The Startup CPG Podcast

In this episode of the Startup CPG podcast, Daniel Scharff sits down with Kantha Shelke, a certified food scientist, and Jon Benninger, VP at Informa, to delve into an overview of SupplySide West—the best known supply chain trade show for the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry. This event covers a wide array of sectors including food, beverage, dietary supplements, personal care, and animal nutrition.

Daniel, Kantha, and Jon discuss how SupplySide West helps brands looking to connect with suppliers, discover new ingredients, explore packaging and co-packing solutions, and learn how to bring products from concept to market. They emphasize the significance of in-person networking, insights from panels on trends, compliance, and innovation, and strategies for making the most of the trade show experience, and talk about the overall importance of creating your supply chain network.

From tips on setting clear goals and identifying key contacts to balancing scheduled meetings with spontaneous networking, they offer practical advice for both startups and established companies. They also share success stories, personal experiences, and insights on how to turn unexpected opportunities into valuable industry relationships.

Tune in to hear how to maximize your SupplySide West experience and gain actionable advice for building and leveraging industry connections!

Use code CPG50 for $50 off your Expo Pass registration
SupplySide West Registration > https://utm.io/registerhere
Startup CPG Happy Hour @ SupplySide West Signup: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/startup-cpg-meets-supply-side-west-happy-hour-tickets-1001755707287

Listen in as they share about:
  • SupplySide West Overview
  • How to Navigate SupplySide West
  • Types of Exhibitors
  • Networking and Collaboration
  • Importance of In-Person Interaction:
  • Target Audience and Attendees
  • Value of the Event
  • The Role of the Event in Business Growth
  • Practical Advice for Attending




Episode Links:
Informa Markets LinkedIn
Jon Benninger LinkedIn
Kantha Shelke LinkedIn




Don't forget to leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify if you enjoyed this episode. For potential sponsorship opportunities or to join the Startup CPG community, visit http://www.startupcpg.com.


Show Links:

Transcripts of each episode are available on the Transistor platform that hosts our podcast here (click on the episode and toggle to “Transcript” at the top)

Creators & Guests

Host
Daniel Scharff
Founder/CEO, Startup CPG

What is The Startup CPG Podcast?

A podcast from Startup CPG - highlighting stories from founders working towards a better food system and industry insights from experts to give you a better chance at success.

Jon Benninger
Since we started the show in 1997, a lot smaller than it is now. And here we are. This year we'll have 1500 exhibiting companies from all over the world with ingredients and packaging and co packing everything you need to create and make a product that's ready to go. So that could be ingredients, packaging, manufacturing expertise, legal advice, all this stuff to go from what we like to say is from your head to your hand. That's what we really focus on, helping brand owners, entrepreneurs and companies large and small navigate that supply side west, the.

00:46
Daniel Scharff
Biggest show of the year, to meet your new co manufacturer or ingredient supplier, a packaging company, a new partner for R and D, and hopefully just find a bunch of ways to make your product better, hire quality, achieve more things and save money while you do it. And it's not just about making a few contacts. It is about giving yourself access to a year round supply chain community you didn't know before. These are people that you can call for help anytime you need it outside of the show. On today's episode, I am joined by John Benninger from Informa and Kantha Schelke, a 20 year show veteran, to really understand what goes on at the show. When should brands think about going? How can they prepare? And so much more. We have a little discount off the show.

01:27
Daniel Scharff
You can see it in the show notes. You can visit their website@supplysideshow.com, and you can email John at john dot beningeronforma.com dot. His last name is b e n n I n g e r. Enjoy. All right, hello everybody. So recently I listened to an episode of the podcast how I built this and it had one of the most successful CPG brands that I know of on there, magic Spoon cereal. And I listened to the founder. He was telling a story about going to the trade show supply side west, and I've never been, but I always heard it was like the expo west for manufacturing ingredients, suppliers and R and D. So the founder, he had a very specific way he wanted to make the product and he couldn't find anyone who could do it for him.

02:16
Daniel Scharff
So he went to the show supply side west holding a Cheerio. And he walked around and asked every single booth, can you make this? And then finally he found the one coal man maybe in the world who would make his product in that shape. And thus this game changer product was born. So after I heard that episode, I decided I couldn't let this show be a mystery to me any longer. So this marks the first year that startup CPG is headed to supply side west. I'm going to be joining a couple panels and we're throwing a big happy hour there. I'm really excited about. But today we've got a couple of guests who are going to tell us all about it.

02:53
Daniel Scharff
So we've got John Beninger from Informa and Kantha Shelke who runs a contract food science, nutrition and regulations research firm and teaches food safety regulations also at Johns Hopkins. She's been to the show for 20 years. John has worked there for 30 years. So they've seen it all. They're going to tell us all about it. And I want to dig into if you're a brand, when should you go? Who should go? What are you going to get done when you're there? So let's just get right into it. John, I'm going to start with you. Do you mind introducing yourself?

03:22
Jon Benninger
Sure. Hi everybody. Yeah, my name is John Beninger. I'm vice president and market leader for the supply side business within Informa. Like Daniel said, been doing it for a long time, since we started the show in 1997. Little tiny show in Scottsdale, Arizona, back when the industry was still a lot smaller than it is now. And here we are. This year we'll have 1500 exhibiting companies from all over the world with ingredients and packaging and co packing everything you need to create and make a product that's ready to go. So yeah, really excited to be here and really excited to invite all of you to come check out the event.

