The Startup CPG Podcast

Patricia Menegoto
I would say that it's interesting to see the products changing every year. Kind of like the amount of products we get for each category. Last year we got tons of hot sauce. Like over 30 brands sending hot sauce or crisp chili and then nut butters as well. But this year, what I'm seeing, it's a lot of nuts. Nuts. Everything like the normal nuts, you know, that you eat Cashews or pecans. Pecans is a top one, but kind of a lot of products have nuts inside of them now, so that's the top one.

00:46
Daniel Scharff
Hello, everybody. Welcome to the Startup CPG podcast. Today's episode is a community update. We are going to lay out for you all of the events and content and opportunities that we have coming up in the back half of the year. If you're a brand or an expert in the community, I think you're really going to enjoy hearing all about it. Also, special announcement. We are hiring. We have two roles open right now. You can check out the applications in the show notes. One of them is for an email and content manager, somebody putting together our daily email that has all of the cool stuff that we want to tell brands about, and then also a CPG operations writer who can take all of the cool chatter happening and explain it out to the world.

01:24
Daniel Scharff
So apply if one of those roles is for you, and I hope you enjoy today's community update episode. All right, let's go. Hello, everybody. Welcome to the Startup CPG podcast. A lot of times we feature experts and brands from the community, but today I actually just want to give you all a bunch of community updates. We have so many events coming up in the back half of the year. I'm incredibly excited about. I want to tell you all about it. Whether you're already in our Slack channel on our email list and you just want to know what's going to be coming down the pipe or you're not at any of our events, and I just want you to know what you're missing out on. So today I've got two lovely guests.

02:02
Daniel Scharff
First up, we've got Patricia, who is our head of community marketing and events. Hello, Patricia. How are you today?

02:07
Patricia Menegoto
Hi. I'm good. Thanks for having me.

02:09
Daniel Scharff
All right, thanks for coming back on the pod. And we've also got Caitlin, who is our editor. Caitlin, what's going on today?

02:16
Caitlin Bricker
So many things that everybody's about to hear about.

02:19
Daniel Scharff
All right, that's what I like to hear. So first up, what I would love to tell all of you about is what's going on right now. That's keeping Caitlin and Patricia and Kiki on our team so busy. We've got boxes piling up our mail. People are very angry at all of us. So can we just talk a little bit about the shelfies? So I think by my last count, were at, I don't know, over 1,500 individual products that had been submitted for it. So, Caitlin, first, I am going to come to you because this is your first year as a shelfies judge. What has it been like?

02:54
Caitlin Bricker
Every single day I'm getting packages and if there is a lull and maybe I don't get a package one day, the next day is definitely making up for it. So basically from February to May, no vacation, don't leave your house, packages are coming. It's been quite the experience. It's very exciting because I'm seeing so many brands I've never heard of before, never seen, and it's like a brand new baby's being delivered to me every day. It's been a really cool experience. I've had a lot of fun.

03:22
Daniel Scharff
I feel like Patricia, who is waiting for a baby, she is pregnant, will appreciate that metaphor. So now. So the shellfies. For anyone who doesn't know what it is, this is the largest free awards program in the industry. We invite all emerging brands to submit their products. And for us, it's really amazing because not only do we have this program where we like to recognize the absolute best and we don't charge people to submit their products. You know, we really just are excited to recognize the best up and commerce, but it's also how our team gets to know you and your products. And you know, Caitlin, who is our editor, does tons of coverage and Patricia, who especially is very involved in our social media. There's so many different ways that we like to feature people in brand roundup. So much stuff.

04:03
Daniel Scharff
So not only is Caitlin trying to figure out who's going to be a finalist and win the shelfies, but she's also looking for brands that might be really interesting for coverage. So, Caitlin, what are you seeing out there? What are you discovering so much?

04:16
Caitlin Bricker
We have gotten so many unique products. Right now we're in the plant based category month. And something that I'm noticing is that brands aren't just. You're not seeing what you typically see on the shelves at stores is what I'm seeing right now. So you're not seeing like highly processed burgers, and I'm putting that in air quotes. You're seeing really high quality, nicely crafted imitation products of products that you think would be seafood or meat, but they actually taste like the products. So an example is mind blown crab cakes. I typically like a crab cake. Got this. It was just like the experience of cooking a crab cake on my stove and then eating it. Flavor, same thing. But I turn the package around, look at the ingredients. No one's saying ingredients. It's very simple. I'm very impressed by the brands.

05:09
Caitlin Bricker
That's just one call out, but we've gotten tons. Thrilling foods is another one. They make bacon. Very interesting package. At first I thought it was like encrusted salmon and I was like, oh, I got salmon for the meat month. But it was actually plant based bacon. Really, really cool products.

05:27
Daniel Scharff
All right. And I think that crab company should be especially tickled because you are from Massachusetts and so that is a very high bar for anything crab related. So kudos to them. So Caitlyn, you are a former buyer also. Buyers take in a lot of product because they have to make a lot of decisions. How is the experience for you of getting all these products comparing to when you were a buyer getting sent all products like this and all the pitches and everything?

05:52
Caitlin Bricker
It is very, it's a relatable experience. I thought I was inundated before as a buyer. This is a new level of inundated. It's every single day, like I mentioned, brand new products. And it's, it really is just the shelfies are a discovery tool for me as a judge, for, as an editor. And then if I were to put my buyer hat on, it's the same way that I would be receiving products as a buyer. And then ultimately we get the pleasure of being able to help platform these brands and put the word out there so that retailers can see what we're experiencing. And then, hey, maybe they're going to pick you up.

