On the way to a Christmas gathering in Pennsylvania, Elan stopped at a huge co-manufacturer for a factory tour. After she left, two young women who run the social accounts of competing yogurt brands recognized her from Kiki's social media, called her back, and told the owner they needed to support Sourmilk — proof that competitors were rooting for them.
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The story took place in December, about one month into Kiki being on social media. Kiki had gone home to California; Elan was in New York and "heading out to Pennsylvania to go to a family gathering," so she stopped at "one of the biggest... co manufacturers" — a facility doing "tens of thousands of units of yogurt a week," far beyond what Sourmilk could currently accommodate. Elan did the whole factory tour, "got along with them," and was "selling hard on why they should care about [Sourmilk]." After she pulled out of the parking lot she got a call from a random number — someone at the factory asking her to turn around because the owner wanted to meet her. When she went back, "there are two other young women who are like our age who work for one of the competitors," and they "immediately recognized Elan from [Kiki's] social media" and told the owners "we need to work with them... we need to support them." The takeaway for the founders: "there's just been this like very strong camaraderie between other yogurt companies wanting to help us... because a rising tide lifts all boats."