Winning Pitches with RangeMe & ECRM

This episode features the full panel discussion on the CPG Growth Journey from the recent ECRM/retailmediaIQ Founders’ Innovation Day event held December 10 in NYC.  The panel, moderated by ECRM’s Joseph Tarnowski, featured three brand-owners, each at varying stages of growth: Obi Linton, Co-Founder of Nicobi Foods, a 5-year old brand that is growing fast; Luke Schneider, Founder of Fire Departmen...

In this episode, Joe from ECRM sits down with Kiowa Kavovit, founder of Eco Bandage, to discuss her journey of creating a waterproof, colored liquid bandage and skin protectant that "seals, heals, and conceals." What began with a Shark Tank appearance at age six has evolved into a decade-long formulation process to create a sustainable, flexible liquid bandage that replaces traditional s...

How do you successfully launch an international brand into the competitive U.S. retail landscape?   In this episode, Taylor Schaly, shares how she did it for Trainers Choice, a Canadian orthopedic support brand that can be found in most of the major pharmacy and grocery chains in Canada, including Shoppers Drug Mart, Pharma Choice, Loblaws and Metro, as well as in many independent retailers.   Tay...

Molly Blakeley, the dynamic founder of Molly Bz Cookies shares the secrets behind building an unforgettable brand and scaling a CPG business.   Molly, who has been a serial entrepreneur since her teens, began her CPG journey as a single mom with only $150 to her name, to now having her gourmet cookies, known for their "weird" combinations like Hot Cheetos and Boba, sold in thousands of s...

In this episode, Fire Department Coffee Founder Luke Schneider, a former firefighter and Navy veteran, shares the company's inspiring journey – which began in 2016 as a direct-to-consumer business with a single blend and now is a successful national brand with several lines of products in approximately 10,000 stores. Much of FDC’s success comes from adopting a highly-focused strategy rather t...

Eco Bandage, The Crystal Charged Co. & FlickaFly are brands that have squeezed every drop of opportunity out of ECRM and RangeMe. Not only have they landed retail wins and gathered valuable insights from buyer meetings at ECRM Sessions across the Health & Beauty Care, Food & Beverage and General Merchandise Categories, but they have also found packaging and ingredient suppliers as buye...

Fresh Scents’ Andrew Allen and ECRM’s Joseph Tarnowski are HUGE fans of LinkedIn, and post and engage with people on the platform regularly. At a recent ECRM Session, they got together to each share what they love about the platform, and how they use it to support their efforts in connecting with other CPG retail industry folks.   They covered a lot of ground in this one, including:  Overall Linke...

Having beautifully-designed and structurally sound packaging helps get your brand onto retail shelves and into shoppers’ baskets, but in order to do that, all of the elements of the supply chain must work together seamlessly. From the brand's designers developing the concept, to the procurement team sourcing the raw materials, to the manufacturers creating and shipping it, communication and t...

Social commerce platform TikTok Shop has experienced significant growth since its launch in 2022, when ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, began beta testing a dedicated e-commerce platform in the United Kingdom and several Southeast Asian countries. It launched globally in September 2023 and ever since has been a favorite of emerging brands looking to scale up their direct-to-consumer effort...

Pholicious makes Vietnamese Pho that offers an authentic, restaurant-quality experience and can be made in just minutes. Since launching in 2021 – when Co-Founders Joseph and Ahn Trousdale sold their home and lived out of a trailer to finance operations – the brand is now in thousands of stores nationwide at retailers like Walmart, Stop & Shop, United Supermarkets, Kroger, Albertsons, Core-Mar...

Sales of THC beverages at on and off-premise locations are booming, and the customers span an array of demographics, as Scott Sousa, Beverage Director for Frenchy's and Clear Sky Restaurants, has seen at his foodservice operations and liquor store over the past few months.  And these customers are not who you would expect; they range from soccer moms to 70-year-olds, and sales of THC beverage...

NIQ’s Katie Hazlett shares the top product innovation trends that are driving growth in beauty, health, and wellness categories in this interview with ECRM’s Joseph Tarnowski, recorded on location at ECRM’s Personal Care, Health Car,e and Baby & Infant Sessions.  She takes a deep dive into three product innovation trends in particular: Brands that are viral on social media, brands that focus o...

ECRM's On & Off Premise Adult Beverage Session featured a special fireside chat with former mob boss Michael Franzese. During the discussion, hosted by Joseph Tarnowski, Michael shared his experience in organized crime, his redemption and positive transformation, and how he has applied the hard lessons he has learned along the way to growing his new brand, Franzese Wines.   Among the topi...

Nik Hall is the Co-Founder and former CEO of VitaFive, a supplement brand that saw tremendous growth at retail and on Amazon before its very successful acquisition by a major CPG company. Now, as CEO of REViVE Marketing Partners, he helps emerging brands scale up on Amazon.  In this interview with ECRM's Joseph Tarnowski, Nik shares key insights emerging brands need to know about growing thei...

Here's why the follow-up skills of Troy Potteiger, Director of Sales for Bones Coffee Company, lead to success on the shelf, according to Shawn Holmes at Hot Spot Convenience Stores, who added the brand's RTDs to its lineup earlier this year:   “From our first meeting back in July 2023, he made it a point to stay connected without ever being pushy — striking that rare balance between pro...

As consumer palates evolve and cultural diversity continues to shape the grocery landscape, the demand for authentic, flavorful, and globally inspired foods continues to grow. In this interview, Diana Sheehan, Founder of PDG Insights, explores the opportunity for retailers and brands to invest in Asian, Hispanic, and other global cuisines—not just as a trend, but as a long-term growth strategy.  A...

When you take feedback from your buyer meetings and incorporate it into your product development, good things happen -- as in major retail deals.    Nikki Parmar, Owner of Bodyform, knows this firsthand. When she goes into a buyer meeting, she is not only looking to secure distribution for her brand's line of feminine care products; she’s also seeking out valuable intel on how she can adapt h...

While Nicobi Foods may seem like an overnight success with its recent deals that include Walmart, Wakefern, and Ahold USA, it's really just the culmination of a journey that began many years ago -- and A LOT of hard, grinding work.    In his recent interview with ECRM's Joseph Tarnowski, Co-Founder Obi Linton shared his journey from Baltimore detective to an owner and operator of a resta...

To truly understand a buyer's needs, you need to ask a lot of questions. Detailed questions. Strategic questions. And then, you need to listen. Listen MUCH MORE than you speak. The result: You'll be armed with the information you need to direct you on the path to closing a deal.  Argires Snacks' George Argires is a case in point. For years, he was having trouble landing deals at ECR...

2025 Core-Mark Curated Winner & RangeMe Premium subscriber Unite Food is looking to shake up the protein bar aisle with globally-inspired flavors and natural ingredients. In this podcast, Founder & CEO Clara Paye shares her journey from Managing Director of a major plumbing manufacturer to launching a food brand with distribution at leading retailers like Target, Sprouts, H-E-B, and Meijer...

Moderation and convenience are shaping the way consumers buy adult beverages – both those they consume at home as well as those consumed at bars, restaurants, and hospitality venues. In this episode, NIQ’s Director of Beverage Alcohol Thought Leadership, Kaleigh Theriault, shares how these trends are impacting sales of wine, beer, spirits, and RTDs and where the opportunities lie within each of th...

Beauty brand Mudita Earth landed deals with Natural Grocers, Meijer and KeHE Distributors from buyer introductions made at ECRM Sessions. However, each of these retailers initially said “no” to the brand’s Co-Founder Pooja Chopra. In this interview, Chopra shares how she turned each of these “NOs” into a resounding “YES” via listening to the buyers’ needs, then adjusting her products, packaging an...

Sisters Jordan Catapano and Jocelyn Dunn are truly examples of how persistence and tenacity can pay off for brand owners. Over the past decade, they went from bartenders to authors to owners of a bartending business, then became CPG brand owners with the launch of a line of cocktail mixers called This Girl Walks Into a Bar.  Then earlier this year they lost the bartending business to the Los Angel...

Managing the Growth of CPG Teams: Founders Share Their Stories Cosset, Global Beauty Care and Okay Pure Naturals each started with only two or three people, and over the years have grown their companies to dozens of team members. This growth comes with several challenges, such as deciding which roles to fill first, finding the right hires, grooming future leadership, and handing off the reins of c...

How CPG Supplier Mekor 10Xed its Business by Listening Closely to Retail Buyers When Mekor Corp. first participated in ECRM Sessions, they were selling just a line of functional teas with distribution of just a few thousand doors. Now its distribution is more than ten times that and has expanded to include products like supplements, cookies, aloe vera drinks, and spices.  Sapan Nainani attributes...