06:30
Daniel Scharff
This is all very exciting. And what is your process like because you get all these boxes every day. Do you batch them, like try them with your family? What goes on? You got to get through all of these products.

06:42
Caitlin Bricker
My process is that I open every single box. I try to open them as soon as they hit my doorstep. I don't live in a large house. I'm very grateful to have a roof over my head, but I do not have a lot of storage space. Patty also found a cardboard box. Not like a cutter, but it's an electric like pair of scissors that will help break the boxes down. Game changer. Wish we had found that back in February. So my Brock, my boxes are getting broken down immediately and then I'm. I am organizing them in my house. The different products, obviously, freezer and fridge products are going away right away, but at the end of the day, I'll take a little inventory and do some meal planning.

07:22
Caitlin Bricker
Like, my husband and I just had what I was joking around saying were date nights where we put all of the sauces, all of the nut butters, all of the jams, all the spreads on the Lazy Susan in our dining room, and we just sat there with tofu and crackers and tried everything at once.

07:39
Daniel Scharff
That's amazing. I thought it was going to be where you try all of the date products because I know you love dates.

07:43
Caitlin Bricker
Love a date. That would be my ideal date.

07:48
Daniel Scharff
All right, Patty, coming to you. Same kind of question. So you've been a shelfie's judge since the beginning, Many years now. What are you seeing? How does it compare with years past?

07:57
Patricia Menegoto
Yeah, for sure. I would say that it's interesting to see the products changing every year. Kind of like the amount of products we get for each category. Last year we got tons of hot sauce. Like over 30 brands selling hot sauce or crisp chili and then nut butters as well. But this year, what I'm seeing, it's a lot of nuts. Nuts. Everything like the normal nuts, you know, that you eat cashews or pecans. Pecans is a top one, but kind of a lot of products have nuts inside of them now, so that's the top one. And I think these next for me is always like a very big category, especially sweet snacks. They are always a hit. Beverage are also like another one that are big. But this year has been not as big as the years before.

08:50
Daniel Scharff
I wonder. You know, it's interesting because, like, a lot of times the flow of products will mimic what has been really successful, a very public success, then delayed by a couple years. And so, you know, we had like, okay, seed lip stuff like that. Really just crushed non elk. And then you started having waves of non alk stuff kind of evolving. First it was spirits, and then a lot more RTDs and non alk beer. But then those categories become very competitive, right? And you see all the stuff that's out there already. And then it's like, all right, am I going to launch like another one now? So I may. I wonder if that's kind of the ebb and flow of it, why we're seeing not quite as many beverages right now.

09:30
Daniel Scharff
But then, of course, we just had all of the success of Poppy and, you know, there has been some of that wave. But I wonder if now we'll see even more just because of that very public success, maybe next year it'll all come. So very interesting, Patti, and same question to you. Are you. What's your process? Like, are you batching stuff? I really love hearing about these electric scissors that you've discovered, and I want to. I want to see a video of them also.

09:57
Patricia Menegoto
Oh, my God, yes. I'm waiting to move so I can get a new one. For me, I'm so excited for it because using a scissor to break the boxes, it takes a long time. Like, imagine you're breaking 20 boxes at the same time. Okay. About my process, I feel that, like, at the beginning, my first year, I was as Caitlyn was like, opening box right away and trying right away. But now what I do is, like, I usually have. If it's, like, refrigerated and frozen, of course I open right away, But I try to, like, get two hours off my day where I'm going to focus on selfies. So I just go open the boxes, and then I start to put everything in the box.

10:37
Patricia Menegoto
And then I'll take, like, one day and try for two hours or something, like a bunch of products and rate them. Or sometimes I have the box inside of my house, so if I'm passing by, I'm hungry, I just get, like, one random product and try. So that's my process for Disney. I think every year I change a little.

10:55
Daniel Scharff
All right. And there is, you know, as much science as we can put behind these products. So there are rating criteria that all of the judges look through the products on. We have, I would say, a pretty diverse group of judges, especially in terms of the kind of products that they tend towards their taste profiles. Patricia is gluten free, and she doesn't like things that I would say that are, like, overly sweet and, you know, really focused on ingredients. Caitlin also very focused on ingredients. Super interested in dates, as I mentioned before, and baby products, kids products. And we have Kiki, who I would say has a very strong affinity for pet products.

11:33
Daniel Scharff
And often Kiki and I will agree on lots of products because I think we also are okay with stuff that's a little bit sweeter and more indulgent a lot of the time. So it is a wide range of perspectives that the products get. Also, I think Kiki is our hot sauce expert, where all hot sauces kind of just taste hot to me. So it's, you know, we really do our best, and we also then share because we get the products from all of you. And then we share the extra products that come in with the rest of our team. We try to get a bunch of different perspectives. And I think we all do also really enjoy sharing the products with our friends. You know, we can't use all of the stuff that we get.

12:07
Daniel Scharff
And so I, for example, I have parties in my house and I will lay out all the beverages in my fridge, like an erewhon set up and have all of my friends come in and try them and try to do some content on that. So we take the privilege of getting your products very seriously. We try to do as much content on it as we can when you send them to us. So you'll see lots of stories on our Instagram because we know it costs money to send those in. Even though we make the whole program free for you guys, which is really important to us, we still want to give you something in return. So make sure you're following our Instagram if you're not already. And your product will probably get tagged at some point.

