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465 Deepak Mehrota

Annette Grant: [00:00:00] [00:01:00] Deepak, welcome to the show. Let’s get into it. How the heck did you get started with California Design Den? Why bedding? Why sheets? 

Deepak Mehrota: Hello guys. Glad to be here. Thank you very much. Yeah, I wonder sometimes as well. So, to make the long story short I started into textiles because my family was in it. My family’s based out of India. That’s where I was born. And then I moved to the west did my studies here in, in, in, in Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and you know, then moved to the Silicon Valley. Worked for a couple of companies. That was in the early two thousands. And then was looking to do something a little more permanent. And then, you know, things started to line up. And because my family was in textiles, we said, okay, we’ll set up a company and we knock on the doors of [00:02:00] retailers and start making, you know, sheets for them because that’s what we knew how to, what to do.

So I was here and my, my family, especially my brother. Based out of India where our facilities are. Started to work with a lot of retailers big name ones at that time, you know, may company which later became Macy’s and even discounters such as Raw Stores or TJ Maxx. So, you know, almost two decades, a little more than two decades.

You know, all we know what to do well is. Cotton sheets, cotton bedding. Right. And so that’s, that’s, that’s how we got into textiles. Or at least I got into textiles. And then sometime in 2017 when we got a little tired of the nickel and dimming with the retailers, because you know, when you have these large retail stores and large orders they’ll, they’ll, they’ll, they’ll, they’ll ding you for 25 cents here and a dollar there, [00:03:00] which, you know.

Makes a lot of difference. We said, you know, why don’t we sell online as well? Right? 

Annette Grant: Direct to consumer instead of 

Deepak Mehrota: Direct to consumer, right? Everyone is selling online. Why don’t we sell online? Okay? So that’s how, and you know, I’m based out of San Ramon, California, which is, you know, in the Bay Area, San Francisco Bay area. And we brainstormed on names and at that time we had a design team here and we used to design a lot of, you know, duvet covers and top of the bed, you know, a lot of bedding products for retailers. So we said, look, we are good in, you know, we are based in California. We designed stuff. And then after few rounds we came up with the name California Design Den.

Unfortunately we didn’t do like, like a Survey Monkey or something because no one told us the name is damn long. And it’s a tounge twister. But in 2017 we got selling online and because cotton sheets is our main deal because that’s what we [00:04:00] really, really make well, we started to launch one quality at a time.

Quality in consumer terms is threat count because different threat counts have different fabric weight and all that. And and you know, we grew and we really grew well. So if you talk about California Design Den now marketplaces we are the biggest well let’s, let’s remove the word biggest. We are the most reviewed and highest rated cotton sheet brand on any of these marketplace or platforms. So, so that’s, that’s our claim to fame here. 

Annette Grant: I would claim that fame, yeah. The most, you said highest reviewed also right? 

Deepak Mehrota: Yes. Highest reviewed. You know, some of our top products like cotton sheets, the, our, our number one seller, 400 threat count sheet set, I think has somewhere around 85,000 reviews.

Plus four and a half stars, which, you know, I have to tell you, there’s a huge difference. You know, when you guys, when all of us buy things online, [00:05:00] especially on marketplaces. There’s a huge difference between four, 4.2. It’s 4.5. It’s huge difference. It’s like one of those earthquake richter scales, right?

Sarah Karakaian: It’s huge. Yeah. 

Deepak Mehrota: Three versus four is huge difference. 

Annette Grant: Well, and you’re, you’re talking right now to hosts everywhere that the difference between a five and a four is like, you might as well just quit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, so let’s. So you’re, you’re saying marketplaces? So when you went to direct to consumer, I’m just gonna talk about the elephant in the room. It probably means Amazon, correct? 

Deepak Mehrota: Mm-hmm. Yes. 

Annette Grant: Where else like, was that, where was that when the light bulb went off? Because you are very sought after brand in the short term rental space now. When did you even start to think about there, there being this huge need in this niche market, inside this giant market of, of bedding, of linens.

Deepak Mehrota: Yeah. So I would, I, I would be first to acknowledge that you [00:06:00] know, I, I’m, I’m a moron and the reason why I say that is all this while. Our customer support. So we have a good help desk like any brand has, right? Mm-hmm. And you get tons of emails from consumers and you know, many of them email saying, Hey, can you give me a discount? Further discount, so we kind of had a policy, look, you know, we, our brand is on many marketplaces also on our website. We run deals when, you know, when the time comes or whatever. We can’t keep offering further discount to consumers. So we had this policy that, look when people request something like this, you know, politely say, you know, hey, you know, this is a good price. And, you know, coming, we owning a factory, we already know we have a great price. Right? So, so we kind of set this mechanism and what happened? Many short-term rental guests. Actually owners wrote to us, or were writing to us saying, look, you know, I wanna buy more sheets. I [00:07:00] regularly buy them. Could you offer us something? And my help desk was putting them in the spam folder, you know, like, or responding to them. In not a, in not the right way. Mm-hmm. And then somehow, you know, in one of our meetings it got escalated and we started to dig into our reviews, you know, on Amazon. Right. The big elephant in the road.

And we saw some of the top reviews because people rate them like helpful or something. Right. Was on a 600 thread count where someone was claiming that he or she had bought like 70 sets or 75 sets. And I’m like, wow, why would you buy 75 sheets? It’s like, how big is your mansion? 

Annette Grant: Or are you the type of person you new set of sheets every day? Like people with white T-shirts? Yeah. Right. 

Deepak Mehrota: Like, what is this? I I, I mean, because we had pri we price our product so sharp that there is no way that you can buy and resell because, you know, because the cost of shipping, [00:08:00] right? Mm-hmm. You, you won’t be able to compete. Right. Even at a discount, right. Even if you catch a product at a discount, there’s, there’s not much difference because we are, you know, as they say, if you lie on the ground, you can fall no further.

