#249 - Expo Pitch Slam Recap with ChiChi Foods

In this episode of the Startup CPG Podcast, host Daniel Scharff sits down with Chiara Munzi, co-founder of ChiChi Foods — the winner of Startup CPG's first-ever Expo West Pitch Slam, powered by Advantage FDM Sales. ChiChi makes the world's first chickpea hot cereal: a shelf-stable, high-protein, high-fiber breakfast that cooks just like instant oatmeal but delivers everything oatmeal doesn't — more protein, more fiber, and none of the sugar crash.

Chiara shares the full story: how she and co-founder Izzy started mushing chickpeas in their college dorm room after realizing their morning oatmeal was leaving them hungry and crashing an hour later, how they applied to every pitch competition at Expo West instead of paying for a booth, and what it felt like to walk into a room of 200 people and a panel of top retail and distribution judges expecting eight.

Daniel and Chiara walk through the entire Pitch Slam experience — from the application strategy to the five-minute pitch, the surprise questions from the judges, the tight deliberations, and the moment ChiChi was named the winner. A huge thank you to Advantage FDM Sales for making this possible by awarding ChiChi Foods their FDM Brand Accelerator Program — a $150,000 prize package designed to help emerging brands build velocity in retail through demos, field support, and brand-building services. They also get into exactly how ChiChi plans to use the prize — primarily for in-store demos as they head into new regional retail launches this summer and fall — and why demos are the single best marketing tool for a product people need to taste to believe.

Listen in as they cover:

• How ChiChi Foods started in a college dorm room and why chickpeas beat oatmeal on every nutritional metric
• The strategy of applying to every Expo West competition instead of buying a booth — and why it paid off
• What the judging panel looked like: Sprouts, Whole Foods, Hannaford, UNFI Up Next, and Advantage FDM Sales
• What it felt like to pitch in front of 200 people when you were expecting eight judges
• The honest answer Chiara gave Sprouts about organic and non-GMO certifications — and why it didn't hurt them
• Why ChiChi won: product differentiation, a genuine origin story, and grit that came through in every moment
• How the FDM Brand Accelerator Program could translate to thousands of in-store sampling events across new retail doors
• Why founder-led demos create a different kind of consumer connection — and why it matters for early-stage brands
• The long game of building relationships at shows: why the people you meet now might change your business three years later
  
  

Whether you're an early-stage brand wondering whether to spend money on a booth, a founder about to pitch to retail buyers for the first time, or someone who just needs a reminder that applying for everything is always worth it, this episode is for you.

Episode Links:
ChiChi Foods Website: https://chickpeaoats.com 
Chiara Munzi on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chiaramunzi/ 
ChiChi Foods on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/chichifoods/ 
Advantage FDM Sales: https://www.advantagefdm.com

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• Episode music by Super Fantastics
  
  

Creators and Guests

Host

Daniel Scharff

Founder/CEO, Startup CPG

What is The Startup CPG Podcast?

The top CPG podcast in the world, highlighting stories from founders, buyer spotlights, highly practical industry insights - all to give you a better chance at success.

Daniel Scharff
Welcome to the Startup CPG podcast. Today we have a special episode for you because we have the winners of our recent Expo west pitch Islam with Advantage FDM Sales. It's Chichi Foods. This is a great brand and you're going to be on their side. Once you hear Chiara talk about the brand and what she's up to, and you will not wonder why they ended up winning a huge prize of 150,000 dollars in services from Advantage FDM Sales. What I really like about this episode is I just want all of the early stage brands to understand if you hustle, if you apply for opportunities out there, huge things can happen. It's always worth taking the chance and putting yourself out there because you just don't know.

00:49
Daniel Scharff
And if you keep doing it, then good things are really likely to turn up, including this absolutely trajectory changing opportunity for chichi foods. So thanks again to our friends at Advantage FDM Sales, and I hope you enjoy hearing this firsthand account, how the whole pitch slam went down, who the judges were, what they asked, and how you too could put yourself in a good position for a pitch slam like this. All right, here we go. Welcome everybody. I have Chiara here from Chichi Foods, fresh off a huge win at our first ever pitch slam at Expo West. Chiara, first of all, welcome to the podcast. Would you mind giving everybody a little bit of an intro?

01:32
Chiara Munzi
Yeah. Thank you. I'm so excited to be here. My name is Chiara and I'm one of the two co founders of Chichi. And we make breakfast out of chickpeas because they're super healthy and they're high in protein. And our first product is the first hot cereal. So kind of like oatmeal but made with chickpeas instead.

01:50
Daniel Scharff
Okay, so I'm eating oatmeal in the morning. Now I'm eating chichi foods. What's the difference in terms of the taste and the nutritional content? All the important stuff.

01:58
Chiara Munzi
Yeah, yeah. So the biggest difference with chichi versus oatmeal is the nutritional content. But I'll kind of get into the taste first. So it cooks exactly like an instant oat. So all you have to do is stick it in the microwave with milk or water. And the texture we describe is kind of like a steel cut oat. So it's like a little less mushy than regular oatmeal. My co founder, Izzy actually hates regular oatmeal because it's so mushy. So he demanded that we make chichi a little heartier almost. And then nutritionally is like, the big reason why we actually started Chi, we started it because we used to actually, like, eat oatmeal. Cause we thought it was healthy. And were in our college dorm room together eating oatmeal, like, every morning.

02:39
Chiara Munzi
Even though my co founder, Izzy thought it was slimy, we thought it was super healthy for us. But, like, an hour after eating the oatmeal, we would get hungry and, like, we would kind of have an energy crash after eating our little oatmeal packets in the morning. And we said, wait, this doesn't have very much protein. It has so much sugar. Like, they pack so much sugar in those little tiny oatmeal packets. And we knew that chickpeas were an ingredient that has way more protein, way more fiber than oats. So literally, we just were like, let's just replace the oatmeal with the chickpea so it's more filling with that protein and fiber. And that's how we started.

03:13
Daniel Scharff
Well, that makes a lot of sense. Were you eating those, like, the Quaker Oats little packets? The flavored ones, like the maple sugar one?

03:20
Chiara Munzi
Yes, exactly. I didn't want to name drop.

03:23
Daniel Scharff
It's okay, I can.

03:24
Chiara Munzi
But yes, were getting Quaker Oatmeal.

03:26
Daniel Scharff
They are tasty. But also that's the. Yeah, there's a lot of sugar in those things, but they're more fun than eating just the unflavored ones. So what are you going to do? You're going to make a whole new category of products. So I like what you guys did and. Okay, so what I want to talk about a little bit today is the Pitch Slam experience. So, first of all, can you tell me a little bit about what made you all decide to go to Expo West? What made you decide to enter the Pitch Slam? Give me the whole backstory.

03:55
Chiara Munzi
Yeah, yeah. So actually, weren't going to go to Expo originally just because it's very expensive and we didn't want to invest in a whole booth. But then we realized that there's so many, like, other opportunities, this Pitch Slam, for example, that you can apply to. So we ended up just applying to, like, the Albertsons innovation launchpad, the Kroger Competition, this Pitch Slam, and said, why don't we just make this the best Expo ever without a booth? And that's what we did. So me and Izzy, my co founder, we just, like, applied to everything we could, and we ended up getting selected for the Albertsons thing, the Kroger thing. And then, of course, the most exciting one is the startup CPG pitch slim.

04:38
Chiara Munzi
And we just said, like, even though we don't have a booth, let's just try to make it even better than if we had a booth at all.

04:44
Daniel Scharff
Okay. So that strategy, I think, worked out really well, and I love it for all early stage brands. I think a booth is a huge opportunity. Also, just attending the show and taking advantage of all of the opportunities around and inside the show is a great way to go. And I'm actually just really proud that we're able to add on more of those opportunities for brands, whether they have a booth or not, to make the most of their time at the show, because it is a big investment, like you said, but also the opportunity is very real. So it sounds like your product was resonating with a lot of these pitch slam posts anyways, including ours.

