The Startup CPG Podcast

Ashley
So in terms of connections, not only was it great buyer connections, but also founder connections. I still talk to the people that I was tabling with all of the time, but specifically in the up next section, people who are maybe like one or two steps ahead of you. Right. And I met quite a few brands that I am now really closely connected with. They've helped me a lot of ways. So, you know, I would think about shows not only being about like, oh, I need to, you know, close some deals, get some doors, but also meeting your community and people that will be more than happy to help you out on an ongoing basis.

00:43
Daniel Scharff
Welcome to the Startup CPG podcast. Today we're talking all about UNFI selling shows. So this year, for the first time ever, we got to partner with UNFI to bring an innovation section to these shows that was filled with the 10 hottest brands of the year. Not yet working with UNFI and all of the buyers attending the shows. And the UNFI sales team got to vote on which brands they wanted to see carried. And you can bet that the UNFI up Next program, which is their incubation program, was paying a lot of attention and thinking about which brands could be a good fit for all of the benefits of that program. So I really invite all of you to pay attention to this and the tips from the brands. We've got jubilees and Lupini pizza on here. Cause they have absolutely crushed it this year.

01:23
Daniel Scharff
And also our application windows has already closed for the first two UNIFI shows of the year, but it will open again later on for the second two shows. So make sure you're paying attention and in our Slack channel. And if you're not in our Slack channel yet, what are you doing? We've got 32,000 people in it right now. And you can sign up on our website. It's startupcpg.com you will find 32,000 of your best friends in there. It's a place where brands can ask questions. The whole community comes together to try to answer them, and you will just feel like you're not alone in this CPG world. Can't wait to see you there. All right, enjoy the podcast. Thank you so much to the UNFI team for all of their support and partnership. It has been just such a blast.

02:01
Daniel Scharff
All right, here we go. Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Startup CPG podcast. I'm really excited about today's episode because this year Startup CPG had the distinct honor to go to two of the UNFI selling shows. These UNFI selling shows are some of the most powerful shows in the industry, which is what you're about to hear about. We got to do a startup CPG innovation section bringing some brands that don't currently work with unfi. But we're there to show the UNFI customers and their team some of the hottest innovation out there. And so I really just wanted to share with the world what this was like because a lot of people ask questions about those shows in our Slack channel.

02:42
Daniel Scharff
Just trying to wrap their heads around, okay, this is a little bit of a different show than some of the ones that are out there. Like, really what is it like and how can you do well at these kinds of shows? So we've got two of the all star brands that got to come to these shows this year and went to two shows. So the first one was the Central and West selling show that happens in Las Vegas. And then the second show, commonly referred to as Mohegan sun, is the east coast selling show that happens in Connecticut. So let's just start with some intro. So Ashley, for anyone who doesn't know you from our sections or podcasts or all of your success, would you mind just kicking us off with a quick intro for yourself and Jubilees?

03:18
Ashley
Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me. My name is Ashley Waldman. I am the founder of Jubilees. We make a super milk for kids. Think of it like a modern day nest book with the biggest differentiators being there is zero grams of added sugar, secret vegetables and it is packed with vitamins, especially protein. I created it because I have two little girls, ages 3 and 5. My oldest of which is autistic. So fighting over healthy eating, worrying about their nutrition is a part of my everyday experience. And I was looking for an easy way to get in all of the nutrition in a format I knew that they would always say yes to.

03:57
Daniel Scharff
And it's so good. I just want to say that because it's hard for, you know, sometimes you just have to hear it from other people. You've got to try this. If you haven't tried it, maybe check out their website, try to order it. They have awesome flavors like chocolate and banana cream. And it's just so good. And you know, you look at it and it's in the tetra pack like it's in that fun little package and it just tastes so good. And Ashley's been cleaning up on the circuit. She won the pitch competition that we did with Beverage Forum. And just because I was in the room with the buyers when they were making those decisions and they were they all loved it. And any of them who were parents were like, oh, yes, my kids will have this.

04:33
Daniel Scharff
And then the main thing they also said is there just isn't a lot of competition for innovation in this space. We haven't seen a lot of people innovating in this area. So we feel like this brand is going to have a lot of Runway and as you have. And I, I think we've just really been exciting seeing all of the success that you've had. So, Damiano, coming to you, similar trajectory, all of the awards you've been cleaning up on. Do you mind giving everyone an intro?

04:58
Damiano
Hi, everyone. I'm Damiano Messineo, founder of Lupini. We make better for you frozen pizza that is packed with protein. We got 50 gram for our pie, 20 gram of fiber, and less than 560 calories for our margarita. And so the whole idea was that the most loved food in the world is pizza, yet people try to avoid it because it's bad for you. It's fucked with carbs, fat and sodium. So as an Italian, I felt the urge to solve this problem. And so now you can eat pizza every day and feel good about it. So the same feeling, you're eating a chicken salad, you're eating a pizza now, I love it.

05:32
Daniel Scharff
And pizza for sure is the most loved food by me in the world. I commonly tell people, although I feel like sometimes I should have, you know, more like, foodie cool credentials because I work in this industry a lot. I'm just like. But yeah, I mean, like, last meal would definitely be pizza for me, so this definitely does it. Damiano, just one question for you, because, you know, we're like, in this protein craze, obviously, and, like, we're seeing, you know, protein, absolutely everything come out. When you were designing your product, was that like, really top of mind for you, or was it really more about just like the ingredient story and wanting to come with, like, healthier options for pizza? And I know you have such a, you know, beautiful origin story and supply chain and all of that.

06:10
Daniel Scharff
Like, so, yeah, when you were designing this, how much of it was because you knew protein was really on trend versus focusing on the ingredient or everything together?

06:16
Damiano
Actually, it wasn't focused on protein. Protein came after a couple of months. It became big. But the way we approach it was we reverse engineer. So we first create the nutritional label with some nutritionists, one of the best macros for lunch or dinner. And then we create an excel sheet and we plug in all ingredients to get that nutritional label and it just makes sense to have 50 gram of protein, which is roughly 50% of what you should assume, and 20 gram of fiber, which is like roughly 8, 70, 80% lower fat. So it was all thought, not just the protein, but all the macro profile plus made with organic ingredients when possible. So our lupino flour is organic and super clean like you're non would make.

07:04
Daniel Scharff
You know, I love it. And Damiano scared and inspired me a little bit when he revealed that his pizza is like lower calorie and much higher in protein than the salad that I order for lunch that I thought was I was being really good and healthy about it. I'm like, wait, I could just eat pizza? Is that what you're telling me? Are you saying? All right. Okay, cool. So, Ashley, coming back to you, can you just talk about why you wanted to get to the UNFI show initially, what was appealing to you about it and the opportunity to be in the innovation section?

07:36
Ashley
Sure. It's very much tied to my strategy as a business a little bit more broadly. So I'll spend just a couple seconds talking about that. So my podcast produce aseptically shelf stable milk. There is a blessing and a curse with that. The blessing is it has a really fantastic shelf life of 12 months. I also don't have to do cold chain logistics, which relatively is less expensive. The curse part is there's no such thing as low volume. So I am forced into scale really quickly. Because I am forced into scale, I also want to make sure I'm doing that as profitably as possible so I don't just burn a ton of cash and lose my business in a year.

08:11
Ashley
And so the way that relates to UNFI is the two levers I'm using to achieve that goal is focusing regionally and focusing on high ROI stores. High ROI stores means their relative velocity to other banners is high, which if you look at spins data, that's a really easy thing to figure out, especially at a category level. And from a regional perspective, I'm really focused on the west coast in Texas so that I can achieve full trucks. And my landed cost is as low as possible. So all that means is the pool that I'm fishing in when it comes to sales targets is small, relatively, and they're big players and most of them work with unfi. So my big goal there was to get onboarded to UNFI and in specific DCs. There are two I'm targeting. They're Rockland DC, they're Marina Valley DC.

08:57
Ashley
So my goal going into this was I need to get these ex retailers in these specific DCs. And that's why I was really interested in the show.

09:04
Daniel Scharff
That makes a lot of sense. And just for anyone who doesn't know, there are actually four UNFI shows that happen throughout the year. So I talked about the ones that we did this year and then there are also two other shows. One of them is a West show that happens in Long Beach, California and then there's another one that happens in Orlando. And so I think that's part of it is really understanding, like, oh, I want to grow in a particular region. Okay, maybe I would consider the selling show that actually can activate the DCs, the distribution centers that are in that region for me. So I think really smart strategy. And also for people who are applying for these sections or just looking at the shows, really good to think about it that way. Like, okay, what is my business strategy?

09:40
Daniel Scharff
Where do I want to grow? Thus, what shows should I be thinking about to unlock those DCs or get more chains who pull out of those DCs to strengthen the DC and my overall efficiency and hopefully I can then ship bigger truckloads to those specific DCs, get all my costs down. So that is great. And really loved hearing a little bit more about how your product, how the specs also tie into that strategy. So pretty interesting to hear about. I also just by the by happened to run into your co man this past week at supply side. So it was cool to chat with him. And he's obviously such a big fan of yours, so that was a lot of fun.

