On the NOSH Podcast this week, editor Carol Ortenberg and reporters Adrianne DeLuca and Brad Avery discuss the U.S. government’s suit against Amazon, how CPG brands’ differing approaches to selling on the retail platform and dive into recent shake ups in meal kit delivery space. 

Carol then goes completely nuts – during a chat with Nuts.com’s new CEO PJ Oleksak and chairman Jeffrey Braverman. The trio discusses how the nut empire was built, the ever-changing landscape for an ecommerce, DTC-based company and where the brand has grown since its original offerings in B2B.

In this episode:

2:00 - The Federal Trade Commission (FTC)’s antitrust lawsuit against Amazon leads the team to discuss the tightrope CPG companies must walk when utilizing the platform. 

10:00 - What’s the state of meal delivery kits? Adrianne walks through the roughly $130 million sale of Blue Apron to the privately-held Wonder Group and Wellfull’s approach with its relaunch of Jenny Craig.

19:00 - Chief Nut, (a.k.a. newly appointed CEO) PJ Oleksak and Chairman (Chair Nut?) Jeffrey Braverman of Nuts.com joined Carol to talk about why paying $700k for a domain was worth it in the long run. 

33:00 - The two executives dive into the impact of COVID on DTC companies and how to “keep it hungry” in ecommerce through diversification.

40:00 - Nuts.com has – at times – zagged when other ecommerce brands have zigged, opting to focus its strategy on in-house marketing and operations efforts rather than selling on Amazon or tapping TikTok.

“Our customers are obsessed. They’re evangelical. It’s a ‘if you know, you know’ brand but the reality is we don’t want it to be an ‘if you know’ brand. We need to invest in building the brand. ”

 -Nuts.com CEO PJ Oleksak

“The reality is now that about 67% of product searches start on Amazon. Maybe we should be more open-minded to that.”

-Nuts.com founder Jeffrey Braverman

About the NOSH Podcast

The staff of NOSH.com takes listeners inside the business of natural, organic, sustainable and healthy food during the NOSH Podcast. Using interviews and discussion, the team illuminates the news, brands, people, trends, and money affecting the world of packaged food.

New episodes are released every week. Send us comments and suggestions anytime to [email protected].

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This week on the NOSH Podcast, editor Carol Ortenberg and reporters Adrianne DeLuca and Brad Avery debrief from their trip to the final Natural Products Expo East including some approaches brands have taken to combat the rising costs of retail and Expo’s new replacement. Then, Brad sat down with Ronak Shah, the co-founder and CEO of flavored collagen brand Obvi, to discuss how his brand built a D2C-first model on the foundation of a very specific consumer demographic.

In this episode:

1:33: The team dives into New Hope’s announcement about Expo’s final act and what we’ll all be looking to see during next year’s inaugural Newtopia Next in Savannah, Georgia.

6:22: How are brand’s tackling the rising costs of doing business in retail? Some are looking beyond natural grocery, conventional and mass channels – and instead branching the business out to new areas, with lower overhead and higher margins. 

14:15: Ronak Shah shares details about Obvi’s history which dovetails into a discussion of how the brand landed its focus on targeting a very specific age demographic of women in the Midwest.

36:55: Shah discusses Obvi’s first brand acquisition – Coffee Over Cardio – and how Obvi’s existing consumer base is helping drive the brand onward.

"We're taking the route of using our community to become our super women." 

- Ronak Shah, co-founder and CEO of Obvi

About The NOSH Podcast

The staff of NOSH.com takes listeners inside the business of natural, organic, sustainable and healthy food during the NOSH Podcast. Using interviews and discussion, the team illuminates the news, brands, people, trends, and money affecting the world of packaged food.

New episodes are released every week. Send us comments and suggestions anytime to [email protected].

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts

This week on the NOSH Podcast, editor Carol Ortenberg and reporters Adrianne DeLuca and Lukas Southard talk about top trends and new tastes they are on the lookout for at the last Natural Products Expo East. The team also discusses the approaches of two new CPG-industry backed investment funds that debuted this past week.

While the team travels to Philadelphia, this week we revisited a conversation from NOSH Live Winter 2022 featuring Thrive Market head of merchandising James Ren and Misfits Market senior director of grocery Brandie Miller who breaks down the unique operations of running an  online grocery retail platform, merchandising tips and the role of a company mission plays in retail relationships. 

In this episode:

1:30 - What is The NOSH Podcast team on the lookout for at Expo East? Adrianne is looking for more ancient grain use while Lukas is still focused on the plant-based category, particularly since some brands have closed their doors or reduced workforces in recent weeks.

