CPG Week Podcast: Expo West Sneak Peek

[00:00:05] Monica Watrous: Welcome to the CPG Week podcast by BevNET and Nosh. I'm Monica Watrous, here with my co-hosts, Brad Avery and Lukas Southard. If you're enjoying the show, please subscribe on your listening platform of choice. Today, we are releasing a special edition Expo West preview episode and we are dropping in a couple days early so you can hopefully have something to listen to on your flight to Anaheim. But yeah, we're just catching up on what we're looking forward to seeing at the show. This is, I don't know how many rodeos this is for me. I think this is like number 12 in the number of Expo West that I've been to. It's always exciting, but different every year.

[00:00:45] Brad Avery: Almost a baker's dozen you got going there. I think, uh, I think this is my fourth Expo West.

[00:00:51] Lukas Southard: You're just a baby. Those are rookie numbers. You gotta pump those numbers up.

[00:00:55] Brad Avery: I'm early days on this compared to you two.

[00:00:57] Monica Watrous: Stick with us kids. We'll show you the ropes.

[00:00:59] Brad Avery: I tend to really fret over this to put it lightly, but every year it gets a little easier. I'm a little bit more prepared, I think, and just kind of know what to expect. I'm looking forward to some of the brands I'm going to talk to. I'm going to have a booth interview with the folks over at Chomps to carry on the reporting I've been doing in meat sticks and the meat snack category in general. They're going to be announcing some new innovation that is especially tasty. I'm also going to be keeping my eyes out for some more creatine. I know everyone's looking for protein and fiber, but creatine has been my beat. I want to see if there's some other creatine that pops up throughout the show. So tag me if anyone's got some creatine products. Otherwise, just looking to reconnect with a lot of the brands I've talked to and excited to go home with a luggage full of samples that my kids can eat.

[00:01:57] Lukas Southard: I'm looking forward to catching up with Magic Spoon. They've got a lot of news happening lately. schedule some time to go meet up in person. I've never actually met with the team face to face before. So that's what's always fun about a lot of these events is getting to see people you've only ever talked to on the phone or even just like conversed with over email and actually putting a proper face to name, not just a LinkedIn profile photo.

[00:02:22] Monica Watrous: Right. Yeah, they do have some exciting stuff going on. They just launched their protein pastries, which is almost like a Pop-Tart style product. Yeah, you can't say that though. Right.

[00:02:33] Lukas Southard: But it is basically that. A toaster pastry. Yes, yes. This is a legally acceptable version. Sorry, Magic Spoon. Not trying to get you in any trouble.

[00:02:41] Monica Watrous: Nope, nope. You can blame it on me. Well, I'm looking forward to hearing what you learn at the Magic Spoon booth. I'm going to be a bit of a nomad this show. I don't really have any scheduled appointments. I just want to try to take in as much as I can, but there are several themes that I am keeping tabs on during the show. One of them is just the evolution of familiar categories and lots of upgrades around things like candy, pizza, pasta, gummies. Maybe it is a seed oil free or cleaner label take on a product, or maybe it has an added functional benefit like creatine, but I expect to see a lot of a lot of activity in everyday staples. And then also I'm keeping an eye on global flavors. And there's a lot of influences that I'm already taking note of. Lots of influences, including Korean, Mexican, Middle Eastern, even Scandinavian. We know that like Nordic candy is becoming a hot thing. Lots of interesting applications in global flavors. And then again, going back to that functionality thing, I mean, protein and fiber is going to be everywhere, but also other benefits like women's health is emerging as a growing focus. and even sleep, weight management, energy, all these things that we've been looking at for years, but new ways of approaching those need states. Brad, you didn't tell us how many Expo West this is for you.

[00:04:21] Lukas Southard: I've lost count, actually. It might be coming up on nine. There was no COVID year expo, so that always throws a wrench in my numbers. It's definitely eight or nine, I would assume.