10:14
Daniel Scharff
Okay, Damiano, coming to you, same question, like what's the overall business strategy for Lupini Pizza and how do these kind of shows play a part in that? What made you want to get to the show and really crush it there?

10:26
Damiano
Yeah, so our strategy was to focus. You know, usually you go to the small guys to any chain store and then you work up to get into All Foods or Wegmans or the biggest one. We wanted to kind of do it different. We wanted to launch first in those bigger retailers because we know that our target customer is there. So we just wanted kind of cut corners and go straight there. So that was our main goals. And we applied before to the up Next Unifi but we didn't got any response. And so when I see startup CPG posting this opportunity, I knew that would be our shot to get into UNFI possibly and it would be easier to get into those stores. So that's our strategy. I mean I'm love To talk more about what happened.

11:13
Damiano
But definitely it was crucial to be part of the show.

11:16
Daniel Scharff
Yeah, let's get into what happened in just a second here. And also just to give everyone a little bit of an overview. I'd be interested to hear your guys perspective on this too because I've been a couple times to these shows. Okay. So for somebody who has been to a show like Expo west, it's very different. These shows, they kind of happen in one big hall and they feel very focused. You won't have any service providers there, really. You also don't have any brands that aren't currently working with them because it's not a show for people to just kind of come and, you know, pitch, you know, new buyers. It's really like this is a show that is run by UNFI and it is for their customers to come and sometimes their customers have a specific objective.

11:55
Daniel Scharff
Like, yeah, I'm here trying to find good deals on all the products that I need to stock for the holiday season or for summer, you know, beverages, stuff like that. Like they're there to get good deals. Obviously everybody is trying to improve their margin and you know, find cool stuff for their customers. So you do have buyers who are looking at that like they come to the show to try to get big buys and good deals on stuff, brands they already work with new brands, that kind of stuff. And then there also is a lot of exploration that can happen. People looking for new things to bring onto their shelves in a more permanent basis. So the opportunity was so cool because there are no brands there that aren't already working with unfi, except for this startup, CPG innovation section.

12:36
Daniel Scharff
Which is why we're really so grateful to the UNFI team for partnering with us on that. Because this was the only way for brands who were eager to get into UNFI up next or you know, get closer to their team to come in and show off their stuff. And our brands brought the heat. So we had just so many applications for this. Once brands found out it was their chance to get to the show and, you know, try to build this interest there. And so we had these applications. We have 10 spots for brands at each of the shows. Everybody applied. The brands that were selected were kind of the hottest innovations. Brands really primed to just do really well at this kind of show. And that's what happened basically.

13:13
Daniel Scharff
So then when you actually get to the show, you know, you're looking around this big hall and were in one of the aisles there with all of our brands together like a community Lined up with just kind of half boost. That's all we need there. Just showing off the innovation and the retailers and the UNFI team coming by, it was their chance to see what's next. And it was very exciting for them too because yeah, they are there focused on the buys that they have to do and discovering some new stuff. And then hold up, what's this? I'm in this hot innovation section. Look at this cool new stuff with just the best energy out there. All these excited brands ready to rock and oh, what's this new thing that I've never heard of?

13:52
Daniel Scharff
So that's kind of what the whole show feels like, which is just business is getting done, deals are happening, people are looking to expand their footprint with distribution, meet new retailers, all that stuff. Just the, you know, it's a high pressure situation because there's so many top tier buyers there as well as independent buyers focused around those DCs that the show is kind of focused on. Yeah, so that's my kind of overall experience of the show. But what was it for you guys? So Ashley coming to you, is that what it felt like to you or was it different than that? Cause I know that, you know, it's earlier on for you. I've been to a couple more than you, but not a lot more. What was it like for you?

14:27
Ashley
So of all the shows I've been to, which is not as many as you would certainly describe this as the highest ROI one that I've been to. Both from the perspective of you don't need a huge Expo west style setup. In fact, it would be unusual if you did bring that amount of stuff. But also in the terms of number of deals I got. So on the low end, I'm expecting at least 85 doors and achieving those two UNFI DCs that I'd hoped to open, which wasn't even on UNFI at the time, to be clear, and then on the high end, more than a hundred doors. So extremely successful for me from a conversion perspective. Also, just as you said, it is all buyers, so you're not spending half of your time fielding service providers, which is really nice.

15:13
Ashley
And in terms of the vibe, it's definitely a lot more laid back. Like you can have longer, more meaningful conversations with buyers. And because you're not fighting through a bunch of people, they're not trying to get to 10,000 different booths so they feel like really meaningful connections. And in terms of the startup CPG section specifically, so it is the fun place to be at the show. Because as you said, most everyone else is there just like to throw deals. So they're just there with their little pads, like, oh, you want 35 shippers or five pallets? Or it's sort of like a very unsexy experience. Whereas you come to the start CPG section, you're like, oh, my God, these are such cool brands. I'd never heard of this brand before. You're talking to the actual founders.

