313. Why Community Is the Shortcut to CPG Growth With Kristine Carey, Naturally Colorado

0:00You know, I just want to share that for me personally, this is a really amazing role. I've really stepped into my superpower by being able to offer, you know, the community connection all the way from the networking to the education. But for Naturally Colorado to be able to build really important programming for companies to come in and learn the ways. And it isn't just for startup companies. We have a lot of established brands. We have Bobo's and Quinn's and Simply Elizabeth and Celestial Seasonings, Justin's Nut Butter. So we have really amazing companies that have, you know, founders that are also willing to talk to people within our community and do the give back because they started out with Naturally Bolder and now they have been able to build their business.

0:50So we're a community of give back and sharing so that we can, you know, all raise up for the better for you category. Are you ready to hear more? Welcome to the Bulletproof Your Brand podcast, where we discuss the tactics and strategies you need to give your brand the unfair competitive advantage it deserves. Hello, I'm your host, Dan Lohman. Be certain to comment and subscribe to get immediate access to new brand building episodes. Please recommend it to friends and colleagues and help me raise the bar in natural. Let me know what your most pressing issues are, and I'll do my best to address them on future episodes.

1:24At the end of every episode, there's a free downloadable guide to help you go deeper into the topics we discuss. Now, let's roll up our sleeves and get started. Christine, thank you so much for coming on today. Can you please tell us about your journey to Naturally Colorado? Sure. I have been the executive director now for three years. And before that, I was also the facilitator's coordinator, the forum's facilitator, the coordinator for all our roundtable discussions. And prior to that, I have been in the community since 2010 at different companies, MyShell Dermaceuticals, Widerspoon, Healthy Scoop, a couple other companies that I worked as when I was a consultant.

2:10So I've been in the community for a really long time. And it's just a great place to engage with people, share insights, trends, all the things and really collaborate and network. It is. I absolutely love it. I am so thrilled to be a part of it. And thank you for, again, making time and letting me contribute. So can you tell us a little bit about what's going on at Naturally Colorado? How about let's start with why did Naturally Boulder become Naturally Colorado? Sure. When I came on as executive director in 2023, it was really after everything that was happening with COVID. So I came on and I had a couple really important goals to listen and learn, first of all, because lots of things were changing and different.

2:58Raise the energy in a community that is really based on a lot of in-person networking and collaboration. And the third piece was make that change, that transition from Naturally Boulder to Naturally Colorado. And the reason really was because, you know, things were adjusting. People weren't specifically coming to Boulder. They were coming to cities around Boulder. They were coming to the Front Range. They were coming to Denver, Louisville, Superior, Erie, etc. And so we really saw the need to kind of push out of sight of Boulder, keep our history. That's where the Mecca is. That's where people are coming.

3:37That's where the expertise is still today. But really meet people where they are. Meet them on the Front Range. and as we built Naturally Colorado, meet them across the state. So meet them on the western slope, meet them in their rural communities so that they had the opportunity to get the expertise that everybody else was getting in Boulder and on the Front Range. Great. I appreciate that. So and then how did you acquire or how did you merge with Colorado Food Startup? Sure. So we basically merged with Colorado Food Works basically because they had their organization within Denver and they were doing very similar events that we were doing education and networking and really thought that bringing them together a lot of members that were Carwell Foodworks members were also naturally Boulder members at the time so it really made sense to blend what we were doing but keep the cultures of both keep the history of Boulder, keep that culture of startup organizations with Carbo Foodworks and blend that with what we were doing.

4:43You know, upwards of 50 % of the brands that are in the Naturally Colorado community are those startup brands that are 5 million or less. So they're looking for the networking. They're looking for coaches and advisors and the education that we provide. Fantastic. So now my next question is Naturally Network. What is that? How are you aligned with that, and then all the other branches, how do they tie in? How do you coordinate? How do you help support each other? Sure. So Naturally Boulder at the time, I think it was about four years ago, developed Naturally Network. And Naturally Network was built to be the umbrella for what was starting to happen of the other cities across the United States, other regions, building other Naturally chapters.

5:29So there was naturally Chicago and there was naturally Bay Area and naturally North Bay. And really looking at that and saying, let's get some consistency across all these chapters, because we wanted to make sure that we were all talking in the same direction with our conscious business as a high priority. So the Naturally Boulder developed Naturally Network. And now today we have 11 chapters. So really those chapters as executive directors, we meet once a week so that we can share best practices, some tips, some tricks, what events we're doing, and also cross promote, because there's a lot of times that we have sponsors that are across the United States so they can get to other events at different chapters.

6:16And we also do virtual events. So it's a really great way for us to promote virtual events that are happening across because there's different expertise and different sponsors that get to be played up in those virtual events. Fantastic. Thanks for sharing that. So if I'm a founder of a new brand, why would I look to you guys? What's unique? What's different? What would I expect to get out of it? How can you help me? Sure. So there are so many ways to plug in to any of the chapters, but naturally Colorado specifically, you know, we have our forums, which are smaller, more intimate round table discussions.

6:52We have forums that are built on marketing, sales, operations, and we have one specifically for startups, for founders, so that you can come in and talk to other founders, share your successes, share your challenges and get insights for what other people are doing. That's one way. We also have our mentorship program. We have one-on-one mentoring. We also have cohorts so that you can learn retail readiness and marketing, et cetera. We also have networking events. We have a women in CPG networking event that happens quarterly. We also have monthly, last Wednesday of the month, networking events that are at different locations across Boulder, Denver, et cetera.

7:39so that we can, again, meet people where they are. But it's an opportunity to come in. We do some great networking games. We might do tours. We might have a speaker for a little bit. Last month, we went to CU and invited students to come in to hear about what it's like to be in the food and beverage category in CPG. So a lot of times that we're doing, we're doing a lot of things to be able to get people talking to each other because collaboration really is the key. So instead of reinventing the wheel, why not talk to somebody that's already done it, you know, within our community and be able to have that conversation really well.

8:15So we have a lot of different ways. We also do some signature events. One of them is our pitch competition, which is coming up April 22nd. And that is for companies, startup companies that are two million or less. So they can apply to pitch. We choose five finalists. And within that, you get the opportunity to also learn how to pitch at the same time, because this might be your first pitch or maybe even your second or third pitch. But you get a coach, you get mentorship, you get data from NIQ, you get a graphic designer that can help you build your slides. You know this because you're a coach for one of the finalists.

8:58So it really is the opportunity for people to really collaborate and help uplift the founders that are starting their business. Because again, no reason to reinvent the wheel on building a CPG business, but be able to collaborate on that. I think that is so important. And thank you for giving me the opportunity. I'm having a blast, especially with the brand that I'm working with. I think what's really unique about this, Christine, is that when we talk, when I've been involved in a lot of other pitch competitions before, and those are focused more and getting capital, getting in front of investor.

9:33I like the holistic approach to this where we're not only focused on that, but we're also talking about how do you get in front of a buyer or a retailer or a consumer? Can you talk more about that? Totally. So we do have a program called the CPG Academy. That's an on-demand virtual academy where the first modules, the first learnings that we have right now are for retail readiness. So that has everything for getting retail ready, for purchasing, for pricing, getting your slides ready, talking to a buyer, talking to broker. So it is those stair steps to get you retail ready, to get you into a retailer and how to go about that.

10:16So it's one really key way that we do that. And I do think our mentorship program offers that opportunity also with coaching, because you'll come in and maybe you need to know more about marketing so we can connect you with someone that's very marketing focused. Or maybe you're looking for your sales strategy. We can connect you with someone there also. I used to love going to the meetings that you guys would have back in Alfalfa. I'm dating myself. It's been a few years. But I love the fact that you guys had those on Wednesday. I think it was Wednesday mornings. As a young founder, I loved being part of that community, not only because I was trying to learn about the space, but I was also trying to network and find people that were a similar position to me.

10:59Can you share some experiences that you've had or some of the stories that people have told you why this matters and how this impacted their business? Well, I would start out by the fact that in 2005, that's why Naturally Boulder started at the time, because the industry was booming. People were building businesses, but everyone was in their own silo, especially as a startup company. And what came about is Mark Retzloff, Joan Boykin, and Sylvia Tauss came together and said, why don't we create an organization with the Boulder Chamber of Commerce, with their economic development, and pull something together so that people could start talking to each other?

11:40Because if they're walking down Pearl Street Mall, they might catch up with each other, or they might ask for a conversation. But it was really about that ability to have a conversation because someone has the experience or someone's been through the challenge that can be shared. So that's why Naturally Bolder started. And today that same idea, those same values are happening with the networking events, with the education, with the mentorship. And you kind of ask, where do people plug in? I would highly recommend one, getting signed up for our newsletter, which you can find on our website, and actually going to the website to find out what events are happening right now.

12:20I think we might have maybe 10 different events that are happening within just the next three months from the mentorship, from the networking, from the forums, and the pitch competition that's coming up next week. So naturallycolorado.org is really the place to get connected to see what's happening. And then I really recommend being in person, coming to the events. We should have somewhere between 350, 50, 400 people at the pitch competition. So you brought up the idea that the pitch is, you know, about funding. It's about marketing. We have five amazing judges that all hit the different aspects, you know, impact, sustainability, what's your story there.

13:00We have someone from funding that's there. We have someone from natural grocers that's a judge that will be able to kind of talk about that, ask questions about your retail readiness. And I do think if you're not pitching, it's great to be there because then you get to see how people are actually talking about their business and what they're doing successfully. Fantastic. And of course, Spring Fling, is that coming up this year? I guess that's one of my favorite events. Which event? Sorry. Spring Fling. Spring Fling has actually moved to fall. So now we call it Fall Fling. It used to be in the spring, but because our pitch competition is now in April, it's really hard for us to bounce again to a big signature event.

13:39So we moved it to the fall. It's in October. Last year, we had 60 tables, which is really amazing because we had a VIP hour, which we brought in some buyers and we brought in mentors and coaches for an open hour before anybody came in from the general public and came through and provided feedback. So heard the brand's pitches, provided feedback. So it was a really great way for those brands to get really good insights on what they're doing in their business. And then once we opened the door, it was really amazing that through the, I think it was three, four hours that we had all the tables that were there for everyone who actually submitted what they did, but we sold more than$15 ,000 worth of products during that time.

14:27So it's really a great opportunity for you to get in front of retail buyers and coaches, to get in front of the community members and sample and sell your product at the same time. They are a blast. And the other cool thing is that people fly in from all over the country to be a part of it because there's such a big event, which I love being able to talk to the Gary Hirshbergs and the other people like that. So that's fantastic. Can you talk a little bit about what's happening in 2026? What are the plans or the goals, I should say, for 2026? Sure. So pretty much three main goals. One is sharing the expertise across the state.

15:09So related to that, we are going to the Western Slope in October, beginning of October before the fall fling. And we are doing a CBG food and beverage and ag workshop on October 5th, I think is the date. It's Monday. And with that, we're also doing a pitch competition. That pitch competition is more about creating awareness. So we'll have five finalists for that also. But again, when I first came on board, the goal was to share the expertise across the state and transition into Colorado. And this event and this timing is really fantastic for us. It's during the West Slope startup week. So we'll have more time throughout the week also to engage with finance and marketing and operations overall throughout that organization.

15:58And then we also are focused on our forums, which are roundtable conversations. So those are events that we've had for probably about the last five years, but we're raising the bar on them. So we're bringing in really strong roundtable conversation topics with speakers that have expertise. And then it's your time as a member of those forums, which you could be an industry partner, so a service provider and or a brand. And you have the opportunity to share expertise. You have the opportunity to share successes and challenges. And again, they're based on your functions in your business, operations, sales, marketing.

16:36We have a sustainability forum also. and really highlighting the opportunity to get really deep on conversations and things that you need. Our third piece is our mentorship program. We have had an amazing mentorship program in the past, one-on-one mentorship. Last year, it was a cohort where if you were looking for marketing or operations or sales, we put you in different cohorts. This year, we're going to focus on our CPG Academy. So it's going to be one large cohort. Last year, we had 30 mentees, which is really amazing. so I really see that happening again and you'll go through the CPG Academy with someone who will be helping you understand everything looking at your homework offering office hours but then we'll do a market tour and maybe we'll do a tour of a commissary or you know a distribution center so that again as a startup you can really see what are all the things that you need to be involved in And or if you're looking for a commissary kitchen, this is the kind of thing that you might be looking for.

