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Join Daniel Scharff and special guest Darren Viscount, senior natural living category manager at Bristol Farms, in this episode of Startup CPG Podcast as they explore the world of emerging health and wellness brands. Darren shares his passion for natural living products, which are influenced by his personal health journey and his overcoming of cancer. Discover the latest trends in gut health items and learn about successful brand strategies that foster emotional connections.
Darren highlights the importance of empathy, kindness, and personal connections in his career. He reveals his meticulous approach to selecting new brands and unveils exciting plans for his upcoming podcast, which will focus on promoting community-building and industry insights through a unique roundtable format.
Darren's dedication to connecting with people, prioritizing relationships, and empowering team members within retail environments is evident. Hear about his innovative strategies for team empowerment, inclusivity, and creating excitement around natural living products through themed events.
Tune in now
Listen in as Darren shares about:
- Bristol Farms Overview
- Supplements and Consumer Trends
- Connecting Through Vulnerability
- Community Building and Personal Engagement
- Product and Store Features
- Category Management
- Trends and Innovations
- Retail Strategy and Events
- Brand Submissions and Visibility
- Future Initiatives
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- Questions or comments about the episode? Email Daniel at podcast@startupcpg.com
- Episode music by Super Fantastics
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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.
Darren Viscount
The way we view Bristol Farms is we consider ourselves a gourmet food store that leans in on natural, leans in on healthier options. So our goal is we won't always have 100% of just natural. We're going to have offerings so that our customers can shop everything. Their entire shopping can come to our store. So we understand that there's customers who are still gonna buy your traditional toilet paper or your traditional detergent. But we also know that people want healthier options for food. So we definitely, I would say right now, our mix of, if you look at our total store, it would be 70% natural, 30% conventional. We definitely add more natural now because the consumer demand has definitely changed over the years. Like, it's now easier when, again, 15 years ago, you had to go to.
00:46
Darren Viscount
It was more of a destination, you know, you had to find that one random store that had that selection. But the nice thing now is that most grocery stores have that. So for Bristol bottoms, we really lean in on. We wanna create an elevated experience.
00:58
Daniel Scharff
Hello, dear CPG ers. I am thrilled to introduce many of you to one of my favorite people in our industry, Darren Viscount from Bristol Farms. He manages the natural living set. In this episode, we talk about his personal health and career journey. It's super inspirational. His passion for engaging with emerging brands, his take on a bunch of trends in the health and wellness and supplements categories. It's a really interesting one for me because I know a lot more about food and beverage than I do about the natural living sets. So I really learned a lot. Make sure to give Darren a follow on LinkedIn and I hope you enjoy. Here we go, friends. Are you ready to meet your new best friend? I think it is sure to be Darren. Viscount, the senior natural living category manager at Bristol Farms.
01:42
Daniel Scharff
Bristol Farms is one of the southern California tastemaker retailers. It's a gourmet market chain with carefully selected meat, seafood, produce, cheese, wine and imports. They focus on healthy foods for everybody and I'm always really impressed by how engaged their store employees are if you go in. Our friend Darren is one of the most passionate supporters of our emerging brands that I ever met. He has a super inspirational personal health journey, which ties into his category management approach and his product expertise in the natural living and health and wellness categories. His support launching countless brands has made all the difference for so many people aspiring to improve our CPG ecosystem. And rest assured that at any CPG event, he and his partner in crime, Efren Chakach, will always be the coolest dress guys in the room. Probably wearing some of your brand swag.
02:32
Daniel Scharff
Please join me in welcoming Darren. Viscount Darren. All right, cool. I'm very excited to hang out with you here today, Darren, as always. So I actually got to see you two weeks ago. Now. I'm, like, time dating our podcast, but, yeah, we got to hang out in Manhattan beach at the beverage forum. You were kind enough to join the retailer judging panel for the beverage pitches that we did there with 15 of our emerging brands. How did you like that experience? What was it like for you getting hang with all those early brands? Pretty good time, right?
03:02
Darren Viscount
I mean, I love it because obviously I get to see brands that are just starting, you know, that they're. I get to hear their stories about how they got there, their journey, their whole passion. I mean, I find those things, you know, most of those events are just all about the passion and just get to see these early to markets, emerging brands that are just going to be, you know, tomorrow, they're going to be making big things. It's exciting to be part of that.
03:21
Daniel Scharff
Darren, I think you, more than anybody that I know, are having a good time doing your job.
03:26
Darren Viscount
I love what I do, and honestly, I mean, the thing that I have learned is connecting with people is the most important part about my job. So any opportunity, as you know, I go to every event I go, I make sure I connect with everyone. So this is a people business. And if I can help people, I can help founders, I can help brands. Me nourishes me personally, but obviously nourishes our business as well.
03:44
Daniel Scharff
Awesome. And I know we'll get to hang out again at our million message party coming up in about a month here, where we're celebrating 1 million messages sent on our slack channel. I know you and Efren are coming to that. And then again, we'll be hanging at fancy Foods in New York at the end of June, which I think is gonna be a fantastic time. And we've got pitch sessions that bright where brands get to meet with you. And they're gonna be some incredible events that we're doing. We're doing a party every night, basically. I think what we've realized is, because we have this big platform, it's sort of our, like, privilege and responsibility to just throw as many parties as possible and get everyone together, because it isn't like, yeah, why have dinner alone?
04:19
Darren Viscount
You know, that's what it is. It's all about, like, any of these events are connecting. How do you connect the human experience? How do you connect people? And through those events, like, people can let their hair down a little bit, and they can, you know, relax and get to know each other on a different level, not just what they can get from you, but I think it's more important to just connect with each other.
04:34
Daniel Scharff
And you never know what's going to happen when you're just. Even when you're just chatting without an agenda, what kind of ideas you might come up with someone or just, you know, have forge some unexpected bond.
04:43
Darren Viscount
Cool.
04:44
Daniel Scharff
So, Darren, I would love, maybe you could just take us all the way back and tell us about your career journey. Like, how did you get into this industry of ours?
04:51
Darren Viscount
I mean, I think, like a lot of people in the natural food industry or any grocery industry, we all have kind of traumas or past lives that have just created our future. And so, for me, when I was 27 years ago, I was diagnosed with leukemia. In that journey of, you know, trying to figure out, you know, I. It was an unexpected. I didn't. I was feeling well. And then one day, you know, I was in the hospital for 14 months fighting for my life. Was told that it probably. I would not walk, probably told that I wouldn't live past a year. So for me, it was traumatic. I was just finishing. I was just in college that, you know, I was thinking my future. Never knew this is going to happen. Basically, my life changed overnight.
05:23
Darren Viscount
I mean, I literally was going to the doctors one day and being brushed to the hospital and living in the hospital for 14 months, so that really shaped who I am as an individual, but also helped me to understand how to deal with people and how to deal with companies and even my own professional career. So it all started basically after that, I'm trying to find answers for myself on how to heal myself, how to heal others. Walked into a natural food store in the middle of nowhere, bought a bottle of acidophilus, and the next thing you know, I was living there, basically. You know, the owner was like, you're here every day. Why don't you just work? And I was like, going to college. Do I need this? But then I just fell in love with the industry.
05:53
Darren Viscount
I just realized that, you know, if I could have my personal story could help one person, that I knew that there was a reason and a purpose for my life. So that's really kind of how I brought my journey. It really also impacts how I make decisions, how I work with other people, how I work with my teams. I bring empathy and kindness to everything. So it really understanding when you're in that place of, okay, you shouldn't be here. You may not be here for me. It's gonna. I'll be celebrating 30 years. Being cancer free this year is an amazing compliment. Yeah. Thank you.
06:19
Daniel Scharff
Yeah. By the way, I already saw on, I think, Spotify, they labeled the podcast as explicit content. Cause we must have let a few curse words fly. So I think we could stay on this podcast. Fuck cancer. Very happy we can just let that one fly, too. Darren, that's an amazing story, man. Yeah. What a cool, you know, just origin story for you of, you know, starting your, I would say, supplement journey and how that led you into this really impactful career.
06:47
Darren Viscount
It's pretty cool to see that, you know, I mean, and really now that kind of, you know, for many years, I didn't really talk about it much. You know, my whole career, I kind of just hit it. And then I had decided over, like, the last two years to really make it more public. And what I found is that, you know, when you are able to, you know, show empathy and that you're showing a little vulnerability, that people will come to you know, and that's what's been so special to me because people kind of see me outside my role. And that's really kind of why I started doing this, because I didn't want people. My whole thing is I don't feel like I come to someone and just want to get something from them.
07:15
Darren Viscount
The greater good, whether it's in business or whether it's personal, is you should always be giving. And once you give, you receive, and, you know, the whole cycle of it boomerangs back to you at all times. So I think that's important, kind of how I live my life and then how I live my professional career with my vendors.
07:29
Daniel Scharff
That's a really beautiful sentiment. And I've learned that, I think later on in life, you know, when you're younger, maybe, like, just how I was raised, I don't know. I always am really hesitant to, I think, burden people with what the things that are wrong going on in my life. And probably anyone who listens to this podcast a lot or who knows me. I mean, mainly I'm just about, like, positive energy and enthusiasm. But yeah, like, there is a lot of hard stuff obviously, behind that, and in my life, and my natural tendency is not to show a lot of it, but I have learned that I've been in, like, group circling sessions, and basically people will get really vulnerable.
08:04
Daniel Scharff
And it's so amazing to watch when somebody really takes a risk and does it and reveals something very difficult and personal, just how much support they get from everybody around them. And, you know, people are just, I think, really inspired then to open up as well. It almost is just like, okay, like, well, I'll take the next step. I'll do something even more vulnerable. You know, it's so. It's really amazing, I think, to set that example for everybody out there. And, yeah, I can see how well the whole community has rallied around you and responded to what you shared. So, I mean, yeah, hopefully a lot of people can take some personal inspiration from you on that and whatever troubles they're having, so thank you for that.
08:41
Darren Viscount
Yeah, I mean, it's pretty interesting. People will come up to me. You know, I think that's the thing that's most special to me as they share their own stories, because I think a lot of people will hide their traumas. You know, I always say everyone has a trauma, just a different degree of trauma or a different situation, but in the end day, we all have traumas. And so being able to share that and kind of take that mask off a little bit is special to me that people can. You know, I mean, honestly, that's how people introduce themselves to me. First they connect to my story, and they're. Then they go, oh, well, you know, I have this in my personal.
09:06
Darren Viscount
And, you know, that's special to me that they're sharing that I'm a stranger, and ideally is, these are a stranger to all these people, but they're opening up to me because they feel like they know me. And that's important to me because. Because I would say that most of my career, most of my life, I've kind of just been really hidden and kept it to myself because it kind of. What you were saying is not burning to burden another person or feel weak, because a lot of that times when you're exposing yourself, most people think, okay, well, that person's weak. And as I've kind of journeyed through this in the last two years, I realized it wasn't weakness, because, you know, to get through any trauma and get out on the other side, that shows strength.
09:35
Darren Viscount
And it's okay to be, you know, again, we all have traumas. We all have challenges, and it's okay just to express that out loud and, you know, not to be ashamed of those traumas.
09:44
Daniel Scharff
Just remind. My mom had pretty serious bout with kidney cancer when I was growing up, and she's fine now, you know, fortunately, I think I was 13 at the time, and, I mean, I wasn't the happiest kid, honestly. And, like, I wasn't as close to my parents as I am now. I have a really beautiful relationship and friendship with them. Even, like, after business school, I lived at home for a couple years to pay off the b school debt while I was traveling.
10:09
Daniel Scharff
And I just remember saying to my mom once, like, it just makes me so sad thinking about that kidney cancer, which was very serious, like, you know, emergency operation, just because, like, if it had gone the wrong way, like, I wouldn't have gotten to best friends with you now, which, you know, my mom definitely is, you know, my best friend. And it just, like, made me really sad, but also happy just to think about it in that way. Like, I'm so glad I got the chance then to really develop such a strong relationship with her as I got older and just, you know, really appreciated everything that she has to offer. And, Darren, I feel way about you, man. I would be.
10:41
Daniel Scharff
It makes me so happy that you fought hard and got through it and that I get to be friends with you now and all of the brands that get to be friends with you and get your amazing support as well. So good job.
10:53
Darren Viscount
Thank you.
10:54
Daniel Scharff
Okay, so going back to your journey and, like, the first kind of supplement that you bought for your treatment or to get better afterwards, how do most consumers start buying different kinds of supplements? Cause, like, okay, I actually don't currently take any supplements. Probably there are a bunch that I should living here in LA, man, I know a lot of the, like, biohacker people who are all up on Brian Johnson stuff, or like, well, I don't know, they have a whole, like, oh, what's your sleep stack? Do you take these eight things before you go to sleep?
11:21
Daniel Scharff
There are a lot of different things out there, so I kind of know how they're discovering stuff, you know, through different biohacker influencers or whatever, and then, okay, yeah, like, maybe you have a specific ailment and then your doctor might tell you about one supplement or the pharmacist might, or, I don't know, maybe you have a friend who's just on some supplement and they think they're feeling better from it and they recommend it to you. Like, how does that usually happen, though? I mean, are those the main ways? Or, like, how are consumers typically going to end up in your set looking for some kind of a supplement or health and beauty product or. You know what I'm asking?
11:51
Darren Viscount
You know, I think it's changed over the years. So when I first started, you know, obviously, you know, you had the few people who just wanted to be healthy. And they're coming to the store trying to find the latest and the greatest. I think what's changed a lot now is obviously social media really dictates a lot of our buying decisions. So someone sees something on TikTok or they see something on the gram and or even, you know, through their friends, you know, their friends journeys. And so a lot of it is, I've heard about something or I've seen something on this or information. You know, I mean, I think we're in the information age where we're bombarded with a ton of information and we kind of have to funnel it down to say, okay, well, what are the best things for us?
