Nickel & Dime supplement club relocates to KC, aims to disprove industry stereotypes
September 11, 2018 | Austin Barnes
Startup nutrients like location, atmosphere and opportunity have proven the right dosage to lure another young company to Kansas City, said Ben Harris.
“[Our move] allows us to ship two days domestically anywhere in the United States,” the co-founder of Nickel & Dime supplement club said.
Launched by Harris and co-founder, Michael Giangregorio earlier this year in Jacksonville, Florida, Nickel & Dime is a monthly subscription club that ships supplements direct to customers.
Nickel & Dime plans to headquarter in Kansas City for the longterm, Harris said.
“The thing that really caught me off guard about the city, as I get more acquainted, is how many resources there are. It’s out of control,” he said, excited for what his company could become in the metro’s startup scene.
As production ramps up, Nickel & Dime has committed to innovating an often misleading health and supplement industry, Harris said.
“I think that honesty is something that we were really looking to have, instead of all kinds of other branches of false expectations you know, Photoshop and steroids,” Harris said of the way Nickel & Dime’s marketing efforts differ from those used by other health and fitness companies.
“The perception that they paint — it’s something that I really feel like has put a bad taste in a lot of people’s mouth.”
Keeping in line with the company’s fresh perspective, you’ll never find Nickel and Dime supplements stocked on store shelves, Harris said.
“I think the internet gives us the ability to scale and scale quickly,” he explained. “We are trying to control scale so we don’t bite off more than we can chew, which in turn, kind of creates some exclusivity to our brand.”
Also unique to the Nickel & Dime brand is their price, he said. Harris and Giangregorio have built the company using a business-to-consumer model that keeps prices low, he said. Customers can purchase pill-based supplements for $7 and powder-based supplements for $15 or less, according to the company’s website.
Click here for more information about the ingredients used in the company’s supplements.

2018 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Planner pitches two-mile gondola over West Bottoms, linking KCK, KCMO downtowns
Editor’s note: The following story originally published by CityScene KC, an online news source focused on Greater Downtown Kansas City. Click here to read the original story or here to sign up for the weekly CityScene KC email review. The idea of using gondolas for mass transit in Kansas City is back, but this time it’s being floated by…
Retaking the ‘entrepreneur’ label: ‘You need to have a good product, but ultimately it needs to be about more’
In “The New Builders,” written by Times of Entrepreneurship founder Elizabeth MacBride and venture capitalist Seth Levine, the authors look at the landscape of entrepreneurship across America. In this excerpt — from Chapter 3: The Definition Of Success — the authors focus on Isaac Collins, a Kansas City entrepreneur who also faces and fights added obstacles…
Some mysteries at historic 9th & State might never be solved — and bar owner Heather Hamilton is OK with it
Feeling invincible is a thing of the past, Heather Hamilton said, revealing a diagnosis that stopped her in her tracks and poured a change of perspective for the West Bottoms bar owner. “Knowing that I’m gene-positive for Huntington’s disease has made me even more motivated to make a difference,” Hamilton said, noting the disease has…
Angels in class: How Mizzou’s student-run venture course is investing up to $50K in real startups
Startland News’ Startup Road Trip series explores innovative and uncommon ideas finding success in rural America and Midwestern startup hubs outside the Kansas City metro. This series is possible thanks to the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, which leads a collaborative, nationwide effort to identify and remove large and small barriers to new business creation. COLUMBIA,…
