CPG Week Podcast

In this episode: On this week’s episode of the NOSH Podcast, NOSH editor Carol Ortenberg and reporter Brad Avery chat about Orchard Valley Harvest’s “No Nut November” ad campaign, including the importance of knowing your target audience when taking a risk with marketing. Then the two muse over Getir’s acquisition of FreshDirect and what the future holds for grocery delivery. In the featured interview, Brazi Bites cofounder and CMO Junea Rocha shares how and why the brand expanded into the frozen waffle set and why building a successful food company involves more than just having a good product. Show Highlights: 2:10 – Brad and Carol discuss Orchard Valley Harvest’s new provocative ad campaign and talk about the tenuous line brands must walk with risque marketing campaigns. 9:00 – What does the acquisition of FreshDirect by Getir mean for quick service delivery in the Northeast? Why was Ahold Delhaize willing to part ways with FreshDirect after purchasing it in 2021? These are the questions that Brad and Carol ponder while chatting about the grocery delivery deal. 12:50 – Brazi Bites co-founder Junea Rocha joins the podcast to explain how TikTok posts of consumers “waffling” the company’s Brazilian cheese bread ultimately led it to enter the breakfast category. 21:00 – Building a brand and launching a new SKU comes down to more than just having a good product. Rocha discusses how finding the right retailer who can put the product in the baskets of the target consumer is just as important to growth. 27:15 – Rocha talks about one of its less successful products and why sometimes a discontinued product can be just as helpful in moving a company forward as a home run. “Our industry is very impatient…You can have a great product and get shelf space, but if it doesn’t get discovered in time for you to drive the velocity that you need, then it’s going to fall off the shelf the next year.” – Junea Rocha, Brazi Bites cofounder and CMO About the NOSH Podcast The staff of NOSH.com takes listeners inside the business of natural, organic, sustainable and healthy food during the NOSH Podcast. Using interviews and discussion, the team illuminates the news, brands, people, trends, and money affecting the world of packaged food. New episodes are released every week. Send us comments and suggestions anytime to [email protected]. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts

On this week’s show, NOSH editor Carol Ortenberg sits down with the Eat The Change team to discuss how the company has evolved its identity by rethinking its product lines. Seth Goldman, co-founder and CEO, and Sarah Shah, Head of Marketing, talk through how the company evaluated its product mix, ultimately making a measured decision to discontinue one slow turner and revamp and reposition another. Show Highlights: 01:56: Mushrooms were… so last year? Seth and Sarah shared how declining consumer interest in fungi, and the polarizing popularity of mushrooms, coupled with a product positioned for kids, made the animal-free jerky a tough sell. 11:33: Just because a product isn’t performing well, doesn’t mean it should be discarded. The duo talked through upcoming changes to their Carrot Chews line that aims to broaden its positioning and better explain the concept of a vegetable snack to consumers. 22:25: Deciding on whether to discontinue, reposition or keep pushing for a product can be complex and often, not a clear cut choice to make. Seth and Sarah talk through the key metrics they considered and how Seth’s Honest Tea days informed how they assessed the total addressable market. “We know what direction we want to go, but we’re going to follow whatever path the market leads us to get us there. We’re not going to change our direction, but we’re not going to follow a preset course – we’re going to have to let the course evolve as we grow” -Seth Goldman, co-founder and CEO of Eat The Change About The NOSH Podcast The staff of NOSH.com takes listeners inside the business of natural, organic, sustainable and healthy food during the NOSH Podcast. Using interviews and discussion, the team illuminates the news, brands, people, trends, and money affecting the world of packaged food. New episodes are released every week. Send us comments and suggestions anytime to [email protected]. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts

On the NOSH Podcast this week, editor Carol Ortenberg and reporters Adrianne DeLuca and Brad Avery discuss the U.S. government’s suit against Amazon, how CPG brands’ differing approaches to selling on the retail platform and dive into recent shake ups in meal kit delivery space. Carol then goes completely nuts – during a chat with Nuts.com’s new CEO PJ Oleksak and chairman Jeffrey Braverman. The trio discusses how the nut empire was built, the ever-changing landscape for an ecommerce, DTC-based company and where the brand has grown since its original offerings in B2B. In this episode: 2:00 – The Federal Trade Commission (FTC)’s antitrust lawsuit against Amazon leads the team to discuss the tightrope CPG companies must walk when utilizing the platform. 10:00 – What’s the state of meal delivery kits? Adrianne walks through the roughly $130 million sale of Blue Apron to the privately-held Wonder Group and Wellfull’s approach with its relaunch of Jenny Craig. 19:00 – Chief Nut, (a.k.a. newly appointed CEO) PJ Oleksak and Chairman (Chair Nut?) Jeffrey Braverman of Nuts.com joined Carol to talk about why paying $700k for a domain was worth it in the long run. 33:00 – The two executives dive into the impact of COVID on DTC companies and how to “keep it hungry” in ecommerce through diversification. 40:00 – Nuts.com has – at times – zagged when other ecommerce brands have zigged, opting to focus its strategy on in-house marketing and operations efforts rather than selling on Amazon or tapping TikTok. “Our customers are obsessed. They’re evangelical. It’s a ‘if you know, you know’ brand but the reality is we don’t want it to be an ‘if you know’ brand. We need to invest in building the brand. ” – Nuts.com CEO PJ Oleksak “The reality is now that about 67% of product searches start on Amazon. Maybe we should be more open-minded to that.” -Nuts.com founder Jeffrey Braverman About the NOSH Podcast The staff of NOSH.com takes listeners inside the business of natural, organic, sustainable and healthy food during the NOSH Podcast. Using interviews and discussion, the team illuminates the news, brands, people, trends, and money affecting the world of packaged food. New episodes are released every week. Send us comments and suggestions anytime to [email protected]. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts

On this week’s show, NOSH editor Carol Ortenberg, reporters Adrianne DeLuca and Lukas Southard and editor-in-chief Jeff Klineman continue their food emojis crusade, while also highlighting some meal news from Tattooed Chef and Kevin’s. Later, Carol and Immi co-founder Kevin Lee talk through the brand’s approach to funding announcements, the leg up celebrity-backing has given its retail and marketing efforts and how the brand “embraced the cringe” to build community. Show Highlights: 01:31: Jeff recounts his trip to Greece – which included many cephalopod meals and maybe a Pita Party upon return. The team then turns back to emojis with much debate over the origin and availability of these coveted digital creatures, and how the New York Times is trying to bring them on board. 10:28: The team talks through top headlines from the week spanning the sale of meal brand Kevin’s to the bankruptcy announcement from Tattooed Chef and how the different paths these brands took toward growth may have impacted their respective fates. 27:44: What is the value of publicly announcing a funding round? According to Lee, maybe not a lot. He shares insight on why he believes having to ride the media cycle wave doesn’t benefit early stage brands and why the team ultimately made the announcement post-seed stage. 48:17: Tweeting about a fundraise and your company’s valuation goes against Lee’s advice, but building the brand in a public way most definitely does not. Listen in to hear his argument for why every founder should “embrace the cringe,” and the benefit Immi has seen within its core community. “You generally don’t want to shine a spotlight on your fledgling startup when there are plenty of incumbents out there who would love to eat your lunch, and can probably build your product in a couple of months. There’s also obviously the risk of inviting new entrants into the industry… and the last thing is – it’s really just a distraction.” -Kevin Lee About The NOSH Podcast The staff of NOSH.com takes listeners inside the business of natural, organic, sustainable and healthy food during the NOSH Podcast. Using interviews and discussion, the team illuminates the news, brands, people, trends, and money affecting the world of packaged food. New episodes are released every week. Send us comments and suggestions anytime to [email protected]. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts

This week on the NOSH Podcast, Carol Ortenberg, Jeff Klineman, Adrianne DeLuca and Lukas Southard sit down to discuss celebrity branded coffee, a resolution to Miyoko Schinner’s battle with her former company and new (but veteran) leadership taking over Ben & Jerry’s. In the interview, Carol speaks with Jorge Gaviria, CEO and founder of Masienda, and its creative director Daniel Klein about how the company’s focus on video and storytelling has fueled new growth in customer acquisition and retail placements — and led to several James Beard award nominations this year. In this episode: 1:20 – The team starts the podcast with a conversation about celebrity-backed coffee brands in light of Millie Bobby Brown’s announcement that her cosmetics brand Florence By Mills had released branded coffee. 8:35 – Carol explains the recent update (and seemingly end) to the legal battle between Miyoko Schinner and her former vegan cheese brand. 10:50 – Lukas talks to the team about the leadership change at Ben & Jerry’s and what it says about the brand’s legacy and future in the premium ice cream category. 17:00 – In the interview this week, Carol spoke with CEO and founder of Masienda Jorge Gaviria, and the company’s creative director Daniel Klein about the company’s digital marketing strategy of focusing on film. 22:15 – Gaviria talks about how the brand’s change in content strategy to longer form videos helped build customer acquisition. 25:08 – Klein explains his journey with the company and how video became a big part of not only telling Masienda’s story but telling the story of scaling sustainability among farmers in Latin America. 34:00 – Gaviria discusses how the brand’s videos and D2C strategy has allowed Masienda to go nationwide in Whole Foods Market and establish its retail presence.   “This is a testament to how global of a culture we’re in right now. Bad Bunny is the highest grossing artists of all time — [and] he doesn’t do interviews in English, he literally just speaks Spanish…The times have changed, and have really embraced this deeper dive into cultures that maybe don’t reflect your own, but are fascinating and deserve representation.” -Jorge Gaviria, Masienda CEO and founder “Masienda has always been a brand with a lot of integrity and beauty in the work that they do. And we try to make that clear also in the video that we present.” – Daniel Klein, Masienda Creative Director of Film and Video   About the NOSH Podcast The staff of NOSH.com takes listeners inside the business of natural, organic, sustainable and healthy food during the NOSH Podcast. Using interviews and discussion, the team illuminates the news, brands, people, trends, and money affecting the world of packaged food. New episodes are released every week. Send us comments and suggestions anytime to [email protected]. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts

On this week’s NOSH Podcast, reporters Lukas Southard and Adrianne Deluca join NOSH editor Carol Ortenberg to consider Oatly’s new online marketing campaign, debate the implications of sesame seeds’ new classification as a “Big 9” allergen and discuss Hershey’s decision to acquire two Skinny Pop co-packing facilities as the company puts more emphasis on its snacking portfolio. Then, Carol hears from Coconut Cult CEO Ari Raz about how self-manufacturing might put increased pressure on a brand but in the end allows for more flexibility in production and the ability to remain true to core values. In this episode: 1:35 – Adrianne explains Oatly’s new online tongue-in-cheek website and the team discusses the impact of self-effacing marketing campaigns. 4:12 – Lukas talks about how some companies are countering the FDA’s move in January to add sesame to the list of Big Nine allergens. Carol discusses the implications of companies adding an allergen to products that might not have previously contained it and how the allergen community is reacting. 9:43 – The team discusses Hershey’s move to acquire two production facilities from its Skinny Pop co-packer and the chocolate company’s focus on its snack portfolio. 16:40 – For the interview, Carol talks to yogurt brand The Coconut Cult’s CEO Ari Raz about co-packing versus self-manufacturing a product. Raz discusses his change of heart when he took over the reins of Coconut Cult and shares news regarding new manufacturing capabilities. “The process of being a self manufacturer went from being very scary, to extremely exciting. And now it’s going to become, as we continue to scale, a very lucrative operation for the brand.” -Coconut Cult CEO Ari Raz About the NOSH Podcast The staff of NOSH.com takes listeners inside the business of natural, organic, sustainable and healthy food during the NOSH Podcast. Using interviews and discussion, the team illuminates the news, brands, people, trends, and money affecting the world of packaged food. New episodes are released every week. Send us comments and suggestions anytime to [email protected]. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts

In this episode of the NOSH Podcast, the NOSH team discusses the larger trend of chefs, restaurants and bakeries expanding into CPG, sharing recent funding and product examples. The team goes on to debate what the recent news in cell-cultured meat means for investment in the space and how it will dictate what companies survive and how quickly cultured proteins make it to market. Then, Jeff and Carol sit down with TIG Brands founder Elliot Begoun and Chomps president and COO Liz Carter as the duo discusses how the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank’s has emphasized how CPG brands prioritize how they view working capital. In this episode: 2:20 – Carol talks with the team about her dinner at New York City restaurant Per Se and the broader trend of chefs and bakeries launching CPG brands. 13:15 – The team discusses the juxtaposition of the news of the FDA’s approval of GOOD Meat and the announcement that cultured meat startup New Age Eats was officially ceasing operations. The team discussed what this means for the industry as a whole and how investment in the space will be key to the future of the industry. 22:20 – Jeff and Carol talk to Tig Brands founder Elliot Begoun and Chomps president and COO Liz Carter to discuss the role of working capital in light of the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. “Your capital strategy is as important as your go-to-market strategy, as your marketing strategy, as your organizational design. If you don’t have a capital strategy – a plan for fueling your business – then you’re really always going to be reactive. That’s dangerous in the best of times and probably devastating in these current ones.” -Elliot Begoun, founder of Tig Brands About the NOSH Podcast The staff of NOSH.com takes listeners inside the business of natural, organic, sustainable and healthy food during the NOSH Podcast. Using interviews and discussion, the team illuminates the news, brands, people, trends, and money affecting the world of packaged food. New episodes are released every week. Send us comments and suggestions anytime to [email protected]. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts