Pitch Slam Volume 9 - Finals

Ray Latif [00:08] Hey, folks, thanks for tuning in to the final round of Nosh's Pitch Slam 9 competition. I'm Ray Latif, the editor and producer of Bevnet's Taste Radio podcast, the number 1 podcast for the food and beverage industry. Sponsored by 301 Inc. the Nosh Pitch Slam gives early stage and promising brands the opportunity to present their business plans and products to a panel of expert judges and the audience watching on our live stream. The winner of the two day competition will receive a $10,000 ad package. Join a short list of brands that have triumphed in the competition, including Beccan Ice Cream, Creation Nation, Watermelon Road, Tribali, and Bronx Hot Sauce. Out of the 12 semifinalists presented on Tuesday, 6 have made it to the final round. Let's talk about the rules for the final round. Each of the 6 brands will have 5 minutes to present and receive 5 minutes of immediate feedback from the judging panel. The judges will be able to ask questions of the finalists in this round. After all the brands are presented, the judges will convene and we will announce the winner around 1 p.m. Eastern time. We'll also have a short interview with the winner after the announcement. Just a quick note, there will be no audience voting in this round. Let's introduce our esteemed judging panel, beginning with John Haugen, who is the founder and managing director of 301 Inc. John has led, uh, John has driven innovation and growth during his thirty-year tenure at General Mills. In his current role, he has led strategic investments in Beyond Meat, Rhythm Superfoods, Good Culture, Kite Hill, Farmhouse Culture, Purely Elizabeth, Urban Remedy, Good Belly, and Good Catch. Next is Cameron Gould Saltman, who is a senior category manager on Amazon's physical stores team and emerging brands evangelist. Cameron has held various positions in finance, operations, and general management at Unilever and Amazon. Next we have Carol Ortenberg, who is the editor of Nosh, a role she's held since the site's inception in 2015. Carol previously worked and consulted for several consumer goods companies, many within the food space. She was also on the marketing team for Whole Foods Market in the North Atlantic region. Last but certainly not least is Ammit Ponde, who is the CEO of Velocity Snack Brands, a data-driven, a data and digital-driven, better for you snacking platform that seeks to acquire, incubate, and grow a portfolio of iconic brands in the salty, sweet, salty snacks, sweets, and nutrition bar categories. Prior to joining VSB, Amit served as the president and CEO of Arctic Zero, a low calorie ice cream bootstrapping the brand from inception to being in over 18,000 doors. We're really blessed and lucky to have this amazing judging panel with us today. Excited to hear their feedback and advice for our finalists. Uh, thank you so much for all, uh, for joining us and uh I can't wait to get started. Speaking of getting started, why don't we get to our first finalist of this competition. That is Pertte Spencer, who is the co-founder of AYO Foods. Pertit, how are you? I'm doing great. How are you doing? Doing fantastic. Thanks so much for coming back with us and congratulations on making this the final round. Are you ready to give your 5 minute pitch? I am. Fantastic. Your 5 minutes will begin now. Good morning everyone. I'd like you to pause for just one minute and look around your surroundings. After 9 months in semi-quarantined space, I'm sure we could all agree we'd love to be here on a canoe featuring the beautiful surrounds of the coast of Ghana. And while I can't promise you a trip to Ghana today, I can offer you an invitation to explore with Ayo and have an experience endemic of the amazing culture and flavors of West Africa. Good morning. My name is Prutte Spencer, and I'm the co-founder of IO Foods, and I can't wait to introduce you to our brand today. In a nutshell, IO exists to bring the authentic ingredients, spices, and flavors of West Africa to foodies everywhere. We deliver a few things that are really unique to the market. The first is a familiar trial format in a fast-growing frozen segment. The second is an untapped market opportunity. We are a first to market launch featuring the unique flavors of West Africa, and we know there's prime opportunity in the marketplace, given the growing population of Nigerian immigrants in the US and the growing body of ethnic adventurers who represent about 38% of the US population today. IO brings an incredible product line aligned with market trends, authentic flavors, and sustainably sourced ingredients, and we have the backing of the best in class management team with which I'll share with you in a bit. We see a tremendous opportunity to create a new platform and grocery. Ayo was inspired by my Liberian family as we look to bring the tremendous flavors that I grew up with to a broader intersection of the population. But beyond the personal ties that we have to Ayo, we also know that there's a tremendous market opportunity. Ethnic items are fueling the growth of frozen. With specialty items outpacing the total market by about 4 times, and 6 out of the 10 fastest growing uh specialty items being ethnic in nature. Yet African food is notably absent from this landscape. Despite an interesting groundswell of US interests in West African culture, which spans all the way from music to restaurants, to growing industry publications highlighting West African as the next food trend to watch. And that gap existed until now with the launch of AO. We're so excited to introduce these three dishes inspired by our family favorites to the rest of the market. Our first item is jollof rice. Um, I'd encourage you, if you have some time this afternoon to hashtag jollof Wars and be entertained by the great debate around which rice is the best across West African countries. The second item is cassava leaf soup, which features the ground cassava leaves of the yucca plant, which often go wasted. Um, and the third item is a gooi seed soup, which features the seeds of the gooi melon, which are ground into a really incredible stew paired with chicken and other spices. Uh, because the seed is so protein rich, this particular item, uh, has over 23 g of protein. Currently, we're in a distribution in about 50 Whole Foods stores, uh, in a growing body of Independence, where we're based in Chicago, and our SRP is 599. We're supported by an incredibly strong brand management team to scale. Uh, so I came to IO with over 20 years of experience, uh, specifically focused in food, with much of my time being spent in Journal Mills building iconic brands there. In the last 5 years at Sins actually supporting the growth of the next generation of disruptor brands. Our other co-founder comes with a really strong finance speaking and entrepreneurship, so combined, we're holistically prepared to scale in the marketplace. We're also bolstered by really strong support to scale. We were recently named Best New Frozen Food in the NextE Awards. We have a growing body of key influencers in media coverage, and recently we named a strategic Investment Partner of Cleveland Avenue. We invite you to find more flavor and join the Ayo family today. Thank you so much. All right, well done, Perit. Um, Cameron, let's start with you. Um, you know, Perit mentioned that, uh, ethnic foods are, uh, driving growth in the frozen food category. Um, are you seeing the same thing? And if so, you know, what do you think of the, uh, opportunity for IO Foods, uh, within that set? Absolutely, um, so I'd like to start off by saying great presentation, um, and, and great product, um, so we, we see, uh, a number of cultures, um, penetrating frozen category, right, a very difficult category to play in, um, kind of dominated by a few large manufacturers, but we see flavor profiles entering in like the presentation mentioned, um. Mostly focused on Asian and Mexican, so I think um there, there is very little African presence, and I think this represents a true opportunity. Um we saw some African flavors uh in Berbere and a few others entering a couple of years ago, but entrance into the frozen segment really hasn't been done. So thinking through, um, how you compete with the brands. On the shelf, uh, and make some of the ingredients like cassava or a goosey melon a bit more approachable because, uh, you said the target customer was a an exploratory foodie but thinking, you know, how you scale and how you, um, democratize some of these ingredients is going to be supremely important in thinking about how, uh, we bring this to the mainstream. Yeah, that's incredible feedback and actually has been a big focus of our team as of late. We know there's growing awareness of cassava from from cassava flour and kind of some of the other uses of cassava, but we're so excited to tell the story of really using that whole plant for the betterment of not only the environment but also to bring something differentiated to the market and know that we have some education to do there. And so as things start to open up. And we'll lean heavily into demos to help support that. In the meantime, we're leaning into key influencers, etc. to really allow people to experience these unique flavors, and we feel like there is this unique opportunity, particularly now where people are looking for just different experiences to really um enter that conversation and allow people to explore outside of their home even if they can't physically leave. Carol, did you get to try AU products, and if so, what do you think of their taste, flavor, um, approachability for an average consumer and also the price point? Well, I wholly agree with Cameron's point. I think that they are certainly ingredients that not everyone is familiar with, so that education will be key. There were some I had never tried before. I thought the flavor was great. It honestly was like nothing I had ever tried before, which sometimes can It a bit difficult, but also as an opportunity, I guess one question for me was calling them soups versus stews because I think, you know, often a soup refers to something brothy, and this was a little more thick and sort of viscous compared to a traditional soup that you'd see, you know, on the shelf. Yeah, a really great question. I think there's a few things driving the decision to call it soup. One is kind of USDA standard of identity given kind of content levels. The second is my dad calls everything a soup, whether it's a chili, a stew, or whatever. And so we were, we were trying to pay kind of an homage to him as well. Uh, but that is really good feedback, and I think outside of kind of just the legal, uh, legal constraints and having to call it a soup, I think you're spot on in terms of kind of bringing folks along on the journey of what to expect when they try IO is really, really great feedback. I love that story of your dad, and I think that could be something you call out on the site or on the packaging, the fact that he called everything a soup and really lean into that a little bit. Yeah, I love that. Thank you. Amit Perit identified AO as addressing an untapped market opportunity and also a brand that's aligned with market trends. Do you agree with both statements that you made?

