Whole Foods representative.
“I figured you can’t get into Whole Foods unless you’re down in at the Brooklyn Flea Market, if you’re written up by Oprah, if you’re on The Today Show, or if you’ve solved some major problem and they see you, usually in New York City,” said Sue. Despite moderate success, they were not expecting that their company, Rad Soap Co., would attract a national, hyper-local supermarket chain like Whole Foods to their table at the Troy Farmers’ Market. At that time, Sue, her husband Greg, and her son Zak were making their hot-processed soaps and creams in the kitchen of their house in Cohoes. They wanted to talk with the local soapmaker about the possibility of distributing her soaps across the northeast. I think that’s where it starts, and I think it kind of resonates through everything we do,” said Zak.ALBANY - Sue Kerber was selling her homemade soaps and creams at the winter Troy Farmers’ Market she was approached by a woman from Whole Foods. “The root of it all, I think comes from my Mom’s heart and how much effort she puts into our business. They’re a family-run business, hoping a mother’s love can fuel their brand to further success. The team also includes their sister Alexis. “That is an opportunity to grow and become better people, and we just have such a great team here,” said Max.
To keep up with demand, workers produce and package products daily. They hope to eventually have 25 retail spaces. Next week, they’re opening a pop-up shop on Long Island. Their all-natural soaps and lotions are sold in more than 200 locations including Whole Foods, Urban Outfitters, and their own retail space in Albany’s Stuyvesant Plaza. In 2009, she started Rad Soap Company with sons Zak and Max. We had to find something to do,” Sue said. “My husband lost his business and we had nothing. “I would try it and he would try it, and it seemed to start working,” said Sue.Īfter years of making creams for all kinds of ailments, a family crisis caused Sue to get creative. The business is a dream that evolved from Sue’s mission to make something to relieve her son Zak’s eczema.
And they have followed our dream,” said co-founder Sue Kerber. The people that are my customers are my best buddies. “It is like almost a cult following, it is so cool. From a kitchen in Cohoes to a 15,000-square foot facility in Menands, RAD Soap Co.
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