03:58
Daniel Scharff
All right, amazing. And Kantha, can you tell us about us and your company, Corvus Blue?

04:03
Kantha Shelke
Thank you, Daniel. I'm Kantha Schalke, a certified food scientist. There are only about 600 of us in the entire country, so that's a pretty big thing. So there are a lot of people who work with food and food science, but only a few of us are actually certified have the actual degree. So in 2000, I started a company called with Blue, which contracts food scientists and allied scientists to help food companies deal with ingredients. Everything from helping create ingredients, scaling them up for manufacturer, seeing what processing does to them, and to the human body, as in clinical trials, and ultimately helping create market demand by teaching the trade and teaching consumers all about it. And oh, by. I have several on the side gigs.

04:58
Kantha Shelke
So I'm also a professor at Johns Hopkins where I teach the same thing, but from a safety and regulatory point of view. So I get a master's degree program in food safety regulation.

05:08
Daniel Scharff
All right, amazing. I did not know that about the certification for food scientists. I now I'm going to start asking every person who says they're food scientists if they are certified, even though I don't know who does that or why or what happens, but I will just ask them. Okay, so, John, getting right into it. So that story that I told about magic spoon blew me away. Is it like that with a lot of brands? Like, what is the experience there really? Like, for those of us who maybe have only been to a show like expo west before, what are we going to expect to see?

05:40
Jon Benninger
Yeah, absolutely. So it's a trade show, so it won't be a surprise there. You know, a big room with lots of booths and all kinds of people talking about all kinds of things. So nothing new there. The difference here at supply side is that our exhibitors are those suppliers of inputs. So that could be ingredients for your product, anything you need to make your product, ingredients, packaging, manufacturing expertise, legal advice, all this stuff to go from what we like to say is from your head to your hand. So I have a concept for a product, an idea. It's a sauce, it's a candy, it's a supplement, it's a pet food, whatever it is.

06:13
Jon Benninger
And how do I go from this great idea that maybe I'm messing with in my kitchen or my garage or whatever I'm doing to something that's ready to go on a shelf, whether it's an online shelf or a brick and mortar shelf and all the stuff in between there? That's what we really focus on, helping brand owners, entrepreneurs and companies large and small, navigate that. Finding suppliers, auditing and checking those suppliers, building your supply chain, creating your formula, scaling up everything you need. Like I say, to go from the product idea to the product in your hand, and it's really active.

06:48
Jon Benninger
You know, there's so much innovation going on, you know this with the work you do with your audience and in your community, there's so much innovation going on in the area of food and beverage and dietary supplement and also personal care and animal nutrition. Everything we as people buy for our families and ourselves. There's a real movement to make these things better and healthier and safer and better for the environment and all of that. And it's not easy to do all those things. So I think a lot of the brands come to supply side. With that in mind, how do I make the best product I can make a. Maybe make something no one else is making, like the magic spoon example. We see that a lot.

07:32
Jon Benninger
And one of my favorite things, walking around the show all these years, inevitably during the show, at least a few times somebody's going to come up to me and say, wow, I came to my first supply side show five years ago or ten years ago or whatever it is, and we just had an idea then. We were just getting started. We didn't really know what we didn't know. And now here we are, five years, ten years, 20 years later, and they built a really successful enterprise and a successful brand and maybe they have 100 employees now and just, it's beyond their wildest dreams from that first time when they walked into the expo hall to see what they could learn.

08:06
Daniel Scharff
All right, that's awesome. And so you said, I think 1500 exhibitors. So in my mind I think Expo west has 3000. So I can size that as about half the number of exhibitors, which is a ton more than I can handle, just to size it up for people. So, Kantha, for you, anything you want to add on to that for just what is supply side west in your mind?

08:27
Kantha Shelke
So John said, it helps you take it from your head to your hands. I would move that a little bit more and say, if it's a twinkle in your eye, go to supply side. So when it's just thinking about the topic, thinking about starting something, go to supply side because you will get ideas, you will see suppliers, you see people who came in just like you are coming in now, but at a different stage in their life. You see their success stories. You also hear of things they missed. So you don't have to go through the school of hard knocks, but you can learn from the mistakes of others.

09:05
Kantha Shelke
For a food scientist, someone like me, who has gone to scientific meetings, we have the Institute of Food Technologists IFT, which is the institute, by the way, that gives me my certification, the food certified food scientist moniker. But they have their own conferences and we've gone to those. But what sets supply side west apart is that it is a huge range of ingredients, as John said, dietary supplements, foods, pet foods, cosmetics, the whole range, sports materials, etcetera. You've got all those ingredients, but you've got something more. When you know you have an idea, but you can't really articulate it. And you just know that when I see it, I know what it is.

09:55
Kantha Shelke
This is the place to go because it kind of shapes your concept and tells you, here's where you go, here's the network, and these are the people who are going to help you.

