The Startup CPG Podcast

[00:01:30] Jessi - Hi, everyone. Welcome to the show today. So excited to have you all here and talk Expo East. And I'm wondering if we can start off with quick introductions for everybody. Can we start?

[00:02:00] Monica - Thanks for having me, Jessi. This is Monica Watrous here, managing editor of Food Business News and Food Entrepreneur. And pardon my raspy voice. I'm recovering from covid.

[00:02:09] Jessi - Thank you, Monica. Glad you were recovered enough to recap with us today. You've become a fan favorite recurring guest on the show. So we're really glad to have you. have you here. And speaking of recurring favorite guests, Pati, can you introduce yourself as well?

[00:02:22]Patricia - Yes. Hi, everyone. I'm Patricia, the head of marketing and community at Startup CPG. And I am so excited to be at the show again.

[00:02:30] Jessi - And Kiki, who is made a Startup CPG podcast review, you heard briefly from her describing the pet category for the shelfies, but now making a full on live debut. So Kiki, we're super happy to have you here today.

[00:02:42] Kiki - Thanks for inviting me, Jessi. I'm Kiki. I'm the social media manager for Startup CPG, and I'm excited to talk about Expo.

[00:02:49] Jessi - And I am so sad that I was myself was not able to attend Expo East this year. So I'm going to live vicariously today through all of your descriptions of the show and getting to hear about it, which I'm so excited for. And it was the last Expo East because next year is going to be rebranded as, I believe, Newtopia now. and will be in Savannah, Georgia early August. How did it feel being the last Expo East? Did it have, did it have, you know, the vibes of being the end of an era?

[00:03:22] Monica - I think the mood was definitely a little different this year. This was I've been going to Expo East since 2014. It seems that attendance is down historically. And the vibe was just kind of around, well, this is the last Expo, but also what's next? What is this new Utopia now going to look like? There were a lot of questions swirling about whether that might be a good investment for exhibiting brands and how it was going to affect the community at large.

[00:03:47] Jessi - Yeah, yeah, very interesting. So I'm wondering to start off, if we can talk kind of overall trends that you saw across the show, then we're going to dig into some specifics of Startup CPG events and the epic mic drop party and all those things. But I'm wondering from each of you just kind of across the whole show, what were any broad trends that you noticed or things that were recurring throughout your walking of the show? How about for you, Kiki?

[00:04:11] Kiki - I was going to say international flavors. I noticed that a lot at Expo, and honestly, I think that was my favorite trend because it really allowed the opportunity to talk with the founders and the other people that work there and hear the story behind where their inspiration came from and their story. Halmi, I know I'm probably saying this wrong, she tried to tell me how to say it because the L in Korean is kind of more like an R, so I was like, Halmi? I don't know. I'm probably not saying it right. Sorry, Hannah, the founder of Homi. But that was like probably one of my favorite things from Expo. It's like a Korean beverage that is traditionally like drank like during like times of celebration. And it has like like ginger and persimmon, I think, in it and some other things. But it's just like a nice, light, refreshing drink that's also like it's supposed to help you with digestion. I liked that a lot. Better Sour, they were in our area. They make gummies that are inspired by Middle Eastern flavors. I think Pakistan specifically is where they're from. Is that right? And then I stopped by Fila Manila's booth and they had so many awards. I don't know if you guys noticed that, but they're doing an amazing job. And then I think another trend which has been going on for a while, of course, and is still going strong is functional ingredients.

[00:05:25] Patricia - I barely walked the show because we were extra busy this time, but there are three trends that I noticed. One is the no alcoholic beverage. It's like still a lot more busier than last year, which I thought that it would not be possible, but is a trend that I think that is still coming. So another trend that I'm really loving is the savory snacks, which as a savory person, I'm just loving this trend so much. And the products that I saw at the show and I really enjoy was the Better Sour, that it's a better for you gummy undressed with a savory bar that it's like kind of like a salad packed in a a bar, so you can take whatever you go. Gym, that it's a seaweed snack and has some kind of crunch inside, it's just like what I've never seen before. And it's noods, that it's a noodle snack, which I never thought about that, you know, you can just get some noodles and eat on the go. And then prepared meals, which I remember Paro brand, but I don't remember other names for now. Sorry, I was like, as I said, I didn't walk a lot, a lot, but I noticed that those are the three trends that stood out for me.

[00:06:38] Jessi - Yeah, very interesting.

[00:06:40] Monica - I’ll hop in here. So yeah, I definitely agree with those trends, Pati, that I saw a lot of those as well. I think what stood out to me was a lot of interest in baby food and children's snacks. So we saw examples like Global, which is a jarred baby food puree that is inspired by different international cuisines. So there's a pad thai, a tikka masala. That was really interesting to me. Also, Happy Wolf, it's a refrigerated snack bar designed for children. It's school safe and clean label. And then some of the interesting beverages that popped out to me were Bollygood. It's inspired by this Indian drink. It's kind of like a lemonade called Nimbu Pani. Bollygood is a line of sparkling lemonades, but it has flavors like cumin and turmeric and cardamom and really interesting flavor combinations. And the other thing that I noticed kind of along those lines in terms of internationally inspired or heritage inspired products was tahini, which we know as a Middle Eastern sesame paste, is popping up in different formats. Like I saw it in a frozen dessert, in a fudge, in these little date bites, and then of course in its more traditional format as a spread, dip, or drizzly type condiment.

[00:08:01] Jessi - Yeah, great. Yeah, those are so interesting. The non-alcoholic, it's interesting that that's recurring in because I think we talked about that last year at Expo East being a trend and in at continual expos, but it's been interesting before when I was traveling recently, I was able to find a lot of the non-alcoholic brands that I've tried at expos like now in independent stores. And so it's been exciting to see the trend just kind of continue to build momentum. And because before it seemed like it was something that was in the expo halls, but hadn't quite made it to where I could just go and pick something up. And now it's becoming more available, which is really exciting. So I'm excited to see all these trends continue to make it all the way down into our stores.

[00:08:39] Monica - That was something that surprised me at Expo East last year. And this year they had a full dedicated section in partnership with the Non-Alcoholic Adult Beverage Association. And I personally am here for the trend. I've been in my sober curious era, you know, trying some of these mocktails and and alcohol free spirits. And there are some really great ones that are like, to your point, Jesse, easily accessible when I'm out shopping for my usual groceries.

[00:09:07] Patricia - Yeah. Yeah. Even when you go at bars now, like I've seen, you know, before it was like, oh, a mojito without alcohol. But now there are brands that like they do the non-alcoholic drinks and the bars are serving that. So I'm like, I'm yeah, I'm just super excited about. that bars are starting to carry those brands. Yes.

[00:09:29] Jessi - Yeah, absolutely. And Kiki referenced the startup CPG area. I'm wondering if Kiki or Pati, if you could describe the new area that was at Expo East for the first time of startup CPG brands.

[00:09:42] Patricia - Yeah, sure. So we had 18 brands, which they had a tabletop inside of the innovation area, which the innovation area is sponsored by Nielsen IQ. And then there were like tons of brands in there. But we did have a section with these 18 brands. We talked with all these brands. We interviewed them. Kiki can talk a little about the interview. But we did we did hear that there were so many buyers that stopped there from Thrive, Whole Foods, Target, and they were just so excited because like Brie's show, Kiki and I, Claire also in our team helped a lot that we had calls with them. We did a call to like, so you know, all the brands could meet each other. We did a call with New Hope. So they were like, well prepared. They, you know, just a lot of those brands were first time exhibiting at Expo East. Actually, all of them were first time at Expo East. So just so they can, you know, be prepared, helping each other. We had a private channel in Slack. All the brands were. It was very nice to see how much they help each other. They were like, oh, this is great because, you know. I'm just so scared, but I'm just so happy that we are doing with this group. But yeah, it was super exciting. And Kiki did so much amazing content with them, interviews. Yeah.

[00:10:58] Kiki - I mean, I think the best thing about the Startup CPG section was just having everybody together in one place. Like it's always kind of a magical feeling whenever all of the startup CPG family is like in one location. So I think that just brought good energy to the innovation experience area. Cause like Pati said, we had done meetings beforehand. All the founders had met each other and they were all helping each other out, which, you know, behind the scenes, getting ready for an expo, there's a lot of stuff to do. Like not just like planning your booth, what it's going to look like, what you're bringing, how you're going to serve it, but like all the paperwork and just checking all the boxes, just like getting prepared. So that was nice. I feel like everybody kind of like came together and like really supported each other. And it was just, it was a good vibe in the startup CBG section. And also something I noticed back to Monica's point at the beginning, it was definitely busier on the first day. And I feel like everybody went to the innovation experience and hot products and like the middle was empty. So the brands that were in the Startup CPG section, whenever we went to visit them, they were like, Oh my gosh, like we ran out of samples on the first day. Like it was so crazy. We had so many people coming up to us and we met everybody we wanted to meet on the very first day. And then just getting to hear like everyone's feedback of like who they met, like once the dust settled after the first day and we got to go back and like really talk to them. Just like all the cool connections they made, like Snoods, the snack noodle brand, their product's really, really cool. First of all, and I love like just their branding and they also their pasta is gluten free and it's made from upcycled flour. I don't know if we mentioned that before but um she was telling me that like a famous DJ named Kygo came up to her there and was like saying how much he really likes snoods and like wants to get her into like um selling snoods at like music festivals and stuff and I was like wow that's like a really cool and unique connection that she was able to make and it's her very first expo and she's kind of just getting started so it's always fun to hear like those wins from the people on our team. So, yeah, overall, it was a it was a good experience.

[00:13:04] Patricia - And I want to give a shout out to Monica. She did an article, too, about this brand. So we I mean, we were trying to get as much, you know, PR and press, everything that these brands could get the most attention during the show. So, Monica, we really appreciate you and helping us with that.

[00:13:22] Jessi - Awesome. And I'll link that in the show notes so that people can check it out. so that you can read about all of the brands. Are you a founder or critical operator spending too much time on bookkeeping, expense classification, and tweaking your financial model? When you should be spending your time on customers and growth, cue Graphite. They are a full finance department as a service for early stage and growing CPG startups. Think of having a CFO, controller, and bookkeeper, but for the fraction of the cost of hiring even one internal team member. That's graphite. The truth is that most CPG founders fail due to a lack of understanding of their unit economics, aka a lack of proper accounting and finance. To download their free financial model template, free chart of accounts template and other resources, go to graphitefinancial.com slash CPG. Graphite is also offering a special discount just for our listeners of 8% off their accounting and forecasting services. Head to graphitefinancial.com slash CPG to claim your discount. That's graphite, G-R-A-P-H-I-T-E financial.com slash CPG. Speaking of start of CBG events that also want to talk about our backpack brands, because that's been reoccurring at multiple expos. I'd love to hear a little bit about how the mic drop party go. How are the backpack brands? And then, you know, any of your favorites from sampling the backpack brands?

[00:15:00] Patricia - So the party was great. We had, well, I'm like biased, of course. Well, Monica is less biased because she's not part of the team. So Monica, how was the party?

[00:15:14] Monica - Well, the party was great. Unfiltered opinion. No, I actually, I mean, Startup CPG, you always outdo yourself with the parties at the expos. It's just such a great time. People love it. It always sells out. It's such a fun vibe, great energy, great exposure for a lot of brands who maybe can't afford to exhibit at the show, but have this really cool opportunity to connect with people. at this event. My favorite of the backpack brands was Paz. It's the caffeinated breath spray. I just think it's a really unique concept. I love to see that they're bringing breath spray back, which is kind of a relic from the 90s. My mom used to carry it in her purse all the time. So and this has the added functional benefit of giving you a little energy boost on the go. So, yeah, that was a fun one. But there were also a lot of really great ones. Full of Beans is another favorite of mine, which they do a bean based waffle and pancake mix. You girls know I love my waffles and I'm a big fan of full of beans.

[00:16:12] Patricia - Yes. And they made the venue smell so good because they were doing waffles there. But yeah, the party was great. We actually had more people than last year. We had 500 people joining us. We had over 50 feature guests. So we had guests from the emerging team, from Whole Foods, from Target, Misfits, Thrive, Bristol, so many, so many, like Monica was there too, of course, and there was like a lot of feature guests. And we just love to see how even those guests get very excited to join our party and just meet the brands and, you know, the community. And then also I want to say thank you to News on IQ. They are such a great sponsor at our parties at Expo. They also bring the fun. I love that your team come with the whole t-shirt. So it's easier for people to identify them. And I always see they like having the best time too. But now about the backpack brand, for me, it's hard to like say my favorite because most of the brands were Shelfie finalists. And Jen and I picked the brands and we were just, I don't know, just so excited about all of them. So I cannot really name a favorite. I'm sorry.

[00:17:29] Kiki - I’m surprised you didn't say Journ because you're the go-to beauty guru on the team.
Patricia I do love Journ. So Journ, they do a color corrector, but that also has skincare ingredients inside. So over time is going to help with like the dark spots, acne or hyperpigmentation. Now they are launching a skincare line, which I was very excited to see. The packaging is beautiful, but it's just hard. I really like all the brands, so I can't make a decision.

[00:18:01] Jessi - That's totally fair. Kiki, how about for you? How was your mic drop experience? Do you have any favorite brands?

[00:18:07] Kiki - Mic drop experience for me was awesome. I got to go around and just like film content the whole night. So I kind of got to capture all the like super hype moments, which was fun. I think I definitely have to shout out the Prickly team because when they showed up like they were literally the life of the party. I wish I could remember his name right now. If you're listening, I'm so sorry. But there's someone on their team who's actually a professional dancer and they just came in and they're handing out Pricklee’s and just dancing. They got in the DJ booth. So it was really fun vibing with them and listening to everyone sing. I got to listen to Monica and Daniel do their song and their dance. That was fun. And then as far as the backpack brands go, Yeah, there was a lot of good ones. I think it was a tough competition this year. I did notice I was talking to Pati because we were about to announce the winners and I said, I think it's going to be between these two. And she was like, why do you say that? And I was like, because they always just had a line. There was just always a group of people surrounding their tables, which was Crooked Al and Chutni Punch, which those were Probably my two favorites, the crocodile, they make a hard to patching, I think is how you say it. It's like a fermented pineapple drink, which was really, really good. And also something I've never really heard of, or at least I've never tried it before. The Chutni Punch was honestly a wild card for me. I wasn't expecting to like love it because there's so many Indian spice blends like out there. I feel like every time I go to a show, there's always a lot of them. But Chutni Punch, I mean, first of all, they're legitimately so delicious. all of the flavors are really, really good. But also, she just has interesting flavors. Like it's not just like, oh, this is a grand masala and this is a curry or whatever, like her flavors are very all distinctly different. And they're just really good. I've been putting it on my eggs every morning. It's it's so good, but… Ooh, nice.

[00:20:00] Patricia - And they were the backpack winner. Yeah. And what did they win again? They won a free booth at the next year show. So the Newtopia. Right. Okay. Very cool.

[00:20:09] Kiki - Yeah. I also have to say I really like Pedestrian Project. Another one I didn't, I wasn't like super excited about, but I had a conversation with one of the co-founders, Matt, and he was just kind of telling me like how they started and all this stuff. And I was like, man, my dad has like some, he needs some help with his feet. So he gave me, He gave me like their three, like, you know, most popular products to try. And I brought them home and my dad was like, wow, this actually feels like really good. So then I was curious and I put it on my feet and I was like, wow, this does look good. So, yeah, I wasn't expecting it. But yeah, the Pedestrian Project Foot Cream. You got to try it.

[00:20:53] Patricia - Yeah, it's so good. So in the third place was Neeshi. It's a food that help help like menstrual cycle. So there is super food inside. and then help you to feel like less cramps and everything. And it also tastes really good. I have like near me right now and I just like love this bread so much. And then last thing I want to add really shout out to Pricklee because they did won a booth with us. They were a backpack brand last year and they won a booth with us for the Expo East this year. They were beautiful, was like very packed as well. The energy that they brought, like Kiki was saying that the guy was dancing at the party. He was actually like dancing in the middle of the hall. It was like definitely bringing the vibe. And I just love that they came to the party to like, you know, support the other brands that were there and brought the fun with them.