Speaker 2 [12:46] I do. I think that consumers are more adventurous than they've ever been. I think um the pandemic has actually allowed them to have a little bit more freedom to choose and try new things. Um, and so I think that uh this, this product and this brand will, will, will have an opportunity to really drive trial. My That is the price point at $599 seems a bit unapproachable given other things that are in the, in the space, right? You've got products that are $1.99 so I'd love to see that become more approachable for, for a broader audience, uh, more than just a Whole Foods consumer.

Ray Latif [13:36] John, uh, you get the last word. We got about 30 seconds left. Um, I'm interested to hear your thoughts, uh, in 301 31 Inc's interest in the frozen food space given. Its traction in recent months and years, and what do you think of IO sort of in a general sense. Yeah, great, and Pritit, good to see you and congratulations on your success. Thank you. I would say just 3 things. I mean, obviously, um, Frozen has had a great resurgence as a sort of a more convenient version of Fresh, so to speak. So, um, and, and that's the good news. The bad news is obviously there's a ton of competition. In the set, um, I guess I'd offer three quick things in, in the little time I have here is, first of all, um, I, I, I think maybe there's, um, to Carol's point, there's some things to even dial up the authenticity story. I wondered about if there's a sourcing, um, story in terms of other ingredients that could really legitimize offering beyond just the flavor. Um, I also just think about, uh, from a market development perspective, um, I think, um, you know, broadly speaking, Uh, probably an interesting new cuisine opportunity, but maybe it needs a little bit of education. So I'd like to hear more, uh, about, um, what you're thinking about from a key influencer perspective. And then lastly, I agree with the comment that was made is just Thinking through the occasion and when you have a couple that are soups and a couple that are maybe more medley items, um, really focusing the consumer, those early consumers on a specific occasion that you guys really feel like you guys can own as a product and a brand. Great presentation, great feedback, great start to the competition. Uh, let's move on to our 2nd, 2nd, finalist for this round. It's Alisa Poscapova, who is the founder of Kind Root. Alisa, how are you? Hi, I'm doing really well. How are you? I'm doing great, thank you. Did I do any better, uh, on your last name, uh, from the semifinal round, or pretty much the same? No, you absolutely nailed it. So thank you so much. I'm so happy. Yeah, that, it makes me feel good. Thank you. All right, uh, are you ready to present? I'm absolutely ready. Um, thank you so much for having me. Your 5 minutes will begin now. Great, thank you. My name is Alisa, and I'm the founder of Kind Root. Um, and the story of Kind Root really starts with me. Um, I have asthma, so whenever I would get a cough, I would eat a lot of lozenges, and I've just been buying them nonstop. Um, and really much without thinking, to be quite honest. And it was about 2 years ago. I was standing in Walgreens and I was just going to reach for another bag. And for whichever reason, it really connected to me that I've been buying the same product for 20 something years. Um, if you were to look at the category, you know, you have your Vicks, you have your Ricolas. Um, they didn't really connect to me as a consumer on the branding level. I didn't feel like there was a lot of choice in flavor or, you know, any kind of ingredients. And looking into a little bit more, some of them actually have things like menthol, which can actually be quite irritating in the long run. So I started thinking about this idea of, um, you know, innovating within the category. And at the same time, I was going through an herbalist apprenticeship. So I was traveling with my adaptogenic powders in a Ziploc bag, and TSA stopped me. And that is really when it connected to me. And I thought, you know, maybe we can think about a lozenge in terms of a functional delivery and really expand it and grow it more just beyond um something that just soothes your throat. So if you look at the category for supplements, which is a $30 billion industry, there's definitely been a trend towards herbals, but a lot of them are powders tinctures, and sometimes consumers are quite intimidated on how to take them or the taste issue. Um, there's a lot of supplements, but they're a little bit more kind of routine transactionals. And then when you look at more kind of sensory fun category of gummies, which is about $6 billion gummies are quite saturated and lozenges are just really poised for disruption. So that is where I wanted to introduce a product that would hit on 3 key pillars. So, one was the brand. I wanted something that would pop on the shelf and would connect with consumers and make it emotional. And we're here for Kind root, both from the younger demographic that really likes the brand, but also the 65 plus that tells me, I love that nostalgic retro vibe that you're introducing. Then there's a delivery. It's different, it's convenient. It's ready on the go. It's also very understandable. It's a hard candy. It's a lozenge. And on the functional end, you know, it allows for that slower absorption through your mouth tissues. So what we hear a lot from people who maybe say, you know, Melatonin usually gives me that hangover, but yours actually, I don't get that drowsiness after. So there's again an opportunity to continue innovating and introducing things that people usually have a little bit of a difficult time taking into something that works well with our bodies. And then, of course, finally, ingredients. That was very important to me. So Kind Root is made with organic ingredients. We're gluten-free. We're also lab tested, and we're also low sugar. So kinder adaptogens, we're combining plants, actives, and aromatherapy in a smooth little lozenge, and flavors are really important. Lozenge stays in your mouth for 5 to 6 minutes, and that is why all of our flavors are actually developed to complement. the active of the functional. So when you're taking that snooze lozenge, you're tasting that lavender vanilla, it starts to organelliptically affect your senses, and then the melatonin kicks in and kind of puts you to bed. So, we're really encouraging everybody to take them in reset and look inward when they're taking these. We launched last year with 4 different flavors. Um, and each one of them was chosen based on the biggest categories within the supplements for the functions. So we launched with the Sleep one, mood Focus, and then also beauty one with a, you know, kind of resurgence of collagen. And this month, we just launched one for immunity call Defend. It's an exclusive with Urban Outfitters right now. And at the end of the month, we'll be expanding nationally. And I think what's important to point out is that if you're looking at this, I think the opportunity for scaling and continuing to innovate is really kind of endless. Um, you know, the different combinations of ingredients, different combinations of flavors, trial packs, refills, things like that, um, can really, really help us expand in the future. The product is also light and it's shelf stable. So we've truly been able to pursue an omni-channel strategy. So from Urban Outfitters to, you know, assisted retail environments, we do really well in places like health spas, yoga studios, and then of course also a traditional kind of natural channel, um, and e-commerce. So on our site, we're seeing high repeat rates. Um, we're also seeing people coming back and, you know, purchasing in multiples and we'll be introducing subscriptions to really become kind of part of that everyday routine for our users. And when people ask me about where do I see the company, to me, Kind Root will always be at the forefront of innovation. So I always want to be herbal and active, but I want to always come up with new and innovative ways of delivering supplements in a way that people will look forward to taking. And I think that is really, that is really important, and that's what will continue to set us apart. Um, and for us, this week is actually a one-week anniversary since the launch, so it's really special being here. Um, as the next step and as we're looking to the future. So thank you so much for having me here, and I look forward to your feedback. All right, well done, Alisa. Uh, thanks so much for the presentation. Um, Ahmed, you know, uh, Alisa identified kind root as a mini reset for the mind and body, which I think everyone needs at this point. Um, is a lozenge the right delivery method, delivery, uh, medium for this mini reset?

Speaker 2 [21:30] What, what I, what I really appreciated about this product or appreciate about this product is that, um, and Lisa said this, is that so many people are already moving into this area, right? They're trying to consume this in powders and tinctures, and, and frankly, those are not. It's not, it's not consumption friendly. I think the lozenge is actually a really great delivery mechanism. I think it's also an arena of the grocery store that has really been slow to innovate and slow to change, so I I really think that this is an incredible opportunity, and I, and honestly I love the packaging. I think that's just going to pull right right off the shelf. So I've, I'm, I'm, I'm, I really think that this is the right opportunity and there's a huge market opportunity to for for for this brand to attack.