10:04
Daniel Scharff
Okay? So Kanfa, here, let me give you a bunch of dumb questions from somebody who's not a very, who would not be a good coo. So let's say I'm like, okay, I want to make this product, and let's say I have a formulation like, I need to find ingredient suppliers for it. What would be the difference between me just, like, googling like a dummy and trying to find some suppliers and doing the same version of that at the show, which is just kind of walking around like, how am I going to know who's good and which ingredients are good in person versus doing it even worse just online?

10:36
Kantha Shelke
So there are truly no dumb questions. That was a very clever question. People would think, I can just ask Doctor Google and figure that out. But Doctor Google is only as good as the words and the descriptors you put in. And on the other side with the suppliers, they're not really good at describing their materials either. So you're trying to match two very badly described situations and you're trying to figure that out. But in reality, what happens is you walk into supply side and you suddenly see this feels like, looks like, I never thought of that. This is also that. Therefore, this is the ingredient for me. Or you also have people that say, this is not the stuff, but let me get you to the place where you can find this, and they'll actually lead you to there.

11:28
Kantha Shelke
Because, remember, artificial intelligence and all the optimized search engines that you might have are only as good as what you put in. But human ingenuity and the desire to help is what makes supply side even better. Because these are people, they want to sell, and they want to help you. They want to see you successful because you'll buy more, and that's what happens.

11:51
Daniel Scharff
It's kind of interesting that you say that, because, actually, on that magic spoon episode I listened to, it's not that he walked up to the right booth. Now that I'm remembering. He actually talked to somebody and they said, oh, no, but I know which guy here can help you, and walked him over to the right booth. So that's something that, you know, Google can't really do. Like, I've looked for ingredients before, and you'll always have some specific requirement, like, it's got to be this kind of a roast, or it's got to have this certification, or they need to be able to sell it to me, you know, as an industrial ingredient. And I don't know, I think the manufacturer websites don't always do the best job on that.

12:28
Daniel Scharff
And if it's a really big company, probably they do a little bit of a better job, but you don't know a lot of things, right. And that just like, I don't know, people helping you with the show probably can that sort of informal help network.

12:41
Jon Benninger
It's tough people in that. That's one thing I love about the natural products in the health and nutrition industry, whether it's at the supply side or natural products expo west or anywhere else where we all congregate or gather digitally or in person, is that the industry is full of people that want to help. It's a mission driven industry, and that runs true through the events. It runs through the brands and the suppliers and everybody involved. I really feel that. That people are generally there to try to help you. And that's something that has been important to us since the very beginning when we launched this event. In fact, we take it, I think, as far as events to a bit of an extreme, where every year we're about 60 days out, a little more than 60 days out from the trade show right now.

13:21
Jon Benninger
And so my email and my phone, things are going to start coming in with people asking those questions. Hey, I'm coming to the show and I'm trying to find a supplier of this certain type of mushroom, or I'm trying to find a certain sweetener, but it has to be certified organic or whatever those characteristics are, and our team loves to help with that. We have a pretty decent search on the exhibitor list on the show website where you can filter and search and find those things. But we also take that one one approach with people. We want you to find what you're looking for. It's good for everybody, it's good for our attendees, it's good for our exhibitors, it's good for the industry as a whole. And I don't think we're alone in that.

14:00
Jon Benninger
Like Kantha said, you can just have a conversation with someone who's been in the industry, and generally they're going to try and help you navigate and find what you're looking for, no matter how obscure you think it might be. There are tens of thousands of ingredients within this expo hall from all these companies from all over the world. So if you can't find it at supply side, I'm not sure where else you might look, so.

14:23
Daniel Scharff
Well, that's helpful also. So confel, let's say, just to stick with the ingredients, even though I know there's a lot more going on there, like comins and so much. But if. Yeah, let's say I have a hit list of like five ingredients, I want to see if I can get a primary source for a backup source or better quality or lower cost, whatever it is. Okay, so, John, maybe ahead of time I would use that search tool and see if I could find buy ingredient or something like that, a list of people's booths that I want to go by. And then Kantha, let's say I'm walking around and I don't have the benefit of somebody like you who has all the background knowledge, and I'm going by myself.

14:56
Daniel Scharff
What would you recommend people do typically that can give them a better chance of finding really the right supplier, not just the supplier that's there. How do you then talk to them about your product, make sure that's going to be the best ingredient for you, best value, all that stuff, good supply.

15:14
Kantha Shelke
So how do you go from the systematic approach that most people like to take, you know, do your research or do your homework to making supply side give you the magic of serendipity? I believe there are no accidents. I believe you plan everything, because I'm a scientist. And how do you plan that? By refining your thought process. You are looking for something. So the first thing is invest in your communication, learn for yourself. You don't have to articulate it, but figure out for yourself what you like, what you don't like, what you might be open to. And then, just like you are in search of anything else, whether it's a house or a spouse or whatever, you go with a very open mind to see what fits in. When you go in with an open mind, it really works.

