The Startup CPG Podcast

Patricia Menegoto
When we launch the shelfies, we do have a base of categories, but we always expand based on the products that we receive. So even though if you don't see like, hey, these are the categories we are gonna do, we always add more. Like, this year, we have way more than the ones that we said we are gonna do. But yeah, whatever you're looking for is innovation in the industry. We take the time to read, like, every brand story to see which one also stands out for us. The sustainability, the packaging, the branding. So many things play a part. And of course, like the feel, the taste, or for skincare, like the results that we have over time.

00:52
Grace Kennedy
Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the startup CPG podcast. Today we have a very special episode because last week we finally announced the Shelfies 2024 finalists. We tried over 1500 products, everything from beauty to baby, with even our furry friends joining the judging panel. This year's competition was fierce, and it was so hard to narrow down the brands that we wanted to give this award of even a finalist, let alone the winners themselves. So in this episode, I talk to Patty and Kiki, my fellow Shelfies judges, about the brands that stood out, why they stood out, and what were looking for as were judging these products. I hope you enjoy this episode, and as always, let me know what you think. And please do join us for the Shelfies Awards ceremony live on LinkedIn on September 4. Hello, everyone.

01:56
Grace Kennedy
Welcome back to the Startup CPG podcast. Today we are here with an extra special bonus episode, now that we have officially. Drumroll, please. Announced the finalists for the 2024 Shelfie Awards. I'm so lucky to be joined by Patricia and Kiki, who are my fellow judges in the Shelfie awards. So I'd love for you guys just to introduce yourself really quick, and we'll start with you, Patti.

02:24
Patricia Menegoto
Sure thing. Thanks for having me. Hi, everyone. I'm Patricia, the head of marketing and community here at startup CPG. This is my third year being a judge for the selfies, and I have to say that this one was the one that we had the most submissions and the most products. I'm so glad that, you know, before were only two judges, but now we have three judges, so that make the process easier because we are getting more submissions. So excited to share about the finalists today?

02:56
Kiki Huddleston
Yeah, definitely. I'm Kiki. I'm our social media and events manager. This was my first year judging for the Shelfies. It was insane and fun all at the same time. So, yeah. Excited to talk about it with you.

03:12
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, it was. We got a lot of packages. I did tell Patty and Kiki that my USP's and Ups person called me out a few times, like, are you a shopping addict? And I had to explain that, no, I'm not. It's my job, weirdly enough. But yeah. So also my first year as a judge, super fun and exciting. But just to let our listeners know a little bit more about the Shelfie awards, this was our fourth annual Shelfie Awards, which is very exciting. And our whole mission is to support small emerging brands. And so one of the challenges that emerging brands have is the cost and labor barrier to nominating your products for these big, amazing awards.

03:57
Grace Kennedy
So we decided to create our own to recognize these best of the best emerging CPG brands without any cost to the brand, beyond shipping the products to the judges. So this year we got over 500 submissions and over 1500 skus. So again, lots of packages. And we ended up with 28 categories and 107 finalists. Also, something really cool about this year's shelfies is that the submissions were over 70 or close to, I'm sorry, 70% female owned and close to 50% minority owned. So really cool to see this diverse variety of CPG brands coming from all across America, from all sorts of backgrounds. And yeah, we're going to dive in and talk about it all.

04:45
Grace Kennedy
We'll try to be short and sweet, but given that a lot of our shelfies calls were up to 2 hours long, it might be challenging, but we'll do our best. So, first and foremost, I think a lot of questions that we get sometimes as Shelfie's judges is just, what are you looking for? How do you judge these products? What's the criteria and what goes into considering who is nominated to be a finalist? So, Patti, I'll start with you since you've done it for a few years now, but then we'll go to you, Kiki.

05:20
Patricia Menegoto
Yeah, sure thing. Just that you mentioned about the male calling you out. I had a male person too, that she was complaining to the neighbor. She was like, I don't know what this girl does, but she got so many packets. But yeah, what we're looking for is innovation in the industry. We take the time to read every brand story to see which one also stands out for us. The sustainability, the packaging, the branding. So many things like play a part and of course, like the feel, the taste, or for skincare, like the results that we have over time. And that's why we do this skincare or beauty category very early on.

06:04
Patricia Menegoto
So it's the first, like month submission because we want to make sure that we have the time to really evaluate every single brand and see if our skin or our body is having improvement with those. And, yeah, and then we bring also, you know, different friends or different experts from the industry to try the products with us. But because even though we are three, like, person, that we all have very different personalities and tastes, but at the same time, it's always great to bring other people. Right. So I did a lot of, like, Xiaofi tasting events, like, call me friends. My neighbors already loved me because I gave so much product to them, but always collecting feedback. And there were a few brands that basically every single person just loved that product.

06:52
Patricia Menegoto
It's very interesting to see how different people love this, end up loving the same product. But of course, some products, you know, I like it better or grace, like, better or kiki. So we really take the time to talk about, like, why that brand really stand out for you. What was the key component or ingredient that was there that each person liked?

07:14
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, absolutely. And we definitely had some products that we all were in complete agreement and then some where we had a little, you know, back and forth, never got too testy, but we definitely had a few, you know, disagreements. I'll say. But, Kiki, what about you? What are some of the biggest things you're looking for when you're receiving all these products?

07:32
Kiki Huddleston
Definitely. I mean, I think the biggest thing that we're looking for is innovation. Like, we're looking for brands that are changing the system, doing things differently, really trying their best to, like, change the food system, just, like, make better choices, be more sustainable, be more earth friendly, whatever it may be. So, like, we're definitely looking for things like that and the product itself. And then also in, like, the company's mission. The biggest thing, though, honestly, is, like, it has to taste good or if it's, like, a beauty product or something that, like, it has to work good. Like, obviously, you could have, like, amazing branding and a really cool story, but if your product isn't good, then, you know, it kind of just stops right there. But those are probably the first things we look for.

08:14
Kiki Huddleston
And then when it comes down to, like, differentiating, okay, like, both these products are, like, taste really good. I like them. And it's getting into, like, okay, what are the ingredients? How clean is it? What's the packaging look like, the branding? And there was definitely times where it came down to, like, us being like, okay, we can't pick all of these.