05:19
Daniel Scharff
So, okay, so just for a little backstory for people, we've never really done our own big pitch slam, and there are always some that happen as part of the big shows, and it's very exciting. We always do a lot at the shows, but we just decided this year that working with our friends from Advantage FDM Sales, why not do a big pitch slam at the show? It'll be so exciting. And so we just wound up and ended up launching it. Honestly, kind of late, but were just totally overwhelmed by the response on all fronts, firstly from the judges. Oh, boy. We got such a stacked lineup of judges. We immediately locked in the Sprouts forging team. So we had Brody and Mason. In fact, I think we invited Brody first. And Brody was like, we're bringing two people. Just so you know.

06:05
Daniel Scharff
We're like, hooray. All right. We like it when some of the most impactful buyers around are edging in additional people onto the judging panel. We locked in John Lawson from Whole Foods. The man, the myth, the legend. We had Sarah Willette from Hannaford, and that was really cool because I don't think I've ever really gotten the chance to chat much with anybody from Hannaford. And Sarah's amazing. It was so great to have her on the panel. That came via John Trainor iii, who is a giant food buyer. But unfortunately, his flight came late and so he wasn't able to join for the judging panel. But that was a huge contribution from him, also introducing us to Sarah for her participation on the panel. And then we had Jen from the Unfi Up Next team. It was so great to have her there.

06:45
Daniel Scharff
So many brands really eager to get in front of them. And then the Advantage FDM team was on the judging panel as well. So this was stacked. But I just loved that when were announcing the pitch slam, some of these buyers were emailing us like, hello, I would like to be on that panel for the pitch Slam. That's what we want to hear is people just trying to edge their way to be first to get in front of the amazing brands from our community. So thank you again to the Advantage FDM sales team for powering this and letting us put this on. It was just such a huge treat to get to do it on the grounds of the show, inside the main convention hall in a big, beautiful room. So that was really special. So, okay, you applied. We got lots of applications.

07:25
Daniel Scharff
Honestly, so many. It was very hard for the team to go through and make the final selections. But then you find out, okay, I'm selected for this. And apparently you're finding out you're getting selected for everything. But this was only six brands that got selected, so that is really a very exclusive group to be in. So once you got selected and you saw who the judges were, what was your reaction?

07:46
Chiara Munzi
I was so excited because only six brands were selected. We were, like, so shocked that we actually got picked. It was crazy. So that was like the first talk. We were like, wait, what? How is this. And I know you guys said in the email saying we got in to be a finalist, it said, like, only six were selected out of, like, a few hundred. So were like, is this a mistake? How the heck did we get even picked? And then when we saw the judges, it was like, oh, my God, this is, like, legit.

08:11
Chiara Munzi
This is, like, huge and could be, like, a huge opportunity for us to be one of six for all those judges and all these accounts that we're trying to get into and, like, both to see their feedback and see, like, will they let us in the store at some point?

08:24
Daniel Scharff
Yeah, it's pretty amazing, right? Because, you know, okay, I'm picked for this, which means I'm going to get to pitch to all of these retailers and distributors. That in and of itself is a huge opportunity because they're going to try your product, they're going to watch you go through your hero slides for a few minutes, and you're going to get to interact with them and chat with them. And as an early stage brand, honestly, if we're talking sprouts, Whole Foods, those are dream accounts for almost everybody. And you might not get the chance to really chat with them for years into your journey. So what a great fast forward way to do it. And so not only did you get selected? But obviously you ended up winning, so you were definitely doing something very right.

09:02
Daniel Scharff
What do you think it is that the team that selected the brands saw in your product? And just to be transparent with everybody, it's not our team that does that. Our role really is to collect all of the brands and create a lot of excitement and recruit the judging panel and all this fun stuff, but we don't actually do the selection of the brands. So, Chiara, what do you think it was that they saw in your application?

