How a 27-Year-Old's Side Hustle Hit $100K in Month 1: KiuKiu

Key Takeaways

Liu always knew he wanted to build a food brand, so he worked in tech to “save aggressively” and make it happen.
He invested about $65,000 of his own savings to launch his mochi pancake and waffle brand KiuKiu earlier this year.
Now, KiuKiu is harnessing an omnichannel strategy to continue its community building and growth trajectory.

This Side Hustle Spotlight Q&A features John Liu, 27, a British citizen who’s typically based in San Francisco, California. Liu started KiuKiu (“QQ”), the brand behind “chewy, bouncy” mochi pancakes and waffles, earlier this year. Responses have been edited for length and clarity.

^{Image Credit: Courtesy of KiuKiu. John Liu.}

Want to read more stories like this? Subscribe to Money Makers, our free newsletter packed with creative side hustle ideas and successful strategies. Sign up here.

What was your day job or primary occupation when you started your side hustle?
Before starting KiuKiu, I was working in tech, where I led product teams at TikTok. I was part of the founding team of TikTok Shop, then later helped build TikTok’s GenAI platform for AI video generation.

I always knew I wanted to build a food brand. CPG is very capital-intensive, and early institutional investment is rare unless you already have a track record, so tech was my way to save aggressively. The experience in tech itself also became incredibly relevant. Understanding the inner workings of ecommerce, storytelling and ruthless time prioritization are now core skills I rely on every day as a CPG founder.

When did you start your side hustle, and where did you find the inspiration for it?
I grew up in Taiwan eating chewy, bouncy rice-based foods like mochi, rice cakes and noodles. There is even a Taiwanese word for that texture, “QQ,” which is where the name KiuKiu comes from and a term I hope becomes part of the everyday American lexicon. Rice also holds deep cultural significance for me because many members of my extended family were rice farmers.

When I moved to the U.S., I realized that chewy rice-based textures barely existed in grocery stores — except for mochi ice cream. At the same time, American grocery aisles had embraced other alternative flours like almond, cassava and oat, but not rice, even though it is the most consumed grain in the world. That disconnect felt like an enormous opportunity.

My long-term vision for KiuKiu is to build an entire category of rice-based, chewy pantry staples such as pancakes, cookies, frozen waffles and even pastas. I have always cooked and baked with rice flours, but I began formally testing recipes for scale in early 2025. I left my job in April and launched KiuKiu’s first products, mochi pancake and waffle mixes in ube, pandan coconut and black sesame, in August 2025. They’re made with California-grown rice flour and are naturally gluten-free.

What were some of the first steps you took to get your side hustle off the ground? How much money or investment was required to launch?
My first step was to build accountability mechanisms for myself. If I tell my friends I’m going to do something, it is embarrassing if I don’t follow through. So, within a couple of days of mentally committing to building KiuKiu, I shared my journey publicly via Instagram Reels so I couldn’t back out. Then, I drew up a plan for a 60-day sprint with the goal of launching our first product to validate that people wanted chewy, bouncy rice-based textures.

I went straight into obsessive R&D. I hosted tasting sessions with friends, crashed people’s dinner parties with mochi pancakes and made 80 iterations of recipes, adjusting everything from sugar ratios to leavening based on feedback collected in a Google Form. I tried to involve our growing community at every stage when deciding on the brand name, flavors and testing what messaging and packaging resonated most.

My first major investment was branding. I worked with my college friend Ned Hardy and his partner Marc Hohmann at TWO Agency to create a brand and packaging that would invigorate the baking aisle, while keeping a nod to our Asian heritage. I also spent weeks speaking with more than 200 manufacturers before finding the right partner. We had to scale our first run 10 times larger than planned because preorders were so strong. Altogether, for branding, ingredients, manufacturing and labor for our first production run, I invested about $65,000 of my own savings.

Are there any free or paid resources that have been especially helpful for you in starting and running this business?
I’ve kept spending extremely lean, so I rely heavily on free resources. Podcasts and newsletters have been some of my greatest teachers. This is TASTE, Grow to Market, Food Biz Wiz, Express Checkout, BevNet’s Taste Radio and StartupCPG are all in my rotation, and have helped me understand everything in the CPG landscape from product development to distribution to raising capital.

Building and nurturing community within the CPG space has also been invaluable. I joined the Naturally Network’s NorCal Chapter soon after starting KiuKiu, and it connected me with founders and operators who have been incredibly generous with their time and advice. Communities like INCLUDED and Project Potluck have also been meaningful, especially for meeting other underrepresented founders who are building brands that share their cultural heritage.

^{Image Credit: Courtesy of KiuKiu}

Lastly, I also make a point to reach out to other founders. I often slide into other brands’ DMs to ask tactical questions and cheer each other on. There is a real sense of camaraderie in CPG. We are all navigating the challenges in our own ways, but we can come together to share what we’ve learned so we can all win together.

If you could go back in your business journey and change one process or approach, what would it be and how do you wish you’d done it differently?
As a solo founder, the hardest skill is knowing where your time has the highest leverage.