08:34
Grace Kennedy
People to be winners.

08:35
Kiki Huddleston
So we had to dig deep into the nitty gritty details and look at their social media presence, just their digital footprint in general with their website. So, I mean, we took a lot of things into consideration, and it was really hard narrowing it down. And again, it just came down to those fine details at the end of the day, totally.

08:57
Grace Kennedy
And I think to your point about it needs to work or it needs to taste good, we constantly asked ourselves the question, would we buy this again, or would we recommend this to somebody? So say it's a kid's product. I don't have children, but would I recommend this product to friends with kids or things like that, or would I buy this snack again? And if our answer was no, it's like, yeah, like you said, no matter how amazing your mission is or how amazing your branding is, if I wouldn't buy it again or recommend it to somebody I know, you know, it kind of defeats the purpose.

09:33
Patricia Menegoto
One thing that I want to add to that, Kiki, was saying that, you know, whenever we had some, let's say, one category, we had three or two brands that we loved the most. And were like, kind of not arguing about, but kind of arguing about, like, which one we're going to pick. One of the differentiation, too, for some of the brands is the engagement that they have within startup CPG, then plays a huge role as well. Like, sometimes we love the product, and if, you know, we don't see that the brand as engaging with us either through slack or events or social media, we want to make sure that we recognize brands that we love, but at the same time, give the love back to startup CPG.

10:17
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, absolutely. That's a great point. So let's get into some of the 28 categories. Unfortunately, we won't get to every single category. So if you're a brand that we don't get to, I apologize in advance. And, you know, we'll try to shout you out in another way. But I wanted to start with our skincare and body care categories, which are always really exciting and fun for us because we get to use them over many months and get to see how our skin and body care changes. And I still have some of the products that we received in February, and I still use some of the ones that are our finalists to this day, if I haven't already finished the bottle. So, Patti, I'd love to start with you. You know, you are such a beauty aficionado. You know everything.

11:03
Grace Kennedy
What were you looking for in these beauty submissions, and how did these finalists that we selected stand out for you?

11:12
Patricia Menegoto
I wish that I knew everything but I think for the skincare is definitely, you know, the clean beauty, it's something that, it's very important right now. Like, we all take so much care, like, what do we put in our body, you know, and, like, just the whole, like, wellness environment of working out and, you know, or let's just go for a walk. Kind of like having a better lifestyle. So at the end of the day, you also want to make sure that whatever you're putting on your skin is great for your body, too. So the clean beauty, the ingredients also, what I notice is, like, how versatile a product is, right? For example, protegeur, it's a, we got a serum that you can use on your body, but you can use on your face, too.

12:01
Patricia Menegoto
So sometimes this, how easy it is to implement that beauty product either, like, you know, like hygiene or skincare or body care or any type of product supplements. How easy it is to implement that on your routine in a way that is super easy, instead of like, oh, I have to go an extra mile to incorporate that. And also, what makes you feel good, right? There were some products that were, like the night cream from junk theory. We were all, like, obsessed how our skin felt the next day, the next morning. Even though it's, like, very condensed, like a very thick texture, it doesn't clog your pores. Like, it doesn't, you know, it doesn't impact you in a negative way. And then we also look for how diverse they are. For example, we are they using, you know, models for their marketing?

12:57
Patricia Menegoto
That is just like, just if, like, the models are diverse, are they trying to talk with different communities? So I think that's something important, too, because we definitely, as we said, like, you know, we have a lot of women on, minority on. We want to make sure that their marketing also reflects on, you know, the diverse we are having. Yeah, that is important for that. One of the things that I cover, too, for example, is defaulting the eco clean towels, because I already buy a towel from Amazon. Another brand is not in our community. It's like a very trending brand. On TikTok, I was like, I'm gonna try this. And I found that my skin had so much more improvement of using a cling towel versus just using my normal towel every day.

13:39
Patricia Menegoto
And I didn't know at all that they were not sustainable because honestly, I just bought from Amazon. I was like, yeah, sure, I will try. And then when I received them, I was like, oh, wait, I already used this product. Let me check their website. Why they are different from this other brand that I use. And honestly, they have this little chart that says exactly the bread that I use. And they were like, why are we better than them? And I'm like, okay, great, I am already a customer. I'm going to buy from this brand because they said, are we going to buy this product again, or are we going to recommend that?

14:13
Grace Kennedy
Have you repurchased from Foeman yet? Or do you still have enough?

14:17
Patricia Menegoto
No, actually, it just finished after I moved out from the Bay area. But now, because I'm going to be four months in my digital nomad area, traveling around, I don't want to carry extra things, but it's definitely on my list to buy a when I'm back to the US.

14:36
Grace Kennedy
When you're settled again. I love that. And I love what you were saying, too, about the diversity of models. And it's something I love about proteges, their dermal serum, their marketing. They use all sorts of bodies, older bodies, younger bodies, fat bodies, thin bodies, all the above. And I really appreciate that in marketing around skincare and body care and beauty, because it's something you don't often see from these larger, huge brands. But before we move on, I also know that Kiki was a big fan of sea drops, which is like a waterless skin cleanser. And that actually is impressively foamy and works really well. But, Kiki, I'd love for you to say a little bit about what you loved about sea drops.

15:19
Kiki Huddleston
Yeah. So I actually started really liking sea drops whenever went to expo west because that's what I packed in my bag as my face wash. So I didn't have to bring my normal bottle of face wash that I either have to transfer into a different container or, like, you know, wrap it up in a plastic bag so it doesn't leak or anything because they're, like, dehydrated little, like capsules. Kind of like, they look like a pill, and you just, like, crush it and mix it with water. And it, like, surprisingly does get really foamy and also, surprisingly makes your skin feel, like, really soft. So, yeah, I became a fan of sea drops while I was at Expo west.