16:04
Kantha Shelke
And this, by the way, works for both sides of the aisle. So it's for the supplier too. They are there to find people like you. They want the startups. The startups are doing something that nobody else has thought about. That could be a disruptor, that could be the next magic thing. So they're also looking for it. So learn how to resonate on that with openness, with the right kind of questions. And that's what I teach. Do you know, in the last 24 years, I've taken maybe at least 16 or 17 people who had a twinkle in their eye or some sort of a blue shaped cookie that they thought they were going to make a lot of money out of. And when they came out, not only did they refine their thought, they had a Rolodex, they knew what they wanted to do.

16:53
Kantha Shelke
But most importantly, they've all gone on to become wildly successful, guaranteed.

17:02
Daniel Scharff
Sometimes even.

17:03
Kantha Shelke
Not doing the right, you know, it also tells you what not to do. That success too.

17:07
Daniel Scharff
Yeah, for sure. And probably also just hearing about some capabilities will give you ideas for the product you never would have known on your own. Right. And just talking to people who have done it so many times before, so. All right, that's really cute. That's cool. Kanfa. I think it's very inspiring, too. It's a beautiful idea, just about the serendipity. And, I mean, I think I've always found that in my life, always feels very serendipitous that way. Like, you just, you're doing what you're doing. You're curious about what you're curious about kind of going in some direction, and you just kind of happen to meet the right people who just seem to really make sense with the direction you're going in, and it all kind of falls in place. So I like that.

17:46
Daniel Scharff
Even as a rigorous scientist, you did not give me just a scientific answer. I'm just like, you know, yeah, there's a bit of destiny involved, as well as going around and doing the work. So that's nice. Art and science and destiny. Okay, so, John, anything you want to add onto that, or did Kantha just get all of it?

18:05
Jon Benninger
You know, I think the one thing I would add is at the show, we talked about the Expo hall a lot in the exhibitors, and that is, you know, the beating heart at the center of all of it, obviously, but within that overall supply side experience, there's a lot of additional stuff. And content information is something that we've been focused on since the beginning, and it comes to life here. You know, when we started in 1995 in this industry, it started with a magazine, an old school print, paper and ink magazine that came out once a month. And we wrote about dietary supplements and organics and all that stuff back in the day before the Internet and all that. But we started out as an editorial driven content organization, and that is still in our DNA.

18:49
Jon Benninger
So when you come to the event, yes, there's this great expo hall with all these suppliers and all that stuff. Super important, but there's a lot of content, too. And so we have multiple stages within the expo hall. One is focused on the dietary supplement sector. One is focused on the food and beverage sector, where you can just walk up. And these are 25, 30 minutes sessions, kind of talk show style sessions on market trends or best practices or the future of innovation organics, whatever it might be. We publish the schedule, then we have a really deep dive content program that's in the conference rooms, and these are two hour and three hour panel discussions to really dive deep. Maybe women's health is a topic that's of interest to you, or the growing trend of incorporating mushrooms into products or children's health or compliance.

19:40
Jon Benninger
And how do you make sure that you're building your company and your product the right way? There's a ton of content that our editors, we have an extensive editorial team on our staff. They run our two media brands, natural Products insider and food and beverage Insider. Both have extensive websites with our articles and podcasts and videos and market reports and all kinds of stuff. But I would just emphasize that the trade show is important, the expo part of it with the booths, but really it's like the mortar that holds all those bricks together is the content. So we could just get a bunch of people together in a room with a bunch of booths and that'd be cool.

20:16
Jon Benninger
But by throughout the year and at the event, really focusing on that level of intelligence and trying to share as much knowledge as possible with new entrepreneurs or veterans who have been in the industry for a long time so you can stay ahead of the trends, build a strong company that can scale and last, that to me, is one of the unsung heroes, I think, you know, we'd love to focus on the big trade show portion, but I tell you what, you arm an entrepreneur, a brand owner, a large company, with knowledge and information to help them make the right decisions, whether it's about their suppliers or about the type of product they want to develop or the type of characteristics they want that product to have, any of those things. That to me is a very important piece of the success that knowledge.

21:02
Daniel Scharff
Okay, so, and just remind me again, exactly what are the kinds of people you would see there with the booth? So if I'm browsing around, obviously we've talked about ingredients, and then it sounds like there would be a pretty good range of commands there as well. You know, going back to, from Twinkl to scale, let's say. So probably a lot of R and D partners as well, people who can help you actually get the product made. Maybe like testing labs, packaging people, legal.

21:31
Jon Benninger
Resources, all that stuff that you need. And they're in the Expo hall and they're in the conference program, and they're just hanging out at the networking events too. We have some great networking events that are all about just building your network and meeting people. In fact, the one that I would recommend to you and anyone else from your community that's going to come check it out. This year is our first time attendee reception. We do this, we've been doing this about ten years now, minus the COVID years, of course, but this is the evening before the expo hall opens up. We do it at a place called border Grill. Really cool restaurant there at Mandalay Bay, where the show is got indoor and outdoor space. And it's for our first time attendees.

22:07
Jon Benninger
And the purpose is for us, our team, as well as industry leaders, we call them our industry rock stars, and Kanta is one of them, to welcome our first time attendees. It can be intimidating to go to an event for the first time, no matter what the size, but especially a large event. We'll have 20,000 people at the event this year. You'll walk in, and it can be a little overwhelming. It's a big expo hall. There's a ton going on. A lot of people already seem to know each other, and they're hugging, and it's easy to feel like, wow, do I belong here? Intimidated, whatever those things are.

