The Startup CPG Podcast

Maxi Heidenblut
It is a bit smaller than the fancy food show in New York and definitely smaller than Expo West. But there's a lot of benefit that comes with that because you have more time with the buyers and they will actually stop by your booth. You have more interactions. You can have like longer conversations with them, I think so. It was a bit more intimate and overall it was the perfect first show for us to exhibit because it is a bit smaller than the other show.

00:37
Brendan Cravitz
The quality of people showing their foods is more in line with what our products are. There's a lot less of the big guys. It's a lot more of brands like ours so people know what they're going for. It's those buyers with that mindset. Yeah, definitely excited.

00:54
Daniel Scharff
Hey folks, we are freshly back from the fancy food winter show in Las Vegas and I want you to live the show vicariously through this podcast. So I've invited Patricia and Kiki from my team. It was their first time being in Vegas for the winter show and also two of the brands from our startup CPG section. They're all going to tell you what was the show like for them as a first timer and the brands will talk about what was it like exhibiting at the show, who did they get to talk to, how did they prepare, what buyers were there, and tips for brands exhibiting in the future. Overall, the show was a really incredible experience for us. The section was amazing. We really thank the Specialty of Foods association for helping us put on just such a high energy section.

01:32
Daniel Scharff
We also got to run an all day female founder lounge one afternoon and we had an all out epic party at topgolf. Tons of buyers, amazing brands demoing and also a sneaky karaoke party with a bunch of brands from our community at an epic Las Vegas destination. All right, stay fancy y'all. Enjoy the show. All right. Hello everybody. I am here with my friends Patricia and Kiki. We are all just freshly back from the fancy food winter show in Las Vegas where we had a great time. A couple of our team highlights. We all got to go to the sphere. I had been once before, but I was really excited to take the full team there to see that wild movie Postcard from Earth. So that was really cool. We had our big party. We did a big thing at topgolf Las Vegas.

02:18
Daniel Scharff
We rented out, we had all the brands there, all the buyers came. It was pretty nuts. We had our team running a female founder lounge on the show floor under our further program which was packed. It was incredible. All the retailers there giving tons of advice directly to Female founders. And obviously we had our section at the show, so we had a 20 booth section featuring tons of exciting brands. It was really well located. The Specialty Food association did such a nice job of giving us a very beautiful section at the show that I think really put these brands in the best light possible, really showcased them and their innovations. And everybody was coming over saying it was just one of the energy centers of the show. So that was really cool.

02:57
Daniel Scharff
So Patricia and Kiki, we all put a lot of work into making this happen for the brands. You know, the show's a little bit different for us because, you know, we don't walk it as much. We're not like attendees or buyers where we're just going and getting to sample all the goods. We're really working the section, making sure it's a good experience. We're organizing meetings and giving tours to buyers. But I wanted to hear from you guys because you went around and talked to every brand in our section. We're going to talk to a couple of them today here on the podcast. But what did you hear when you were talking to so many of them? So, Patricia, what was the word on the street? What were brands in the moment saying about the show?

03:29
Patricia Menegoto
They were basically saying that exceed expectations. There were tons of buyers walking. They met, I think, from the first incident, second day already. Distributors, buyers, media companies just stopping by. They loved the Fielder section because, you know, there was. We had no banner. It was really like a rectangle with the 20 booths, all the founders helping each other. They said that, like, the connection that they made was so cool. Like, everyone was so nice helping each other with tips or connections that they had. So it was really a great experience for the brand.

04:02
Daniel Scharff
I like how you put that. And also, I mean, a lot of credit due to Patricia for designing our section because you will see a lot of parts of the that feel very cluttered. And actually one of the decisions that we made early on is, hey, in this section, we actually want it to just really not get interrupted by a lot of loud marketing materials that kind of interrupt the experience from one brand to the next. Because we're a community and we want this area to feel like a community. When buyers walk up, we want them to know, like, hey, I'm somewhere different right now. And this is very clean and well organized and there's a lot of innovation here and these people are here together. So I really love how you made that whole thing happen, Patricia.

04:39
Daniel Scharff
And I think it was incredibly effective because, yeah, just time and time again, all the Buyers were coming up and just spending a lot of time in and around our section because I think they just gravitated toward it for a lot of reasons. But I mean, the design, as everybody here knows, does make a big difference. So Kiki, what about you? What were you hearing from the brands?

04:58
Kiki Huddleston
I mean, yeah, a lot of similar things that Patti mentioned. I did go around and talk to all the brands on the last day and although were all very tired, everyone was still like, super excited. And I was just like, you know, how did it go? Did you meet a lot of them were like, oh, I met this retailer, this person, or I met every buyer that I wanted to meet overall, like, good vibes. Something I heard a lot from people was just being able to be in a space with other founders of small brands because for some of these brands, like, it may be like their first show or like, first, like they've only done like a few shows. Doing trade shows can be overwhelming.