17:40I think, you know, those priorities are really important to us because we're sharing the expertise that the community has. And we're really engaging overall and doing it on a couple of different ways, you know, very intimate. But yet also with the bigger scales, especially with our signature events, the pitch competition and the fall fling. And brands need this so much. Thank you. Thank you for everything you're doing. One of my most popular podcast episodes was with the guy that actually ran Denver Startup. And now that's Colorado Startup. Can you talk about your relationship with that and how that's helped you blossom and increase your footprint?

18:20Sure. So Startup Colorado is really focused on rural communities across the state. And what we have done is really created an amazing partnership where they have the conversations with a lot of community members and business startups that are across the state. We have plugged in with them for the opportunity as their food and beverage CPG expert. So we bring experts. One of the key things that we've done this year is our idea factory, which just ended. We had 12 startups which were in the idea phase. and we had four weeks of really sharing with them resources that were across the state, naturally Colorado being one of them, Carawar, CSU Extension, another one, Startup Colorado, and then some funding people, some marketers, et cetera, and really kind of share, here's all the resources that you have that you can build.

19:15We did office hours. So they kind of said, here's our idea because it was really about launching ideas. Here are our ideas, like, can you give us feedback. And then at the end, our goal was to pick three of the members, companies that were in the Idea Factory as winners, and we'll be announcing them at our pitch competition. Two of them truly are ideas, Picked Minis, Zebra Sips, and then the third one is Rocky Mountain Drinks. And they are on the Western Slope, and they have about 50 stores with a hard seltzer. So really exciting to see the ideas that are forming across the state. And we want to be there for them to answer the questions and help them grow.

19:57I love how Denver, when they started that, I think it was the biggest event in the nation. And so I'm guessing that this is even bigger now. So that's really cool. It's great to see that Colorado embrace young entrepreneurs. I know that they did it. They also do in the tech space too, but also in the food space is fantastic. Yes, totally. They do creative space. they have probably you know five eight categories that they that they pinpoint really focusing on rule because i think when you're living in rule you're you know a brainstorm of one when you're building your business and that's really not um that that easy to build that that business that you're doing so if you can have more people virtually and in person hence the reason why we're taking our pitch competition and our workshop to the western slope they don't need to come to the front range for the expertise, they have the expertise there and we'll just help facilitate that.

20:50That's fantastic. Let's circle back around to the pitch competition coming up in April. What else would you like to share about that? Sure. We have five amazing finalists. So we have Dry Storage, which is a company that does ancient grain flour, stone milling. We have Meng Fu, which is a BIPOC woman founded tofu company. We have Zingy, which is really awesome, vibrant pepper relishes. We have Old Salt, which is a personal care product soaps for men. And then we have Tea with Tay, and that is a woman founded tea company that currently is all online. And she's looking to build that business but also take it into retail.

21:37I'm excited to say that it's an all-woman finalist round, which is really exciting, but more importantly, you know, really looking at the size of these companies and how they really want to excel and how they want to grow and how they can learn from the community in so many different ways. So we have an amazing prize package with PR, we have fulfillment consulting, accounting consulting, a UCG package. We have a lot of things for these finalists to really utilize as they build their business. And again, the five judges are really there to support them. Yes, ask the questions to see who is the one that is really going to stand out.

22:19But we have a grand champion, one champion overall. We have an impact leader. And then we have our people's choice. So the audience also gets a chance to say, here's who we think, you know, is going to be really the standout star for this, for this pitch competition. So everybody gets, you know, a really great opportunity. I think it's a great, great experience, great opportunity for people. So if I'm a young brand and I want to aspire to this, can you tell me a little bit about the process of how I get in front of people, how I get noticed, and then why all that matters? Yeah, you know, I would say that the first step is obviously getting into the community, kind of seeing what's all happening and learning and getting the networking and the education from it.