09:22
Chiara Munzi
I think so many brands have such great products and stories, but I feel like for us, I think the first thing is just product differentiation. Probably were, like, a really differentiated product in the hot cereal category that really is, like, ready for disruption. It's kind of a niche category, hot cereal, and, like, there hasn't been that much change in it recently. So I think that whole trend in and of itself and, like, that we actually have something so different than all the other options. There is, like, number one, but I feel like that's table stakes almost. And maybe the other thing people notice, I have no idea, is that we have, like, a really genuine, like, story about why we started. Potentially, we've really bootstrapped this and, like, have so much grit and hustle that has led us to this moment.

10:07
Chiara Munzi
So hopefully that came through in the applications, where I'm just telling the judges or whoever the team was, that we started this by mushing up chickpeas in our dorm. So let us pitch. I have no idea.

10:18
Daniel Scharff
I actually didn't hear the specific feedback on why you were selected initially, but that is why. One of the big reasons I heard why you guys ended up winning is that really did come across to people, to the judges, and they loved it and they really were excited to support you guys. I think also it doesn't hurt that you're innovating in a way that also is not going to be so unfamiliar to people, because the process for making this is the same as people are used to with oatmeal. It's just a better version of that. So you don't need to really educate people on, like, a whole new way to make a product. There won't be tons of questions about it. It just is on trend with high protein content, obviously. And so it makes a lot of sense to me.

10:58
Daniel Scharff
So fast forward to actual pitch day. You show up at the beginning. Basically, the way it works is there is a sampling table so all of the judges get a chance to try all of the product. The room is filled with People. So we had just every chair was taken by people from the startup CPG community there to cheer you guys on. So the judges go and they really have time to immerse themselves in each of the products. And then they go and take their seats up at the front of the room. And there are eight or nine chairs up there, and then you will be facing them and the whole room. And you've got your slides behind you. So can you tell me a little bit about what was that?

11:35
Daniel Scharff
Like, how did you decide what you were going to present and did you rehearse a bunch or were you pretty ready to rock or. I mean, it just was the same as all the slides you were pitching to the other pitch programs you were accepted in.

11:46
Chiara Munzi
We did make a new slide deck for this presentation because it was so short. We only have five minutes to pitch, which was like the shortest pitch we've ever done. And it just was like, how can we pack everything we want to say in this five minutes? So we filled every single slide with like exactly what we thought that the retailers would be thinking about. Like, why this product, why the category? We added, like, what are you going to do with the money? So we like really jam packed these five slides for this five minutes. And we did rehearse it. We rehearsed it a bunch because we wanted to be prepared, but we had no idea that the room was going to be so full. That was like such a shock to us.

12:24
Chiara Munzi
We thought it was only going to be like the eight judges in the email and we thought were going to like be kind of relaxed. But then the room was like 200 people, it looked like in there, and were like shaking. So that was a shock.

12:37
Daniel Scharff
It was good energy in there though, right, everybody? Very supportive.

12:40
Chiara Munzi
Yeah, people were so supportive and it was amazing, but it was just unexpected. So were like, oh, my God. Feels a lot higher stakes.

12:47
Daniel Scharff
Yeah, we like to open it up. One, because I think people can learn a lot from watching other people pitch. And two, obviously a lot of people there do want to talk to the judges afterwards after they're done with the main business is a nice chance to just try to catch them. And this was on the Tuesday before the show floor started. So not too many competing things going on at that time. So everybody, I think, was really able to lock in focus and also get a really nice start to expo. Making a lot of new friends, seeing friends as were kicking off the show. So when you did your pitch, did it kind of go as you expected or did you get any interesting questions from the judges that you weren't expecting? How did you feel like they received the pitch?

13:28
Daniel Scharff
In the moment?

13:28
Chiara Munzi
In the moment. They were kind of hard to read. We did the pitch and then I was looking for, like, some head nodding or something during the pitch. I was looking at them, but I didn't really get many head nods or anything, so I really didn't know. I felt good about the pitch, but I didn't know how we did. And then the questions, we did get some that were a little bit, I don't know, out of the blue. For example, Sprouts asked us, are we going to get organic certified, non GMO certified? Which are two things that we don't have yet, and one, because we're very early stage, we've been, like, doing so much and we don't have very much money, so we haven't gotten those certifications yet. And of course, Sprouts cares about those things.