Ray Latif [22:26] Uh, John, uh, you know, it's interesting. I don't think we've ever seen a lozenge brand in the pitch land before. Um, and as Ahmed mentioned, it's something that I think generally we haven't necessarily covered or even thought about when it comes to food. Um, is this something, is this a real opportunity that you see, uh, to, to disrupt a space that is Pretty much, I guess been uh not disrupted for some time. I mean, do you think the Kind route is the right brand to uh to to address that disruption? Congrats on, on your success. And, you know, boy, if there's ever a category that could be reimagined, it would be this. And I think, you know, it's benefit is also, it's a little bit of a challenge where, um, you know, it took me right back to my old Ludden's days, kind of growing up with those red cherry cough drops. Um, but you know, when you think about, um, what I love about this, but also a little bit of a communication challenge for the consumer is all around, um, something that's Traditionally been medicinal, or, you know, you see somebody walking around with a bag of ricola or Halls and you figure, OK, I'm gonna avoid that person, they're sick, and you're really turning it into a proactive wellness solution for consumers. I totally agree with what, what, what Am said around a time release benefit. It's great. So, and I think the key thing over time. Um, you know, because we all know that ultimately, um, throat lozenges, you know, from halls and, and, and whatnot, there, there's not really a, a great functional ingredient there except for, you know, the, the, the mentholyptus is how can you really make sure that you can deliver the benefit and the reasonably for the consumer. Yeah. No, thank you for that. I mean, I, um, absolutely, I think that, um, I continue, I think we'll continue working on the messaging because we do absolutely get a lot of questions like, so, are you a cough drop, are you a supplement, you know, what you are? And I think it's really difficult, especially when you're a small company and you're trying to develop a category, um, to explain to them what it is. I mean, you just don't really have, you know, the time or the reach or the money to do it. So, um, I 100% agree with you that communication and the right positioning is key. Cameron, uh, Alisa outlined a retail strategy for Kind Root, um, health and wellness stores, specialty in natural, uh, grocery stores. Um, what are your thoughts on that omnichannel approach for Kind Root, especially early on? Yeah, so I think the, the omni-channel approach sounds very interesting, um, with, you know, Urban Outfitters and anthropology as well. So I think it definitely plays there, but thinking about how you approach, uh, you know, mass retail, um, and how you make this, uh, approachable for those who aren't necessarily searching in the sup. Supplement section um you mentioned you know they're kind of being a hybrid with a hard candy, but we look at the back and and we see that it's a supplement so how do we convey to customers that this is something that's approachable that can you know take place, uh, every day, um, that this is to be regularly consumed. Um, but I'm thinking through the price point and where you're going to be relatively priced to other lozenges that you're going to be sitting next to on a shelf is going to be important as well, but love the packaging. I think it pops off the shelf, uh, especially among some of the incumbents in, in the space. Carol, I know you appreciate a good lozenge. Uh, what are your thoughts on Kindroot in terms of flavor and functionality? I'll admit, uh, I love the taste. Uh, I actually had been taking these products for a couple of weeks beforehand, coincidentally, um, and found the functionality was really, uh, excellent, helps me with sleep, and, um, also focusing during the day. And to me, that's one of the hurdles is, uh, how do you convey to consumers, you know, when there is a lot of this health halo in the category that you actually have science and have that functionality and are able to support the claims that you're making because there are a lot of products that say they do certain things, but that can somewhat vary from consumer to consumer. Uh, Alisa, well done. Thank you so much for your presentation and uh good luck with everything going forward. All right, let's move on to our 3rd finalist for this round, who's Amin Bahari, who's the CEO of Elite Sweets. Amin, how are you? I'm doing well, Ray. How about yourself? I'm doing great. Great to see you again. Uh, and, uh, great to hear that you'll be presenting right now. Are you ready to give your five-minute pitch? I'm ready. Fantastic. Your 5 minutes begin now. Good morning everyone. My name is Amin Buhari, and I'm the co-founder and CEO of Elite Sweets headquartered out of Austin, Texas. At Elite Sweets, we are redefining the way people think about sweets with our healthier alternatives to traditional sweets. To tell you a little bit more about why we started Elite Sweets, first, I want to tell you a little bit about myself. Going back to my days in high school, at 16, I weighed 340 pounds. I was on the path to obesity and diabetes, which is something that runs in my family. After seeing the negative effects of these diseases firsthand, I knew that wasn't the life I wanted to live. So that's when I began my weight loss journey, where I committed to a high protein, ketose lifestyle and lost 140 pounds. Inspired by my own weight loss, excuse me, inspired by my own weight loss journey and the impact food has on our body, I wanted to help others do the same. The problem is the problem here isn't this is, this isn't just my story, but this is the story of 7 in 10 American adults who are either overweight or obese and as a result will suffer from diabetes or heart disease, which is the leading contributor to death in overweight people. The health crisis is a direct correlation to what we put in our body, and more than any other country, we are overfed and undernourished, consuming more sugar per capita than any other country. And at Elite Sweets, we are solving this health crisis with our Better for You sweets. Our original product is the Elite Doughnut pictured here. Each doughnut contains 12 to 13 g of protein, it is gluten-free, keto-friendly, soy-free, and only contains 1 g of sugar per doughnut. Our doughnuts are available in 3 delicious flavors our birthday cake, our chocolate, and our cinnamon sugar, all of which are individually packaged and ready to eat. Our doughnuts will retail at 399 cents a doughnut and have a 90-day ambient shelf life. They're good for 6 months in the fridge and 1 year frozen. So why doughnuts? The reality is Americans want better for you. We believe, similar to how Halo Top became America's number one selling pint in America, that Elite Sweets is setting the new standard and creating a category of its own within doughnuts. We're not only bringing innovation to the product, but also the business model, and that we are reaching the consumer where they already are, which is their homes and they're in the store. Through our omni-channel approach, and now is the time with the huge demand for doughnuts and a strong community in the health industry and the love for people's love for doughnuts, as you can see here, Elite Sweets is uniquely positioned to be the first and best to market to capitalize on this opportunity with the support of our elite community. Our elite community is made up of mostly 25 to 40 year old consumers who live an active and health-conscious lifestyle. More specifically, our early adopters included those in the fitness community such as bodybuilders, those with dietary restrictions like keto, and those who have Health related issues such as diabetes or celiacs. Our raving fans tell us our doughnuts taste just like regular doughnuts, and for some it's the first doughnut that they've had in years. They, they love, they really love the products that we're coming out with and are excited for our future. To date we have taken a digital first approach. Since our launch 15 months ago, we have sold over a million dollars worth of doughnuts through our online site and just launched on Amazon last week, where we are now the number one selling new product in the doughnuts category and are about to launch with Amazon Launchpad. Moving into 2021, we want to expand our retail footprint into the sports nutrition and natural channels with stores like GNC, Vitamin Shop, and Whole Foods. As we continue to build our brand, we want to continue to expand the distribution into C stores and big box and club stores as well. At Elite Sweets, we want to continue to lead in product innovation. Next year we plan to continue to launch new flavors. We want to launch an extended shelf life version of our products so we can position ourselves with the protein bars, and we want to continue on plant-based innovations and product extensions like doughnut holes, which would be protein packed bites that people can share with their friends. Beyond that, being Elite Sweets, we do want to expand beyond doughnuts into other protein-packed, low sugar, gluten-free sweets. So I want to thank you guys for your time today and remind you that at Elite Sweets, we are redefining America's sweet tooth, one doughnut at a time. Well done, Amin. Fantastic presentation. Uh, let's hear from the judges. Uh, John, let's start with you. Um, Amin identified Elite Sweets as potentially falling in the footsteps of a Halo Top. Um, uh, is that a 1 to 1 comparison? Are you, are, are, are, do you feel that this has that kind of, this brand has that kind of opportunity? Uh, uh, a couple of things. First of all, boy, in, in 2020, if there's one thing we can all agree on is the value of a good donut, for goodness' sakes. So congrats, and I would also say, I mean, to you and for your personal struggles and overcoming and losing all that weight, that's a phenomenal story. So personally, I'd say congratulations. Um, I do think, Ray, it is, uh, a great opportunity. Um, and I, I see a lot of great parallels, you know, when you think about a keto snack. And when you think about, you know, a lot of the trade-offs that people are making when they're trying to make more healthful choices. You can set a high bar with something as hedonic as a donut, uh, and really turn that into a snacking occasion. Um, I mean, I think the donut, I think is, is interesting, but, but it really is a single-serve snack. Um, you know, a lot of times we think about going to Dunkin' Donuts or something like that, we're gonna pick up a dozen donuts, but this one really is portion controlled, which I think is what really adds the sizzle. Carol, the, uh, semi-final round judges were raving about the taste of Elite Elite Sweet Donuts. Um, what are your thoughts? Are you a donut eater? And if not, would you become one as a result of eating Elite Sweets? Well, I, like many of the other consumers you're targeting, tend to stay away from doughnuts due to the higher sugar, so this definitely was an interesting value proposition for me. I think the one thing I noted was that sometimes when I'm, you know, if you are eating a doughnut, you're not looking for a meal replacement. Necessarily, and this is a pretty hearty portion, so I was excited to hear you say you're thinking of launching doughnut holes or perhaps would encourage you to think about mini doughnuts, kind of those snack breaks that you can have throughout the day that a traditional doughnut might fill versus this sort of, you know, larger portion size. Cameron, Amin identified uh retail, uh, retail stores and retail chains that Elite Sweets uh could fit in or, or that they're targeting. Um, I think I, I, I'd be interested to hear your perspective on not just the chains themselves, not just the stores themselves. But the merchandizing and placement of these products in stores, you know, do you think there might be some challenges in marketing, you know, a keto-focused doughnut, say, with other doughnuts or other similar snacks, or, you know, how would you recommend that that these products be merchandis? Yeah, so, so I would say that I, I'm not sure if the keto community is yet, um, taught to go to the bakery aisle where I imagine it would be merchandise alongside some of the, the incumbents and, and some of the older brands who do the traditional sweets, um, in packaging similar, so, uh, love the packaging, um, totally makes sense and I think this would probably sit in the bakery aisle. It's a matter of thinking through, um, again your relative price point relative to some. Of these smaller pack sizes, um, that may be 1 buck or under $1 and really conveying the, the differentiation which is, you know, the nutritionals right, it serves a different use case serves a different customer who may not already be pulled into the into the bakery aisle so it's capitalizing on the information you get from the channels that you're going into and the, the nutrition channel, your customers on Amazon like you mentioned and thinking through how you can take that customer base and expand the customer base when you go into mass retail. And Ahmed, you know, we've seen other protein-infused indulgent products or keto-focused replacements for indulgent products um in the past. Um, do you think that Elite Sweets has differentiated itself enough from those other products to really stand out on the market?

