the Joshua Schall Audio Experience

There’s a famous Wayne Gretzky quote that’s been repeated many times throughout my content over the years. You know the one…say it with me, “skate to where the puck is going, not where it has been.” And I’ve probably repeated it more times than I should because it’s one of those superb analogies that blend my love of sports and business strategy. But there’s a flipside to this mantra, one that doe...

47,000 convenience store owners have spoken, and they provided important insights on the growing energy drinks category. And even if you aren’t familiar with every insight regarding this beverage category, I’m sure you intuitively recognize that convenience is the most important sales channels for energy drinks in the U.S. market. But here are my top 3 biggest “categorical” takeaways from the rece...

After 35 years of dominating grade school cafeteria lunchtime, that yellow box filled with hyper-palatable foods is getting “remixed” by the creator packaged goods movement. For those that are living under a rock and didn’t see the product announcement from a few weeks ago, Lunchly is a kid-friendly meal kit that’s positioned as a better-for-you competitor to Lunchables. Now…there’s already severa...

Allulose is a naturally occurring sugar found in fruits like figs and raisins. According to a recent batch of SPINS innovation index data, Allulose was absurdly out indexing all other sweeteners across the entire grocery store. So, why is allulose banned by Whole Foods Market…and not approved yet for use in Canada and Europe? Maybe because most Allulose is synthesized in a lab, most likely from co...

A few days ago, images started popping up on social media platforms that showed Starbucks in-store signage giving customers the option of ordering “nutritional blends” that includes AG1 greens powder. And while that partnership didn’t seem far-fetched at all to me…it did have many people in the comments questioning if the images were AI-generated. Maybe that's just a “sign of the times” where you...

Longevity has become a cultural phenomenon…and that should be making functional CPG entrepreneurs salivate more than all those customers providing samples for DNA test kits. Did you know that more than half of Americans say it’s their goal to live to 100? But becoming a centenarian wasn’t always a goal sought by most Americans…partly because of what I’ve dubbed the “Mrs. Fletcher Effect.” You migh...

Broadly speaking, these last 2.5 years have been tough on CPG brands relying on investment to turbocharge their growth. But for those that developed fiscal discipline, adapted to the new operational reality, and proved their business model again…the ongoing stillness and fog for investment and M&A is starting to clear. A handful of recent deals reaffirm that strategics are reliant on CPG entre...

With the balance sheet in a great place, I think it’s the perfect time for General Mills (NYSE: GIS) to “reshape the brand portfolio” in hopes of staying relevant in today’s high protein grocery world. Over a very recent period of seven days…General Mills signaled twice (quite loudly in fact) that the 168-year-old multinational CPG company is ready to reshape its brand portfolio for growth. The fi...

In today’s big data world, sage advice like “follow your intuition” too often gets criticized within business settings. Yet, having deep domain expertise can improve your intuition breadth and depth…allowing your brain to unlock the powers of pattern-matching…and the ability to more consistently predict what will happen next. And as you’ll hear in this episode, I didn’t need to question how I came...

AI is the heartbeat of CRISPR gene-editing, precision fermentation, and cellular agricultural when it comes to unlocking boundless consumer-centric food advancements. These deep-learning platforms can design ingredients from billions of edible sequences and apply parameters for producing them. And I know A LOT of you are probably saying, “that’s not natural and probably dangerous,” which I totally...

It’s my belief that business strategy is at its highest impact when you also consider timing and cadence of decisions. So, what major strategic decision left me questioning if THG leadership is aligned with that principle? THG (aka the company formerly known as The Hut Group) recently updated the public markets by releasing its 2024 H1 trading statement. I’ll be utilizing that financial informatio...

Because I cut my teeth in what most call the “Barnum & Baily Circus” side of ingestible CPG (aka the sports nutrition niche of the supplement industry), I’m very used to founders making “big things coming” proclamations. But that being said, I’m struggling to remember the last time I’ve felt this much pre-launch wonder/intrigue around a functional CPG product…with many competitors, retailers,...