15:56
Ashley
So just to give you like one example, the booth that was sitting across from us, there's these two people behind there. Not the founders, clearly, the entire show, they were sitting there on their laptops. If I was a buyer, there's no chance I would stop by that booth. So this feels like where the party is at the show. And now that you've done it once, Daniel, now people are going to know and they're going to want to like, definitely swing by that section every show.

16:18
Daniel Scharff
Yes, I think you're right about that. I've seen that before also where, like, we had got paid for a booth at the show and then there was a brand across from us and I think they had some brokers managing it. And the brokers were just on their laptops. And I ended up sending a message to the brand. I'm like, hey, I just want you to know, like, your broker is dogging you right now. They're at your booth and just showing up horribly. Like, you know, I think that is up to the brand a lot. Like, you got to show up with the right energy and get out there and be in front of your booth and be excited and be engaging. But I agree, our section is so much fun. Just the passion that you all have is like bringing these awesome products.

16:52
Daniel Scharff
And I mean, this is why you guys were selected for it and why you were really able to do a lot with the opportunity. I also love the up next section at the show as well, because, I mean, those are. Those brands all feel like ones that come from our community. Also. They're like really ambitious earlier stage brands that are just out there following their dreams. So that's a super fun part of the show as well.

17:13
Ashley
Can I talk about that for just one second? Just since you brought it up. So in terms of connections, not only was it great buyer connections, but also founder connections, I still talked to the people that I was tabling with all of the time, but specifically in the up next section, people were maybe like one or two steps ahead of you. Right. And I met quite a few brands that I am now really closely connected with. They've helped me a lot of ways. So I would think about shows not only being about like, oh, I need to close some deals, get some doors, but also meeting your community and people that will be more than happy to help you out on an ongoing basis.

17:47
Daniel Scharff
That was fun. I mean, very common for our community to bond with each other and want to help each other out. And that is really a very beautiful thing. And I love hearing about the impact because that's how it's supposed to work in an ideal world is you show up to the show. You went to the Las Vegas one that covers more of the Central and West stuff. You had two specific DCs that you wanted to open and you got the door count to do it. And just, you know, for anyone who's not as familiar with DC requirements, if you want to open up a distribution center, you typically need like at 30, 40, 50 doors, like retailer locations to support something like that.

18:20
Daniel Scharff
Because they do have a certain number of cases per SKU that you're supposed to be able to move through a distribution center. I think it's something like seven cases per week that they want to see. And that's kind of the like normal door count that you need. So you getting that number of doors means you're going to have a healthy velocity pull through going through those distribution centers and that Unify is going to be happy to work with you on that. Because they're like, okay, there's good business. They need obviously volume to make their business make sense. They can't just have a couple units of every single brand out there in the world. They need brands that are growing and doing good volume. So I love to hear that.

18:54
Daniel Scharff
So Damiano, you were at the other show, you were at the Mohegan sun show, covered more East Coast. Tell me, was it like similar experience like that for you? Was it different?

19:02
Damiano
It was amazing. Strategically makes a lot of sense for a small brand to be there for many reason. The first reason that comes to my mind is that you have a lot of big brands there, like Coca Cola was there, Kellogg's. You have big brands so it's good for buyers to have. Let's say there is not much competition for growing and innovation, right? So first of all, you don't have that much competition that you might have Expo west or you might have fancy food and other shows. Second, you are working there for two reasons and only at the CPG Innovation center, which is one, getting into unifi, which will change completely your business. Like if you are in with a Regional distributor or you don't have a distributor. Getting to unfi, it's a huge deal that will change your business and skyrocket you.

19:51
Damiano
So this is the main thing. Second, you might get huge doors, which what happened to us? So the opportunity is invaluable here and obviously the community is amazing. I remember the guy from Recoup, the team from Recoup were helping me and once I was going to get some more pizza and I came back and there was Maxi from Epic Candy selling the pizza. You know, like, oh, the pizza is amazing. As much protein and fiber. I was like, Maxi, like, yeah, I've been hearing from you all day. So this guy was interested. So I was giving the pitch for you. That's the kind of environment that you get being the community. But speaking of the turnouts from the show, buyer came by. I was like, I want this pizza first in the market.