[00:04:33] Monica Watrous: Okay. All right. You're pretty seasoned. What are your hacks for conquering the show?

[00:04:39] Lukas Southard: Well, you need good shoes, obviously, and pack lightly. Don't overstuff yourself. I think you got to learn to be cautious with your samples, you know, not to overindulge. Also being open, I would say, to conversation and, you know, who you might run into and unexpected conversations. I think that's something that we got to talk about. When you're going to Expo, you're going to meet people. You're going to make connections, you know, to do business. And I think it's about Being a bit of a yes and person when it comes to the show floor and you know whether you're willing to go to that party or you know go to that impromptu meeting and you know being willing to explore.

[00:05:22] Monica Watrous: Well, and some of those connections that you meet on the show floor are famous. And we have encountered a number of celebrities at Expo West in the past. Brad famously interviewed Katy Perry at the Bragg Apple Cider Vinegar booth, as well as Will Smith with Boxed Water. Was that at Expo? With Just Water, yes. Just Water. Oh, sorry. My apologies to the Boxed Water people.

[00:05:47] Brad Avery: No association with Will Smith. Which is probably a good thing now, you know, they probably are. I'm okay with that.

[00:05:55] Lukas Southard: This was pre-slap mind you.

[00:05:57] Monica Watrous: Right. Right. Of course. Uh, Lucas, what, what are your tips for, uh, mastering the, the beast that is Expo West?

[00:06:04] Brad Avery: Well, as I said, I am, I'm no master. I wouldn't claim to be going into my fourth or fifth year. I forget. But one thing that I found incredibly useful is just to have a backup battery charger for your phone. We take a lot of pictures on our phones and you're. constantly checking it. So it's nice to have that reserved battery. But this might be a hot take, but I am a firm believer in if you exercise early, it gives you energy throughout the day. As a parent of small children, I wake up way before the sun comes up so I can get my exercise in. But I found at Expo, working out in the morning before you go actually kind of gets the Get some metabolism going, gets the energy up. Helps me get through the day, even though you're putting in a lot of steps on that show floor.

[00:06:50] Monica Watrous: More power to you. I'm going to say that my walk to the convention center that is a mile and a half away from the hotel that our company is staying at this year will be my early workout.

[00:07:02] Brad Avery: I signed up to do the fun run with the Keytone IQ folks, bright and early Wednesday morning. So I'm going to be doing that. So, you know, check in with me Wednesday at about five o'clock. I might be singing a different tune.

[00:07:15] Lukas Southard: Yeah, he might be having to issue a correction on this entire segment.

[00:07:20] Brad Avery: If you find me sleeping in the North Hall at like five o'clock, please wake me and book me an Uber back to my hotel.

[00:07:27] Monica Watrous: So you're doing the fun run. That brings me to my next question, which, what are some of the activities that you are looking forward to outside of the show floor?

[00:07:36] Brad Avery: Well, other than the fun run, I might attend one or two parties, uh, Wednesday night, depending on how I feel. Got invited to, I think Pepsi is doing some sort of hot happy hour thing. So I might check out what they're doing. I like to walk around late in the day and see what kind of, when the, when the drinks start being poured at booths and see who's, who really turns up the volume on their music and gets, it gets the party going.

[00:07:58] Monica Watrous: So that's always kind of fun. That's what I'm hearing too.

[00:08:02] Brad Avery: Yeah.

[00:08:02] Monica Watrous: But sometimes that's what you need to make it through expo. No, you, you, you bring up a good point. There are some really great activations and booth happy hours happening on the show floor. So you don't even have to leave the Anaheim convention center in order to have some fun networking and potentially a little bit of booze.

[00:08:19] Lukas Southard: So I see some new innovations in the beverage front as well. I know Spindrift announced their tea today, and I'm curious to see how does Spindrift handle a new product category and format like that? Looking forward to checking in on some of, you know, brands I've covered recently, you know, Midday Squares has new innovations that have been really good in the past and, you know, excited to try there. So it's nice to be able to try the products. It's also nice to see what new categories or formats people are playing around in. That's always the joy of discovery at Expo West.