15:56
Grace Kennedy
Yeah. And just another example of some exciting innovation that we got to see, you know, like, having this waterless skin cleanser. I'd never seen that before in my life and all sorts of things. And another thing I noticed in the beauty was definitely just this emphasis on simplicity and sustainability. I think every single brand we chose had a sustainability mission and also was emphasizing using fewer products that do more and regions on compassing serum that we all fell in love with. So it's really exciting to see all of that happening in the body and skincare space. But next category, pet care. So I have two cats, but I have. My parents have a dog. So I ended up giving a lot of the pet care to my parents dog, but Kiki has two adorable corgis that we just heard from earlier.

16:51
Grace Kennedy
So I'll throw this question to Kiki. How did you test the many pet products we received, and then how did you narrow it down to our four finests?

17:02
Kiki Huddleston
Yeah, definitely. Well, I will say judging pet stuff is different from, you know, the things that obviously, I can taste on my own, but taste is still a big factor. Like, you can tell whenever the dogs like something more than something else. Like, a lot of people would think, like, oh, like, a dog will just see anything, which might be true to an extent, but you can tell when they like things better. Like, their eyes get bigger, or they'll, like, sniff around for, like, every last crumb. And then obviously, like, ingredients is a big part of it. Like, I'm reading through the ingredients on every package. Pet products are, like, kind of notoriously known for using lower grade ingredients.

17:44
Kiki Huddleston
Like, oftentimes they're using ingredients that are, like, essentially waste products of, you know, like, making, like, food for humans or, you know, stuff like that. And pet food is actually, like, overseen by, like, animal and agriculture. Yeah, the ingredients can be really weird, so I'm always looking at that. And then also something that I'm looking for is, like, products that have, like, supportive ingredients in it or, like, vitamins, but which is why I really love buddhist bone broth, something I actually give my dogs and their food every day. But they just came out with this new. So it looks like, you know, those popsicles you had as a kid that came in, like, the plastic tubes that, like, I don't know, I feel like you would always get them.

18:25
Kiki Huddleston
Like, you go to the swimming pool, like, it looks like that, but it's filled with broth. And the cool thing about their broth is it's actually fortified with glucosamine, which is good for dogs joint health. So I'm a big fan of that. Another one that I really loved was dandelion. They make, like, really clean ingredient, like, skin care and hair care products for dogs. And they make this product called soft paws, which is in this, like, really kind of, like, luxurious looking applicator. Like, it looks like something you would see, like, in, like, the beauty department for, like, humans, you know? And it has, like, a really soft brush, and essentially, you just, like, you know, apply it to your dog's paws, which are known to get, like, dry and cracked, and it makes them soft. So. Yeah, soft pulse.

19:10
Grace Kennedy
Yeah. I was definitely very impressed by all of the dog products that I was truly like, this is fancier than the hair products I use. They're like dog grooming products, so these are so nice, and I didn't realize that these brands are out there.

19:24
Patricia Menegoto
Yeah.

19:25
Kiki Huddleston
I think that dandelion is making really awesome stuff, and then, of course, we have to shout out bundle and joy. They've been a very active member of our community for a couple years, and they just came out with a superfood stew, which my dogs absolutely went crazy over. And as a pet parent, I really like products like this because sometimes dogs can be really picky and they don't want to eat their food. So being able to mix in some sort of topper, just, like, mix it up, is good a to get them to eat. And then also, it's, like, really clean, simple ingredients, like, whole food ingredients, like real meat, vegetables, like pumpkin, things like that, which is great for if your dog is ever, like, sick or not feeling well and they can't eat their normal food, like, you can give them that.

20:10
Kiki Huddleston
And you don't have to get up early in the morning and fix rice and veggies and everything. You can just open the stew and use it, which is awesome.

20:17
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, definitely really cool to see the different things that are coming out in pet care. And my parents, our dog is so old, she's 15 years old, and they were like, oh, my God. We didn't even know these things existed. But this is awesome. She definitely appreciated the extra treats and things she was getting during that month. But the next category that I want to talk about is beverages, which is a truly ginormous category. During the month, were receiving beverages, I think all of our fridges were basically just filled with cans of different products. You know, we had coffee, kombucha, non alcoholic seltzers. Alcoholic seltzers. Different beverages with benefits. So we have, I think, four different categories in this section alone of just beverages because there are so many on the market and so many that are doing really cool, delicious, and exciting things.

21:14
Grace Kennedy
So let's just start with, how did we choose the finalists? Maybe let's start with our BeV's with benefits category. Patti, how did we narrow it down, and how did we land on the four we have?

21:28
Patricia Menegoto
It was a very tough decision. I'll say that, because as you said we got so many beverage, and I think, like, throughout the years, as me being a judge, the beverage category is, I kind of want to say that it's the biggest one that we have. Like, it's the most competitive. So I think that, again, I know that we touch base a lot of this about, like, the innovation, right? Like, what are some unique products? What are some brands they're doing that are different? So, Huxley, they use this cascara superfruit to use as a caffeine instead of, like, you know, other normal coffee beans or matcha, kind of like things that we already see in the market. Also, what I love about their product, it's only 90 milligrams of caffeine versus other energy drinks are, like 200 to 300 milligrams of caffeine.

22:21
Patricia Menegoto
So after you drink that, by the way, the taste is amazing, but after you drink that, I don't feel like, you know, a crazy jitter or, like, oh, my God, I need to, like, run the marathon right now because I'm just so, like, hyped about it. And we never, I mean, at least I've never seen anything using the cascara superfruit as the main ingredient for energy drink. And then bare maple, which we love.

22:49
Grace Kennedy
Bare maple.

22:50
Patricia Menegoto
We love bare maple. I think that we drink bare maple in most of our selfies. Life. It's very interesting that they use maple water. So there is no sweeteners, no sugar, because, you know, some brand says no sugar, but they have, like, artificial sugar inside. So it's literally no sugar because maple water is already sweet. And then gingseng is an ingredient that we think that it's kind of trending this year. I would say that we've seen a lot of brands using it, but the maple water, it makes the bare maple more unique. Yeah, I think, just, like, again, all the innovations, some things that are different, but it still tastes good and make you feel good at the end of the day.

