Expo West Sneak Peek

0:05Monica Watrous:Welcome to the CPG Week podcast by BevNet and Nosh. I'm Monica Watrous here with my co-hosts Brad Avery and Lukas Southard. If you're enjoying the show, please subscribe on your listening platform of choice. Today we are releasing a special edition Expo West preview episode and we are dropping in a couple days early so you can hopefully have something to listen to on your flight to Anaheim. but yeah we're just catching up on what we're looking forward to seeing at the show this is i don't know how many rodeos this is for me i think this is like number 12 and the number of expo west that i've been to it's always exciting but different every year almost a baker's dozen

0:46Lukas Southard:you got going there i i think uh i think this is my fourth expo west you're just a baby those are rookie numbers you gotta pump those numbers up i i'm i'm early days on this compared to you too.

0:57Monica Watrous:Stick with us, kids. We'll show you the ropes.

0:59Lukas Southard:I tend to really fret over this, to put it lightly, but every year it gets a little easier. I'm a little bit more prepared, I think, and just kind of know what to expect. I'm looking forward to some of the brands I'm going to talk to. I'm going to have a booth interview with the folks over at Chomps to carry on the reporting I've been doing in meat sticks and the meat snack category in general. They're going to be announcing some new innovation that is especially tasty. I'm also going to be keeping my eyes out for some more creatine. I know everyone's looking for protein and fiber, but creatine has been my beat.

1:39Lukas Southard:I want to see if there's some other creatine that pops up throughout the show. So tag me if anyone's got some creatine products. Otherwise, just looking to reconnect with a lot of the brands I've talked to and excited to go home with a luggage full of samples that my kids can eat.

1:57Brad Avery:I'm looking forward to catching up with Magic Spoon. And they've got a lot of news happening lately and scheduled some time to go meet up in person. I've never actually met with the team face to face before. So that's what's always fun about a lot of these events is getting to see people you've only ever talked to on the phone or even just like conversed with over email and actually putting a proper face to name. not just a LinkedIn profile photo.

2:22Monica Watrous:Right. Yeah, they do have some exciting stuff going on. They just launched their protein pastries, which is almost like a Pop-Tart style product. Yeah, you can't say that though. Right.

2:32Brad Avery:But it is basically that. A toaster pastry. Yes, yes. This is a legally acceptable version. Sorry, Magic Spoon. I'm not trying to get you in any trouble.

2:41Monica Watrous:Nope, nope. You can blame it on me. Well, I'm looking forward to hearing what you learn at the Magic Spoon booth. I'm going to be a bit of a nomad this show. I don't really have any scheduled appointments. I just want to try to take in as much as I can. But there are several themes that I am keeping tabs on during the show. One of them is just the evolution of familiar categories and lots of upgrades around things like candy, pizza, pasta, gummies. Maybe it is a seed oil free or cleaner label take on a product. or maybe it has an added functional benefit like creatine. But I expect to see a lot of activity in everyday staples.

3:28Monica Watrous:And then also I'm keeping an eye on global flavors. And there's a lot of influences that I'm already taking note of. Lots of influences including Korean, Mexican, Middle Eastern, even Scandinavian. We know that like Nordic candy is becoming a hot thing. Lots of interesting applications in global flavors. And then again, going back to that functionality thing, I mean, protein and fiber is going to be everywhere, but also other benefits like women's health is emerging as a growing focus and even sleep, weight management, energy, all these things that we've been looking at for years. but new ways of approaching those need states.

4:17Monica Watrous:Brad, you didn't tell us how many Expo Wests this is for you.

4:21Brad Avery:I've lost count, actually. It might be coming up on like nine if you, you know, there was no COVID year Expo, so that always kind of throws a wrench in my numbers. It's definitely eight or nine.

4:32Monica Watrous:Okay. All right. So you're pretty seasoned. What are your hacks for conquering the show?

4:38Brad Avery:Well, you need good shoes, obviously, and pack lightly. don't over stuff yourself. I think you got to learn to be cautious with your samples, you know, not to overindulge. Also being open, I would say to conversation and, you know, who you might run into and unexpected conversations. I think that's something that we got to talk about. When you're going to Expo, you're going to meet people, you're going to make connections, you know, to do business. And I think it's about being a bit of a yes and person when it comes to the show floor. And, you know, whether you're willing to go to that party or, you know, go to that impromptu meeting and, you know, being willing to explore.

5:22Monica Watrous:Well, and some of those connections that you meet on the show floor are famous. And we have encountered a number of celebrities at Expo West in the past. Brad famously interviewed Katy Perry at the Bragg Apple Cider Vinegar Booth, as well as Will Smith with Boxed Water. Was that an expo? With Just Water, yes. Just Water. Oh, sorry. My apologies to the Boxed Water people. No association with Will Smith, which is probably a good thing now.

5:51Lukas Southard:You know, they probably are. I'm okay with that.

5:54Brad Avery:This was pre-slap, mind you.

5:57Monica Watrous:Right, right. Of course. Uh, Lucas, what, what are your tips for, uh, mastering the, the beast that is Expo West?

6:04Lukas Southard:Well, as I said, I'm, I'm no master. I wouldn't claim to be going into my fourth or fifth year. I forget. But one thing that I found incredibly useful is just to have a backup battery charger for your phone. We take a lot of pictures on our phones and you're constantly checking it. So it's nice to have that, that reserve battery, but this might be a hot take, but I am a firm believer in if you exercise early, it gives you energy throughout the day. As a parent of small children, I wake up way before the sun comes up so I can get my exercise in. But I found at Expo, working out in the morning before you go actually kind of gets the metabolism going, gets the energy up, helps me get through the day, even though you're putting in a lot of steps on that show floor.

6:51Monica Watrous:More power to you. I'm going to say that my walk to the convention center, that is a mile and a half away from the hotel that our company is staying at this year will be my early workout.

7:02Lukas Southard:I signed up to do the fun run with the Ketone IQ folks, bright and early Wednesday morning. So I'm gonna be doing that. So, you know, check in with me Wednesday at about five o 'clock. I might be singing a different tune.

7:15Brad Avery:Yeah, he might be having to issue a correction on this entire segment.

7:20Lukas Southard:If you find me sleeping in the North Hall at like five o 'clock, please wake me and book me an Uber back to my hotel.

7:27Monica Watrous:So you're doing the fun run. That brings me to my next question, which what are some of the activities that you are looking forward to outside of the show floor?

7:36Lukas Southard:Well, other than the fun run, I might attend one or two parties Wednesday night, depending on how I feel. Got invited to, I think Pepsi is doing some sort of hot happy hour thing. So I might check out what they're doing. I like to walk around late in the day and see what kind of, when the drinks start being poured at booths and see who really turns up the volume on their music and gets the party going. So that's always kind of fun.

7:59Brad Avery:Lucas's answer is I want to draw.

8:00Monica Watrous:That's what I'm hearing too.

8:02Lukas Southard:Yeah.

8:02Monica Watrous:But sometimes that's what you need to make it through Expo. No, you bring up a good point. There are some really great activations and booth happy hours happening on the show floor. So you don't even have to leave the Anaheim Convention Center in order to have some fun networking and potentially a little bit of booze.

8:19Brad Avery:Excited to see some new innovations in the beverage front as well. I know Spindrift announced their T today, and I'm curious to see how does Spindrift handle a new product category and format like that. Looking forward to checking in on some of, you know, brands I've covered recently. You know, Midday Squares has new innovations that have been really good in the past and, you know, excited to try there. You know, so it's nice to be able to try the products. It's also nice to, you know, see what new categories or formats people are playing around in. And that's always the joy of discovery at Expo West.

8:56Lukas Southard:Yeah, grab me one of the PB &J bars because those look really good. They're so good.

9:00Brad Avery:They're really good.

9:01Monica Watrous:Speaking of PB &J, I'm really excited that the company behind the pizza cupcake, they rebranded to Incrediful's. They're launching a PB &J handheld snack for the frozen aisle. And they do something really unique with their crust. They have like a hybrid brioche type crust. I'm super pumped to see what that's going to taste like. I'm also really looking forward to trying a new collaboration between Like Air and Freestyle Snacks, which is a spicy dill pickle puff corn. We have that in the office.

9:34Brad Avery:I haven't given them a try yet, but we got those samples.

9:36Monica Watrous:I need to get on their list. Love Like Air. Really great product. And I love Freestyle Snacks. I don't like their olives, but I like their pickles. It's not a thing against them. It's a thing against olives. but that sounds really interesting and I love seeing all of the collaborations teed up at the show the other thing I'm super excited about is evergreen is expanding into pancakes and you know me I love waffles that's kind of my thing but I am looking forward to seeing what evergreen's new

10:06Brad Avery:pancake is all about waffles just a pancake in a different shape that's right aren't we all I suppose, yeah, I know why. If you think about it.

10:16Lukas Southard:It's getting really metaphysical.

10:18Brad Avery:I'm sure you could find some philosopher that would tell you that.

10:23Lukas Southard:We're all just pancakes, man. We're all just pancakes.

10:29Monica Watrous:Lucas, do you have any plugs or takes on any other products you're excited to scope out at the show?