[00:08:56] Brad Avery: Yeah, grab me one of them PB&J bars, because those look really good.

[00:08:59] Monica Watrous: They're so good.

[00:09:00] Lukas Southard: They're really good.

[00:09:01] Monica Watrous: Speaking of PB&J, I'm really excited that the company behind the pizza cupcake they rebranded to Incredibles, they are launching a PB&J handheld snack for the frozen aisle. And they do something really unique with their crust. They have like a, it's a hybrid brioche type crust. I'm super pumped to see what that's going to taste like. I'm also really looking forward to trying a new collaboration between Like Air and Freestyle Snacks, which is a spicy dill pickle puff corn. And we know that- We have that in the office.

[00:09:34] Lukas Southard: I haven't given it a try yet, but we got those samples. Oh, man.

[00:09:37] Monica Watrous: I need to get on their list. Love Like Air. Really great product. And I love Freestyle Snacks. I don't like their olives, but I like their pickles. It's not a thing against them. It's a thing against olives. But that sounds really interesting, and I love seeing all of the collaborations teed up at the show. The other thing I'm super excited about is Evergreen is expanding into pancakes. And you know me, I love waffles. That's kind of my thing, but I am looking forward to seeing what Evergreen's new pancake is all about.

[00:10:08] Lukas Southard: Waffle's just a pancake in a different shape.

[00:10:10] Monica Watrous: That's right. Aren't we all?

[00:10:12] Lukas Southard: I suppose, yeah. I don't know why.

[00:10:16] Brad Avery: It's getting really metaphysical.

[00:10:18] Lukas Southard: I'm sure you could find some philosopher that would tell you that.

[00:10:23] Brad Avery: We're all just pancakes, man. We're all just pancakes.

[00:10:29] Monica Watrous: Lucas, do you have any, uh, plugs or, or takes on any other products you're excited to scope out at the show?

[00:10:37] Brad Avery: As Brad was saying, I'm, I'm very open to whatever, whatever comes my way. I did talk to Geeson. It's a wine brand out of, um, Marlboro, New Zealand, and they're going to be presenting their zero Alc wine. So I'm going to drop by there and try their alcohol free wines. So I'm excited to try that, but otherwise, you know, just, just gonna, gonna walk the floor and see, see what makes it into my mouth and see how it goes.

[00:11:07] Lukas Southard: Okay. Special challenge first and a brand that does a happy hour where they add alcohol back into there and a product.

[00:11:16] Brad Avery: Yeah, that, that should be on the bingo list.

[00:11:18] Lukas Southard: Yeah. I know that the idea is to demonstrate how you don't need the alcohol, but I want to see who's the brand that finally is like, nah, we're just sticking vodka back into it.

[00:11:27] Brad Avery: I will say that I love high. Oh, I love higher with a little bit of rum inside.

[00:11:31] Monica Watrous: The one thing that makes non elk better is elk.

[00:11:39] Lukas Southard: You heard it here, folks.

[00:11:41] Monica Watrous: Spoken like a true booze hound.

[00:11:43] Brad Avery: Now we're getting to the hot takes here.

[00:11:45] Monica Watrous: Well, I'm excited to see you guys, and this is actually a big event for the BevNET and Nosh teams. We are sending a whole fleet of reporters and editors. There will be seven of us on the ground covering the show, so if you see us, if you recognize our voices from this podcast, or if you recognize our faces from LinkedIn and such, please stop by, say hi, let us know what you're working on, what you're excited about, and we look forward to connecting with you in Anaheim. That wraps up this edition of CPG Week by BevNET and Nosh. Thank you to our audio engineer, Joshua Pratt, our director is Mike Schneider, and our designer is Aaron Willette. If you enjoyed the podcast, please subscribe on your listening platform of choice, and we will see you next time.