05:34
Kiki Huddleston
Like, there's like so many boxes you have to check and things you have to sign and rules you have to follow. So they really appreciated like just being with other people that were going through a similar experience that they could ask questions to. And then also like, Patty, who's done this like many times, and Daniel, like, they could ask us. So having that support and community was really nice. And then something else I heard which was interesting because like, we do legwork into these shows beforehand to make sure that like, the right people are coming through our section.

06:01
Kiki Huddleston
But all of these brands, these 20 brands are also all cross pollinating each other's communities because they may have been talking to some immediate person or a buyer from this store and they come to the section to see them and then next thing you know, they're like, oh, wait, who's this? You know, and then they're noticing their neighbor and they're like, okay, well, I'm going to, I'm now going to talk to them. So there's a lot of like, cross pollination going on in addition to like the groundwork that we're doing, which is exciting to see. So just kind of brings me back to like the roots of startup cpg. Like, this is a community. We're here to uplift each other and connect with one each other, one another.

06:36
Kiki Huddleston
And there's like, it always blows my mind how, like, there's like no gatekeeping in our community. Like, people are so willing to offer information and to be like, oh, yeah, no, to get into Whole Foods. Like, I talked to this person and the next thing you know, like, now they're linked up with them and there's just like this snowball effect that happens in our section, which is really cool to see.

06:56
Daniel Scharff
I like it. It's like, if I go to a bar, I need a good wingman and we're going to have a better experience. These brands all have wing brands and everybody does better because of it, because they're just like, well, that's a good one. There's probably another good one right here. And yeah, we are working it right. We already prearranged tours with, like, 15 different retailers. Like, hey, come by the section at this time. We're going to walk you around. You're going to get a lot of those. But also, hey, I think our section was fantastic, right? Collectively, every brand was like, I had a great experience in this section. They know how much work we're putting in to make sure that they're getting the right kind of attention there at the show to have a good ROI on their time and investment.

07:30
Daniel Scharff
But ultimately, some brands do actually, I would say, have a more successful show than some others. Let's say there are a couple that we can look at from our section to say, well, those guys really crushed it. What do you think are those things that can differentiate some of the brands at the show, even within the section?

07:47
Kiki Huddleston
Kiki, that's a good question. Yeah, you definitely do get a sense of, especially me, since I do social media. I'm, like, constantly orbiting the section, like, trying to get a word in when I can and get these interviews. And there are brands that are very hard for me to talk to you because they constantly have a line out the door and they're constantly having conversation. So you do get a sense for, like, who's crushing it. I mean, I think everybody did good. But if the question is, like, those differentiating factors, I mean, I think it comes down to having a great product. Obviously, taste is king. If your product tastes really good, you're. You're probably going to kill it. Branding and marketing, like, you know, having packaging that kind of jumps off the shelf and pulls people in, having a cool story.

08:25
Kiki Huddleston
I know we've touched on this in other conversations. Like, the founder story is, like, really important. So I saw, like, for example, like, Painterland Sisters, they. They killed it at the show intersection. And I think that their story and background was definitely a part of that. And their product is, like, really good. So I would say those things. And then, of course, there's other things at play that we might not be Totally mindful of is what are the buyers looking for? Where are the holes in their sets? Obviously they're going there looking for products to put on their shelf. So that's something to keep in mind too.

08:56
Daniel Scharff
I really like what you said because I feel that way very strongly that how well you do with the show, 90% of that was before the show, the product that you created. And also I think it's a lot about the momentum that you built up before the show because buyers are coming often looking for a specific brand that they've seen. They are really excited to meet in person. And that's about, did you try to form a connection with the buyer head of the show? Did you have a really strong LinkedIn game where they actually have seen a lot of impressions about your product already and they've been curious to meet you and try it. Patricia, what do you think? Anything you noticed about some of those brands? Crushing it.

09:28
Patricia Menegoto
Yeah. I was going to mention what you said about being prepared before the show. See which buyers are coming, try to literally stalk them in a nice way. Don't be creepy, but stalk them on LinkedIn, reach out to them, say, hey, I'm going to be at this booth, this is my product. And really try to invite them to come and try your product. I think that's a very important step also, I would say that trying to maximize every opportunity. So if we have buyer meetings, so apply for the buyer meetings form. Even though we have buyers walking the show, they are still going to see your brand application and see your website and learn about you before going. Go to networking events. I know trade show is so tiring.

