September Special: A Month with Retail Buyers and Decision Makers on Community Call
Get ready for our September Community Calls! This month, explore how Walmart’s Open Call program helps brands get on shelves, gain updates and strategies from Whole Foods Market, learn how Mazaah got Target’s attention, and dive into current functional ingredient trends with Bristol Farms. Our September calls are free and open to the public – just register in advance and mark your calendar.
To listen to Community Calls on-the-go, check out our Community Call Podcast, available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your streaming platform of choice.
Upcoming Community Call Schedule:
Walmart’s Open Call Program—Lessons From Two Emerging Brands
- Date: Tuesday, September 10
- Time: 2:00 PM ET
- Guests: Walmart Open Call team, Lena Brascata of Two Fish Foods, Molly Blakeley of Molly Bz Cookies, Shauna Golden of Nosh
- Topic: The Walmart Open Call team will join Lena Brascata of Two Fish Foods and Molly Blakeley of Molly Bz Cookies, both participants in Walmart’s Open Call program. This program helps entrepreneurs grow their businesses by selling products on Walmart shelves and Walmart.com and is designed for small to medium-sized businesses offering U.S.-made or grown products. Discover how these brands were selected, what the pitch process was like, and the program’s impact on their businesses. Shauna Golden of Nosh will also join the conversation, offering insights from her article on Nosh.com.
Whole Foods Market – Updates for Local and Emerging Brands
- Date: Thursday, September 12
- Time: 1:00 PM ET
- Guests: Kristin Sherman, Principal Local Forager at Whole Foods Market and Casey Gaston, Executive Leader of Local and Emerging Brands
- Topic: Kristin Sherman, Principal Local Forager at Whole Foods Market, and Casey Gaston, Executive Leader of Local and Emerging Brands, join Community Call to share essential updates and strategies for local and emerging brands who want to get their products on shelf including: *Changes to how the local and emerging team operates *Current differentiation and innovation the team is looking for *Inside tips for submissions and pitching *Distribution recommendations *Pricing strategies *Special diets and macro trends of note
How Mazaah Got Target’s Attention and What Launching at Retail Involves
- Date: Thursday, September 19
- Time: 1:00 PM ET
- Guests: Le’Spencer Walker, Director at Target’s Accelerators Activation & Growth program, Yasameen Sajady of Mazaah’s
- Topic: Le’Spencer Walker, Director at Target’s Accelerators Activation & Growth program, joins Community Call with Yasameen Sajady, co-founder of Mazaah’s Afghan-inspired sauces. They discuss what kinds of products Target looks for in its emerging brands program, how Mazaah got noticed by the Target team, and what a successful launch entails. If you’re an emerging brand at Target or aiming to be, ask your questions and say hello live on the show!
Bristol Farms—Exploring Current Functional Ingredient Trends
- Date: Thursday, September 26
- Time: 2:30 PM ET
- Guests: Darren Viscount, Senior Natural Living Category Manager/OTC Category Manager at Bristol Farms
- Topic: Supplement trends, such as the popularity of collagen, protein, and nootropics, often forecast shifts in food and beverage CPG trends by reflecting emerging consumer interests. We welcome Darren Viscount, Senior Natural Living Category Manager/OTC Category Manager at Bristol Farms, to discuss these natural living trends and their impact on food and beverage products. We’ll also learn what brands need to get on the shelf, succeed at Bristol Farms, and build lasting partnerships.
If you have ideas for future topics, feel free to send them our way! Please submit all questions, ideas and feedback via our Community Call form.
About Community Call
Community Call, presented by BevNET & Nosh, is a recurring series of meetings amongst food and beverage professionals. Each call will tackle a topic impacting the CPG industry, and create a platform for timely insights, expert advice and community discussion. These calls will take place multiple times a month and invite the entire community to participate.
About BevNET
BevNET.com is the leading food and beverage-oriented media company, producing a web site, podcasts, print magazine, and live conference series. BevNET’s mission is to offer, through products in a variety of media, the best, most comprehensive forum for news coverage, expertise, partnership and support for all members of the beverage community.
About Nosh
Through its website (Nosh.com) and conference events, Nosh covers the world of entrepreneurial packaged food companies and services. In addition to news coverage, Nosh provides new and growing food companies the tools and knowledge they need to enter the market and succeed. Nosh is a product of BevNET.com, Inc.
