the Joshua Schall Audio Experience

How did I think Sharon Leite, CEO of The Vitamin Shoppe, did on her episode of Undercover Boss? I’ll be honest, I was super excited when The Vitamin Shoppe shared the news a month or two ago that they would be featured on the wildly successful CBS reality show. Firstly, because as many of my community knows I’m a big fan of Sharon Leite and the job she was doing at The Vitamin Shoppe. Secondly, be...

The metaverse is coming, but is your CPG brand ready for it? Do you hear the words web3, crypto, blockchain, NFTs, and/or metaverse and instantly think how far behind you are? Don’t worry, I’m right with you at times. I hear people are getting married in the metaverse. I hear people are holding business meetings in the metaverse. I hear people are spending millions to acquire virtual real estate i...

Based on the popularity of this event prediction video from the last three years, I decided to again put my reputation on the line and try and predict the five Sports Nutrition Industry events that could happen in 2022. My one big rule for these annual trend prediction lists is that I don’t allow carryover from previous years. Additionally, since these are outlandish predictions, I try and take Ha...

Monster Beverage Corporation, maker of Monster Energy drinks, is purchasing CANarchy Craft Brewery Collective, a portfolio of craft beer and hard seltzer brands, for $330 million in cash. What? Why? OK. This shouldn’t be that big of a surprise for those of you that consume my content regularly. The deal gives Monster Beverage Corporation a foothold in the alcohol market through a nationwide networ...

Based on the popularity of this trend prediction video from the last three years, I decided to again put my reputation on the line and try and predict the Top 5 Retail Industry Trends or Event Predictions in 2022. My one big rule for these annual trend prediction lists is that I don’t allow carryover from previous years. This makes it more challenging, but also a little odd since trends are multiy...

If you haven’t heard yet, Starbucks and Amazon recently entered into a retail partnership. This new store concept is called the Starbucks Pickup with Amazon Go Experience. My gut reaction to hearing this news leak a few months ago was one of exuberance. Now that the first official location in midtown Manhattan NYC is open, it’s easy to see that these pickup-only Starbucks stores paired with Amazon...

Based on the popularity of this trend prediction content from the last three years, I decided to again put my reputation on the line and try and predict the Top 5 Sports & Active Nutrition Industry Trends in 2022. My one big rule for these annual trend prediction lists is that I don’t allow carryover from previous years. This makes it more challenging, but also a little odd since trends are mu...

Have you noticed that Quest Nutrition is impressively executing on a very difficult CPG strategy, yet The Simply Good Foods Company isn’t getting enough credit for it? In this latest episode, I'll utilize the 2022 Q1 Simply Good Foods Company (NASDAQ: SMPL) earnings report, earnings call, and supplemental presentations that were filed on 1/5/2022 as the backdrop to provide broad health and fitness...

How did J. Schall Consulting do in 2021? For those that only know me as a “content creator” shame on you, well I guess shame on me for not better explaining who I am and what I actually do for a living. I certainly don’t make money creating content, on the contrary, it costs me a shit ton of money in opportunity costs annually but don’t worry I’m not quitting anytime soon. The variety of business...

Based on the popularity of this trend prediction content from the previous three years, I decided to again put my reputation on the line and try and predict the Top 5 Functional Food and Beverage Product Trends in 2022. My one big rule for these annual trend prediction lists is that I don’t allow carryover from previous years. This makes it more challenging, but also a little odd since trends are...

Welcome to the 2021 J. Schall Consulting Awards. This is the third annual year-end awards show that focuses on better for you CPG product categories, along with the grocery, brick and mortar, and internet retailers. This is the pinnacle of award shows that are light on tradition, peppered with randomness, and heavy handed with personal bias.  While the awards categories were selected at rando...

Remember all those low barriers of entry that disrupted the functional CPG industry…well let’s just say things are becoming just a tad bit different now. The functional CPG space is incredibly competitive and very low switching costs at the consumer-level. That makes being a success story in the functional CPG market tough enough, but I do have some additional bad news. The way entrepreneurs histo...