10:12
Patricia Menegoto
Like I'm dead at the end of the day and sometimes I don't want to go to the party that we are hosting, but, well, I have to be there. But like buyers are coming and you never know like who is going to show up to that event. And not just buyers and media, but also that are potential customers. Right. Going other founders are also customers that can go to those parties. Or we did the pitch practice or a panel and then when I opened to Q and A, it took like a minute for any brand to raise their hand and ask questions. Like, there are tons of buyers on the panel. Like ask your question. This is your moment to try to get in front of them. Or Daniel, when you host your pit 15 seconds pitch, just put yourself out there.

10:57
Patricia Menegoto
That's what I'm trying to say.

10:58
Daniel Scharff
I could not agree with you more, Patricia. So everybody knows this about me. If I get on a panel at A show. Brands are going to get some airtime there. I'm going to call up brands to just do their pitch in front of all the retailers and they're like, a lot of people have gotten distribution that way. So I like the idea of, yeah, it's not just at your booth, or maybe you don't have a booth, but just really paying attention to when those opportunities are and making a good impression when it does happen. Because some people, you can tell, just aren't really prepared or they're scared for that. Like you must own it and just lean into it fully and make sure everybody sees the passion. And yes, also not be creepy the way that you put it.

11:34
Daniel Scharff
I think that's also very important to be appropriately persistent. But yeah, I think I really agree. A lot of 90% of the work is done ahead of the show. Then when you are at the show, I think some things you can do to stand out. Definitely some people just had nice, tight booth setups. It didn't mean anything flashy. It just mean it looked good. The product was featured right. Product is always going to be the hero. So that stood out. It was easy for people who wanted samples to get samples. Like you had samples available for people who did want samples. They were going to be able to get them and to be able to try the product and you know, you were resource so they could speak to you.

12:06
Daniel Scharff
I think I always notice, you know, just some founders are so present, they're out, not behind their booths, you know, hoping the world comes to them. They're out in front flagging people down, having good energy, being really open and receptive and starting conversations. And then I think also a lot of it about is about knowing who you're looking for, right? Because for me, one of the biggest challenges starting a brand early on is I didn't even know who the retailers were, right? So if a good early chain comes by, you know, fresh time is walking by, whoever, I wouldn't even know that because the words just didn't mean anything to me at that point when I did not know who all the customers were that we should be trying to work with.

12:42
Daniel Scharff
And it just takes time, right, to familiarize yourself with all of that. But the more you do, the more you'll know. And your eyes are going to light up big when you see the right buyer walking by. And even if they're not the buyer for your category, you're going to form a relationship with them and trying your product and loving it and texting the actual buyer or telling you the name of the actual buyer to come over. You know, I think you see these things at the trade shows, right? When you see somebody, you know, you're like, cool, hey, do you see anything that you like? Right? And people then are like, yeah, well, here's one brand. And if you hear that, you are going to go try that brand. Because everybody wants to try the cool things at the show.

13:15
Daniel Scharff
And so, you know, I think the brands that do really well do a good job of that. They show up primed for people to like them. But then also they just start building a coalition of people who like their product at the show. And that stuff can compound and then all of a sudden you're the hit of the show. Right? So just really having good energy, good product and just getting people excited about your product and you, because that is, this is a game of people and that stuff can just really help you leave your mark on the show that you've put so much time into. So we are going to hear a couple segments with some founders today.

13:48
Daniel Scharff
But Patricia, Kiki, any last words that you want to leave people with about future opportunities, maybe with us and sections or future shows to consider?

13:57
Patricia Menegoto
Yeah, I would say during the show we did had tons of brands. So were in the debut district inside of the area, the hall that is in the winter fancy food show. So there were brands around us on their own booth. But they came to me or like to our booth. I would say like tons of them came. They're like, hey, how can I be in your section? Because this is much cooler than just being like here with my background like backdrop alone. So what I want to say is the summer fans food applications is coming soon. So make sure that you keep an eye in the newsletter. Slack social media. It is very competitive and we like to make sure there's a very curated section. So also apply for our show fee awards.

14:43
Patricia Menegoto
Our team can get to know about your product because if we have tried your product before, it's way more likely we are going to pick you because we know the taste, we know the story already. So you're already ahead of the game. But yeah, applications are coming soon. We are going to launch a form. So fill out the form and our team will reach out to you. But I can tell you that I have calls with Q and A to support all the brands. We get the SFA involved to answer all your questions. So you're really having friends that guide you to make sure you have the best show ever. And then Kiki goes around and do tons of content we feature you guys on social media. But Kiki, any other tips or insights?

15:24
Kiki Huddleston
Yeah, I mean, I would just say go for it. Apply anytime you see us, post something in our announcements channel, go out on email or in social media, apply for as many of the programs as you can. Because even if you don't get selected to be in our section one time, that doesn't mean that you won't get picked the next time. Just any way you can get on our radar and get in the section, I would say. I mean, I know it sounds biased for us to say this, like our section is the best section of the show. We hear it at every single show that we go to. The vibes are immaculate. Everyone's having a good time. The buyers know about us. They know when they're coming to a show. They know about sort of cpg.

15:59
Kiki Huddleston
They're coming to see us there to find small brands. They know that's our specialty. Like, we know the small brands. We know who's up and coming and we know who's killing it. And if you're one of those brands and you apply, we're going to put you in our section. That's literally what we do. And people know about that. So if the thought has crossed your mind, like, should I get a full size booth or should I be in the startup CBG section? The answer is you want to be in the startup CPG section.

16:21
Daniel Scharff
Immaculate vibes. Kiki, official startup CPG section hype girl. Thank you, Kiki. All right, so thank you, Patricia. Thank you, Kiki, for everything that you do, for all the brains, the community for us to startup cpg. And now let's hear directly from some brands who were in the section. Enjoy. All right, everybody, here we go. Let's hear from another brand, guys. We've got Brendan here from Azaboo Foods and Meatless Future. They debuted an amazing collaboration product at Fancy foods winter show. Brendan, first, can you just tell us about this product?

16:53
Brendan Cravitz
Hey, Daniel, Good morning from Tokyo. It's exciting to talk to you here. So I'm the founder of Azubu Umami Everything, a sauce that literally goes on everything from ramen to noodles to pizza. And then I came together with the founder of Meatless Future and he has an amazing gyoza. So together we put our products together for our first US Product, which is a meatless gyoza with a pouch inside of it, which contains. Contains the sauce that we're launching separately in a jar as well as now in our first US product, 20 piece meatless Gyoza frozen pack.

17:21
Daniel Scharff
Okay. And gyoza for those of us who don't know a lot about gyoza, what is it?

17:25
Brendan Cravitz
Japanese dumplings. Everybody knows dumplings or pot stickers. That's actually what I called when I was growing up. So yeah, I've had to explain that to a lot of people. So. But it's a dumpling or a pot sticker for those that are unfamiliar with gyoza and it's what we call it here in Japan.

17:37
Daniel Scharff
Okay. Amazing. So how did you decide to join us at Fancy Foods Winter Show?

17:43
Brendan Cravitz
So I'm pretty involved, if not an avid reader. I try and post up as much as I can on the Slack channel and I saw the opportunity. We were thinking about it, if now is the right time, and it just seemed everything was kind of aligned and then just fortunately there was a opening after just lots of like change and exciting things that happened here in Japan and we jumped on the opening and that's how it happened.

18:03
Daniel Scharff
Amazing. And just so everyone knows, we really do our best to get the most affordably priced kind of entry level tabletops at the show because we believe when we bring together all the brands from our community, it's just going to be the best section at the show and we don't need massive booths or anything. We just want to focus on the pure products and founders in our community and I really feel like it works well. So hopefully that was part of the calculus that you guys did there.

18:27
Brendan Cravitz
That was definitely a huge part of it as like uber startup mode going into us, which compared to Japan is quite pricey. Just that opportunity, the placement to get the support of the team and everyone that was there. And then obviously it always comes down to cost, no matter what you say. And the cost was, I mean, we'll probably talk about it later, but the return on investment for us was like in the cloud, so it was awesome.

18:47
Daniel Scharff
Okay, so speaking of ROI and experience, what did you expect versus what did you get?

18:52
Brendan Cravitz
Honestly, were looking for feedback. Just a lot of good feedback from everything from package, obviously, flavor, texture. We had a good feeling. It's doing really well here in Japan. But tastes and what people like here is considerably different than the US So that was our main goal going in and if we got some leads that we could nurture and develop, it would be great. Like that was the target. What we got was amazing feedback and even people from retailers that would go through the pack and spend lots of time just showing us design or things that they would implement, whether it's like immediately or in the future. Things to consider from. I mean I'll just like the Whole Foods team came through and just spent so much time.

19:28
Brendan Cravitz
Whereas I've done previous shows before and I never got that they would take a sample, maybe a hello, nice to meet you and go. And I really think it's a testament to startup CPG to be able to get that sort of feedback. Like that time with these buyers was amazing. And then beyond that we had a list, a dream list of potential buyers and distributors that we'd love to talk to. We didn't think maybe it wasn't realistic or it was just a stepping stone. Spoke with more people than we expected and already are engaging in great conversations after sending our post show email. So it's really exciting. We're really optimistic thanks to what happened at the show. Thanks to you guys.

20:03
Daniel Scharff
What kind of people were on that list? Who are your dream retailers? Distributors?

20:07
Brendan Cravitz
Well obviously I mentioned Whole Foods and that was top of list. And then just going down the list, Bristol Farms, New Seasons distributors that in many shows it's almost impossible to talk to a distributor. They don't want to talk to you unless you have somebody. And at one point I didn't even know what to do. I had Whole Foods, the whole army of Whole Foods to my left. I had their distributor right in front of me. And then I had Thrive Market which is also on the top of list for E Com all here in front of me and spending like quality time talking and engaging and I could see what they were talking about the product. Maybe they weren't talking to me, but I was able to hear what they were saying to each other. And then yeah it was.

20:40
Brendan Cravitz
And then the list goes on. It was really top tier retailers, large groups from like the Northwest that have many independent retailers. We would have gone one by one and now we have a lot of exposure. And then even for Canada that going to be a phase two or phase three. And now that's a potential open door for Vancouver and Toronto and then even down to Australia which is important for us. We have some great opportunities for Australia, New Zealand for a buyer that was coming in looking for Asian foods which we would have never expected. So just huge potential opportunities.

21:09
Daniel Scharff
That is amazing and it doesn't surprise me at all. You guys have such a cool product. I would love to just take all the credit for that because we do work very hard. I email all of those buyers ahead of time and I tell them who's in the section and we try to set up a specific Time for them to come by and tour the section with us. And we set up a lot of meetings ahead of time with them in our booth. They're very excited to do it because they know it is people like you in the community and they actually love if we can help them figure out ahead of time even who they want to meet with. But I can't take all the credit because you guys just crushed it at the show.

21:40
Daniel Scharff
We can get a lot of them there at the section. There are tons of great buyers overall at fancy foods, but you guys were just definitely one of the standouts of the show and people were really obsessing over the products. So just congrats to you guys. That was really amazing to see. So now that you've been to the show, you hadn't been there before, you've been there, do you feel like, hey, are you going to go like summer show, winter show every year, all the time? Or like, how do you think about that in terms of, you know, future budgeting, given that you're also a foreign brand?

22:06
Brendan Cravitz
Of course. So summer show is not in our plans. We've now spoke with several people at sfa, including their PR team that are really nudging us to go. So we're trying to figure out how to make that happen. I have a lot of experience at Expo. So much different show if you've done those shows, especially if you work those shows. We plan to walk the Florida Expo, but definitely fancy food show is going to be a big target for us going forward. Something I knew about. It's just one show I hadn't been out to for whatever. I was always busy or doing other things. So, yeah, we definitely look forward to hopefully being able to do summer, but if not definitely winter next year, which happens to be in San Diego, which happens to be where meatless futures based. So it's perfect for us.

22:44
Daniel Scharff
Okay, so you've done Expo before. What is fancy food show like? Hopefully you got a chance to walk around at least a little bit, even though you guys were mobbed most of the time. But how would you describe it to a friend who hasn't been there before?

22:55
Brendan Cravitz
I would say the quality of people showing their foods is more in line with what our products are. There's a lot less of the big guys, it's a lot more of brands like ours, so people know what they're going for. It's those buyers with that mindset. I felt the pace and the feel of the show compared to Expo seems a lot more fast paced. It's just so much larger, so much more to get through. And maybe this is a lot of the reason we got that quality time with the buyers and distributors and other folks is just because it was a bit more relaxed, I feel, compared to Expo and some of the other shows that. Like Plant Base World or some other shows I've done back East. Yeah, definitely excited.

23:30
Daniel Scharff
I think you're totally right because you have that time. It's not like a show where you have 3,000 booths that the buyers have to get to. It's manageable for them. There's plenty of time, and they're really there to take time and identify some brands that they're just super hot on and ask the questions and be really thoughtful about it. So, yeah, I'm just super glad that was your experience there. And then just for someone who wasn't there also for our section, can you describe what your experience was like just being in our section? No need to just only say good things about us. We like that. But, you know. Yeah, just like the. Honestly, what was the experience actually, like, what was kind of confusing? Anything that was really easy, really hard. And what did it feel like to be there in the section?

24:09
Brendan Cravitz
I would say the camaraderie between. It was a big section. Like, everyone has small space, but there's a lot of small spaces. And so it almost seemed like a ship. And there was like one side of the ship and another side and our side of the ship. We were all helping each other out, being very supportive, constantly filling each other with samples. We happen to have one or more good at substance with our food. So we kept people really well fed in our area as much as we could. But then even down on the other side, the folks with the boba, which was absolutely amazing, we would just switch back and forth constantly. They'd give us our sugar high that we needed with their delicious boba, and we keep them filled with our gyoza right next to me.

24:44
Brendan Cravitz
If they had a buyer and they felt that it was something that was in line with like our spicy sauce or something, or just had a feeling that it might be good, they would send our way and vice versa. And then if I saw someone and I wasn't able to speak with them for whatever reason, they would tell us, hey, this is who it was. So there was just a lot of helping each other out, which is really. When you're in a grind and you're. It's a small team, it's not a big booth, you're very limited on amount of People, it's great to have someone. There was one time I had to run to go to the restroom and someone stepped in from another team just to help us briefly. And even that coverage was amazing. So it was great.

25:16
Brendan Cravitz
The whole cpg, there's obviously your immediate team, but the whole community on the boards and then in real life is just outstanding. Really.

25:23
Daniel Scharff
I love to hear that. I like the ship analogy. I think that actually is a really good metaphor for what we're all trying to do here because we actually are on this ship together. I think sometimes I see brands like, hey, should I be competing with that guy? Like, no, actually we are all on the ship together of trying to improve the overall ecosystem and probably taking share from some big CPG brands that haven't really done their job to try to help us all improve everything. So I really like to hear that. Okay, so Brendan, lastly here. What have you learned about how to better prepare for the next show? Or like, hey, I wish we could have done this better our first time around. We could have.

25:57
Daniel Scharff
If it's around samples or like outreach that you did ahead of time, or just how you showed up to actually sample the show or how you took advantage of the stuff around the show, anything that you think you could have hit even harder.

26:09
Brendan Cravitz
I think definitely time is spending more time in the beginning when you have that luxury if you're able to plan and do some reach out. So that way we could have asked more people to come because. Because that happens for a lot of brands and they're setting those people up and everyone gets busy. So probably with the next show or for sure with the next show, we would spend more time trying to arrange, at least let people know, go on social media and say, hey, we're at this booth and get that attention to where we are is probably the biggest learning that would have helped us. It was really, like I said, beyond successful from what were expecting. But that doesn't always happen. And I think definite learning is reaching out in advance and trying to get people to come to the show.

26:42
Brendan Cravitz
As far as samples and getting set up, I think we're very fortunate. Yoshi, the founder of Meatless Future and I have a bit of experience with shows, so we're very lucky on that point of view. But yeah, aside from that, it was really great.

26:54
Daniel Scharff
I love it. Okay, great. So for anyone who wants to follow along your journey, what should they be doing? Should they be following you on LinkedIn? Tell us about your website. How can people support you all on the product fees?

27:04
Brendan Cravitz
Brendan Kravitz on LinkedIn. Azaboo Foods. We're just starting our socials in the States. So that's all brand new. Azaboo foods on at everything as well as Meatless Future. MeatlessFuture underscore us for all socials. And then Yoshi Otomo on LinkedIn, founder of Meatless Future. So we'd love for you to follow us. We'd love to collab. We're looking for brands to collab with. So if there's anyone out there where it makes sense, either on the sauce or with the gyozer or whatever, it may be excited to talk to you.

27:30
Daniel Scharff
All right, Brendan, thank you so much. It's just so exciting to see how well you guys did.

27:34
Brendan Cravitz
Thank you so much, Daniel.

27:35
Daniel Scharff
All right, all right. I hope you enjoyed that one. Now let's hear from another brand. All right, I'm here with man Maxi from Happy Candy. Maxi, welcome to the show. First of all, can you just introduce yourself? And then also, I'd love to hear what made you want to exhibit at Fancy Foods winter show this year.

27:52
Maxi Heidenblut
Yeah. And first of all, thank you for having me on the podcast. So I'm Maxie. I'm the founder of Happy Candy. We make better for you gummy candy with 70% less sugar and no fake sugar. So no stevia, no monk food. We simply use less sugar. And I wanted to exhibit at the winter Fancy food show. It was our first time to exhibit, and I wanted to get in front of buyers and also meet fellow founders and just broaden our network in the industry and our footprint and ideally go home with some opportunities to follow up with buyers.

28:24
Daniel Scharff
What did you expect from the show? Going into it, you're like, hey, I hope this happens, or, you know, maybe I'll get to meet this kind of a person.

28:30
Maxi Heidenblut
I was really hoping to meet Whole Foods, and that came through, which was really exciting. We actually met three buyers from Whole Foods, and that was my main target, to connect with Whole Foods number one. And then larger retail chains like Albertsons and the key buyers there.

28:47
Daniel Scharff
Well, that is amazing. So that's a win already. I actually, I really feel that way about Fancy Foods, especially because in our section, the Specialty Foods association does an amazing job. They give us this big, beautiful section with very affordable tabletop prices. So for me, I would pay that tabletop price just for the chance to get to talk to the Whole Foods buyer. That feel like a pretty good environment in which to meet the whole foods people 100%.

29:12
Maxi Heidenblut
So being part of the startup CPG area, not only Were we super visible and basically in the middle of everything? We had such great energy in that section and were actually some founders, fellow founders were sending buyers over to our booth and were sending buyers to our fellow founders booths. So it was a really nice, this collaborative environment and we had just great energy around innovation and startups and new concepts. And I think the buyers were specifically coming to the startup CPG area to find these new ideas. So overall it was really great to be part of the section.

