Behind the Scenes: JSC x Oishii Infused Koyo Berry Salt

At Jacobsen Salt Co., leaving room in our innovation pipeline for organic, serendipitous collaborations is important not just to the brand but to company culture. JSC was born out of a pursuit of curiosity, and that curiosity is baked into our DNA–we push ourselves to innovate, be creative, and get better every year.

Historically, LTO product ideas have bubbled up in a myriad of ways, whether through a casual team brainstorm, connecting with and wanting to give a platform to other small or growing businesses, or reaching out to another DTC brand. Sometimes, these products are a one-and-done collaboration, other times, they might become a permanent SKU.

Our recent Infused Koyo Berry Salt made in partnership with Oishii created quite a buzz when it sold out in just 36 hours after launching! It began with the Oishii team reaching out to us in December 2023 to connect about ways we might be able to collaborate, one idea being the possibility of a strawberry salt. We do the majority of our R&D in-house, so after chatting internally to confirm there was interest in testing out infusing salt with strawberries (there was!), the Oishii team sent some fruit our way.

Being a smaller team, we're able to pursue ideas like this without the pressure of forcing something to happen–if it doesn't work, it doesn't work, but at least we tried and hopefully, learned something along the way. In this instance, after the first batch, we felt we were on to something (although it was nowhere near final)...so we kept testing recipes. 

We led the R&D process (for reference–going back to the small team thing–our R&D team consists of folks from marketing, sales, procurement, purchasing and exec), sending samples to the Oishii team as it moved along. Once we all felt confident that the final recipe would resonate with our consumers, we collaborated on the label design and go-to-market strategy, making an initial quantity that felt substantial for a LTO launch and that set us up for success from a production standpoint. With new products and new recipes, there are always more unknowns the first time you scale. Excitingly, it sold out much faster than anyone anticipated and we've loved seeing how people have been using it. 

Being able to pursue these types of collaborations without a set agenda beyond a desire to learn and connect (and taste each other's products!) creates space for innovative ideas. This collaboration was a good example of where practicing patience and trusting the process led to a product both teams are really proud of – we hope you love it!

- Kelsey Harris, JSC Marketing Director