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In this episode of the Startup CPG Podcast, host Daniel Scharff sits down with two founders who have attended and sampled at some of the most Startup CPG Grocery Run events: Dan Choi, founder of NA Beverage Company, and Stephanie McGregor, founder of Ringa. Together, they share what Grocery Runs are actually like from a brand perspective, how they decide which ones to attend, and what founders should do before, during, and after the event to make the most of the opportunity.
Dan’s brand, NA Beverage Company, is on a mission to redefine the way people drink, connect, and celebrate through functional sparkling teas for social moments. Stephanie’s brand, Ringa, creates consciously crafted, functional, plant-powered products inspired by moringa, one of the most nutrient-dense plants in the world. Both founders have used Grocery Runs as a way to meet buyers, build relationships, learn regional markets, strengthen distributor conversations, and create real momentum for their brands.
Daniel, Dan, and Stephanie get into all of it — what a Grocery Run is, how the format works, why showing up matters even if you are not selected to sample, and how these events can help founders build relationships with retailers, distributors, fellow entrepreneurs, and regional partners. They also discuss how to think strategically about which events to attend, how to prepare your samples and sales materials, and why Grocery Runs are not just about immediate authorizations but about playing the long game in a relationship-driven industry.
Listen in as they cover:
● What a Startup CPG Grocery Run is and how the event format works
● The difference between retailer-specific, regional, and distributor-focused Grocery Runs
● Why Grocery Runs can feel like mini trade shows with a lower barrier to entry
● How brands can use Grocery Runs to meet buyers, distributors, category managers, and regional partners
● Why showing up in person can create opportunities that cold emails and LinkedIn messages cannot
● How Dan used Grocery Runs to build momentum with Fresh Thyme, Hawaii retailers, NorCal accounts, and UNFI
● How Stephanie thinks about Grocery Runs as a self-funded founder with limited resources
● Why founders should match each Grocery Run to their regional, distribution, and retail strategy
● How to make the most of a trip by visiting stores, doing demos, dropping samples, and learning the local market
● Why getting selected to sample is valuable — but attending with samples can still create opportunity
● What founders should bring to a Grocery Run, including samples, sell sheets, brand swag, and clear pricing
● Why this industry is driven by relationships with retailers, distributors, accounts, and fellow founders
● Why a “yes” from a buyer is only valuable if you are ready for the next step
● How Startup CPG designs Grocery Runs to help brands get time with relevant buyers in the most accessible way possible
Whether you are planning to apply to sample at your first Grocery Run, thinking about attending as a general admission brand, or trying to understand how in-person events can fit into your retail strategy, this episode is a practical guide to showing up prepared, building relationships, and making every buyer interaction count.
Episode Links:
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Show Links:
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- Visit host Daniel's Linkedin
- Questions or comments about the episode? Email podcast@startupcpg.com
- Episode music by Super Fantastics
Creators and Guests
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.
Stephanie McGregor
We've said it before, we'll say it again. Like this is a relationship driven business. Whether it's relationships with distributors, accounts or even your fellow entrepreneurs. If we get an account to say yes, like that's obviously amazing. But there's so many more things that you can gain from the opportunity of just showing up. Whether it's learning relationships, recon of the market, things like that we're learning every day no matter how long we've been in the industry. And we always take every opportunity with that lens in mind to be like, what are we gaining from this? Even if it's not distribution? Because there's always something to learn.
00:45
Dan Choi
Startup CPG. It's growing. Like at least show up even if you don't get selected to sample. Like even just showing up with a backpack and bumping into your buyer and even as a new brand who's just trying to test our buyers going to perceive this. Do they have feedback on the packaging and the flavors? No better place with a lower barrier entry than a grocery run event.
01:10
Daniel Scharff
Welcome to the Startup CPG podcast. Today we're going to tackle a question that's been coming up a lot in the slack lately, which is what is a grocery run? A lot of brands who are joining our community recently have heard about the event. They're planning to attend their first one and they're asking the community, what's it like? What should I do to prepare for my first one? Who am I going to meet? I wanted to do one podcast episode with two of the brands who have been to the most number of our grocery runs so you could hear it directly from them. You are going to hear today how do they pick which ones they want to go to? How do they prepare for a grocery run? What is the tangible outcome that actually you can get out of a grocery run?
01:47
Daniel Scharff
So for anyone considering applying to sample at or just attending one of our Startup CPG grocery run events, this is the episode for you. Remember, all of our grocery run opportunities are announced in our Slack channel and through our national email. So make sure you sign up via our website so you are in the know. All right, here we go. Enjoy. Welcome everybody to the podcast. I am so excited today to talk about our grocery runs, but really from a brand perspective because you hear us talking about it all the time, we love it, we think it's the best thing ever, but really the proof meets the pudding when you can actually hear about it from some of the brands who have been to the most number of grocery runs that I know of. So why don't we start off with some quick intros.
