Pivotal is an interview-style segment that tackles topics in consumer packaged goods (CPG) and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) from the business leaders that live it EVERY DAY! This episode, we talk with my good friend and co-founder of Fit Butters Ryan Bucki (aka Fitness Informant) about how they went from idea to launch in only a two weeks later. Plus, he shares some of his really creative business model strategies that sets the FIt Butters functional food product apart from the competition and made it a million dollar bootstrapped CPG brand.

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With a robust loyalty program, attractive off-mall real estate strategy, and successful retail partnerships like Sephora under its belt, Kohl's once seemed immune to many of the troubles of department stores. For months now, however, the retailer has been on the defensive from activist investors, and could be on the brink of being sold. Franchise Group, Inc., the owner of The Vitamin Shoppe (and other retail chains) has offered $9 billion, or $69 a share, to acquire Kohl’s. With Franchise Group making a run at acquiring Kohl’s...what could that potentially mean for The Vitamin Shoppe? I'll breakdown several ideas that include private label merchandising opportunities, store-within-a-store concepts, and integration of loyalty and marketing programs. 

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Is MusclePharm finally embracing the fact that they are a protein company now? MusclePharm (OTCMKTS: MSLP) just disclosed that the company is expanding into the ready-to-drink (RTD) protein category with the launch of its new whey protein drink line in the summer of 2022. This is a bit of a “what took you so long” kind of moment for me. I’ve been advocating for MusclePharm to ditch the pursuit of the energy drinks market and focus on protein beverages. I will expand on those comments from previous podcast episodes and run down what we know and what I can deduce about the MusclePharm RTD protein beverage from the short press release. Additionally, I remind everyone about how this isn't the first time MusclePharm has had a protein beverage in market. Finally, I share thoughts about how MusclePharm can take a lesson from Nutrabolt on a price pack architecture strategy. 

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With Quest Nutrition making the shift from being a protein bar company to a successful lifestyle brand, can The Simply Good Foods Company do the same thing with Atkins Nutritionals? Should The Simply Good Foods Company be worried about the possible upcoming recession after the yield curve inverted? In this latest episode, I'll utilize the 2022 Q2 Simply Good Foods Company (NASDAQ: SMPL) earnings report, earnings call, and supplemental presentations that were filed on 4/6/2022 as the backdrop to provide broad health and fitness snacking market insights. In Q2 of fiscal 2022, both brands had strong retail takeaway growth, with Quest Nutrition specifically having more than 40% growth. Quest Nutrition also has seen particularly massive success in its Quest Nutrition Protein Chips. It has been the single biggest contributor to the growth in Quest Nutrition household penetration growth and the product has brought in a significant number of new buyers that were incremental to the brand. That might be why Simply Good Foods Company decided to cross pollinate this product form into Atkins protein chips. The Atkins Nutritionals brand needs to also get snackier and fast. That being said, The Simply Good Food Company continues to be uniquely positioned with two large-scale channel-diversified U.S. brand leaders in the attractive nutritional snacking category that’s still underpenetrated. They will continue to seek good balance of innovation and variety across brands and forms. This will show up as the company deleverages from a bars and shakes focused product portfolio. The owner of Atkins Nutritionals and Quest Nutrition continues to do a great job at fulfilling the self-actualization goals of its customers without compromising great taste.

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Will slapping Paw Patrol characters on a powdered hydration supplement be enough to drive success for SOS Hydration in the public markets? SOS Hydration is more than just a company that utilizes entertainment IP from Paw Patrol. Founded in May 2013 by brothers and elite track athletes James and Tom Mayo and James' wife (licensed medical doctor), SOS Hydration has a strong founder-market fit that’s screams authenticity. It seems both SOS Hydration and Liquid I.V. both stumbled on the fact that “people are beginning to realize the importance of staying properly hydrated…” because they launched within months of one another. While it’s hard to quantify just how much the “Liquid I.V. Effect” helped SOS Hydration, there’s no denying that higher tides in the category raised all boats. SOS Hydration is now available in 12,000 retail locations, including CVS and Walmart. In this latest episode, I'll breakdown the SOS Hydration S-1 document and explain where I think the company could improve its operating leverage and get further market momentum. Hint: the functional CPG industry has previously neglected this need for many years.  

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Pivotal is an interview-style segment that tackles topics in consumer packaged goods (CPG) and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) from the business leaders that live it EVERY DAY! This episode, we talk with my good friend and Divisional Merchandise Manager at The Vitamin Shoppe Jack Gayton about sports nutrition categorical performance at the specialty retailer and what he’s seeing in terms of changing buyer behavior and product trends.

