the Joshua Schall Audio Experience

The largest distributor of nutritional and sports supplements was hit hard by the “COVID-19 Effect” and it could be on the verge of bankruptcy. This might confuse my community a bit because I’ve stated on many occasions (and gave supporting data on) how exceptionally well the overall nutritional supplements and ancillary functional CPG market has performed against the pandemic business environment...

During the last piece of Celsius Holdings content, I asked “what happens after you get to the moon”, which was a reference to passing the $100 million sales mark that’s elusive for energy drink brands that don't also have a national distribution contract or share a cap table with one of the five large beverage portfolios. At $50 million in 21Q1 net sales ($200 million run rate), I guess they have...

Did Glanbia Performance Nutrition benefit from pent-up global demand or is something else at play here? Glanbia Performance Nutrition 21Q1 net revenues increased 17.6% YoY on a like-for-like basis from both strong pricing and volume increases. While that growth is extremely strong, leadership did note on the earnings call that about one-third of the consumption growth can be attributed to inventor...

Positive in-store (and digital) same store comps will attract a larger pool of interested franchisees and the “COVID-19 Effect” lingering further only strengthens the consumer behavioral pattern around prioritizing all things health and wellness. This combination makes The Vitamin Shoppe potentially very attractive for prospective franchisees. With a run rate of almost $1.2 billion, the specialty...

Bellring Brands (NYSE: BRBR) growth storm has further strengthened from the recent performance of Dymatize Nutrition, but what takes the active nutrition brand portfolio to the next level? BellRing Brands is a portfolio that owns a collection of convenient nutrition brands like Premier Protein, Dymatize Nutrition, Powerbar, Joint Juice, and Supreme Protein (recently shuttered), which was previousl...

Today’s consumers are increasingly wanting more than simple products. The value they are looking for comes from experiencing the use of a product that is tailored to their specific needs and preferences. Delivering such experiences often requires complex and integrated systems that can no longer satisfied by functional CPG brands only offering “off the rack” products without additional value creat...

Increased transparency is great for every supplement industry stakeholder, right? Ask any key leader within the supplement industry and they will mention that there’s a clear connection between increased transparency and consumer trust. As more consumers add supplements into their daily routine, it’s imperative every player within the value-chain embrace a greater level of transparency to ensure t...

Even before it’s announcement to buy The Bountiful Company, Nestle was quietly becoming one of most important players (if not the most important player) in the supplement industry. If you haven’t heard by now, Nestle agreed to buy a collection of brands from VMS portfolio The Bountiful Company for $5.75 billion. I believe this M&A activity has huge short-term and long-term implications for the...

How can the first fitness influencer in history help us anticipate the future of influencer marketing? What’s happening today is not new, with most being remixed strategies and methods from years, decades, and even sometimes centuries past. Recently, I was reading an Economist article that made me ponder the trend of fitness influencers. If asked when did fitness influencers start, you might say p...

After a year-long delay stemming from the “COVID-19 Effect”, The Vitamin Shoppe finally opened itself up to a refranchising process. As many of my followers know, I’ve said The Vitamin Shoppe would move to a franchise model since their acquisition announcement in August of 2019. The franchise disclosure documents should have been ready in 2020, but the “COVID-19 Effect” created an uncertain busine...

I’ve always believed that Hip Hop and CPG entrepreneurship are linked together. Firstly, Hip Hop is seen as counterculture to other music genres, which is similar to CPG entrepreneurship in today’s “technology” filled founder landscape. Additionally, Hip Hop and CPG entrepreneurship are both centered around being salesmanship and the ability to hustle. Moreover, Hip Hop music is rooted in remixing...

Quest Nutrition has unlocked growth from leveraging the strengthening functional confectionery trend, but the question of whether it's enough to offset declines in the Quest Bar and Atkins protein bar SKUs is still uncertain. In this latest podcast episode, I'll utilize the 2021Q2 Simply Good Foods Company (NASDAQ: SMPL) earnings report, earnings call, and supplemental presentations as the backdro...

MusclePharm slammed home its first profitable year in company history, as the sports nutrition brand finally sees some fruits of its labor stemming from the extensive multi-year turnaround plan. For this podcast episode, I'll utilize the MusclePharm Corporation (OTCMKTS: MSLP) 2020Q4 earnings report, that was released on 3/30/2021, to breakdown the most important key updates surrounding the maker...

