Hayley Sanderlin-Turner

🚨 Big, game changing news in the beverage industry Nation’s leading beverage company Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. (KDP) just acquired GHOST Energy! 👻🔋 This billion dollar investment is a perfect collaboration and a clear signal of where the market is heading—consumers want more than just a drink; they want function, performance, and flavor all in one, without compromising quality. With Ghost’s strong focus on energy, performance, and transparency, I think this acquisition is set to shake things up across both traditional and functional ready to drink (RTD) beverage markets, and steer into high gear the next wave of innovative, performance-driven drinks. It’s inspiring to see established brands like KDP diving deeper into functional nutrition! This isn’t just about expanding product lines; it’s about responding and adapting to changing consumer demands and focusing on health-conscious, active lifestyles. Ghost’s high-energy loyal fan base pairs well with KDP’s resources, their strong, extensive distribution network, and eclectic portfolio of 125+ brands. Looking forward to seeing the future unique innovative products and growth that will come from this partnership! 👻🔋 Would love to hear your thoughts! How do you see this acquisition changing the beverage landscape? #BeverageIndustry #Innovation #FunctionalDrinks #KeurigDrPepper #GhostEnergy

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'Regenerative' is all the rage in CPG these days... But what does it even mean? What is happening with leading brands, retailers, and certifiers? It was fun to flip the script, be podcast guests instead of hosts, and have the chance to answer some of these questions! ⭐️ One listener already sent me a note saying "this was a great regen CPG 101 for me!" Kyle and I joined Isaac & Ryan on The Retail & Social Podcast to chat about the following: 🤔 What is regenerative agriculture? 👉 The contentious current state of regenerative claims in CPG 🍉 Why fresh produce is lagging behind other categories in regen adoption 🤯 The diversity of brands and products with regen claims 💪 Are regenerative products more nutrient-dense? 🛍️ How are retailers supporting regenerative brands? 👍 Why we need multiple points of market validation in the regen continuum 👀 Who are some brands to watch in the space? 🙅‍♂️ Why consumers won’t buy products just because they’re regenerative 🤝 Balancing inclusivity and integrity for the biggest possible positive Check it out and let me know what you think! 🎧 Listen HERE: https://lnkd.in/eJkViuSw #regenerativeagriculture #regenerativefarming #regenerativefoodsystems #cpg #regenbrands #food #beverage #podcast #sustainability #innovation

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Starting a new CPG Brand is hard, and feels like you're reinventing the wheel every time. I'm thinking of creating a beginners guide for launching a food or beverage brand. Would that be helpful? It would be a collection of the basics around retail, distribution, channel strategy, co-manufacturing, and finance/fundraising. Do you think something like this is needed? What other topics would you add? I'm also looking for CPG founders to share their stories. Would you be interested? Oh, and it would be completely free. #CPG #foodandbeverage

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Good advice here on how to make independent retail work for Non Alcoholic products-create a dedicated Non Alcoholic set first and foremost-so the customer who is used to the diverse offerings online can find the products, validate the selections, and explore

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This is easily one of the best articles I've read in some time about the American fixation on beverages right now. It calls out some fascinating stats including the fact that at Starbucks, nearly 25% of customized beverages have at least THREE modifications. It's a far cry from the days when people were considered "high maintenance" for ordering salad dressing or condiments on the side. These days, consumers live in a world that feels more stressful so having small daily indulgences becomes a bigger priority. My personal favorite quote was the stay-at-home mom who refers to her Dutch Bros. purchases as her "emotional support beverages". Another woman talked about her daily Starbucks order (brown sugar shaken espresso with oat milk, a scoop of vanilla bean powder, a few pumps of vanilla syrup, cinnamon cold foam, and a lining of caramel syrup), which costs her $9.73. She orders one every day. As Americans have learned more about food and ingredients (no small thanks to The Food Network), more and more people have gotten creative with flavors. As such, food and beverages have created an outlet for self-expression and the beverage category specifically makes this a fun and easy way to truly build-your-own custom drink complete with flavors, colors, and textures. #beveragetrends #beveragemenu #customizeddrinks #custombeverage

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Are you aware of the programs out there for emerging brands? More and more, retailers and distributors are becoming very aware that consumer demand for new and emerging brands is higher than ever in CPG. BIG guys are looking for the LITTLE guys that might be the next BIG thing. Here are just a few: 🌟 McLane Company, Inc. Emerging Brands Marketplace powered by Mable 🌟 US Foods Direct Marketplace available through Mable 🌟 7-Eleven Brands w/ ❤️ 🌟 Target's Forward Founders and Target Takeoff 🌟 Walmart Open Call 🌟 Sprouts Farmers Market Innovation Center 🌟 If you know of others not listed - please let me know in the comments! If you haven't read the recent article from Nosh.com's Shauna Golden about retail chains sourcing exciting emerging brands, then be SURE to read the article in the comments. You'll read valuable insight on a few of these emerging brands programs from Yasmin Curtis (Two Fish Foods) , Sabeena Ladha (DEUX), Emily Knapp (Stellar Granola), Israel Moreira (Doughp), Scott Gutche (Walmart), and me (Bon Bee™ Honey). And BONUS heads up! The application for 7-Eleven's Brands w/ ❤️ is live NOW through November 3. Check out the link in comments to apply. (pic here from our recent stint with Brands w/ ❤️ ... now THAT's a Slurpee.) #LeaveNoRockUnturned #emergingbrands #retailgrowth #cpg #veteranowned #womenowned #familybusiness #sharktank

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What’s new in CPG this week? Let’s round it up: 🍽️ Food, Beverage, and Alcohol News → Fire Department Coffee at Walmart: Fire Department Coffee secured distribution at Walmart. → Explorer Cold Brew Launches Canned Cold Brews: Explorer unveiled a range of 12 oz. canned cold brews with varying caffeine levels (Explorer). → Mark Anthony Brands Launches Lemada: The owner of White Claw launched Lemada, an RTD vodka lemonade brand in the UK (Grocery Trader). → Tia Lupita Foods Refreshes Chips: Tia Lupita Foods reformulated and refreshed their grain-free tortilla chip line (Instagram). → Evolution Fresh Introduces Real Fruit Soda: Bolthouse Farms’ Evolution Fresh launched a new line of healthy sodas in five flavors (Evolution Fresh). → Bones Coffee Now at Walmart: Bones Coffee Company launched its products at select Walmart stores. → jonesbar Nationwide at Whole Foods: Organic bar brand jonesbar is now available nationwide at Whole Foods Market. → Nixie Available at Price Chopper: Nixie’s products are now available at Price Chopper. → JAMBAR Organic Energy Bars at Whole Foods: JAMBAR Organic Energy Bars are now available at Whole Foods Market in California and Hawaii. → Gin Market Growth: Global gin volumes increased by 4% in 2023, with consumption up nearly a quarter compared to 2019 (The Spirits Business). 💄 Apparel, Cosmetics, and Wellness Updates → Monos Opens New Store: Travel brand Monos opened its second Canadian retail location in Toronto (Business Wire). → MOON and Hello Kitty Collaboration: MOON released a Hello Kitty collaboration available at Amazon, Nordstrom, and Ulta Beauty (PR Newswire). → Deuxmoi Launches Fragrance: Celebrity gossip outlet Deuxmoi launched a fragrance with Voyage et Cie, available exclusively at Violet Grey (Glossy). → Skylar Clean Beauty’s New Scent: Skylar Clean Beauty released a new fragrance called Citrus Reverie (Business Wire). 💼 Mergers & Acquisitions → Sprecher Acquires Stake in O2 Hydration: Sprecher Brewing Company acquired a minority stake in O2 Hydration, expanding its beverage portfolio (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel). → Bragg Live Food Products Explores Sale: Bragg Live Food Products, known for apple cider vinegar, is exploring a sale that could value the company over $500M. Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom are among its investors (Reuters). 💰 Fundraising Highlights → Natura & Co Launches VC Fund: Brazilian beauty firm Natura & Co launched Vox Capital, a new venture fund seeded with R$50M to back startups in circular economy and beauty tech (Global Cosmetics News). → It’s Skinny Pasta Secures $3.8M: Austin-based It’s Skinny Pasta raised $3.8M in equity funding, focusing on low carb, high fiber pasta (SEC). → NIO Cocktails Raises Funds: Milan-based NIO Cocktails secured an undisclosed amount from The Growth Foundation, known for their RTD cocktails (The Spirits Business). Enjoyed this? Follow me for roundups every Friday.