02:35
Daniel Scharff
Dan, I'm coming to you first.
02:37
Dan Choi
All right. Dan Choi. I'm the founder of NA Beverage Company. We are on a mission to redefine the way we drink, connect and celebrate. And we're doing that through functional sparkling teas for social moments. And I have done a lot of grocery runs.
02:51
Daniel Scharff
Oh, how many?
02:52
Dan Choi
So 10. I actually just counted a combination of attending as well as sampling app and can share more about how those went.
03:01
Daniel Scharff
Okay. And list some of them, please.
03:03
Dan Choi
Yeah, for sure. I'm going to try to go a little chronological. I remember the very first startup CPG event I went to, Gelson's grocery run. I was actually pretty nervous. I heard about startup CPG. I didn't really know much about it and I was like, you know what, I'm just going to send it, go in there, bring in some samples and see what happens. After that it was like Mothers la Fresh time we did recently. In the last month, I've done Chicago, San Francisco as well as Hawaii. And then we're actually doing the unifi run coming up soon too. Also, I would kind of like Alley Rally and I even did a couple more Gelson's runs too. So it's been great.
03:37
Daniel Scharff
All right, do I have a vague memory of shotgunning one of your drinks at the Gelson's grocery run a year ago? Is that you? Oh, no.
03:46
Dan Choi
Yeah, exactly. I actually have that footage though.
03:49
Daniel Scharff
So just so everyone knows how that went. We're in the middle of our Gelson's grocery run in 2025. Everybody is lined up talking to the buyers. There's a huge long line for the beverage buyer that I think Dan was in. And I don't know how it happened, but I think Dan challenged me to shotgun one of his non alcoholic drinks. And I'm a good time. And honestly, I was in a fraternity and I do like for people to know that I know how to shotgun pretty well. And so I think we raced or I just did it and it went well. Technically it was an excellent shotgun, but I did also definitely splash. The head buyer turns around and taps and he' like, what the hell, dude? I was like, I am sorry.
04:26
Dan Choi
I think you got him in the eye. Daniel.
04:29
Stephanie McGregor
Anything can happen at a grocery run, right?
04:31
Dan Choi
Yeah.
04:32
Daniel Scharff
All right, Stephanie, I hope you don't also have one of these chugging stories about me, but let's see.
04:37
Stephanie McGregor
I do not, but we have plenty of time for that.
04:39
Daniel Scharff
All right, let's do the intro.
04:41
Stephanie McGregor
Hey, everyone, I'm Stephanie McGregor, founder of Ringa and we are a line of consciously crafted, truly functional plant powered products inspired by one of the most nutrient dense plants on the planet called Moringa. And we've been very busy introducing our products to many buyer and consumer at so many grocery runs. Like literally whenever I fill out the form and it asks like, what startup CPG events have you been to? I literally just say like all of them. We love them all. Like Dan was saying, we've done grocery runs, we've done alley rallies, we've done the dinners, we've done sections at the trade shows. So I don't think it's any secret that we're big believers and supporters of what y' all are doing at startup CPG for brands like us.
05:27
Daniel Scharff
All right, thank you. And can you list a couple of the specific grocery runs that you went to? Maybe a couple of your favorites. And by the way, you guys are on because you guys fill out the most of the punch card for brands that have been to the most grocery runs, which is why I thought you were the best ones to invite. But yeah, hit us with a couple of your favorites.
05:41
Stephanie McGregor
I love it. Yeah, I cheat a little bit because Dan just named them all. But yeah, I've been to almost the first one I was going to go to, the one at Whole Foods, which I think was literally the first grocery run, but sadly got grounded in Denver due to a flight situation, but flew out to the Gopuff run, which was like one of the very first. I do have a photo of you, Dan. Y' all like standing up, taking a photo of all of us. And it was like a teeny tiny group at that point in time. And certainly those photos have grown over time. But yeah, we did Gopuff. We've done the ones at a lot of the trade shows, so Denver and Utopia. We've done the Gelson's one as well. I was waiting in that long line to talk to Kristen.
06:23
Stephanie McGregor
We've done High Touch, we've done good stuff. We've done Chicago, we've done some of the opportunities with unfi Salt Lake City here coming up in a few days. So yeah, I guess I've probably done around 10 too since that was Dan's number as well.
06:39
Daniel Scharff
I love it. And maybe I'll just categorize them a little bit. So Grocery Run this national event series that we have, it can happen three different ways. It can happen specifically with a retailer. And this is when somebody like Gelsons is willing and interested to do an event with us. It can happen for a region or a city. So we can have the San Francisco one or the SoCal one, or it can be around a distributor show. So you mentioned we get to do it at the UNFI show and at the Gahi show. So those are three different ones that are varied and we're doing all of them, and they're fun. Okay, so next question. What is a grocery run, in your words? I obviously have the way that I like to talk about it.