Speaker 2 [35:33] I do. I think that I, I think that more than keto, because my belief is that keto is more of a short term trend, but the low sugar aspect of the product, um, I think really resonates and is really a long term change in the industry, and you've seen it with, you know, lilies in the chocolate space. You've seen it with a number of different brands, but I I'm a huge doughnut fan and I eat doughnuts. I mean, I shouldn't even say this, but I probably eat a doughnut a week. I probably get 6 dozen doughnuts a week. I really enjoyed the doughnut. Again, I thought the packaging was great and I would have liked to have seen the sugar call out on there. I question a little. I thought your route to market. It was great except for trying to go after the bar category. I think that to me that is a very competitive space that requires a lot of dollars, and I would truly reevaluate that section of the grocery store. I think otherwise I really love the product. I liked everything about it and and really I Congratulations on your journey of making the decision to change your lifestyle and, and losing, and making that decision at such a young age, like really impressive and I think that story will resonate with a lot of people, uh, as you grow this brand.

Ray Latif [37:03] I appreciate it. I mean that escalated quickly. Uh, you went from 1 donut to 6 dozen to 12. It sounds like maybe you'll eat 12 or more of Elite Sweets donuts. Um, I mean,

Speaker 2 [37:13] I've made a dent in the samples. Let me just put it.

Ray Latif [37:18] Amin, thank you so much for your presentation. Great stuff, uh, and great feedback from the judges. Uh, stay tuned and, uh, we'll see how things go. Let's move on to our next finalist for this round who is Movitza Simmons, the CEO of Smooth Pops. Movitza, how are you? Hi guys, how are you? Great to see you again. Good

Speaker 3 [37:37] to see you. I'm excited to be here in the finalists,

Ray Latif [37:40] and we're excited to hear your 5 minute pitch. Are you ready to give it? Uh, yes, fantastic. Your 5 minutes will begin. Now,

Speaker 3 [37:52] So what do, um, what do cheese puffs, gummy bears, and even cereal have in common? They're all old school snacks that have been reimagined as better for you ingredients and benefits for both children and nostalgic adults alike. So why not Freezer pops? My name is Movitza Simmons, founder and CEO, and we're reimagining the old school Freezer pop as a better for you frozen snack. What I realized is that freezer pops have been a stagnant category that has not changed or seen any innovation in over 50 years since they were first introduced. They all share these three things in common, shelf, stable, and bland flavors, questionable ingredients stripped of all nutritional benefits and but full of preservatives, and marketed just for young kids as primarily a summertime treat. Smooth pops are the whole fruit blended like a delicious smoothie with no preservatives, stabilizers, or additives. They're vegan, gluten-free, and all under 50 calories per serving. Let me tell you more about the smooth pops difference. We have the cleanest labeled freezer pops in the market. Many freezer pops use artificial ingredients, dyes, and a bunch of other unrecognizable ingredients, while at best you might find some brands using pasteurized juices and concentrates which take away all the nutritional benefits and instead fill it with preservatives and stabilizers. We are the, we use the whole fruit that give our Friza pops a really unique creamy sorbet-like texture, and you get all the natural vitamins, immuno-benefits, and natural fibers with each smooth pop having at least half of a full serving of USDA recommended whole fruit. While in the past, we're used to the red one or the blue one, we have 5 unique and innovative blends with a taste profile that has a bold wow factor watermelon strawberry, pineapple peach, lemon lemonade, which is our family recipe and our bestseller, mango and our real blue raspberry. We plan to further innovation by expanding our line with wellness, performance, and functional blends, as well as delicious artisanal and seasonal craft flavors. Lastly, one of our biggest differentiators is the smooth pop freshness that is stored and sold fresh and frozen in the ice cream freezer aisle. We are a category creator in the frozen section, placing our products in the freezer when forefront in the consumer's decision-making process that's looking for the frozen fruit option. Whereas the shelf saver freezer pots are often not even found near the frozen aisle at all until the summertime and rather are found in other snack aisles like the marshmallows, um, Jell-O, and pudding. Our mission is to create craveable but guilt-free snacking experiences while upholding our snack promise of simple ingredients, nutritious, all-natural, and convenient solutions for everyone in your family. We sell, um, our products primarily, um, right now wholesale for 799 cents and we also sell direct to consumer online on our website, and we have partnerships with select schools, concession, uh, locations, and we'll be expanding in 2021, um, as we are currently on boarding with UNFI and discussion with regional Whole Foods Markets. Our target audience are millennials, specifically, parents and um who are looking better for you options for their kids, Gen Z and lifestyle millennials who really gravitate towards fun branding and mission mission-based companies and also health-aware and active millennials who are also looking for just better for you, uh, refreshing and nostalgic type treats. Um, right now, there's over 27 million online searches of how to make healthier Freezer pops, and there hasn't been an answer to this, um, where you can buy it at the store until now. And our product speaks for itself, but our customers shout much louder. We've been nominated, voted, and won the 2020, um, Best smoothie category, um, for Best of Borough in Queens. Uh, the market opportunity is really huge. It's a $25 billion frozen novelty market and with annual sales of about 1.5 billion freezer pops that are sold each year, the dominant market player in freezer pops currently has 60% of the market share, and they make their annual sales are estimated at over $160 million a year. Our go to macro strategy is um looking to, we're looking towards other category disruptors such as ourselves, and much like these brands, we're looking at them as guiding stars and modeling um our strategy of creating new categories, establishing innovation in a stagnant, um, category, and really trying to dominate market share through distinct brand voice and strong mass presence and appealing to our target demographic. Um, so how we started, after having experienced my teething son's mouth turned bright blue from mistakenly giving him the old school freezer pops, I founded my company wanting a whole fruit and healthier freezer pop option, but that was also tasty for both me and my son. So I started it back in my own kitchen, selling literally door to door while pushing my son in a stroller in one hand and my little red cooler full of pops in another, and I have bootstrapped my business thus far. And so while we've grown from just me and my chief tasting Officer, we now have the support to take us to the next level with a strong team and membership, and mentorship, sorry. So, um, I want to say thank you and join me in uh sharing the smooth pop goodness for everyone at every age to enjoy at any time. So let's all live life with a pop. Thank you.