29:48
Daniel Scharff
Well, that's awesome. We were definitely sending buyers over to your booths to get some delicious candy, which so I am really excited to say I've got some samples here at home and I've got the Big Apple flavor and I've also got the Italian summer flavor. And just for anybody listening along at home, it is what Maxi says it is. This is a really delicious, much lower sugar candy. You have a package of it here which is a pretty substantial serving size. It sort of feels like the size of one of those Welch's fruit smacks, but maybe a little heartier than that. And it has 130total calories and it has 8 grams of total sugar, which I think is about. You would compare that to about 29 or 30 grams for a lot of other candy.

30:33
Daniel Scharff
So it's a lot lower sugar, but there's not a bunch of weird stuff in here. The ingredients make a lot of sense to me and it's, you know, fun and beautiful and it feels satisfying in that sweet tooth way, which is important for me because if I don't have this, I'm going to have something much worse. So I really appreciate that approach as somebody like I used to work at Mars Chocolate and I definitely have a sweet tooth and so I really appreciate people bringing options that still are fun to me and have fun branding and taste good and exciting and sweet and delicious, but are not going to make me really regret the choices that I make. Do I sound like your target customer?

31:10
Maxi Heidenblut
Perfect. Yeah. And really appreciate the feedback. It's actually something that the show was also useful for, to get feedback not only from buyers, but also, you know, other attendees that are trying the product. And we see this huge trend of consumers moving away from fake sugar, stevia, monk fruit, allulose, erythritol, all of that because they come with side effects and funny aftertaste, moving towards having real sugar but just have it in moderate amount. So we're definitely onto something that makes.

31:38
Daniel Scharff
A lot of sense to me. So you, I believe had walked fancy foods one time previously Right, the New York show. And you've been to Expo before?

31:46
Maxi Heidenblut
Correct. Also walking.

31:48
Daniel Scharff
So what was the Fancy foods winter show for you like overall? I know you were at your booth most of the time, but. But you probably got a chance to just get a feel for what was around you and who was there. How would you describe it to somebody who has never been?

32:01
Maxi Heidenblut
Yeah, so it is a bit smaller than the fancy food show in New York and definitely smaller than Expo West. But there's a lot of benefit that comes with that because you have more time with the buyers and they will actually stop by your booth. You have more interactions, you can have like longer conversations with them, I think. So it was a bit more intimate and overall it was the perfect first show for us to exhibit because it is a bit smaller than the other shows.

32:28
Daniel Scharff
It's so hard to believe that it's your first show exhibiting because, well, you guys did such a good job. But also just I think because we've seen you exhibit at some of our events in New York before as well and just do really well there also. So congratulations, you're a brand that it just feels like you've been around for a lot longer I think than you have. So that's great. So okay, I totally agree with you about that. Point of. I mean the Whole Foods Market buyers were not just coming by once, they were coming by a couple times actually.

32:55
Daniel Scharff
I think, you know, getting a lay of the land, checking out what's going on with the brands, the different parts of the show and then really making the laps with us and coming back to make sure they didn't miss any brands that they thought would be important. So I'm really glad to hear that you had that experience. But yeah, I would see people talking to a specific buyer for like 20, 30 minutes even. And I don't think anybody feels rushed because you just don't have as much ground cover. There is the space for that and you have three days to cover not as much ground. Right. And I imagine you as an exhibitor, did it feel pretty manageable?

33:27
Maxi Heidenblut
Yes, absolutely. So it was actually really good to have those deep dives because now you have thorough follow ups and clear next steps with those buyers. And being there for three days was the right amount because you really could connect with all the attendees. And to your point, nobody felt rushed, so was absolutely manageable. And as a small brand, it's actually a great way to get started with exhibiting and just get your feet wet and try having a booth, running a booth because it is a lot I'd.

33:54
Daniel Scharff
Be interested to know when I would exhibit at Expo, I would come home with like a hundred leads, like, oh my gosh, we are going to get into all these stores, it's going to be amazing. And then maybe you get into like 1 in 10 that you feel like you had a good conversation with. But at Expo, it's crazy, right? There's just so bustling. People are sticking and moving, like just constantly on the go. There's so much ground to cover. I just was thinking about you mentioning really getting a lot of time with them and getting concrete next steps. I wonder if you get a much higher conversion rate based off having that long discussion, because you're not just another brand to them at that point. They had a long discussion. You got to actually probably address some of their concerns and questions.

34:35
Daniel Scharff
What was some of the feedback you were getting, by the way? Was it just about trends in your guys's favor, which I think they really are right now, or did you get any suggestions from any buyers?