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Gen Z is just a more extreme version of Millennials, right? No cap I used to think the same thing a few years ago, but they are completely different, and your functional CPG brand better be ready for it. To be honest, if you’re a functional CPG brand and you aren’t thinking about Gen Z already…you’re behind! In my opinion, functional CPG brands are the inspiration epicenter for the entire CPG industry. The best of these brands are the trendsetters. Because of that, they’re often one of the first groups to pivot their marketing strategies and reach out to the latest generation of young consumers. Vibe Check? You good? Don’t worry you haven’t taken an L yet because this episode will get you up to speed fast on this group of diverse, hyperconnected, short-attention span influencers who could become your most important customers. It’s critical that functional CPG brands recognize Gen Z differences and meet them where they are, rather than where we want them to be. It’s time for functional CPG brands to finally start talking in a language Gen Z will understand and appreciate.

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Depending on how deep you follow the supplement industry, you might be asking yourself who is Smart for Life? Well, Smart for Life is a vertically integrated brand portfolio that has major exposure to the weight loss and weight management category. The company went public on February 16, 2022, on the NASDAQ under the stock ticker SMFL. Smart for Life currently owns several interesting assets; Doctors Scientific Organica (aka Smart for Life), GSP Nutrition (aka licensee of The Sports Illustrated brand for sports nutrition), the network marketing platform Nexus Offers, Bonne Santé Natural Manufacturing (contract manufacturer), and newly acquired Ceautamed Worldwide (aka Greens First). M&A has been a major aspect of Smart for Life and it will continue to be a major part of its future. They have dubbed it the “Global Buy & Build Strategy”, which is a comprehensive program to develop a robust pipeline of prospective acquisitions in addition to the companies currently operated by Smart for Life. Over the next 24 months, the company plans to acquire multiple companies aggregating a minimum of $100 million in annualized revenues. How will the Smart for Life company perform in the increasingly challenging and competitive supplement market? I'll explore that and more...

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The NCAA ruled in July 2021 that college athletes can be compensated for their name, image, and likeness (known as NIL). While there was an initial summertime burst of attention-grabbing student-athlete NIL headlines in the functional CPG industry (e.g. PlantFuel & Six Star Pro Nutrition), most are still sitting on the sidelines. Leading up to the landmark change, I felt NIL could offer fertile ground for functional CPG brands. It provided access to influential members of a consumer cohort that tend to be one of the most valuable to functional CPG brands (especially if we are talking sports nutrition). Since I worked with several functional CPG brands that were aggressively seeking deals, I assumed (I guess wrongly assumed) that the broader industry would be prepared to participate from the start. Throughout the inaugural fall college sports season, there were some wins, some telling trends in terms of distribution of deals, and a lot of groundwork laid by these first companies. During the spring season, we started to see functional beverage brands jump into the mix (e.g. Optimum Nutrition, Gatorade, and BioSteel). While these all for substantial deals for the functional CPG industry, why didn’t we see more NIL deals? One word…confusion. The key to success with NCAA athlete marketing is knowing the rules, acting fast, finding new opportunities, educating your ambassadors, and building meaningful relationships. While this may seem simple, the work that needs to be done to properly build an athlete ambassador program is quite cumbersome so make sure you build in flexibility and creativity to deal with unforeseen risks.

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Can you guess my favorite podcast of all-time (besides my own of course)? Here’s a hint…it’s a show about innovators, entrepreneurs, idealists, and the stories behind the movements they built. Each episode of the “How I Built This” podcast features a compelling story about someone who builds a successful company from the ground up, with each guest having a unique backstory. The host is Guy Raz, a longtime NPR correspondent and journalist, who is a true master at helping each founder weave their story together by fielding questions that add color and dimension to their experiences. Not counting replays, duplicated guests from live events like the How I Built This Summit, or different versions like the pandemic-era “how I built resilience”, the popular podcast has about 215 unique episodes. Within that large library of episodes, “How I Built This” has highlighted around 50 CPG brands, which doesn’t consider serial entrepreneurs like Gary Vaynerchuk, that has founded a CPG brand, or grocery retailers that have their own CPG private labels. Since I believe current CPG entrepreneurs will love “How I Built This” for the insights and advice, and aspiring CPG entrepreneurs will find it equally captivating and inspirational, I wanted to help those new to podcast and share my five favorite episodes that highlighted CPG brands.

CPG Episodes Featured: LaraBar, Uncle Nearest Whiskey, 5-Hour Energy, Kodiak Cakes, and Tate's Bake Shop

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