Ray Latif [43:38] I assume all the judges are familiar with frozen pops and another category that just hasn't seen a lot of disruption in some time. Um, Cameron, I'm interested to hear your thoughts on sort of the potential for a better for you, a healthier version of this legacy, frozen pop. Yeah, I, I will say it is exactly that. Uh, it is, it is a legacy, uh, the category is a bit legacy. So the novelties category is ripe for disruption, pardon the pun, but, uh, I, I think it's very interesting to have, uh, as supremely simple an ingredient list, um, and such interesting packaging, um, from the story on the back with your chief tasting officer. To, uh, you know, the, the claims around using whole fruit, um, I, I think those are really strong points of differentiation, um, but we, we really need to focus on, on bringing that to life on shelves. So thinking through, I believe you mentioned potentially merchandizing this alongside fruit, um, but being a, a disruptor of the, the novelties category. So really thinking if you wanna be put. Side by side next to the incumbent and the, the old freezer pops or whether you want to be considered next to some of the innovation in the fruit snacking space, um, but I think that yeah, the, the, the product speaks for itself, love the taste, um, very bold flavors like you mentioned, so definitely a very interesting twist and flavorful twist on a, on a traditional form factor. So thank you.

Speaker 3 [45:10] Thank you. And um I, I'm not sure uh if, if that wasn't presented in the slide or you got to see it in the slide, but we are um stored in the ice cream freezer aisle and so we're, we're placed really among some of the other natural um pops. Physical brands and some are healthier um ice cream brands as well in the frozen um case. Um, so we're, we're right there where consumers are looking for healthier frozen options and so they just haven't had this packaging as an, as a, as a option till now.

Ray Latif [45:43] Uh, Carol, I think there is a question about who this product is for, but more specifically who is going to actually buy it. Um, I think in one of the slides we saw some teens and tweens eating the products, but who's buying it for them or are they buying it for themselves? Um, you know, what are your thoughts on on this opportunity for a specific target consumer, or is there a more broad opportunity? Well, I'll say this much. Although ice cream novelties may tend to veer towards children, I was really impressed with the fact that I loved the taste and thought it really had a sophisticated flavor profile, so you could cater to everyone, quote unquote. I would encourage you to kind of hone in on who you think is making that purchasing decision as. Said and also who you want to target at first and maybe adjust your packaging a little bit to speak more specifically to those segments. I think in some of your materials you mentioned you could use it as a smoothie base too. Those are great add-on use cases, but sometimes targeting that right from the beginning dilutes the message a little bit. Ahmed, um, you know, the sweet indulgent treat, um, is something that is a time-honored tradition, and I think there's a lot of, there's a lot of people that want, uh, especially in the summertime, that, that's that frozen pop, um, but, you know, given the sort of seasonality of this type of product, are you more inclined or less inclined, uh, to be interested in investing or potentially, uh, partnering with uh smooth pops?

Speaker 2 [47:30] So, I, I spent about a decade in Frozen, so I'm very familiar with uh all the current players. I think that. Besides just targeting the classic fruit pop or frozen pop, I, I, I think you're also really competing with some of the, the natural, better for you brands, and I think that to Carol's point, it's, it's hard to tell who this is targeting, but also the, the, the fruit pop market is very, very seasonal. So my concern here is that you're going to be in the, in the Freezer, which is a very competitive, very expensive space to be in, and you're going to be in there year round, and you're going to have to have velocities that you need to maintain year-round when this product is primarily consumed in the summers during kids' birthday parties. And so I think you have to think of yourselves as being able to compete with regular popsicles or better for you, popsicles, and I want to make sure that your packaging is clear enough for people to understand that because to me there's a little bit of market confusion on whether this is truly just a smoothie mix or whether, um, you know, it's a replacement for that classic pop, but I will tell you that it's, it's delicious, love the flavors, love the cleanliness of the label, just want to make sure that you're you're targeting the right audience and the messaging is clear.

Ray Latif [49:08] John, you get the last word. We got a few seconds left. Um, I'm sorry to only give you a few seconds left, but, um, is this a product, is this a product that consumers are looking for, um, uh, a, you know, better for you improvements upon other food categories. Yeah, um, so again, uh, Avitza, congrats on your progress to date. I'm sure you are the go to mom in your neighborhood and in your circle with, uh, with great tips. Um, what I would say on this one, just similar to what, uh, Amit said is I would think about, um, just, and again, I'll reinforce, uh, wrapping up this experience and really try to own one segment, one occasion. Um, one of the things that potentially, uh, make it, uh, not quite as seasonal is I think differently about it if I think that it is an on the go smoothie as opposed to a frozen novelty. And so sometimes it's the way we think about those, but I think I would just go back and make sure that you can be that killer app. For that specific focus target. In the end, there might be 2 or 3 targets that really, really, um, get excited about this, but how can you really own that one and own that experience with that focused primary target? Outstanding. Uh, great feedback. Great, great presentation, Movitza. Thanks so much for being with us and, uh, good luck with everything. Thank you. All right, let's move on to our next finalist for this round, who is Carrie Roberts, the co-founder of Everipe. Carrie, how are you?

Speaker 2 [50:35] Here we go. Great, Ray. Thank you.

Ray Latif [50:37] All right, great to see you again. Uh, are you ready to, uh, give your pitch?

Speaker 2 [50:41] Absolutely. Let

Ray Latif [50:42] me get this up.

Speaker 2 [50:45] Here we go.

Ray Latif [50:46] All right, your 5 minutes will begin now.

Speaker 2 [50:50] Terrific. Let me introduce to

Ray Latif [50:51] you

Speaker 2 [50:52] Everipe. Um, what we're most passionate about is making it easier for people to eat well and how we do that in an Everipe way is that we let real fruits and vegetables stored in your pantry that you can blend up in seconds. And how we help people, our smoothies aren't all in one kit. We take fruits that have been picked at their peak vitality and then we freeze dry them to lock in the nutrients. And we add to that, um, a superfood packet for extra nutrient punch. And all you have to do is blend us up with a cup of ice, a cup of liquid, and you are good to go. What gives Everipe and who we're trying to help really um is the an underserved market. The, the average American who's overwhelmed with diet culture, wants a hand up to eat well. And our customers tend to look a lot like me, um, middle-aged, even though it's really hard for me to admit that, but, but that's the insight, right? That's the emotionally rich territory. I don't want to feel my age and I want easy ways um to keep feeling good and eating easily, eating well. We wanna make superfoods accessible. Um, and we have a path to build scale and start to relax our RSP so that we can truly um be affordable for most Americans. Here's where we get our superpowers, so that the process of freeze drying really gives us a triple win. For our consumers, they get 98% of nutrients maintained in the fruits. We blossom up as good as fresh in the blender, and we store in the pantry for months. So if you've got Everipe on hand, you are always just 60 seconds away from a real fruit smoothie. Operationally, because we're not shipping water, we get to ship for USPS letter rates. So this is 5 smoothies. It ships across the country at 12 ounces, so that gives us just a ton of opportunities for e-commerce profitability. And last but not least for the planet, with 60% of fruits ending up in landfill, we're really proud that we get to keep fruits forever ripe. Here's our roadmap, our go to market strategy. In the near term, we're going to really lean in and exploit our shipping efficiencies to build a D2C brand. We're going to own and understand that consumer, who they are, where they live, how they're using us. My background is market research and CPG and I'm constantly dialoguing with our consumers to understand what they love about us, what we could do better, what they'd love to see us do next. And then we'll take all of that data and look for good fit retail partners and retail geographies where we can go into market knowing we're going to have some success and some consumer pull. And then when this, when this really gets exciting, um, is the other places that we can take freeze drying technology into adjacent categories, um, into other day parts, into other family members within our household, and a really neat opportunity for us to help in food service where we can help avoid some costs in labor and the perishability of inventory. I wish that we were post-pandemic, but for today, um, we see some real opportunity to help in the coming months with 40% of Americans working and learning from home, with more than half of folks now purchasing food and 61% looking To take back some control over this virus by improving their diet. We just feel really poised to be able to help uh in the coming months, and our ability to let people stock up without relying solely on their freezer, we think is a massive opportunity and point of difference. And I wanna finish with a story because I know that words from our customers mean more than anything I could possibly say, and this came to us from an emergency room nurse. The smoothies fit perfectly in my portable rechargeable blender, so finally I was able to have a delicious fresh smoothie. We don't really get time to eat a real break, working 12 hours in the emergency department, so having the smoothies is a game changer for me. Everyone at work was a little jealous because there was nowhere to get food on the night shift. Now, if only I could get my daughter to stop drinking them long enough to actually bring them to work. Nutrition is even more important now with the pandemic. So the superfoods are an awesome addition, legit great product. This is the stuff that keeps us going on the hard days and why we're so proud to have an impact and, and so excited to keep building.