Even the GNC bankruptcy couldn’t take down the transformation plans that are in-process at FitLife Brands (OTCMKTS: FTLF). A national provider of nutritional supplements for health-conscious consumers, FitLife Brands markets under two brand segment names; NDS Products (sold through the GNC network) and iSatori Products (sold through a diversified retail mix of 17,000 locations). I'll utilize the r...

Looking at its recent performance, GURU Organic Energy is giving off a Celsius Holdings vibe from 2-3 years ago. For those that aren't aware of the brand, GURU Organic Energy launched in 1999 as the world’s first plant-based all-natural energy drink in Quebec, Canada. In the U.S. market, they launched in  2005 with Whole Foods Market. The current CEO Carl Goyette joined in 2014 and is really...

How did Laird Superfood (NYSE: LSF) do at navigating the big waves of Wall Street in Year 1 as a publicly-traded company? For those unfamiliar, Laird Superfood was co-founded in 2015 by namesake Laird Hamilton, which is most famously known as the greatest big wave surfer of all-time. Laird Superfood is an emerging consumer products platform focused on manufacturing and marketing highly differentia...

Celsius Holdings went "to the moon”, but what happens next? For those that might not understand that "Reddit or Fintwit reference", it's a phrase used when someone thinks the price of a stock is going to see a huge increase. Celsius Holdings has skyrocketed close to 1000% in the last 12 months, but they also hit the elusive $100 million mark in yearly revenue. This is a sales target that is extrem...

While the Vitamin Shoppe had arguably the most challenging year of its 44-year history, it ended up coming out of 2020 smelling like roses. How is that possible? To help express this notion, I'll run through The Vitamin Shoppe 2020Q4 earnings report that was released 3/10/2021 under its owner Franchise Group Inc. While the financial information in the report continues to be relatively small, I was...

Read just about any fitness article that mentions the consumption of alcohol and it have you believing it will absolutely destroy any of your physique goals. So, why have more fitness-focused companies aligned themselves with alcoholic beverages? Fact is, negativity towards alcohol within a healthy person's life wasn't always so grim, as advertising in the 1920s said “Guinness is good for you!” To...

Historically speaking, there were these unwritten rules that children were off limits to functional CPG brands, but do those rules hold weight anymore? That being said, most of us have been drinking ready-to-mix supplement powders from birth with brands like Similac essentially being a watered-down vitamin/mineral-fortified meal replacement shake. As we grew older, we continued to take Flintstones...

How is the American economy doing? According to the Federal Reserve’s latest Beige Book, most businesses remain optimistic regarding the next 6-12 months as economic activity expanded in the first part of 2021, but what about the CPG industry specifically? The Beige Book is a Federal Reserve System publication that collects mostly qualitative information, gathered directly from District sources. T...

Coca-Cola Energy seemed like it was a strong opening poker hand, but after a year in-market, should The Coca-Cola Company hold them or fold them? To be completely honest, when The Coca-Cola Company announced it was launching a branded energy drink in the U.S. market in late 2019, I believed Coca-Cola Energy would do more for the U.S. energy drink market than any other product/brand since Red Bull...

Is it time for wellness brands to start channeling their inner Silver Fox and Gray Panther spirit animals? As it stands, the 50+ crowd is largely ignored by fitness and wellness brands. That is changing fast, as companies wake up to the huge underserved market that no longer subscribes to the “I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up!” commercials of the late 1980s. While seniors control 70% of the America...

Glanbia Performance Nutrition is in the free fall portion of the bungee jump, but will the strategic transformation cord catch it before it’s too late? Glanbia plc (LON:GLB) is a global nutrition company that's comprised of two wholly-owned segments; Glanbia Nutritionals and Glanbia Performance Nutrition. For this podcast episode, I'll mainly focus on the latter, which comprises of various nutriti...

Can you imagine living without frozen pizza, potato chips, ice cream or Tennessee whiskey? Fact is, these CPG food and beverage staples and many more would likely not exist today in their current iteration if it wasn’t for the innovative and inventive minds of Black Americans throughout history. Every year I grow older (and hopefully a bit wiser), I’ve found it increasingly important to study the...