So we are right there on the ground. So anyway, so we realized this market then, so we, you can’t contact customers on Amazon. Because everyone considers them their customers. But we went through the reviews and we realized that these are. Airbnb owners, we didn’t know the term short term rental, right?

And then we started to dig into the emails we got, and then we contacted few of them and they were polite and very nice, and then we realized what they need. Then we designed a little program for them. Refined it. And now what we have is we, we called it a VIP program. I think we need to improve that word, but on our website, they get a free login and they get the lowest prices [00:09:00] ever, including Amazon or any other marketplace we sell 24/7, free shipping, free support. They have access to our sales team. They can quickly book a call or just. Dial one. They can order onesies and twosies, like one or two sets, or they can even order a little case pack packs of six and eight of our you know, bestselling cotton sheets. So, so that’s how we, we, we learned about the short-term end.

And then we attended, you know, a couple of fairs you know, and you know, you know, learn more about. About the challenges that the hosts faced because we realized, and we learned that, you know, they want to offer that luxury hotel comfort, but with the homeless home homeliness of the, mm-hmm. Of the stay.

Like they want people to feel, feel at home while having the comfort of, you know, luxury five star. And many of the products that were. [00:10:00] Available for the SDR industry. Unfortunately, we thought were not appropriate. And the reason why I say that is many of the brands or products were initially designed for either hotels or motels because motels is a very large industry, right? And the short term rental, you know, started very small, right? So. So, you know, so there was no need for them to design a product specifically for such a small segment. So they just pushed on, you know, those lower thread count, you know, poly cotton mix sheets, you know, that, you know, that, that, that are not really luxury.

Right? But for us, California Design Den, because we are consumer focused, so we had already. Fine tuned our product, right? For great quality great durability because, you know, if the product is not [00:11:00] durable, you’ll hear it on those reviews, right? And you know, and great price, right? So we had fine tuned all that.

So it, it’s kind of a perfect, perfect mix for, or the perfect offering for SDR, right? So if we take our sheets. To hotels or even hotels, although some of the hotels buy our sheets can they buy something else for whatever the requirement is? Maybe. But for SDR, we feel that brands like ours, you know, if I want to be not just selling California Design Den, it is best because you are buying these 400 threat count or 600 threat count sheets.

Truly good cotton, natural, sustainable, luxury products that you can wash at home, laundry you can wash in industrial laundry you know, at a price that’s, you know, that’s ridiculous. Like, you know, in mid thirties for a queen set mm-hmm. For a four. Oh, that count. So, I mean, and if you buy a [00:12:00] little case back, I think it’s 30 odd dollars.

So. 

Annette Grant: Let’s get into thread counts. Yes, sure. And let, what do, what do our guests, what do they want? What should we be putting on our bed? What do you think? You are an expert, like you have the, you are manufacturing these sheets. If you are gonna go to a brand new short-term rental host, and I know you own California, design them, but let’s keep it real.

Deepak Mehrota: Yes. 

Annette Grant: What thread count would you say is a non-negotiable? 

Deepak Mehrota: I think 400. Is hands down the winner. 

Annette Grant: And by the way, what is a thread count? Yeah. Is it, let’s like, what is that? 

Sarah Karakaian: I feel like people throw it around too. Like the higher it is, the better it is. 

Annette Grant: Like I, I throw it around like I know what it means and I don’t. But then I got you on now. Right now. Yeah. So teach educate us. Teach us. 

Deepak Mehrota: We’ll demystify the thread count, right? 

Annette Grant: Let’s do it. Demystify please. 

Deepak Mehrota: So, so first the technical answer. So thread count means threads per square, inch of fabric per square inch. I mean, that’s literally nothing, [00:13:00] right? Right. So you are talking about, okay, 400 threads in a square inch. That’s a lot of threads, right? And then when you go up to a thousand, holy macro, that’s a huge lot of threads, right? So if we want to just simply state different thread count fabrics, what do they mean? They mean they, the different threat, the density of threads, right? And the quality of threads, the fineness of threads.

Because if I want to squeeze in 1000 threads in a square inch, I need to have really, really fine threads, right? Like our hair, like really fine, because how else will they fit? Now if they’re really fine, that means I have to use very good quality cotton to produce such a fine thread. Otherwise, it’s gonna break.

You know, just, I’m putting it in very simple layman terms, right? So therefore, thread count per square inch, you, you fit those number of threads in that square inch [00:14:00] to fit it. You need different thickness or thinness of the, of, of the thread, which we call yarns, right? And therefore, quality of cotton depends it depends on quality of cotton, right?

Now, what does that mean in terms of the user or consumer? Because you have different density. The fabric is going to feel differently. A, it’s gonna have a different weight. Right. So if you pick up our 400 thread count fabric, just the whole queen sheet, set it weigh, it may weigh around, I dunno, four to five pounds, okay?

For a queen set, if you just pick the whole set up, if you pick up our 1000 thread count, it’s going to weigh like eight or nine pounds. Very, very heavy. Why is it heavy? Because you got so many threads in them. Now you unwrap both the sheets, the 400. It will be light to medium weight. It’ll drip well. If you squeeze [00:15:00] it, it feels soft.

Yes, it is smooth. By the way, a lot of times we get confused between like consumers interplay with these words, soft and smooth, right? They may mean different things. Right now, 1000 threat count, when you feel that fabric, it is much, let’s just say bordier, right? It is much, it’s substantial, it’s thicker.