Ray Latif [55:44] Thank

Speaker 2 [55:44] you.

Ray Latif [55:46] Thank you, Carrie. Well done. Uh, I'm interested to hear from, uh, Cameron about the target consumer. Uh, Carrie said that she is me and identified certain attributes of that consumer that, uh, would end up buying and are, are interested in buying a product like Everipe. Uh, do you see that target consumer, do you see that that identification of a target consumer as the sweet spot for, for Everipe, no pun intended. I, I, I do in, in the short term, so I think, uh, you know, yourself being the target audience, uh, are those who are looking to this e-commerce model so direct consumer makes a lot of sense, um, again it's, it's thinking through how that translates to the next step, taking those. Learnings which you have from your background um and being able to think through the implications of moving into uh different channels so like you mentioned this this is a wonderful place for e-commerce it's light um the packaging pops online um but being able to think through. Ultimate, how, how is it going to merch be merchandise to ensure discoverability when it's on the shelf when that takes place, um, because this is not a category that a customer will know, uh, where to find if I'm you and a consumer looking for a smoothie packet. I don't know if I go to the freezer aisle. I don't know if I go to the produce aisle, so ensuring discoverability and thinking through how you're going to drive trial of this to a consumer like yourself and then being able to translate that is going to prove useful. Uh, Kerry outlined the opportunity to build Everipe into a platform brand, um. What are your thoughts on that? What are your thoughts on, you know, thinking about where the brand can go early into its life cycle?

Speaker 2 [57:40] I think the attributes of the, the freeze dried products really lend themselves to be used across multiple categories. I think from a snacking arena, from, you know, just I, I think you can be very thoughtful about targeting different parts of the grocery store. I will reiterate to Cameron's point, I do. I think that figuring out where to merchandise this on the grocery store shelf to me is the biggest hurdle and making sure consumers know where to go find it. I think the product is great. I'm, besides being a doughnut guy, I'm a smoothie guy, and every morning my 4 year old and I make smoothies, and this was honestly the easiest thing. It was so much fun and it was so no headache, no mess. You know, and so we, I, I, I really enjoyed it. I think the other struggle I have here is the 499 price point. I think that it's a great product. You can get it in the food deserts. You can get it to where where consumers are, but at 499, I can almost go to my local smoothie shop and get a similarly priced item. I'd love to see this at $299. And, and really make it, uh, really democratize it for, for, for all consumers. Yeah, democratize is a word we use a lot and certainly with scale we recognize that one of our biggest opportunities is to continue to relax our prices and become truly affordable, really align that with our mission. Um, and let me just address the, the in-store piece because I do think you, you've hit the nail on the head and, you know, with any real innovation, it's like a blessing and a curse. Um, and I think that, um, there's probably a life stage answer potentially to, um, our in-store opportunity and I think in the beginning of when we have A nascent brand and a nascent concept. I think that we would probably best fit when we think about the smoothie consumer's journey within the store, probably produce frozen and then that sea of superfoods, um, where we've got an all in one solution. I can see us at the beginning starting in that place, um, where she's picking up her flax and her chia and, and here is an all in one solution that consumer is already, you know, understands and might appreciate that we're solving for everything. Um, and then ideally, you know, if the, as the concept grows and as the brand grows, we might be able to extend into other places like the high traffic breakfast aisle or somewhere where, you know, once the concept is built out and there's awareness for it.

