What do New York Paid Family Leave and premium pasta sauce have in common?
If you’ve shopped for jarred pasta sauce or bought bottled iced tea, Eric Skae probably had a hand in your choices.
I was recently listening to a FoodBevy podcast featuring Skae, a food and beverage industry veteran. He’s currently CEO of Carbone Fine Foods but previously made Rao’s sauce a go-to brand for health-conscious home cooks. He’s also worked with Arizona and New Leaf iced tea.
Several aspects of the interview hit hard, including the way Skae is drawn to rapid-growth environments – much like the statutory insurance industry is facing right now.
For decades, statutory insurance stayed largely the same. But the US has added more than a dozen states with mandatory paid family and medical leave programs since 2017. When I first started in the insurance industry, I didn’t realize how much I’d enjoy growing, learning and scaling in a rapid growth industry.
The DBL Center has added 5 employees in the past several years, recently signing a new assistant VP, PFML solutions to help guide our brokers through this rapidly changing landscape.
As I listened to the 20-minute podcast (you can hear it here), I discovered more similarities between the insurance industry and the premium food and beverage market Skae inhabits, including several tips for broker success.
Build a Data Story
When Skae comes into a company, he immediately starts analyzing the category and the brand’s position in that category.
He will dig into distributors and retail channels and ask the hard questions, even diving deep into what some might consider smaller retail accounts that can make an impact.
It’s not always easy for today’s insurance brokers to do the same. With multiple employee benefits and companies of every size, not to mention different carriers, it’s crucial to have a centralized location to track commissions, cancellations and renewals.
Our Broker Dashboard: Net Revenue Tracker allows you to build the data story your brokerage needs to grow.
Get to Know Your Market Better Than Anyone Else (or Find Someone to Help)
While Skae has led and scaled a variety of food and beverage brands, he’s thriving at Carbone. He’s taking his Rao’s playbook, where he created a premium category for pasta sauce, and leveraging it to grow.
“Break into one market; get to know it better than anyone else,” he said on the podcast.
I often find insurance brokers are overwhelmed with managing different categories of employee benefits and other coverage they might offer in the P&C category. There’s health, which is often the cash cow for many brokers, group life / AD&D, other ancillary benefits, plus business insurance, home, auto, and others.
For six decades, The DBL Center has been the expert on statutory disability. In 2017 (incidentally, the same year Skae joined Rao’s), we led the charge as New York introduced statutory Paid Family Leave.
As more states introduce Paid Family and Medical Leave or similar programs, we remain the experts for statutory benefits.
The good news for brokers? You don’t have to be the expert in these emerging markets. Rely on The DBL Center and our team to guide you.
Create a Solid Foundation
When Skae took over Rao’s, it already had a 24-year legacy. He built on that reputation to re-brand Rao’s as a premium brand to define the category.
You are the foundation at your brokerage. Your marketing. Your clients. Your network. Your sales. They make your brokerage uniquely YOU.
The DBL Center helps you enhance that offering without losing what makes your brokerage uniquely yours.
Be Approachable, But Premium
Skae understands premium grocery brands better than most people in his industry. He launched the premium pasta sauce category, driving 52% of overall growth in pasta sauce when he took over.
“I love to call these things ‘years-old overnight success stories,’” he said.
There were no premium sauces before Skae came in. He created a market where there was already unspoken demand, looking at ice cream and craft beer as the blueprint.
The DBL Center adds the premiumization (as Skae called it) to your employee benefits. More states are mandating PFML. There’s no way for your clients to get around it.
But do they want to buy from the state (the “value” program?) or from you, the premium service provider?
The DBL Center helps you make that choice easier, delivering the white-label, white-glove service they deserve.
And let’s make this clear: Because we negotiate volume discounts with no minimums in some cases, writing statutory benefits through The DBL Center doesn’t cost you or your clients any more than it would through a carrier. It just means we’re taking care of the details for you.
PFML Is the Movement — Are You Onboard?
As the interview wrapped, Skae pointed to brands like Monster, Red Bull, and coconut water—products that didn’t just grow through distribution, but by aligning with cultural movements.
“When you’re doing something like hot yoga or training for a Tough Mudder, you talk about it. You want everyone to know,” Skae said.
His advice: “Grow with a movement.”
For insurance brokers, that movement is Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML). It’s driving headlines, shaping employee expectations, and expanding state by state as demand for better work-life balance accelerates.
For employee benefits and P&C brokers, PFML is a strategic opportunity to stay relevant, start conversations, and lead clients through a rapidly evolving benefits landscape.
It’s also a foot in the door through mandatory benefits to sell group life / AD&D, dental, vision, and other ancillary benefits – often at no cost to the employer.
The DBL Center is here to help you navigate that growth. Connect with us to stay ahead of PFML and support your clients with confidence.
Contact The DBL Center, Ltd. if you see the advantages of vision coverage as part of an ancillary benefits package.