23:31
Grace Kennedy
Yeah. And I loved bare maple also because, you know, ginseng is sort of a natural source of energy. It's not caffeine at all, but it does give you a sort of, you know, midday pick me up, which I really appreciated having at home. And, you know, every time we had the bare maple in my house, it quickly went away, which just does also tell me that it's. People are enjoying it. But I also really loved. We got sent a lot of kombucha, and I know Patti's not the biggest kombucha fan, but I really like kombucha. And I was really happy that Walker brothers submitted their kombucha because at Expo west, they were. They weren't in our section, but they were near our section, and I just kept going over them being like, hey, can I have another kombucha?

24:14
Grace Kennedy
So I was so happy they submitted. And I love their blueberry jasmine kombucha. So delicious and not too acidic and not too sweet, because I think kombuchas can sometimes go to either ends of that spectrum. And so Walker brothers, to me, is kind of a good example of, you know, it's not necessarily the most innovative product in the world. There's so many kombuchas, but a, their branding is really good, b, it tastes really good, and then c, their flavors are unique. And the blueberry jasmine definitely brings something fun and different to the kombuchas that I feel like are already on the market. So other beverages, though.

24:53
Patricia Menegoto
Oh, sorry, can I just add something? Talking about Expo west, one thing that we want to highlight here is that we do pay attention what happens just outside our own team judging any product. Because when were at Expo west, were doing the central market meetings in our booth, and this rent Eva, we never heard about them before, but I paid attention very close. When the buyers walked with us in our section or they are doing meetings, what are they saying about those brands? Because, you know, at the end of the day, buyers will make a decision if that brand is going to be on their shelf or not. And as soon as this brand, Eva, they're energy drinks, super clean, too, with brazilian ingredients. I remember that the buyer from central market, the founder, just left.

25:42
Patricia Menegoto
The buyer from central Market looked to the other buyer and she was like, you have to try this. And right away they told the brand, like, we are going to carry you at central market. So it's very interesting to also see the perspective of buyers. What are they looking for? What? It's very interesting to them. So that also plays a role with our judging process.

26:06
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, absolutely. And definitely helpful to have some buyers that we know and can ask what they're thinking and see at trade shows and things like that. But so another huge category, and I keep saying that these are all huge categories and they're all competitive, but honestly, every category was competitive, but another huge one was condiments and in particular hot sauce and chili oils and all these things. And if you've been around the CBG space or even walked to the grocery store, you have probably seen the really proliferation of chili oils and crunches and hot sauces. So it was a lot to go through all of the hot sauces and all of these things and narrow it down to just four hot sauces. And then also we have a condiment category that one of those or a few of those are spicy.

26:55
Grace Kennedy
And it is also a hard question of what's a condiment versus sauce versa? All of these things, but we did our best. But anyway, Kiki, what were some of your favorite hot sauces? We got to try favorite chili oils. And why do you think that they were worthy of a finalist role when we do get so many submissions?

27:15
Kiki Huddleston
Yeah, this was a tough one. There was a day where I literally sat down with, like, a bag of corn chips and just tasted like, oh, my gosh. I'm not even exaggerating. Probably at least 50 hot sauces, chili oils, and just, like, looking through everyone's website, looking at the ingredients and everything, and, like, trying to narrow it down. Cause it was really hard. I do love spicy food, and I put hot sauce on pretty much everything. So I did enjoy actually judging this category. So, I mean, what tasted good? Who's doing interesting stuff? So, like, a couple interesting flavors that we got. So seed ranch they made. I think it's called, like, how is it called? Nashville Seoul or Seoul hot or something like that. What's it called again?

27:59
Grace Kennedy
I think it is Nashville Seoul. But the Seoul is spelled, like Seoul in Korea.

28:04
Kiki Huddleston
Like, yeah, Seoul, but, yeah, I thought that one was really good because it was. It's kind of, like a Nashville hot sauce, but it's made with gochujang in it, which is, like, a traditional korean, like, chili paste, which I thought was really good.

28:17
Grace Kennedy
I love that one.

28:19
Kiki Huddleston
Yeah, I was eating that on my eggs, like, a lot, and then hot and saucy makes this black garlic hot sauce that I was just, like, obsessed with. I've never had a black garlic hot sauce before. It's more on, like, the vinegary side for a hot sauce that's not super spicy, but it's just, like, very flavorful.

28:37
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, I appreciated that with a hot and saucy hot sauces is that they really went in on flavor, and they weren't gonna totally, like, burn your entire mouth off. And I recognize that, you know, we all have different spice tolerances, particularly based on the different cultures we grow up in. You know, our spice tolerances are different. But unfortunately, I am a white girl from Pennsylvania, and I cannot always handle all of the spicy, spicy things. But the spiciest hot sauce, I think we got which was the hot pot queen mushroom chili oil. I loved that one. And I did have to be careful about how much I put on things, but it uses real chunky wild mushrooms in the chili oil, and I loved that differentiation.

29:22
Grace Kennedy
And that's something that the founder, Gia, who I've talked to before, was really intentional about, because she said, yeah, there are so many hot sauces and chili oils on the market. I want to bring something different. So she always says she's going for more of that chunky flavor, and I really thought that was super fun. And then we also have Gloria's shito in the finalist, and that's a ghanaian hot sauce. And I really want to learn more about the whole history of this shito chili oil in Ghana because it's the first time I've ever tried anything like it, and it's really delicious. And what would you say, Kiki? Like smokier than a lot of the other chili oils.

30:02
Kiki Huddleston
It has a very deep, smoky flavor to it. This is one that really surprised me, because we. I think that chili oils are another very trendy thing in the industry right now. Like, when you go to these trade shows and also just for the, you know, who submitted the Shelbys, like, there is a plethora of chili oils out there. And ill be honest, whenever I was judging, I was like, oh, great, another chili oil. And then, like, I put it in my mouth and I was kind of like, whoa. Like, this was not what I was expecting. The flavor was unlike any chili oil that I've ever tried. Yeah, definitely. This is one to try. It's a memorable one for me. And then another getting into more of, like, the condiment side.

30:45
Kiki Huddleston
Another thing that I tasted that I had a similar experience where I was just like, taste it, and I was like, whoa, what is this was the pink salt Thai chili jam.

30:52
Grace Kennedy
Oh, my God. Yeah.