Ray Latif [1:00:22] John, um, you know, once they figured out where they should be on the shelf, um, it's gonna pop on the shelf. Uh, can you talk about your thoughts, uh, in terms of the packaging and branding? Yeah, um, uh, I would, I would, I would just say, um, from a benefit sort of hierarchy perspective, um, is, I think you still have a little bit of a Swiss Army knife here because there's a lot of reasons to really fall in love with this product, and it's a great product. But I think to Ray's point, the communication hierarchy is going to be really, really critical. And I, I think that, that's, um, Maybe an opportunity to, to push that out, right? I mean, right now, I get, obviously, I, I, I get the fact that it's a superfood. Um, I know that it's uh an ambient temperature, but I, I wanna know a little bit more about what is the key thing that's gonna set it apart. Um, and so, um, you know, I think it's clean, it, it, it, the, the packaging is simple, it's beautiful. So that, so that perspective, um, I don't have a lot to say in terms of the package itself. I just think in terms of the benefit communication as you guys are thinking about it. Is, you know, what's the foil? What are you really trying to disrupt here? Is it, is it convenience? Is it, um. Is it, uh, efficacy? Uh, I also heard a food waste thing. There may be some things you want to just pull a little bit stronger relative to that foothold consumer. Thank you. All right, uh, Carol, you get the last word. Um, did you get to try these products? And if so, um, you know, did you, did they resonate with you in terms of what you're looking for in a smoothie? Yeah, I did get to try them. They're a wonderful product. One thing though that it did, you know, sort of come to my attention was thinking about stocking them on a shelf. They are a little larger bag, and so I'm thinking about how many facings you could actually get on a shelf, probably in a retailer and then also because they're lighter and a little bottom heavy, you know, how are they merchandis? Do they start tipping over, you know, do you want them clip stripped? Of those things as you move from online to retail are going to be really important, and I did slightly wonder thinking back to my Whole Foods days if these might, you know, struggle a little bit on shelf to stay upright or for you to get, you know, a significant number of facings. So I would just continue to think about how do you maybe take up a little less space while still maintaining that billboard and a little more structurally rigid maybe. All right, let's move on to our next finalist for this round. That is Amanda Gilman, who is the founder and CEO of AMG Snacks. Amanda, how are you? A little bit hungry after hearing all these great brands. Me too, Amanda. Me too. Uh, congratulations to Amanda and AMG Snacks for winning the audience vote in our semifinal round of the Pitch Slam 9 competition. Well done. Thank you. I was very excited and thankful to all the voters. Yeah, all right, are you ready to give your final presentation? I am. All right, your 5 minutes will begin now. Thank you for the introduction. I feel honored to be part of this group of finalists. I think we can all agree that snacking is a daily habit, so let me paint you my picture for how AMG Snacks came to be. Imagine being at your desk for 8 hours and it's 3 p.m. in the middle of trying to make sense of a screen filled with numbers. You run out to grab a quick pick me up snack bar, only to get back to your desk, take a bite, and feel pain in your jaw. This was me 10 years ago as I sat on a trading floor of an investment bank. Like millions of other Americans, I have TMJ, which is a jaw disorder that causes pain and discomfort when irritated. I was always searching for a great textured, clean ingredient, preportioned snack to keep on my desk or grab on the way to client meetings, and when I couldn't find exactly what I needed, I turned to my kitchen. I began making energy bites with a short list of high quality, all natural ingredients. These bite-sized snacks are packed with healthy fats, fiber, and protein. This is just what I needed to get me through those long days on the trading floor. Soon the whole floor was stopping by my desk to grab a bite, and I knew I was onto something. I became excited and passionate with the idea of creating a company that was built on a great product. This side passion turned into a full-time hustle when I left the banking world to launch AMG Snacks with the goal of providing clean ingredients, better textured and portioned options for consumers. We currently offer 6 flavors in a resealable pouch so you can control consumption and toss in your bag or keep on your desk or home office these days. They're shelf stable, unprocessed, non-GMO certified, vegan, and gluten-free, checking all those buzzword boxes, but most importantly, they are tasty without any sneaky ingredients. But what makes an energy bye and why is it healthy? Each bite is designed to give you the proper nutrition to get you through your busy day with three main ingredients dates, oats, and nuts. Dates are where the energy comes from. They're made up of natural sugars which provide sustained energy. They are a low glycaemic food which. Means no intense sugar spike or crash. Why not just eat a date? Angie snacks provide a more nutrient-dense option than just eating one of the ingredients. Oats are loaded with fiber, plus they're known for lowering cholesterol and helping digestion. They'll keep you feeling full longer, so you're not snacking all afternoon. And obviously we need protein, but why? Every cell in our body is made up of protein, but unlike fats and carbs, our bodies do not store protein, so we need to replenish. The nuts are an excellent source of plant-based protein. To create different flavors, we include low sugar add-ins like spices and freeze dried fruit, and that's it. No sneaky ingredients you can't understand, and we're sticking to that. Our mission is to shape the way consumers snack and educate them on why unprocessed nutritious products are important. It's truly a functional food. So where do we see potential? We see high growth in both the plant-based food market and the natural snack sector. Both are billion dollar markets. We're addressing a void by giving the consumer the ability to control the portion of their snacking with this bite-size option. We see an opportunity to be a leader in this market, and we know our product will be part of the continued growth here. We're targeting health conscious on the go consumers from ages 25 to 49, and we're seeing traction beyond that as focus continues to shift towards ingredients and nutrition. We're rolling out a social media initiative to show customers how this product is being consumed, and we're incorporating simple educational content on the ingredients. When the pandemic is behind us, we'll bring back demos and events. I really learned a lot from engaging with customers directly. What's next? We're launching two new flavors which our customers helped finalize. We're also launching a single serving option, and we've identified our top 4 SKUs to really focus on. We launched December 2019 with a North East distribution focus primarily in juice bars, cafes, coffee shops, and independent stores. We're in hotel minibars like the Four Seasons in Boston where our packaging fits in well with their upscale brand. We have direct sales on our site and have gained traction with online wholesalers, which has expanded our footprint throughout the country, and finally we've launched on Amazon. As we look forward, we're finalizing partnerships with the distributors to grow retail presence. We'll continue to push online wholesale platforms, and we're finalizing partnerships with subscription services. We're excited about the opportunities in front of us as we become a household snack food brand. Thank you all for your time and interest in AMG Snacks, and I look forward to hearing your feedback. All right, well done, Amanda. Uh, John, let's start with you. Um, I, I mentioned this in the semi-final round. We're seeing more and more, uh, energy bite ball, snacks come to market. Um, and as that, uh, as that group continues to grow, it's gonna be more and more important for brands to differentiate from others. Um, what do you think about AMG Snacks in, in terms of its differentiation from similar brands on the market? Yeah, great. Um, and Amanda, congratulations on your, uh, success to date. Um, you know, Ray is right. You know, I, I think, um, first of all, I ate the product. I think it's delicious. Um, and, uh, you know, having a few simple ingredients and things that you can pronounce, I think is really, really good. Um, I, I do think that the, uh, the challenge is, you know, when you think about the world of protein snacking and energy snacking, it's, uh, it is really, really competitive. And so I, I think the, the key thing for me is, again, how do you really identify that early foothold consumer? Um, I think you have the brand, uh, pretty well targeted. Um, I, it's intuitive to me in terms of who you're talking about, um, but really finding unique ways to reach and build loyalty with that early foothold consumer, I think it's gonna be really the key to help get the brand get traction. Cameron, when you're picking products like this for Amazon stores, um, what are you looking for, and are those things that you're looking for, uh, available and viewable and tasteable, for lack of a better word, in AMG snacks? So I will speak to what buyers look for in general when selecting products of this nature, but I think um if I were to look at a product like this, you know, one of the first questions I would ask her, you know, what are the velocities, right? So to see that we're thinking about launching a single serving pack is great. Um, because I think we're, you know, the, the brand is optimizing for portability, something that consumers know and love but want more of, um, so thinking through pack sizes and use case of two balls, uh, is something that will definitely turn more units and something that buyers love to see. Um, also thinking through where this fits in on the shelf, uh, with the sub 100 calorie notion that we have initially, but also then moving to two balls, um, being say 150 to 200 calories puts you in, it looks a little bit different when you're comparing to the products that it's next to when you're thinking about some of the traditional bars, whether those be keto or focused on. Uh, other attributes. So I, I think looking at the claims and, and where it would slot in, um, I think that some of the claims could actually be highlighted a bit more on the front of the package. I, I think some of those like gluten-free are, are a little bit lost, um, so being able to call those out, realizing that you're going to be sitting alongside other products that are going to be calling those out in a big, big way. Um, but I think, yeah, packaging claims and then price point, um, making sure that you're able to get in there with a competitive price point knowing that, uh, volume will be the key to a lot of that. Yeah, that's great, and I actually, you know, everyone learns a lot when they start and launch a brand and they have an idea of where this is going, and I really built this out of a need for something, just a single portion, just to hold me over to that next meal, and that's why I created this size. One bite is 90 calories. Um, and I wanted a resealable bag so I could have some for later. A lot of demand led me to the single portion, 2 bite size, and now, um, kind of to your point, Cameron, I think we're thinking about maybe making the bite smaller and creating maybe that 100 calorie pack, um, you know, and really more of a true bite size because this is, it's more of a 2 bite size. So yeah, we're pivoting and thinking about different things, but I appreciate that feedback. Carol, uh, we've seen a lot of products, uh, come into the office, uh, that are similarly positioned, uh, uh, to AMG snacks. Uh, in terms of the taste, the formulation, the ingredients, uh, what do you think they did right? What are some of the things they, that you might recommend they do, uh, in the next iteration of the brand? Well, I do personally really appreciate that you're using very clean and short ingredient lists. You know, there's no, uh, at least in the one I have in front of me, no, you know, whey protein, islet, or other, uh, non-pronounceable ingredients that consumers might struggle with. So I, I do think that resonates really nicely and is different than a lot of the other bar alternatives. Um, I also think that a lot of bars are sort of aiming at that meal replacement. segment and not that snack to tide you over between meals and there is opportunity in that sort of midday snack segment. I was talking to a bar buyer yesterday and he said, you know, despite bars being down a little bit due to the pandemic, you know, the sort of thin bars or snacking bars were still doing a bit better. So I think there's opportunity there, especially during this unique time that we're in. Ahmed, you get the last word here. Um, when it comes to, um, you know, bites and when it comes to, uh, snacking format, um, again, sort of referencing what Carol just mentioned, there's a lot of different ways you can go. Um, do you think that, uh, you know, AMG Snacks is on the right track in terms of how it's using its ingredients, its formulation, it's positioning, uh, to get to that target consumer that uh Amanda outlined in her presentation?

Speaker 2 [1:14:02] I think, I think the brand is right on with the ingredients. to Carol's point, it's, they're very simple, easy to pronounce. I, I frankly, I question a little bit the form factor. I think I would like to see this more in a bar. That to me is more grab and go when you're actually touching the ball and you're like licking your fingers. To me that's a, that makes it a little. A little bit less, uh, approachable, um, especially if it is grab and go. I also think that, um, where you merchandise this, uh, I brought this up before, is, is going to be a little bit of a struggle as well as the price point. I mean, it's, it's literally $1 a ball, um, which, which to me, you know, if I can go and buy, you know, a number of better for you. Nutrition bars for $2 or you know, on sale sometimes for $1. To me this, this is going to be a struggle for a lot of people to afford. I do think it's a premium product, but again, I think it needs to be priced correctly. I think the ingredients are spot on. I would like to see some of the callouts a little bit better. I'd love to see the packaging pop a little bit more, but the product was fantastic.

