FitLife Brands fought one of those perfect storm level quarters that they likely wouldn’t have survived a few years ago. Why are things different now? It starts so casually. You land a large customer, your products hit the shelves and it starts to pull off shelf well. You break out the champagne. Soon, that customer is 30% of your business. Then 50%. Then 70%. No one can say no to them anymore. But why would you?

This is what happened to FitLife Brands, the owner of a collection of sports nutrition products that are sold to mostly GNC franchises. What’s the solution to overexposure in both customer/channel/market? "Diversify...Diversify...Diversify.” So, how are they doing on that quest for independence from the bankrupt supplement retailer GNC? 

What does Linens n Things, Dressbarn, Pier 1 Imports and Modell's Sporting Goods have in common beyond their retail downfall? They have all been acquisitions by a little-known investment firm called Retail Ecommerce Ventures (REV) that was founded last year. Maybe that doesn’t seem too odd, but what if I told you REV was run by a former NASA scientist that founded a successful dating app and Tai Lopez or “here in my garage” guy that Vice News called the Internet’s Most Hated Self-Help Guru in 2015.

In this podcast episode, I'll explain what is going on with REV and why this could be important in the retail industry. 

Any press is good press, right? I guess not when you consider a bankrupt specialty retailer in the midst of one of the most challenging periods in American business history. In this podcast episode, I want to tackle 3 areas; (1) top-level financial data from GNC Holdings 2020Q2 earnings report that was released last week (2) cover any updates on Chapter 11 bankruptcy news since the last podcast episode about the subject on 7/12/2020 (3) cover “what ifs” around missing deadlines or requirements within the GNC bankruptcy

Is it time for Glanbia Performance Nutrition to go “over the top” in its strategy as it continues to slip in importance of the overall Glanbia portfolio? Glanbia is a global nutrition company that owns various nutritional supplement and sports nutrition brands. These brands include names like Optimum Nutrition, BSN, ThinkThin, Isopure, Amazing Grass, ABB, and Slim Fast. I'll use the recent earnings report and earnings call notes to update you on how the massive consumer behavior event COVID-19 has affected Glanbia Performance Nutrition and Glanbia Nutritionals. Finally, I'll explain why Glanbia Performance Nutrition is expanding its transformation project that they announced in late 2019.

Interested in seeing the presentation visuals of this episode, check out my YouTube video - https://youtu.be/7LRjcMJA44k

A fast-paced and busy lifestyle is pushing consumers to switch to quick and healthy meal options. This has resulted in the penetration of RTD protein shakes that promote active lifestyles. In this podcast episode, I'll utilize the recent quarterly earnings report and conference call for BellRing Brands to update you on the growth of the portfolio's consumer brand Premier Protein. Additionally, I'll breakdown how the RTD protein beverage category is performing in the challenging retail environment stemming from COVID-19.  Finally, I'll share insights around minor adjustments that I'd make to ensure growth will sustain through the back-half of the calendar year.

If interested in watching the YouTube video that includes financial graphs & charts, watch here - https://youtu.be/YP_HXkeUkJs

Even with a cloudy forecast, it’s liftoff time for Celsius Energy Drinks in 3…2…1! Can Celsius become more than just an impulse purchase and become a key part of a health-minded consumer’s daily lifestyle? I will use the recent Celsius Holdings earnings report and conference call as the backdrop to talk about broader functional energy beverage categorical and strategic insights. Additionally, since we are still in the midst of COVID-19, I will be providing some additional thoughts on how that uncertainty is causing pressure in the retailing environment.

Are greener pastures ahead for The Vitamin Shoppe now that their main competitor filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy?

The Vitamin Shoppe 2020Q2 earnings report that was released 8/6/2020 under its owner Franchise Group Inc. While the financial information in the report continues to be relatively small, I was able to collect insightful information on the quarterly performance from the Franchise Group conference call, previous corporate press releases, and public interviews from CEO Sharon Leite. Additionally, I provided both brick and mortar and digital sales updates, along with digital marketing tactics and merchandising that is helping The Vitamin Shoppe become an authoritative voice by educating consumers during the health pandemic. Finally, I update you on how much benefit is already being seen from the GNC chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.

Should the sports nutrition industry finally embrace its more mainstream active nutrition future?

When I started in the industry more than a decade ago, the only acceptable term used to describe brands like MusclePharm, Cellucor, Optimum Nutrition, or even today’s hottest brand Redcon1 would be sports nutrition...but, that isn’t the case anymore!

While the terms sports nutrition and active nutrition seem to be thrown around interchangeably by professionals, they are stuffed full of nuisances that make them very different. Active Nutrition is an evolution of sports nutrition. Active nutrition is the real golden ticket to building a large-scale functional CPG business because it moves the products away from being one-dimensional, but are the previous generations of sports nutrition entrepreneurs (gatekeepers) ready to leave the comfortable sub-culture niche for a much larger greener pasture?

In the first half of 2020, a huge tectonic shift occurred within the energy drink space, one that will have lasting implications for years to come, and no I’m not talking about COVID-19! Up until last year, the top 3 energy drink brands in the U.S. had gone unchanged since 2004. That was until Bang Energy blasted past Rockstar Energy in the summer of 2019 to become the #3 energy drink brand in the U.S. and reached sales of around $1.2 billion in that calendar year. This created earthquakes in the beverage space at a level that made the biggest beverage portfolios in the world realize they needed to get aggressive in their strategic plans for energy beverages.