12:41
Daniel Scharff
So let's call that for Shelfies a wrap for now. And I want to move on and talk about a lot of the other stuff that we have coming up because there is so much. So first I thought, Patti, a big initiative for you and our team this year has been our Further program where we are trying to do a lot of programming specifically to provide resources for female founders. Do you mind just giving an overview of the program for everybody?

13:05
Patricia Menegoto
Absolutely. So Further is the initiative that startup CPG has to elevate and empower female founders in the CPG space. So we do have a private Slack channel, you know, where we want to be a safe space for all the women to connect. And really, actually everything that we do within the Further program I always mention is a safe space and make friends that can help, you know, another friend founder that can help you along the way. And that's what I've seen from the online mixers or in person events that we have hosted. So we try to bring buyers vcs, like other special guests. We just did a very cool one back in March that was, you know, kind of how to balance being a mom and, you know, an entrepreneur at the same time. And that was like a very cool conversation.

14:03
Patricia Menegoto
So we have more events coming up. We are doing an online mixer about fundraising right now on the 29th and we are going to have like two VCs and then one brand that has raised money before from actual veggies. And then we have many events happening during the summer. Fancy food and we are scheduling like page practice for August and many other events coming up, but it's really a place that we want for the founders to connect with each other.

14:32
Daniel Scharff
Awesome. And so you mentioned the private Slack channel. I think that is something that, you know, once the female founders come to one of our events, like an online mixer or something like that, we would send them the invite to the private channel.

14:43
Patricia Menegoto
That too. But also, whenever we see a female founder saying hi in the Slack and they mention they like a founder of a CPG brand, we add them to the private Slack channel.

14:53
Daniel Scharff
I love it. All right, so speaking of fancy food, so, yeah, the further stuff that we have going on there, I am super pumped about. We have three killer panels that we've set up, right. So we've got the first one that is all about fundraising and we've got some really epic investors on that one. Would be a great chance, I think, for brands at the fancy food show to meet some of them. And then we've got a buyer panel. So for the female founders can come and meet a bunch of incredible buyers from the community. And then we are going to cap it off where we've got the shark tank head of casting, Mindy is coming and one of the brands that got a deal on the show. And we will do a panel with her and you can meet her.

15:32
Daniel Scharff
And as much as everybody will always say, hey, apply through the website, it matters a lot when you need that of casting. And anybody who's been on the show can tell you that. So I'm really pumped about those opportunities as well as all the other further stuff that we'll have planned for the rest of the year. Still, for me, my favorite one of the year so far was the first one that we did with Whole Foods in Austin. We had 150 female founders in the room and it was just for me, one of the most beautiful events that we've ever done. Everybody was so excited. Everybody got to talk to the whole food buying team for a while. It was really awesome. And then, Patti, maybe why don't we just talk about events overall for the rest of the year.

16:10
Daniel Scharff
So fancy food, it's coming up fast. It's coming up in just a month. Do you mind just talking a little bit about what we've got going on at the show overall?

16:18
Patricia Menegoto
Absolutely. So to start, I mean, we already mentioned all the further events that is happening on Sunday. We have a lot of buyer meetings. We have 21 to be very. Exactly. Buyer meetings happening during the show from Sprouts Innovation Sac at Fresh Thyme, khi, Whole Foods. And I can just keep going on the list is amazing.

16:40
Daniel Scharff
And just to tell everybody what that means. So we are friends with a lot of these amazing retailers and distributors and we ask them, hey, could we have a lot of brands apply to meet with you at the show at our booth? And they say, yes, of course, for sure. We want to source some of the most interesting, innovative brands out there. And so everybody fills out this application to meet with each one of these retailers individually. We get a couple hundred of those applications. We share it with each of the retailers separately and the questions are customized to them. So if it's a Northeast retailer, it might say, where are you in the Northeast already? And then they select, let's say the 10 brands that they would like to meet with. The meetings happen at our booth. Five minutes timed, something like that.

17:19
Daniel Scharff
And it's highly productive. The buyers are saying this is the best hour that they're spending at the show because they are meeting all the brands that they are have already pre selected. So a lot of them that they're already really interested in. And you know what, five minutes is actually enough because everybody needs to be efficient at the show. There's a lot of ground to cover. And so they're happy to meet with a brand, maybe grab a sample and kind of be on their way. And we are just seeing so many brands get distribution because of this. We did it at Expo, we did it last year at Fancy. We just keep ramping up the number of meetings that we're helping to coordinate within the show. And every buyer who does it with us wants to do it again the next year.

17:56
Daniel Scharff
So I'm really pumped about that. And I can't believe we have 21. And yeah, you mentioned some of the great ones and we have unexpected ones that I think people spend so much time trying to figure out how to connect with like Gus's Community market, that just Epic SF retailer and you know, Giant company Stop and Shop New Seasons market and the Sprouts Innovation set. So we just kind of keep going bigger and better with these at every show. And you know, if you want to see some very high activity at the show, come on by our booth during and you'll see our team just kind of shuttling people in and out of these timed meetings like it was a chess match going in. We just have multiple tables going at the same time.

18:35
Daniel Scharff
So Patty, for me, it's one of the best things that we do at the show. Don't you think?

18:38
Patricia Menegoto
Yeah, it's Amazing. I mean, the most amazing part is really to get to see the brands getting distribution or getting to the shelf of a retailer just because they went to this buyer meeting. So it's very meaningful. Applications close on June 1st. So run because.

18:55
Daniel Scharff
All right. Yeah. Time's ticking.

18:57
Patricia Menegoto
Yeah. And then back to the event. So still on Sunday, we have the grocery run with Fairway. We already have over 150 tickets sold. It's going to be a great event. We have the buyers from faraway coming, but also we have other buyers coming to this event, which is great. We are going to have about like 18 brand sampling. So it's going to be a big event. On Monday, we have the Founder dinner. So this one is exclusive for founders. The location is beautiful. We also have many retailers and VIPs coming.

19:36
Daniel Scharff
Patti, what is a founder dinner? What is this new event format that we have?

19:40
Patricia Menegoto
Okay, so Founder dinner, it's a place that we want the founders to connect with each other because, you know, our events, service providers are always welcome. But this one, we want to make sure that it's a more special place where kind of the same thing on the further I was mentioning to make friends and, you know, meet some other founder that can help you. Because being a founder is just so hard and frustrating. So you can share, you know, tips and tricks and then it depends on the format. So sometimes we do have a restaurant that is a seated dinner. We'll have like 30, 40 people going. But this one is going to be, we are going to have like pizzas and some appetizers is going to be for 100 founders. So it's just a beautiful location where you can just enjoy your time.

20:30
Patricia Menegoto
No sales pitch and you're just going to, you know, meet your next friend.

20:34
Daniel Scharff
Yes, exactly. I'm really excited about it. I love these founder dinners because it just means all the difference when you can make some friends who are in a similar position to you and just start sharing your challenges and learning. So we've done a couple incredible ones already in New York and San Francisco, and I'm excited for us to really ramp up this particular event that we'll do across tons of different trade shows in lots of different cities. From now on, anytime I'm going to a city, I want to do a founder dinner there. It's a great way for us to meet all of the brands from our community. And yeah, typically at the founder Dinners, it would basically just be people who are the CPG founders, you know, maybe one of their team members.

21:09
Daniel Scharff
And then sometimes we have partners who help us put on the event. And that's kind of it. So I'm really excited for this one. And. And of course, we'll always bring the VIPs there, so we need to have the buyers there, some media, maybe some investors. We like to surprise and delight when we do these founder dinners. And maybe at, like the New York ones, were joined by the Whole Foods forager, John Lawson. And he just sat at everyone with every table, giving them expert advice on their products and getting to know them. And every brand was just absolutely tickled that he was there. We really appreciated it. So that's the kind of stuff we're out there trying to do. So I'm really pumped about that.

21:44
Daniel Scharff
We also actually have another dinner that's happening at that show, which is the second iteration of our operations dinner. It's called the Ops table. And this is with our sponsor, dos. And what we like to do is basically have kind of half brands, like whether it's the founder or the coo, something like that. And then some of those incredible operations leaders from across our community, the fractional people, the commercial consultants, because they see everything. They work with so many brands on their mission critical problems, so they know what's up. And we like to get them all in a room and just do a dish sesh. We are sharing challenges, we are solving challenges. Just so many learnings. And it's a very beautiful evening. So we've got that set up for fancy foods as well. We've rented out the club room at Soho House.

22:27
Daniel Scharff
It's going to be incredible. And then, Patty, we have our third event right on Tuesday. Can you tell everyone about it? Yeah.

22:34
Patricia Menegoto
Last but not least, this is our main event during summer Fancy food. It's the summer of startups. It's gonna happen at the Shopify Soho location. It's also a very beautiful location. This is our third year hosting the event there. As always, we have VIPs coming. But one thing that I want to make a note at is that the Forager team of Whole Foods Market is coming.

23:00
Daniel Scharff
The whole team? Yeah.

23:03
Patricia Menegoto
So that would be very cool. We'll have drinks and, you know, good vibes and a great way to end the show.

23:12
Daniel Scharff
I am so excited about that because, I mean, the Whole Foods Market Forager team has a lot of commitments. They have a lot of things that they have to do with the show. Everybody wants to talk to them and hang out with them, but they're hanging out with us this time. So we've got them on Tuesday night. Their whole emerging Local and brand foraging team is going to be with us at the Summer of Startups party, so don't miss that one. By the way, if you're wondering where to find all these events, you can check our Eventbrite startupcpg.eventbrite.com all of the events are going to sell out. One of them only has five tickets left, I think, and then the others definitely will as well.

23:43
Daniel Scharff
So don't say we didn't warn you that they were all going to sell out, but they will be amazing. There's so many buyers coming, so many deals will happen because of it, so I can't wait. Fancy food, it's sort of like as soon as it starts, you time travel to the end of it. Like it goes by so fast. It's so much fun. But I'm really excited about it. I'm really excited to have my team all here in New York City. This is the first time we'll have a show in New York City when I was living here also, so I'm excited to show you some of my favorite spots. It's going to be awesome. So after fancy food, we have a little bit of a breather, but then right on the back end of that also we have Nootopia coming up.

24:19
Daniel Scharff
Patty, how's the planning going for Newtopia?

