The #1 channel for beverages, especially impulse purchases, is none other than your local convenience store. With 155,000 points of distribution around the country and annualized revenue of ~ $650 billion, C-Stores are hyper-local innovation hubs for testing new designs and flavors. 

These aren't your grandfather's gas stations! Yes, you still find candy bars, gum, and sugary sodas, but the good-for-you food and beverage trend transformed the shelves and coolers from pure garbage food and drinks into a viable channel to innovate and launch a brand. 

Join C-Store expert Christian Webb, the CEO of Electrolit, and the PR SME, Matt Kovacs from Blaze PR as we dive deep into the trends shaping C-Store channel strategies.  

• Origin Story

Connect with Christian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-pati%C3%B1o-webb-95277024/

Electrolit: https://electrolit.com/

Connect with Matt: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattjkovacs/

Blaze PR: http://www.blazepr.com/

About your Host Tony Moore and the Winning at Work podcast:

• Are you looking for a fun and light-hearted podcast to stay current on the trends shaping the $1.6 trillion food and beverage industry? My totally awesome brands featured here take us deep into the world of sustainability, plant-based, food tech, CBD, and good for you. Want to learn how to grow a brand? Scale a brand? I've got you covered. 

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Your totally different, better, and special brand is killing it in the local marketplace. Everyone loves it! Now what? Get it into distribution!   

Richard Byers, the Divison President of Cash-Wa joins me to discuss how to get your totally awesome brand into a distributor. Discover the strategies established and start-up brands use to grow revenue through a distributor partnership. 

• What's in a name? 

Connect with Richard: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rbyers/

Cash-Wa: https://web.cashwa.com/

About your Host Tony Moore and the Winning at Work podcast:

• Are you looking for a fun and light-hearted podcast to stay current on the trends shaping the $1.6 trillion food and beverage industry? My totally awesome brands featured here take us deep into the world of sustainability, plant-based, food tech, CBD, and good for you. Want to learn how to grow a brand? Scale a brand? I've got you covered. 

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In the uber-competitive QSR marketplace, restaurant owners face labor shortages, rising expenses, shrinking supply chains, and customers that expect the brand to "give back" to the community. Jeff Kiesel, the CEO of Restaurant Technologies, a QSR veteran, joins the Winning at Work podcast to discuss these trends and his mission to make safer, smarter sustainable kitchens.

Oil is the heart of any successful QSR operation, and now, thanks to RT's innovative partnerships and sustainability vision, it is reused as biodiesel for RTs fleet! 

• The heart of QSR

• automation

Connect with Jeff: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffkiesel/

Restaurant Technologies: https://www.rti-inc.com/

About your Host Tony Moore and the Winning at Work podcast:

• Are you looking for a fun and light-hearted podcast to stay current on the trends shaping the $1.6 trillion food and beverage industry? My totally awesome brands featured here take us deep into the world of sustainability, plant-based, food tech, CBD, and good for you. Want to learn how to grow a brand? Scale a brand? I've got you covered. 

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Challenger brands must be different, better, and special and hold that perception with the consumer. Commodities are in a race to the bottom, according to Daniel Doll, COO of SoapBox Soaps and Bushwick Kitchen. Daniel is a DTC expert and has built an infrastructure allowing their organization the flexibility to acquire brands and integrate them into a proven, successful DTC model (direct to consumer). Matt Kovacs, the President of Blaze PR, works with Daniel and other lifestyle brands to generate great PR and drive consumer awareness.  Join Matt and Daniel today as they discuss the DTC strategies for two popular brands, SoapBox Soap (A social mission company) and Bushwich Kitchen.

• Origin story

Connect with Daniel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danieldoll/

Connect with Matt: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattjkovacs/

SoapBox Soap: https://www.soapboxsoaps.com/

Bushwick Kitchen: https://bushwickkitchen.com/

Blaze PR: - http://www.blazepr.com/

About your Host Tony Moore and the Winning at Work podcast:

• Are you looking for a fun and light-hearted podcast to stay current on the trends shaping the $1.6 trillion food and beverage industry? My totally awesome brands featured here take us deep into the world of sustainability, plant-based, food tech, CBD, and good for you. Want to learn how to grow a brand? Scale a brand? I've got you covered. 

Music from Uppbeat:

Innovation for innovation's sake? Science for science's sake? When it comes to food and beverages, we answer these questions with a resounding NO! Advancements must be made practical and accessible for everyone.  Caroline Beckman is passionate about meeting the consumer where they are and loving them too much to leave them there. 