22:37
Jon Benninger
So this first time attendee reception, it's for those people that are new, and they get to meet our team and our editors, but our rock stars, like Kantha and many others who have been in the industry and coming to our event for many years. And our sole purpose that evening is to welcome you as a first time attendee to learn about your business and you and why you're coming to the event, what you're trying to accomplish. Are you looking for suppliers? Are you trying to find funding? Do you have questions about your labeling? What is it? And at that event, all of our rock stars wear these lanyards with their badge, but they blink, so we make them stand out, you know? And so, basically, if you see someone with a blinking lanyard, it means they are there to meet you.

23:18
Jon Benninger
So it kind of takes that uneasiness off. Whether you're an introvert or an extrovert, it can be intimidating to go to a networking event. And, okay, how do I network now? But we are there to meet you and help you get set up for a successful event. So when that expo hall opens the next day, you've already met 15, 2030 people. You've got answers to your questions. Maybe you've got lunch plans, you know, whatever it might be. But as a first time attendee, that's a great place to start. And people love it, and we love it. It's a chance for us to really understand the people who are coming to our event and how we can best serve them.

23:52
Daniel Scharff
Fantastic. Okay, cool. So, you know, I think, in my mind often, I'm thinking of, like, an early founder who doesn't know a lot of people. And I can see how that would be incredibly nice for them and like an easy introduction to a networking event like that. But obviously there are bigger companies that go to these things as well. What do you see? Like, do you see a lot of twinkle in their eye type founders? I mean, I would imagine a lot of them may not even know about it if it's their first time in the industry until a little bit later. Are they the ones who are often going, are you seeing big companies going usually, like, at what stage are they showing up? And also, who is the person from their team that usually goes like them when they're bigger?

24:31
Daniel Scharff
It's their coo or their whole purchasing team.

24:34
Jon Benninger
It's the whole team. As you scale from maybe entrepreneur, founder, super early stage, as you get up into more of an established in the market business, small to medium sized enterprise, maybe 5 million, up to 50 million or 100 million in annual sales. And then they'll bring multiple people. We have four primary, I guess, groups of people that we see coming to the show. Those involved in R and D and product development and science and formulation, kind of making and creating the product, those involved in supply chain, whether that's purchasing or supplier auditing, those sorts of things, those involved in marketing, and that could be market research, brand management. They're there to find the trends, to see what's going on, what's around the corner, what should they be aware of as they're managing their brands and that sort of thing?

25:22
Jon Benninger
And then, of course, the executive suite, and that could be the CEO or the chief science officer or the chief operating officer and all that. So those are the four main large groups that we see with the largest companies, the big ones, right? The Unilevers and the Pepsis and the Nestle's and all those global companies. Yeah. Some of them send 40, 50 people to the show and they're all doing different things. They might have five people who are back to back, pre scheduled meetings with current suppliers to talk about whatever those issues are with the companies they already do business with. They'll have a group of people that are out scouting the expo hall floor, maybe they assign them each one a certain number of aisles, and they're going up and down, taking notes, looking for what's new, what haven't they seen yet?

26:04
Jon Benninger
What is something they can bring back as maybe an inspiration for an idea? They'll have other people attending the education sessions, gathering market data, trying to again see what's around the corner or what might be happening in the marketplace and then some going to more industry forward meetings. We have a lot of the trade associations we partner with, Organic Trade Association, Council for Responsible Nutrition, National association of Flavors and Food ingredients systems, on and on about 20 different associations and many of them hold their committee meetings and board meetings and member meetings and special events at supply side. So there's a lot that can get done. And for the largest companies that send the largest contingencies, yeah, they tend to come in with a pretty good plan and accomplish a lot of different things. That can be intimidating though.

26:51
Jon Benninger
What if I'm only a team of two and I'm going to the show, I don't have 40 people, I can't have a scout team. I am the scout team, but that's okay too. And those are the companies that we love to help. So I was serious about that. Anybody in your audience that needs a little bit of special attention? Our team loves having those one one conversations. Shoot us an email or, and we would be happy, especially if it's your first time coming to the show, happy to try to set you up for success. So you're going to find the solutions you're looking for and walk away from these couple of days saying, wow, that was a great use of my time and it just changed the game for me.

27:25
Daniel Scharff
Yeah, well that's great. Yeah, I love to hear that. And so maybe in another scenario, Kantha, maybe I'll ask you this one. Let's say that early founder, early team and I've figured out how to make my product the way I want to do it. I've got the ingredients. I mean, would you recommend going even to supply side that first year? Because let's say no, it's already an opportunity for you to try to find backup suppliers and find cheaper costs. Obviously in the context of as founders, as teams like we can't go to every show we wish there was time to do everything. We have to go to expo and try to sell. We got to go to this and that. We got to pay for slotting all these things.

28:02
Daniel Scharff
Like how much of a priority do you think that early brands, let's say, who already at least have a route to making their product should make it? And what do you think are going to be the biggest areas that can help them improve their whole supply chain? Whether it's an ingredient or backup Coman or something like that.