24:22
Patricia Menegoto
It's going strong. We still have a few spots left for our new Topia now section, so make sure you apply if you want to activate that. I think it's a very nice show because it's way smaller than Expo West. They have. They really focus on buyer meetings. They have their whole app and that's their goal. So applications are open. You can find the link in our Slack or in the social media bio. And then on the First Night on August 20th, we have our grocery run. So it's Denver grocery run. We already have two guests confirmed so far, the buyer from King super and the buyer from Whole Foods. But more invites are coming, so I'm sure you're gonna have more buyers coming for this one too.

25:10
Daniel Scharff
That is awesome. So Todd from Kingsupers who's joining us is just somebody that everybody wants to know and I'm so excited that he'll be there for our Denver grocery run as well as the forger for Whole Foods for the region. And you know, we will be piling on tons more VIP buyer guests for that event, so I'm super pumped about it. And then also, just because were talking about the section, I kind of like for people to know how these sections work because there are some other groups that do sections at the shows where like apply for it, you get it, you can be in it. Great. Ours, they actually are somewhat curated and so I just like for everybody to understand that, which is we get a lot of applications for these sections and we have some opportunities that open for everybody. Right.

25:53
Daniel Scharff
Everyone can apply for these ones. We do because we're getting products in for things like Shelfies. We're meeting you at our events around there. We do try to make the best section possible and we are focused on very early stage brands, especially brands that haven't gotten into one of our sections before. We want to give a lot of people opportunities. We want our section to be known by buyers as the place that they can discover the most exciting innovations. And so it is always tough because we can't let everyone in to our section that would like to be in there and we still want them as part of our community and to love us and to apply for all these meetings that we put on there for free, all of this great stuff.

26:31
Daniel Scharff
But we do feel bad that we can't let everybody be in the section. But this is our process. It's what we believe can be the best thing overall for the community is just to have a section that absolutely slaps every year, that the buyers love, that it is ultimately the best thing for everybody in the community. So I am sorry though for everybody. Feel free to curse us to the gods above or whatever you want when you don't get into it. But then please come back and apply for more meetings and all of the cool opportunities that we have. And then Patti, can you talk about what is for me maybe the best party of the year that happens then the second night at Utopia.

27:05
Patricia Menegoto
Just really quick, I want to just make a note about the sections. Every application we open for the sections, we have tons of brands that apply that it never submit the products for the Shelfies. And you know, sometimes we are going to request sample but if you really want to make sure our team gets to know your brand, your product, who you are, make sure you apply for the Shellfish because that's the best way for our team get to know you. For every feature we do along the year is not just for the shell fees. So just like a little note because I do many applications that are different brands that we never heard about. So I'd love to encourage you to apply for the Shelfies.

27:48
Patricia Menegoto
And then last comment about Section Expo west applications are also open and that one is I think is going to fill out Fast. So make sure to apply for that. Now talking about Daniel's best party ever of the year. That's the Discotopia party we host during Utopia. Now it's a silent disco so it's very fun. It's like we do inside of this club that is an old church. So the vibe is really there. Of course, as always, as I'm mentioning over and over, we going to have VAPs coming. We also have the backpack brands application which they are open right now. And then the top rated brand that is voted by the guests coming to the party, get a free Booth at Newtopia now. I'm jumping a year. So Daniel, tell us about your best party ever.

28:47
Daniel Scharff
Why is it my favorite party number one? I just think it is a very clever concept which Kiki proposed to us to do the silent disco in the first place because like we like networking at our party. You'll never see us just do some like random party in the club. It's loud and you can. I kind of only talk to the people you already know. That's not what we're all about. We want to create connections. Silent disco is very cool because you can dance and have fun and listen to good music, but if you're not wearing the headphones, it's very quiet. And so nobody has to lose their voice. Everyone can network. There is still always with us the feature on the brands that are demoing and all of the good stuff that we want to happen.

29:25
Daniel Scharff
But also if you did already lose your voice, put on those headphones and dance and no one will bother you and everybody. Like I personally love to dance. The team knows that about me and I never get to do that with our friends from the industry. And I do consider so many people in the industry my real friends. And I do want to dance with them and that's the only time of the year that we get to do it. So I hope to see everybody at that party. I will be on the dance floor looking ridiculous, throwing out moves, getting you to throw out moves and it's going to be amazing. So I'm very excited for that at Church nightclub and it really is. It's an old church. It's beautiful and we're all dancing and it's gorgeous.

30:02
Daniel Scharff
We've got the stained glass windows and it's incredible. So very excited for Newtopia as well this year. And yeah, definitely apply for our Expo west section. That does get locked down very fast and it's quite fantastic. I also actually wanted to talk about Just some of the non trade show events that we do throughout the year. Because we have been making a splash with this new event series that's called Grocery Run. What is it? This is our national event series where I have been going around city to city doing events with the most relevant retailers in the home markets. We do this because we don't want you just to have to wait for the trade show to meet some of those buyers, especially if they're right at home with you. And those are probably the retailers that you're the most excited to get into.

30:44
Daniel Scharff
So we want to bring you and them together through this series. Grocery Run is an event where often it'll be a panel. So we'll have a couple of the buyers from the retailer just talking about how they work and explaining it to you. And then we'll also have brands sampling there and then all the buyers get to try the brands. Sometimes it would also be more of like a distributor style event where we just try to get as many buyers there as possible from a particular city and then we'll have tons of brands just slap it up there, little four foot tables, you know, we don't need a big fancy booth, just bring your demo table and then just deals are happening. So we've done a bunch of them already this year.