34:44
Maxi Heidenblut
Yes, definitely. Great suggestions. And that comes back to the point of them having time to spend at the booth. Actually, one of the Whole Foods buyers spent some time going through our packaging and giving us really good advice on what we can improve on our packaging. So that was very valuable because now we're putting that already into action with our designer. And then on the product itself, everybody loved it. So we got really good feedback. But I wanted to point out that we actually also had the opportunity through startup CPG to pitch at the further Female Founders practice pitch, which was so valuable because we got in front of an expert panel from Food Navigator and Thrive Market. And also there we got some really valuable feedback on the product packaging and how to pitch to buyers.

35:28
Maxi Heidenblut
So that was a fantastic opportunity as well.

35:30
Daniel Scharff
So that's amazing. You got the chance to experience our further Female Founder program. This is an incredibly important initiative to us. So much of our community is made up of female founders, maybe 60%, and we really see the challenges facing them. And so we're really excited to put on as much programming as possible and create connections and try to bring the women in the community closer to buyers and any opportunity that we can. So this is one of the first major scale initiatives that we've been able to do where we put on a big lounge, one of the afternoons at Fancy foods. We really appreciate Specialty Food association for giving us that opportunity and working with us on it. And we did a couple hours of programming. Can you tell people what was that experience like?

36:12
Maxi Heidenblut
Yeah, absolutely. So first you had to apply and go through an application process to get selected. We had five brands in total that had the opportunity to present in front of a large audience. We actually had a really full house and the expert panel to get live feedback on your pitch, on your product, on the packaging. In our case, the expert panel was actually opening the bags and trying the candy and really loving it. So we got on the fly feedback on our pitch. We had two minutes to present and it was super valuable because they had some great comments on how to better present in front of a buyer and what to highlight and what to maybe rephrase or reframe. So it was very helpful to have that opportunity and actually Thrive Market came to our booth afterwards, the category buyer.

36:58
Maxi Heidenblut
So there was just another opportunity that opened up from having been on that stage.

37:03
Daniel Scharff
So that's why we love the Thrive Market team. They are awesome. Did you notice any commonalities in some of the feedback that they were giving people pitching anything for people who didn't get the opportunity but would love easy chance to get some learnings?

37:15
Patricia Menegoto
Yeah.

37:15
Maxi Heidenblut
I think what's really important is to bring in your story, make sure that in a very short and concise way you convey of why you started this brand and why this product needs to be out there in this world and like just focus on some of the numbers as well. What's your suggested retail prize? And I think those were some of the key elements that I can remember from the pitch.

37:39
Daniel Scharff
Awesome. Okay, so it sounds like you crushed it at the show, which we all saw you in action, crushing it in the moment. And so I'm glad to hear that went as well as it did. What would you do differently next time? Like what did you actually do to prepare to try to have a good show and what do you think you could have done differently, better for next time?

37:56
Patricia Menegoto
Yeah.

37:56
Maxi Heidenblut
So because I'm a one woman show, one of the challenges that I was facing is I needed some help at the booth. So making sure I did get some help, but making sure that you have at least one other person that's helping you because there will be times where you need to leave the booth or you just want to walk around and have some meetings things. And other than that, what we did, what I thought was very helpful is we had a prepared sheet where were making notes right away after every conversation so that we really made sure that we're following up with everyone we talk to. So making sure not just to collect cards, but actually having a sheet where you can track everything that you discussed and the people you talk to.

38:33
Maxi Heidenblut
I think that was super helpful and something that really helped us with the preparation.

38:37
Daniel Scharff
And how many days did you wait to follow up?

38:40
Maxi Heidenblut
Oh, I did wait a couple of days because everyone was exhausted from the show, I think, and we had travel and so I did wait until Monday, the week after Monday, Tuesday and then, yeah, did all.

38:51
Daniel Scharff
Yes, that's always very hard to do, to wait. Like, I just want to follow up, like, and make sure I don't lose the momentum. I don't want them to forget about me, but they appreciate that if you wait. Okay. Maxi, I want to thank you for joining in the Startup CPG section and being such a a huge amount of why the section was successful. It's just because of really passionate, skilled founders like yourself and these amazing products that makes it a great experience for all the brands because I think the buyers really sensed the great energy from all the brands in the section, found some incredibly high quality new brands and you are what they're looking for. People who are exhibiting for the first time have an incredible new product that is hitting on consumer trends.

39:30
Daniel Scharff
You're obviously a very prepared founder and you're ready to meet the opportunity. So looking forward to following along all of your success.

39:36
Maxi Heidenblut
Thank you. It was so great to be on the podcast. Thank you for having me.

39:40
Daniel Scharff
All right, thank you. 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 Right now 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@partnersartupcpg.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 super fantastics Dot. Thank you everybody. See you next time.