07:17
Daniel Scharff
But for you, if another brand asks you, like, what is a grocery for? What is this thing? What would you tell them?
07:22
Dan Choi
Yeah, I mean, I think there's different themes. As you know, obviously you've been curating them, so you gotta read what the grocery rent is about and see how it aligns with your strategy. But it's just a way to get it to the market. And so what I liked about the regional ones is you had multiple buyers there in that region. So for example, in Hawaii, we've been trying to actively expand into Hawaii, and there's like 60 different buyers in there representing major retailers like foodland, even like CVS and longs to 7 11. So different channels down to earth in the natural channel. But you also had food services there too. You had colleges, universities, you had schools or private schools. You had hospitals, you had all sorts of stuff. And that was probably one of the most successful grocery runs I've seen.
08:07
Dan Choi
Not to mention it was in Hawaii. So there's something wrong about that sometimes regional. That's also why we did Chicago. That's also why we did San Francisco. These areas that we're trying to expand in. And then you have your like, distributor specific ones too. So the unifi one Unifi. We're trying to get distribution on. So we want to go there. We want to Talk to the UniFi sales reps, we want talk to the UniFi accounts. So that helps us from that perspective. And then you've got like account specific ones like Gelson's. Gelson's is a great account in our backyard in Southern California, and someone that we just want to keep staying in front of. And so we go to all those grocery runs also.
08:40
Daniel Scharff
All right, so Stephanie, let me ask you even more pragmatically. What is it like when you're there? What is the setup like? Because I think a lot of people who haven't been are like, can someone tell me what it's like to actually be there? What's the experience of it?
08:53
Stephanie McGregor
Like, I like to think of them as mini trade Shows, it's like exactly what you would expect a trade show to be, but almost like speed dating style. So you get to go in. If you're a brand that is selected for sampling, you go in with your little four foot table or your little setup, you're bringing all of the same supplies for the most part that you would bring to regular trade show, obviously samples, any sort of messaging, sales sheets, giveaway, swag sometime. And what I really love about the format is you get a dedicated amount of time with the accounts that are present first before the floodgates open to everybody. And for the most part, from my understanding, brands that are selected to sample are curated by those in attendance.
09:39
Stephanie McGregor
So you already know that you've gone through a filter to be top of mind with these retailers or whomever is there. Sometimes it's distribution partners. And for a self funded brand with very limited resources, like I'm sure you've seen our entire team, right, it's just me and my husband Paul. It's a really good way to tackle a lot, but in a smaller format. A lot of the same distributors and retailers that you might see going to an expo or sweets and snacks or whatever your industry is, I think split that spend up, split the resources up and go deep. Like Dan was saying, sometimes in regions, sometimes with just specific accounts, versus trying to tackle it all in one trade show when everyone's trying to do the same thing.
10:24
Stephanie McGregor
So we go to a lot of them obviously, which is why we're here talking about it. But from like a strategic standpoint, I feel you're just really able to focus on and compartmentalize how you want to grow your business with a little bit more of a guaranteed positive outcome. Like there's typically next steps even if you don't get like an authorization on the spot, but you're really able to cut through a lot of the noise that's existent at a traditional trade show. And then again, it's a one day, maybe two day thing if you fly in and go to the dinners prior. We obviously always use it as a chance to get into the market, go look at retails, go shop stores, and then of course just meet the folks who are relevant in the regions that you're looking at launching.
11:05
Daniel Scharff
I love it. And yeah, Dan, you and I got to do a really lovely dinner in Hawaii where we had Patrick the forager for Whole Foods, who covers Hawaii. And he came to that dinner and what a beautiful chance to get to spend some time with him. And it was at the home of the woman who owns the distributor that was hosting the event the next day. And that was very special. It was super cool. So diminishing. Obviously it's not like selling show. You're just there taking orders. Right? I mean that way you're not like in the distributor where they are and they're just placing orders. It really is, I think much more of a relationship building show. What is your goal when you're at these grocery run events? What are you trying to get done? What are the conversations like?
11:42
Daniel Scharff
What does the follow up often look like for you with them?
11:45
Dan Choi
Yeah, I mean sometimes it's like the first interaction you've ever had with them. And the longer I've been doing this, the more I realize that it's all about like finding excuses to run into the buyer again. And then you just keep kicking that can down the road and then all of a sudden you get authorizations in the next meeting. So for example, at Freshtime, that was the first time we talked to anyone at Fresh Time. And so we talked to all the buyers, had all this good feedback, didn't hear from them for months. Right. I thought, okay, they forgot about us. I thought were in. And then lo and behold, in a khe selling show, they come back around, they said, hey, you're going to be in the innovation set. 69 Doors starts in May. And we just like our jaw dropped.