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This one daily habit helps me stay focused as a CPG entrepreneur: (Spoiler alert: it’s not “cold plunging”) Can you guess what habit this is? If you guessed “journaling,” you’d be right! Everyone’s favorite productivity hack didn’t work for me. In fact: I was against it for a long time. (I have dozens of unfinished notebooks in my office right now, gathering cobwebs in my drawers) My problem is that I would be consistent, write every day, and then fall of it for a bit… for seemingly no reason. I just thought maybe journaling didn’t work for me. I was wrong. I found a system that actually works: An electric notebook. This helped me build a daily writing habit: To-do lists, goals, my self-development journey, etc. I started writing whatever I wanted. Almost immediately, I was: • Checking in with myself, morning and night • Reflecting on my day with intention and gratitude • Being more present, conscious, and aware of my goals Most of all: Journaling has helped me stay aligned with my core values, mission, and vision—as a CPG entrepreneur, and not-too-serious human. If you’re building a business, you need to stay focused on your long-term vision. Whether you use journaling, meditation, to-do lists, or another form of reflection to stay on track… Just try sticking with it. See what happens in a few months, or even a year. You never know what could happen. P.S. Do you journal? If so, are you Team Electric or Team Ordinary Notebook? 

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𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲-𝗔𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗡𝗔𝗖𝗦: 𝗠𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗶𝗻 𝗵𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗢𝘃𝗲𝗿 1200 "𝗯𝗼𝗼𝘁𝗵𝘀" 𝗡𝗼 𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻/𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘀- nothing stood out in either food or bev space. 𝗠𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝗼- a lot of me too products- energy drinks, water, meat sticks, jerky and chips 𝗦𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘀- large CPG companies (you know who they are) did NOT hand out full size samples. These massive companies would spend over $250K on a "booth" but cut up their samples to bite size. Shame....Shame....Shame.... Reason? budget and cutting back. REALLY????? 𝗖𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗯𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀/𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗹𝘂𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿𝘀- I won't mention who was there but a handful of known personalities. Does it move the needle? The booths get attention which I guess is the goal!? Show is too long: Day 1 and 2: 10:30 AM to 5:30 PM and Day 3: 9:30 AM-1:30 PM. IMHO cut the show hours down to a 4 hour window for two days. Day 3 was a waste of time. NO-ONE was there. I get the reasons but this method is not working and not right for all the vendors. New Exhibitor Section- As always the best section. We at Palermo's Pizza had a booth with a lot of samples handed out and attention. Screamin Sicilian got major kudos for a well known and great product from many buyers. 𝗤𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗜 𝗮𝘀𝗸 𝗺𝘆𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳: How does a booth get attention and interest? Great product? Hand out something special and unique? These are the questions I often ponder and do not have a solid answer. Now what? Leads captured and then what? This is the crucial step to gaining distribution in the c-store channels.

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If you're heading to SuperZoo Aug. 14-16 in Las Vegas, you won't want to miss the panel at 10:30 a.m. CT on Aug. 16 on opportunities for Petcare Startups. SKU Executive Director Buff Greebe will be a part of the superstar panel of the leaders of the nation's top industry accelerators. Other members of the panel include: - Moderator: SKU alum Jamie Smith, co-founder of Innovative Pet Lab - Dustin McAdams, EIR Purina PetCare Innovation Prize - Anne Gunden, Program Manager, Animal Health Plug and Play - Rachel Sheppard, Director Ventures at Mars Petcare Pet industry professionals from around the world will attend the 2024 SuperZoo, North America’s leading pet retail trade show. More than 16K attendees are expected to attend this year's show, including more than 1.3K buyers and 1.1K exhibitors. Several SKU alums will be exhibiting, including Springer Pets (1488), 🐶 A Pup Above (3469) and Innovative Pet Lab (7177). If you would like to connect with Buff Greebe at the show, email him at [email protected] to schedule a time. Michelle Breyer Buff Greebe Brooke Wilson Maddie S. 🐶 Ruth Stedman Marriott Javier A. Marriott Shannon Ross James (Jay) DeLong #petcare #petstartups #accelerator #petaccelerator #petproducts #emergingbrands #dogfood #catfood #dogaccessorites #petcare #petcareindustry #petcareinnovation #petaccelerators #mentors #mentorshipmatters #petstartups #petfounders #entrepreneurship #founders #emergingbrands #petemergingbrands