20:35
Damiano
And it was Wegmans, which is an amazing, you know, it's a dream retailer. Wegmans is one of the highest velocity, actually. I saw a post on LinkedIn yesterday and it's just second to traders. Joe has the most sales per square feet in all the US So it's one of those dream retailers. Speaking of Ashley, you were speaking about roi. So Wegmans is the dream and were able to get in just because of Daniel and the startup CPG opportunity. And this is one part. The second part is were trying, as I said before, we applied for the UNFI Up Next in the past, but we didn't get a response. And because of the Wegmans buyer right on the spot on the show, Aaron, which is the manager from the Up Next program, told us the news with Daniel.

21:23
Damiano
We made a nice video that we got onboarded and so we now have a ton of opportunities with them at a preferred rate, which is like a kind of a startup deal that you get for two years, then you graduate. But you have so much assimilation, let's say, you know, you pay way less than you would pay. And for a startup, this is crucial. So thanks to this opportunity, we. It really changed a lot for us.

21:50
Daniel Scharff
That's beautiful. It was very exciting to see that happen. Also for me, getting Wegmans is just one of the biggest prizes, not just at that show, but in the world. That's a dream retailer for absolutely anybody. I'm just such a powerhouse regional retailer with tons of doors and incredible velocity. Everybody wants that account. And it's also in my mind, one of the hardest ones to get. I don't think they have like an official review schedule. Sometimes it can be hard to really get a ton of attention from their team. I don't think they have a huge staff and they don't actually carry a lot of different SKUs. If you go, the assortment is not massive. You know, they're not just onboarding lots of different brands all the time. And so to get in with them is such a big deal.

22:32
Daniel Scharff
That was so exciting at the show when their buyer came by, tried your product, and then just turned to the UNIFI account manager was like, I want to be first to market on this. And it was. It was very exciting for everybody. That was really cool. And then, yeah, obviously the UNFI Up Next team, that's a big signal to them that they need lupini pizza on their trucks. So that was really cool. And I guess just to reiterate for everybody how this works, so the innovation section that we do with UNFI really is a great way for them to understand what their customers are really looking for. And obviously they want to be the ones to provide that then for their customers. So once they see the demand and I know you had a bunch of other retailers interested as well, they're like, great.

23:13
Daniel Scharff
This is the innovation absolutely. That we want to be able to provide for people. So in the section we are there actually we had voting signs and so the retailers and the UNFI team would scan the QR code that we had and. And then vote for the brands that they wanted for UNFI to carry. So it was a really fun way to engage the buyers in that journey of like, okay, what do you want to see next? What do you want to be available through us? And the buyers really liked it. The UNFI team really liked it also. It was so much fun to get to know them and they would come back over and over again, bringing their team members and their buyers over to try things that they loved.

23:47
Daniel Scharff
But that is really is the idea and I think especially as a great feeder for the Up Next program, which I did when I was a brand, it's a big opportunity. Like you're saying, there are a lot of things that they make available through that Up Next program, which is designed for emerging brands that are high potential, high growth to help them on that journey to becoming big brands. And, you know, it's hard when you're a small brand and there's a lot that they can make available through their team and support. And you get Up Next account manager shout out, Joan. She was mine. She's awesome. She just was like, really can help you navigate that kind of a distributor network which if you're an early founder, you're just not going to know how to do it right. It's not second nature.

24:24
Daniel Scharff
You're like, wait, retailers, wait, now I have to worry about all the distributors too? Okay. I have to manage that like almost like a, you know, retailer. So it's so helpful to have their team and their support. So thank you again to the unified team for making all that available and having that program also just really focused on the early stage brands because we need it. And I think the one thing I really see out in the market right now is just how much retailers care increasingly about innovation in their stores. I think it's just something you can see really accelerating right now in the industry. Like we've always seen emerging brands growing well, better for you stuff, taking share from incumbent, stuff that doesn't get better. But right now I'm just seeing really a huge uptick.

25:03
Daniel Scharff
Innovation sets more appearing in more and more retailers, distributors really making sure that they have capabilities to provide that to the retailers. So I think this is in that vein and very exciting. I hope it's exciting for everybody out there because the doors and the windows are really opening up to brands that bring cool stuff. And just for me personally, honestly, I order a lot of my groceries online. I like to not wait in line at the store, rather have it all delivered so I can spend more time here making these podcasts for all of you guys. But the thing that would keep me and I think a lot of people in the stores especially longer term is discovery and cool new stuff that you can really like, you know, food and beverage.

25:41
Daniel Scharff
Honestly, not even as well suited for things like TikTok shop and Instagram because it doesn't ship as well. And it's all about taste. And so there will always be a huge place for that kind of discovery happening in stores. And just I think all signs point to this being a great thing and you know, kudos I think, to unify for really doing everything in their power to make sure they're getting that innovation out there and really being on the forefront of it, especially with their customers who just need to see what's next to be able to serve their shoppers in the best way. So all of that, very exciting. And Damiano, I just loved hearing of all of the positive impacts for you. It just was not a surprise, I think to any of us that you did so well there.