12:20
Dan Choi
We're like, are you kidding me? Startup CPG made that happen because that's where we had the first interaction with them. So I've had stories like that. Fresh Time, I'm hoping to have some from Hawaii so I'll share those with you soon. Mother's market, same thing. So it's just all about just stay in front of the buyers and just having another reason or excuse to see them again. At least that's how I like to view it.
12:39
Daniel Scharff
That's so good. It is a tough thing. Every CPG entrepreneur knows that of you have to create the demand with the retailers and also get the interest from the distributor which then helps you get one and the other as well. Then you get the distributor and they have other retailers they work with. So it really is so important to be out there just stirring up interest and furthering conversations along all the time. And I'll just also comment because Stephanie mentioned about the curation of the sampling brands. I think it's good to explain how that works. When we do an event with a retailer, the retailer is making the selections. That's what we always want. Our goal with grocery run is outcomes.
13:15
Daniel Scharff
We want the most deals to happen as possible, because that is what we try to do for brands in this world, is really help you, especially getting distribution. And we believe that is most likely when the retailers can go through and look at all the submissions and pick the brands they believe are the most likely to be a good fit to actually have the sampling tables. And then from there, who knows how many they're going to pick. Sometimes it's been a high number. When we do ones with distributors, we do align with them on which brands will be coming in that they would view as really innovative. And then there are other ones where our team may be looking at it more.
13:46
Daniel Scharff
And that would be based off us really knowing about the brands through things like Shelfie submissions, through our events, getting to know them, researching the brands. There are people on my team, there's a committee that will look at all the submissions and really trying to find events that are a good fit. And I'll also mention we do have some regional events. We're so lucky to get to do some of these. For example, the Whole Foods Foragers, we have an amazing event coming up which is in the Southwest. The idea of that event is I spoke with the Whole Foods foraging team and they were like, yeah, we would love to have a way to just go and actually very efficiently meet with the best of the Southwest brands. So, yeah, we can help with that. We have a huge community.
14:25
Daniel Scharff
We go out and put the applications out there. And so, as you can imagine, the brands that we're going to be selecting for that event are ones that are going to be a good fit for that forager, because that's what we want the deals to happen. And so if the Forager is covering the Southwest region, we are mainly trying to set them up with a great look at all of the brands from that region. So we'll be doing a lot of those. Obviously, a lot of brands want to get involved, but we are really trying to prioritize the brands that we think can get the most out of the event in some instances. So coming back to just strategy a little bit. So, Stephanie, we have a lot of grocery runs that you have been to.
14:58
Daniel Scharff
I remember even you coming to, like a Boston one we did earlier on with actually one of their foragers at the time. How do you decide which of the many grocery runs, which we'll probably do about 30 this year, you need to attend. Which ones fit with your strategy. How do you decide from the plethora that we are throwing?
15:17
Stephanie McGregor
Well, early on, like when y' all first launched the series. I mean, literally, I was applying to and going to as many as I could. I really looked at it as an opportunity. Like Dan was saying, just stay on the radar of these buyers. Our philosophy was, like, if we wanted to show these folks, these buyers, people in these markets, like, we're willing to invest in our brands. Like, if I'm flying across the country to do these grocery runs and meet you where you are, like, just think of what I'll do when we actually get on shelf now that we're in our selling season of summer. So it's really hard to do anything as a beverage besides, like, stand in stores and execute and make sure your product is selling.
15:57
Stephanie McGregor
But we really look at areas of the country that we want to go deeper in or accounts where we're really trying to get in the door. Like, UNFI is a good example. We did your UNFI show in Long beach and actually just got into the up next program. And so now that we have distribution with unfi, looking at these opportunities where, okay, these accounts that pull from unfi, where are they? This is a great way. We're only in one DC of unfi, so doing some of the larger shows still don't make sense. But getting into these regions and speaking to account managers that pull from UNFI at these grocery runs is a great way to start tackling the UNFI universe. We're listed in one division of Whole Foods, so being able to be put in front of different foragers.
16:49
Stephanie McGregor
Any chance I get to chat with my forager, Darcy face to face is awesome. So I'll get to see her in the Southwest just because these folks are so busy. So again, we kind of look and see where our current business is, maybe where it's a relationship building opportunity or areas of the country where we're focusing on and where it makes sense for us to go in there and hopefully open a bunch of new accounts based on the fact that we now have distribution in those markets.
17:13
Daniel Scharff
I love it. But I am really excited to hear the news about UNFI up next. That's so awesome. Congratulations. Ring of the bell on that one. Let's go.