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These statistics on alcohol consumption in the U.S. are quite revealing. The top 10% of consumers are responsible for over 70% of total drinks consumed, with the top 20% consuming more than 2 drinks per day. Conversely, 60% of consumers average less than 1 drink per week. With impending updates to guidelines on safe alcohol consumption levels in the U.S., it will be interesting to observe how this distribution evolves. Where do you fall on this consumption chart? Thanks for bringing to my attention Tim Perreira Tim Barnes Darren McKee #AlcoholConsumption #USStatistics #HealthGuidelines

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🗞️What’s new this week with CPG brands? Let’s celebrate the wins from emerging brands! Here are news stories you have to read: 🛒 𝐑𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐈𝐋 𝐑𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐒 🥭 Jack & Friends, founded by Jessica Kwong, is now available at the Whole Foods Daily Shop in Lennox Hill, NYC, with plans to expand to all Whole Foods Northeast locations next month. 🌾 Chasin' Dreams Farm, founded by Sydney Chasin, has launched its regeneratively farmed sorghum snacks at Whole Foods South Pacific. 🌿 SEEDLY, founded by Mateen Pouyafar, has launched its low-sugar Seed Bark in MOM's Organic Market, bringing three delicious seed-packed flavors to health-conscious shoppers. 🍛 Lentiful, founded by Ben Bacon, is now available in Wegmans Food Markets, 370 Walmart stores, and on Misfits Market, solidifying its presence in key grocery chains across the Northeast. 🌶️ Maazah, founded by Sheilla and Yasameen Sajady, MBA, is gearing up for major retail expansion with upcoming partnerships with Costco, Whole Foods, and Target. 🚀 𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐃𝐔𝐂𝐓 𝐋𝐀𝐔𝐍𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐒 ☕ BAUER'S BREW, founded by Mike Bauer, has debuted COLDSPRESSO, crafted using a proprietary Cold'Xtraction process to elevate coffee from a commodity to an art form. 🤝 𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐍𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐏𝐒 🧃 MIZO, co-founded by Holly Paul and Chris Tran, secured a Walmart Open Call Golden Ticket, paving the way for its hard juice pouches to hit Sam’s Club shelves nationwide in 2025. 💸 𝐈𝐍𝐕𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐀𝐂𝐐𝐔𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 🥣 Lil Bucks, founded by Emily Griffith, closed a $3M Series A round led by Proterra Investment Partners. 🎉 𝐍𝐄𝐖𝐒 𝐓𝐎 𝐂𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐄 🥄 Little Spoon, co-founded by Ben Lewis and Angela Vranich, became the first baby food company in the U.S. to test every batch for 500+ toxins, setting a new industry safety standard. 🌱 Wild Bay, founded by Sid Sharma, was honored to be featured at Ignite Capital's Baltimore showcase, spotlighting its current fundraising efforts. In collaboration with Amber Caro from Marketbite. Read more about each story here: https://lnkd.in/g4pbia-E Have your own news to share? Submit here: Foodbevy.com/submit #CPG #FoodandBeverage

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There are three critical things to communicate when it comes to growing your CPG brand. Whether it’s investors, buyers, distributors or anyone else who you need to get on board. 1. Where are you going? Vision is a word that gets thrown around a lot, but when you define what that actually means it’s the answer to a simple question. It’s a powerful guide for your behavior everyday. It’s critical to know where you want to be years down the line, if you are going to build alignment with key stakeholders along the way. EVERYONE wants to go to the promised land, so tell them where that is, what it looks like and feels like to be there, bring this place to life in your core essence and share that passion with anyone you wish to enroll in your pursuit. It’s not enough to just talk about revenue, white space, or data. That’s all very important, but people need to believe that you see it, that it’s a real place that exists, and it’s just a matter of making the trek. 2. Why should people care? Assuming that making it to the promised land includes a compelling value prop that’s linked to clear differentiators in your category that customers actually care about and you have data to support this no matter how young you are. Okay, that’s maybe an assumption I shouldn’t make, but if you don’t have that, definitely don’t make the trek. If you have that, then don’t overthink this question. This question is all about why any stakeholder will make more money with you than without you. Ultimately that’s the baseline that will get any stakeholder on board. Investors have thousands of deals to choose from, buyers have thousands of brands/products to choose from, distributors have only so much room in their facilities/trucks. At some point you have to articulate why yours is better from that black and white perspective. If you don’t have this answer completely dialed in for every stakeholder, nobody will believe that you are the right guide to follow to the promised land. 3. How are you going to make it happen? It’s impossible to anticipate every twist and turn along the way, but you should have a very clear picture of what you and your team are capable of doing to execute this vision. Not that it can be done, or even the best route to take, but your demonstrable ability to make it happen. The more specific you are the better. The more commitments you have the better. Even when you have those things it sometimes is not enough so you need to combine these tangible plans with perseverance. If you can’t speak to these three things clearly with conviction and passion, it will be hard for anyone else to take you seriously enough to invest their time or money. Don’t fluff it either, give people the straight sauce. Even if it’s not perfect (shocker, it never is, and if you believe it is people won’t believe you), a little authenticity will help build trust, so don’t paint the perfect picture, just lay out the argument in a way that is very real.

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We're halfway into 2024—and it's time for a pulse check on retail trends. In January, I shared my predictions for CPG brands growing in 2024. Let's revisit them...and adjust. What I thought would be IN... and now think is OUT: ↳ Celeb-cofounded brands 🌟 There are now *so* many celeb-cofounded brands that this isn't a point of differentiation. They're landing flat with customers. ↳ Limited-edition retail products ⌛ Emerging brands aren't innovating here as much as I anticipated...but with the rise of white labeling, retailers and big CPG are leading the charge. What I’m adding to IN: ↳White labeling as an alt rev source 💰 ↳ Rebuilding the foundation 🚀 Brands are going back to the basics: BIG margins, products customers actually repurchase, products that solve a problem, and packaging that stands out on-shelf. ↳ Building awareness > retail first 👀 Demand needs to preexist retail. If you’re not making $10k/month DTC, STOP LOOKING AT CHAIN RETAIL. (I have more thoughts on this one. DM me!) What I’m doubling down on: ↳ Sampling, sampling, sampling 😎 There has never been a more important time to trial your product. What would you add or adjust? 👇

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Check out this article that discusses the interesting trend in whole bean coffee consumption.

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🌟 Open to New Opportunities in CPG and Beverage Sales Leadership! 🌟 Hello, LinkedIn Network! After a dynamic career driving growth and innovation in the CPG and beverage industries, I’m excited to announce that I’m actively seeking my next leadership role where I can propel brands to new heights. With over a decade of experience leading sales teams and managing distributor relationships, I’ve delivered: ✅ Leadership of high-performing teams, fostering collaboration and achieving exceptional results. ✅ Strategic expansion of revenue from $3M to $30M in three years through innovative partnerships. ✅ Market share growth, driving competitive advantage. ✅ Proven expertise in managing P&L exceeding $50M, aligning financial performance with business goals. I thrive in roles where I can develop and execute Sales Strategies, Distributor Relationship Management, and Market Penetration Techniques to deliver transformative results. If you know of opportunities in CPG or beverage sales leadership, I’d love to connect and explore how I can contribute to your organization’s success! #OpenToWork #SalesLeadership #CareerOpportunities

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CPG Friends, I have discovered a platform that is on a mission to offer a more fair distribution method to help build your brand while also having merchandising and re-order built in and handled by their team. They are focusing as of now on convenience stores, liquor stores, gas stations, and other independents. And so far from my vetting process and speaking for hours with the CEO, they are the real deal and offer really great solutions for small, emerging brands and even large brands that are doing massive sales. We’ve all heard the pain points on here from countless brands when dealing with distribution in general in this business from chargebacks, freight billbacks(sometimes putting brands out of business) If I could help link your brand with a better solution to grow your company and retain all the sales dollars in your pocket, this could be potentially groundbreaking and flip the traditional model as we know it ON ITS HEAD. Please DM me and happy to share more information about it.

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This is an interesting article, although I don't think Kellanova and WK Kellogg are really on different paths as implied. The ban of Red 3 in California is a de-facto national ban since it is not possible for major food retailers to segregate what they sell in each State. Consumer Brands Association is right that the patchwork approach is going to lead to potential chaos. At Sensient, we are working brands who want to prepare for potential changes to other colors, while providing safe synthetic and natural colors. https://lnkd.in/gu-CHAKh

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Money Money Money Typically costs $100 million to make consumers aware of a national brand. A vast majority of CPG brands will not have that much capital while the big brands have enough money to advertise properly. A new retail CPG brand will require lots of capital to compete, or it will have to capture a consumer demand that isn’t being met in that particular category/market. Please comment, share and suggest how a small, emerging brand can compete in many crowded categories. Emerging or Submerging......

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