30:54
Kiki Huddleston
I think you and I, grace, are, like, obsessed with this one.

30:56
Grace Kennedy
It's so good.

30:58
Kiki Huddleston
I don't even know how to explain the flavor of it either. It's like, it's spicy, it's sweet. It has a lot of umami flavor to it. I mean, it's like, exactly what you want to put on top of your noodles.

31:08
Grace Kennedy
It's so good. I literally, at fancy foods, I had finished my jar before I went to fancy foods, and I went up to her and I was like, please, can I have more samples? And she handed me, like, ten little sachets of the chili jam when I came home and put it back in the jar and have been going through it again. But, yeah, it's sweet and spicy at the same time. It's really good on toast, really good on literally everything, and it's some form of magic. So everybody should check out Kingsalt's thai chili jam because it's truly delicious.

31:39
Grace Kennedy
We also had a ton of different seasonings that we got sent, which were really hard to narrow down because, a, there were so many good ones, and b, you know, we only cook so often, so, you know, we can't go through every single seasoning, every single meal. But, Kiki, I also know you were a huge fan of some of the seasonings we got sent. So which one stood out to you and why?

32:05
Kiki Huddleston
I mean, I'll always be a chutney punch fangirl. I have all the chutney punches in my pantry. I use the super sesame pretty much every day. I really like it on my eggs, but the ones that stood out to me, honestly, podi life, if that's how you say it, podie life was really interesting to me because they, like, their seasoning is. I don't even know how to explain it. It's like they cook the ingredients like, it's, like, roasted and, like, just very aromatic and super flavorful, which surprised me. I had never heard of them before. Their branding is, like, so cute. Their seasoning is just, like, really good. And then Samabila. I'm not sure how you pronounce it. Samabila. It's the instant ramen seasoning. I was a big fan of that one as well.

32:55
Kiki Huddleston
I feel like instant noodles, like, this seasoning especially can just be, like, really salty and sometimes have, like, a weird aftertaste, whereas, like, I feel like this one, the ingredients are much cleaner. It's, like, full flavor, and it's plant based, which is great. And their branding is super cute.

33:12
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, it is. Patty, wasn't Kevin your husband, a huge fan of the instant ramen seasoning?

33:18
Patricia Menegoto
Yes. He was even like, now that we put our. All of our, like, stuff in the storage, so I'm like, store some of the seasonings. So he brought that with. It's in his bag because he was like, you're gonna cook this for me again? Because is it spicy? I'm glad that you guys are chatting about the hot sauce and everything, cuz for me, I'm like, I'm not a good judge for that, but thankfully, I have Kevin and my neighbors to help me with that. But, yes, he. He brought that with him in his backpack, and he was like, you're gonna cook that for me, again, I'm like, okay, just take it.

33:49
Grace Kennedy
I love it. I love it. Yeah. My other favorite finalist in. Or, you know, they're all our favorites. Cause they're the finalists. But one of my other favorites was the Josu garlic and chive salt. And I actually just finished my jar of that, and I'm really sad. Cause I was using that, like, every day on my eggs and so many things. And they're a. They also have a kimchi salt, which is really cool and just really delicious stuff. And I forget exactly where they source their sea salt from. But again, just seeing places. Korea. Okay. Seeing people that are doing both innovative things, but then also sourcing really high quality ingredients to do it. Sourcing the highest quality salt, you know, Podi life. Sourcing these beautiful, like, fresh spices and vegetables that they're toasting and roasting and turning into these spice blends.

34:39
Grace Kennedy
It's really exciting to see all that innovation. But speaking of things that people might be like, how did you three ladies judge that? We are three people without children. How did we judge the kids category? Patti, maybe I'll start with you.

34:54
Patricia Menegoto
Yeah, I have friends that they have kids. So, like, since also, like, last year, I just go to her house and drop, like, a huge box of products for her to try and just, you know, she literally sent me a video with some, like, gummies or other products in front of her kid. And her kid was just trying. And we could see his, like, face reaction to the product. So it's literally just, like, trying to get our friends or families that have kids. And I would say that I'm not a kid, but, damn, there are some, like, products that I use, or I eat them all, like the mavericks cookies. Kevin is not gluten free, so, unfortunately, I cannot have it. But, like, Kevin, he doesn't let me give that to any kids. Like, he eats the whole.

35:42
Patricia Menegoto
All the skus and all the products. Moonfruit as well. We love, like, gummies and everything. And the sunny also, it was. I mean, everything. It was great. I do give to the kids, but I have to say that also, like, we have some internal kids inside of us, so we also try those products.

36:01
Grace Kennedy
Oh, definitely the sunnies, they had a pizza dipper, and I think they had a hummus one, too. Those did not go to any children in my life. Those stayed in our house, and they were me and my partners midday snacks. So that's how we judge that one. But I do think it's also a testament of, like, where kid food is kind of going is people don't want to just give kids, like, this gross junk food anymore. People want to give them high quality ingredients, high quality food, so that they don't, like, grow up and only want to eat buttered noodles.

36:31
Grace Kennedy
You know, they're expanding their palate from a young age so that they can enjoy all the many things to come and also eat healthy stuff, eat stuff that's filled with yummy things or just shaped like a lightning bolt and tastes like a birthday cake cookie, like mavericks. So important stuff there. Moving on. Snacks, another extremely competitive category. Oh, my God. So many snacks. We split it up into savory, sweet, and healthy snacks so that we could, you know, sort of differentiate these different products because we got so many. So maybe rapid fire since, you know, we're already 40 minutes in, and I don't want to, you know, have us go on for too long. But let's each say our favorite snacks, savory and sweet patty, starting with you.

37:26
Patricia Menegoto
Okay, that's hard.

37:27
Grace Kennedy
Only one?

37:28
Patricia Menegoto
Oh, damn it. Okay, can I just say two names?

37:31
Grace Kennedy
Yes.

37:33
Patricia Menegoto
Okay, I'm gonna say two names. No explanation. So we go fast. The buskis love whiskeys, and Caroline's crispies, also another huge favorite.

37:42
Grace Kennedy
So good. Kiki.

37:45
Patricia Menegoto
Yeah.