Most times corporate marketing is extremely boring, but sometimes…it's different! Corporate marketing is a type of marketing that promotes the company as a whole, as opposed to individual products. Ultimately, the main goal of corporate marketing is to improve brand image, while strengthening relationships with your customers so they become brand advocates. When corporate marketing is working corr...

Around 80% of executives at big CPG companies believe mergers and acquisitions (M&A) deal-making activity will continue increasing after the lows during the pandemic year of 2020. This makes a lot of sense if you think about it in the simplest manner; (1) the CPG industry has had an amazing two-year run (2) CPG companies would have likely been more aggressive in 2020 if it weren't for the high...

There’s this classic rule in business that you shouldn’t talk about your competition, but is that still applicable today? The most typical way that business leaders think about competition can be summed up by business icon Jack Welch that once said, "Number one, cash is king; number two, communicate; number three, buy or bury the competition." For many, competition is a central driver in business...

We are coming to the end of 2021, so it’s that time of year again where I create numerous content pieces that either recap some aspect of the current year or put my reputation on the line as a forward-leaning strategist and make predictions about the upcoming year. In this first year-end list podcast episode of the season, I cover the top 5 biggest sports nutrition brand winners of 2021. GHOST Lif...

TreeHouse Foods, the nation’s leading manufacturer and distributor of private label packaged foods and beverages, is exploring strategic options for its business. Over the past several years, it has closed several plants, reduced SKUs, cut jobs and abandoned business units to become a more focused, nimble company. Despite those efforts, the changes have done little to excite investors with the sto...

If you haven’t looked deeply into Herbalife Nutrition recently, it might give you the “new company who dis” vibes. Almost all businesses were forced to transform themselves to some level after the “COVID-19 Effect” severely interrupted normal business operations. For Herbalife Nutrition (and other MLM companies), it's business model was severely impacted because the MLM operational structure relie...

Everyone knows that the supplement industry supply chain is a total mess right now, but crawling into the fetal position and crying yourself to sleep nightly isn’t going to help your supplement brand. I guess I should take a step back and explain what I mean when I talk about supply chain challenges in the CPG industry, what are we trying to solve? At the core, it’s about keeping inventory on shel...

Why do I feel like the Monster Beverage and Constellation Brands merger reports resembles a famous early 1800s French erotic painting? How’s that for an odd introduction? Stay with me though because it will make more sense by the end of this episode. Last week, reports surfaced from Bloomberg that Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ: MNST), the maker of Monster Energy drinks, is exploring a busin...

Huel is looking for a huge exit event soon, but should the plant-based meal replacement maker go the initial public offering route or opt to sell the business? Are you familiar with Huel (which stands for Human + Fuel)? You should be if you’re an avid follower of my content because I’ve mentioned the active nutrition brand on a handful of separate occasions over the past year. These Huel mentions...

Should active nutrition brands get ready for a “New Year, New Me” pull-forward effect? In the active nutrition industry, the first quarter is generally its version of the Super Bowl. There’s a front-loaded seasonality to the active nutrition industry that usually sets the tone for how well the active nutrition brand’s year is going to shape up. This is because almost half of all adult Americans (~...

Will the launch of energy drinks help MusclePharm diversify away from the challenging protein markets that left the "Athletes Company" badly beaten up this quarter? In the third quarter of 2021, MusclePharm (OTCMKTS: MSLP) saw its net sales decline 25.6% YoY. While that declining sales trend is alarming, it's nothing compared to gross margins that declined 3090 basis points YoY to 0.2%. So, why di...

Is Post Holdings (NYSE: POST) bailing out its former wholly-owned Active Nutrition brand portfolio? BellRing Brands (NYSE: BRBR) is a portfolio that owns a collection of convenient nutrition brands like Premier Protein, Dymatize Nutrition, Powerbar, and Joint Juice. Consumers are looking to purchase better nutritious products and improve their overall health. The “COVID-19 Effect” created a huge s...

As the premium coffee market built by Starbucks matures, consumers are craving “a fresh set of brands.” To stand out, these coffee brands aren’t attempting to take on the coffee giant directly, instead they’re carving out unique niches to speak to certain demographics or geographies. With extremely strong founder market fit, Black Rifle Coffee Company looks to be in the early years of a long-term...