But as physics has it for us, the thicker the fabric or the smoother the fabric because you got 1000 threads, so the density is very smooth, like marble is gonna feel cooler. Right? But if you kind to, if you try to squeeze that fabric, it’s not gonna feel as soft as 400. Right? But we are, but that function of squeezing the fabric is not how we use it, right?

You lay it on your, you lay the fitted sheet on your bed, so then you lay on on it. So. It’s the, the, the feeling of the fabric on, on top that matters and not when you squeeze it. Right? So [00:16:00] that’s, that’s kind of, so a 1000 feels amazing, right? But it’s heavy. So everyone has their own preference, right?

Some people like, you know, a little more lightweight you know, more, more, more, more drape to it, if I want to use that word. And 1000 is a little more substantial. So a little more bodier. And then you have things in between. So therefore, you know, there will be threat counts such as a 600 or a 800, which would be a perfect blend, especially the 600.

So it is medium weight. It’s not heavy, but it’s not light either. It’s not too soft. You know how you have like, like a silk fabric. Silk fabric’s very soft. Right. If you have to sleep on silk, I mean, I know some, some people like it, but most people will not like sleeping on silk because it’ll all bunch up and you’ll be slipping all over.

Right. Cotton sheets have a very different field. Right. And [00:17:00] most consumers, like 70, 75% of, of consumers prefer cotton as, as for batch sheets, by the way. Like, I mean, it’s been well researched. 

Annette Grant: What was that? What was that percentage again? 

Deepak Mehrota: Somewhere 70 to 75%. 

Annette Grant: So Okay. Prefer 100% cotton, a hundred percent cotton.

Deepak Mehrota: Yeah. So cotton ink cotton ink, which is a US government body to promote cotton and products. They have done this large survey of consumers in US and 70 to 75% of consumers prefer a hundred percent cotton for their beds. Okay. So, so now, so the 600 is, is, is a great thread count because a good blend of softness and crispness.

You know, sometimes we like a crisp sheet. Right. So, so, so it gives that crispness so we cannot simply say that higher threat count is better than lower threat count. 

Annette Grant: It’s different.

Deepak Mehrota: It’s different. And different consumers have different preferences. So if you like a little more substantial, you move towards higher thread count if you want, want lighter weight. More drape, you move towards lower thread count [00:18:00] 

Annette Grant: And higher thread count is always more expensive. Correct. More of an investment. Yes. 

Deepak Mehrota: Higher thread count has to be expensive because you’re putting in more stuff in it, right? 

Annette Grant: So that’s why people like flippantly brag about the thread count because it’s just parallel to, it costs more a certain investment we have to ask. What about microfiber? What about the poly cotton? Like what about these other blends? Should we get No, I’m being serious. ’cause I feel like 

Deepak Mehrota: Yeah, no, no. Sure, sure, sure. So, so first things 

Annette Grant: people love microfiber, like they keep it and people like get the things dry faster. They don’t get as wrinkly. Like, let’s dig into it of like why we should be investing in cotton.

Deepak Mehrota: Sure. So hundred percent cotton. I mean, everyone everyone that sleeps on a hundred percent cotton knows what that means. 

Annette Grant: The cotton club. 

Deepak Mehrota: Right? People, I mean, you wear cotton shirts, you know what it feels, you know the, it’s natural fiber, right? It comes from plants, so it breeds, right? And it is naturally, therefore it’s naturally cooling, right? I [00:19:00] mean, we have been using, humans have been using cotton for like 5,000, 6,000 years, right? So our skin and bodies have gotten used to it, right? Because it’s na natural, right? Like food, so, so that’s cotton, right? Now let’s talk about microfiber. What is it made of? A is made from plastic, like your plastic bag.

There is no difference. The only difference is imagine you have a plastic bag, okay, and you do brushing on it like peach finish. That’s exactly what microfiber is. We all use microfiber fabric for little pieces of cloth we use to wipe our screens and, and, and eyeglasses. Why do we do that? A because plastic attracts dust of static.

Because it has static, it’s natural property of plastic. Right, so all micro fi, so all the fab, all the little fabrics [00:20:00] you get in your sunglasses that you buy is microfiber. Why is it microfiber? Because it’s a perfect cloth to clean surfaces. It attracts dust, dirt, things like that. Now, I’m not sure, you know, we want to sleep on stuff that where our hair is going to stick because of static, where it’s going to attract tons of dust, right?

It is plastic, so no, it does not breathe. Yeah. You made a fabric out of it. So naturally the fabric has holes. If you call that breathing, but the fiber cannot breathe. How can plastic breathe? Right. It cannot absorb anything. By the way, guys, when you know, all the t-shirts that we wear when we go to the gym and run, right? The, the Lululemon ones and all those, most of them. The quick dry, right? They’re all made from polyester AKA plastic, [00:21:00] same material, right? But leave them in your gym bag overnight and open them next morning. No, no way. Right? Why now you can do the same experiment. Leave a cotton T-shirt with the same amount of run you did, and open it next morning.

Yeah, it’s not gonna smell nice, but. Way better than the the polyester one. Why? Because something those bacterias are feasting on on plastic. Now, we also know now not necessarily for our short-term hosts because, you know, they, they wash those sheets. But, you know, many consumers don’t wash the sheets. Like usually for two weeks. Like people wash it in two weeks, or some people wash it in three weeks. Now you’re sleeping in that. You can only imagine what you’re doing to your skin. Oh, and by the way, the health factor of it, there are, there are tons of scientific studies already done. Not hypothesis [00:22:00] that the plastic is seeping in our bodies. Through fabric rare. Right. 

Sarah Karakaian: My husband can’t stop talking about it. Yes. 

Deepak Mehrota: Right. And now that you sleep in microfiber, hello. The surface of your body now in it for eight hours every night. What it is going to do to our health inflammation, blah, blah, blah. 