37:46
Kiki Huddleston
I can't narrow it down to just two. Also, can I say, next year, we need to move the snacks category to earlier? Because this year, it was, like, in the beginning of summer, and I'm like, I need to do this earlier, so I have time to work off these extra pounds that I've gained from eating all these snacks. Literally. Good.

38:07
Patricia Menegoto
Okay.

38:07
Kiki Huddleston
The Piedmont pennies, my family and I, they sent us, like, a case of, like, six boxes, and I don't think they lasted more than two weeks in our house. Like, were all just, like, addictive. We were addicted so good. We can't talk about snacks without talking about snoods. I think all three of us are snoots. Fangirls. I mean, since day one. Lauren is killing it. Really good. The branding's amazing. I do have to say something about unbothered foods, though. That was one that came out of left field. I wasn't expecting to like it as much as I did because it's, like, a healthy. It like a pretty healthy sourdough cracker, but they're addictive. Oh, my gosh. I can't put them down. And then sweet snacks. I love freeze cake, especially after hearing her story and meeting her at fancy foods.

38:52
Kiki Huddleston
Like, she has such an amazing story. Hopefully, Grace will cover it one day so we don't have to go into it right now because it's a long story, but it's an amazing story. Definitely look into freeze cake if you haven't checked them out yet. And then brittle cookies is another one. My family, our whole family was obsessed with their like five ingredients or less. These shortbread cookies. Delicious.

39:15
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, those are so good. Perfect for like dipping in tea time if we're all going to be really classy and have people over for tea in the afternoon. But I'll touch on the other few that we didn't talk about, which happened to also be some of my favorites, one being doucera's the Mixed, which is this amazingly delicious different spice mix with caramelized white chocolate and spicy little rice things. I don't even know how to describe it, but it's magic and I love it. And again, another person at fancy Foods that I stalked and asked for more samples because I'd already finished all the ones he sent me. And then also Austin Pretzel company, which makes these caramel covered pretzels that are so good and so addicting, like salty sweet deliciousness. Another thing that really did not last long in my house.

40:06
Grace Kennedy
And also I needed some time before the summer after inhaling some of those boxes or bags, I should say. But yeah, the snacks was a really hard category and I think that's why we also added a whole healthy snacks category because there were some that we really loved that were less of that maybe addicting sweet thing, but were something that we would all genuinely eat on a road trip or would take for post gym and things like that. So we had to add some categories in the snacks just because there were so many cool brands doing really exciting stuff. So the last category were going to talk about today or no, im sorry I lied. Theres two more, but we're going to get through it. Two more frozen. Another thing, we had to expand the category because we got so many amazing submissions.

41:02
Grace Kennedy
So we had frozen sweets and we had frozen food. So kiki, I'll start with you. What were you most excited about in the finalists? We had in the frozen category for both sweets and for food? What was really sort of do you feel like was pushing the envelope and bringing this category forward?

41:23
Kiki Huddleston
Oh my gosh, it's so hard. This is a category that we definitely argued the most about. I think like narrowing this down was really tough, but stand out for me, it's sweetie ice cream, their mochi ice cream. So good. What I really liked about it is oftentimes you get mochi and it's like, you have to let it, like, sit out for a while before you can, like, eat it. And, sweetie, you can just, like, eat it, like, right out of the freezer. Like, obviously, you know, if you let it sit for a little bit softer, but, like, it's not necessary. Those I really enjoyed a lot. And then payoh and sobo foods are always going to be at the top of my list. I mean, paioa, their pizzas are so insanely delicious. The eggplant miso flavor I'm obsessed with.

42:09
Kiki Huddleston
Definitely a booth we kept going back to during fancy foods. Like, we ate their pizza, like, for lunch almost every day. And then sobo foods, I mean, their flavors are really good. The potato and the japanese korean potato was my favorite one. And what I really like about them is that all their flavors are also plant based. So as a plant based foodie, I can. I can have all the flavors, which I super appreciate, but the japanese korean potato, I think, is the best.

42:38
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, they're doing some form of magic with the plant based meat alternatives. They're doing. They just released, I think, a chicken dumpling flavor that was so good, and I truly was like, this is chicken. This tastes like chicken. This isn't a plant based alternative. This is chicken. So they're really doing some sorcery and making really good frozen dumplings that I'm super excited to see where they go next. But, Patti, what about you? What were some of the standouts for you in the frozen category?

43:04
Patricia Menegoto
I have to say that the frozen food, the payoh and sobal, I wish they had a gluten free version, because everyone raves about them. Like, every single event, people are like, have you tried this? And I'm like, no. Like, I can't.

43:20
Grace Kennedy
So if you're listening, paella and sobo foods make a gluten free option for patti.

43:25
Patricia Menegoto
They told me soon. They told me soon. I was like, okay, I can be your judge for that. But, yeah, I hear all the time, great thing about those. But so, for me, what is next stood out was Shinka Foods love their pupuza. It's delicious. It's so yummy, so good. I do love the true joy because they use the greek yogurt, but it's not sour, because I have tried some other brands with greek yogurt ice cream, but theirs is not. I don't know what they do, but it's so good. Like, it's addictive. Like, we. We kind of finished the ice creams that we received. I think was, like, three skills that we received, like, very fast.

44:10
Grace Kennedy
Yeah.

44:11
Patricia Menegoto
Even a change to say how fast that was. And I did like, the uncle Nick's pizza as well. That was really good. Kevin and I, we did, like, a date night baking pizza. That was very fun.

44:27
Grace Kennedy
Also, like, and that's a cauliflower crust for the people who don't know about Uncle Nick's.

44:32
Patricia Menegoto
Oh, yeah.

44:33
Grace Kennedy
Thanks. Yeah.

44:33
Patricia Menegoto
And then we chose the oregano, basil, and thyme flavor. I did like those, but the baker, I have to say, when I did the Shaofi tasting event, people went crazy for those cookies. Like, even there were navels passing by because, you know that were trying so much too many foods for us to eat all the, like, cookies. So neighbors were walking with their dogs. I was like, here, have a cookie. And everybody was like, wait, which brand is this?