26:21
Daniel Scharff
But I mean, boy, that was immediate because it happened right then on the show floor and it was just like if you're like, if someone like wins the lottery right next to you're like, what? Whoa. All right, that was really cool. So I love hearing all these positive impacts for you guys. It's no surprise, but it is really exciting. So we wish that we could have every brand in our community at these shows. Unfortunately, the opportunities do have a maximum capacity. But I'm just wondering, you know, let's say fast forward next year. Now you're in UNFI and the show is coming back up. What's the stuff that you're going to do to prepare for the show? Just to try to really make the most of it. Ashley, I'll start with you.

26:58
Ashley
Yeah, I mean, I think just having a really specific idea of who your targets are so you know, one, what they look like and you can flag them down when you see them, make sure you do not miss them. Or Daniel, tip, like walk the aisles and see when they're coming. So that's one. Making sure you have a specific idea of who you want to talk to. The other is making sure you are furiously documenting any key insights from your conversation. Did they talk about their kids? What were their kids names? What are their kids like? Those are. People love talking about their kids. So try to remember those things that when you follow up, you have something personal to pension prove that you know, enjoyed the conversation or know something about them.

27:39
Ashley
You know, don't follow up the next day or the next week even like, give them some time to breathe. Like, don't be annoying person. I usually like, at least wait 10 days or so, honestly, before I follow up. But then you can like follow up consistently after that. Other than that, I think this is a little further along and I'm stealing this from your unf. Well, here's one. Listen to Daniel's podcast on preparing for UNFI show. One insight from that I thought was so useful, so I'm just gonna parry it back to you is like, have very close chats with your cfo or even bring your CFO if you can afford that, so that as you're trying to write deals on the floor, you don't go crazy. You make sure it's something you can afford.

28:13
Ashley
You make sure you're going to get your ROI from that and you don't get distracted by like the shiny objects and exciting names. So that is the thing I will do differently next year when I do go to the UNFI show is making sure I have a really good idea of what is actually going to give me the most roi.

28:28
Daniel Scharff
Yes. And thank you for shouting out that episode that we did a while back. It was a banger. It was such a good episode. It was Samuel Jacobson from Hop Water. Because I've been at the shows with him and saw him just cranking and I learned a couple really cool things from him. Like, yeah, I mean, you could also just write the order right then, you know, if they don't want to wait for the shipping. He knows a lot of insider tips and tricks and he's writing deals at that show. So anyone who's interested in that, if you go back and look in our archives there, it would be how to crush a Distributor Show. So you could just google that also to get right to the link. Amazing. And I love those tips around relationship building as well.

29:05
Daniel Scharff
I feel like that would be harder for me to like nonchalantly be like, how's your kid Trevor? Like, it would sound weird if I did it, but I think like you're just a way more natural person and I. Maybe because you have a kids related brand, I bet you pull it off very well.

29:20
Ashley
To be clear, it doesn't have to be about their children. Maybe their dog, maybe they like to golf. Like whatever it is.

29:26
Daniel Scharff
Like, how come you know my kid's name, bro? Like, I mean, I never, I wrote it down because I care. I don't, I don't know. So good relationships, yes. Stalker, no. All right, Damiano, how about you? What are you gonna do to prepare for the show next year?

29:39
Damiano
I mean, definitely first thing I would say have your pitch prepared and nailed. Has to be the perfect land. You have to prepare before what the buyers want. So have that ready and some materials. Like I have those cards, for example. What, what for me that people likes very much is we're selling, you know, the protein, the fiber, the calories, the net carbs. So what I did was to create a postcard where I put the equivalent amount of protein to something that we all know. Like two protein shakes, net carbs, 40 grams. Some people don't know, some buyers don't know because we are younger, we are more in the innovation. But some buyers, they are not in the innovation. So they might not know what's 40 gram net carb is.

30:19
Damiano
But if I tell them is this eating one pizza is the same as eating two bananas in term of net carbs, then they get it. So you need to practice that and have fantasy first of all. Second most important, the energy you have to bring the energy, do whatever you want to do to Create that. One thing that really worked for us was to bring a fake pizza dough that me and Daniel were having fun spinning it. And actually, Daniel was surprisingly good. Even better than me. I mean, that gets the attention. Even if it doesn't get the attention of the buyer, it uplifts your mood. And once you're gonna talk with someone else, you're gonna be in a better mood, you're gonna deliver a better speech. And at the end of the day, the product is the first thing.