Annette Grant: So is this a selling point? I’m, I’m like, this is peaking my. Just listing description. It sounds like this is a selling point to tell your guests that you have 100% cotton sheets. Like that would be something to brag about, to brag about that you’re not using some of the other microfiber. 

Deepak Mehrota: I think so. 

Annette Grant: Or poly cotton. I distinctly remember when we were at in Phoenix at the VRMA. You were telling a story. There was a property manager, someone there who had checked into a short-term rental. I don’t know if you remember the story. And he went straight to the bed and I think they had microfiber. And he literally had [00:23:00] He told you he had to have California Design Den

And she, how did that go? He had to have them overnighted or same day from Amazon. 

Deepak Mehrota: Yeah, he overed them. Exactly. And he showed me that, look, I overnighted, I was like. I mean, you should have four. 

Annette Grant: ’cause he cared. Right. I I, the reason I’m bringing up this story is our guests. It is what they are paying for is an amazing overnight stay. And it was so blaring to me when I heard that gentleman say he checked in, saw that there were microfiber sheets, and literally had to same day sheets or he would not be able to sleep. And it was someone in, you know, he, he’s in the short term rental world. He’s in, stays in a ton of properties and that was the first thing that. Okay.

Obviously yes, the mattress matters. Yes. But the sheets matter, especially the, this person of, like, they, he was not going to be able to sleep if he had to sleep on those microfiber sheets. And I just love that. A, he was able to get them that same day, but it really impacted me as a host of like, oh, like [00:24:00] that, that guy took this really serious, like, he’s not gonna be able to sleep unless he has these sheets delivered to him.

I wanna talk about the drying and the wrinkling. That’s something too that. I know our hosts our cleaners, even us at our homes and, and you and I chat about this, like how do we get that perfect per buy, the perfect blend, but then also know that we’re not over drying Yeah. And causing this like extreme wrinkling, which looks like either you just left the sheets in the dryer for way too long. Or didn’t care. How do we combat that? What is that a, how does that even hap Why is that happening? Is it the, is it the sheets? 

Deepak Mehrota: Yeah. So, so in terms of washing and drying, right? And how to ensure that the product is, is, is not wrinkled, right. Has a good appearance. Right? So we know that all cotton fabrics, right, because they’re natural. We’ll have [00:25:00] slight wrinkling to it, right? Even if you buy, let’s say, best of those wrinkle free shirts, you get, you know, in large retailers, right? You wash and you wash and dry them and leave them overnight, and in the morning, take them out of the machine. Hello. They’re gonna be all wrinkled. Right?

So that’s the first thing. So the first thing is to ensure that the, the sheets are washed and dried. With a certain space. So they’re like, we shouldn’t try to cram three sets in one wash because then you are literally, you know, for 30 minutes each, you are cramming them and then you are heat setting them.

Like, we heat set, you know, heat, set our hair, you’re heat setting them. And then you’re saying, why are they wrinkled? Well, you heat set them with four sets in the dryer all at one time. So give them some space to. You know, time to ensure, I mean, because everyone’s dryer is kind of different. Some people have older dryers and some people have those new dryers.

Usually I’ve seen like 30 [00:26:00] odd minutes is good enough for a set to dry on, you know, regular cycle 30, 35 minutes. And if they are very slightly damp now, this is where kind of precision comes in. But, and I do understand that for. For the host, you know, trying to be this Al Dente about when the sheet is dried is not possible, but, but they can kind of do one or two tests just to figure out the timing.

Right. That okay. When I do 40 minutes, it’s, it comes out completely dry. And when I’m at 35, you know, it’s very slight damp. I can’t call it wet, but it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s not fully crisply dialed, so that is the right point. When we should take the sheets out. So a finish the wash cycle, take it out right away.

The dryer. Figure out in your dryer, what is that point, few minutes before when it’s completely dry. Because at that point of time, if you [00:27:00] take the sheets out, a put them either on the bed or you fold them, our sheets come out almost wrinkle free. They’ll appear good. Oh, they, they, they’ll have good appearance, you know, and pillowcases, you know, I mean, they also, I mean, you can ride with the sets, you know, and take them out quicker because, you know, you do, you don’t wanna see pillowcase with any wrinkles, right.

So, so I, I think, I mean, at home here, we, we, we do that same thing and, you know, I don’t have a problem with it. So, how about managing stains? 

Sarah Karakaian: What, what With California Design Den sheets, what do you recommend? It’s the bane of the host’s existence trying because they’ve gotta be crisp and perfectly white are our, we can’t put ’em on the beds.

The guests, the guests are zero tolerance for, for stains. And that’s why we use white in our rentals. I know there are hosts that don’t necessarily subscribe to only white, but that’s what we believe. So what do you recommend is the best policy for getting states for the states? 

Deepak Mehrota: Yeah. So a just to, just to, [00:28:00] just to, just to kind of, go a little bit more on this question. So. When we were new with the, with with the host and the STR, I was afraid that hey, you know, our 400 thread count or 600 thread count, will it withstand commercial laundry? Right? Like, you know, will it withstand commercial laundry? And when I started to meet people at the shows or, or talk to them, and many of our customers have commercial laundry, either in-house or they send it outside, no problem.

I realized. Actually they told, they told this verbatim. They said, it’s not actually the durability that matters, it’s this staining that gets us in trouble. Right. Right. So we have not come across durability as an issue. And as you rightly pointed out, staining is a bigger issue. Right. So, and yes, white, I would say 95, 99% of the time, you know.

White is what is bought, and we all like to sleep on white sheets, crisp, nice [00:29:00] looks, you know, clean. So the good news about our sheets is a, you can use bleach on white sheets, right? So if you have to use bleach, just use bleach. If you have to wash it on hot water for whatever reason, do that, it’s okay.