45:00
Grace Kennedy
So, so good. Yeah, I served those baker cookies a couple times when friends were over for dinner, and they were like, what's this homemade cookie you made? I was like, I didn't make it. It's frozen, but it's delicious. And, yeah, I really loved those as well. So last but not least, the plant based alternative. Another place we've got to go to Kiki for as our vegetarian. Our resident vegetarian. Been a vegetarian for about a decade. What do you look for in plant based food? I feel like it's a category that has changed and evolved so much over the last few years, and there's so much exciting innovation happening. I know. Me personally, I was really excited about the plant based cheese we received, because I was like, whoa, this actually tastes like cheese.

45:48
Grace Kennedy
But what were you most excited about in the plant based category? You know, how do we narrow it down?

45:53
Kiki Huddleston
Yeah. Play based cheese has come a long way. Yeah. I first transitioned to the veg lifestyle in 2015, which you would think that in 2015, we would actually have been pretty involved in the space, but surprisingly not.

46:07
Grace Kennedy
So.

46:07
Kiki Huddleston
It's been really cool to see all of these new products that are coming out. I mean, at the end of the day, it's got to taste good. And I like simple ingredients. I'm not really a huge fan of, like, the lab made meat and, like, those sorts of things, like, which is why I appreciate it. About some of the finalists that we have in this category, like, barbecue and doja fresh, they're both making, like, meat alternatives, but they're using really simple ingredients, like, tried and true. Like, you know, you don't need a lab made meat. You like soy. And, you know, vital wheat gluten can go a long way if you know, flavor it. Right. And both of those brands are doing that, like, the barbecue. Their carnitas, super good.

46:52
Kiki Huddleston
I'm pretty sure it's just made with, like, soy curls, and then they smoke it and season it, and, like, the textures spot on. It's really good. And they're actually just down the street from me in Charlotte. So they're a North Carolina brand, so.

47:07
Patricia Menegoto
Shout out to them if you guys have any missing. Any missing products, you know, kiki one to your facility.

47:16
Kiki Huddleston
I took all the carnitas. Doja fresh is actually a North Carolina brand as well. And they make shelf stable, plant based mixes, which are really tasty. And then, I mean, we can't talk about plant based alternatives without talking about rind. I mean, I think Rind is a brand that all of us, like, across the board just agreed on. Like, this is one of the best vegan cheeses that we've tasted. Their canned blue cheese. I mean, I think that meat eaters and vegetarians, like, everyone's gonna love it, but I think that meat eaters, too, like, if they tasted that and then you're like, that's made from plants, they would be like, there's no lie. I think in a blind tasting, they would not be able to tell.

48:00
Patricia Menegoto
Yeah, no, I have to say that Kevin, my husband, he hates plant based cheese because, you know, the, like, kind of nut flavor stick to your teeth. And whenever we have rind, he's always like, no, this is not plant based. Like, it doesn't taste, like, you know, the, like, plant based kind of normal style. So I have to say that he loves this one, and he doesn't like plant based cheese at all.

48:24
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, it's so impressive. And honestly, you know, we had to narrow it down, and rind was our favorite, but we got so many other plant based cheeses that were also really good. And just across the board, I was really impressed with where plant based cheese has gotten to. And for people who are either plant based or just, like, dairy free, you know, my brother can't handle dairy, and I brought him some of these plant based cheeses, and he's like, oh, my God. This is, like, the first time I'm actually enjoying plant based cheeses, so it's really cool to see. But rind is definitely top of the pack for us, I feel, in terms of the world of plant based cheese. Whoa. So many products, and we didn't even get to all of them. Now you guys are getting a sense of.

49:04
Grace Kennedy
Of our hours long conversations. We've been having over the last few months. And, you know, it's really been a journey to get to these finalists. And we're really excited about all these brands. And we're also even more excited to announce the winners, which we will be doing in a live ceremony on September 6. But before we get into that, September 4, I'm sorry, September 4. Scratch that. Don't listen to me, listen to Patty. But before we get into that, I want to give the mic to Patti, who, as I said, knows everything so she can tell you a little bit about Shelfie's storefront.

49:44
Patricia Menegoto
Yeah, we are so excited to launch this. So we have partnered with niche and we are launching the startup CPG marketplace. And it's going to be linked on our website, but we can also link here on this episode notes. And of course, they're going to be launching slack email and everything, but it's going to be a place where you can shop all the finalists of 2024 for the Shelbys. And we are also going to later, whenever we launch the winners, just add a section highlighting the winner. So in that marketplace, you can shop by categories like beauty and wellness, food and beverage supplements. We have different divisions, so you can click on the brand, read about them, and then shop their products. And then later on, as I said, we are going to, like, have the section for the winners as well.

50:37
Patricia Menegoto
So that will be so exciting because I know that whenever we did lives, you know, to announce the winners or just announced the finalists, in the past, people were like, I have so many tabs open because, you know, every time we say a name, they want to, like, open their web page so they can discover about the brand and buy their product. So we found this partner that we can have in one place all the products. So it makes your life easier to shop. Our favorite.

51:06
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, these are vetted products by not just us, but by all of our friends and family and neighbors and random people we see on the street and ask to please try some of the products we've received. So, as we said, the Shelfie awards ceremony will be on September 4. And you can RSVP, and you should RSVP. It'll be on LinkedIn, a red carpet awards ceremony. And we'll put a link to that in the show notes. And then also, another thing for Patti to tell you about is our Shelfie awards boat party. What's happening there, Patti?

51:40
Patricia Menegoto
Yeah. So we rent this amazing boat that we did a party last year here in Los Angeles. It departs from Marina Del Rey and we rented the boat again to do. It's a la meetup, so anyone can join us. But this meetup will be just to celebrate the innovation in our space. And of course, we love to have some Shaofi finalists and winner there celebrating with us. But truly, anyone in the industry that loves the CPG industry as much as we do. Yeah. And we will have a shared table where first come, first serves. So any brand that wants to bring their products, you can just drop the product on that table and then people can try. While we have the bull ride, we have some amazing guests, some buyers coming, of course.

