2026 Brand Predictions

0:00Welcome to the Emerging Brands Podcast. Sharing the stories behind brands you'll want to shop next. I'm your host, Kelly Bennett. I am a New York City-based brand strategist for CPG Food and Beverage Brands. In each episode, I'll take you behind the scenes of founders that are building better-for-you products and bringing them to market. it. Also, I talk to brand builders, retailers, industry experts, and tastemakers who help bring those cool products to your shopping cart. You will hear stories of real-life founders, their launch strategies, and practical advice you could use to grow your own brand or simply discover what's next on shelf.

0:42And the best part is you could shop all the brands featured on the show. This podcast is brought to you by Glimpse. Glimpse is an AI powered deduction management tool that disputes and recovers invalid deductions, winning brands, thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours back to founders so that they can focus on what really matters most. If you're a brand selling and retail, go to tryglimpse.com backslash trial for 30 days free and let them know I sent you. Now let's dive into the new episode. Welcome back to a new episode of Emerging Brands Podcast with Kelly Bennett. Over the last year, I interviewed 100 brand builders and brand founders, which has been such an incredible practice of just hearing so many different perspectives, strategies, stories, struggles, wins, and advice that I get to hear three times a week.

1:49I record this podcast literally in between client meetings because I love doing it. and I've really realized the way that this podcast has become a community resource for emerging founders, which is super motivating. And what I wanted to do though this week was give you some solo episodes and bringing you a little bit behind the scenes of what I'm seeing from clients as far as brands that I definitely want to put on your radar this year and also helping you understand if you are an emerging founder and you're getting into CPG, especially food and beverage, what are some of the steps that you need to take to build a really standout brand?

2:35So this week, I'm going to break it up into three episodes and bringing you behind the scenes. But before I get into the work and how it all comes together, I wanted to first put a few brands on your radar that I feel like you're going to definitely want to shop this year. So I work with brands before they hit the shelves. And here are my predictions for CPG food and beverage brands that I think you're going to want to shop. So kicking things off is She's the Sauce. It's sauce with benefits. Think of your favorite condiments like ranch, honey mustard, but upgraded with clean ingredients and with added protein and fiber.

3:21So when Nicole first came to me almost two years ago, she had the product idea. She didn't have a name. She didn't have her final formulation, but she had a vision of what she wanted to build. And I'll be honest, I just had this gut feeling that she literally had the sauce, so to speak, to make it happen. I see how she's been building, how she navigates highs and lows and figures it out, hustles. And I've just been so incredibly impressed with what she's done. So Nicole, a little bit of her background is that she is a sauce lover turned founder. She has seven plus years in food and beverage. She worked at Uber, Walmart, GoPuff.

4:12And her personal health journey, though, with PCOS and gut issues is what really inspired her to want to start She's the Sauce. And through our brand strategy work, we realized how we can leverage her founder story to build brand community to then she leveraged into a sold out presale. and really finding a niche of consumers who are obsessed already with her products. Something also exciting that happened is this past weekend, she launched at Pop-Up Grocer here in New York City and sold about 80 % of her inventory in three days. I was there over the weekend and without even knowing it, a team member had shared with me that this product was flying off the shelves and she already had to restock it twice by 1 p.m on Saturday and it just hit the shelves on Friday.

5:13So it was definitely a full circle moment because Nicole and I went to Pop-Up Grocer last year literally to the day and was putting it out there of, won't it be so exciting when She's the Sauce launches at Pop-Up Grocer? And to the day, it was on shelf. And again, I can't say it enough. Nicole took her brand strategy and ran with it. And I'm beyond proud. So if you haven't heard all of Nicole's story, I highly recommend listening to that episode of the Emerging Brands podcast. Just look up She's the Sauce and you'll hear her whole story. Definitely keep an eye out for She's the Sauce. If you're in New York City, you could shop it now at Pop-Up Grocer.

6:07And I know that there's some retailers already reaching out to her and hopefully it will be coming to you in the new year. She's also going to have another drop that you could buy online. So you could follow She's the Sauce for all the details. Next client is Cotto. The next brand that I highly recommend putting on your radar is Cotto. So Cotto is a whipped cottage cheese dip that's reimagining nostalgic flavors. So think high protein, clean ingredients, and it's designed to eat literally right out of the container or to add to everyday meals. So she is now launching with ranch, buffalo, French onion, and she's doing drops throughout New York City.

6:57And people are literally meeting her around the city in parks in the winter when it's cold to get Cotto. And again, Kendall is one of those founders that she is one to watch. How she's building, how she's navigating, how she's leveraging her background in consulting to build the brand. She is doing an incredible job. I really want to call her out for her awesome presence on social. She's been posting consistently, telling the story, bringing people into the behind the scenes. We went through a few different revisions of her packaging just to find the right mix of nostalgic and cool and trendy and just making sure it was easy to read.

7:47And she started posting about it on TikTok and got over 100 ,000 views on a video with like 400 comments giving her insights. And that's just a small example of how she's building in public and really building a community around her product. I hear it all the time. that people are really obsessed with Kato and what she's building. And I'm just so proud of Kendall. If you haven't already, definitely listen to Kendall's solo episode on the Emerging Brands podcast where she goes behind the scenes of her brand story, her why, and how she's building Kato. The next brand I want to put on your radar is Little Twist.

8:34So think super easy baking mixes with one more twist. Everything is allergy friendly. So you can make your favorite desserts at home. Think fudgy brownies, chocolate chip cookies that are dairy free, gluten free, nut free. And it's going to make your life so much easier. So Dahlia is a founder. She is a trained chef, a recipe developer, and mom who's obsessed with flavor and ease. And she is one of those founders also that's been doing a great job showing up on social, creating content, creating buzz. I had her brownies at a sneak peek event that I co-hosted in December that gave people within the industry, retailers, consumers, founders, here in New York City, a sneak peek of trying the products that I'm working on.

9:37And literally people stopped me and said how obsessed they were with her brownies. I ate a lot of them. They were, they're so incredibly good. I can't even explain how like the crackly tub and the fudginess, like you would not know that this was a quote-unquote allergy-friendly product. I've tried a lot of allergy-friendly products and I'll be honest with you, none of them hit the way Little Twist does. So definitely keep this out on your radar. Little Twist, we're starting to work on branding with House of Wind, which I'm so excited about, but this is definitely a brand to watch. Next is Glow State.

10:26So Glow State is a ready-to-eat chia pudding that's really focused on fiber for your gut and glow. So think clean ingredients, dairy-free, plant-based, and super delicious. It's giving like chic, wellness, girly aesthetics. And Gabby is a founder. She is so passionate about making clean products that just help you feel good, super convenient. And what I love what Gabby's doing is that she also enrolled in the Institute of Integrative Nutrition to become a certified health coach as she's growing Glowstate. And I really admire that because building a CPG brand, she's working full time, like she's doing all the things.

11:22And she also wanted to make sure that she could really speak to the health and wellness aspects of her brand that she's so passionate about. So definitely keep your eye on Glow State. this is something I'm really excited to just keep stocked in my fridge for a quick breakfast or an on-the-go snack or a midday snack like it's filling it's fiber it's good for your gut and it just tastes really good too so definitely keep your eyes on glow state the packaging will be launching soon and it's so freaking good. Izzy of House of Wind also did this one and it's just chef kiss. So good. Next on the list is Nomi.

12:12So Nomi is a just add water organic meals for kids and she's starting off with launching SKUs particular for toddlers and what I love what she's doing too is that she's using science-backed nutrition to really help parents who have no time to cook or they're on the go have a really good balanced meal with veggie, protein, carbs that they feel good feeding their kids. So Rupa is the founder. She has a great operational background and she is a busy parent. She was working in corporate and after having her second child, she was literally right after delivery texting her in-laws on what to feed her toddler at home and that was a light bulb moment for her.

13:06Also, she was traveling. She was on a plane to Europe and realized that her toddler ate essentially all snacks on the flight and she really wanted to create something that parents can throw in their bags, super easy on the go, and just make things one less thing they have to think about from an overload of things that parents are needing to do. And so this will be a great one that you could pack for your kids if they're in daycare or preschool, something that while you're traveling or have a babysitter, super easy to feed your kids well. And she just did her first trade show. She was at Winter Fancy Fair.

13:53And I was already receiving messages from industry tastemakers that they love the product. So I am so proud of Rupa. She is in the early stages of putting her brand out there. She's starting off strong. And I definitely want you to keep an eye out for updates. Next brand is Afternoon Toast. So this is a roasted barley and ginger tea that is for digestion and effortless hydration. Kimmy is the founder and she had struggled with chronic dehydration all of her life and she wanted to create a beverage that felt more elevated than water, but still something that wasn't harsh on her gut. And so she created Afternoon Toast that is this really nice, lightly roasted, nutty tea that's caffeine-free, sugar-free, and is that perfect drink with or after meals.

14:59It's very gentle. It's nourishing. And it's very much a moment to take a pause and to hydrate effortlessly and do something good for your digestion. As someone who's always looking for things to help with digestion, I really love this product. So her branding is rolling out. It looks really beautiful. The bottle looks beautiful. Jane's house did the branding. And I'm really excited for her production soon. She's building here in Brooklyn. And I'm excited about this one. So definitely keep your eyes out for afternoon toast. Next is Nita. So Nita is a flash frozen aromatics brand. So think super quick, in seconds, bold flavors to add to your meals.

16:00You don't have to peel. You don't have to chop. There's no waste. And what I love about this brand too is that Nia, the founder, she learned this hack about freezing chopped aromatics from her mom. And now she's leveraging that smart tip to bring that to country, to bring that to kitchens around the country. And she's so passionate about the quality, the flavor, and I'm really excited to have this in my freezer to make weekend or weekday and honestly weekend meals so much easier to give some diversity to meal prep. What I love about her products, it will be really easy to add different flavors to your food with basically like the same components of like think rice, veggies, and a protein.

16:56You could change up the flavor so easily with her pods. So I'm really excited about that. And Nia, again, is a great founder who has very clear direction. She is figuring it out. She has such great integrity around the brand standards. And we just started branding with If Only Creative, who is also on the podcast. So definitely stay tuned for updates on Nita. And think of it also of like Nita garlic, Nita chili, Nita has your solution. So there'll be a lot of fun brand messaging on this one. So definitely keep an eye. Last but not least is Strip Jerky. I just started working with her and she already has done such a great job of developing the brand.

17:46Her name is Nicole. She's a female founder, a chef as well. And she really loves beef jerky. But she wanted to make a beef jerky for the girlies, which I'm here for. With clean ingredients, gluten-free, flavor-forward, and sweetened with honey. So she's going to do her first drop here in New York City at the end of the month at the shelf. So if you're in New York City, definitely keep an eye out for it. I'll have lots more to share on this one. I just started working with her, but already I love what she's done and I'm so excited to take that to the next level with her. So that is my recap of brands to put on your radar that are all within the better for you that will be hitting shelves and brands that I personally love and stand by.

18:40I have many, many more clients down the pike that I'll be able to share more about soon. But this is a great list to get started. Definitely check them out on social, follow along, and just thank you again. Whenever you support brands that I work with, that is the biggest thank you that I could receive. So thank you so much. I genuinely appreciate it. And I will see you on the next episode. Bye. This episode was brought to you by Glimpse. As we know, building a brand is not as sexy and glamorous as it looks on social media at times. A lot of those unsexy problems come into play when brands start to scale in retail distribution.

19:29Founders are always incredibly excited to see their products on shelves at major retail chains, but they don't realize all the hard work that starts to begin. Retailers and distributors are known for their processes of deducting amounts from invoices. Most of the time, those are totally valid. Promos, slotting fees, free fills, and all the things that brands agree to to be part of the retail experience. But sometimes those deductions are invalid, costing brands thousands to millions in fees. Actually finding those needles in the haystack though and fighting to win back lost revenue, it's a costly, manual, and time consuming issue.

20:18And that's where Glimpse comes in. Glimpse is an AI-powered deduction management tool that disputes and recovers invalid deductions, winning brands thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours back to founders so that they can focus on what really matters most, scaling their businesses. With a team of in-house deduction experts who come from some of the most successful and profitable CPG companies and custom built AI with 100 % accuracy and precision. You'll recover money that you never should have had leaked in the first place. If you're a brand selling in retail, go to tryglimpse.com backslash trial for 30 days free and let them know I sent you.

21:12Thank you again for listening to this episode of the Emerging Brands Podcast. It really means so much to me that you listen to this show, share it with your friends and support it. If you are a CPG food and beverage founder and you're ready to launch a brand, people want to shop, head to withkellybennett.com for the details. And as always, thank you so much for listening, shopping the brands featured on the show and following brands I'm working with. It means so much. See you on the next episode.