31:01
Damiano
But you gotta deliver the energy, and the buyers need to like you because it's a face game. It's a relationship game. So you need to show up in that sense. And also, I mean, small thing, like have your sales sheet have plenty of business cards. That's how you prepare and have enough product for sure. You don't want to sold out on the product the last day.

31:24
Daniel Scharff
Yeah, it is less product than you would need for other trade shows that are more open to, like, general pop in the industry. Right. And when I was a beverage company, I don't remember how many cases I brought, but I didn't end up using all of it. I think, like, know, four cases per SKU would have been okay because you're pouring sips. Like, people aren't just coming by and grabbing can after can, that kind of stuff. But I know your pizza was very popular, so I'm sure he went through a lot of it. I really like what you said about the mood.

31:50
Daniel Scharff
I think a lot of why brands make big investments for some of the other shows where you deck out your booth and come up with themes each year is like, they're trying to create the right environment for when the buyers come there. They're like, yeah, experience the brand in a certain way, aligned to their brand, but also, like, create that right environment for good things to happen. But you don't have to do it through a really elaborate booth display. Like, you guys both show up with such great energy and, yeah, it's fun. We're, like, spinning around this, like, pretend pizza dough, and people are like, what's going on there? That one's kind of fun. All right, let me get involved in that. And obviously, it's good content these days.

32:22
Daniel Scharff
A couple brands in our section had their TikTok cameras going for a good amount of the time. I hope that strategy works. That's something. I know a lot about TikTok, but. But seems like they do. So I really like everything you were saying about that. And obviously it worked out really well for both of you. I Guess maybe just, you know, one last question that I would have for both of you, and I'm really interested to hear the answer. So I would look at both of you as just some really massive success stories from the last year. I think both of you, I met this year, 2025, and just saw tons of progress from your brands, you know, from our community. I would say two of the most standout brands this year.

33:01
Daniel Scharff
And just in terms of getting out there, delivering product, doing really well, you know, Ashley, such a great product. I think you did deliver a lot of that fun mood also, like, you had your sister with you at the show, which was a good time for people just to see how much fun you guys were having. Damiano, I've seen you out there, like doing your full pitch also, you know, with the deck, like winning pitch competitions and, like, really saw a huge difference between you and other brands that were also really well prepared in terms of that pitch, which was. It was just such a tight story. Like the whole thing just came together so well. And yourself are so natural up there. You're not reading something that's memorized.

33:37
Daniel Scharff
You're speaking from the heart, but you also are just proactively answering every question that anyone might have about your supply chain and your pricing and, yeah, how the product stacks up against what's out there in the market. But long question. But let me get back to the real thing that I want to know, which is I wonder if you have any reflections or thoughts for brands about, like, how can you be those kind of standout brands? Is there something that you guys feel like you did really smartly to set yourselves up to have such great early traction, put you on this path to getting all this distribution and like, you know, cleaning up all these awards and everything? Is it you? Please feel free to brag if you feel like it's something about you or just a pro.

34:15
Daniel Scharff
You feel like you just really hit on an awesome product or just, you know, certain diligence that you did in your supply chain or research about the market or having the right strategies. Probably it's all these things together, but anything that you guys feel like you could call out specifically. Ashley, I'll start with you.

34:29
Ashley
Three things I would say the first was absolutely the market. So I come from consumer research background, market research background, specifically in technology before this. But I very much applied those same principles to cpg. So I started with a problem, came up with a solution, collected data iterated, more data iterated, and sort of became a product where I feel like A lot of people in CPG kind of start with a solution first. So I think that's part of why, Daniel, when you mentioned that you felt like there was no innovation in that space and that's why a lot of people are responding. I think that's part of how I got there. It's because I was like, oh, look at this big, huge, giant TAM that no one is doing anything interesting in. I think I will do that.

35:08
Ashley
So I think it was partially that I think the second thing I did was make myself a student of this industry. As I mentioned, I did not come from this background. Although my dad has been an operator for the past 25 years. I have consumed anything and everything I possibly can about this industry. A lot of that has been startup cpg. I have listened to probably every single podcast you've ever done. There's many others out there that I like it, but this is my favorite. So that will be a second. And I hear this a lot. Like I'll be talking to investors or other people in the industry and they're like, you don't come from this. Like, you talk like you've been in this forever. I'm like, it is 1,000% the content on finsu, Nate. So that is the second thing.

35:47
Ashley
And I think the third thing is I have one speed and it's 150 miles an hour. I have a hard time not just like going, going. And sometimes that is a curse and I have to like force myself to slow down so I don't burn out. But I think it's also why I just get a lot done. So I think it's a confluence of all three of those things.

