Food Marketing Nerds Restaurant and CPG Marketing Podcast

Great news folks...after a teensy, tiny-little hiatus, the Food Marketing Nerds podcast is back for Season 2, and we have some amazing guests looking to hit you with some food marketing wisdom. 

Tune in 5/27/20 for a two episode launch, jam packed with marketing insights, strategies and stories from leaders in the restaurant and CPG space. 

New episodes airing Wednesday mornings starting 5/27!

We’ve got an awesome interview lined up for you today.

I’m chatting with Nik Ingersoll, Co-Founder of Barnana. Nik is on the list of Forbes 30 Under 30 and just an all around cool dude.

Before starting Barana, Nik founded a digital agency which eventually formed into an augmented reality firm. And today, we dive into how he’s leveraged creative thinking and guerrilla and social marketing tactics to grow Barnana so quickly.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How creative food startups are opening doors with big retail partners using Facebook Ads
• What it takes to pull off an attention grabbing PR stunt
• Why traditional industry thinking might stunt your company’s growth

And so much more. It’s a bit of a shorter episode, but it is packed with tons of unfiltered, actionable advice for food marketers. 

We discuss a lot of extremely useful Facebook Ad Tactics in a short amount of time, so rather than having you pause and write down notes every couple seconds, we’ve compiled all the best tips into a downloadable PDF, at FoodMarketingNerds.com/facebook-ads/.

On the show today, we have Lauren Shafer of Michele’s Granola, and we’re talking all about social media, and how to find what works for your brand.

Michele’s Granola is a fast-growing brand that makes delicious, small batch granola products you can find in stores across the country. Since joining the company, Lauren has grown into her role of marketing manager, where she leverages the social media data, to constantly improve how Michele’s Granola communicates with their customers.

In the episode, you learn

• Why your current approach to Facebook and Instagram is probably too similar
• What brand partnerships can do for you on social that influencer marketing doesn’t
• How to organically get more positive reviews on Amazon

And plenty more.

Recommended Read:

No LOGO: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies - Naomi Klein

To learn more about Michelle's Granola, check out their website here.

For links and show notes, visit FoodMarketingNerds.com.

Today we’re chatting with Serafina Palandech of Hip Chick Farms. Serafina’s company makes a line of extremely high quality organic chicken products, like nuggets and tenders, and was founded 4 and half years ago in an effort to provide healthy food to people and children on a mass scale.

From being on a reality show to selling out of inventory on QVC, her company has had amazing success and is growing like crazy.

 On the show today, we discuss:

• How being on QVC works and what effect it has on your business
• What core marketing areas you should focus on to grow a cult like following
• How to use data to know when a packaging redesign might be in order 

And a lot more...

Recommended Read:

Killing It: An Entrepreneur's Guide to Keeping Your Head Without Losing Your Heart - Sheryl O'Loughlin

Fred Hart is joining us on the show today. We had Fred on the podcast back at episode #30, and if you haven’t listened to that interview yet, we talked all about honing brand strategy, and I’d definitely recommend checking that one out.

Fred is a Partner and Creative Director of Interact, one of the most sought after packaging design firms in the industry.

Part of Fred’s job as creative director is keeping a pulse on industry trends and how to leverage that knowledge to set brands up for the future. Fred and his team recently returned from the Fancy Foods show in New York, and on the show today, we talk about:

• Interesting categories and trends popping up in the Natural Products industry
• How Amazon’s purchase of Whole Foods could have a huge impact on packaging design
• What steps you can take to get your brand strategy buttoned up

And plenty more…

Fred is a rock star in the industry and has plenty to teach us all in his approach to keying in on trends, branding, and design.

Resources: 

Pics of Notable Trends at the Fancy Foods Show

Check Interact Out on Instagram

On the show, we’ve got Kate Weiler, co-founder of DrinkMaple- and we’re talking about being the champion of your own new category. Kate’s maple water is now sold in over 12,000 stores, which has taken years of grit, passion, and in her words “blissful ignorance” to make happen.

As you’ll hear from Kate, there are pros and cons to creating a product that’s the first of it’s kind, especially as a start-up bootstapping it to the top.

Kate’s got hustle, and is a wealth of information about entrepreneurship and marketing.

In the episode, you’ll learn:

• Why grit outweighs experience as a CPG startup founder
• What it takes to go from 1 store to over 12000
• How to use a small budget when educating consumers is your biggest hurdle

And plenty more...

Kate has some hilarious stories of the early days and lessons learned which I think you’ll really enjoy, so let’s go on and get after it.

Recommended Reads:

David and Goliath - Malcolm Gladwell

Crush It! - Gary Vaynerchuk

We have Terra's Kitchen's CEO/Co-founder, Mike McDevitt, on the show today. Terra’s Kitchen is a meal prep company out of Baltimore and they are sweeping the nation with their one of a kind meal prep delivery service.

They were founded in 2016 and already have a run rate of $20 million a year. Pretty phenomenal.

Their business model is unique to the industry, which allows them to offer up to 60 different meal choices at a time. Terra's Kitchen is set up in a really interesting way, allowing them to focus heavily on customer acquisition and retention, which is primarily what you’ll hear more about from Mike in a second.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How to growth hack digital advertising without sacrificing your brand
• Why analytics should be your marketing teams best friend (if it’s not already)
• How to make sure your marketing dollars are used as efficiently as possible

And so much more.

Mike is an extremely savvy marketer and outstanding business man, and you’ll have plenty to learn from his approach to growing Terra’s Kitchen

Book Recommendation:

How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life - Russ Roberts

On the show today, we have Luke Lahman, who is the field marketing manager for E&J Gallo. If you’re not already familiar, Gallo is the largest producer of wine in the world, and they own and distribute a number of the popular wine and spirit brands you’ll see at most liquor and grocery stores, like Barefoot, Apothic, and New Amsterdam Vodka.

From being on the front lines to training and managing over 30 salespeople, Luke has spent his career in the industry and where he’s really making a name for himself.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How to hire and motivate a strong sales team
• What’s a recipe for success when it comes to in-store marketing
• What trends are emerging in the wine and spirits industry

And plenty more… So let’s go chat with Luke.

We have Eric Pierce, Director of Business Insights for New Hope Network. If you’ve been following the podcast, we had Eric on the show back at episode 19.

It’s been one of our most popular episodes so we asked Eric to come back on the show to share some more insights on trends and he graciously obliged.

Eric is incredibly talented in helping entrepreneurs and companies uncover opportunities in the market, and I always walk away from our conversations feeling more in tune with what’s happening emerging in the industry.

In this episode, Eric answers the following questions:

• What trends are providing big growth potential in food and beverage?
• How can you test new product concepts without breaking the bank?
• Could retailers benefit from thinking more like Zara or H&M?

 And plenty more…

 So let’s go chat with Eric..

Today, we're talking with Ben Fenton of Boulder Food Group about the do's and don'ts if you're looking for outside investment for your food or beverage company.

Ben is a VP over at BFG, which if you're not familiar with this firm, is a venture capital group that partners with early stage food and beverage brands, and they partner with some brands like Barnana, Birch Benders, Chameleon Cold-Brew and plenty more.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• What firms like BFG consider potential red flags when assessing potential brand partners
• Which metrics on your income statement are the most important to investors
• What founder attributes make you more marketable to VC's

...and plenty more.

If seeking outside funding is on the horizon for your company, you'll have plenty to learn from Ben in this episode.

Book Recommendations:

The Book of Joy - Archbishop Desmond Tutu Dalai Lama