52:29
Patricia Menegoto
We are going to have some captain hats and a lot of fun. We are going to be here from our team, Danielle, myself, Melissa and Peter. Unfortunately, Kiki and Grace are not joining this one. But hopefully next year we have an even bigger party where you guys can come.

52:45
Grace Kennedy
Yes, I can.

52:46
Patricia Menegoto
Oh, yeah. And tickets for the boat. We are kind of, I think it's like 80% sold out. So make sure that you grab your ticket ASAP.

52:56
Grace Kennedy
Yes. Get on it and show up in style. So for Kiki and I who can't be there, and one day we'll get a real red carpet and we'll all be there and it'll be amazing. But so as we wrap up, any last words on this year's shelfies and, or maybe, let's say this. What are we looking forward to for next year's shelfies, Kiki?

53:18
Kiki Huddleston
Oh, man. For next year's shelfies, I'm looking forward to us preparing a little bit better and not doing beverages and condiments in the same month because those were, like, two of our biggest categories. And I'm not kidding you, there were days where I was getting ten or twelve packages a day. Like, it was like the ups truck would come as soon as they left. Here comes Fedex. Here comes, you know, the postal service and, like, boxes just stacked. Oh, my gosh. So, yeah, I think we learned a lot. We learned a lot from this year and how to improve things for next year. So I'm looking forward to that.

53:57
Kiki Huddleston
And just, you know, whatever new and exciting is out there, you know, there's, I'm sure there's plenty of people who are just have an idea in their head right now and they haven't even started. So send us your products next year.

54:10
Grace Kennedy
Yes. What about you, Patti?

54:12
Patricia Menegoto
Oh, I want to. I think that for me is I want to grow, you know, since I love, like, the beauty one as supplement, like, I really want to grow that category. So I'm working on it. So I would love to see more brands applying for those categories. Also, what I noticed, because we did open this category is last year. So from last year to this year, I don't think I saw any, like, brands repeating submission for those two. And, you know, food and beverage, I've seen brands that apply. Last year, they applied this year again. So you can apply as many times as you want. We did have brands in the past that they, you know, first year they didn't get to the finalist, and then the next year, they got finalists.

54:58
Patricia Menegoto
Or sometimes they get finalists one year, the next year, they want finalists again. Sometimes winners. So I do encourage everyone to apply, but, yeah, grow the beauty wellness category also, what I've noticed, just like, going to trade shows, but also talking to buyers, is that we are expanding the innovation in the meat industry. So also, you know, potentially creating a category for that, because I do feel that some brands email us saying that they were not sure why they could apply for the mint category. Sorry, Kiki, I know your vote based on that, but I think that's something that, you know, just seeing what the innovation is out there and increasing those categories for the shelf issue. But as.

55:43
Patricia Menegoto
As we say, when we launch the shelfies, we do have a base of categories, but we always expand based on the products that we receive. So even though if you don't see, like, hey, these are the categories we are gonna do, we always add more. Like, this year, we have way more than the ones that we said we are gonna do. So I think those are it for me. What about you, Grace?

56:06
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, no, I mean, I echo what you're all saying. I mean, I also think we should do frozen. Maybe in February, not in May, especially when there's a heat wave. I felt so bad for all the frozen friends. They were so nervous about their things melting on arrival. But luckily, you know, for the most part, I think everyone, everything worked out okay. I agree on the meets thing as well. I think there's definitely some innovation happening in those areas. Shout out to Lottie's meats, who I know Patti and I are huge fans of. So, you know, want to make sure we can include more and more brands and bring more people into the shelfies and just highlight more and more. And, yeah, I will say I.

56:45
Grace Kennedy
There's definitely some brands that applied this year that I hope are applying again next year because they were sort of still really early, or maybe they didn't have their branded packaging yet and things like that. And we do, you know, take branding and packaging and all those things into consideration. So if you didn't, you know, get a finalist this year, I really hope you apply again. And I won't say who because that feels like cheating. But there were a lot of brands that I was really excited to buy, but we couldn't get the finalists to this year. So I'm hoping to see some repeats but also excited to see, yeah, some of these brands that maybe don't even exist yet who are going to be sending us a package next May with their original prototypes and things like that. So I can't wait.

57:27
Grace Kennedy
And I can't wait to announce the winners. I'm so excited.

57:30
Patricia Menegoto
I'm so excited, too. And then last thing that I want to add, I do want to give a huge shout out to social nature for sponsor this year, Southeast 2024, and give the chance for, you know, all these brands to shine, making sure that we also have the resources to help these small brands grow. And yeah, we can't wait to have them at the party as well to celebrate with us at the boat party. So, yeah, really. Thank you for social nature.

58:00
Grace Kennedy
Yeah, absolutely. That's a great shout out. And it has been so rewarding to announce the finalists and hear from everybody who's been a finalist, you know, how excited they are, how much it means to them. And, you know, I've talked to past Shelfie winners as well who've said it was just so huge for them and such a bolster to their confidence and also going to, you know, buyer meetings and saying, yeah, we won a shell fees award or were a finalist. You know, I talked to House of Kajana and they won a shelfie last year and they said we brought that into our buyer meetings and said we're being recognized. So it's so rewarding to get to offer this to brands, both to validate them ourselves and also allow them to bring that out into the world with them. So we're excited.

58:41
Grace Kennedy
We hope you all are excited. And if there's brands that are out there that you think should apply to the shelfies next year, let them know and send them our way. And if you haven't already RSVP'd for the awards announcement, you should do that. And that's it, I think. Thanks for listening.

59:03
Patricia Menegoto
Yeah, I will see you, everyone on September 4.

59:06
Grace Kennedy
Perfect. Bye. All right, everyone, thank you so much for listening. If you enjoyed this episode of the podcast, it would help us out so much if you left a five star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. I am Grace Kennedy, the editor for startup CPG, so feel free to add me on LinkedIn or reach out to me on Slacken. I'm always on the hunt for new and exciting brands to feature, and if you're a potential sponsor that would like to appear on the podcast, please email partnershipstartupcpg.com. And finally, as a reminder for anyone listening, if you haven't already, we would love for you to join our community on Slack, and you can sign up via our website, startupcpg.com.