14:07
Chiara Munzi
So that was just like, a random question that I didn't expect to be asked. And we answered honestly like, no, we're not certified yet. We maybe will in the future, but our customers haven't really asked for it, so we'll see. And I was like, wait, maybe I should have just said, yes, we're going to do it. And I was like, are we going to lose? Because I didn't say, yes, we'll do it.

14:26
Daniel Scharff
I don't know. I mean, I think honesty is always the best policy anyways. Whatever you did seemed to work extremely well. Okay. I was very lucky to then be part of the deliberations. Not that I was contributing anything, but I did get to just be a fly on the wall while they were all discussing. Honestly, it was tight. People absolutely loved your product. But the competition was very strong. There were some really great brands that are obviously already been so selective to get down to those top six out of hundreds of applications. So, yeah, there was a lot of discussion, but I think the points that you mentioned are the ones that really brought it home for you guys. Other brands did such a great job. Crafty Ramen came in second, which is a super cool product. Have you ever seen how it looks?

15:08
Daniel Scharff
It's like ramen that comes in a big puck almost, and it's delicious. People love that one too. But you guys were the very clear winner from all of the judges. And it's fun to win, but it's even more fun to win when you win something, right? And so a huge thank you to our friends at Advantage FDM Sales, because they put up a massive prize that I feel like can really just change the game for chichi foods. And so that prize is $150,000 worth of services from Advantage FDM Sales. And this is a big deal because they do a lot. I think people really know them for their brokerage services. You have Advantage, you also have FDM Sales.

15:51
Daniel Scharff
But then in their organization, they have so many different capabilities from operations to marketing, so many different things that you could use all that massive amount of money in credits for. So can you tell me a little bit about, like, what are you thinking about doing with all of that and the huge advantage that you're going to get from Advantage FDM Sales?

16:12
Chiara Munzi
Yeah, the prize is crazy. We were like. I mean, the reason were so nervous is because we wanted that price so bad. Like we needed that prize. And I think that also came across. It's almost like a level of desperation we had and hopefully they got some of that. But I think what we're most excited about with the prize package is that Advantage can do in store demos, which is like just one component of the many things that could be helpful for us. But demos, we're going to try to do as many as possible with Advantage. We have some new retailer launches coming up this summer and into the fall and our product is new. People don't know what Chickpea Oatmeal is. So demos are like our best marketing strategy.

16:53
Chiara Munzi
And I mean, we're going to try to use as much for the demos as possible, but at the same time, everything else is also super helpful. Our team is literally only me and my co founder Izzy full time. We have like such a small team. So as we grow, we like will need additional support. And this is kind of could be a stepping stone to like get us that support as we grow our actual team too.

17:17
Daniel Scharff
What a smart choice. That's such a. I don't know if I would. That would have even occurred to me. What a good thing to ask for with the credits. And it's going to make a huge difference also to some of the retailers you're talking about if you're approaching them with. By the way, we have a credit to do all these demos. Retailers love it when you're going to really support the business with in store demos.

17:37
Chiara Munzi
We calculated it. If we got $150,000 in services and each demo is like $300, that's like 5,000 service demos. Is that true?

17:48
Daniel Scharff
I think it's 500. I don't know. Quick math is tough for that. Sets an incredible Numbers. That's incredible. Overall, how do you feel like this will fit into your brand's journey, your growth, what you want to do with the business? Like, where do you want to be by this time next year when we're back at Expo and you're telling everybody all the great things that you did with this winnings and everything? Like, where do you feel like you could get to as a business, given also what you mentioned, that, like, you guys do have capital constraints. Where do you feel like it's going?

18:18
Chiara Munzi
Yeah. So this prize will really help us, like, prove our velocity in these upcoming launches that we have. Like, we're doing some regional launches and some great retailers later this year. And our goal is just to launch with those stores, support them with all the marketing we can, and this $150,000, like, will go straight into doing that so that ultimately in a year from now, we can really have these strong velocities in these stores to show other retailers and kind of go from there.

18:48
Daniel Scharff
Have you done a lot of demos, by the way, already?

18:50
Chiara Munzi
We do demos. Just we don't have a demo team. It's just me and my co founder doing them right now.

18:55
Daniel Scharff
My expectation is that you guys would do pretty well with demos because it's the kind of product where people might look at it and be like, is that going to be good? But if they get the chance to actually try it, they'll be like, oh, yes, that is good. Okay, that's an easy swap out. I eat this now. I feel like, you know, one day when you get to the point of doing those Costco road shows or whatever, that's what you'll like, really clean up at the house. But are you seeing that when you do the demos or what kind of feedback are you getting from consumers?

19:20
Chiara Munzi
Yeah, the demos are amazing. Like, we'll just go in and like clear a few cases of each flavor. When we do a demo, it does help that we're founders doing the demo, but, like, it tastes good and people exactly like what you mentioned. You look at it, you say, oh, like a healthy chickpea oatmeal is not going to taste good. We try to make it look good on the packaging, but tasting really is believing for chichi and they do work.

19:44
Daniel Scharff
I like that point about being founders during the demos. Also, actually, Stephanie from Ringa wears one of the shirts that we give out at our founder dinners that just says founder, founder, founder on it, which I like giving to people because it's what we love to do is support founders and their businesses and dreams. And it's cool for someone to give you a shirt like that because I'm not sure it's the kind of thing you could make for yourself, but if somebody gives it to you, like, yeah, I'm a founder and I'm proud of it and I'm wearing this thing and she says when she wears it at demos, it's exciting to people. Oh, are you the founder? I feel like a lot of times people get that energy from you when you're just demoing.

20:23
Daniel Scharff
They sort of know it without knowing it because of the authenticity, passion, and just gravitas that you have as a founder. Somebody who cares that much about the brand. People kind of know it without knowing it versus hearing from a brand ambassador. But it's kind of a cool thing to have there. So I think that's a really cool use case for these founder shirts that you can get at our founder dinners to just get some extra juice while you are sampling. Because it's a cool thing. It's like knowing someone in a band like, oh, I know the founder of that product. Like, it helps you attach even more to a product that you might try during a demo. So, Kira, I'm so excited for both of you.

21:01
Daniel Scharff
This is exactly what we want to be doing as an organization is finding really cool ways to support people who are starting up and doing the hard work of innovating and bringing better for you options out there, recognizing how hard it is. There's no one out there handing out free money except when you win a pitch slam. So I'm really excited that you were applying for this and all the other opportunities, which is what you just have to be doing as a brand is hustling out there, applying for stuff, taking every little opportunity that you can get and figuring out how to turn it into something big. And I'm really excited to see what you guys are able to do with the prize package and where it will land you next year.

21:41
Daniel Scharff
But what's clear is that everybody really supports you all and loves the product. And so this should give you a really nice head start. Any other tips you would give to brands who are in your kind of a situation, just starting out, thinking about shows like that, thinking about opportunities like that, getting their products off the ground.

21:58
Chiara Munzi
No, I think what you just said is exactly what you have to do is just get out there and go to every single event that you can and give out your product to as many people as possible. It's a long game really, because the people you meet now. Maybe you'll work together three years later, but you have to start building the relationship three years ago.

22:17
Daniel Scharff
All right, well, congratulations again. I'm excited to circle back with you all in the future and see where this incredible win takes you. So thanks again and we will see you at one of the upcoming events soon.

22:29
Chiara Munzi
Thank you.

22:32
Daniel Scharff
Well, my friends, we've now arrived together at the end of another episode of the Startup CPG podcast, the top globally ranked podcast in cpg. As you may know, we're not just a podcast. We're a community of brands and experts and you should join. You can sign up @startupcpg.com you'll then get an invite to our online Slack community. You're going to hear about amazing events and near you, all of our special opportunities to get you in front of buyers, investors, brands and more. It's a free community. So what are you waiting for? I will see you there or on our next episode. Bye bye.