You’re not gonna tear them. Don’t worry about it. They’re quite durable. Right, because I do the same in my house, so I know how they work. Okay, so you will not have a problem with it, but we all know that there are stains that happen, especially beach side properties, that, you know, that’s the way it is, right?

So use bleach. There are other agents in the market which have oxygen in them that helps release the stain better. We have seen good results with them. I cannot say that the sheets will be completely stain free be, but if someone, you know, sleeps with all the suntanning lotion in them. But but yeah, I [00:30:00] mean, if you our sheets do, because remember it’s cotton, right?

So you, once you bleach it within the fiber also the stain will come out. So it’ll come out, but to what level? The stain is, that all depends. And end of the day, the good news is we do sell separates. Yeah. Batch sheet. Separate fitted sheet, separate flat sheet. So keep a 

Annette Grant: Say that. Say that again. Say that again. From pillowcase to the fitted sheet to the flat sheet, you can buy them. They are so separate. 

Deepak Mehrota: And the sheet sets. And the sheet sets because you know, shipping costs matter. So buy the sheet sets. Buy them in those little case facts. We have case back of six, so you have six of them, right? Multiple properties, multiple beds within the property.

Right. And then you can buy, you know, case packs, individual of fitted flat sheet or fitted sheet or pillowcases. Case facts of course, is most economical. You can even buy two packs. Or single pack. Comparatively single pack is more expensive than per piece compared to case pack. [00:31:00] Obvious reasons, right?

Courier cost. For FedEx or UPS take from all of us. Yeah. But yeah you know, so it’s the same quality because we are the factory, right? We own our own factory. There is no change in quality. If you ever, ever, ever have a problem with quality. We’ll replace it for you. 

Annette Grant: How often should a host after, how many washes would you say it is time, even if they’re still looking great, that we should be repurchasing our sheets after? How many washes would you say? 

Deepak Mehrota: I mean, look, I, I have to. So imagine there is no stain, so we gotta take the stain out. Okay? Right now we talk about durability and look so it looks good. Right? I think so. If you talk consumers, right? Like, like you and me. The sheets will last for years, right?

But we understand for short term posts, they want to look like that luxury, all new [00:32:00] crisp feel. I mean, it’s number of washe is hard to say. Let’s say if the average is what a week of stay and then is washed, right? Maybe in six months you know it all. Look, if you are buying, let’s say our 600 threat count, I think it is gonna last four years.

Annette Grant: Yeah. Okay. I agree. 400. 

Deepak Mehrota: Not bad at all compared to 600, but you know, it’s a 400. Maybe six months, nine months, something like it. It, it all depends on the appearance. I mean, it’s a very, very hard question to answer. Yeah. 

Annette Grant: What do you, what does California Design Den? How easy is it for us to make beds with, with your product? Talk to us about, is it it comes to mattress thicknesses or, or putting the pillowcases or the duvet covers. What does that process look like when making a bed for US hosts? 

Deepak Mehrota: Yeah, sure. So a, as I was saying, you know, you can buy the product as sheet sets [00:33:00] as well as separates. Right. So, so now as a sheet set, if you talk about our fitted sheet, right. It’s designed to fit mattresses from eight inch to 16 inches. 

Annette Grant: Oh wow. 

Deepak Mehrota: For twin, twin size, it’s, I think it’s 14 inch, because, you know, twins usually don’t have 16 inch deep mattresses. Right. That’s part A, part B. Each of our fitted sheet has a head and foot label label on it. Nice. So, you know how, how many, how many of times we get confused, like which is the, which is the right side, and we start from one corner, we do the other, and then we realize oh, it’s the wrong and you do it again.

Annette Grant: So frustrating. 

Deepak Mehrota: So we take that, we, we kind of take that hassle out of the process. Third part is which I think is also relevant and important is each of our product, the care label has a size marked on them. So that means when you store it in, in your closet, right, you can easily, you can figure out, okay, what is this?

Is this twin or queen? Or king or what, [00:34:00] so this way you’re not confused about the size of it, right? And you know, the pillowcases, they’re well sized. We have never had a complaint that they are short, if anything, that people say, oh, they are, well, you know, generously sized, so you just slide them in.

Annette Grant: Love it. 

Deepak Mehrota: So, I mean, yeah. And duvet covers. Personal preference. I like dut covers because, you know, anytime I go in a hotel where they use like those flat sheets and the comforter between, and you know, if you’re kicking at night and you end up with the dut, the comforter touching your body, you just feel you run to the shower. Right. 

Annette Grant: Dirty. Yeah. Yeah. So the triple shooting is a suspect. You’re like, yeah, the, I mean, I’m not a fan. I understand. Many hosts want to do that. I would say do a test, you know, literally do a, a, a bed making test where you should time the triple shooting versus a cover, you know? So, and if it’s a matter of a minute or two or three, but your guests get a great [00:35:00] experience, you know, is it, is it worth saving that 3, 5, 4, 5 minute, whatever? That’s, you know, it’s the same call like micro five versus cotton, right? I mean. You, you’re paying $25 for a set, $20 for a set for microfiber versus $30 for a 400 thread count. $35 for a 400 thread count, whole sheet set. Is it worth saving that $5, $7 over six months, one year usage of a set?

Right? And the experience that the, that the, that the customer you know, your guests get. So that’s, that’s the trade off. 

Sarah Karakaian: Does California Design Den sell anything other than sheets for hosts? Or is it sheets? 

Deepak Mehrota: Yeah, so we do have other basic bedding, right? So, you know, apart from the sheets and pillowcases and fitted sheet and duvet cover, right, which is all fabric material. We have the mattress protector. The mattress topper the comforter, which is your duvet. Insert, good quality the basic pillows, right? [00:36:00] The basic bath towels. I must. Claim they’re not the luxury bad towels like our sheets, you know, we, we say they’re luxury because they are our towels. They’re not luxury, but they are good, good towels that we designed, especially for STR because we were told that the previous luxury towel we had took too much time to dry.