31:20
Daniel Scharff
We kicked it off with Whole Foods in Austin back in February and that was an incredible event. We did Philadelphia with the Gopuff team. We then had a distributor style event in San Francisco at Good Stuff Distributor. And on that one we had 50 San Francisco buyers come. It was amazing. Every single independent buyer from San Francisco was there. So many deals happened, brands getting picked up by Good Stuff because they had just gotten four yeses from retailers, you know, like Rainbow and Piedmont Grocer. Just so many of them were there. It was incredible and just so much fun for all of us. In Boston we had Cambridge Naturals. That was a really special session that was moderated by Caitlin.

32:02
Daniel Scharff
And then we had, let's see, we did la, we had Gelson's, that was a fantastic one where we had a bunch of their team members. Even the CEO of Gelson's came and just took so much time to connect with brands. These events are just so beautiful because if you're at the event, you're going to talk to the buyer. You know, you go to trade shows and you hope you're going to catch the Gelson's buyer, but you go to the Gelsons event, you're going to talk to the Gelson's buyer and they are just so lovely. And I'm like, kristen, who is the beverage buyer there, basically, she just sat in one seat. I was like, just sit there because every brand here wants to talk to you. And so just, you know, get comfortable.

32:36
Daniel Scharff
And there was a line of about 30 different brands, and she talked to every single one of them and spent time trying their drinks. It was really amazing. So we love. We love that team. And actually, I just got back yesterday because we did an event in Dallas with Central Market, and this one was a little bit of a different format where all the brands applied to go to the grocery run, and then their buyers picked the top 25 that they wanted to meet with. So it was. Which is a good thing. Cause I. I mean, unfortunately, not everybody gets to go to it when it's a limited capacity like that, but. But if they picked you to go, that's a really good sign. And so it was a fantastic event where we did a little panel and just a lot of socializing.

33:10
Daniel Scharff
And then the Central Market buyers gave us a tour of the store. And if you are a Central Market fan like I am, that is a very dream thing to get to do. And it only increased just how dreamy I think Central Market is. And I just really demand that they open one up in every city that I ever live in with their 600 different kinds of cheese and homemade chocolate bars and just all of the incredible emerging brands that they carry. And then we've got a bunch more coming up. So we talked about the Fairway Market one that we're doing during Fancy Foods. We've also got the Denver one planned during Utopia. Some other really exciting ones. Asheville. I am so excited. Asheville's back, baby. We're going. So on September 18th, we'll be there.

33:52
Daniel Scharff
We have confirmed that the Whole Foods forger for the region, Dustin, will be there, as well as the Earth Fare team, our friends, and we're going to confirm a bunch more as well. It's going to be in a chocolate factory, because why not? It's going to be awesome. Then also be able to do an event with Whole Foods in the Boston region with their Emerging Markets team and also their bakery team. That'll be on October 2nd. And then we are going to Chicago for fresh time on October 15th. We also are finishing up planning a really exciting SoCal one that I hope will be more of that kind of San Francisco style where we get tons of buyers there. So what's going on here? Basically, I don't sleep. I only travel. I live in Hotels now.

34:32
Daniel Scharff
And I go to all of these exciting events that are so much fun because just distribution deals are happening. And, you know, our plan is just to go bigger and bigger on these events because networking events are really fun, but when we get the buyers in the mix, real stuff is happening. And so this is our promise to you, our community is we are doing absolutely everything possible to get you in touch with buyers because ultimately that is the best thing that we can deliver for you. So there is a growing contingency of brands that are starting to follow these events around the country, like a band tour. Ringa, for example, only missed the Boston event, I think because of a delayed flight, but she's been at all of the other ones and I think gotten a lot out of it.

35:11
Daniel Scharff
And that's what's up. Right. If you can, you just know this is a time and place where I can meet those buyers. We love having that. We love when the brands are coming around with us. And, you know, I think it's a really effective strategy, especially if it's an area, a market that you're really trying to grow in to come and meet the buyers there. Caitlin, so you moderated the Boston one with Cambridge Naturals where you used to work. What was that one like for you?

35:31
Caitlin Bricker
That was a blast from the past. For me, it was just like being back in the store talking to Emily and Sarah. It was a really cool experience. And I will say we had two brands that did travel out of state for that one too. So brands aren't just traveling to see big stores like Whole Foods. Brands are also traveling to see small independent natural grocers like Cambridge Naturals. We had Kesho Chocolate that came from Texas and then we had Altro Foods that came from New Jersey for that event.

36:01
Daniel Scharff
So pretty cool. Yeah. Which also. So we also had a. It was a non grocery run event, but we did do a meetup in Austin two weeks ago and we had the new Whole Foods forager, Jordan, who's covering the Southwest there. So I got to take him by a bunch of brains, including Kesho chocolate, which I love to show him. They've got some very interesting flavored chocolates. Is so funny.

36:20
Caitlin Bricker
And like every color chocolate bar under the rainbow.

36:23
Daniel Scharff
Yes. They have a lamb flavored chocolate, which you've never tasted anything like it, I promise, unless you've had lamb flavored chocolate, you have not tasted anything like lamb flavored chocolate. And it's good and it's interesting.

36:36
Caitlin Bricker
And there's no lamb in it.