28:19
Kantha Shelke
Whether you're a startup or a large company or a division within a large company, your success or the success of your product or your project depends on its infrastructure, in its gut, in its framework. And that framework is what is set up when you go to supply side. So whether you are from a large company or small, whether you've been going there for a long time or you're an introvert like me, that first step into supply side can be daunting. But I'm a teacher and this is what I teach and I explain to people, no matter where you are, prepare by knowing what to expect. But most of all, come in top farm. John talked about the first comer's reception. So come in early.

29:08
Kantha Shelke
Actually come in a couple of days earlier because they offer a series of workshops and classes and technical sessions and come in and listen to them learn. But more importantly, work the room, because this is where you have members of policy makers, you have other trade association members, they're either teaching or they're checking out the competition. You've got other startups like you trying to find their way around. So you're learning the ropes from all of them. And this is where you can possibly instead, divide and conquer. You can actually join with someone else, collaborate and conquer. So that is the first step. But then there are simple little steps. This is Vegas. Vegas can be daunting.

29:56
Kantha Shelke
So I always tell people, invest in really good shoes, invest in good clothes that have pockets of, I teach people, in your left pocket, carry your business cards or whatever you are going to hand to people in your right side or carry two bags on either side. In the right side is where you collect. Now, some of us still have, instead of those QR codes, we still have business cards, collect the card. But even as you're collecting it, if you think this is a person that I need to follow up very soon, take that business card and crush it, fold it into two and then put it in your pocket, because you're going to walk away with this with a pile of business cards, but you can very quickly pick out the ones that you folded.

30:43
Kantha Shelke
And you know, these are the people who are going to help me. I have to follow up with them. I also have little tricks, like when I get a card, if I have to send them a note, I just dog your corner of the business card. So then I know these are the people to whom I need to write. Then simple little tips. On the day you want to be recognized, if you're not going incognito, you're going there, obviously to see and to be seen. Wear something bright. So people go, oh, the tall person there in the blue jacket, they'll find you. But on the day where you're doing your stealth works. Skunk works go very demurely, dress so nobody can find you, and quickly work your way through and come out of.

31:26
Daniel Scharff
What's stealth work and skunk work?

31:28
Kantha Shelke
Is that where you're, like, you're checking out the competition? You don't want to stand out, so you don't want to wear a big white hat and a big pink jacket and go in and check your competition. They go, oh, yeah, I do the so and so. You don't want to do that.

31:39
Daniel Scharff
So, okay, so if you're a supplier, maybe and you're checking out other suppliers, that's the day. What happened to the good old fashioned mustache and glasses?

31:50
Kantha Shelke
Well, I would look kind of odd in a mustache, because I guess I should try that.

31:55
Daniel Scharff
Those glasses that have the nose attached.

31:57
Jon Benninger
I mean, it is Las Vegas, so you can get away with pretty much anything as far as wardrobe goes, I think.

32:03
Kantha Shelke
Absolutely. And don't underestimate or don't miss out on the hospitality events. That is where you find even more people, even the first timers reception. Some of us are actually there to listen and to connect you very quickly and say, here is a regulator, here's an attorney who can help you. Here's somebody who has this particular supply for you, and your half your job is done right then and there. That is a big thing.

32:31
Daniel Scharff
I mean, so far, for me, the thing that sounds the most exciting is just having a network in the supply chain industry. Cause I feel like now, even now, I don't have one, really. And if I just, you know. Cause I haven't been to those shows, and I would love to just feel like I have a Rolodex in supply chain. When I have problems, I know who to call. And they may not be the person who has the right ingredient or facility that I need, but they know all the people. And just from having built up trust with them in person, they're going to take my call and try to help me out.

33:01
Jon Benninger
I mean, we saw that come to play during the pandemic and the incredible pressure that put on supply chains in every industry, all around the world. And companies in our industry in particular were struggling to find what they needed. It was tough. You know, you had all kinds of impact on normal shipping routes and ports. And just the disruption was, I've never seen anything like it. So that's an extreme case, but disruption happens all the time, whether it's due to weather events. Maybe a particular ingredient that you use comes from a particular region that is susceptible to weather. I'm thinking, like, soft palmetto berries, in this case, Florida is big for them. If a big hurricane comes through at the wrong time and wipes out a particular year's harvest, that's going to be a challenge. So what do you do?

33:45
Jon Benninger
If you're just working on transactions, just like you say, using the Google or whatever other source to just go find what you need, that's fine. But if you had relationships in that Rolodex to where in trying circumstances, whatever the cause, you can reach out to people and maybe navigate that a little bit better. Or even better yet, prepare yourself with resiliency so that if something were to happen in your supply chain for any circumstance, you'd better prepared for it because you already know some other suppliers, that kind of thing.

34:16
Daniel Scharff
Trey, that makes sense. Kantha, I'm wondering, do you have any success stories that you can remember from all the past years of supply side west? Like maybe one brand that you work with has gone there with an idea and just come away with something totally incredible or a new partner or anything that you can cite?

