Hey , 

Expo East has come and gone. Whether you attended or not (I didn’t attend), the show is a great indicator for the state of the CPG Industry. What did we learn from this year’s show? 

PS. If you were forwarded this newsletter, please 

click here to subscribe

. 

I enlisted help from my friends at the show to share their perspectives. It was all about connecting with virtual friends in real life, shifting from DTC to retail, and trending products (plant-based, functional beverage, alternatives). Let’s dive into each.

Connecting with Virtual Friends In Real Life

- Erica Rankin, Bro DoughHeading home from Expo East and I'm reflecting on the past three days walking the floor. As a Canadian, I find the US shows to be so big - so much to see, so many products to try. The two types of products I saw a lot of at the show were gummy vitamins (of all sorts) and canned sparkling waters (infused with various things).

Overall, it was so great to finally connect with many of my virtual friends in real life. Nothing beats a hug or handshake. The amount of knowledge I’m coming home with also made the trip worth it. I’m really looking forward to walking Expo West next March.

Plant-Based Meats, Beverage and Alternative Dairy

- Myles Powell, Founder of 8 MylesYou could feel it. The energy in the 2.3 million square foot space of the Philadelphia Convention Center. Expo East had arrived. From the moment I stepped onto the floor, I could immediately tell which categories were running the show. Plant-Based Meats, Beverage and Alternative Dairy. I wondered how these brands could compete in such competitive landscapes. Marketing played a big factor for sure. Some standouts included industry titans such as Oatly, but also successful emerging brands such as Jack & Annies and No Bull Burger.  I think there has been a bit more focus on taste, especially considering consumers are looking to cut out the noise of attributes and buy foods that actually taste great. 

Snack brands were also a big part of the show. And the creativity was off of the charts! My favorite brand was a company called Wilde, which makes chips made from chicken. Absolutely incredible. Overall, Expo East was full of life and promise, even amidst global supply chain problems and recession warnings. It will be interesting to see which trends are still around this time next year. 

Shift From DTC To Retail

- Kevin Gawronski, Gawronski Food and BeverageWe attended Expo East as a "Business Service", and if you don't know, we provide paid, organic & influencer media services for Food & Beverage brands. Our intentions in flying out to Philadelphia (myself and two teammates), were to meet several current clients & platform partners in-person, as well as prospect potential new business.

While prospecting and approaching booths, we were sure to be very respectful of the brand's time, and be mindful of interrupting conversations with buyers. We had a targeted list of "brands we thought would be a good fit", "brands we've spoken to before", and so on.

Because we mostly calculated the booths we approached, the overall reception to our conversations was mostly positive and interested in our services. For most brands, it made sense to start with discussing Instacart, as I felt there were much more Frozen, and Beverage brands in attendance. With that being said, the main interest was  Instacart advertising.

This will seem obvious, but the overwhelming shift from DTC to retail led to the interest in Instacart conversations. A handful asked about organic, influencer, or reactivating DTC for the holiday season.

For us, it was perfect. I had never been to an Expo, I know West is typically larger in attendance, but this seemed much smaller and more intimate. We would ask brands how the conversations were going, and we got really mixed feedback. The first day, the energy seemed solid, the second day in our opinion was very different, and we did not attend day 3.

Red Meat, Functional Soda, and Erythritol

- Matt Cotton, Rooted Food SalesExpo East was incredible. I was there last year, which was a pretty sad scene and this year had some POP to it. Trends that I noticed included:

Real meat done well - There were still plant-based brands galore but I noticed (and sampled :) from many brands serving real meat. This included ethically raised, game meat sausages (😋) and brands with great sustainable stories and missions.

Functional soda - The 2 big players (Ollipop and Poppi) sat this one out but MAN were there a lot of functional soda booths. 

Erythritol - It felt like the vast majority of the time I went to read labels erythritol was the primary sweetener.

Non Alcoholic - I was hoping to see more presence but this category is still growing from what we saw last year. Several booths and yummy samples.

Already pumped for Expo West!! 

Wrap Up

Expo East this year was much bigger than last, but still not back to its pre-pandemic glory. Many brands you expected to be there were missing, and nothing very exciting really stood out. On Linkedin, many founders announced that they weren’t attending this year because they couldn’t identify a clear ROI. Others decided that walking the show and setting up meetings was a better use of their time.

Did you attend the show or decided not to? Let me know your experience! 

Jordan Buckner

Foodbevy

THIS WEEK'S OPPORTUNITIES

Growth Capital for CPG Brands

- Aion provides flexible financing for food startups. Purchase inventory, invest in marketing, grow your team, and pay vendors – all while maintaining ownership of your business. Request an Introduction and save 10% on your interest rate.

Live-Stream Commerce

- Sell your products on shoppable cooking live streams. Foodbevy members save $50, e-mail me for an intro.

$20,000+ in Free Instacart Ads

- For women and/or Black Owned Brands. Apply under Instacart Ads Initiative.

Build an Affiliate Marketing Program

- Download a free affiliate program brand kit from Rexxy.

3PL Fulfillment for Emerging CPG Brands

-

Shipdudes

is a 3PL that credits itself with fast fulfillment and low fees for CPG brands. Request an introduction.

NEW PODCAST EPISODE: 63. Live-Stream Commerce

Have you ever purchased a product from QVC or those late-night TV ads? Probably not. But live-stream shopping is getting a facelift with companies like Amazon and Crafted pioneering it's rise in the US.  While current usage has a long way to go, nearly 30% of people in China have purchase products from live-streams, showing the potential in the US.Join me for a conversation with the founders of Crafted to understand how you can get in on the early wave of Live-Stream Commerce.

Listen on Apple Podcasts | Listen on Spotify

DISCOUNTS

- NielsenIQ

 Byzzer platform provides data for emerging CPG brands. You can

access 3 free reports using this link

.

- Mindful Goods 

is an awesome Amazon expert that can quickly get you started or optimize your pages for strong ROI. 

Get 10% of their services 

 use code FOODBEVY.

- Maverick Lab 

allows you to create individually personalized videos (with a customer's name)

welcoming them to your community. 

- Chop 

is a

rebate platform

that allows you to drive in-store trial, collect customer shopping data, and build customer profiles to further drive your business. Foodbevy members save 20% off. E-mail me for the discount.

- Stripe 

is now providing $70,000 in fee-free processing for new and EXISTING customers.

Save over $2000

The Accountrepreneur 

is your go-to outsourced CPA and CFO firm for the food and beverage industry. Receive

 a free financial assessment + Foodbevy Members get 20% off services for one year.

- Airtable

 can store information in a spreadsheet that's visually appealing and easy-to-use, but it's also powerful enough to act as a database that businesses can use for customer-relationship management (CRM), task management, project planning, and tracking inventory. 

Receive $2,000 in free credits

With your help we're building an amazing community of Food and Bev entrepreneurs helping each other!

Jordan