0:01

Hello, wait for it listeners. I hope

0:03

you're enjoying the show. And I want

0:05

to invite you to check out another

0:07

Owens Big Ron Studio show called Leaving

0:09

the Theater. Leaving the Theater is a

0:11

television and film review podcast that started

0:13

with me reviewing movies as I walked

0:16

out of the theater immediately after seeing

0:18

them. It's now expanded to include me

0:20

reviewing television and streaming titles on my

0:22

couch as well. These are the freshest

0:24

take on what we just watched and

0:26

it's a lot of fun. On each

0:29

episode I talk with my movie-loving friends

0:31

or colleagues from other podcasts and

0:33

we rate whatever we watched

0:35

from one to five stars.

0:37

If you're an overthinker like

0:39

me you'll enjoy agreeing and

0:41

disagreeing with my analysis. Again

0:43

that's leaving the theater available

0:45

everywhere you listen to

0:47

podcasts. Hello wait for

0:49

it listeners, it's me Ronald Young Jr.

0:51

We are currently hard at work planning

0:54

the next season of wait for it

0:56

which will come out in the fall

0:58

But in the meantime, I wanted to

1:00

share a bonus mini episode with you

1:02

as you know the second season of

1:05

wait for it was presented in partnership

1:07

with big fig mattress You've likely heard

1:09

me talking about having company over in

1:11

those ads all season long Well, I

1:13

sleep on a Big Fig and I

1:16

love the mattress, but I wanted to

1:18

know more about the company. Hey, Ronald,

1:20

my name is Jeff Brown. I am

1:22

the president of Big Fig Matrix. Big

1:25

Fig is a directed consumer online brand.

1:27

Jeff told me about the founder and

1:29

CEO of Big Fig, a man named

1:32

Bruce Goodman. He's fourth generation. His family's

1:34

been in Cleveland in the furniture and

1:36

mattress business for over 100 years. His

1:39

mattress company is called White Dove Matress

1:41

and they sold their mattress in retail

1:43

stores like most other mattress companies. Bruce

1:46

spent a lot of time at retail,

1:48

walk in retail and one common theme

1:50

that kept coming out from retailers is

1:52

how much they loved to see plus-sized

1:54

people walk through the door. The retailers

1:56

would say they wear through mattresses in

1:58

two years. So instead... five to

2:00

seven under a typical warranty, they would

2:03

see a plus person or a

2:05

plus couple come in and they saw

2:07

a dollar sign. And Bruce was kind

2:09

of perturbed by this and it bugged

2:12

him. In some ways, this experience

2:14

felt like it was by design. It

2:16

has to do with the way mattresses

2:18

are sold. the mattress industry is pretty

2:21

skevy, right? So it's always on

2:23

sale. Yeah. And it's always pushing some

2:25

new tech that's basically the old tech

2:27

that they've rebranded and re-trademark itself. So

2:30

he kind of figured it as

2:32

retailer abuse. Bruce didn't think that customers

2:34

should be treated this way. He thought

2:36

he could treat them better without the

2:39

predatory retail experience. He said, well, if

2:41

I can be the retailer, then I

2:43

can manage that relationship and do it

2:46

differently. This was around 2014. At this

2:48

time, there were several other mattress companies

2:50

starting to go direct to consumer. You've

2:52

likely heard of them on other podcasts.

2:55

But Bruce didn't think those mattresses were

2:57

very good. So the technology hadn't really

2:59

caught up to high-quality mattresses. Most of

3:02

those things were just, they were like

3:04

loaves of bread being stuffed in a

3:06

box, right? They were all foam. No

3:08

springs, no coils, no extra support. And

3:11

these types of mattresses would not be

3:13

sturdy enough to support a plus-sized customer.

3:15

So he, with his fourth generation experience

3:18

and a pretty savvy daughter who worked

3:20

on the business, they came up with

3:22

a mattress that you could compress, put

3:25

in a box, and would come out

3:27

of that box 100% integrity wise. So

3:29

they tested and tested it. They tested

3:31

all the way through 2016, and actually

3:34

launched the website in 2017. And just

3:36

like that, Big Fig mattress was born.

3:38

The mattress for the bigger figure. It

3:41

was 2018 when Jeff joined the company

3:43

and started helping to build out the

3:45

brand more. He loved the product and

3:48

was impressed by the reviews from happy

3:50

customers. I started reading this thing and

3:52

all these reviews are coming back with

3:54

words like life changing, saved my life,

3:57

unbelievable, saved my marriage. my job. Yeah,

3:59

here I am a 30 year marketer,

4:01

sales and marketing guy, right? And I've

4:04

been dealing with power brands. Never once

4:06

have I had a brand, Ronald, that

4:08

somebody said, you changed my life. It

4:10

turns out that fat folks were pleased

4:13

to have a mattress that they felt

4:15

like was made for them. Now, Big Fig

4:17

isn't a non-profit company. They're a

4:19

business. However, they're committed to the

4:22

plus-sized community in a unique way.

4:24

And in some ways, they've paid

4:26

a cost to do that to

4:28

do that. We keep getting a lot

4:30

of pressure from private equity folks and people

4:32

that want to buy us to say you

4:34

guys have a great product and a great

4:36

brand and let's go sell it to everybody.

4:38

And we've chatted about that and the attraction

4:41

is there because we've built a pretty solid

4:43

brand. But Dennis, who are we at that

4:45

point in time? We make good margins, but

4:47

we don't make what the big guys make,

4:49

but we're okay with that. We think

4:51

the community that we serve and the

4:53

things that we've done to help the

4:55

plus-size-size-size-size-size-size-size-size-size folks, folks, folks, folks, get a

4:57

great night's sleep, you know, have great

5:00

sex if they want to have great

5:02

sex, bounce around on the bed with

5:04

their kids or their dogs or whatever

5:06

they want to do, but basically trust

5:08

that that mattress is going to fail

5:10

on you. And it's been pretty cool. It

5:12

feels good to hear a business say

5:14

they're content to make the money they

5:16

make because they have a good relationship

5:18

with the specific clients they serve. I

5:20

had just one more question for Jeff. Last

5:22

question, what do you see for

5:25

the future of a big fig

5:27

as y'all continue to serve this

5:29

population? The future for us is

5:31

really understanding where the Plus demographic

5:33

is going, staying true to our

5:35

core, and then adapting both the

5:38

brand, the brand look and feel,

5:40

and the product portfolio to continue

5:42

to meet that need. And I

5:45

think that combination of

5:47

altruism, brand residents and brand

5:49

voice, and product to meet

5:51

the need. I think that's

5:53

our magic formula for 2025

5:55

and beyond. Jeff, thank you so

5:58

much for being awake for it. This

6:00

has been great. you. It's nice to meet you. you.

6:02

It's nice to meet you want to

6:04

learn more about Big Fig or

6:06

shop for a new mattress,

6:08

pillow, sheets or more, check out

6:11

the link in our show

6:13

notes. Thanks again so much to

6:15

Big Fig mattress for partnering

6:17

with us on season show notes. Wait

6:19

for it. We'll be back

6:21

soon. Stay tuned. Fig mattress for partnering with us

6:23

on season two. Wait for it. We'll be back soon. Stay

6:25

tuned.