17:23
Stephanie McGregor
That's right. Yeah, let's get ready to ring up.
17:26
Daniel Scharff
Yeah.
17:27
Stephanie McGregor
I mean, for anyone looking to get into unfi, just too like, we did that Long beach show in January and we literally just got code. So that's how long it takes to get onboarded with unfi. So plan accordingly.
17:39
Daniel Scharff
That's so great. Okay, so, Dan, same question to you. You obviously, like, you have a Product that can do well probably almost anywhere in the country, just given the strength around NA and everything. But how are you deciding with all of the grocery runs that we're throwing this year?
17:55
Dan Choi
No, like coincidentally, you had been hosting grocery runs in exactly the areas we want to expand it to. So either we're just lucky or we're. You're just like nowhere to do these things. Because it just makes sense that those are the steps where you start to scale in those GEOs, especially for like better for you brands. It's probably a mixture of both. So that's, you know, at the end of the day when I see that, I'm just like, oh wow. Well, we just opened up a DC in San Francisco with Kahi. Like why would we not do that grocery run? So that NorCal grocery run, for example, if were to double click on that, like we started that trip off with the grocery run and we spent like a week driving around trying to close independence to add points of distribution to Kahi.
18:36
Dan Choi
And so it was like, well, why not? We'll just kill two birds with one stone. We did the same thing in Chicago. We started off with the Chicago grocery run and then that branched out into like a full on like 6 state thousand mile drive. Like tore into all these fresh times because we just launched in their try something new set there in their innovation set. So we literally went to like 37 different fresh times. We at least checked introduced ourselves if we had time and it made sense. We did a demo and we did that in like six different states. But that always kicked off with the grocery run. Stuff like that.
19:10
Daniel Scharff
I love that. I think that's a huge tip and Stephanie mentioned it also about just how to make the most of these kind of trips. Because everything that we do also takes into account like we know the effort you have to put in. You have to take time off and take a flight and get there and have a hotel and bring product with you. And so we really try to make the event as valuable as possible, get as many buyers there as we can, because we understand that, we really do. But I think there's so much that you guys can do to make the most out of the trip.
19:38
Daniel Scharff
Exactly what you said about doing store visits, taking pictures of sets, if you're applying to a retailer, really doing that ahead of time, maybe even before the buyer comes by at the grocery run the next day doing demos if you can. I think it's so important to be out there in the market, especially when you're trying to grow in that market and you're prioritizing it. So I really like how you are both thinking about making the most of your time and expense on all of those things.
20:02
Dan Choi
Not even just like, the big, like, accounts. I mean, obviously those are great, but, like, the independence, like, so in San Francisco, we closed Rainbow Grocery, which is in, like, downtown San Francisco. It's a co op. But, like, what helped was the fact that were there earlier and we knew the store. We could drop the names of the folks that we dropped samples off with. And then we triangulated that with the buyers at the grocery run, and they're like, okay, we'll put in an order. It's like, stuff like that. It's crazy.
20:29
Daniel Scharff
That's so good. I really love to hear that. And that's exactly the right way to do it as a founder. Just that triangulation thing that you mentioned, like, it really just shows them that you care. And again, we always say this. This really is a people business and a good energy business. And they will respond so much to you making the effort to get to know them. Just a way to really strengthen the personal connection. So I love to hear that and I really hope everybody listening if you're going to a grocery run, thinks about doing stuff like that. Sometimes we try to arrange a store tour, like the Fresh Time one. They were kind enough to actually do a tour with their buyers of one of their beautiful stores there. And that was really meaningful, I think, for everybody.
21:06
Daniel Scharff
We got to do the same thing at the Central Market one in May. So we do try to organize those things in terms of the format, just to explain a little bit to everybody. We do design the events to try to be really impactful for both the buyers as well as the brands, especially the ones that are tabling there. So we're still refining the format a little bit, but usually there would be tabling brands only portion, which might be an hour or something. That really lets the buyers who are there spend time with the brands who have been selected to sample. As you can imagine, sometimes then we would have general admission tickets where brands are coming flooding in. And then it can get a little complicated.
21:44
Daniel Scharff
Like, especially if there's a Whole Foods forager there, sprouts forager, there is a line to talk to them, and that can interrupt them actually getting around to the tables, which oftentimes they've selected. So we do cut up the format that way to try to make it really productive for everybody. It's never going to be perfect for anybody. Anyone who has a table wishes that none of those brands ever came probably. And all the people rushing in wishes that they had gotten there earlier because what if one of the buyers leaves? So we do the best that we can to make these really good for everybody because that's what makes the buyers want to come back, which is what makes the brands want to come back.
22:18
Daniel Scharff
And yeah, always we will have a couple of our startup CBG partners at these events as well, which is how we get to do the whole thing. That's how it all goes around. So we really appreciate that everybody is usually very happy to see them there as well and learn about the stuff that they do in the CPG world. So grocery run, just so everyone knows, this is something that we launched at the beginning of 2025. We had always done networking mixers and were trying to get more buyers there because to a certain extent if we just have a networking mixers, there aren't any buyers there or investors. Like what are we even doing?
22:48
Daniel Scharff
Because that is, I think our insight as a community is just we want to be the most helpful for brands and that is the most helpful thing that we can do for you. In addition to providing community good resources is distribution, investment, media coverage. And so we are slowly but surely figuring out how we can help in all those areas. The grocery run I think has been extremely well received in terms of hitting that retail and distribution standpoint. Probably most people have heard about our founders and funders, which is then how we extended that to the world of early stage funding. And then who knows, we'll figure out how to try to help people get media coverage as well someday. But at least we can provide some of that in terms of the industry facing media coverage.
23:28
Daniel Scharff
So yeah, and then I maybe we'll just tease a couple grocery runs that will be coming to you with a little bit more information in later in the year. Shortly we will be announcing an amazing one that we are going to be doing with the Fresh Market. This one has been on my list forever. I once upon a time started a beverage brand based in Miami and the Fresh Market was one of the most desirable retailers with a high population of stores in Florida. And I was so desperate to get on those shelves, I didn't know the buyers really. And so I think a lot of brands feel that way. I'm so excited that in October we will be doing a grocery run with them in Miami.
24:07
Daniel Scharff
And then in addition to that we have another one with Earth Fair team coming up next week. We have really big ones this year around the Khe and UNFI shows, which are very special because you know how many buyers are there at those shows. It's crazy. And so we did the first grocery run at the Kahee show in Denver and I think there were 300 VIPs there, meaning split across the Cahi team, which is very important to get in front of because they can be so influential and helpful as well as all the buyers attending the show. We're about to do the next one at their famous Chicago show and then we're going to do an incredible grocery run at the UNFI show in Las Vegas. I mean this is a dream.
24:47
Daniel Scharff
And we'd gotten to do sections in their shows that you guys were mentioning before in the past. So we're so grateful to both of them for really leading the way here and stepping in to support early stage brands as well as all these incredible retailers. We have another very exciting one we'll be announcing soon with a retailer that starts with a W. Really pumped about that one. Not finalized but I good energy believe it will happen. And this is just the thing that we want out of Grocery Run. There are trade shows out there that are very important and special. I personally am just a big believer in trade shows. I know everyone has to make the right decision with their money and they're really different offering perspectives out there.
25:24
Daniel Scharff
I believe that it's just there's no better use of your time than to really further those conversations along, which happens for me in person a lot at trade shows. But most of the shows are just once a year and you get different kind of bags of who's actually there. And so the idea with Grocery Run was always well how can we do this maybe in the market so closer to where the retailers are and just focused on really affordable, accessible ways to try to help brands with that momentum. These are the events that I always wanted as a brand, these kind of tabletop style events just with really relevant buyers. And we can't promise anything at our events.
26:01
Daniel Scharff
But the thing that we are trying to do at the Grocery run is if you go to the grocery run you will get time with a buyer who is there. And it may be just you're waiting in line and you get a quick conversation with them or you're a sampling table. And we really try to make sure that they can make it around to the tables. They may look at it and decide not to stop. We can't like control that or force them. We just really try to set up the best conditions possible. But that is the intention of these grocery runs is to help brands like yours, Dan, like yours, Stephanie. To accomplish your goals based off your strategy and just to honestly do this in the cheapest way possible.
26:33
Daniel Scharff
So don't expect to show up and see a ceiling hanging display and lights and fancy stuff and like a concierge helping move your stuff. No, no. We want to charge everyone as little as possible to cover the cost of the event and just make it the highest ROI thing that you could ever do. So that is our goal and that is what my whole team is focused around doing. Stacking it with buyers, stacking it with great brands and just watching the deals flow. And we've really been so overjoyed to see everything that's come out of this.
27:06
Daniel Scharff
Yeah, really, I just, I wish I had something like this when I was a brand because you have to go hit LinkedIn like a ton of bricks all the time and hit emails, but gosh, it's so much more fun and effective to do it in person, in my opinion. And I also just believe that there is a lot of cool stuff in this AI world of ours, but I think it's just an eventuality that everyone just has every buyer's email's address and can click a button to send an email to all of them. When that does happen, it's a messy world. It just means buyers are just getting hit up by everybody all the time. And how do you break through all of that is in person events and that's why we lean so hard into them.
27:43
Daniel Scharff
And we really believe that the brands can get a lot of value over an in person meeting. Connecting the buyer to you and your story and your passion about the brand. Having the chance to look them in the eye and tell them your story and convey your energy while they can actually sample the product and take all of it in at the same time doesn't mean you're going to get on shelf all the time, but I do believe that is your best chance. So that is the idea of grocery run. And I'm really happy that you guys have gotten some tangible results out of that because that's what it's designed for. We will keep making the format bigger and better and getting to more places and trying to make it more and more efficient. Higher ROI all the time.
28:21
Daniel Scharff
We learn the same way you guys learn and evolve. So thank you for really winning. Yeah. That punch card game of who can get the most grocery runs, I'm hitting that punch card of who can get to the most Equinox gyms around the country. Since I'm trying my Best to stay in shape while going to all of these events. But yes, that and our gift to having the only industry business expensable trip to Hawaii for everybody. So some people did some really nice vacations around that one, I think. But yeah, I really just want to thank both of you guys for coming on and sharing all of these tips for all the brands today. And I wonder just if we can end on if you have any final advice for brands.
28:57
Daniel Scharff
If you just reflect on your journey a little bit and how you've refined your strategy and maybe just something that you wish you had known as you were thinking about, like, yeah, here's what I want to try to go after this first year or these first three years, the kind of places I want to show up, the kind of retailers I want to try to talk to or how I want to talk to them. Any final tips for you guys for brands that are maybe at the closer to the beginning part of that journey? Dan, I'll come to you first.
29:22
Dan Choi
Yeah, I think like our strategy in the beginning was if it was a startup CPG event, we applied for it just because you just reduced the barrier of entry and just allowed emerging brands like ours to get a platform without having to invest a lot of money into big trade shows, brokers, things like that. And so we wouldn't be here right now without startup CPG. So I highly recommend that. Now, that being said, now that startup CPG has been growing a lot too, that's probably not the best strategy to just go after everything that startup CPG throws out there now that there's more options, which is fantastic. Just making sure it aligns with your strategy. So if you're on the west coast and you're just starting off like go to the LA grocery run, like that's probably where you're trying to expand at.
30:07
Dan Choi
Does it make sense to go to something on the East Coast? Maybe just check it out. But are you ready for a distribution on the East Coast? So it's like stuff like that and then when it's time those options are available. That's kind of like I'd probably be a little bit more selective now in terms of just trying to make sure I don't overshoot my skis. Because there's nothing worse for us when we're getting interest from like a legitimate chain and we want to say yes. And sometimes we do say yes and we know we shouldn't because we're not ready for it yet. But it's always nice to catalog those things for the future and so yeah, that would kind of be my advice. But in the meantime, startup CPG, like it's growing.
30:46
Dan Choi
Like at least show up even if you don't get selected to sample. Like even just showing up with like a backpack and bumping into your buyer and just getting some as a new brand who's just trying to test like how are buyers going to perceive this? Do they have feedback on the packaging and the flavors? There's no better place with a lower barrier entry than a grocery run event.
31:08
Daniel Scharff
I really appreciate you saying that. Two things I would love to reiterate of what you just said. One, yeah, please do evaluate the opportunity. Grocery run. I love that people know what it is now. It just has a standalone concept. They are really different though. I'll give you an example. We just had an event that I wasn't at personally. I heard was amazing with levers locavore and that's in Denver. I actually haven't even been into the store. My team went and we're over the moon in love with this store. It's one store in Denver.
31:36
Daniel Scharff
So if you're going to go to that, especially if you're flying in, it really needs to be part of a strategy or fit with a trip you're going to take anyways or you have some meetings you want to take there and you just kind of figure out how to string it as part of it. We have some events and then people are like, yeah, I'm flying in for it. I'm like, what's your strategy though? Because the last thing I'd ever want is to do the opposite which is waste brands time and money and resources because they need them. So yeah, please do evaluate it.
31:59
Daniel Scharff
And if we're doing one, we have so many great ones but we've done ones in here in New York City with Fairway and Gourmet garage and Citarella and like, yeah, these are not a hundred store chains but they might, you know, five or ten, whatever it is. But like still when people are like I'm flying in for that, I'm like, okay, but you're really focused on New York, right? You're trying to penetrate New York with trains. Like I want to make sure this makes sense for you. So please do think about it carefully and understand the retailer and whether it even makes sense. We don't stop a brand from buying a ticket to an event that could be like gopuff but like maybe you have some product they don't even sell. So it's really important to try to understand the retailer a little bit.