23:03For the pitch specifically, we have an application process that opens up usually about three months before. So we open it up in January. Actually, we open it up in December this last year early. So apply, we go through the process with a criteria for the samples and a presentation that they all submit. So we go through that and we choose five. This year, I think we had 26 applications. And then once we go through that, you know, we choose the five finalists. We also give feedback to the people that didn't actually make it into the five finalists because that's the growth opportunity that happens.

23:43And then as a finalist, you get a lot of really amazing things. So as I mentioned, there's coaching, which you are a coach for. You get a one-on-one coach that really helps you move through the things that you need to present for. So how are you talking? What do your slides look like? What are you kind of communicating? And how do you go through the question-answer piece of it when you're talking to the judges? We also do an hour-long pitch session so that they can see what did people do in the past that won the pitch competition. So we share those kind of learnings. We also have an interaction with Darcy Landis, who's the Whole Foods Market lead forager.

24:28So she's very much willing as a community member to be able to give feedback to those finalists because it really is an opportunity for you to grow. Whether you win or not, you're growing, you're learning something. So we do have a lot of people that apply two, three times to this because they're growing each time. You know, they present something new and actually coming and seeing all the pieces. So I would say one of the best part about it is exactly what you're doing, that community engagement, the insights that you're helping somebody one-on-one with their business so that they can go through this process.

25:06Thank you for saying that. I think it's so important. And the key point that I want to reiterate is that when you're starting a business, like you said, on your own, it's you, yourself, and nobody else a lot of times. But being able to have a community one. And then more importantly, the thing I really love about this is that you've got mentors helping you, different people, different eyes, different perspectives that are weighing in. And long story short, this is going to help you when you get in front of customers. This is going to help you talk to retailers. This is going to help you talk to investors, et cetera.

25:39And this is how you build a successful brand. So thank you for sharing all that. Yeah. I would actually say one thing that I did forget. But, you know, a lot of times when people are pitching, they're worried that because they're so new, they don't have any data for the category. We have them work with someone from NIQ in their category so they can get the category data that can be added to their slides. Because as a judge, they're definitely looking at the retail readiness. Is this a good category? Is it trending? Are the things positive happening to it? And we provide that, that help you get that data through NIQ, which is a really awesome thing.

26:15Because a lot of times you're like, well, I know my category is trending well, but I don't know all the data. And we provide that for you. And also, in addition to that, we got some great insights from them. Not only from the data, but the consumer piece, how the consumer shops the category. So what a wealth of information. Yeah, I love it. So thank you. Yeah. So anything else we haven't talked about that you'd love to share? You know, I just want to share that for me personally, this is a really amazing role. I've really stepped into my superpower by being able to offer, you know, the community connection all the way from the networking to the education.

26:53But for Naturally Colorado to be able to build really important programming for companies to come in and learn the ways. And it isn't just for startup companies. We have a lot of established brands. We have Bobo's and Quinn's and Simply Elizabeth and Celestial Seasonings, Justin's Nut Butter. So we have really amazing companies that have founders that are also willing to talk to people within our community and do the give back because they started out with Naturally Bolder and now they have been able to build their business. So we're a community of give back and sharing so that we can all raise up for the better for you category.

27:38And this is where this movement kind of started. In fact, this is the mecca. So thank you for sharing all that. Totally. Yes. Thank you very much. I really appreciate this. It's been really, really awesome to be able to share kind of where we've been and where we're going and the excitement that I personally have and that we have as Naturally Colorado. Love it. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Want a competitive edge? The recipe for success. Here's this week's free downloadable guide. New product innovation is a lifeblood of every brand. New products fuel sustainable growth, attract new shoppers, and increase brand awareness.

28:14Learn the crucial steps to get your product on more retailer shelves and in the hands of more shoppers. Maximizing your trade marketing can pour rocket fuel on your lunch. Thanks for joining us today. Please reach out and share your most pressing questions, and I'll do my best to get you the answers that you need on future episodes, including expert advice from CEOs and industry thought leaders. Comment, leave your questions, and get this week's free downloadable guide and the show notes at RetailSolve.com size session 313.