We literally had horses say We bought it, but this is for our use. So, so keeping the dry time in mind. These are good quality tiles that we sell as well. They’re all available in case packs or individuals or. You know, as, as required. Yeah. 

Annette Grant: I wanna parallel you had mentioned something earlier and I think hosts might appreciate this. I wanna parallel you and your business to us as hosts because you said, you know, you got started, well obviously you start with wholesale first, but then you’re like, went to [00:37:00] these. Let’s say the Amazons of the world and I would compare Amazon to our Airbnb. Airbnb. Mm-hmm. And you know, you mentioned, okay, the reviews were very important for you there, Uhhuh, and there’s obviously a different price to pay. And then you were paying attention to what your, your guests, your buyers were telling you on the marketplace, on the OTA for us. And what I see right now listeners, is that if we purchase sheets from California Design Den, we’re going to their direct booking site, we’re going to their direct to consumer.

So I just see what you’re doing with your brand is what so many of us hosts are trying to do is we, you know, put our properties on the marketplace, saw that there was a demand, and now we’re just. We’re all figuring out, wait, how do we bring that demand direct to us? How do we incentivize guests to come stay with us?

So I just want listeners to know that because there were just a lot of platform changes on Airbnb and that all business owners. In some [00:38:00] way, shape, or form. We’re all kind of, you know, we’re, it’s a, it’s a game. We’re all just playing the same game of business. And it really is serving our customer and meeting the, finding them where we can find them, which might be a marketplace in the beginning.

And then really speaking to them, like you said, with your VIP program. Yeah. Sarah and I talk about, you know, how can you have that guest that you found on the platform come back to you right on your direct booking site. So I really just appreciate hearing someone in a different industry. And you navigating the marketplace versus, you know. Booking directly. Right. Right. On your doing on your own and doing it on your own and, and how it’s it’s a dance. It’s a really beautiful dance of Yes. Playing by the marketplace’s rules, like you were very authentic and like, Hey, we weren’t allowed to reach out to them. If they found us online and emailed us, then we could start that conversation. But you respected the guidelines Yeah. Of the marketplace. You’re thankful for the marketplace. You’re touting your reviews as us hosts can tout our reviews, so I just, it’s really good [00:39:00] exercise for us. To know that this happens in other industries, and it’s about how you pivot, how you listen to your consumer and how you can like pinpoint for you the avatar was a short term rental host. So for us host, it’s about finding our avatar that’s staying in our, you know, who are we appealing to the most in in our properties. 

Deepak Mehrota: Absolutely. Absolutely. I’d love to share then I, I, I do, I do see a very valid parallel. For, for all of us as business owners, right? Because the host, you guys, as well as your podcast listeners, they’re all business owners, right?

So we are all one community of small business owners, you know, trying to figure out what is a sustainable, honest way to grow our businesses, right? So I’d love to share some of the, some of the key things that, you know, over the, over the years I’ve learned. So. First thing is that comes to my mind is, you know, let’s, let’s stay honest about it, right?

So yes, we need these marketplaces because [00:40:00] they have invested in technology and advertising and, you know, reliability because consumers have less time. So they just want to quickly go to a reliable source, right? And, and get what they. Get the what they want. So it’s a give and take. We realize that the marketplace is over the years, because they’re running a business and most of them are public companies want to increase their take, right?

I’m pretty sure that’s happening at your end as well. 

Annette Grant: Yes, it is. 

Deepak Mehrota: And as they increase their take, you know, we get really squeezed and we start to get squeezed at a point where we have to now decide should we do things unethical. To make a buck. So that’s where I will say, let’s not do that. Right?

Let’s figure out ways that we stay ethical. Well, that’s the way game is, is played, right? Let’s think about staying in the business for a long time, right? Because those guys have tremendous power over us. And that’s okay. You know, they’ve earned it, right? And they have a [00:41:00] large marketplace, so they do bring us volume.

So in California Design Den case, I mean market like Amazon brings us thousands and thousands of customers a day. Wow. Right? Now we say, okay, that plays all the light builds and all the growth. How do we now stand on our own feet, right? Rather than just relying on those crutches. And that’s where we start to segment and find our niches right?

For us. STR is perfect, right? And you know, slowly and steadily build those relationships, right? Ensure that we make it simple to do the transaction. We are still trying to figure that out on our end. And by the way, we are kind of refinishing our website. It should be up in, in couple of weeks to make the buying journey even simpler.

And we are also launching an app to rebuy. Okay? So we’ll come to that. But I want to answer the [00:42:00] question as a business owner, you know, which will help all of us as a community. So, so we make that process, that transaction, simple, right? We keep the trust in it, right? So that’s why we need to be open about it.

So yeah, you want to book directly or buy directly from me? We would like you to, and you can look about us here and there, you know, people can look about it, right? They should be, we should be accessible. So they should be able to reach us, right? So, so that, that’s that. And then, you know, we gotta walk the walk, right?

So what’s the offer we have? So I don’t know how you guys deal with it. We cannot officially lower our prices versus the marketplaces on our website, by the way. Okay. So all the listeners, when you go to our website, don’t get scared. You need that simple login behind the firewall, right?

When you have that simple login where you enter your email ID, and in two seconds your email ID gets a [00:43:00] passcode, so you don’t have to remember any passwords. You enter that and you go behind the firewall and then you see your amazing everyday 24 7 prices. So, okay, so, so we have to offer something, right?

