• 📦 Understanding The Complicated Alchemy Of A Costco Roadshow
• 🧑‍⚖️ Vanilla Vigilante Held In Civil Contempt
• 🏭 Post Holdings to Close Ohio Cereal Plant
• 🍞 Lauren Start Joins Rudi’s as VP of Marketing

Day one of NOSH Live Winter 2023 is in the books. Throughout the day natural food industry leaders hammered in the theme of fiscal responsibility and sustainable growth.

The first panel of the day brought a discussion on the post-pandemic “Price Increase Era” of CPG with VMG Partners investor Wayne Wu, Whole Foods VP of dry grocery Dan Epley, and two brand executives – That’s It chief sales officer Katie Eshuys and The Good Crisp Company co-founder and CEO Matt Parry. 

Wu stated that brands’ and investors’ pre-COVID focus on growth and revenue at all cost – usually at the expense of stability and profitability – is a problem the industry is still working to move beyond. 

💭 “We found that companies ran into issues where they didn't properly assess what true demand was of their product,” Wu said. “They made supply decisions related to people, costs, inventory, or capex related to manufacturing. And when companies have misaligned those things, they run into severe issues.”

🍜 Kevin Lee, co-founder of premium instant ramen brand Immi, quickly followed with a discussion furthering that theme of fiscal responsibility. He shared his distaste for raising money and said he would have preferred to bootstrap the business. Since Immi did need outside capital, he now takes a cautious approach to who he partners with and how they allocate resources.

💸 Then a trio of millennial investors tackled the question of authentically marketing to younger consumers. The group featured Patrick Schwarzenegger, an investor in brands like Super Coffee, Blaze Pizza and Liquid I.V. and co-founder and CEO of bar brand MOSH; Elizabeth Brown, an investor at Vanterra Ventures; and Mel Li, an investor at tech-focused firm Offline Ventures. The trio talked about having patience in achieving long term growth and the role of celebrity ambassadors in a brands’ authenticity.

The remainder of the day saw discussions spanning Mars’ acquisition of Trü Frü, the strategy of ecommerce delivery service GoPuff, and a breakdown of common traits of insurgent brands like Once Upon a Farm, Caulipower and Real Good Foods.

Read the full recap on NOSH.

NOSH Live Day Two kicked off at 9 am PT this morning with a lively presentation on what brands are actively disrupting the natural food space and some valuable insight into how to assess what categories are ripe for upheaval. 

📣 We have a full slate of exciting and influential speakers set to take the stage later today so don’t forget to tune into the livestream.

📲 Whether you are watching at home or here with us in Marina del Rey – don’t forget to text your questions for our speakers to (414) 296-3669.

🏆 Reminder: the first phase of the NOSH Pitch Slam Finals will also begin at 11 am PT and return for a second part at 1:45 pm PT. Tune into the livestream to watch it all go down.

For over 25 years, Costco has used sampling demonstrations called roadshows as an avenue for emerging brands to get placement in the club stores. While these events can offer unique opportunities to market and sell a product on consignment in the prized big box chain, roadshows are complicated to navigate and not inexpensive to run. Here’s how to strategize success:

• Over-Index On Staff: These all-day events can see over 2,000 club members come to a demo table; you’ll need plenty of hands for samples, to tell the brand’s story and value propositions, and package sold products.
• Right time, Right Place: There are overhead costs, planning and plenty of logistics involved. You likely have one shot so first understand if a roadshow, right now, is right for your brand.
• Don’t Be Afraid To Negotiate: Costco roadshow guidelines are strict but with a broker or brand rep negotiating pricing and sales targets can increase the chances of leveraging a good sampling weekend into getting product on-shelf.

Read the full rundown on NOSH.

A New York federal judge has held Spencer Sheehan in contempt of court for filing a “meritless” false ad suit over the potassium contents of a Starbucks coffee product. The class action lawyer has filed more than 400 false ad and misleading claims suits against a range of CPG brands in recent years. 

⚖️ The judge has ordered sanctions against Sheehan, to be determined at a later date, in a Northern District NY State Federal Court.

📁 Sheehan has also been called out for dozens of other suits filed in the court, none of which made it past the motion to dismiss phase. 

📝 "In sum, Mr. Sheehan filed Plaintiff's complaint without any studies, relevant case law, or reasonable interpretations of the wording on the product label to support the allegations contained within," the judge ruled. 

Post will shutter its Lancaster, Ohio manufacturing cereal facility by the end of September 2024 as the company scales back production capacity. 

⛔ The facility’s production capabilities will be transferred to Post’s eight other manufacturing facilities following the closure. 

🥣 Two hundred individuals are currently employed at the plant, which has been part of Post’s business since 2021 when it acquired TreeHouse Foods’ ready-to-eat cereal business. 

💰 Post predicts it will accrue annual cost savings of approximately $23 to $25 million beginning in FY 2025 from the closure. 

📉 In its Q4 2023 earnings, the cereal producer reported a double-digit earnings decline due to dropping volumes in foodservice and refrigerated retail. 

Lauren Start has joined Rudi’s Rocky Mountain Bakery as VP of Marketing. Start is no stranger to CPG food, she has previously held marketing positions at both Danone and Lily’s Sweets.

👩🏻 Most recently, she served as VP of marketing at Good Clean Love, an organic intimacy product maker.

🆕 She joins Rudi’s alongside three other new hires, including director of IT and business insights Jim Swallow, sanitation supervisor Daniel Guitierrez and director of procurement and continuous improvement Lorena Torres.