Most CPG companies are largely unready to handle the ingredient shortages, price hikes, and supply issues caused by climate change (and/or population growth) over the next decade. From staple crops to cash crops like cocoa and coffee, disruption from these factors won’t happen everywhere at once…but the impact severity will only increase over time. Food technology innovations like precision fermen...

It was two years ago when protein input prices got WHEY out of control, but as Justin Timberlake once said, "what goes around, goes around, goes around...comes all the way back around." But back in April of this year…I shared this funny meme on Instagram that provided a cryptic message to supplement brand owners that sell "whey protein" products. And I was trying to warn them t...

Even after shining a spotlight on arguably one of the largest “blue oceans” just over two years ago, it seems inattentional blindness continues to plague most supplement brands. But within the supplement industry…maybe the phenomenon of missing something so obvious could be attributed to being distracted by the same old way or even disbelief that there’s a simpler opportunity. The “sports nutritio...

Even though my son Axton is only four months old, I can already see the “like father, like son” idiom playing out. Any parent knows that our children will mimic us…the good stuff, the bad stuff, and even all those autopiloted daily consumption decisions. But what happens when it’s recommended that kids under 12 shouldn’t drink something that 73% of American adults drink daily? Well…a 7-year-old no...

Can “radical transparency” be an effective strategy within the supplement industry? While this subject matter exploration began almost a decade ago through various strategic management consulting projects, it has also found its way into many of my past content pieces. But the inspiration behind this current radical transparency content has roots in what first motivated me to investigate the manage...

More than 40,000 convenience store owners have spoken, and they shared some interesting takes surrounding the growing energy drinks category. And even if you aren’t familiar with every insight regarding this beverage category, I’m sure you intuitively recognize that convenience is the most important sales channels for energy drinks in the U.S. market. But here are my top 3 biggest “categorical” ta...

If you’ve spent any time recently perusing the grocery shelves, it’s likely that you noticed that high-protein claims are penetrating more diverse food and beverage categories. In addition to the ubiquitous protein bars, protein powders, and protein shakes...you can now buy items such as protein pasta, protein bagels, protein waffles, protein chips, protein coffee, and even protein-boosted version...

As my deep domain expertise has digitally disseminated, it’s provided immense opportunities to connect with likeminded individuals across the entire health and wellness CPG ecosystem. And that includes the “investment and financial services layer,” which shouldn’t be surprising to regular audience members…as my content has always been heavy-handed in that general area. So, with the emerging and in...

71% of you have snacked in the past 24 hours. But despite the frequency of snacking occasions remaining stable over the past decade, the consumer has evolved. Today, snacking goes far beyond “filler” between meals or mindless munching…they’re often an expression of personal goals and values in our fast-paced, health-conscious world. 36% of all snacking occasions involve some need for “Optimization...

Over its first 3.5 years in market, the only constant at ZOA Energy seems to be change. So, I'll start this content off by reconciling some of my original thoughts around ZOA Energy (from a content piece I created a month before the energy drink even launched), with the drastic changes ZOA made in January 2023. This includes product enhancements, flavor adjustments, and shifts to the visual id...

At one time or another, we’ve all been asked the common question, “what’s one thing you wish you could tell a younger version of yourself?” While “Marty McFly” is the only person I know that’s successfully gone “Back to the Future,” my conversation with Blodin Ukella (Founder and CEO of The RYL Company) provided me a closely similar opportunity. And that’s because a decade earlier, I was that same...

What keeps the CEOs of beverage conglomerates like The Coca-Cola Company, Pepsico, and Anheuser-Busch up at night worrying? I’d guess you initially considered the normal propaganda that “sugar is bad” or “alcohol is terrible,” but there might be a bubblier culprit that ends up creating the most discomfort. Today, around two-thirds of adults experience regular digestive symptoms like gas, bloating,...

Is FitLife Brands “the little supplement brand portfolio” that could? For those unaware, the supplement brands that are within the FitLife Brands portfolio are now categorized in three segments: Legacy FitLife Brands, which is broken into two sub-segments…NDS Products (which are a collection of brands mostly sold in the GNC franchise system), iSatori Products (which are a collection of brands sold...