So in our case. We are able to offer substantial discounts on our website and also all the marketplaces. Right, right. Because you are, you know, you are, you are, you are really VIP for us because you buy our products a lot, lot of them, and you buy repeat. 

Annette Grant: Much more frequent, right? 

Deepak Mehrota: For sure. Much more frequent. I mean, consumers, they, I mean, you and me, I mean, we buy for our household maybe once every two years or you know, something, you know, spill the coffee or something. 

Annette Grant: Not now. We’ve got California Design Den in so we can buy, buy more sheets more often. Plus, I need to try, I need to try more thread counts. I need to increase my thread count, possibly test it out.

Deepak Mehrota: Why not? Why not? So, yeah, I think I think we need we, we all need to expand our business and I think more and more [00:44:00] customers. And especially sdr r and also consumers have expressed the, that they want to buy directly from a company’s website because they want to sup support directly, you know, a growing in small business, right?

I mean, they want to support a business directly so that, that there, there is a huge movement for it. And you know, and then, you know, accessibility is there and responsibility is there. You can right away, directly deal with us rather than, you know, go to a platform and all that. I. You know, we give free shipping. So in your case, you also need to ensure you need to offer the same free, you know, whatever conveniences. 

Annette Grant: I also wanna commend commend you and your team because again, going back to host and us having to be creative, it’s right, is getting in contact. Like with us getting in partnerships, we always tell our hosts like, who are the other businesses that you can link arms with? That you might have the same customer base. And so, I think it was really cool when we did meet you in person. It’s like, wait, wait, this is the founder. [00:45:00] This is, he’s going to the factory. He’s been at the factory. Like he is the one actually, you know, selling the sheets, making the sheets. And that, like you said, that that is what a customer is also looking for with the short term rental, a lot of times that’s why the, the guest is booking with us is they wanna know the owner, they wanna know the person that owns the property. So I commend you on that too. And then getting out there with other small businesses, ’cause we always tell people, go to the coffee shop down the road, go to the, the restaurant, the places that are near you. And so you’re also linking arms with. Other people in this industry that could connect you right, yeah. With your, with your ideal client. 

Deepak Mehrota: Absolutely. I mean, you have a real person here, like you guys on the other side. You know, there’s nothing better as a feeling when you get compliments on your product, right? So when you get those real reviews of how good your place is and they love staying there you know, I’ve been, last summer I was with my family in Alaska in that was July last year. Yeah. And we stayed in a little city and we stayed overnight at a [00:46:00] place because we were traveling through trains and all that. And you know, when I slept in those sheets I said, you know, these sheets are good, kind of. And I looked at it. They were California Design Den. So in the morning, the host, they had the breakfast place because it was like this kind of a setup where they also give you breakfast. So I told them who I was.

Oh, they were so delighted. I. So they were so delighted, and they did complain. They said, well, you know, what about shipping to Alaska sooner? I said, well, we got challenges with Alaska. 

Annette Grant: Well, you live in Alaska. That’s, that’s something they gotta do. 

Deepak Mehrota: Right? So, but you know, the, it’s such a great feeling. So, you know, and on the other side, you know, if you ever have a problem with the product, reach out to us. We’ll fix it. Why not? You know, like, you know, it’s, it’s only being fair. Look, you know. Something didn’t work out, things happened. Hey, here’s a new one. Why not? 

Annette Grant: We, we have another story. It’s kind of so crazy. The, the, the time that we actually met you in person when the guy mm-hmm. Ordered his sheets. [00:47:00] Sarah and I were staying at a property in Phoenix right next to the, to the convention center at shout out at mostest host, we were staying with her and she loves California Design Den. And it was funny, when we were at the show and came back, there was a delivery on the porch and we looked at it and it was from California Design Den in because she needed to order a few more sheets because we were leaving in, in new, not that we dirty the sheets, but clearly she needed new ones. But it was, it was funny because we had just got done, got done meeting you, and then when we got back to our rental, there was a delivery there for her to, to pick up that day to, to do.

Deepak Mehrota: So we had, I mean all our, all our shipments within the 48 is are free. They usually deliver in three to four days. Three to four business days. That’s it. 

Sarah Karakaian: Nice. And that’s, honestly, I knew we were gonna get education on a great product and a great education on the sheets, the very thing that our customers are paying for, which is a great night’s sleep, but I didn’t know that we would also get. A little business lesson, so thank you for sharing that [00:48:00] parallel. It is really nice to hear it from another industry that parallels so closely to ours because we can feel like, it, it, we feel so isolated and so I, I guess like it’s directly happening to us when it’s, it’s like, it’s not, yeah. This is, this is very common.

Deepak Mehrota: But giving, and I don’t think giving up marketplace is the right move either, by the way, right? 

Sarah Karakaian: No, no. 

Deepak Mehrota: If, if anyone thinks they can just, you know, run away and just do, I, I mean, I don’t think that’s, you know, with the volume they can get us right. With the right, it’s not. 

Annette Grant: Yeah, the marketing dollars are unprecedented. We can’t, we can’t continue Unprecedented. 

Deepak Mehrota: Yeah, for sure. 

Annette Grant: So that being said, what should our listeners do right now? How do they get involved in the VIP program so that they can get access to these extra, these, these, these discounts, these, these host pricing? How do they do that? 

Deepak Mehrota: Sure. So, so we have made it very simple, right?

So you go to californiadesignden.com, right? Our website, right. Just type our name. 

Annette Grant: Why? Why is that? Why is that so long? Why is that so long? I know. I’m just joking. Just ragging on you We’re, [00:49:00] every time I get visiting, you know how long that is. We’re right there with you. We feel, we feel, we feel the pain, right?

Deepak Mehrota: So, yeah, so with AI I think it’s gonna be easier, right? Yes. Even if you miss sell everything, it’s going to take you to the right side. 