34:34
Kantha Shelke
Practically every company that I worked with that came out from the Twinkle stage has gone on to be successful because of supply sidewest. Because when I would mention it to them, they would look at me and go, isn't that a supplement show? Isn't that, like an ingredient show? Why am I going there? And I'd go, let's go. Because the magic of meeting mavens at supply side is just remarkable. And they would find them at odd places. So John didn't mention this, but one of my favorite times at the supply side west is when they hand out hot dogs at lunch. You get free hot dogs, and you can come back with seconds and thirds. That is unreal.

35:15
Daniel Scharff
Amen. It's great.

35:17
Kantha Shelke
You're tired, you get a drink, and you get that and buy two or three. Practically all the big boots are offering drinks. You can stand around and chat. It's really quite an amazing thing. It's when you let your guard down that you start connecting and you start talking about other things so you're not on your edge, but you start suddenly saying, oh, there is a multifaceted way of connecting with people. So do I have success stories? Yes. So, Daniel, when I was working, I was involved directly or indirectly with about 124 different products that are still in the marketplace. And so I was very proud of that. But when I came out of it and I started my firm, I'm very proud to tell, I've helped to launch two infant formula companies that are very different. They came to supply side.

36:12
Kantha Shelke
I worked with an energy drink that is $2 billion plus brand that I actually helped them find the ingredients right there. In fact, they set the mark for energy drinks, energy shots, and chocolate companies and gummies and a wide range of functional foods that could not find the right ingredient, but came in there and not only found the ingredient, but understood how to use it, how not to use it, and what else could be done so that they were now doing this in a much more informed way? Does that answer your question? Because unfortunately, I don't kiss and tell. The only place I want.

36:58
Daniel Scharff
I mean, it is Vegas.

36:59
Kantha Shelke
I also tell my clients, the only place you want. My name is on the check. Everywhere else, the credit goes to you. I also take the name and wait.

37:09
Daniel Scharff
All right, no, I got it. What happens in Vegas, even at the trade show, I guess, stays in Vegas. So. But, yeah, I mean, that sounds amazing. And it just kind of reminds me of all of the unexpected things that I've gotten from suppliers beyond just, yes, I'm buying that from you. Send it. Transactional relationship. I remember getting on the phone with one of our suppliers for a particular ingredient. Just like, man, like, this is an important ingredient for us. I would just like to know you a little bit better, and you are an expert in this. So I'd like to know more about that ingredient and how we use it.

37:43
Daniel Scharff
And, man, the guy opened my eyes up because he's a scientist and just talked to me a lot about where the product comes from and the variations in it and how it's used and the functionality of it, and just explain the functionality in ways where I could have googled forever and never quite gotten my understanding to that level. And that actually helped me a lot in explaining to buyers and consumers even the benefits of the product. I think it's pretty uncommon that people do that, actually, even with their suppliers. But you probably get that naturally when you're having a hot dog with somebody and just get some of those kind of unexpected things and get to know them. And that helps you get to ask them the right kind of questions about their story and the story of their products.

38:27
Daniel Scharff
So I can imagine a lot of unexpected things being very serendipitous and helpful in the way you're describing that. Anything you want to add to that, John?

38:37
Jon Benninger
No. The conversations. That's the main part. The people, one one people relationships. That's the magic, I think, of most trade shows. Right, Expo west has that same kind of incredible vibe going on. And so you take that, you get 20,000 people together that are mission driven, who are trying to create the next big thing, trying to make healthier products, more accessible products that give shoppers, people what they want. That's an incredible energy to be around for a few days, and you just walk away from the event feeling tired but inspired at the same time. And, yeah, I couldn't say anything more than that. I think people come to our event, they walk away with a ton of business cards, ideas, and direction.

39:23
Jon Benninger
And we had one first time attendee a couple of years ago who continues to just call it the game changer for him. I remember this guy. He came through one of our partnerships, wasn't entirely sure why he was supposed to be there, so we did some prep work, and incredible for him. He actually said that just through the some of the companies and people he met at supply side, that he was going to be able to cut his cost of making his product by more than 20%, which is a big number. Those are resources that can be deployed in other areas, and that's the type of thing we want to help people with. How do they make their great business even better and supply sides place to try and make that happen.

40:06
Daniel Scharff
Jeff. Okay, so based off everything that I've learned from you guys, if I'm a brand at this point, then if I'm coming to the show, I'm going to prep first just by looking at my business, whatever state I'm in, and just taking a little bit of inventory of like, okay, if I'm already making my product, okay, what are the ingredients? I'm not so sure about that we're using or the highest cost drivers that I could check. Thinking about who's making the product for me, thinking about my supply chain, and just kind of, you know, we all have a long list of partners that we work with, like legal teams and what's their expertise? What expertise don't they have? So from that, maybe.

40:38
Daniel Scharff
And then I would do some searching on your website and then kind of come with my list of, in order of importance. Here are the list of things I want to try to tackle at the show. Look around to see who I definitely want to talk to from the website, make a note of that, and then kind of plan during the day just to, you know, let's say go. And that's my list. Go to those booths, make time maybe for an information session or two. If there's a topic that's really relevant, leave time for, you know, a little bit of free thinking with people and kind of, you know, see if I get any fruitful connections or unscripted stuff out of that. And yeah, how am I doing so far? Does that sound like a pretty good day plan?