7:15 - How are two new venture funds approaching CPG investing? Carol dives into the details on Unfold Ventures and Humble Growth’s respective theses and one of the firm’s founding partners has retooled his strategy for food industry investing.

10:55 - Ren and Miller share their opinions about working in ecommerce grocery and the unique value propositions for the respective business models.

17:10 - The ecom retail leaders explain how their respective companies pursue their mission’s for a more sustainable grocery industry and balance that with a unique consumer shopping experience – all the while helping brands succeed on their platforms.

23:50 - How does merchandising work in a digital store? What do ecommerce grocery buyers prioritize more so than brick-and-mortar buyers f? Miller and Ren discuss how the approach often differs online than in conventional and even natural channels.

“Something that makes us (Thrive Market) unique is we have a set of values that members can shop by whether thats dietary to sourcing.”

- James Ren, Thrive Market head of merchandising 

“We’re here for when it's not perfect and we call that a way to access lost revenue that you otherwise wouldn’t see.”

- Brandie Miller, Misfits Market senior director of grocery

About the NOSH Podcast

The staff of NOSH.com takes listeners inside the business of natural, organic, sustainable and healthy food during the NOSH Podcast. Using interviews and discussion, the team illuminates the news, brands, people, trends, and money affecting the world of packaged food.

New episodes are released every week. Send us comments and suggestions anytime to [email protected].

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts

On this week’s show, NOSH editor Carol Ortenberg, reporters Adrianne DeLuca and Lukas Southard, as well as editor-in-chief Jeff Klineman dive into all of the deal news this past week including J.M. Smucker’s acquisition of Hostess and Kroger/Albertsons’ initial store divestment plan. Then, the team also discusses news surrounding Pacqui’s One Chip Challenge. 

Show Highlights:

01:02: What does Smucker want with Twinkies? Despite two bankruptcies in the past decade, Hostess brands has notched an impressive turnaround and the jelly maker believes the business will help its bottom line. 

08:18: Since the Kroger/Albertsons merger was announced last October, experts and execs have cited the need for Albertsons to divest some stores in order to get in the good graces of regulators. Listen in to hear how the newly announced plan could impact the grocery landscape. 

13:39: The Paqui One Chip Challenge is facing criticism after parents of a Massachusetts teen claim their son passed away as a result of eating the product. Paqui has already pulled the product from shelves, but the team discusses how the Amplify-owned brand may proceed in the weeks ahead.

“It's really hard to not sell a product unless it's age-gated in a regulatory sense. That means that the consumer is kind of signing their own release with their money… At the same time, this is tragic and the brand has to be really sensitive to the fact that you had a kid who ate this chip, whether or not it was [meant] for him, and he died.” 

-Jeff Klineman

About The NOSH Podcast

The staff of NOSH.com takes listeners inside the business of natural, organic, sustainable and healthy food during the NOSH Podcast. Using interviews and discussion, the team illuminates the news, brands, people, trends, and money affecting the world of packaged food.

New episodes are released every week. Send us comments and suggestions anytime to [email protected].

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts

This week on the NOSH Podcast, NOSH editor-in-chief Jeff Klineman, editor Carol Ortenberg and reporters Adrianne DeLuca and Lukas Southard give their hot takes on club store purchases and how better-for-you brands are strategically “dipping” into conventional to reach more consumers. In this week’s interview, Red’s Natural Foods CEO and founder Michael Adair shares the lessons he has gathered while operating the frozen snack and breakfast food brand for 14 years and how the clean label brand has found success sitting next to conventional products in the freezer case.

In this episode:

1:10 - The NOSH Podcast team discusses their opinions of club store shopping and some of their favorite products to grab in bulk.

7:55 - Are natural food brands seeing results from positioning themselves among conventional competitors? The NOSHers explore some brands that have tried the strategy. Jeff cautions that the strategy might not be as “conventional” as it seems.

15:45 - Red’s founder Mike Adair joins the NOSH podcast to talk about his journey in frozen and how he found that patience was his best weapon in building the clean label brand.

20:30 - Self-manufacturing might help a brand control its production and supply chain more efficiently but it comes with a number of other issues that co-packed brands don’t have to worry about. Adair discusses how Red’s move into self-manufacturing opened up new doors (and investment) but was not always the easiest road.

28:05 - It might not always be up to a brand but where on the shelf but which products a brand is placed next to can make a big difference in sales. Adair talks about what Red’s has learned about placement in the frozen category.

“One of the things that we're not afraid of is failing. The minute that you become too conservative in your innovation and the lanes in which you play, you can become stale pretty fast.”

 -Mike Adair, Red’s Natural Foods CEO and founder

About the NOSH Podcast

The staff of NOSH.com takes listeners inside the business of natural, organic, sustainable and healthy food during the NOSH Podcast. Using interviews and discussion, the team illuminates the news, brands, people, trends, and money affecting the world of packaged food.

New episodes are released every week. Send us comments and suggestions anytime to [email protected].

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts

On this week’s show, NOSH editor Carol Ortenberg, reporter Adrianne DeLuca and editor-in-chief Jeff Klineman waffle between the various ways gluten-free brands are cooking up new breakfast lines. They also discuss the impending auction of Cali’flour Foods and news that Perfect Day’s CPG arm has found a new home. Later, Carol sits down with Mia Medina, founder and CEO of Gather Brands, to discuss the current retail environment as well as opportunities and issues brands face as they scale distribution.

Show Highlights:

01:54: Will it waffle? According to gluten-free frozen breakfast makers that answer is a definitive ‘Yes.’ The team discusses new innovation strategies Banza and Brazi Bites are testing in the breakfast set. 

09:03: The frozen aisle is red hot… with deals that is. What led two entrepreneurial brands to seek new ownership? For one, it was not a matter of choice and for the other, revenue growth may have been a key reason. 

18:56: How does a non-traditional broker assess potential emerging brand partners? Mia Medina shares the different levers she looks at to determine when it's the right time to work with a startup food maker and what opportunities she sees ahead of them. 

31:26: Deductions can be near-deadly to a young company and handling them in a timely fashion is an absolute necessity. Mia talks through the effective strategies she has seen in curbing chargebacks.  

“A lot of retailers want to be first to market with local brands, some don't, and some actually really want to see a sales story that it's going to move once they put it on shelf. Knowing who those ones are that want to be first to market – that's the fun part.” 

- Mia Medina

About The NOSH Podcast

The staff of NOSH.com takes listeners inside the business of natural, organic, sustainable and healthy food during the NOSH Podcast. Using interviews and discussion, the team illuminates the news, brands, people, trends, and money affecting the world of packaged food.

New episodes are released every week. Send us comments and suggestions anytime to [email protected].

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts

On this week’s show, NOSH editor Carol Ortenberg chats with two recently minted NOSH Notables – Chris Lansing, CEO of Health Ade, and Miguel Leal, co-founder and CEO of Somos Foods. Reflecting on their decades in the industry, these two CPG executives share the advice (good, bad and even ignorable) that has shaped their leadership styles today and recount important lessons any emerging business builder can learn from. 

Show Highlights:

06:12: Early experiences set the foundation for what comes next, including the development of these two CEO’s leadership styles. While Chris claims to bring clarity to her team, Miguel said he prioritizes calm. Find out why both believe it’s integral to develop your own approach. 

11:53: How do you develop a cross-functional team and what’s the value? When it comes to CPG, Miguel and Chris said common goals are particularly valuable when it comes to motivation, but creativity is fostered when employees spanning a range of functions work together. 

35:03: Within big companies you have politics, and within small ones you have personalities. Chris shares why this advice has stayed with her throughout her CPG career and how it continues to influence the way she approaches nearly every new project.   

“Creating a vision that everyone can anchor to and see how all their work fits into it can add tremendous clarity to the organization. Ultimately, my job is to create an environment to allow people to be successful, to put just enough structure and just enough data [in place] and then strive for collaboration across all the groups… working towards achieving these goals.”

-Chris Lansing 

“You have to find a leadership style that works for you…it's not only going to drive the success of what you do, but it's gonna make you a lot happier. [By] finding your place and finding what works, all the other stuff takes care of itself.”

-Miguel Leal

About The NOSH Podcast

The staff of NOSH.com takes listeners inside the business of natural, organic, sustainable and healthy food during the NOSH Podcast. Using interviews and discussion, the team illuminates the news, brands, people, trends, and money affecting the world of packaged food.

New episodes are released every week. Send us comments and suggestions anytime to [email protected].

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts

This week on the NOSH Podcast, NOSH editor-in-chief Jeff Klineman, editor Carol Ortenberg and reporters Adrianne DeLuca and Lukas Southard discuss the recent acquisition of Sovos Brands by Campbells. Sunrise Strategic Partners’ Peter Burns and Coefficient Capital’s Franklin Isacson join Carol in the interview to talk about the current climate for investment in CPG food, their recent induction to the NOSH Notables list and explain why the investor-brand relationship should be treated like a marriage.

In this episode:

1:00 - Campbell’s buying up Sovos marks a major shift in the world of Big CPG. According to the NOSH team, owning multiple product tiers across a single category has been a successful strategy for Campbell’s in the past. How could this new relationship shape the sauce shelf?

19:15 - How does being on the investment side of the CPG food industry differ from being a founder or operator? Burns and Isacson weigh in on how investors think differently about building a successful brand and share insights about how their respective firms assess potential investments.