Ray Latif [1:15:19] All right, great feedback. Uh, Amanda, once again, great presentation. Thanks so much for, uh, being part of this and, uh, good luck with the, uh, the brain going forward. Yeah. Wow, uh, just such a, it's so amazing every time we do this, uh, to see the passion, the excitement, the, the novelty, the just the way that people are thinking about the evolution of this food industry, it's just so great to see, um, and I can't thank our finalists enough for giving it their all today. It's going to be a tough decision for the judges, I'm sure, but I'll give my round of applause for it, even though I know most people can't see it. It was such a great, such a great competition. Judges, thank you so much for everything today. You all deserve a round of applause as well. It's going to be once again a tough decision in the end, but I know you'll make a good one. All right, uh, that brings us to the end of this round of Pitch Slam 9. stay tuned for the winner announcement. We'll be making that announcement shortly. And you'll hear an interview with the winner shortly after the announcement itself. Stay tuned for that. In the meantime, I just want to give a a quick shout out to our team at Bevnet and Nash. Uh, just, this is, this is always a complicated, um. Event to put together and kudos to everyone who participated and worked on this. It's it's so great to see the team coming together with this. All right, signing off for our amazing finalists, our fantastic judges, and our team at Banet and Nash. I'm Ray Latif. We'll talk to you next time. Hello and welcome back. It's time to announce the winner of Nosh Pitch Slam 9. I'm Ray Latif, the editor and producer of Bev That's Taste Radio podcast, the number one podcast for the food and beverage industry. A fantastic competition. I saw 12 really interesting disruptive concepts here on the stage, the virtual stage, that is, and it came down to one brand that is the winner of the competition. That's not to say that everyone isn't a winner. Once again, everyone brought some amazing things to the table. Really great presentations. The judges were all really impressed with the brands, the concepts, the products themselves, um, and encouraged all the semi-finalists and finalists to reach out to them with any questions, comments, and for feedback, additional feedback on their pitches. So for the semifinalists and finalists, uh, if you would just reach out to us and we will connect you with the judges. All right, uh, just before we make this announcement and interview the winner, just a couple of quick housekeeping notes. If you are interested, and I don't know why you wouldn't be, uh, you should consider applying to, uh, applying and submitting your brand or product for a Nosh Best of 2020 award. The deadline. For submissions is tomorrow, Friday, November 20th. So get those in ASAP. Head to nosh.com for more information. Also, a quick note, Nosh Live Winter 2020 is coming up fast. It'll happen next month, December 14th and 16th. Lots of networking, advice, analysis, and it's going to be one of the great virtual events of 2020. You can't miss it. One of the best ways to attend is to become a subscriber. Subscribe to Bevnet and Nosh. The annual subscription is $375. It's a pittance, a pittance for all the things that you're going to get from the conference and from Nosh and BevNet themselves. Lastly, uh, speed dating is happening on December 15th from 4 to 6 p.m. You can meet one on one with world-class designers who have the industry experience in food and beverage to take your brand to the next level. You don't want to miss that either. Once again, exclusive to subscribers of Bevnet and Nosh. All right, I believe it's time to announce the winner of Nash's Pitch slam 9 competition. The winner is Elite Suites. Congratulations to Elite Suites, to Amin Bahari and his team. Very well deserved, and congratulations again. We now have with us from Austin, Texas, Amin Bahari, who's going to join me for a quick interview to chat about his big win. Amin, are you with us? Hey, Roy, how's it going? It's going well. Congratulations. I appreciate it, man. It's great to see you again. Great to see you as well. Uh, very well deserved, as I mentioned. Uh, this was a tough competition. Uh, you beat out 11 other brands. That is not an easy thing to do, especially ones that were as innovative and disruptive as the ones we saw. But, uh, you, you did a great job with your presentation, and the brand itself is, is fantastic. Um, let's talk a bit about, you know, your preparation for this thing. You know, how did you get yourself in the right mindset? You know, what things do you want to bring to the table to convince the judges that you were supposed to and you had to win this competition? Yeah, no, definitely, I think for us being a first-time entrepreneur, it's always challenging trying to pitch our story and convince people. So I think for us going into it, it's really about telling a compelling story and showing that we're really truly passionate about the brand and that you know, we really Care about what we're doing and obviously the product has to speak for itself and that's something we spend a lot of time on is uh really perfecting our elite donuts. So uh we think what we're, what we're creating is game-changing and that um you know, we're going to be one of the, the big brands in the future. So uh we're really excited about it and just glad to be able to put Elite Suites on this platform. Yeah, I mean, speaking about your story, uh, when I was speaking with the judges afterwards, a lot of them were taken by your personal journey, uh, you know, coming from a place where you weren't healthy as a teenager, committing yourself to a healthier lifestyle, now sharing your passion with others in the form of your brand, um, you know. Is that a story you tell often or is that a story that's really more for sort of the pitches that you're doing to retailers, investors, etc. or is that something that you're also, um, you know, sharing with your audience and your consumers? So yeah, I think to your point it's kind of been something we've always been a little bit more quiet about and it's not anything that you know we don't want to tell the consumers. It's just been something more that's been on a personal level with, you know, meetings or investors or and pitch competitions like this. But you know, I think the people close to me who have been with me growing up, they've seen. And so I think the people close to me really understand, you know, the journey that we've gone through and, and not just myself and my brother as well. And so, um, you know, it's not something we have been public about, but it's something we talked about and I, you know, I do think it is part of our brand and part of our DNA. So I think, you know, it could be something we incorporate, you know, into the brand or the packaging long term. You know, speaking of your audience and your community, I can't recall, but I don't remember hearing about the number of followers that you have on Instagram. I just saw this today. It's 16.8,000 followers. That's amazing, especially for an early stage brand. How'd you do it? How'd you get that following? Um, you know, we've always been, uh, on the ground with things. Since the beginning, we've really been working on building a tight community. And I mean, it just started with friends and family, and I think when you really have, uh, a product that people are looking for or seeking or, you know, things that people are curious about, they really gravitate towards the brand. So it's really just been us engaging, creating great content, and, uh, continuing to just build a tight community uh within Elite Suites. So You know, we really appreciate every one of our followers, all of our supporters, and, you know, we just want to continue to make the brand more accessible to them. Well, as you continue to make the brand more accessible, I'm sure that you have some things in the pipeline in terms of innovation, retail expansion, etc. uh, what's next for Elite Suites? Yeah, we just want to continue to hit it hard going into 2021. We're still going to continue with our digital first approach going through our site and on Amazon, and you know, as the opportunities open open themselves up, we'd definitely love to hit retail. So I think for us we just want to continue to build a strong brand. Continue to stay ahead of product innovation and really lead with, you know, new flavors, new products down the line, and continue to just build a strong brand. So I think like I said in our pitch, our goal is to make this a household name. So we're just going to continue to keep improving the product and brand and you know hopefully it'll catch on quickly. Any hints as to what that next new product is going to be your product line? I'm imagining perhaps something along the lines of a better for you hostess type product. Uh, no, uh, no hints here today, Ray, but, uh, I, I will tell you that, uh, you know, we always do want to continue to, uh, stay ahead of unique, uh, product categories, and, um, we really like the idea of being, like bringing, uh, a traditional product to market that, you know, there's a lot of demand for, but it hasn't necessarily seen the innovation. So, um, I can't let any of our secrets out of the bag today, but just know, uh, we're gonna continue to create great products and Elite Suites will be a name that you'll hear from for a long time. Excited to hear it and excited to hear about the platform expanding. As I mentioned prior to us getting on the mics, I want to see you in a year, and I want to see where the product, the brand is, and We're gonna get you on Taste Radio Insider and talk about the progress that you've made. I see a lot of great things for Elite Suites, and, uh, I mean, you did a great job. Your co-founders have done a great job with you. Congratulations again on winning Pitch Slam 9, fully deserved, uh, and, uh, let's talk again really soon. I appreciate it, Ray. Thanks for everything and congrats to everyone else who competed as well. Indeed. All right, that wraps up Nash's pitch slam 9 competition. Congratulations to everyone who participated and thank you so much to our judges who were fantastic throughout, signing off for our amazing team at Bevnet and Nash. I'm Ray Latif. We'll see you soon.