Retail Ready Podcast

In today's episode I got to hang out with Denise and Sara from Colmar Brunton. Colmar Brunton is one of Australia's largest customised market research companies. They help clients deliver better products, services and communications.

The insights and knowledge Denise and Sara have is crazy which I why I wanted them on this podcast.

In this episode we touch on a load of different topics but we focus on the Millennium monitor https://www.millenniummonitor.com which has its own website. I was fascinated when I first came across this platform.

The Millennium Monitor is a unique social trends monitor that explores the patterns and implications of change in social values, Denise explains it fantastically in this episode and definitely worth a listen.

In today's episode I got to hang out with Carmine Ventura. The managing director of South Food Group.

South Food Group is a third generation, Italian family operated small goods manufacturer with a huge focus on premium high-quality products such as prosciutto, salami, ham, bacon and specialty snack foods.

The business is really booming in their protein snack department, especially their pork crackle range, crackle and co which can be found in Dan Murphys.

Sometimes we forget with all the news about vegans and plant based products that the meat market is still booming and it was great to hear Carmines opionion and knowledge in his space.

Check them out here: http://www.southfoodgroup.com.au

But for now, chill out, switch off the world and listen to episode 38

In today's episode I got to hang out with Ally Mellor who is the founder of Locako.

In 2 years Ally has created over 20 lines within the Keto, Low Carb market. Ally is not done there she has a whole new range coming out in 2020.

Ally was one of the first brands to see the Collagen trend, she was one of the very first brands to create a collagen bar which can be found along with her other SKUs in health, independent stores as well as online.

Ally is a real start up and explains her journey so far. It was a huge pleasure to chat to Ally and hear her story and what the future brings.

For now, Switch off, chill out and enjoy episode 36.

In today's episode I got to hang out with Mike Lee who is Mr Food Innovator.

Mike is all about food innovation. He is the founder of Alpha Food labs which works with medium to large FMCG companies to help them stay ahead of the curve in innovation. Mike also has two sister companies, Food Tech Connect which merges what's happening in food and technology space, I highly recommend signing up to their free bi-weekly newsletter for awesome insights and what's going on in this space, and the third company Mike runs is the Future Food Market. Mike uses platforms which are used in the car industry to help explore the future of food in 5 to 10 years through concept stores and product concepts.

Mike is full of insights, information and delivers numerous awesome knowledge bombs about his world. Was great hanging out with a forward thinking in the food space and I hope you enjoy this episode.

In today's episode I got to hang out with Paula Hannagan who is the founder of Bounce in 2004 after getting inspiration from a holiday in New York. Bounce is a company which changed the game in snacking especially with their range of bounce balls.

Paula tells all in this episode about her journey and the learnings along the way. I believe this is a must listen to any new brand or business starting out.

Bounce is now a global brand with new breakfast bars coming through in Australia. I loved chatting to Paula and I hope you enjoy this episode too.

Switch off, chill out and enjoy episode 34.

In today's episode I got to hang out with Dan Pope, who is sales manager of Manilife. Manilife is a UK based peanut butter company which has some high-end customers such as Waitrose and Harrods.

Dan tells the fantastic story of Manilife in this episode with a bit of comedy thrown in too.

Manilife uses single origin high quality peanuts unlike a lot of its competition. It's a great story and to think they were selling peanut butter from Dans backpack only 2 years ago is incredble.

It was great to chat to Dan and hear about Manilifes journey. When you finish the episode, please head on over to iTunes and leave a review.

Switch off, chill out and enjoy episode 33.

In today's episode I got to hang out with Shaun Malligan, the co founder of Kooee! Kooee is an All Natural Jerky snacking company based in Tasmania, Australia.

Shaun is an Australian who was living in the USA when he started making his own jerky to snack on. It then turned into a side hustle when more and more people started to try it and pay for it.

Along with the way Shaun met Andy, who then become the other co-founder of Kooee! and set up a factory in Tasmania making jerky and growing a brand which can be found in Dan Murpys, Woolworths and various other retailers.

In today's episode I got to hang out with William Cook, the co founder of Harvest Box. Harvest box has been around in Australia for over 10 years which started off as a subscription-based home snacking delivery business after seeing the success of the Graze business model in the UK. After years of adaptation and evolving, Harvest box can now be found in the major retails too.

If having a healthy snacking range which exports to several other countries wasn't time consuming enough. William also set up a new business venture, Ocean Australia which we discuss in detail too.

Tim is the founder of Bae Juice, a drink to help prevent hangovers. While on a trip to South Korea to meet his future in laws and a few big nights on the drink. Tim realised the powers Korean Pear Juice and knew he needed to bring it over to Australia and create a great brand around it. This is exactly what Tim did. In the episode you will not only laugh out loud but you will learn a story of persistence, determination, mistakes and what the lengths a start-up will go too to grow their brands profile.

Switch off, chill out and enjoy episode 30.

In today's episode I got to hang out with one of the sassiest female entrepreneurs I know. Jordyn Evans who is the Founder of Mingle took time out of her day to tell me her story. Very soon you will see the Mingle seasonings in over 500 Coles stores in the herbs and spice aisle. Jordyn created Mingle only 3 years ago after seeing a gap in the market one Sunday afternoon. Mingle has seen tremendous growth to date, with over 40,000 followers on Instagram and great online sales. Jordyn was selected to be on the Chobani and the Melbourne Accelerator Incubator Programmes where she is gaining fantastic business support to help her grow.

Mingle is definitely shaking things up and I loved hearing her start up story. So inspiring and motivating for any female or entrepreneur wanting to grow that idea of theirs.

Switch off, chill out and enjoy episode 29.