Too often, I see “better for you” or functional CPG brands thinking strategically about customer personas in these clean binary constructs. I get it though…an avid premium kombucha buyer would never have a shopping cart that’s also full of Oreos, hot and ready fried chicken, and cans of fake spray cheese, right? Well…CPG entrepreneurs with that kind of limiting mindset about consumer behavior leave A LOT of opportunities on the playing field. Just because a growing number of consumers are avoidi...
Aug 28, 2023•55 sec
Even as food inflation moderates slightly, private-label brands continue to pose an expanding level of competitive threat to functional CPG brands. What? Why would a functional CPG brand be worried about competition risk from private-label products? They are just cheaper basic versions of national brand products anyways, right? While those cheapest copycat focused private-label brands like Great Value at Walmart or Market Pantry at Target are still thriving, those (and many more) would be bucket...
Aug 23, 2023•10 min
Serious question…have you ever seen an overweight squirrel? Yeah…me either, and I saw tons of them at Kent State University where the black squirrel is an unofficial mascot. Maybe us humans should be looking at those cute…I wish I had one as a pet, squirrels as our spirit animals for weight management. They do the basics everyday…exercise, sun exposure, and nutritionally dense meals full of acorns. Not interested in that latter part…heck I didn’t even know humans could eat acorns until I discove...
Aug 21, 2023•52 sec
After a decade of consistent leadership coming to an end soon, will there be major changes ahead for the multibillion-dollar global nutrition company? Glanbia Performance Nutrition is one of two wholly-owned segments of Glanbia plc (LON:GLB), a multi-billion dollar global nutrition company. The brands in the Glanbia Performance Nutrition portfolio include; Optimum Nutrition, BSN, think!, Isopure, Amazing Grass, and SlimFast. I'll use the recent earnings report, earnings call, and associated news...
Aug 16, 2023•11 min
Have you ever wondered why so many of the largest global supplement companies utilize a multilevel marketing strategy? Is it just that effective or is there something deeper at play? I can’t be the only supplement industry professional that’s ever wondered why an MLM brand like Herbalife sells more supplements in 90 days than a massive brand like Optimum Nutrition can throughout an entire year. Or that an MLM brand like USANA Health Sciences sells a billion dollars of supplements annually. Or th...
Aug 14, 2023•10 min
Hundreds of class actions lawsuits get filed each year against food and beverage CPG companies. While many of those legal complaints would be classified as reasonable, I want to take this in a totally different direction. I want to run down my top 3 weirdest lawsuits filed against food and beverage CPG companies over the last few years. Coming in at number three, Kellogg’s was sued because their Strawberry Pop-Tarts didn’t contain enough strawberries inside. Coming in at number two, Tootsie Roll...
Aug 14, 2023•44 sec
After another insanely positive quarterly performance, Premier Protein is now the number one brand in convenient nutrition, but it’s a recent “under the radar” partnership announcement that has me thinking about a previous crazy prediction I made in early 2021. BellRing Brands (NYSE: BRBR) is a portfolio that owns a collection of convenient nutrition brands like Premier Protein, Dymatize Nutrition, Powerbar, and Joint Juice, which was previously wholly-owned by Post Holdings. A fast-paced and bu...
Aug 10, 2023•14 min
Vibe this, vibe that, if CELSIUS really wanted to create an impactful flavor, maybe the next one should be PepsiCo Vibe. This is only the second quarter that Celsius energy drinks was fully integrated into the PepsiCo DSD distribution system after the August deal announcement. Celsius Holdings (NASDAQ: CELH) had quarterly revenue of $326 million, which was up 112% YoY. According to IRI last 52-week data, Celsius was the number one brand driver of unit and sales growth in the energy drink categor...
Aug 09, 2023•10 min
It’s only been a week since Monster Beverage officially completed the acquisition, but leadership is finally unmuting itself about what’s next for Bang Energy. While the bulk of this content is going to be focused on reconciling what I previously predicted Monster Beverage would do with the Bang Energy asset to the strategic gameplan that leadership at Monster Beverage started to disclose during the 2023 Q2 earnings conference call, I'll also start off this content off by running through some hi...
Aug 07, 2023•12 min
Just like the hard seltzer craze from a few years ago and flavored malt beverages many moons before that, history looks to be repeating itself once again…as too many beverage entrepreneurs are rushing into a red-hot market. Yes, the RTD cocktail category has now grown to 5 percent share of the alcoholic beverage market…and yes, breakthrough innovation opportunities are always out there but most new categorical announcements have been boring! On the other hand, there was maybe one of the most exc...
Aug 07, 2023•54 sec
A multi-sensory brand experience creates a stronger emotional connection, and that’s why I think GHOST’s next big move should be building a curated lifestyle shop on the ground floor of its Chicago headquarters. While I'll provide historical context for that GHOST Lifestyle prediction, it all surrounded the pre-launch belief that GHOST Energy would be a mega success. That opened up GHOST Lifestyle to two things: a broader mainstream consumer would be introduced to brand, and it opened GHOST up t...
Aug 02, 2023•12 min
Snoop Dogg is one of the most successful musicians in the world, but he’s also no slouch when it comes to impacting the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry. So, what can CPG professionals learn from the hip-hop legend? I’ve always believed that hip-hop and CPG entrepreneurship are linked together. This is probably why you see so many hip-hop artists that are involved with CPG entrepreneurship or investing in this consumer sector. While Snoop Dogg might not have the headline grabbing exits of ...
Jul 31, 2023•10 min
Who owns the word Monster or more broadly any word in business? The company most willing to battle to protect its trademark, and in the case of the word Monster…that would be Monster Energy. Some have called the energy drink brand a trademark bully…filing 100s of trademark objections in the last few years. While I believe guarding a CPG brand’s iconic assets is paramount, can those choices sometimes cause unintended consequences? Here's one of those perplexing scenarios. Monster Energy is a majo...
Jul 31, 2023•58 sec
Do you remember a few years ago when I laid out my long-term vision for the wellness retailing world…one where pharmacies and specialty supplement retailers would start merging conceptually? Though small underlying market forces have been slowly confirming that future, a GNC announcement last week might have altered everything. In August 2021, a year-ish after the company’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy saga ended, I asked myself “what could the GNC shopping experience of the future look like?” In that ...
Jul 27, 2023•8 min
The gut health soda brand Olipop is on track to reach $200 million in sales this year. Does that scare the Big 3 soda portfolios? Yes, soda consumption has been falling in America for roughly two decades. But you must remember that Coke, Pepsi, and KDP are masters at backfilling demand through acquisitions to sustain their large share of overall liquids consumption. The only scary thing would be if the entrepreneurs at Olipop or its main competitor Poppi were the type of lunatics to stiff-arm al...
Jul 24, 2023•56 sec
If you've ever thought, "I really wish someone would invent a condiment version of the Coca-Cola Freestyle machine," well then, it's your lucky day! With HEINZ REMIX, the Kraft Heinz Company is tapping into the growing consumer behavior towards personalization and social media trend around mixing things or doctoring up the flavor of condiments. This invention also perfectly aligns with the new contextual strategic approach that The Kraft Heinz Company adopted in late-2020. A major focus of that ...
Jul 17, 2023•54 sec
If I was just another mainstream consumer searching for the right probiotics, it would without a doubt be a super confusing shopping experience…and I see that as a major problem. Probiotics are the go-to for gut health…and outside of highlighting yogurt as a clear food example, probiotic supplements would be where most consumers reach if they were looking to maintain or improve the "good" bacteria in their body. But probiotic supplements can be costly, and their formulation varies widely. Tradit...
Jul 17, 2023•36 min
It's crazy to think that I started working in the supplement industry 17 years ago! While most believe that MusclePharm was where everything started for me, I actually got my first supplement industry job when I was in college getting my undergraduate degree. As a contributor on the Bodybuilding.com Forums in 2006, I caught the attention of BEAST and was asked to join their sports nutrition brand as internet company rep...which today would be akin to a combination of digital jobs like community ...
Jul 15, 2023•14 min
Pivotal is an interview-style segment that tackles topics in consumer packaged goods (CPG) and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) from the business leaders that live it EVERY DAY! As another quarter ends within the functional CPG space, it’s only right that I ask my good friend and Market Insights Director at SPINS, Scott Dicker, to join me again for another one of our famous holistic categorical deep dive sessions. This time we decided to tackle the evolving weight management category. In our co...
Jul 13, 2023•38 min
The Coca-Cola Company is no rookie when it comes to brand licensing…that is unless we are talking about the kid from the Rookie of the Year movie. Heck…The Coca-Cola Company is basically an elaborate licensing company when you realize about two-thirds of its total revenue are generated by "concentrate sales" aka licensing of its secret ingredients in syrup form. But that’s neither here nor there, because ole Henry Rowengartner got something new up his sleeve. The Coca-Cola Company can be seen pr...
Jul 10, 2023•53 sec
I was made aware of the Biosteel early in its history by my hockey sports agent friend, but the Canadian sports nutrition brand didn’t pop up in any of my content until October 2019 when the fully integrated cannabis company Canopy Growth Corporation paid $51 million to acquire 72% majority control. If you've seen Biosteel in the headlines recently, it's due to an ongoing SEC investigation surrounding the hydration company following improper revenue recognition standards that caused “material mi...
Jul 06, 2023•11 min
Most beverage industry veterans’ thought was prediction was crazy months ago…but it looks like my super-secret Magic 8 Ball strikes again! Be honest...did you really believe my March 14, 2023 prediction that Monster Energy would eventually acquire the bankrupt assets of Bang Energy? But while I’ve already started to take my prediction victory lap, there’s still a legal hurdle and many business unknowns left that I want to talk about in this Bang Energy bankruptcy update content. The final legal ...
Jul 05, 2023•11 min
Nestle will transform into a "health and nutrition powerhouse.” That’s at least what I predicted in an August 2021 YouTube video. Since then, Nestle has acquired the plant-based supplement brand Orgain, Brazilian supplement brand Puravida, New Zealand supplement portfolio The Better Health Company…plus buying a coffee brand from Starbucks and increasing nutrition-related manufacturing investments. That’s A LOT of activity, but an investor group with $5.3 trillion in assets under management isn't...
Jul 03, 2023•54 sec
Fresh eyes on challenges, promising health and wellness brands, can’t lose…right? In this latest episode, I'll utilize the 2023 Q3 Simply Good Foods Company (NASDAQ: SMPL) earnings report, earnings call, and supplemental presentations that were filed on 6/29/2023 as the backdrop to provide broad nutritional snacking market insights. In Q3 of fiscal 2023, both Atkins Nutritionals and Quest Nutrition performed in the top-tier of categorical competitors in retail takeaway, with Quest Nutrition spec...
Jun 30, 2023•10 min
As your CPG brand grows bigger, something naturally happens that has a divergent relationship with customer intimacy. In the CPG industry, scaling your brand usually involves onboarding more intermediaries. The fact is that creating long-term close bonds between customers and CPG brands isn't easy given the nature of the industry. The examples are plentiful within the CPG industry, but the bigger a brand gets, typically the further it wrongfully distances itself from those core customers. And th...
Jun 27, 2023•9 min
One of the greatest investing minds in history is also an avid Coca-Cola drinker. Besides owning billions in Coca-Cola stock, Warren Buffett also has a theory on why the soda brand is the global leader...and it has to do with "taste memory." The Oracle of Omaha believes the taste of Coke doesn’t accumulate in your mouth like other types of soda. Warren Buffett goes on to say that he’s never seen a word written about this phenomenon. Well…maybe because it’s more made up than Nessy and Big Foot. I...
Jun 26, 2023•52 sec
Mountain Dew is the unofficial drink of gamers…or at least that’s the stereotype, right? So, why did the energy drink version of Mountain Dew called Game Fuel end up failing? Mountain Dew is essentially the base of the food pyramid for people who spend marathon gaming sessions in front of a computer or console. The practical reason is obviously because Mountain Dew has more caffeine than Coke or Pepsi. And while not as much caffeine as coffee, a packaged drink has less effort and minimal upkeep....
Jun 22, 2023•12 min
If you ain’t delaying…are you really Chapter 11 bankruptcy auction banging? Believe it or not…it’s been something like 250 days since Bang Energy filed voluntary petitions for protection under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code. That might seem like a long time, but Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases, especially complex ones involving creditor claims in the billion-dollar range, are not quick…and that doesn’t consider the hostile takeover element that’s relatively unique here. But this isn’t a piece of ...
Jun 20, 2023•9 min
Did anyone else have former First Lady Michelle Obama starting a kid’s nutrition CPG brand on their Bingo Card? Well...you can check those December 2021 receipts on my YouTube video named HollywoodHouse Foods (https://youtu.be/-zXXmAS7bFI). But all jokes aside, I'm glad to see the Michelle Obama continuing her White House efforts to bring this next generation of kids into a healthier future. Beyond her ownership in Plezi Nutrition, Michelle Obama will “position the company to be a change agent a...
Jun 19, 2023•56 sec
If you’re an astute follower of my content, you’ve heard me mention the concept of precision fermentation (and/or name notable startups that are commercializing such material for functional CPG brands) in numerous pieces of content over the last handful of years. That being said, I’ve somehow overlooked the fact that I haven’t given precision fermentation the respect it deserves with its own dedicated content. But regardless of mentioning it before...how about we start with what the heck precisi...
Jun 15, 2023•13 min