12:22
Darren Viscount
And one of the things when I'm working with customers or our guests is, you know, one size doesn't fit all. But I do know there's a basic program. So most people come in looking for the basic. They're going to do multivitamins, they're going to do the probiotic, they're going to do a protein. Those are your basic foundational. And most people kind of at this point, because we have enough information, whether it's through social media, through our own research, through friends, I think most people kind of know the basic, and then once they kind of start taking that, they kind of layer on more items. But, you know, my thing is always, like, when I'm working with customers is just consistency, making sure that, you know, it doesn't matter if you take ten items or one item.
12:53
Darren Viscount
If you don't take them at all, they don't work. And so it's important to kind of just being not hard on yourself because I have that issue. Like, a lot of times, like, I do take a lot. Like, I take about 50 to 60 supplements a day, but in that journey, I definitely have to. There are days where I miss it because I'm a normal human, where I get sidetracked or I, you know, get busy. But I try not to be hard on myself. If I do one, I'm grateful and have gratitude for that. If I do 50 today, I'm grateful in gratitude for that. So I don't feel like there's any pressure on what I'm taking and how much I'm taking. I make it part of my daily routine so I don't overthink it.
13:21
Darren Viscount
I think for most customers, that's kind of how they come. And then sometimes we obviously have people who just walk into the department and they're kind of like, well, I know that I should be. It's like, I shouldn't be doing this, and I should. There's a lot of shoulds. And so our goal in arc stores is, okay, we're kind of helping make, like, the buying decisions, you know, the buyer's remorse. So by having a little educated team or educating ourselves, we're able to at least provide more of that educated information to our customers so that they can make a better buying decision. But, yeah, I would say those are the main things that most people now, it's just mostly social media.
13:49
Daniel Scharff
That's what I was going to ask about. Like, what percent, actually, now of those purchases do you think really are coming from social media? Let's both guess. I'm going to guess, I don't know, 50%.
13:59
Darren Viscount
I'd probably say it's higher now because a lot. It's crazy because, like, I can think of, like, three just recently. Like, right now, cmos is very popular. Cmos. You know, I didn't even know about cmos until I saw TikTok videos. And until that occurred, I mean, I wouldn't even have thought, okay, well, I should. What is that? You know, it's not something that was something weird. It's kind of in a gel. I'm out there, like, from the sea, you know, I mean, it's definitely something that traditionally shouldn't be as popular as is. And it just kind of went viral. And then next thing you know, customers are coming in. I'm like, okay, I saw this on, or Ashwagandha was another one, or chlorophyll a few years ago. Like, most of that came from social media, where someone came in and said, oh, I saw.
14:33
Darren Viscount
You know, because most of those times, you're seeing positive reviews, you don't typically see a negative review. And, like, anything, you know, we want to try to change our lives. And a lot of those do provide some hope. Ultimately, all the supplements we do is providing hope, whether it's being healthier, an extra day with your family. So that's kind of how I've always viewed supplements. Is that hope of a better tomorrow? This is strength and wisdom from it.
14:53
Daniel Scharff
And it's interesting you say that, actually. Cmos I only found out about, because I was watching Shark Tank, and Alexio Gibson was on it, talking about his company, and I was just blown away, I mean, learning about it, but then also just by him, because he's such an inspiring guy. We were fortunate to get him on the podcast as well, which is one of the. I know, top ranking ones that we ever did. He got a deal with Mark on the show, which was super cool. So.
15:13
Daniel Scharff
Okay, I don't know if I hope this isn't too personal of a question, but with the stack that you'd have the, you know, 50 or 60 supplements that you take, do you categorize them in different way or think about them in kind of groupings of, like, here are the ones I absolutely have to take for my health. Here are the ones that I think are, you know, will just like, help me feel better or concentrate better or whatever. Do you, like, have a way that you think about it like that or like these takes and then these are the good. Nice to takes?
15:36
Darren Viscount
Yeah, I mean, I definitely have my foundational products, so I make sure I do a protein every day, a probiotic every day. Things that are really more whole body impact, I try not to focus on. Just obviously, I have some ailments that I'm trying to deal with, sleep and fatigue issues. But, you know, the way I over look at it is I'm looking at my overall health. So I know that through gut health, if you have good biome, you're able to have a stronger immune system. If you have a stronger immune system, stronger all over. So I would go through the supplements. I always make sure I do a multivitamin, a probiotic, a protein.
16:02
Darren Viscount
Really, the basic, the foundational, I mean, and I would say that to every customer walking in is finding those foundational products that have been clinically proven to make a difference. So the multivitamin, we know that we don't get enough nutrients from our food. So, okay, there's the multivitamin. We know most people don't get fermented foods. So there's the probiotic. Most people take the quality proteins because we live on a diet of fast food, which tends to be the lower end of the protein. So having a good quality protein. So I kind of look. But I always make sure there's certain ones I do every day. And honestly, it does get to a point where sometimes 50 is a lot, just because either time or just like after, you kind of get, like, fatigue.
16:35
Darren Viscount
You get fill fatigue, pill fatigue from taking so many, for sure. But I kind of make it part of my routine. I mean, I literally have them on the counter. I have all seven days planned so that when I wake up, as I'm getting dressed or I'm getting ready for my day, I'm just taking a few and then walking and going and taking a few and kind of make sure that I'm consistent with it.
16:51
Daniel Scharff
What protein do you take, I don't.
16:52
Darren Viscount
Know if I could say brands as well, but typically I do plant protein, and only for me, that's because they're. I kind of have a sensitive stomach. So for me, plant proteins tend to do better for me. I look for ones that have less ingredients. I don't want ones that have a lot of sugar. So I definitely have a few favorite brands at the moment. But what's really trending is whey protein is really trending high right now. There are benefits for the average person who's doing whey protein. You get benefits of some immune building portions of the protein because you're getting all the amino acids. If you're working out more often, you're breaking down your protein. So you definitely want to add more protein to your diet. So. But there's a lot of great ones.
17:24
Darren Viscount
I mean, we're in a time now that when you used to start with protein 15 years ago, they were horrible, they were really grainy, they were just like chalky. They taste like a protein supplement. And now I take it, and it's literally probably the one thing I look forward to every day. There's a couple brands that like, it's like a milkshake, but it has five ingredients. So I know that I'm not getting a burden on too many ingredients, quality ingredients, and I know that everything I'm taking in is going to be supportive of my whole body.