36:37
Daniel Scharff
Yes. No. No actual lamb. Did you Say laminate or lamb in it? Lamb in it either. There's no lamb in it and there's no lamb in it. It. All right, so. Okay, Caitlyn, I also want to just talk to you a little bit about some of the stuff that you've been up to. So first, the Newswire, which we just lapped the one year anniversary of launching the Newswire. So the reason that we launched this in the first place is because me, when I was a brand, I had the experience of just having to pay for like PR Newswire and it's expensive and then you have to pay for like a membership and then for the release and like, oh wait, you want to have a logo in it.

37:16
Daniel Scharff
Also you have pay to pay, I don't know, 500 extra bucks, whatever it is for that. And then, I don't know, nothing really happened and that was a bummer and I don't want early brands to have to pay for that. So we're like, hey, what if we just have our own Newswire service? Brands can release their news and we will share it out with everybody and try to get them coverage from other media companies as well. So when we started this, just, you know, we can, we're flexible, we can try new initiatives and see if they hit or don't hit, but this one has hit. So you have taken over the Newswire since you joined us in October of last year. Can you talk a little bit about what it's been like?

37:50
Caitlin Bricker
It's been nonstop. As is tradition with most startup cpg. Thanks. When we say it's a free resource, we really mean it. Daniel just spoke to how costly it can be to publish pr. The Newswire is such a fantastic resource. We really are reading every single piece of news that comes through. I am personally reading everything and again, like nonstop every single day. I'm seeing brands get into retailers, I'm seeing brands launching new products, I'm seeing brands do rebrands, even seeing brands share not so great news like they're resuming production after it had shut down and telling us about that. It's a great discovery tool again and it's been a really cool experience being able to go back and forth with these brands and say, hey, thanks for submitting, this is great, good to go, you're published, you are live.

38:43
Caitlin Bricker
And then give them assets to be able to go and share that news or go back to the brands and say, hey, this could use a little bit of work. Here's some advice. Come back to us and then we'll get you live.

38:53
Daniel Scharff
I love it. So we've gotten nearly 500 submissions on the Newswire in just this first year, and we are just getting started. We love seeing everybody have all the news that they want to submit when they release new products or get into a big new retailer. We love it. And we're also getting way better on just making it look really cool, which we want. You know, we're adding graphics and stuff because we want you to be able to share all of that stuff out there with the world, make a bunch of noise and compound those achievements to get even more stuff done. So we love that. And Caitlin, thank you. It is a lot of work to review all of those submissions, which aren't always written in the way that they're supposed to be to actually get published.

39:32
Daniel Scharff
So it is a lot of work and coaching that we do to make sure that those press releases can actually go out to market through our Newswire. And then also we have some exciting news about Caitlin, which is Caitlin is going to be taking over podcast hosting duties for the founder features, which we release on Friday. So we've had Grace Kennedy, who has been with us for a long time, and, you know, she was our editor previously and then went back to go focus on her social work studies and stayed on as podcast host for a while Caitlin was getting up to speed. And we're really excited now that Caitlin will be taking over as our a podcast host. Caitlin, are you excited? Scared. What's going on?

40:13
Caitlin Bricker
Oh, I was so scared when I first started because Grace is leaving me with very big shoes to fill on this one. She did such a great job. She picks the brands were amazing and I got to listen to all the episodes through the editing process. But she calmed my nerves. She said I was going to do a great job. So I have her. I have her vote of confidence. So I feel very good about this and this is what excites me the most. I love talking to the brands one one, learning about their products and then being able to help get them in front of all the people in the world, all the retailers, all the consumers, other brands. There are just so many good sound bites and words of wisdom that these brands have to share.

40:55
Caitlin Bricker
And I am so excited to take this over.

40:58
Daniel Scharff
It's fun and it's a very special moment for our podcast. Just, I am a stats guy. I'm always looking at the numbers. We are absolutely exploding right now. And I, you know, I think what I hear from brands out there when I talk to them is they're like, we're learning stuff on these. You know, we want to get buyers on here, we want to get experts in different subject matters. We really want brands out there who maybe are listening right now to learn stuff. And so please keep the feedback coming for us. And I hope that you'll really enjoy the founder features that Caitlin's doing also, just to learn about brands who are on the same journey as you and maybe they're earlier and maybe they're later and maybe they have different strengths and weaknesses.

41:33
Daniel Scharff
But, you know, for me, I just, I love hearing all of them and it just is so much fun to get to know everybody who's in the community doing the stuff that we all love as well. So, Caitlin, very excited for that series to start and I know you are just very passionate about these brands and it's great for you to be out there at our events, meeting them and discovering them through the shelfies and figuring out what are the stories that we need to tell out there to our community.

41:57
Caitlin Bricker
It's the best part of the job, right?

41:59
Daniel Scharff
Yeah, I guess. Just for me, I hope that everybody on our team loves doing this because CPG is fun. I love doing this and I think we all do. I would love just to actually ask both of you maybe if there's one memory from this year, just one thing that was the most fun or the most enjoyable or the most memorable for both of you, and maybe I'll go first to give you time to think. So I think for me it really is, you know, we talked about the grocery run events and like we want to get buyers to the events.

42:29
Daniel Scharff
And actually that's it is I just overjoyed when I'm out there in the market at these events and I'm hearing from brands like, hey, I just want to let you know, I went to this event and I got two or three yeses from retailers and because of that, this distributor picked me up and now we're getting this done. And just, you know, the many times that I've just heard from brands in the community that they got a major retailer or a bunch of independent retailers and a distributor because of this work that we're doing, that's what fills my cup and makes me want to just absolutely pile on more of these events that we're doing, which is our plan. So how about you guys? Maybe, Caitlin, I'll come to you first.