• Origin story

• Prioritize spend

Connect with Caroline on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caroline-beckman-66156645/

Nouri: https://dailynouri.com/

Watch for new products for first 1,000 days

About your Host Tony Moore and the Winning at Work podcast:

• Are you looking for a fun and light-hearted podcast to stay current on the trends shaping the $1.6 trillion food and beverage industry? My totally awesome brands featured here take us deep into the world of sustainability, plant-based, food tech, CBD, and good for you. Want to learn how to grow a brand? Scale a brand? I've got you covered. 

Music from Uppbeat:

Influencers can drive retail sales, but a brand needs a sophisticated and coordinated marketing campaign to make retailers take notice. Today I am joined by the President and CEO of Stanmar International and the dessert brand, Simply Delish. Martin Pamensky built a successful brand through strategic partnerships and influencer marketing, and they are fighting childhood hunger by donating quality food to kids in need. 

• Origin story

Connect with Martin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-pamensky-ba517aa/

Simply Delish: https://simplydelish.net/

Recipes: WOW! https://simplydelish.net/grid/

About your Host Tony Moore and the Winning at Work podcast:

• Are you looking for a fun and light-hearted podcast to stay current on the trends shaping the $1.6 trillion food and beverage industry? My totally awesome brands featured here take us deep into the world of sustainability, plant-based, food tech, CBD, and good for you. Want to learn how to grow a brand? Scale a brand? I've got you covered. 

Music from Uppbeat:

40% of food is wasted resulting in a $7 billion dollar loss each year. Meanwhile, Consumer brands are leading the effort to make sustainability a requirement within the supply chain. Farmers are adopting better practices such as regenerative agriculture, and companies like FruitSmart are upcycling food that isn't suited for retail. Combined, these efforts create a more sustainable food supply chain.  Get connected to your food and farmers with us today as Wayne gives us an introduction to the fascinating world of upcycling and farming.

• Upcycling 

Connect with Wayne on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/waynelutomski/

FruitSmart, Inc: https://www.fruitsmart.com/

About your Host Tony Moore and the Winning at Work podcast:

• Are you looking for a fun and light-hearted podcast to stay current on the trends shaping the $1.6 trillion food and beverage industry? My totally awesome brands featured here take us deep into the world of sustainability, plant-based, food tech, CBD, and good for you. Want to learn how to grow a brand? Scale a brand? I've got you covered. 

Music from Uppbeat:

"Franchising is king!" There is a misconception that huge conglomerates own all their stores but in reality, many have opted to franchise the business to small business entrepreneurs. In this episode, I explore with Brady Lee, the positives and negatives of franchising and how to get started. 

• Misconceptions

Connect with Brady on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brady-lee-8748a781/

United Franchise Group: https://unitedfranchisegroup.com/

About your Host Tony Moore and the Winning at Work podcast:

• Are you looking for a fun and light-hearted podcast to stay current on the trends shaping the $1.6 trillion food and beverage industry? My totally awesome brands featured here take us deep into the world of sustainability, plant-based, food tech, CBD, and good for you. Want to learn how to grow a brand? Scale a brand? I've got you covered. 

Music from Uppbeat:

Welcome to food entrepreneurship! You have a great-tasting family recipe, and all your friends love your home-cooked masterpiece! Expanding to the farmer's market is a great first step, but are you prepared to solve the complex problems of a commercial kitchen and beyond because you can't produce enough product? Jamie Valenti Jordan is the perfect food expert to show all you home chefs how to scale the pet project into a scalable, commercial product. Curious about how much investment you need to make, Jamie covers that, too. What new food trends are on the way, tune in a find out! ( PS - millions of dollars are being pumped into this R&D project).

About your Host Tony Moore and the Winning at Work podcast:

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In America, recycling is a massive failure. The low-value plastic which permeates seemingly every purchase is either buried or shipped elsewhere, but you can be sure it is still with us. 

No Evil Foods CEO, Sadrah Schadel shares just how difficult it is to remove plastic from the supply chain, and why they chose to become a plastic-negative company. 

Connect with Sadrah on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sadrahschadel/

No Evil Foods: https://www.noevilfoods.com/

About your Host Tony Moore and the Winning at Work podcast:

• Are you looking for a fun and light-hearted podcast to stay current on the trends shaping the $1.6 trillion food and beverage industry? My totally awesome brands featured here take us deep into the world of sustainability, plant-based, food tech, CBD, and good for you. Want to learn how to grow a brand? Scale a brand? I've got you covered. 

Music from Uppbeat: