CPG Vibes - Episode 203 - Shannon Peffley - CPGX

Speaker A: Okay, we're back. Welcome to CPG vibes number 203. It's been a minute. Uh, we've been doing some traveling and vacationing and things like that. Uh, but we're excited to be back in the saddle. And, uh, Gavin, it looks like you could be in the saddle, and I'm going to say that before Kenny does because, you know, you got denim on. I'm sure, you know, I'm sure he's going to say it, so I'm just going to beat him to it. Uh, but, uh. Uh, yeah. What's up?

Speaker B: Not too much, man. It's been, uh. I. I don't know. We. We keep being sporadic with these, but, uh, it's all because of good things. And travel's, uh, always good Jean, uh, jacket Friday, you know, I need to invest in a new cowboy hat.

Speaker A: So I. I was thinking about that as.

Speaker B: Just.

Speaker A: Just as. As I was looking, you know. But, uh, no, it's next one of

Speaker B: these next fancy foods or shows, uh, or ecrms needs to be in Nashville so we can do it properly, right? No way. Things are going great. I mean, uh, for. For me, been super busy. Uh, I am entering, I think, the next three months of some pretty hardcore category reviews. Uh, you know, a lot of that in depth stuff. We just signed a contract with Spins, so, um, you know, that's going to kind of take us to the next level. So as we go into these meetings, we're a little bit more dialed with what is happening at the retailer, what's happening, you know, within the category. And, and we've been shooting a little bit blind, but now we. We shouldn't be doing that at all.

Speaker A: Awesome. Awesome. Well, I'm sure we're gonna talk about that, among other things. And we've got, uh, Shannon Peffley with CPG X or CPG Experience. He'll, uh, be joining us here shortly. And, uh, yeah, just good to see Kenny. I see Sean Jordan, welcome to the show. And, uh, yeah, we'll be. If you have, uh. Yeah, Jordan's saying can you get your audio up? I think maybe bring it a little bit closer. I agree. Jordan. Good call. Um, much better. Listen, that sultry tone. Uh, yeah, that's much better. Um, so, uh, if you're joining us for the first time or it's been a minute, um, you know, we'll be taking your comments, questions, all that good stuff, put them in the chat and, uh, uh, as always, follow us on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Podcasts. Subscribe, like, give us a thumbs Up. Leave us comments there. That helps get the show out to everybody. Uh, aside from that, anything else we need to touch on before we bring Shannon in?

Speaker B: Let's bring Shannon in. But I think let's start off with, uh, uh, you know, us being all three of us and multiple, uh, of us are going to be in New York for fancy food. So I think let's kick that off.

Speaker A: Cool. All right, well, let's bring in Shannon. Let's get to it. Shannon, welcome to show.

Speaker C: What's up, guys? How are you doing?

Speaker A: Good, man. Good to see you. Uh, I'm sorry, I keep laughing. Kenny's, uh, Kenny is. He's on a roll. He's on a roll. Uh, we're doing good, Shannon. And, you know, it's funny, Gavin, you mentioned fancy food. I know we're gonna be talking about that, what Shannon's been up to. Um, you know, it's. It's interesting because all three of us, uh, you know, who have shared common roles or similar roles over the years are going to be at this show in different capacities. Obviously, I. From a sales agency broker side. Gavin, you on a purely sales role, and, Shannon, tell us about your role. Uh, you know, I think it's a good segue into what you're up to and, uh, what you're going to be doing at the show.

Speaker C: Yeah. So, um, appreciate you guys having me on, um, CPGX this time is we have our own pavilion this year. Um, you know, when we did, uh, Winter Fancy, they let us do our booth share, um, and they kind of, you know, flagged that a little bit, but they came back and said, hey, what if we gave you a pavilion to, you know, get some brands in, and if you can get five or six brands, we'd really appreciate it. We ended up having 11 brands that are in our area. Gavin, uh, is one of them. And, you know, so we're excited. We have a lot going on there. We also have an event Monday night at T Squared, um, which is Tiger woods and Justin Timberlake social Happy hour club there in New York. So, um, we're excited to have that and watch the soccer game Monday night, too.

Speaker A: Nice. And so with that, I think it's a good, good time to bring it up. Uh, is the event still open? Is it closed? Is it maxed out?

Speaker C: So, short answer, is events still open to sign up? Um, we are limited to 100 guests. Um, outside of that, they're charging us, like, $150 for every guest over 100. So, um, we only get 100 wristbands we have, we do have several people that, I mean we have signed up over 150 knowing that, hey, there's going to be a lot of people that don't show up or signed up and can't make it because of other events. Uh, the event is from 8 to 11, so it is one of those later events so that people can make it after theirs. But I will say, hey, if you're on the list, show up earlier the better in order to get in. We have food, fridge, um, all included. So.

Speaker A: Awesome, awesome. If they, if they're interested, what do they do?

Speaker C: Um, one. I'll make it real easy. Just stop by our booth, uh, at Summer Fancy in this poster behind us. We'll have a QR code on it. That's going to be the easiest way to register. Um, and that will also get you to our pavilion area to check out some awesome brands.

Speaker A: Awesome. And there. Gavin, they can try ginger shots while they're there, right?

Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. And I look, I have nothing but positive things to say because I've, I've worked with Shannon at a couple of these events now and um, he puts on a really good, uh, just like overarching. You're part of, you're part of a whole experience. So, uh, you get to interact with buyers who stop by your booth, obviously, just like any trade show. Um, but the gold mine is the interactions that you have with your booth mates. Uh, you're able to share contacts, uh, share leads, you know, also network with each other. But at the same time it's just like, oh, hey, that's Costco. Uh, you know, or I was just talking to Costco and if you're making friends or acquaintances with the people that are in your area, you're able to easily flag those people down. And now your sights are set on this specific person. Um, so I've got nothing positive things to say. Um, it's been super helpful. We, we uh, were part of the nama, uh, CPG experience. We have another one upcoming at ah, nacuffs, which is more college and university focused. Um, but again it's, it's, it's networking, it's engaging and obviously we, we have something a little bit different that um, ah, with our shots that are kind of an easy draw, I feel like, uh, in an easy sell or an easy lead in. And other people can take advantage of that too because if, if assuming they're the same buyer. Um, anyways, it's, it's a nice lead in.

Speaker A: You know, I looked, um, or I Am looking now and we had Shannon on, on episode 190. So what is that? Uh, doing quick math. 13 episodes ago, it was back in January. And I'm interested, Shannon, but from where you are then to where you are now, tell us about the journey. Tell us about what's. What's what, what the learnings have been, you know, how you've, you know, any changes, updates, you know, just basically State of the Union, cpgx, uh, versus where you were five months ago.

Speaker C: Yeah, um, you know, it's, it's been a journey. I mean, that's the best way to put it. And learned a lot, learned a lot about the trade show industry from just the little, um, you know, out in la, they charge us for the Nama show if we didn't have our booth set up in 30 minutes. They charge us $319 an hour for a union rep to be there with us, um, to just putting pallets at our booth. That costs, you know, a thousand dollars. So just little things like that that you're just not ready for and then you don't have a choice because it's kind of like, hey, we need our stuff. Well, you got to pay us, um, things like that. But then also just really honing in on what we're trying to do and make it better for each show, for each one. Uh, we just brought on Darren Viscount onto our team and he's been awesome with just helping get some things organized, getting stuff out to brands ahead of time, making sure that, you know, even our after party networking events are set up and going through. So he's been absolute blessing to the team, helping us grow there. Um, you know, we're still full, full steam ahead for our show next year in Savannah. Contracts have been signed, hotels contracts have been signed. So that is still happening. We have about a hundred, a little over a hundred brands that have now committed and have reached out and said, hey, we're in, let's make this happen. So, you know, we're still going full force with it. We have a lot of things going on here for the Q4 of, uh, 2027, with some college partnerships that we're going to be doing and then we're going to be doing a lot more smaller events come 2027 as well, to make sure that we can create this ecosystem of getting brands and service providers and retailers all in front of each other, but to make sure that it's intentional and with a purpose. Um, you know, our biggest thing that we want to focus on for CPGX is Bringing value, making sure that everyone involved at our booth, service providers, partnerships, whatever it may be, they're walking away with value, and they feel like it wasn't just, uh, oh, I threw money at this and didn't get anything out of it. We want to make sure that you're walking away saying that was worth it.

Speaker B: Yeah. And I think I. I think, Wade, if I can step in really quick at being on the brand side for the last, I think, three or four years, uh, you know, depending on how well you're funded or. Or whatever. Like, sometimes trade shows are a must, a must for the business because you're trying to scale crazy and costs don't matter. So you have your own booth at a UNIFI show or a KHI show or an NRA show or Expo west or whatever. And now being here, where we're more focused, uh, at G and gr, we're more. We're more focused on our spend and. And ROI on these shows. Uh, Shen does absolutely that. Right. Like, you're. You're going to these trade shows and you're getting value. You're still. You still have to hustle. Right. Like, I think at any trade show, you still have to represent the brand. You still have to solicit. Right. You still have to read everybody's name badge that's walking by and, and trying to interact. Um, but the really cool thing is, like, again, I think if you're interacting with your booth mates, you're getting a lot of trade show experience interacting with them. What trade shows to potentially go to, too? Um, just by, again, conversing with. With everybody who's a part of cpgx or, you know, who's across from you at cpgx. So there's a ton of value there. And then at the same time, there's a significant cost reduction from having your own booth. Um, and then all of the logistics that are obviously part of being at any trade show.

Speaker A: Yeah. So, Shannon, I want to know, um, what, when you look at the brands that are participating and can get the most value out of what you're doing, is a brand. When is a brand too small? When is a brand too big? What. What is your wheelhouse as far as, hey, this is a good fit. And obviously the easy answer is it's for everyone, but is there a sweet spot for this is going to make a lot of sense.

Speaker C: So it really depends on the trade show is what I would say to that. Uh, we had a couple brands at ID DBA that were like, hey, we want to try this show out. I mean, they were a national brand and they were like, we just want to try this out. We've never been there. We don't want to spend the money. They just got done with sweets and snacks and probably dropped 50k on their booth and they were like, we don't want to drop 50k on another booth at IDDBA. Can we be part of yours and try it out? They did. They loved it. Um, they're actually going to have and same thing with Summer Fancy. They didn't want to go all in for a big booth. They're going to be at our pavilion as well. Can they afford a huge booth at any of these shows? Absolutely, they can, but do they want to try out the show prior to spending that kind of money? Yes. Um, so we work with brands of all sizes. On the flip side, when's a brand too small? There has been several brands that have reached out to me and are like, hey, we want to be part of this. We'll jump on a call, we'll talk. And I'm like, you're not ready for this. You're not. I don't. I don't want you to show up to the show and then be disappointed because you weren't prepared or your brand's not ready to scale to that level. Um, so we do have that conversation with brands and you know, it. Like I said, it's kind of per show. Like, what's your focus? What are you trying to do? Nama show is a very different demographic than Summer Fancy coming up. Um, and same thing with iddba. So it really depends on the show that they're trying to get into with us to determine whether or not it's a good fit for them.

Speaker A: Got it. Gavin, I'm sure you have some thoughts on that.

Speaker B: I was just gonna follow up, like, with that specific brand that you're talking about, what was the deciding factor on them just being too. Paul. Too small? Did they not have any distribution?

Speaker C: Not retail ready packaging, kind of all of the above? Uh, you know, as I don't really take distribution as a, uh, hey, you're not ready. But, hey, if a distributor walks up to you, are you going to be ready to scale? Are you ready? You know, is your price point right? Do you know your numbers that if you do get the opportunity at this show, are you going to be ready to go into retail? Um, I also often ask the brands like, hey, who are you trying to get in front of? What? Why? Why are you trying to go to this show? What Are you trying to get out of it? Because if they're like, oh, I want to go and get into, you know, this retailer, but it's like, yeah, but do you understand what it takes to get into that retailer? Do you know that hey, if that retailer accepts you, it's going to have this sliding fee, this free fill. And then they're like, oh no, I didn't realize that. And then they're like, okay, well maybe we're not ready for that. So we do try to be intentional about who we're working with and who's ready to be into those areas of growth.

Speaker B: And then, and then you, you spoke of quite a few different shows. I'd like you just to give like the next two minutes or minute, uh, starting from like the first of these year, what shows you guys organize on uh, CPGX's behalf and what you have upcoming for like the next, I guess just for the calendar year.

Speaker C: Yeah. So I mean even just starting from now going forward, we have summer fancy this coming weekend, we have na, uh, cuffs coming up in New Orleans, uh, mid July. Right after that we go out to San Diego for the ECRM event. Um, the ECRM sessions are all throughout the year. We offer some really great pricing for some first time emerging brands. To check out those ECRM events, we only take a handful of brands. We have 10 brands going out with us to in July. All of those brands are going to be meeting with 20, 25 plus buyers directly. 10 minute meetings. Um, we just offer it at a better price and we help them get ready for that.

Speaker B: And then we like that those ECRM events. Like if a brand wanted to go by themselves, what would the level of investment be versus the level of investment that you provide?

Speaker C: Oh, they're gonna kill me for this.

Speaker A: But

Speaker C: no, you're, you're good because uh, yeah, it's one of those things where you know, they're like, hey, we're getting pushback from these brands that you're saving other people so much money. I'm like, well if somebody wants to buy out a room full of 10, 15 brands, well then you can give them that pricing too. But that's the thing. Like I'm committing 10 brands to ECRM and paying for those booth spaces where other brands can't do that. So I'm committing to them 10, 10 tables. Um, but for us, for a normal brand to go on their own, for the emerging brand, 10 Minute Meetings through ECRM, it costs 6650. Now that includes your lodging, that includes your Food still a good deal. But through CPG, acts were $4,500. I mean, big savings, big savings. Um, you go out there, you have those meetings, you walk away with value. I mean, at $4,500, you have to land one of those retailers and that money's back. Um, now it is for emerging brands or brands that have not been to ECRM in two years. So if you're, hey, you know, we've done it pre Covid or we done, we did it right after Covid and we want to give it another try, we can get you in as well.

Speaker B: Sean is, uh, backing us up with this where it's 6,000 plus plus dollars. And again, like I'm gonna just put myself as an example. Like we've, I've looked at the ECRM events and it's like, okay, man, like, because those are multiple day events too. Like two day, two day.

Speaker C: It's like two, two and a half day events.

Speaker B: Yep. So I, I know that I would have to bring this back to my CEO and it's just like, okay, what are we gonna get out of that? Right? We're gonna spend 6,000 plus dollars plus travel and time and energy samples, I'm sure. Um, to get out there. What are we getting out of it? You know, like, I guess elaborate on that. Like you get speed dating. 10 minutes. Who, if GNGR goes, who is GNGR talking to?

Speaker C: Yeah, so ECRM, uh, their goal is to work with retailers that are buying the top 20, their top 20% of retail purchasers in the country. So that can range anywhere from Costco to Whole Foods to Walmart, um, Target, depending on the category, they're working with some big name people. Very few people look at the list of buyers and they're like, who's that? I don't know who that is. Um, basically the way I explain it is if you got a PO from any of the meetings, it's going to move the needle in your business. Um, that's the best way I can explain it, that they're not just small, little independent stores. Um, they're, they're bigger company, bigger retailers.

Speaker B: And then those retailers, are they more like, hey, full blown category review or is it like, hey, we're looking at this in a specific region or you know, a test and you know, if it's Target, maybe it's 500 stores or something like that. How does it look from, from a distribution standpoint?

Speaker C: Yeah, it really varies. Um, sometimes depending on the category, it might be, hey, we're looking for Something to roll out. Um, a lot of, there's a lot of private label there opportunities at ecrm. So if there's, if you do private label, a lot of opportunities amongst the retailers there. Um, there's also, I know with uh, World Market, they've rolled out just in certain areas for brands. They've also said, hey, you know, we've worked with brands in from our February session that they, we reached out and didn't hear anything and then like two months later just sent a PO and it was like, wait, what? Like we didn't even have a conversation and they're like, hey, we're rolling it out. So, um, I've personally worked with brands that have been very successful with it. I mean, let's be honest though, like, is it for everyone? Probably not. Um, is it a good way even, even to get feedback from buyers to have that 10 minute FaceTime and buyers be able to sit there and be like, hey, your price point's too high or your packaging needs changed, even to sit there for two days and talk to buyers one on one and get real feedback about your product that's sitting in front of them. There's value, there's um, ECRM does a great job with even the accommodations, the food, beverage, they always have an off site network working event. You have access to these buyers throughout the week. Um, so there's just a lot of opportunities there all the way across there.

Speaker A: Yeah, and I think I've attended those shows as a buyer and uh, we're getting some feedback for some reason here. That's all right, we'll talk through it. Um, yeah, but I've attended those shows as a buyer and uh, I don't think I've attended since I moved out of my buying roles. But um, you know, I think, Shannon, what you just said, I think is something that's really, uh, either not completely comprehended for newer brands or underestimated for newer brands in the, in the buyer feedback. Because you can sign up with the best broker in the world. Um, and they may or may not get you in front of buyers, number one. Number two, um, they're gonna, you know, potentially if they get in front of that buyer, they get that feedback that you just talked about, right. Whether it's packaging, whether it's ingredients or certificate, whatever, whatever it is, uh, and then they're told, hey, we like the product but. And they have to go back to the drawing board. And so in theory, instead of writing a big check, you know, sometimes, you know, I'm not even, I'm not gonna say a number, a big check to a broker, uh, that maybe they're not ready for, um, you know, a show like this where they could get in front of. And it's almost like a demo, right? When you do a demo in a store, you're getting live feedback from buyers or from consumers at the store. You know, they like the product, they don't like whatever the case may, but it's real. And you can take that and uh, you know, take just a sample pool of what the consumer thought is about your product. It's kind of the same thing with these events. Right. And I will attest to what you said. I mean, first of all, the team at ECRM RangeMe are fantastic. They're great people, but they always put on great events. More often than not, the, the venue and, or the location is somewhere that you want to go to. Right? And so it's something, you know, that you can look forward to going to. It's not a, you know, in the middle of nowhere or somewhat. You know, it's usually someplace very, very cool to go to. Um, but. But it's a class act from top to bottom. And I think, um, you know, if you haven't attended one in your brand, uh, you know, looking at cpgx, it's, it's a good way to try. And I think I wanted to kind of bring it back. Gavin, uh, with your experience, you know, I know you've done now at least one, maybe a couple of Shannon's events. But looking at it, um, now from a, from a sales perspective, from a brand perspective, you know, is it helping influence you that hey, I'd want to do this show next year, right? I mean, okay, you've used Shannon kind of as a stepping stone to test the water. Um, you know, I always encourage brands if they're not sure if they want to, if they want to exhibit at a show that they walk the show, you know, pay to get a, you know, a walking badge so they can walk the show. Shannon's giving another chance to do it in a different way. What are your thoughts from a brand side as far as, okay, I've done this now is it going to help you as you look at 20, 27 and beyond, is here's where we're going to spend our money or, you know, we did this and it's not for us. Is it helping you?

Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. I think, um, I think again, using. Using the company that I work for, gngr, I think, uh, I think it's a stepping stone. Right. Because like Shannon brought up a good example earlier, uh, with the idd iddba, uh, company where they just spent a ton of money at sweet and snacks and it's just like, I'm okay spending the money as long as we think that there's going to be value. And like getting our feet wet with cpgx, it's like, hey, this is what we can expect in year one. And then it's just like, okay, if we want to do that again in year two, totally cool with doing that. Um, but if there's like, if we get traction with a significant retailer or multiple significant retailers through cpgx, and then it allows us in year two with Fancy Food as an example to have our own 10 foot booth space because we have more of national demand or whatever. Um, or we have more innovation coming out and using that as a stepping stone. I think that's totally cool. I think it just, again, it just depends on what level of spend and all that that we feel like we can get uh, uh, out of the show. But then it goes back to hey, you have to pay for your own lead services, you have to pay for everything else. Um, you know, is that worth the trade off to maybe have a little bit better space somewhere else at the show? Or you might have worse space or Shannon might knock it out of the park and create this huge event where maybe he's got a more space next year. And it's, and it's more of a whole section of, of the store or uh, uh, store, uh, of the trade show. I can see it work both ways. I know for us again, like, I think if we see a lot of really good success at uh, at, at Fancy, uh, food and we get wins from it and it allows us to grow and capture more of a national audience, then it makes sense maybe to elevate to uh, our own booth or maybe it doesn't.

Speaker A: Right?

Speaker C: And I think that's the, what I've really enjoyed in this journey is, you know, as we go to these shows, we are getting those relationships with the shows and we're saying, hey, what can we do next year to have a bigger presence? How can we work with you guys directly? Um, what can we do to make this happen? Um, you know, there's a, there's a show in October that is sold out. It's on a three year wait list. Um, in the, I won't name names, but it's in the convenience store. You can probably figure it out there. But, but they were like, we don't really want, you know, we don't need to work with you. We're sold out. We, we don't need more brands. So we're actually going to host an event there at the same time where we're going to invite a lot of the retailers. It's going to be a big four or five hour event and we're going to allow brands to come and sample and get there in front of it. Um, and it's going to be at topgolf, same as what Sweets and Snacks was. And that event for us was very popular. I mean we had close to 120, 130 people that showed up for our Topgolf event there in Vegas for sweets and snacks. So we're going to do another one here in October.

Speaker B: Yeah, and I think that's, that's great too. And like, I, I think I'm probably okay with asking this, but your, your after hours, uh, event, do you have retailers committed to that? If so, can you name some names and then um, our brand, I know we talked about it for a hot second, but obviously that's going to be high priority for your existing community. If a brand wants to go to that, are you allowing them to or is it different cost or all that?

Speaker C: Yeah. So as far as our after hours event, my goal is to always allow brands for free. Um, currently right now it's everybody for free. And the only people it's not free for are our sponsors. And the reason it's free is because of our sponsors. So I do really appreciate those partnerships that we do have. Um, you know, and a lot of them walk away with value even, you know, we help get badges, we help, you know, which offsets a lot of that cost immediately. And we ask them, hey, like, what are you trying to get out of this partnership so that we can help them be successful as well? Um, you know, to say, hey, who has committed? Looking at the list, you know, we have um, John Lane from um, is committed yet rallies, we have um, some Meyer, we have a handful of Whole Foods people that are on the list here. I'm just going down looking at it right now. So that's why I'm looking at my other screen here. Um, so yeah, we do have a handful of buyers committed. We are limiting some service providers because we don't want it just to be, you know, service providers walking around trying to drum up business. Brands though, we want it to be a place where, hey, it's relaxing, it's a place to hang out, um, you know, T squared, T Squared. If you look it up, it's a fun interactive place. There's some, uh, golf simulators, darts, uh, duck pin bowling. So it's going to be a fun event that. Ah. And that's what I always want our events to be. I want them to be fun. I want them to be relaxing. I don't want it to be, hey, like, who's the buyer here so that I can run and talk to them. Um, because you. Because buyers, as you guys know, and you guys have been in those spots. You guys, you know, you just walk the show all day, you want to decompress, you want to be able to just hang out with fellow industry and just have a normal conversation. So that's what I really do try to focus on. These events is just being very low key, um, relaxing.

Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, Wade, I can attest to that. I think the last thing we want to do if we go to an after hours event is be sold and sold and sold some more.

Speaker A: Right, Right. Yeah. And Shannon, so if I'm a brand at the, uh, you know, one of your after hours events, and whether I'm a CPGX brand or I'm a brand signed up just to show up, uh, do you permit the brands to pass out samples while they're there? Is there any, you know, qualifiers or nos that they're, you know, what they are and aren't allowed to do?

Speaker C: I'd prefer them not to hand out samples because we actually do have some brand now if they're a brand that's with cpgx, no problem with that at all. Like, hey, you've already. You're in our booth space if you want to bring some samples, I have no problem with that. Um, AT T squared, we actually do have a couple brands that didn't want to drop all the money for Summer Fancy. So they. We do have a demo program at T Squared that we do have a handful of brands that we'll be sampling during that event as well.

Speaker A: Gotcha. Gotcha.

Speaker B: I'm gonna, I'm gonna have a backpack of liver cleanse for.

Speaker C: That's fine. You're in our pavilion.

Speaker A: Well, that's a good cross version. Yeah, that's probably wise there. That's wise.

Speaker B: Two birds with one stone. Uh, promoting a little bit, but then also helping heal, uh, those who may partake in too many beverages.

Speaker A: Love it. Love it. So, uh, we've talked a little bit about where you were, where you are, a little bit about the calendar year coming up. Do you have any thoughts or do you. I'm sure you have thoughts. Do you want to share? Um, anything as you look at, you know, the longer range picture. What do you want to do with cpgx? How do you want it to evolve? Um, above and beyond where it is today.

Speaker C: Yeah, the best way I can describe that, Wade, is I want to create an ecosystem without gatekeepers, um, where it's not pay to play or, hey, I want this. I want to be able to create value for everybody involved in this industry. I mean, the nickel and diming of some things has just kind of gotten out of control. The, hey, or we want, you know, $10,000 to send an email out. Um, you know, I was looking at, I made a post there a couple of weeks ago about, you know, we sent out an email to 8,000 some people. We had a 52% open rate.

Speaker B: Like, wow, that's strong. I mean, what's standard open rate?

Speaker C: I don't even know, but I just thought 52% was pretty high.

Speaker B: I think that's, I think that's incredibly high. Like, wait, I think in the retail side, I think if you got close to 10%, I think that was usually pretty good.

Speaker A: Right?

Speaker C: I mean, and the one that went out this week's for the T Squared event, I had, um, I think it was like 41, but that goes out again. I think tomorrow or today it went out again. So, I mean, like, we're, we're staying relevant. Um, and I do appreciate that. I think we, I truly believe we are adding value to brands and helping them. I mean, the number of people that call and just, hey, like, what are you guys doing? How can, how can we work with you? And what do we get out of it? I want to give more than I take. Um, you know, ultimately our goal is our trade show next year. And that's what our, our focus is. I mean, so that brands see that we're giving value now and if they come to our trade show, they're going to have even more value then. Same thing with our partnerships with service providers. We want to provide value all around in an ecosystem to help everybody get in front of the right people at a more affordable and accessible way.

Speaker A: I love that. A quick Google search tells me that, uh, AI tells me the average open rates 15 to 25%. So you're talking 3, 4x, uh, what you're doing.

Speaker B: Yeah, I think that's great. And like, obviously I can attest to this and, and I've had, um, you know, I think startup CPG has done a great job with all the things that they've done. Um, we just were, we, we did their grocery run in New York City I think back in, at the end of March, early, early April. That was a very cool event. You know, again, good networking session. We uh, were able to listen to Daniel interview uh, the head merchant for I think one of the family, uh, members uh, of Citarella. And that was a really cool, really cool vibe. And then we were able to submit for uh, the KHI thing uh prior to their show where uh, if you weren't set up in KHI yet then you, you know, you could apply to, to sample your products. That was a really healthy event for us too because again you're just getting uh, the thing for, for brands is especially emerging brands. You're trying to get FaceTime with people, right? Like again you can use a broker to try to do that. You can use yourself to try to do that. Then you can use these events and trade shows to try to do that too. And again more, the more at bats you get or the more value or, or uh, efficient of bats that you can get to get in front of somebody. That's what matters. And I think Shannon, that's what you've been able to help, help do through these ECRM events, these trade show events. And then obviously your own, your own, you're creating extreme value in that because again Even if it's 5 minutes, 2 minutes where they sample your product, if your product's good or if your pack packaging's memorable or your experience with that person's memorable, that goes so much farther than just submitting on um, uh, you know, submitting on range me or submitting on their portal or submitting, submitting for the category review and hoping someone opens that. It's like a resume, you know, at the end of the day how many just get thrown away?

Speaker C: Yeah, that's fair.

Speaker A: That's fair. Well, uh, we do have another topic that we want to get to with Shannon. Uh, Gavin. Anything we want to touch on with cpgx or Shannon for that matter. You. Before we pivot over to what else we want to talk about.

Speaker B: No, I just recognize comments. I mean Sean definitely wants some bigger checks so.

Speaker A: We all do. We all do.

Speaker B: I'm sure he's got getting some decent size Publix.

Speaker C: One last thing for CPGX is we do have a pavilion at Expo West. Um, we have ah, 1212 spots there. So if anybody is interested in a booth space at um, Expo, unfortunately they will not budge on price. So there's not going to be but we are doing a lot of stuff for value add um, in our area and to work with brands pre show, post show, during show to make sure that they're going to walk away from Expo west with some value and that

Speaker B: Expo west, uh, where are you guys at?

Speaker C: Uh, we are going to be on level three. Hot new products.

Speaker B: Cool and hot new products. For those who may be unaware how agree aggressively hit is that by buyers. All that good stuff because I think that experience at hot products and I, I've always had a really positive turnout from a buyer standpoint.

Speaker C: Personally I think it's where a um, lot of buyers go because everyone up there is usually part of some type of group and it's very, it's a well promoted area. Um, it's also where all the meeting spaces are for buyers. So usually when they're done with their meetings up there or their sessions usually end up just walking into that hall. Um, so it's, it's a really great area in my opinion.

Speaker A: And the website, I was going to say, I was just going to read the website real quick. Www.cpgxperience.com there's no Ian experience. It's XP.

Speaker C: Let's just make, let's just make it easy. Cpgx.com now cpgx.com There you go.

Speaker A: And I'm doing that for those listening as opposed to those joining us here.

Speaker C: So no, I, I just purchased the uh, domain for that. Um, I went. Jumped through a lot ofhoops but cpgx.com and makes it easy and easy to remember.

Speaker A: Very easy. Uh, Gavin.

Speaker B: Um, and then that is what time frame is Expo west next year? Is that same first week of March?

Speaker A: Yep.

Speaker B: Yep. And then how fast do you think that stuff is going to sell out for, for you?

Speaker C: So right now the show itself is already at 86% uh, sold out from my understanding from what they've told me. Um, we've had several brands reach out already saying hey we're, we are interested for us we need to have brand commitment before August and then we're on the hook for it. So we have committed out of pocket for 12 booth spaces at. Yeah, that Bill's uh, has a, has a couple commas in it.

Speaker B: Yeah. And Allison Clay says uh, isn't that near the startup CPG area on the third floor?

Speaker C: Yes it is.

Speaker B: Yeah. So I'd have to imagine that's going to be a pretty attractive space. Obviously between your promotion and startup CPG's promotion that's going to be. And then obviously with all the Meeting rooms not too far away. Again, Wade, I can speak to this like you get out of those meeting rooms as a buyer, uh, you're looking for water, you're looking for food, you're looking for, you know, quick walk around stuff. Um, so that's definitely going to be a heavily attractive, attractive area. Um, and then Shannon, that's a little bit different though. Like That's a actual 10T bright booth space for those brands.

Speaker C: Uh, it's 8 by 10, 8 by 10 in Expo Westworld.

Speaker B: And then there are. And then again they're on the hook for their entire booth build and all that kind of stuff. You provide the area, but that's their space that they more or less have to own. And then from a distribution standpoint, however, they store product refrigerated, frozen. They have to work that out logistically with Expo West.

Speaker C: So the short answer is yes to all of those questions. The, the longer answer to that is we're here to help. Um, our team's here to help. Help support. Hey, what can you do? Make sure, make sure you have your best foot forward going into that show because we do understand that you're spending a lot of money. So we want to make sure that you're prepared. We want to, we're going to help you do pre show stuff. Pre show reach out. We're going to help you. Hey, you know how, when you do your booth layout, how do you organize your products to make sure that the seller, you know, the number one sellers here in the beginning and stuff? Um, and that's what Darren on our team has done a great job working with the brands to do.

Speaker B: Cool, I dig that. And then, uh, before we move on to the last subject, I do want to let you have a couple more minutes to speak about your event in Savannah next year.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker B: How that's coming. Uh, just reiterate, you know, all the things, things that you're providing there, uh, cost of booth, size of booth, retail commitments. If you can shed any light on that kind of stuff.

Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, you know, retail commitments, it's always, hey, yeah, we're interested, let us know we're in. Um, at the same time, buyer turnover between now and next September, who knows what category they're going to even be in. Um, but the show is still moving forward. We are doing the Savannah Convention st. Center, uh, September 14th through the 16th, 2027. Um, the show's going to be an experience. That's the best way I can put it for brand, for emerging brands, brands that are doing less than 12 million a year in sales. That's our focus. So that they can get discovered, they can get their time. Um, we have worked, we have reached out to several hundred retailers, distributors. Um, we've gotten a lot of, of course, verbal commitment. We're working with a lot of sponsorships and stuff. Yes, we are still, what, 14 months out, 13 or 15 months out, but that's going to be here very quickly. Um, yep. You know, I looked at, I pulled a list of all trade shows in the food and beverage world for next year and so far it's come back to me with like 87 different trade shows and that's not even included, including the smaller ones. So, you know, when you look at those trade shows and you have to, as Gavin, you've mentioned several times here, when you're looking at the budget for 2027 and where are we going to allocate our money and what are we going to do when you look at it and say, hey, for a 2500 investment, for a booth space and then you know, some other things to get out to the show, it's going to be worth the while. The ROI is going to be there. Um, you know, we're working with the uh, trade show so that we don't have to deal with, hey, it's going to cost you a thousand dollars to bring a pallet in. It's, you know, we're actually, we're working with some behind the scenes stuff to actually handle logistics where we're going to be running a warehouse down in Savannah where brands can just ship their product and we'll make sure we get it to their booth space, all with an all in cost of like 500, um, to just make it more easily, easily accessible. Um, also to the point where brands can just back up to the dock out back, unload their stuff themselves, wheel it in with a four wheel cart and not have to worry about, hey, you know, Javit center this week, if anyone's listening and have never been to Javits center, if you have four wheels on your cart, you will not be allowed in the front door, I promise you that.

Speaker B: So two wheels are bringing a cooler with two wheels to wheel the stuff in and uh, some of our, some of our stuff, I, I applaud you for that because I think a lot of brands, we don't, a lot of us just don't read the fine print right. And when you're doing an Expo west, uh, uh, Expo east unify stuff, there's all these hidden costs, uh, that you're just, you know, a little bit blind to. And they're going to charge you per day, per weight for whatever you're storing, um, whatever you're renting it. I mean, they're going to charge you three times what it could potentially be to cost to buy a refrigerator as an example, you know, just, just to rent it. So, uh, that is very attractive in and of itself.

Speaker A: Definitely. Definitely. Okay, so we want to touch on one of the other things Shannon's been helping with. Uh, and that is Wild and well market. Uh, and so I'm gonna put that link in the chat. It's wildandwellmarket.com Shannon, tell us a little bit about that project and how you're helping.

Speaker C: Yeah, so Wild and well is a market that will be similar to that of Pop Up Grocer that's in New York and la. And it's going to be located in the New River Gorge national park in Fayetteville, West Virginia. A lot of people might be like West Virginia, who's going to go there compared to New York or LA, but the park itself. Last year, 1.9 million visitors came to the park and checked in at the visitor center. And so you have to figure it's probably closer to 3 million people that have visited that just didn't check into the visitor center. Um, the town of Fayetteville is a fairly small town, one light town, maybe about 20, 25 shops. So when visitors come, they park, they walk to all the shops. We're located right across from the visitor center. So of course you walk out of that, you're right there at the shop there. Um, this weekend, next weekend, coming up, uh, Fourth of July weekend. It is a Fourth of July heritage festival. Uh, there. They're expecting about 50 to 60,000 visitors coming into town to watch the parade, um, to just, you know, experience what Fayetteville has to offer. And the goal behind the market is to help emerging brands, or help brands in general that want to get discovered and get in front of the right consumer. Um, out very outdoorsy area. Hikers, um, hikers, bikers, boaters, rock climbers, all people that are eating healthy, one clean food. And the store itself is only carrying about 40 to 50 brands at a time. Um, brands right now that are interested and are signing up instead of us. Originally it was set up that they were only going to do it for a quarter, um, or four months. Basically you get it for a quarter. You get the additional month to kind of roll through your sellout. But now if you sign up, you get it all the way through the end of the year and into 2027. Um, so yeah, just a great concept I think for brands to get discovered. They're going to be helping with social media content, talking to buyer or talking to consumers. And that's the beauty. When you only have 4050 products products in your store, you can talk to all about all of them. You know the brand, send their sell sheets and all the information about it so that the employees can be well versed on what's actually being sold and what's in the products that consumers are consuming.

Speaker A: Got it. And so if someone's interested and wants to learn more about how they could potentially get into the store, um, obviously you could share some now or where, where would you send them?

Speaker C: So they can either go to the website that you shared there, um, or they can more than welcome to reach out to me, um, and I can share information with them, send them some information. They can also email infowildandwellmarket.com awesome.

Speaker A: Awesome. Gavin, you're emerging brand. What are your thoughts?

Speaker B: I think it's great dude. I, I think I uh, think for any of these uh, like pop up grocer type things, uh, you know I know that one's in New York, but you know the, the smaller cities, there's obviously in Charleston too. It's uh, there's a lot of traffic that you get good visibility on, you know and then if you can create something of it too where it's a walk in market and it's a good feel and in stock conditions are good. I think it's a, I think it's a great opportunity.

Speaker C: Yeah. I think the beauty of this program is brands will get a weekly report on what their velocity is so that they can actually see it and monitor it and then they can kind of send product at their own will of hey, you know we, we're selling out of this more than that. And they can just drop ship the product directly. They don't need distribution which is really nice. Um, they also don't need to send a whole pallet of product in order to get it. It's hey, I'm just going to drop ship a 1 uh case or here and there and see how it goes. And you know, weekly reports will tell them.

Speaker B: And then Shannon, what is the, is there going to be an area of focus like you guys are going to have a little bit of chill space, a little bit of freezer space, a little bit of grocery space. What's the dissemination uh, between the three?

Speaker C: Yeah. So there's going to be a little bit of each, um, you know, three door cooler, frozen area, we have an open air cooler. Um, there's going to be an area even for products that are not food and beverage, just for, you know, um, you know, condiments even. All the way to the extent of sunscreen and outdoor products and stuff as well.

Speaker B: Yeah, well, that's smart. I mean, at the end of the day it's uh. I know, I know. Like Wade, you do the Asheville thing every now and then in a lot of these downtown areas. You know, they're good stores to stop into. I know for me personally, I get turned off when I have to pay $5 for like a 16 ounce water. So I hope you guys aren't gonna do that.

Speaker C: But so, so it's all consignment based. Um, so the brands tell us what to sell it for. And it's an 80, 20 split. Brands, uh, get 80, store gets 20%. Um, so when the brand ships the product, they say, hey, we want to sell it for this much, they get a weekly report and then at the end of every month they get a payout for everything they've sold.

Speaker A: It's an interesting model.

Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.

Speaker A: And then as far as reorders go, who's determining that? Is it based off the weekly reports and the brands determining or okay, so the store's not ordering the store or you know, so just playing, not devil's advocate, but just poking the bear a little bit here. So if I'm a brand and I commit to, you know, I want to be in, and you said through the end of the year. So, uh, what happens if, um, and I'm putting on my operator's hat here. What happens if, uh, I'm a brand, I committed to this space and the product sells out and I fall off m the rate? I mean, shame on me for the brand, but I'm a store operator. I don't want an empty shelf. What do you do in that scenario?

Speaker C: Try to communicate. You know, there's only so much you can do, um, with the brands you've dealt with. Brand side, you've been on the retailer side as well. Um, you know, at the end of the day, anything that I'm involved in, I want to create value. So it's like, hey, what's going on? What? You know, we're going to send emails, we're going to reach out and go from there with it. So that that's our goal. At the end of, on the other side of that, there's going to be Brands looking to take that shelf space. Um, so if you can't keep it filled, there's going to be a brand that wants to keep it filled.

Speaker A: Good, good. So you basically will have some likely in the pipeline that should something happen or you know, they you're filled and you don't have space, you could reach back out and kind of, you know,

Speaker C: as of right now, because we are doing arrange me campaign with this. I will tell you right now with our campaign, um, we have 205 submissions. Wow.

Speaker A: Wow.

Speaker C: Just on range Me and then that doesn't even include the people that have hit me up on LinkedIn that haven't gone through range Me. So, um, you know, and again it's, the product's got to make sense. It can't just be, hey, we want in just to be in. It's got a, uh, also, you know, I mean we've gotten like foot massagers and stuff and it's like, hey, like that's not gonna work in, in the store.

Speaker A: Right?

Speaker C: So, but you know, 205, I mean we're gonna be able to find our 40, 50 and keep the rest in the pipeline.

Speaker A: Nice, Nice. That's awesome. That's awesome. Well, I know we're coming up on time. Um, so we talked about cpgx.com wildandwellmarket.com anything else from your perspective there, Shannon? Uh, you know, best way to reach you interact uh, with yourself as well as CPGX and wild and well, I,

Speaker C: um, mean LinkedIn's always the uh, a great way. Uh, I try to stay pretty active on there, post once a day. Um, you know, LinkedIn algorithm of course has changed for everybody. But um, you know, I'm here as a resource for brands. Um, I, I don't want to be a gatekeeper at the same time when I'm like, hey, let me know who you need contact to. If you send me a list of 30 people, I'm probably not going to send you a list of 30 people back. You know, if you need an introduction here or there, I don't mind. Um, and I've had those people. Gavin, you laugh, but I'm like, hey, let me know who I can connect to. And I've gotten emails of like 30 like, hey, can you get me this whole like, are you kidding me? Um, but I mean I, I will,

Speaker B: I will say like I asked Shannon for some stuff and he got me some stuff. But I also, I think everybody just has, has to recognize like I, I, I think you don't want to press your Limits because like, you're there to do your job too. You know, I think, I think, uh, but that's the, the, the, that's the whole value or one of the huge values of that CPGX platform is, is you shouldn't have to use Shannon for everything. You should be able to network within this group and everybody wants to see each other win, you know, Like, I can't tell you how much valuable feedback I got from that NAMA show just based on having conversations with the people who have, who have a lot more experience than you or who have a lot more experience in the food service channel and they can help guide you of like, hey, this show is actually really worth doing. This one's not. So, you know, again, it's just those conversations and make those connections, uh, through that community. But Shannon's a great resource too. I just wouldn't abuse it.

Speaker A: Well said, well said. Well look, uh, forward to seeing you both this, this week. Um, I'll see you tomorrow. This weekend. Yeah, tomorrow for sure. Um, and once again, just, just booth number Shannon for fancy food.

Speaker C: So the whole pavilion's in like the 4400 area. Um, you know, there's a bunch, it's on the first floor, uh, level there. There's a handful of pavilions. Um, really excited about being in that area. I think it's going to be great for brands and buyers just to be able to discover some stuff. We're right there beside emerging, uh, brands, area startups, right there. Vegan, um, or all those guys. So, um, if you're a buyer or even just a brand, like, come check out what's going on in that pavilion. And um, whether it's myself, even startup cpg, all those guys, I mean, we're here to help this industry. Um, and if we can help in any way, don't hesitate to reach out.

Speaker A: Love it.

Speaker B: Yeah. I would just say, like, you know, again, going back to our prime buying days, these options weren't really available.

Speaker A: No, not at all.

Speaker C: Yeah, I think I'll go back to when I was a brand. I wish the stuff that's available now was.

Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, at the end of the day, like, I think it is very helpful for any level. Co founder, founder, vp, sales, distribution, whatever. It's very helpful to have someone to talk to about some of this stuff. I think if you go back 10 years, everybody's kind of out for themselves. LinkedIn's not even as popular as it was 10 years ago. Now you have all these other things that again, they're resources and you can use them. So I think just having these options available makes your life. It can make your life a lot easier.

Speaker A: Good stuff. Good stuff. Well, we will see, uh, those of you listening or watching in attendance at Fancy Food, we'll see you this weekend. Uh, otherwise Gavin and I will be back, uh, in two weeks from today. Uh, next week is uh, July 4th weekend. So we're gonna uh. Not that we need another vacation, but we're taking it. And we'll uh, see you back in two weeks and uh, I'm not sure yet if we'll have a guest. We'll figure it out before then and just watch, uh, watch our feeds and we'll keep you posted there. Otherwise Shannon, thanks for your time today. Uh, look forward to seeing you. And uh, we'll see everybody back in two weeks.

Speaker C: As always, guys, thank you.

Speaker A: You bet. Take care everybo. Sam. Mhm.