43:06
Caitlin Bricker
It is so hard to pick one memory, but I think the one that stands out in my mind is Expo west for sure, because that was the first time that I was able to meet our entire team in person after having joined the team, and everyone clicked right away. It was such a great time. And the feedback from the brands was so good. Like, not to sound cheesy, but it was very heartwarming to be there, hear from the brands directly about how their experience was so positive. So I'm like, okay, it's not just me being in the startup CPG world. These brands really are benefiting. It's not just us telling you that they are. They really are. And they're loving their experience. And it. Yeah, it was really cool. And I'm. I'm very excited for fancy food.

43:54
Daniel Scharff
I love it. I love to hear that. And one of my actual. I mean, just kind of a random memory that I have. But just being at expo with our team, which is now much bigger than it was previously, we're really growing a lot in just great ways. And, you know, I'm so happy that we're able to do that. But I remember just walking behind a couple of you guys one day after a very, you know, long, fun, exciting, exhausting day, like they all are, and we got these cool new backpacks with our logos on them. And I think I was just walking behind three or four of you guys, and you were all wearing the backpacks, which I love. Like, it looks so cool and just, like, all enjoying each other's company and chatting and having a good time.

44:36
Daniel Scharff
And I was like, this is very special. We have a team that, like, really enjoys each other and enjoys the work. And that just that moment made me very happy and proud to see. So really excited about that. Okay, Patricia, how about you? What was one of your favorite memories this year?

44:54
Patricia Menegoto
Oh, my God. It's hard to come after these two examples because honestly, I think for me, it's the same. We have so much going on. As you know, everyone now is Slack email podcast. Like, they can hear all the work we put behind, but when we go to these events and then hear, like, the brand sharing their feedback on all the, like, content and how, you know, they are learning or connecting through our platform. Just like, what kind of Caitlin said, it's just so rewarding because sometimes, like, I'm sitting on my computer for so long and, like, managing everything, replying to a bunch of emails, Slack message, but then when you meet them in person, you really see the impact.

45:39
Patricia Menegoto
So it's not about just this year's memory, but I would say, like, I think we are getting more and more feedback about also, like, brands getting into shelves, which that's also amazing. It's not just like the learning online content we do, but now the connections are becoming bigger and bigger. And I would say, since I'm with you, since the beginning, the team as well, because we started with a bunch of contractors doing their own thing. We were not a team as we are today. And then seeing, like, we hire someone and then that person already click with the entire team, so it's hard to pick one. I'm just saying that whatever you guys said, it's my favorite moment, too.

46:23
Daniel Scharff
And my favorite moment of Patti was seeing Patti just crush it. Leading the panel, moderating the panel with Whole Foods at the Female Founder event back in February. Gosh, that was a while ago. Feels like yesterday. So Patti was up there with Alyssa Vecchio, who's the head of center store Whole Foods, and Caroline Friedman from lending, and Whitney, one of the category managers, and then a brand that's crushed it with them just leading this panel. All of the brands learning alongside us. And it was just such a beautiful and special event that, you know, Patti really put together and is so passionate about the Female Founder program that we have. So that was just a great one. Me and Quinn from our team were lucky to be able to attend, but were there to, like, you know, help and move chairs and stuff.

47:08
Daniel Scharff
But I was just very happy to just watch and see everybody shine and all the brands getting to chat. I remember. Oh, and Casey Gaston, who was on the panel as well. She. After the event, had she, like, as soon as the panel was done, she had two lines immediately form in either direction waiting to talk to her and. And just, like, just kind of went left, right, left, right. Talking to all of them for like, an hour and a half. And then at the end, I was like, hey, can I help you carry those samples to your truck? She just had, like, four massive tote bags full of samples by the end. So we really appreciate her and the Whole Foods team for doing that event.

47:46
Daniel Scharff
We're excited to do it again next year and for Addy for putting that together and so much of our Female Founder stuff as well. So I think that'll just about do it for. For us today. I really want to thank both of you for. It's funny. Like, it takes us this long to even talk about all the stuff that we're doing, so imagine how long it actually takes for us to put it all together. So I really want to thank both of you for all of your work, doing all of that, to actually put it together, not just to reminisce about it and I'm just really excited for the months to come and I hope to see many of you at Fancy Foods because that is, as you've just heard, our favorite is getting together in person.

48:21
Daniel Scharff
So thank you both and we will see all of you soon. Bye guys.

48:26
Caitlin Bricker
Thank you.

48:26
Patricia Menegoto
Thank you. Bye.

48:30
Daniel Scharff
All right, everybody, thank you so much for listening to our podcast. If you loved it, I would so appreciate it if you could leave us a review. You could do it right now. If you're an Apple podcast, you can scroll to the bottom of our Startup CPG Podcast page and click on Write a Review. Leave your comments company name in there. I will try to read it out. If you're in Spotify, you can click on about and then the Star rating icon. If you are a service provider that would like to appear on the Startup CPG Podcast, you can email us@partnershipstartupcpg.com lastly, if you found yourself grooving along to the music, it is My Band. You can visit our website and listen to more. It is superfantastics.com thank you everybody. See you next time.