[00:21:48] Jessi - That's amazing. Oh, I love all that. And we'll be hearing more from our second and third place backpack brand winners here on the show soon. So stay tuned for those episodes as we get to learn more about those brands. And I'm so excited to try Pedestrian Project. I was telling Monica, Pati and Kiki before we started recording that I was just doing my post Shelfies awards online shopping. And so my Pedestrian Project package is inbound and I'm very excited try. So I'm excited to try all the backpack brands winner. So thank you for the recap. This leads us well into I think I always want to hear what everyone's best bites and sips were for the show, whether it was in the expo hall or across the backpack brand. Like, I'd love to hear your favorite bites and sips for for the last Expo East.

[00:22:35] Monica - I mean, there were so many that I really loved. I want to start by saying that one of the things that stood out to me, though, and I kept asking for or I asked for a second sample because it was so good. It was called Sweet Tahini. It was a frozen dessert made with oat milk and tahini. And it was just so rich. It tasted like halva and it was just creamy and delicious. So that was maybe my best bite. As far as my best sip, I'm struggling here because there were also a lot of really good beverages that I tried. And I think I want to pick one of the mocktails that really stood out to me that I liked. I really like the brand Mocktail Club, and they were a couple of booths down from Startup CPG, so very convenient. Yeah, there's four SKUs in that lineup. They're all inspired by different locales. So there's like a Havana one that I really love. And so, yeah, I would say maybe that's my best sip for the show. I love it.

[00:23:31] Jessi - I love Mocktail Club. So, oh, yeah, that sounds so good. I've tried a couple of their flavors and everything I've tried has been amazing. So, yeah. How about you, Patti or Kiki?

[00:23:50] Patricia - Yeah, so for beverage. Can I say two? So I mean, the first one is just because they keep us hydrated all the time. Prickly was like right next door and they were just like, you know, making sure that we got we keep hydrated. So I really love their product. I love the original one. And then another product that I really love is the Treehouse Naturals. The Treehouse Naturals that they do a pecan milk with like very clean ingredients. And it just tastes so good. And I love the packaging too. beautiful. Now the best bite, I do agree with Monica because I'm like tahini, everything obsessed. But I also discovered Fun Sesame. They do like a tahini blend, kind of like, you know, like it looks like a hummus, but it's made like with a lot of tahini, different flavor. So my favorite one was the Freshly Herby tahini blend. And but all of them was like actually really good. But the Herby one was my favorite. Awesome.

[00:24:50] Jessi - I love it. On the tahini note, because I believe Soom had their tahini, because we had Sum on the show recently, they had their tahini bites at the show. Did you all get to try those on the tahini moment?

[00:25:03] Monica - Yes. And I also have waffled tahini bites and they waffle really nicely.

[00:25:08] Jessi - Oh, good to know. The dark chocolate cherry ones are my favorite of So yeah, I love that tahini is just having a moment in general because I think for so many of us, it's like you buy that one jar and you make hummus sometimes and you don't, you know, I didn't use it enough. And now I'm seeing in all these products and learning new ways to use it. And it's very exciting. Kiki, how about you? Best bite, best sip or, you know, or top couple?