32:36
Daniel Scharff
And then the second one is, oh, if you're just attending the grocery run, I hope we can accommodate as many people as possible for sampling tables eventually. Sometimes brands do ask, like, how do I get selected for more of these? Really? We do try to have the retailers select as much as possible. If you apply and keep getting not selected, there may be some feedback in that for you because they are looking at traction and product imagery and product concept. It may be worth thinking about if there is something there that you might want to pivot or change or reconsider. So like we can't get feedback obviously on all this stuff from them, but that might be worth thinking about. Not to tell anyone, like ever give up or anything. But like I have seen some people pivot in a really effective way before.
33:17
Daniel Scharff
But if you're attending the event, fantastic. Please show up with your samples. Sometimes people show up in like a business suit and they say, I didn't know I couldn't bring my samples. I'm like, I just want everyone to know we are casual. I hope I would always expect anyone like to show up wearing their brand swag, representing themselves and their brand as well as possible with samples. Whether you got that cooler backpack or you're holding a tray with some samples, I've seen some incredible fanny pack holsters for products out there at our events. We want you to come in with your samples because like what are we even doing if you don't have the samples? Please always have your samples with you in a way that also that people can try. So great points.
33:57
Daniel Scharff
Okay, Stephanie, coming to you for those early stage lessons learned advice to early brands. If we started over.
34:04
Stephanie McGregor
Yeah, well, like Dan was saying, I think startup CPG has grown so much so that you guys now have tons of educational podcasts. Obviously you've met with a lot of folks in the industry. So people I think who are coming into CPG, truly new. There's so many resources now, even if it's just the Slack channel to like educate yourself around how you get to market. Like let's say you go to a grocery run and you land an account. You have a distributor, you have your pricings, like all the things that need to be thought about before you go in and land an account. I think one of the worst things that could happen is you go and you get interest from an account. They say yes. And then like you don't know what to do next.
34:47
Stephanie McGregor
So I think the community is an incredible resource for people to really understand the industry. If you haven't been in the industry. Another thing, I feel like I meet a lot of early stage brands who are new to the industry, think that things happen overnight. Like this is a very archaic industry in a lot of ways. You're working with distributors who are moving physical goods and that takes time and sometimes a review can take a year or more. D2C is obviously different than like brick and mortar grocery. So I think just having a level of understanding how quickly things can move, I mean sometimes you can get a yes and boom, you can literally hit a reset date or whatever the case may be, sometimes takes time. Meeting that buyer, sometimes there's buyer turnover, sometimes a review gets pushed.
35:34
Stephanie McGregor
Like there's so many variables that are outside of your control that if you're coming into this industry or going into a grocery run and expecting an immediate outcome, you might be disappointed. So go in knowing that this is a long game. And I would just say too, like we've said it before, we'll say it again. Like this is a relationship driven business, whether it's relationships with distributors, accounts or even your fellow entrepreneurs. I love going to a lot of these events and meeting the team, meeting other folks in particularly beverage, where you can pull each other up and cheer each other on, or meeting other partners who you might be doing giveaways with or maybe in store promotions or demos. So we always go in seeing this opportunity for like if we get an account to say yes, like that's obviously amazing.
36:21
Stephanie McGregor
But there's so many more things that you can gain from the opportunity of just showing up, whether it's learning relationships, recon of the market, things like that. So yeah, I would just say like you're going in, we're learning every day no matter how long you've been in the industry. And we always take every opportunity with that lens in mind to be like, what are we gaining from this? Even if it's not distribution? Because there's always something to learn.
36:47
Daniel Scharff
Very well said. I really appreciate that. And that is one of my favorite parts is seeing all the camaraderie between the brands who become friends because you're going to need those friends. And also you can really help each other with a lot of stuff. It's good when you know who to call, who can help you with something and yeah, definitely. And just want to reinforce your point about being prepared. Sell sheets, know what your SRP is, know what your wholesale cost is, understand all those things and if maybe the retailer brings you on who you might work with as a distributor and if you really don't know. You can ask them. Yeah, that's great that you want to pick me up. Who are your preferred distributors? Cool. Can you introduce me?
37:20
Daniel Scharff
Actually, that's a great thing to ask because if you want to get in with a distributor, have a retailer introduce you because that means they're going to get some business. They like business when it comes from retailers. And then once you get in with the distributor, hey, what other retailers do you distribute to? That's how you play the one lily pad to the next game. So thank you guys so much. It really has been so great to also just get to hang in all of these different cities with you guys. Like a band Tour or like F1 Tour. Just kind of packing up. All right, see you in Hawaii. See you in Chicago. Cnsf, next stop. Let's go. So thank you for traveling around with our merry bunch circus goers as we take our carnival from town town.
38:00
Stephanie McGregor
I love getting all the startup CPG swag at every event. It's like, oh, what are they going to come up with this time?
38:05
Daniel Scharff
Thank you, thank you. I appreciate that. We are pretty swag happy. All right, great. Thank you, everybody.
38:11
Dan Choi
Bye bye.
38:14
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 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.