36:03
Daniel Scharff
I love it. Damiana, same question to you.

36:05
Damiano
Yeah, for me it's actually the opposite from Ashley. Cause I come from a zero background and I always told everyone and I will always tell a startup. CPG was my university in that sense because in this Slack channel at the beginning I remember I didn't know what a DST was or Velocity was. And you ask questions there and you have previous threads where people explain it and people are so kind that they sometimes they offer for health. Or you can find people that can, you know, like consultants there. You can find. It's a university. So you go there, you go office hour. You find your peers and you work together. Study groups. I mean, actually you already did, right? In New York City. You got the office. So that's what I'm talking about.

36:49
Damiano
So I had zero experience and this helped me a lot to understand Everything in this industry as per pitch competition helped a lot in getting all distraction. It's just a matter of probability. I remember the first pitch competition that we did. It was a fair way competition and we didn't get to win. But I ask questions also to the buyers, always ask questions. And then I prepare the pitch competition first of all a lot of practice and then ask for helps. There are. We are so lucky that in the CPG industry people are just so willing to help and just reach out to them, try the pitch with them. They will give you one advice and another one will give another advice. And so once your pitch is complete, you repeat it until it's on you. So you're not just reading.

37:36
Damiano
You non memorize it, you own it. And another thing is to close your eyes, visualize yourself over there giving the speech and also the questions that will come. And so you did it already with your eyes shut. So once you're up there, you did a ton of time and it's gonna look like it's natural, but it's just practice and artwork.

37:56
Daniel Scharff
I really like that. I like how you said that. It's just like so when you actually give the presentation, you're not reciting something, you own it like you are it. Right. I think that's really well summarizes how your presence is when you're giving that pitch because it's so authentic. Like that's for me, my biggest pet peeve is when I hear a founder giving their pitch and you can tell that it's memorized the way you can always tell because people will flub words that you wouldn't flub when you're just talking normally. And so you can always tell when something sounds inauthentic, which memorize things do sound inauthentic. And so I think it's incredible. Once you do all of that work and you're prepping with everybody, it's no surprise that it then just is so natural when you actually deliver it.

38:37
Daniel Scharff
And you build that up through demoing with people all the time and then just all of the work that you've done on the brand because you are the one who did all that work to build out the supply chain and figure out what the macros should be. And at that point you should just be able to speak from the heart about all of it and just the passion is going to come through and you have all the expertise around it. So it's no surprise. I hope people really pay attention to that. I think it's really Important. And yeah, like you said, people will practice with you, people will help you if you ask someone for feedback on a pitch. It can also be a really great way to build relationship with investors because they love giving feedback and it's usually really smart.

39:13
Daniel Scharff
So I think on that note, thank you guys so much for those insights. That last part was especially really interesting to me because I don't know how there's like no secret to success in this industry, but it is really interesting to just talk about what are some of the keys to success for people who have been successful recently. So just to end up here, I wonder if you both could just leave everyone with a great way to support you guys moving forward. Whether it's, you know, following you or trying the product or what stores they can find you in. Ashley, starting with you.

39:41
Ashley
So obviously it would be wonderful if you would follow us on social media. We are at Drink jubilees both on TikTok and Instagram. We're also on LinkedIn. That's another great place to follow us. I am always super down to chat with anybody and provide advice. I do that all the time. I did that earlier today. So you're welcome to email me as well@ashleyiseandshine beverage.com and I look forward to meeting everybody.

40:06
Daniel Scharff
And that's rise n like the letter n shine beverage.com Damiano, same one for you. Close us out here.

40:14
Damiano
Reach out on LinkedIn follows us on Instagram and try the product awegments starting next month and all Foods starting January 1st.

40:24
Daniel Scharff
That's what's up. All right. So good. All right. Hey, thank you both. It's such a treat for us to get to support you guys and see all of the incredible growth from you all. I think back also, you know, for Ashley specifically, I think you're the first ever event that you did was with us that was like your pre launch or launch was at the Whole Foods event that we did the grocery run in February of this year. Right. That was like you're coming out there with the product and it just got such incredible feedback there. It's kind of mind blowing to think about how far you've come since then. Same for you, Damiano.

41:00
Daniel Scharff
It was so great to get you in our section a couple times this year at some of the shows and just that's insane to be launching with Whole Foods and Wegmans. This is the dream. So congratulations to both of you. Great to see all the hard work paying off and thank you so much for all the insights today. Bye bye everybody.

41:16
Damiano
Thank you. Thank you so much.

41:18
Ashley
Thank you.

41:21
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 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. Everybody. See you next time.