[00:25:32] Kiki - I was going to say it's hard. It's really hard to narrow it down as Pati and Monica were talking. trying to narrow it down in my head. And we've all talked about Pricklee so much. I just have to say one last thing because they are on my list of like my favorite sips from the show. Yeah, I feel like they like they should just be like a sponsor or something for next year's Mic Drop because like Pati was saying, like they were a neighbor at the show. They won last year. They brought the vibes to Mic Drop. And they also saved all of our lives the morning after Mic Drop because we stayed out late. And we all came to the show the next day like, we need hydration. And they were like, we got you. So yeah, Prinklee definitely at the top of my list for sips. Homie again. Homie was my, my favorite drink of the show. I went over to her booth and got like three homies while I was there. It's like really, really good. And I'm excited. She's coming out with a new flavor soon, hopefully. So I'm looking forward to that. My favorite snack, actually, I'm going to say two because one of them was a legitimate backpack brand. He was just walking around with products in his backpack. But Seedly, they're in our community. And I originally discovered them at Fancy Foods, but they make a like a seed bark. So it's like a mixture. I think it has like hemp seeds, pumpkin seeds. Some other things, they have a few different flavors in organic, fair trade, dark chocolate. All of the ingredients are organic and fair trade. Super good. I'm obsessed with it. It's like high protein. The macros are really good and you can eat like a quarter of a cup of it for 150 calories. I'm really big on like counting my calories. So whenever I discovered this, I was like, yes, this is exactly what I need. So yeah, Seedly, I'm obsessed with them. And then a favorite snack of a brand that actually exhibited at Expo would be Popadelics. I've liked Popadelics for a long time. Again, another like low calorie snack whenever you're like, you know, craving something crunchy. And it's just like a, I think it's like a freeze dried mushroom or dehydrated mushroom with like seasoning on it. It's really, really good.

[00:27:36] Jessi - Yeah. Oh, nice. Yeah. Yeah. Mateen, the founder of Seedly is such an amazing community member. So that's so awesome that he was there with the backpack. Pop Deluxe are amazing. Oh, I'm jealous for all these best bites. I'm curious if anyone also tried Blue Zones because that was a big launch at the for Expo. Like I watched the documentary on Netflix and everything. So I was so I was so curious to get to try to Expo East.

[00:28:00] Monica - Yeah, I was actually going to name that as a second option for one of my best bites. I tried the flight, all four meals, very, very good. I'm very excited about it. So the concept, it's the frozen entrees are based on blue zones, which are regions in the world that are linked to longevity or populations with the healthiest, happiest, longest lives. And so all of these meals were made with organic vegetables. They were plant based and just very delicious. So I'm personally excited about being able to go to Whole Foods and buy these soon. I think they said that they're going to be launching globally at Whole Foods soon. So great products.

[00:28:37] Jessi - Yeah. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah. I'm so excited to try those when they come to Whole Foods. Yeah, it was really interesting documentary if anybody gets a chance to check it out as well on Netflix. Any other like brands that you wanted to shout out that we didn't get to mention yet or any swag you wanted to mention? Curious of any last parting things you wanted to mention for recapping this expo?

[00:29:00] Kiki - Oh, I was gonna say, there's only like one piece of swag that I got from Expo this year and it was from Snoods. I got a t-shirt from them and it says, Send Snoods, which I thought was like a really cute idea. It's got like their pasta on it. I'm sure like when I wear it to the gym, people probably like read it and at first like think it says something different. But yeah, that was some cute swag. Oh yeah, Growee. I love Growee’s dip so much. The roasted red pepper one is absolutely delicious. I know I'm always thinking of pet brands, too, because I'm like, I'm like the crazy dog mom in the in the group, but I can't say enough good things about Bundle and Joy. I think their products are like so good. They make these like legit like they're like a jerky bar for your dogs, which My dogs, A, they absolutely love it. And it's nice to actually be able to, like, give them a treat that they don't just eat in one bite. Like, they can actually, like, enjoy it and chew on it. Because, I mean, like, you know, when I think of having a treat, like, I don't want to bite. Like, I want to eat, like, a slice of cake. So I kind of always think to myself, like, oh, like, here's your little slice of cake. Like, they get to enjoy it. And yeah, and all the girls on the Bundle and Joy team are really awesome too, so.

[00:30:05] Jessi - Yeah, my dogs love their treats, that jerky bar as well. Yeah, that's awesome.