17:47
Daniel Scharff
I love that. And shout out for our plant protein friend, green regime. I know they're sold locally here in LA. And also our finalist for our, the competition that we're doing with GNC, where one brand's going to get national distribution. So as of this moment, they're in the finals, the final six for that, out of hundreds of submissions. So excited for that one. I've got some here in my house. I need to remember to take some of it after my workout. Okay, so getting, I think, to Bristol Farms because like, I have a decent understanding of what it is, but obviously I want to hear more about it from you because I'm based here in LA. I moved out here a year and a half ago.
18:20
Daniel Scharff
And immediately, when you're trying to understand who are the key retailers here in SoCal, LA, Bristol Farms is going to be one of the first that you hear about. So can you just maybe help everyone who doesn't have the benefit of even having been in a Bristol farms ever? What's it like? You know, what's the chain all about? What does it feel like if you walk into the stores. And you know, maybe how does it compare with some of the other SoCal retailers here? What's the role it plays in the ecosystem?
18:44
Darren Viscount
The way we view Bristol Farms is we consider ourselves a gourmet store that leans in on natural, leans in on healthier options. So our goal is we won't always have 100% of just natural. We're going to have offerings so that our customers can shop everything, their entire shopping come to our store. So we understand that theres customers who are still going to buy your traditional toilet paper or your traditional detergent. But we also know that people want healthier options for food. So we definitely, I would say right now, our mix of, if you look at our total store, it would be 70% natural, 30% conventional. We definitely add more natural now because the consumer demand has definitely changed over the years.
19:16
Darren Viscount
Like its now easier, you know, when again, 15 years ago you had to go to it was more of a destination, you know youd had to find that one random store that had that selection. But the nice thing now is that most grocery stores have that. So for Bristol Farms, we really lean in on. We want to create an elevated experience. So someone comes in, they know that there's a lot of good options, healthy options, and then they're going to be taste what? Good too. Because that's obviously the miss. I think most people think, oh, well, if it's healthy, it's going to taste horrible. And I think the nice thing that's happened over the years is, you know, back in the day was you had something high protein or you had something low carb. I mean it was tasted like that.
19:49
Darren Viscount
And now you can serve those type of foods without even knowing that exists in those foods. And that's an amazing, you know, where people can now make it part of their lifestyle instead of just that, like, oh, you're the random granola person who's once eat, you know, carrots all day. So I think the number of options is amazing, but really it's creating an elevated experience for our customers. The most important thing for us, and really because we all shop, I mean that's what makes us all common. Everyone has to eat, everyone has to shop. You have to shop somewhere. So our hope is that you're shopping at Bristol Farms. As far as how we kind of soCal, I would definitely say that we cater to a little bit more affluent older clientele. But we also want to really.
20:23
Darren Viscount
My objective this year is really bring in things that's the Gen X, the Gen Z, a little younger, bring those type of products. That's where the cmos comes in. Some other products like that we know that's really trending well. And then, so that we're catering to all demographics and all people kind of what you said, you know, healthy food for everybody is important to us.
20:40
Daniel Scharff
Yeah, that's cool. And it makes sense because, you know, I've checked out your set, obviously, in the store, it's always my favorite one. A lot of really cool stuff happening in there. The health and wellness products, supplements, and then, of course, the social tonics that you guys have in the natural living set. That has some of my favorite brands. Our friends from leisure hydration, I think that's where chlorophyll water is. A bunch of other great ones. So, yeah, one thing that I had trouble figuring out at the beginning of this journey was, what is the relationship between Bristol Farms and Lazy Acres, which are both amazing stores? And I know they're related, but separate.
21:11
Darren Viscount
Yes. So our parent company is good food holdings. So they actually own five banners. So they would own Bristol Farms, Lazy Acres, new Leaf, new seasons, and metropolitan. So they're an overseas company that owns us, but we all are independently operated. So, yes, we are all owned by one entity, but how we actually service our customers, we view each banner a unique entity. So Bristol being the gourmet grocer, where lazy acres would be your traditional natural food grocer, where 100% their lazy acres looks at, they're looking at certain standards and quality ingredients and attributes that are a little different than we do. We still look at those same items, but they're just a little bit more strict on their ingredients compared to our stores. So that's kind of how they fit.
21:50
Darren Viscount
We obviously work out the same office, so we obviously get ideas from each other. We carry, I would say right now, we probably carry 80% of the same items at both location or both banners, because we know that the same things that trend in natural also tend to trend in conventional. So we know that we want to have both customers who are the transitional customer. You know, maybe they're not 100% hardcore natural, but they're not 100% conventional. And so that's kind of where we fit. Healthy foods, good foods, and quality foods.
22:15
Daniel Scharff
Got it. And I remember, just because I'd worked with them before, that there's kind of, like a thing about, oh, if you're in one of the sections in one of the stores, then it's kind of in the computer system there. So it might need to be in the same section. Like, if you're a natural living for one, maybe you'll be in the same for the other. Or remind me how that works.
22:30
Darren Viscount
So because we are operating out of the same office and we share the same computer system. So, yes, so if an item or a brand goes into one category at Bristol Farms, it's in the same category at lazy acres. So that can be sometimes challenging because, you know, you don't know what the other banners having a conversation. So we could both be having two different categories or having this conversation with the same brand.
22:50
Darren Viscount
As we move forward, one of our goals is that we're going to kind of consolidate that to make a little bit easier for our brands so that they're not having to say, okay, well that's a long conversation, or a conversation we have often with brands that like, oh, well, they come to me for example, because I'm in, you know, doing the social tonics and maybe grocery at Lazy has looked at one of those drinks and then I'm looking at it as well, natural living. So you know, it's kind of, it has been a little small challenge, but something that we work through and make sure that we work as a team to make sure that we're providing the best options.
23:16
Daniel Scharff
Yeah, it makes sense. And I love lazy also, I think the thing that I like the most about Lazy is the deli. I don't know if I've gotten the chance to have a sandwich from Bristol, but the ones that lazy acres, it's so delicious, you're going to for sure take a snooze afterwards. You're going to get just some big delicious sandwich and a cookie and then just have a. Just be whisked away into a sleep wonderland afterwards. Okay, so then just focusing on your set, the natural living category, can you give me an overview of what it is? You know, what are the key products in it, what are the top selling kind of products in each of those categories that you manage.
23:51
Darren Viscount
So in natural living, we have both supplements, health and beauty. We have some OTC. So our top selling categories right now, the really, the trending categories are still protein. It's just for us, that's where majority of our sales come from because protein, again, it's one of those things that every, almost every customer at this point now, regardless of age and demographic, will take a protein. So protein is still our strongest category. Probiotics still continue to have positive growth. Again, I think there's enough studies and enough information out there that people know that, okay, that's just having a core strength in your gut is going to make your overall health good.
24:23
Darren Viscount
So I think that, so I'd say probiotics, mushrooms tend to still do very well for you because there's enough of, like, lion's mane being beneficial to your brain, Reishi being beneficial to your immune system, blood sugar, things like that. So those are still be trending. Multivitamins always going to do well because it's just a foundational product. So the way we're doing, we do try to become first to market. So I do a lot of research, whether I'm reaching out to people, I mean, I spend a lot of time, usually I try to do once or twice a week where I just go on social media and see what's trending. So I'll go on to one of the social media platforms and start, like, destroying searches.
24:52
Darren Viscount
But I also find a lot, like, even through LinkedIn, like, LinkedIn has been a great source for me to find new products because I find that people who are hustling a little bit more and getting that they're a little bit more first to market. So I love, honestly, that's how I find a lot.
25:04
Daniel Scharff
Guilty. Yeah, yeah. I want, like, a hat that says, as seen on LinkedIn.
25:08
Darren Viscount
I know, right?
25:09
Daniel Scharff
It's such a cool platform, but you quickly connect with the people who are also pretty interested and just open to connect instead of just kind of through the traditional pathways. It's funny, you know, when I, like, was submitting to retailers, I almost always assumed if I don't know them, if they don't know who I am, if they don't, if they haven't heard anything from me personally, and I just submit for a reset, we're not gonna get it. Like, and most of the time, that was actually true. If you can't find some way to connect with them personally, because, I mean, we're humans. It's natural, like, to just feel differently about something that you have some kind of personal connection with and can be a little risky, too.
25:42
Daniel Scharff
I mean, maybe you're putting yourself out there in a way that doesn't vibe with certain buyers or people who just, that's not their approach to things, and you can turn them off even with that kind of an approach. But I found that, yeah, I don't know, in more cases than not people, we're pretty open to that, and that would probably get us at least on their radar in a different way than just submitting through a portal. So, anyways, I applaud you, really, as being one of the people who are just the most out there not just being open and responding to messages, but also you're maybe the only buyer that I know of who actually lists your email on your LinkedIn profile, which is a beautiful thing, honestly.
26:16
Daniel Scharff
And I think just really reflects how excited you are to support brands and just be really open to that. And I think, you know, I think accessibility is just one of the most important things in our industry and in many industries, right, of just like, oh, if you don't know the person then, and then it just, it really is a big barrier for brands and people that don't have a lot of money and have a broker. And I don't have the experience doing sales before, so they don't really even know how to get on buyer's radars. So thank you on behalf of everybody for setting a great example for accessibility. And also I think I have a little bit of a clue about how brutal your inbox must be when you do something like that.
26:53
Daniel Scharff
So really thank you wholeheartedly for just committing to doing that and just getting all those emails from all of us that are so eager to connect with you.
27:01
Darren Viscount
I mean, it can definitely be challenging, you know, I mean, because the more I open myself up to and expose myself or get more public, people get to know me, they do feel like they have access. So I do receive a lot of emails, I receive a lot of DM's every day through LinkedIn. You know, one of the things I'm trying to work through this is as I did that obviously my amount of conversations have increased and it's hard just to be transparent. It can be hard some days to maintain and keep up with all those emails. And I have like, I guess my own personal guilt of my philosophy needs to be, I'll get back to you within a certain period of time. But as my time, I guess, been stretched.
27:33
Darren Viscount
But I also try to be really protective of my own personal time. So it's, it brings me so much joy that I can help others, but at the same point I need to make sure that I have that balance of, okay, I can't work 24/7 but yeah, I think it's just being accessible. And I would say how people have always gotten in front of me, I mean, what is things that I feel like people don't, probably how they present to me don't, doesn't, they don't always do a great job. They don't. I think getting to know me, they understand my needs state and I think how you succeed as a brand is understanding the person in front of you and be able to meet their needs.
28:01
Darren Viscount
And instead of, you know, I think a lot of people present to me and they will say, you know, we're the best. And I always say, well, you know, everyone says they're the best, but I think there's like, how are you going to help me? My state is how are you going to create less work, how you're going to create sales? You know, there's more to it than just getting to know me. That's just the entry. But I think what I'm looking for is, like, what's the long term? You know, how are we going to get it off the shelf? How we go and support the in store teams, things like that.
28:23
Daniel Scharff
Well, let's just jump right into that then, because I think that's a great question. What are those ways that you see people being really successful? And, I mean, I know I always see people, brands very excited to come in and do demos, for example. And, yeah, what are the other ways to do really well with you guys?
28:38
Darren Viscount
I look at it two different ways. As a category manager, I would say for myself, I am very analytical. You know, my responsibility is just getting turns, getting product on the Shelf, you know, so I would always say 25% of my time is looking at new items. The other 75% is managing those items. And so the in store teams are a lot different. They're going to be the emotional portion of our business. They're ultimately the ones selling it. So as a category manager, I look at product a and then after I bring into the store, I don't really look at it again. So it's one of those things, like, it's in the store and I'm looking at it only to get see how it's doing in the future. And then if it's not doing well, how do we promote it more?
29:10
Darren Viscount
If it's already doing well, how do we continue to promote it? With the in store teams, their connection is they get to know you. You come into the store and the store, they price that. The most successful are the ones that the teams feel most comfortable with. Anything, someone walks up to you and they ask you a question, if you don't feel comfortable with it, you're not going to sell that product. And. But they're also doing it emotional. The brands that do the best for us are the people, the brands who come in and treat the teams the best. Meaning they're giving them, the samples are giving them, they're tasting it, they're really emotionally connected. To them. They love them. They're not creating, like, extra work.
29:39
Darren Viscount
You know, I have, so many of these brands will come in and they, you can just see obviously they're being extra. And when someone's extra, yes. I had a brand that recently came in and they wanted a certain placement on the shelf, you know, and our agreement was where it was going to be. And they went in store, they wanted to change it around in the store as well, where it was placed on the shelf. And we have a strict guideline of where items go in our store. So the teams immediately were kind of like, who's this person moving? Because they're very protective of their, you know, it's their little world. It's their, what they have control over. And someone comes in and undoes or wants to have control. So now they have this.
30:13
Darren Viscount
Instead of really being excited about the brand or the products, now they're like, okay, this person's a little extra. And so I think it's always finding that balance of no one likes the hard sell. No one wants to feel pushy. They just want to feel like were talking about early that you're connected to each other, but doing it in a manner that you understand that person. So you have to understand going to store. If I'm a brand and I see in store teams, they might not be worrying about the margin. They're probably not going to be worrying about the churns like you are. They're going to be worrying about, okay, I just need to sell this product. How do I sell this product?
30:41
Daniel Scharff
Yeah, you can't understate the importance of that because, I mean, yeah, you can have people basically who are on your team who work for the store because they all, they're every day and they care a lot about what they do. I love all the people who work in the stores that I've met for Bristol Farms. And it was funny because I worked with you with a previous beverage brand, and I remember some stores that people were just like, what? This is awesome. I love it. And, you know, would like, love to just, you know, become advocates for the brand. And then I remember one store I went to, the one guy who has managed, who is, you know, stocking the set. He really did not like one of the attributes of the product.
31:14
Daniel Scharff
And I didn't feel like it was a fit with how he saw the category and kind of gave a suctinct face. But then I got to know him better over the course of a couple of interactions, and then he became one of our biggest fans actually, like, totally did a 180 and I mean, that's fair. Like, yeah, I mean, I really appreciate the passion. Right. For, like, own your own machine, right? Like, he feels a lot of pride and ownership of what he's doing and has an opinion on things, which I think is great for anybody else of what they do. To feel that, I think it will give them sense of satisfaction but also then drive them just to get better at whatever they're doing and, you know, hopefully put them on that path if it's what they want to.
31:48
Daniel Scharff
Then, you know, ascend through the ranks. Like we see with all the, like Walmart leaders who all started in the store but just really cared about what they did and had a passion and curiosity. So that was a pretty cool experience. And then I wonder just because we're kind of hot off Expo west and, you know, you mentioned a couple trends and things that are important right now in your category, like mushrooms. You know, anything that you're seeing is kind of like maybe turned out to be a fad that was dying off or any new hot things that you saw at Expo even. Actually, you know, I was kind of surprised, like with mushrooms, I felt like last year I saw a lot of new products launching prominently featuring mushrooms. I didn't see that.
32:24
Daniel Scharff
I thought we would be like mushroom Revolution this year, but I actually am not seeing as much of it as I expected. I also just honestly don't know a lot about it. Like, I know people talk about lion's mane a lot, but like, yeah, mushrooms or other stuff. Like, what are you seeing kind of, you know, ascending or peaking or descending right now?
32:38
Darren Viscount
I mean, you know, mushrooms, I think are at their Maturity level right now. Like everything, I mean, everything in the supplement department or the food industry is, definitely has a life cycle. So I'd say right now, mushrooms are still kind of, like at their peak. I do think once it becomes an everyday product, people tend not to be as excited about it. So I think we are at that point where it's an everyday Product, meaning it's going to be in Food. Once it gets into foods, it becomes An Everyday Product. And I still think it will trend Forever because I think there's so much benefits. It's one of the most researched ingredients that you could have on the market. Market. So I still think that is still trending.
33:06
Darren Viscount
I think anything with, like, functional, like what's exciting right now is, you know, being in the social tonics and I think it's pretty cool to see all these functional beverages. It's things that are helping your mood, helping your stress, helping your sleep, but your everyday item, everyone drinks something every day. So whether it's water, soda, or, you know, functional, but it's been cool to watch this progression of, okay, we took, we could have just had sugary soda and, you know, there's some people still do that, but the benefit, okay, I can still be finding that niche of, okay, I am still want to operate in the real world and I want to be social and I don't want to feel like an outcast.
33:38
Darren Viscount
You know, it's kind of cool to watch that because I think that's kind of the elevation of it is that, you know, being able, we all want to be part of something, so this still allows you to be part of something, but you're getting the functional benefits. So anything that's going to be. We're seeing a lot of things with gut health is probably the biggest, I would say one of the biggest trends right now because the average person, because we have a poor diet, because we're stressed, we definitely have a weakened gut system. So supporting the biome of the gut is obviously beneficial through food or through supplementation. So that one's still doing well. Like I said before, proteins still tend to be trending on the decline. Immune products definitely have been a little bit more on the decline.
34:11
Darren Viscount
I think it's, you know, we had three years of just talking about immunity and during that period it's kind of been interesting because during COVID there wasn't a lot of innovation. We all were just looking for an immune supplement basically to feel better. But I think after a while, you know, we had this huge peak of all these immune. And every time a brand was showing me, it was like, I'm adding elderberry to it, I'm adding vitamin C to it, I'm adding zinc. You know, there was a point where it's like, okay, you don't need ten products all basically having the same ingredients. But as went forward, I think now we're out of that base because now there's other things. Now people just want a healthy lifestyle and we're not so worried about, okay, we got to protect ourselves from survival type of situation.
34:45
Daniel Scharff
Yeah, makes sense. And then. Thank you. Actually really interesting to hear how you think about those trends. And as they relate to then your overall category, from what I understand, you've had a pretty big impact on the natural living set and just, I mean, it's amazing. I think it's very vibrant and I imagine that the sales are really good. And what is the thing that you hope to achieve with the overall set? Because I know you are like ROI driven sales. At the end of the day, you want to support all these brands, but at the end of the day, they need to turn, they need to do certain things for your set, for the store overall. Can you tell us anything about what are the kind of goals that you have?
35:19
Daniel Scharff
You want to grow 20% year over year or you want the velocity? Anything you can tell us about what you work on?
35:26
Darren Viscount
I mean, my ultimate goal is that for Bristol Farms, our category, it's a destination. One of those things that, again, back 20 years ago, there might have been one or two health food stores. They were destinations because that's all you can get. We do have the benefit now of being at a time where you can get a lot of these products everywhere. So that's pretty exciting because that was all. Our ultimate goal when natural started is that it was accessible to everyone. So for me, you know, I really just want to have a really curated set, making sure that we have the best of the best, that we're servicing the most people, that people feel comfortable with their buying decisions. Part of it is the training of the team.
35:55
Darren Viscount
One of my most important things for my teams is that part of the decision making process. So ultimately, I will make a final decision, but knowing that they have. That they are being heard, you know, it's very important to have a voice. So the reason why we've been successful is my team definitely feels like they have a voice, that they're part of the process instead of dictating to them. Okay, this is what you have to carry. They reach out to me. They're proud of what they do. They kind of look at, I guess they have a joke. I think they look at me like a father figure and that they're trying to not. Not please me. I always say it's like I don't want to feel, because then that sounds like I'm, like, hard on them.
36:23
Darren Viscount
They want to do well because they want me to do well.
36:26
Daniel Scharff
Yeah, yeah, I've seen that. I feel it like, yeah, people are. It's a close knit group, and they really want to be successful with you, for you, just for. The whole team wins. You know, I got the chance to go to one of the, I think, annual or semiannual events that you hold with your team out at the company headquarters, where you invite some of the vendors, and then they get to meet the whole team and present everybody in demo. Can you tell us a little bit about that.
36:49
Darren Viscount
Yeah. So it's something I did in my past where we, the other events I used to do in my other stores I worked in were more featured with consumers. So when I came here, kind of figure out how we could grow the category, how to get excitement, because for natural living is relatively new. At Bristol Farms, we've only had this category for about five years, so it's very new to our stores, even though we're an older store. And so the benefit of having these, I now have them every other month and they're different focused. So one month I had living La Vida local, which was all, you know, local brands, then I had the one that's coming up is natural Palooza. So that's more of like a celebration of our brand. So, you know, looking at different attributes.
37:22
Darren Viscount
And for us, you know, for me, it was on a personal level. I just love doing events and nourishes me because I love building a team. Again, this situation of a lot of times, like we all look in stores, you feel like you're very isolated, you're your own store, you're having the only, you're the only ones dealing with these problems. You know, in retail, it's always like, oh, no one understands this type of situation. And having these events where we could all come together has been huge benefit, because not only do they get to know each other, because ultimately we're all working for the same company and they can lean on each other and say, I'm having trouble getting this, or how do I do this? You know?
37:53
Darren Viscount
So having these events where we could all be in person was a huge boost on just team morale. And the other benefit is you're taking them out of the store and they're dedicated to education, they're dedicated to brands. They're not having to worry about do they need to place orders, do they need to go take out the, you know, whatever their duties are for the day. So having this and just having a focus like, you know, going back to when they came back and we have, we generally have about 40 brands, and now they're connected. Like I said, they get to know you in the situation where they can be in a relaxed environment, but they get to know the brands on a different level, they get to taste it.
38:23
Darren Viscount
It just often wonder why other retailers, low cost to us, but high results and high return for us. So theres no downside for us to do this. So really we leaned into it on different themes. And its the one thing that I would say the one day of the year. Well we now do it five times a year. The thing that I enjoy the most, I mean its when Im in my element takes my kind of introverted self into being a little more extroverted. So that really helps me. So thats awesome.
38:46
Daniel Scharff
And if you keep doing music themed ones Im just going to apply to come be the music entertainment. I'll bring my little ukulele and come play theme song for the startup CBG podcast.
38:55
Darren Viscount
You can do that actually our next one. So the natural Palooza. We need a band. So if you're ready I'll come.
39:00
Daniel Scharff
I'll come. Yeah I'll play. Fun fact, all of the music for the startup CBG podcast is from my album. Super fantastic. Oh should you check it out on Spotify? Yeah maybe.
39:09
Darren Viscount
Shit I didn't even know that.
39:10
Daniel Scharff
Okay, okay and then so speaking of like how brands get on your radar for that, for natural Palooza for example, like I know I see you post this on LinkedIn and so brands a follow you would can apply that way or how else could they find out about. Because it's such a cool opportunity.
39:24
Darren Viscount
I mean most of it's come through LinkedIn, you know it's been huge. Like when I post it, within 30 minutes I have the whole between I send an email out to all of our current vendors but then I also post on LinkedIn because one of the goals that on LinkedIn might be people that I don't know of. The great is you're putting into the public, you're putting it into the atmosphere and then people will see it because I'm doing it as a public post. And during that process then everyone DM's me. And there's so a lot of times what has occurred is I always have five to six spots there for brands that we haven't been introduced to yet. I have not been introduced. They get an opportunity to come to that and there oftentimes we do end up adding those.
39:56
Darren Viscount
But you know, is one of those goals was I wanted the team to see these five brands give me feedback and if they're excited about it, then I know they're going to sell it because again, going back to ultimately, I don't personally sell any of our products. I'm not in store selling products. So if I can get the team excited about a brand, it's only going to benefit both the brand and the store.
40:12
Daniel Scharff
That's awesome. And yeah, I know when I see you do those posts, I mean what a cool opportunity to be out there. So I always will post them in our startup CBG Slack, which I think also then leads getting an on slot who knew people interested in it. So we'll always do that. Cause that is our job basically is just to try to help brands connect with awesome people like you. And then. So for the general reset, how do overall submissions work with you guys? Let's say somebody doesn't have a broker, so obviously they can try to connect with you. But how are most people doing it? Is there an official reset calendar and submissions through like a portal or how does that work?
40:42
Darren Viscount
We are working on a portal. I think that's probably coming within the next six months. That would be for all categories because we are getting to a point where we get so many submissions and there's things that dump our needs or our categories. So it would help reduce some of those submissions for us just to be able to manage it properly. Right now for natural living, like in grocery, they do have a calendar that they utilize for resets. Natural living, I have not gotten to that point. Next year that will begin, but right now it's very open ended. You know, I just tend to be, I want to get the first market, so I'm just quick to grab things. I'm very visual. I know what I need and I know what the teams need so I can get it in quickly.
41:11
Darren Viscount
So it's just a different process. But ultimately there will be a point where once when I kind of took over the category, we had to get rid of a lot of things that honestly just weren't for our customer base. And then I knew there were things that we didn't stock and so I was able to add those quickly. So really it's an ongoing process for me. Just any category. I mean, there's definitely categories that I want to build because maybe they don't have the same velocity at the moment or the same growth. But I think the way I've done it, where I've kind of just really worked with every category this year, the last two years, three years, I'd be going in three years now. We've had positive of growth every single week for the last three years since I've been here. Yeah.
41:43
Darren Viscount
Yeah, I'm pretty proud of that. I mean, ultimately when I came here, were declining category and then immediately I just could see the voids and see the brands that I knew that were just trending really well. I got those in and then now I think we have the highest percent growth in the company.
41:55
Daniel Scharff
Whoa, congrats.
41:56
Darren Viscount
Yeah, thank you.
41:57
Daniel Scharff
That's so good. It doesn't surprise me, honestly, just seeing the engagement from your team, the excitement of the set, and for anybody who has not been into a Bristol farms, definitely go check it out. It's a super cool story store. And obviously stop by natural living and check out the whole set there. Just very cool. So for brands that don't, let's say, know you are, most of them basically submitting through brokers or date, like right now before there's a portal or they're just like hustling and figuring out the buyer's email.
42:22
Darren Viscount
The three ways I receive, somehow they just know my email, so they're emailing me their information. Some, a lot of it's true. There's through brokers, obviously. So we, a good portion of it local brokers that we utilize. And then a lot of it now comes from LinkedIn. So on a daily, I get probably 20 to 30 brands DME. Some of it's my category. That's been the biggest challenge, honestly, is as I've become more public accessible, it's one of those things like, you know, everyone's like, I know you're not the this buyer, can you help me with that? And, you know, ultimately I do want to do that, but kind of what we talked about being protective of my own personal time, I have to be really protective of that because I can't.
42:52
Daniel Scharff
You still have a job to do.
42:53
Darren Viscount
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, you know, and I'm grateful that people feel like they feel comfortable enough to coming to me to help them. And I always want to help someone, but I would say that's the three ways that people, at least for myself, have access to me. And it's been successful. Like I always say, I never had have. There's never too little request and there's too many for sure, but we're hoping to really start thinning it out a little bit so that we can be a little more targeted for sure.
43:14
Daniel Scharff
And you mentioned before searching for brands on Instagram when you do that, because there's, you're like, you go to the main search bar, you searching for like a hashtag or you type in the new ingredient, like, how do you actually do that searching?
43:25
Darren Viscount
And you knew eventually, as I'm looking for things live comes up on my for you page. So just the way that those social, how they actually, the algorithms will start pulling those things in. So even like, if I go to TikTok a lot of times because I'm looking at health products, then it starts and I start defining things that way. So very traditional I'm very active. I go to our competitors. I go. I tend to be the one where I'm constantly taking pictures when I'm in stores. I'm trying to find different things, so just really actively, but dedicating time to doing certain. So, like I said, once a week I will go onto social media and just do a three hour search on new items because I want to see the engagement.
43:57
Darren Viscount
Like a lot of times I can also see how they're engaging with the customer. So if I see that there's a lot of likes or there's a lot of comments, then I know that's probably a brand that's going to do very well in our stores.
44:05
Daniel Scharff
That's amazing. And how much do you want them to be, you know, local, for example? Like, do you prioritize local brands maybe because, you know, they'll come in and support it with demos and stuff or how do you think about that?
44:17
Darren Viscount
I mean, we definitely want local. I mean, the thing, you know, going back to the social tonics have been great because they're the ones who have been able to lean in on demos and be a little bit more connected to the teams. Supplements a little more challenging because there's not as many local supplements, and sometimes pricing can be a little challenging because they're not going to out this economy of scale think there's things like that. But we definitely want local. We we're still kind of leaning in on that, trying to make sure that's an attribute people want in Los Angeles. We're kind of spoiled because we have so many brands that are local. I mean, when I lived on the east coast, I had a handful that I could say that were truly local.
44:45
Darren Viscount
Here, the national brands, some of the top brands that you see in stores are local to Los Angeles, Orange county, and San Diego. So I think we kind of get a little spoiled in California for that reason. But I think ultimately, local is an attribute that people want. I think people also want clean products. I think regenerative is another one that a lot of people are looking for now. Yeah, we're trying to lean in on local more because we have a couple companies right now that I just introduced that were local, and the benefit is that they're doing demos three or four times a week and they're connecting to our brands that I maybe could receive with the national brand.
45:12
Daniel Scharff
That's great. And I know, yeah, I think I first learned a lot about your stores from our friends at leisure hydration, who I know they were early on in there and they were demoing at the stores and figuring out the best times and places to be to really support the business. So then they're local here, and that's actually. They're hosting our million message party next month also. So we'll all get to hang out today. Heather. And then one other thing I wanted to ask you about also is that, like, I know for you, it's really important to share your message and learnings with everybody and create community with the industry. I know you have plans also to launch your own podcast and anything that you want to tell people about just to make sure that they can follow along.
45:47
Darren Viscount
Yep. I don't add the name of it, so I. We are launching a podcast in June or July. I have a podcast co host that I'm super excited about. Her name is Donna. She was one of our vendors. We've become good friends since just meeting, but we're super excited. It's gonna be a kind of. We're gonna kind of change up the podcast a little bit where we want to have it more of a social type of interaction so it'll be in person. We're going to be drinking throughout the whole episode, so I still got to bring the fun to everything I do. I can't just make it, like, so informational. So it's going to be really fun. It's going to kind of be a roundtable where we're going to be eating. We're getting.
46:14
Darren Viscount
The cocktail will be named after either the brand or the person on the episode. We already have. I think right now I have about 40 or 50 people already lined up for it. So I'm super excited because it's something, like I said, it's helping me to send my message because my message always been to promote customers, kindness, promote community. And so it allows me an opportunity outside of myself. And, you know, if I can help one company or two companies to get more exposure, that really makes me feel like I had a purpose. You know, that's ultimately my purpose, is to really help others. It's something and a lesson I learned early. My mom taught me throughout my life to really just be service to others.
46:46
Darren Viscount
And so if I have a little bit of a voice and I'm able to utilize that voice to help others, that's really special to me. So that's the main thing I'm also going to be doing. We're creating some events around Ellen La that I'm working on this year, that we're going to bring brands together. I have a couple locations we're going to kind of do like, I don't. We haven't decided maybe a pitch land, but one of the cool things, we found this event location where we're going to focus on the five senses. So we have a whole area that we'd be focused on taste, we have one that'll be on sound, one will be on visual, one will be on emotional. So we're trying to.
47:13
Darren Viscount
It'd be really cool where we're going to just have all these brands get together because it's just, my purpose is to create community, really help others because, you know, it's. It's a challenging time we're in and if we can support each other, that's ultimately, it's the human connection is why we're all here. So if I can do that through what I'm doing, that's special to me.
47:28
Daniel Scharff
That's super cool, man. I'm excited to attend those. If you need somebody for the emotional one to, I don't know, sit there and just cry and everyone can experience that, I'll do it. Or if you want someone to give out hugs, I'm there, I'm in.
47:40
Darren Viscount
I can see. Yes. You're gonna be the official hugger.
47:42
Daniel Scharff
Yeah.
47:43
Darren Viscount
With that. Start practicing the hugging this week.
47:45
Daniel Scharff
Yeah. Or maybe me and you and Efren, we can do a high five, long line. Everyone like coming up to the product, they come and we'll like line up like 1010 of us and they can come and do ten high fives and then try a product. They'll be in the best possible mood.
47:57
Darren Viscount
I love that experience as it was.
47:59
Daniel Scharff
Meant to be experienced. That's really cool, man. I'm super excited to tune in for your podcast, especially after you guys are a few drinks deep. I think it'll start to get very fun. I'm sure I know a lot of drink vendors who would love to send you guys some product for that.
48:14
Darren Viscount
That's what it's going to do. We're going to. What's the cool part is, you know, we're obviously have some alcohol versions and some non alcohol versions. Versions. And we will have, you know, people on there that brands that I love and we're going to use them as a cocktail. Like, I think it's going to be special because I really, again, having that extra element, I think it's just going to add a little bit more excitement and fun to the podcast.
48:31
Daniel Scharff
I love it. Maybe go all the way and do, you know, like the show drunk history?
48:35
Darren Viscount
Oh, no, I have heard of that. But I need to watch it.
48:37
Daniel Scharff
Just basically they get people wasted and they have to tell some kind of history. So it'll be kind of a mix between some classical podcast and then also that. So, Darren, thank you so much. I'm really excited to see you. A bunch of the next couple of events that we mentioned, the million message party that's coming up June 6. And then fancy foods. We're going to be doing a bunch of fun stuff.
48:58
Darren Viscount
Yeah.
48:58
Daniel Scharff
So as Darren mentioned, definitely give him a follow on LinkedIn. You're going to love the content. Really inspirational post that he shares about his personal journey as well as just really cool information about Bristol Farms natural living. His category, overall insights in the industry. So definitely give him a follow there. He'll be very happy you did. And Darren, thank you again just for everything that you do. It's really fun to be your friend and a colleague in the industry. And I just going to be really fun just to know you as we're all in this industry for a long time.
49:28
Darren Viscount
Yes, yes. I'm. I love this industry. I love people. So, you know, that's. Yeah. I just can't say enough about you, Daniel. Obviously, I'm super grateful that you've provided a lot of people, including myself, opportunities. I think that's what makes you special, obviously. So let's continue to get that community out there. Pump people up and make them successful.
49:45
Daniel Scharff
Yes, sir. All right, thank you everybody. 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 partnershipstartupcpg.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.
50:32
Daniel Scharff
See you next time.