Annette Grant: You’ll just say it to your computer, like, order your sheets. This with your app. Maybe I’ll just be like Exactly. Point it at the bed. Hey Siri. 

Deepak Mehrota: So that app we are going to launch next month in May for all our current customers so they can download it on their iPhone or Samsung phones or, you know, Android phones. And the main reason why we developed the app is because we realize. All the hosts are very busy, right? Mm-hmm. And then they want to quickly order when they want to order. And at that point of time, they don’t want to go through a product search journey, right? They quickly want to get to what they bought last time, or they have already kind of, they, they always buy 400 thread count, queen. And twin. Those are the two beds they have. Right? Whatever. Right. [00:50:00] And we also build a feature of. Shipping addresses in the app. Nice. So you may have four properties and you wanna directly ship it. You choose that address, queen, white two pairs, whatever. Right. Ship it, boom, you’re done. Literally, our aim is that someone should be in and out in 60 seconds.

Annette Grant: Nice. That is really speaking volumes. 

Deepak Mehrota: So you can, you can focus on, you know. On doing what you need to do, rather than trying to figure out what sheet I bought last time and is the price right and all that, blah, blah, blah. So, so that takes that to the price. So now CaliforniaDesignDen.com. Go to the website and just scroll down and you’ll see apply for VIP, you’ll see a nice section where we are, you know, saying hello to you guys, right?

And you go to that page and it’s a very, very short form. I think seven or eight or nine fields. Why do we need those fields? Because we need that address for the Shopify backend to [00:51:00] assign a price list to you. If you don’t, if you don’t enter your address, then you know, it’s like, it doesn’t know that you wanna start buying, right?

I mean, you don’t have to immediately buy, but you just have to address, enter your address and your email id, and within half an hour you get a confirmation. That you are registered in the backend. So sometimes it throws an error, then our team looks at it, whatever. And once you are registered, you don’t have to remember any passwords.

So when you go to our website, you’ll see VIP login. That’s the only login. We don’t have logins for consumers. Okay? So we have kept it very simple. The logins and VIP is only for STR industry. We do not have, you know, like resellers or wholesalers or anything. We are the factory. We sell directly to you. So you log in, you enter your email ID, you get a passcode, okay?

In your email ID, within literally five seconds, you enter that five, six digits of passcode and walla. Now you see your discounted prices. So those discounted prices, [00:52:00] they’re like 50, 60% off retail. They are. I can’t legally say it, but they’re lower than marketplaces and stuff like that. The prices are 24/7 low, so they’re not like, it’s not a game, right? Oh, you know, they’ll be only on, on on Black Friday, cyber Monday, things like that. We do run, you know, off and on monthly promotions of, you know, some flat, some case packs and here and there. Why do we run those promotions despite having really low prices, lowest prices every day. We have been told you have to do it. That’s about it. 

Annette Grant: Hey, we’re all over here. We, we run promos too, so it’s just right. 

Deepak Mehrota: So we just have to do it right. It’s just, you know, and but you know, in most cases we realize. While promos give us a little bump, most of the time the host want to buy when they want to buy. Yes. Right. When they need, they’re not gonna fill up their garage, you know, and with it, you know, so, so therefore we have kept it [00:53:00] low 24/7.

Right. And you know, by my, my request and advice is see if you can. Buy two packs or those mini case packs that we have, like six packs or things like that. Why? Because we are saving on that FedEx cost and we are passing on that savings to you. Right. I mean, it, you, it costs like eight, $10 to, to ship a set across the country.

Even by ground. Right. So, so, you know, we are passing on those savings, which are huge for, for, for you and helps all of us. And yeah, that’s as simple as that. You know, shipment deliveries are free. You know, you can, you can quickly book a call with, with our sales team. They have question. If you have any questions, you get confused.

You know, Hey, I, I want to do this. We also have sometimes some guests some, some host call us. I mean, for us, they’re guests, right? So some host call us our sales team and say, okay, I’m in a rush. I want to place, you know, 10 [00:54:00] cases of this and two cases of that. Could you just put in an order for us? So our team literally types in the order. Sends to their email, the, the draft to pay, and they click on a button pay, and that’s it. So we even do that. Right, right. 

Annette Grant: Love it. You’re just very, you’re, you’re focused on the client and, and we and our needs. Yeah. It’s so good. We wanna thank you. Like I did not know I was gonna get, I feel I, I did. I couldn’t wait. My science, my science skills upgraded today and I don’t wanna sleep on plastic. No, no more plastic sleeping. Yeah. Oh. But I don’t, I actually, I can share that I sleep on California Design Den sheets because 

Deepak Mehrota: Oh, thank you. 

Annette Grant: I wanted to test the product ahead of time because we were all doing, we like to research we’re, we, we’re nerds when it comes to towels and sheets. And so I try to order something all the time to, to use in my personal home so I can get that same, same feeling. So thank you so much for, for being on the show, for [00:55:00] doing what you’re doing for our industry, for educating us today.

Like that’s, that’s something that I know most of the hosts are probably excited, just learning more. I feel like I can talk about thread count now and not, not be a, a menace out there, but thank so much. 

Sarah Karakaian: Thank you. 

Deepak Mehrota: Really. It was wonderful. Thank you guys. 

Sarah Karakaian: So everyone, we’ll put a link in the show notes, but it’s CaliforniaDesignDen.com.

You just got to meet the founder. How awesome is that? It feels good to support businesses that come on and have conversations with us, so CaliforniaDesignDen.com in the show notes. With that, I am Sarah Karakaian. 

Annette Grant: I’m Annette Grant, and together we are. Thanks for visiting.

Sarah Karakaian: Talk to you next time. 

 [00:56:00]