[00:30:11] Patricia - How about you, Pati? Yeah, well, Kiki mentioned the three peppers from Growee. I love the Growee curry zucchini dip. That's my favorite. We are actually, Kiki and I, making a petition for snoods to have a collab with Growee. I love it. It's kind of messed. I also got the t-shirt from Snoods. So cute. Definitely going to wear it to the gym. And then I got a fanny pack from Reprise Health, which is so cute. I was using it all the time after I got out of the show. I used to go to the gym, so shout out to them. And I want to add to one booth that I loved. I never heard about this brand before. It's called Root Foods. So R-O-O-T foods and their booth, they made it themselves. So they are a veggie chips. If I'm not wrong, they are based in LA from what he said, but they made their own booth and they bought like piece of woods and they paint in gray. And then it was kind of like minimalist and food. futuristic. And then the team dip their hand in like kind of concrete, you know, so there was like, I don't know how you call sorry that in English, but it's kind of like a mold of their hand that looks like a concrete and then they was white. And then they glue the hand on the like silver wall that they had and then put some like the bags of their chips around. It was like clean, but it was so cool. And I love that the team, like it was the hands from the team. It was very cool.

[00:31:51] Jessi - That's so cool. How about you, Monica? Any last things that you wanted to shout out or any good swag? You're the sticker queen also.

[00:32:00] Monica - I did get a couple of stickers. I would say my favorite swag, though, was a customized friendship bracelet that was made by Hannah and Molly, the founders of Must Love. They had all kinds of beads and supplies to make friendship bracelets while they were there because they thought they were going to have downtime at the booth. They were like, yeah, we didn't have any downtime on the first day of the show. It was so crazy. But they made me a customized friendship bracelet that says Waffle Queen. which I very, very much love. And then as far as a couple other brands that I wanted to shout out real quick that I forgot to mention earlier, one of the trends that I saw that we continue to see at each of these at, you know, the different expos is low sugar candy. There were several examples of that, some within the innovation experience, but Blobs was one of my favorites that I saw. I don't know what they're sweetened with but it was a vegan gummy and it was two grams of sugar per bag and I just thought they were really delicious and really nice chew. And then another product that really kind of stood out to me was called Moss. It was a ready-to-drink sea moss beverage And there were several flavors. They had a mango, ginger, pomegranate. I'm not sure what this other one is, but it says that it's a beverage with sea moss. It's meant to help support energy, mood and libido. And they said they claimed it was the first to market ready to drink sea moss beverage. So and it tasted pretty good. Yeah.

[00:33:29] Monica - I saw it on the last day when I was walking around. I was like, oh, how did I miss this? This is interesting. So.

[00:33:35] Jessi - Yeah. Yeah. Very interesting. Oh, that's awesome. Well, thank you to each of you for sharing your thoughts and trends from the show. And yeah, excited to see what Utopia now is like next year. And yeah, but this was this was really great. So thank you all for for sharing and helping me relive the show after not being able to be here. It's great to have you all here. Thanks, Jessie.

[00:33:56] Patricia - Thanks for having us. And then just a quick note, I just want to remind everyone that we were sold out for the mic drop at Expo East and we are actually sold out for the LA Rally that we do at Expo West. So we are going to be launching the event probably like late in this year, but save the date for the LA Rally if you're going to Expo West on March 14. I believe we are going to be sold out again. So buy your early early bird tickets. And the next year in Savannah, we are definitely throwing a party, too. So stay tuned for that. And yeah, I love love sharing the space with you, Jessi, Kiki and Monica. Thanks for having me. Awesome. Thank you all.

[00:34:41] Jessi - If you enjoyed today's episode, the best way you can say thank you is by leaving a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. We seriously appreciate it so much, and it helps new people find the show. I'm Jessi Freitag, your host and producer. I'd love to connect with you on LinkedIn, or you can reach out anytime to podcast at startupcbg.com with your feedback, ideas, or just to say hi. Special thanks to our podcast assistant, Stephanie Roberts, Also, be sure to check out more free resources from Startup CPG, our Slack community, webinars, databases, the blog, the magazine, virtual and in-person events, and more. All available at StartupCPG.com. Our intro and outro music for today's episode is by the Super Fantastics, the band of our Startup CPG founder, Daniel Scharff, which you can find on Spotify for more great tunes. On behalf of the whole team at Startup CPG, thank you so much for being here and see you next week.