22:00 - There’s no doubt the current climate around venture investment is tough, but difficult investor-brand relationships can make things even trickier. Burns and Isacson give advice on how founders can help make their brands more attractive to potential investors and possible exits.

40:55 - Investors may not favor influencer-led brands, but the added celebrity doesn’t hurt. Hear why these two venture capitalists believe PRIME cannot be ignored but remain cautious around typing a brand too closely to its social media stars..

“Choosing an investor is very much like a marriage, for the most part these are long-term partnerships…it is very important that there is alignment.”

-Franklin Isacson, Coefficient Capital managing partner

“Good businesses will be able to go through the good times and the bad times… it's hard and you're going to have to grind. And if you don't know how to grind, you better learn fast.”

-Peter Burns, Sunrise Strategic Partners managing partner

About the NOSH Podcast

The staff of NOSH.com takes listeners inside the business of natural, organic, sustainable and healthy food during the NOSH Podcast. Using interviews and discussion, the team illuminates the news, brands, people, trends, and money affecting the world of packaged food.

New episodes are released every week. Send us comments and suggestions anytime to [email protected].

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts

This week on the NOSH Podcast, NOSH editor-in-chief Jeff Klineman, editor Carol Ortenberg and reporter Lukas Southard discuss the recently published NOSH Notables 2023 List. Carol and Jeff explain their process for developing the list and how current industry trends are reflected by the executives selected and list categories.

In this episode:

1:07 - Lukas asks Carol and Jeff about the impetus for the project and the process for selecting the 50 notable individuals.

8:25 - The team discusses the list structure and why the categories of Backers, Connectors, Gatekeepers, Quarterbacks, Spark Plugs and Superheroes ended up being the framework for the Notables list.

11:00 - Jeff and Carol review some of the notable Notables on the list and why NOSH feels they deserve recognition for their impact on the CPG food industry.

16:25 - Jeff and Carol describe how inclusivity played a role in their decision making, sharing how diversity and representation were important in both the makeup of people and in CPG.

24:45 - The three discuss why among a list of 50 influential people in CPG the three familiar faces of Snoop Dogg, Barbie and Gum E. Bear made the list.

“It's how NOSH sees the industry and some of the key currents that run through it. To define places like leadership and connection, investment and encouragement, and innovation.”

-Jeff Klineman, BevNET Editor-in-Chief

About the NOSH Podcast

The staff of NOSH.com takes listeners inside the business of natural, organic, sustainable and healthy food during the NOSH Podcast. Using interviews and discussion, the team illuminates the news, brands, people, trends, and money affecting the world of packaged food.

New episodes are released every week. Send us comments and suggestions anytime to [email protected].

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts

On this week’s show, NOSH editor Carol Ortenberg, reporter Adrianne DeLuca and editor-in-chief Jeff Klineman drum up some girl dinner alternatives and run down recent legislative and M&A news from the plant-based sector. Later, Adrianne chats with Tony’s Chocolonely Mission Guardian Anne-Wil Dijkstra about why the company put a new corporate structure in place to protect its mission. Dijkstra also provides advice about how emerging impact-driven brands can take steps to secure the success of their own mission. 

Show Highlights:

01:05: Girl Dinner or Dad Bod Dinner? Hear the NOSH team’s take on the new TikTok trend, how it is showing up on e-commerce platforms and the opportunities they see for CPG brands to latch onto.

07:33: Between the introduction of the PLANT Act to Congress and the sale of Alpha Foods, plant-based industry news has been plentiful this week. The team runs through some highlights of the new legislation and key details about Alpha’s sale.

18:19: It's been two months since Tony’s Chocolonely implemented an independent, legally binding corporate structure to protect its mission to improve the cocoa supply chain. Anne-Wil explains the motivation behind that effort and how it will evolve as Tony scales its impact.

28:16: Open-sourced processes and ideas are also at the heart of the chocolate maker’s mission. Listen in to hear Anne-Wil’s take on when emerging brands should look to lock in their impact goals and why she believes they can do so even with limited resources.

“You need growth to inspire others – for that you need to have a commercially successful business case. It doesn't have to be “or”... Money is a means to go towards your vision. We need a world with profitable organizations that have a positive impact. That's how we change the world for the better.”

-Anne-Wil Dijkstra

About The NOSH Podcast

The staff of NOSH.com takes listeners inside the business of natural, organic, sustainable and healthy food during the NOSH Podcast. Using interviews and discussion, the team illuminates the news, brands, people, trends, and money affecting the world of packaged food.

New episodes are released every week. Send us comments and suggestions anytime to [email protected].

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts