Road 2 Retail

In today’s episode of Road 2 Retail Founders Series, we interviewed Beryl Stafford, the founder, and President of Bobo’s oat bars. From creating Bobo’s in her kitchen to a very successful brand Beryl shares with our audience her entrepreneurial journey. Berry bootstrapped the Bobo’s brand for 12 years before taking on additional personnel and funding. This is a must listen for any small and emergi...

On this episode of our Founders Series, we interview Laura Meemken, the CEO of All Clean Food. Laura shares with our audience her journey of starting the All Clean Food brand from her own kitchen because her kids had food allergies. She wanted o to provide tasty, kid-friendly meals that would be available at retail to help other families that wanted quick, quality meals. Laura also adds insights i...

On today's podcast, the Road 2 Retail team speaks with Mike Wilkins about how a small, emerging, challenger brand needs to think and act with regard to working with a national retailer. Throughout the course of Mike's career he has served as a Buyer and a Head Buyer at several large, national retailers across multiple classes of trade. Mike shares his experience and advice on actions what...

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

On this Road to Retail podcast, we interviewed Maria Uspenski, CEO of The Tea Spot brand. Maria has been at the helm of The Tea Spot for 19 years and has much wisdom to share with our small and emerging brands’ audience. Maria highlights the importance of authenticity, passion and the story behind a brand. She also emphasizes the importance of packaging. Please follow the Road 2 Retail podcast on...

On today’s episode we discuss a hot topic in the CPG industry: Deductions. Road 2 Retail interviews Greg Esslinger and Tanay Kothari from Floret. These two guys are experts when it comes to deductions. They share with our audience the best practices when it comes to deductions and what small and emerging brands can do to mitigate deductions from retailers and distributors. The Floret team also sha...

In this episode of Road 2 Retail we celebrate International Women’s month by interviewing Maya French, co-founder of the beverage brand Koia, with our guest host Krista Anderson, founder of ESSTAR. On this episode Maya shares with our audience the lessons she learned while launching Koia and other brands in the small and emerging brand arena. Maya also shares what small and emerging brands should...

As your brand begins to gain traction, one way to accelerate the growth is to attend a trade show. But where do you start? There are so many and the cost (financial and time) is not cheap. On today's show we discuss how to select a show, the best way to attend, what to bring, how to prepare, and how to follow up on your leads. A couple of keys: know what you want to accomplish going in and wor...

In todays' episode we speak with Rebecca Styn- the Founder of Blind Tiger Spirit Free Cocktails.  She shares her story about how her brand came to be out of necessity due to Covid.  Rebecca also shares an interesting perspective on the value of mentors, building and a network, and offers some unique ideas on fundraising she pursued to help get her brand off the ground.  We hope you...

Episode 21: A Discussion with Ryan Springer- Founding Partner at the Investment firm Midnight Venture Partners   In today's Road 2 Retail episode, we speak with Ryan Springer- one of the founding partners at Midnight Venture Partners. Ryan shares his insights on what a small, emerging or challenger brand should consider as a checklist before approaching a potential investor. In his role...

On today’s episode of Road 2 Retail, we interview Joe Tarnowski the VP of Thought Leadership and Global Media for RangeMe. On this episode Joe details exactly what the RangeMe product is and shares best practices for brands on how to utilize the RangeMe platform to showcase their brands and reach buyers from all types of retailers.  Joe goes into detail explaining RangeMe Premium and RangeMe...

On today’s Road 2 Retail episode we speak with John Pinto, the founder of the BoomBoom brand of all-natural nasal inhalers. John shares with us how the brand started, the opportunity he saw in the market as well as the successes and challenges he has faced while building his brand.  John shares his experiences on the following topics:    • How to know you are ready for retail •...

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

In today's episode we talk about the many important issues to consider and decisions that need to be made when considering initial brick & mortar retail distribution as well as expanding from your  initial distribution.  We discuss classes of trade, demographic match between your brand and the retailer's shoppers, understanding the costs of securing distribution, performance expectat...

Today we speak with Wayne Bennett, SVP of Retail for ECRM and RangeMe.  Wayne shares with us examples of winning actions taken by small, emerging, and challenger brands over the course of his career that helped build their business.  Wayne also shares some insights into exactly how ECM and RangeMe can help small/emerging brands connect with retailers.  ECRM and RangeMe are the indus...

Today on the Road 2 Retail we speak with Richard Palmer- Executive Director of Little Big Brands.  LBB is a fantastic branding and design firm that has a long history of doing excellent work for their clients and helping them grow their business.  Today Richard discusses the importance of truly understanding your consumer, how to create a brand personality and voice, and the dangers of c...

In today’s episode of Road 2 Retail, the discussion centers around how to handle getting "The Call”.  The call in question is when your buyer calls you and tells you things are not going well, your brand is not meeting expectations, and action needs to be taken.  We discuss the importance of not going into a panic and how to think through and frame your response to the buyer's call or em...

Road 2 Retail- Episode # 13: Hiring a Broker to Assist with Sales  On today's Road 2 Retail podcast we interview Rob Maxwell- Senior Vice President of Dirty Hands Growth Services. In this episode, we begin the discussion with Rob by asking how to know when a small/emerging brand is ready to hire a broker to assist with the Sales effort.  Other topics covered include:   - Pros a...

In today's episode, we speak with Afif Ghannoum- CEO of BIOHM Health.  BIOHM Health is a firm helping consumers support their overall wellness by helping to optimize their gut health.  Afif shares with us his insights into building a science based brand, the importance of differentiation, some tips on being well organized before attempting to raise money, and some watch outs when you con...

In today's episode our guest is Krista Anderson-  the founder and CEO of Esstar.  Esstar focuses on helping consumers find brands that promote a healthy eating lifestyle.  Krista currently lives in, and works from, the South of France.   Krista has a tremendous business origin story as a stage 4 cancer survivor; she shares with us some great insight into her entrepreneuria...

Episode # 10:  On today's Road 2 Retail podcast we speak with Minor Hinson.  Minor is the Chief Investment Officer for Bourne Partners Strategic Capital.  Minor provides an overview of what investors look for when considering an investment in small, emerging brand as well as what kind of information should be included in a pitch deck and finally- what makes a good match between an i...

On today’s podcast we interview Dawn Kelley, the CEO of Barney Butter- the great tasting almond products brand. In this episode, Dawn shares great advice for small and emerging brands on the lessons she has learned on her journey to building the Barney Butter brand into one of the leading positions in the almond butter category. Dawn shares key moves her brand has made, what she would do different...

In today's episode (Episode 8) of The Road 2 Retail we discuss the importance of having a Go-to-Market strategy for your brand. This document becomes your GPS to building and growing your brand at retail. We discuss the specific components of the Go-to-Market strategy including, the optimal class of trade to approach first, the specific retailer within the class of trade to focus your efforts, pri...

On today’s Road 2 Retail podcast we interview Chris Hunter, the co-founder and CEO of the Koia brand. In this episode, Chris shares great advice to small and emerging brands on the lessons he has learned on his journey in developing the Koia brand. Chris shares his view on how to know you are ready for retail, mistakes to avoid, and how best to raise investment funds. You don’t want to miss this g...

In this week's Road 2 Retail podcast episode, Bruce Montgomery offers his views and commentary on the recently completed NACDS Annual conference which was held in Florida April 23-26.  This is a key event for manufacturers, suppliers, and retailers in the health and wellness space.  It is great to see key industry meetings coming back to in person attendance.