Road Trips with People Building and Growing Emerging Brands.

On this episode of our Founders Series, we interview Laura Meemken, the CEO of All Clean Food. Laura shares with our audience her journey of starting the All Clean Food brand from her own kitchen because her kids had food allergies. She wanted o to provide tasty, kid-friendly meals that would be available at retail to help other families that wanted quick, quality meals. Laura also adds insights into the importance of starting small, packaging and the value of “Sell through (Velocity) vs. Sell in (Distribution)

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On today's podcast, the Road2Retail team speaks with Mike Wilkins about how a small, emerging, challenger brand needs to think and act with regard to working with a national retailer. Throughout the course of Mike's career he has served as a Buyer and a Head Buyer at several large, national retailers across multiple classes of trade. Mike shares his experience and advice on actions what small, emerging, challenger brands should take to ensure success while also highlighting areas where a brand can get in trouble. We hope you enjoy today's show. Please subscribe to the Road2Retail podcast on iTunes or Spotify, Follow us on LinkedIn

On this episode of our Founders Series, we interview Nigel Smith, the founder and CEO of the Zurena brand of cocktail mixers. Small emerging brands will not want to miss this episode. Nigel is authentic and real about his entrepreneurial journey of creating a brand. Nigel shares so many great quotes and insights such as, “a start up is like a marriage” and “celebrate the wins along the way.”

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On this Road2Retail podcast, we interviewed Maria Uspenski, CEO of The Tea Spot brand. Maria has been at the helm of The Tea Spot for 19 years and has much wisdom to share with our small and emerging brands’ audience. Maria highlights the importance of authenticity, passion and the story behind a brand. She also emphasizes the importance of packaging. Please follow the Road2Retail podcast on LinkedIn, Spotify, iTunes and YouTube.

On today’s episode we discuss a hot topic in the CPG industry: Deductions. Road2Retail interviews Greg Esslinger and Tanay Kothari from Floret. These two guys are experts when it comes to deductions. They share with our audience the best practices when it comes to deductions and what small and emerging brands can do to mitigate deductions from retailers and distributors. The Floret team also share the top types of deductions to beware of. Please follow Road2Retail on these platforms: LinkedIn page, Spotify, iTunes and YouTube.

In this episode of Road2Retail we celebrate International Women’s month by interviewing Maya French, co-founder of the beverage brand Koia, with our guest host Krista Anderson, founder of ESSTAR. On this episode Maya shares with our audience the lessons she learned while launching Koia and other brands in the small and emerging brand arena. Maya also shares what small and emerging brands should consider before launching into retail and some mistakes to avoid as well as her insights into fund raising.

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As your brand begins to gain traction, one way to accelerate the growth is to attend a trade show. But where do you start? There are so many and the cost (financial and time) is not cheap. On today's show we discuss how to select a show, the best way to attend, what to bring, how to prepare, and how to follow up on your leads. A couple of keys: know what you want to accomplish going in and work the show hard from open to close each day! We hope you enjoy today's discussion. Please subscribe to us at Road2Retail on iTunes and Spotify

In todays' episode we speak with Rebecca Styn- the Founder of Blind Tiger Spirit Free Cocktails. She shares her story about how her brand came to be out of necessity due to Covid. Rebecca also shares an interesting perspective on the value of mentors, building and a network, and offers some unique ideas on fundraising she pursued to help get her brand off the ground. We hope you enjoy, and learn something, from today's show. Please subscribe to our podcast at our Road2Retail page on LinkedIn, YouTube, Spotify or iTunes

A Discussion with Ryan Springer- Founding Partner at the Investment firm Midnight Venture Partners In today's Road2Retail episode, we speak with Ryan Springer- one of the founding partners at Midnight Venture Partners. Ryan shares his insights on what a small, emerging or challenger brand should consider as a checklist before approaching a potential investor. In his role as an investor, Ryan shares what he looks for in a brand (and its founder!) before making a financial commitment. Ryan also offers solid recommendations on what a brand owner should look for in an investor partner. And finally, Ryan delivers some great ideas on how to best approach a potential investor. We hope you enjoy this discussion with Ryan Springer. Please subscribe to our podcast on Spotify or iTunes, and follow us on our Road2Retail YouTube channel or LinkedIn.

On today’s episode of Road2Retail, we interview Joe Tarnowski the VP of Thought Leadership and Global Media for RangeMe. On this episode Joe details exactly what the RangeMe product is and shares best practices for brands on how to utilize the RangeMe platform to showcase their brands and reach buyers from all types of retailers. Joe goes into detail explaining RangeMe Premium and RangeMe Sourcing programs. This episode is great for those small and emerging brands that are not yet using RangeMe to reach buyers or submit for category reviews with major retailers. This episode will also be insightful for those brands using RangeMe but wanting to optimize their reach.

On today’s Road2Retail episode we speak with John Pinto, the founder of the BoomBoom brand of all-natural nasal inhalers. John shares with us how the brand started, the opportunity he saw in the market as well as the successes and challenges he has faced while building his brand. John shares his experiences on the following topics: • How to know you are ready for retail • The challenges of working with a retailer • When to raise money and what to look for in an investor • What he would do differently if granted a 'do over' Please subscribe to our podcast on Spotify, iTunes or the Road2Retail YouTube channel

Taking a price increase on your brand In today’s episode, we are discussing all of the important aspects of taking a price increase on your brand. We cover the impact of taking a price increase on the end consumer as well as the steps in the process of executing a price increase. Taking a price increase in today's environment can have potentially positive and negative impacts on your brand as it pertains to the consumer and the retailer.

In today's episode we talk about the many important issues to consider and decisions that need to be made when considering initial brick & mortar retail distribution as well as expanding from your initial distribution. We discuss classes of trade, demographic match between your brand and the retailer's shoppers, understanding the costs of securing distribution, performance expectations, and how many skus should you launch with. We also touch on the need to be able to fulfill orders and the cash it will take to produce, ship and market this first order into your retailer. Lastly, where you go first matters! Play to your geographic strength if you have one- and expand from there. We hope you enjoy today's episode. Please follow us on our YouTube channel, Spotify, and iTunes.

Today we speak with Wayne Bennett, SVP of Retail for ECRM and RangeMe. Wayne shares with us examples of winning actions taken by small, emerging, and challenger brands over the course of his career that helped build their business. Wayne also shares some insights into exactly how ECM and RangeMe can help small/emerging brands connect with retailers. ECRM and RangeMe are the industry leaders in the product discovery, sourcing, and purchasing experience between top retailers and brands from around the world. They facilitate the buying and selling process by providing both face to face and virtual connections between retailers and brands. Please enjoy today's discussion with Wayne and we hope you take away some ideas for driving your business. Please follow us at on our LinkedIn page, Spotify, and iTunes.

Today on the Road2Retail we speak with Richard Palmer- Executive Director of Little Big Brands. LBB is a fantastic branding and design firm that has a long history of doing excellent work for their clients and helping them grow their business. Today Richard discusses the importance of truly understanding your consumer, how to create a brand personality and voice, and the dangers of cutting corners by not doing research. Richard also covers some of the key points to consider with regard to a brand's physical packaging structures and how this can become a key competitive advantage for your brand. We hope you enjoy, and learn something, from today's episode. Please follow Road2Retail on our LinkedIn page, Apple iTunes or Spotify