41:14
Jon Benninger
Sounds like a great plan. It's that prep work in advance. I think that really is the key because then that gives you the time and the space to have the serendipity. If you walk in, if you just show up and walk in, great things are still going to happen. But you're just kind of rolling the dice there if you go in with a solid plan. And part of that plan is unscripted time. Like I want to have some time to just walk. Just walk and look and see what I might encounter. So a balance between planned and unplanned, I guess. And then in advance of the event, also take advantage of our two media websites, the ones I mentioned, food and beverage insider and natural products Insider. We've been producing content there for almost 30 years now. 29 years.

41:57
Jon Benninger
And you'll find a great search tool on there, whether you're looking for information about your category or certain ingredients or formulation ideas, ton of great content on there. If you have time just to do some of that research in advance and maybe it gives you the answers that you're looking for, maybe it also creates new questions that you didn't know you should be asking. But that advanced prep, to me, I think that's the most important thing. And then just go and let everything unfold in front of you and be open to it. As Kantha said, you'll meet an incredible group of people and companies who are there for the sole purpose of helping you be successful.

42:36
Daniel Scharff
All right, Kantha, did we miss anything?

42:38
Kantha Shelke
Do you know, Daniel, I found out about startup CBG at the last supply site.

42:43
Daniel Scharff
Is that right? How did you find out about it?

42:45
Kantha Shelke
I was at a dinner and the person, I even know her name, Tracy Rayson, this is a call out for you. And she said, have you ever checked out startup CPG? And I said, what's that? And she said, I'll send you the link. Look at that. It was at a dinner at supply side west. And then the others were raving about your program and about what you do. And I thought, this is so incredible. I thought I knew everything about everything. And here I learned something new. And that is what I would like to end it with. Supply side west to me is like annual pilgrimage. I never miss it. And it's like going to Mecca. I go there not just to learn, but also to see what others are doing to help, because that's how I come out, I feel sort of refreshed.

43:34
Kantha Shelke
I have validation. What I knew was right or not right, understanding what else might be out there and making friends that I'd never met before, you know, people I didn't know were my friends, become my friends. And you come out from that and you can only do that if you devote that time. So don't go there and then step out to take phone calls and stuff like that. Block the time out because that's how you spend this time and it really brings you back an investment. That return on that investment of time is ongoing until the next time around.

44:10
Daniel Scharff
Fantastic. Okay, so John, just to wrap up here, for any brands or people who are just interested in attending or maybe even exhibiting someday, what do they need to know to do? Where do they follow up on that?

44:24
Jon Benninger
Yeah, so I'd say first, the website supplieshow.com has all the information there about the schedule and the event and the exhibitor list and the conference programming and all that stuff. So it's all there. But we are a hands on group here. We love having relationships with the people who come to our event, whether that's as an exhibitor or an attendee. So anybody, I mean, this can reach out to me anytime and I'm happy to take those emails and calls and be helpful or refer you to somebody else on the team that would better equipped to do that. You should be able to find just about all the information you need on the website. It's pretty complete.

45:00
Jon Benninger
But if there's anything at all that you just want to chat about or ask a questioned about, I'm here and I think that's been part of the reason for our success is since the beginning we've really taken that relationship based approach. We love meeting the entrepreneurs, the brand owners, the innovators, all the people that make up this incredible industry. And we want to meet, you know, you, help you and be a part of your story just like you are a part of ours. So reach out.

45:26
Daniel Scharff
All right. And the best way for them to contact you is what's your. You want to give your email or just LinkedIn?

45:31
Jon Benninger
Shoot me an email. This is my name, j o n Beninger, which is benninge rma.com. I n f o r m a. That's our company, informa. So john, dot benegernforma.com reach out anytime, even if it's just for the question unrelated to the show. We've been serving this industry for many years and we're here to try to help. We love it when companies are successful, and that's our reason to be.

45:59
Daniel Scharff
All right, amazing. Well, I'm really excited to see you both in Vegas in late October, and I will be there. I'm going to be on two panels with you guys that I'm really looking forward to, as well as hosting a super fun happy hour, hopefully also getting to do some very fun Vegas stuff. Last time I was there, I went to the sphere. Maybe I'll try to do that again. Lots of really cool stuff and shows that you can try and sneak in as well since you're making the trip.

46:26
Jon Benninger
That's right.

46:27
Daniel Scharff
So I just want to thank both of you again and really excited for a super fun year this year.

46:31
Jon Benninger
Yep, looking forward to it, Daniel. Thank you.

46:33
Kantha Shelke
Thank you. Thank you, Dan.

46:35
Daniel Scharff
All right, thanks. Bye bye, everyone. All right, everybody, thank you so much for listening. If you enjoyed the podcast today, it would really help us out if you can leave a five star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. I am Daniel Scharff. I'm the host and founder of startup CPG. Please feel free to reach out or add me on LinkedIn. If you're a potential sponsor that would like to appear on the podcast, please email partnershipsartupcpg.com and reminder to all of you out there, we would love to have you join the community. You can sign up at our website, startupcpg.com to learn about our webinars, events and Slack channel. If you enjoyed today's music, you can check out my band, it's the super fantastics on Spotify music on behalf of the entire startup CPG team, thank you so much for listening and your support.

47:22
Daniel Scharff
See you next time.