Initially, I planned to do all manufacturing and fulfillment myself. I impulsively bought a commercial mixer and started searching for a commercial kitchen space. When my visa was delayed, and I couldn’t be in the U.S. for launch, I was forced to pivot to a co-manufacturer and 3PL.

Looking back, that constraint was the best thing that could have happened. My time is far better spent on growth activities, like talking to buyers, building distribution and driving velocity, rather than mixing rice flour at 2 a.m.

When it comes to this specific business, what is something you’ve found particularly challenging or surprising that people should be prepared for?
Despite how sexy building a consumer brand may look on the surface, there is an enormous amount of manual and unglamorous work in CPG, and it never really stops.

Our mochi pancake mixes use California-grown rice flour, but our flavor ingredients come from across Asia. Black sesame from Taiwan, ube from the Philippines and pandan from Thailand. These ingredients were on a ship when tariffs were changing what seemed like every hour. I tried to save money by skipping a freight broker, so I ended up personally managing customs delays, FDA holds, tariff reclassifications and daily paperwork for weeks.

Then, once you finally get into retail, the real challenge begins. Just because your product is in the store does not mean it is on the shelf or displayed correctly. I’ve seen our mixes stocked upside down or placed back-to-front. After that comes velocity, which is often the deciding factor for whether a retailer keeps you. You need to demo, build relationships with store teams and nurture each location. It is a relationship-driven business at its core. That can be both the most challenging and the most rewarding part.

Can you recall a specific instance when something went very wrong? How did you fix it?
When you are doing something for the first time, you often don’t know what you don’t know.

When sourcing ingredients for our first batch, one of the most important components, our ube powder, arrived in a muted grey color. Ube should be bright purple with a strong aroma and flavor. I was horrified. We had to delay production so I could reorder from a different supplier, which set us back and cost a few thousand dollars, but there was no way I was going to compromise on the very first batch.

I learned to set strict ingredient specifications upfront, covering everything from color to aroma to fineness. We now follow these standards for every production run.

How long did it take you to see consistent monthly revenue? How much did the side hustle earn?
We launched D2C in August 2025. My goal was to hit six figures in lifetime revenue by the end of the year. I wanted to show product-market fit and build a data story that could help us enter retail. We ended up hitting $100,000 in revenue in the first month.

That early traction gave me the confidence to start building wholesale accounts and reaching out to specialty retailers and local markets while continuing to refine our product and operations.

What does growth and revenue look like now?
Although we launched through D2C, our long-term strategy is omnichannel.

D2C has remained steady with strong repeat purchase rates. On the wholesale side, we are now in our first 80 retail accounts, including Safeway and Andronico’s in Northern California, with more stores coming on board in 2026.

Next year, we plan to expand D2C through new channels like Amazon and TikTok Shop, and we will be investing more heavily in social media to tell our story and build our community. We are also preparing for an exciting launch with my dream natural grocery chain and want to ensure we are operationally rock solid before scaling further.

How much time do you spend working on your business, and what does a typical week look like?
I work on KiuKiu full-time, often 11 to 12 hours a day, with product testing sessions and demos on weekends. It sounds intense, but it genuinely feels fun because the work is so varied and I care deeply about what I am building.

I use Trello to plan my highest priority monthly goals, break them into weekly goals, then into smaller daily tasks.

While I am abroad waiting for my visa, I focus on everything I can do remotely. For example, this week looked like:

Monday: forecast 2026 inventory, submit onboarding materials for a national retailer, speak with an investor

Tuesday: finalize next production run, plan freight pickups, coordinate PR packages

Wednesday: create Instagram Reels, coordinate inventory with distributor, negotiate ingredient purchase

Thursday: meet a head buyer at a national chain, finalize updated packaging, edit new brand video footage

Friday: interview a candidate for our brand ambassador role, work with a trademark attorney, update our financial model

Every week looks different, which is exactly the type of environment I thrive in as someone with ADHD. I consider it a superpower!

^{Image Credit: Courtesy of KiuKiu}

What do you enjoy most about running this business?
There is nothing more rewarding than watching someone try KiuKiu mochi pancakes for the first time and immediately wanting to share them with their friends and family. Bringing the textures and flavors I grew up with in Taiwan into an American breakfast classic feels incredibly meaningful.

I also love the variety. One day I am talking to ingredient suppliers in Asia, the next I’m meeting with grocery buyers or distributors, and the next I’m engaging with our customers. It pushes me far more than big tech ever did, and I love that the buck truly starts and stops with me.

What is your best piece of specific, actionable business advice?
In CPG, build a go-to-market strategy you can realistically sustain and win in your existing channels before expanding.

I have seen a lot of cautionary tales of founders who expand too quickly and use every resource they have to get into as many retailers as possible. Large chains will often take you, sometimes with crazy slotting fees or free fill expectations, but they will also drop you if velocity is not strong immediately. Before saying yes to a store, know exactly how you will drive velocity there. That can include demos, content, community and field support.

I remind myself constantly that it is better to dominate 20 stores than quietly disappear in 200. KiuKiu is still very young (we launched three months ago, for goodness’ sake!), and my focus is on winning in our first chain before aiming for world domination. It will come in time.

This article is part of our ongoing Young Entrepreneur® series highlighting the stories, challenges and triumphs of being a young business owner.

Source link