NOSH Pitch Slam Vol. 8 - Winner Announcement & Interview

Ray Latif [00:15] All right, we're back. I'm Ray Latif, the editor and producer of Bevnet's Tas Radio podcast, and you are joining us for the announcement of the winner of NOSH's Pitch Slam 8 competition sponsored by 301 Inc. Uh, really an amazing competition. So great to see, uh, these brands that are really Uh, taking our food industry to the next level, uh, and will be for years to come. Congratulations to all the semi-finalists. Congratulations to everyone who applied to be part of this competition. Uh, you folks are really driving this industry forward. Thank you so much. Uh, just a quick announcement before we make the announcement, just a reminder that Bevnet and NOSH Virtually Live is taking place on June 23rd and 24th. Sign, sign up today, register today. Easy to do so. Just subscribe to Bevnet and NOSH. You'll have a space to attend the show. All right, it's time now to announce the winner of the NOSH Pitch Slam 8 competition, and the winner is. Savorly, congratulations to Savorly. They are the winners of not only the Pitch Slam, but $10,000 in an ad package and this beautiful trophy that I have right here in front of me. Let's go back to David and Ethan, who are the founders of Savorly, the co-founders. David, Ethan, how are you?

Speaker 2 [01:35] All right,

Ray Latif [01:36] congratulations. Well done. Well done. Thank

Speaker 2 [01:39] you. Thanks so much. Yes, we, we see the cup. We'd love to have, uh, be able to, to hold it in our, in our hands, but, uh, it'll be for the next

Ray Latif [01:47] time. Well, we're gonna, we're gonna send you a, uh, one of these very shortly, and you'll be able to put it, uh, in your office, on top of your car, uh, wherever you wanna put it, really. It's up to you.

Speaker 2 [01:57] Amazing. Thanks.

Ray Latif [02:00] Uh, so, once again, congratulations, great job. You know, I think one of the things that really stood out, uh, in terms of the judge's feedback was that your product was really polished from a packaging standpoint and from a product standpoint as well. Um, you know, how long have you been working on this? Because it seems like, you know, for a relatively new brand, this is years ahead of where it should be.

Speaker 2 [02:21] So, um, thank, thanks for that, and, um, we really valued all of the judges, uh, comments on that as well. We did, um, invest a lot of time and effort and it was a lot of trial and error into the, into the packaging and, and the product, uh, um, as well to, to make it optimized, to make it appealing, to really, to really convey that message that we want to To, to convey to consumers of, of being fun and being, uh, for, for to be outgoing and to that really resonates and um especially make it as approachable as we can. Yeah,

Speaker 3 [02:53] and we want to give a shout out to our graphic designer that worked a lot with us, Milly, she's amazing and just a shout out for her as well, uh, for working on it with us.

Ray Latif [03:04] Yeah, one of the interesting things also, you know, the judges talked about usage occasion, you know, you guys said that this is uh a brand that can play into a lot of spaces and a lot of different uses. Um, you know, when you think about your innovation pipeline, are you thinking about, you know, a different line, a different product for different day part uses, say, morning, afternoon, evening? Or do you see everything as sort of fitting into, you know, this is a great product, these are great, this is, this is great food for any time of the day?

Speaker 2 [03:30] Um, yeah, so definitely we, we are, um, as we, we, uh, we said in our presentation, we are, uh, continuously looking for ways to innovate and we, we did uh launch with our, with our appetizers which scream, um, occasion and holidays, but we want, we really want to convey that message of try to use them in, um, in, and, and try to think of ways, uh, to, to Enjoy them, um, in, in your garden or over after work or as an afternoon snack like Ethan mentioned at the demos we learned so much that actually kids enjoyed our, our, our snacks so much that they, they, they go crazy for, for, for the goat cheese. It's something that, uh, that doesn't, doesn't, um, yeah, that, that was surprising and we learned so, um. Yeah.

Ray Latif [04:18] What's one piece of feedback from the uh from the judges that you weren't expecting to hear?

Speaker 2 [04:23] Um, the piece from, from Karen, how, um, we were surprised and, um, really valued her, her feedback on uh how she mentioned that we, we will She, she thinks we will stand out in that frozen section, um, in that door, and we'll be able to, uh, promotionally, uh, do stuff that, um, competitors and, uh, brands around us, uh, will not necessarily be able to do.

Ray Latif [04:50] Mhm. One of the judges mentioned that uh they thought that the Savorly brand could be extended to other categories outside of frozen. Um, do you see an opportunity to, uh, to, to get out of that set, to get out of that, uh, category and, and move into other parts of the store? Yeah,

Speaker 3 [05:07] so innovation is, is part of our DNA, and we want to avoid, for, for now we're in the frozen category and we want to expand in that and find new ways to innovate in the frozen category, but the doors are always open,

Speaker 2 [05:19] of course, yeah, like, um. One of the judges, uh, in the, in the semi-finals mentioned is that with our packaging we left the doors open for, for many possibilities like, uh, like now as well. So, um, we, we're definitely always looking for, for opportunities, um, but right now, you know, frozen is where it's at, and, uh, yeah, we're looking forward to what's, what's next.

Ray Latif [05:43] So I know you outlined a little bit of what, of what's next for uh the brand in 2020. But, uh, more specifically, where do you see uh uh Savorly going for the next six months?

Speaker 2 [05:55] Um, so we have that, uh, that Whole Foods, um, rotation coming up, uh, at the end of the year. So that's something we'll be working on. And, uh, again, expanding, uh, expanding into that, those, uh, that specialty and natural section. Um, and also with everything going on, uh, we really, uh, we really like everyone try to, to, to shift our focus and, and thinking of how we can, we can find creative ways to exploit everything that's online. So our, our online store is, uh, is definitely becoming more active, uh, finding ways to, uh, to optimize, optimizing distribution, uh, for, for our D2C network and, um, yeah, lots. Basically connecting all the dots online to make sure, uh, consumers have that full experience when, uh, when they hear, taste, uh, or see savor.

Ray Latif [06:50] Is fundraising a part of your, uh, next steps as well?

Speaker 2 [06:53] Uh, definitely, definitely, to, to be able to to, uh, to sustain our, our growth and to, to do that in a, in a good way we're, we're, uh, definitely looking into investment as well.

Ray Latif [07:06] All right, well, any investors that, uh, send me an email and say, hey do I get in touch with the guys from Savorly? I'll send them your way. Amazing. Fantastic. Guys, David, Ethan, congratulations again. Uh, a, a well-deserved, hard-fought win, uh, and, uh, I hope you can take the next few hours to, uh, to bathe in your victory.

Speaker 2 [07:27] Thank you. Thanks, thanks to the whole, yeah, thanks to the whole NOSH and Bevite Life team, to the judges, to Pete, Kiva, Carol, Karen, and Hopefully we, we speak very soon.

Ray Latif [07:37] I really hope so. Cheers guys and uh congratulations again.

Speaker 2 [07:41] Thank you.

Ray Latif [07:44] All right. That wraps up NOSH Pitch Slam 8. just an incredible competition over these past, uh, over the two days of the show. Um, once again, uh, congratulations to all the participants. I think that, uh, this is one of the best competitions we've seen in years, and I, uh, hope it gets better from here.