Scoops

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. Hi everyone. Welcome back to a new episode of Emerging Brands Podcast with Kelly Bennett. Today I have Liz Lane.

1:30She is the founder and CEO of scoops. And I'm so excited to talk to Liz because as I was sharing before we hit record is I love CPG products that can really integrate into someone's lifestyle. And she is creating a very cool new line of protein powder. That's also exciting because protein powders are just also super competitive set and she's already off to an incredible start. So Liz, I'm so happy to have you on the show to talk shop. Same. Thank you so much for having me. You're so welcome. So let's first start with the product itself and how you came up with the idea. Yeah. What was that origin story?

2:16Yeah. So, um, I have worked in food and bev startups for about 12 years. Um, I, I it was actually a friend who was originally like we should explore peanuts and something in the peanut space. It was a very different idea at the start. It was really just kind of exploring format, just if there was any innovation happening. And in that process, met a supplier who's one of the biggest importers of peanuts out of South America, who, after many years of knowing him, kind of tuned me into what was going on with like innovation and new types of ingredients with peanuts. So originally, yeah, the idea kind of morphed into more of a protein powder because of this new ingredient that was just coming to market for, you know, as a raw material.

3:07So that was originally kind of how we like ended up where we are today with it. It's a peanut powder, a protein powder, but it's also you can use it in the same way that you use a peanut butter powder. So it's kind of this hybrid, hybrid. that. Yes. I was reading that on your website that you could bake with it. You could sprinkle it on top of things. You can make it into a smoothie. Exactly. Yep. That's really cool. So what was the white space that you really saw of like, okay, we could do something different in protein and also peanuts in general. Yeah. I mean, I, so I love peanut butter. I'm not great with moderation.

3:45So I would like sit down with an entire jar of peanut butter. So I was excited to explore something that was like, how can I eat more of it? And when understanding kind of to your point, the protein powder space is really saturated. There's a lot of noise. It's really hard to know what's there, what brands are good and what to buy. And so looking at the peanut powder space, which is in the peanut butter aisle, there were not a lot of options. There's really like one offering, which is really just peanut flour. And so it was, you know, good to use as a replacement for peanut butter and smoothies, but it didn't offer that like extra protein in the same way that scoops does so that was originally like okay this is a really good space to enter because there's not a lot of noise and it can really stand out um and there's a clear differentiator between that and and the and the competitor um that was on the shelves and and with peanut butter i think um it because it can also be an alternative to peanut butter it's like a really interesting place uh so that was originally the first kind of step it's like okay where does this make sense to live uh so it is It is outside, luckily, outside of the peanut or the protein powder space, which, like you mentioned, is really crowded.

4:53So that's really interesting. It could actually go in a few different places in the grocery store. It can, yeah. Cool. So before we dive into retail, because I'm so interested in your strategy and how you've been growing, you mentioned that you come from 12 years in food and beverage. What did that look like? What was your career prior in food and beverage? Yeah. So most recently I was at Magic Spoon for about four years. Oh, okay. Very cool. Yeah. I was the head of ops. I was there from pretty much the very beginning. I was one of the first hires and left about a couple of years ago. And in between those two years, I was doing a lot of consulting for a lot of food and bev startups.

5:37But yeah, Magic Spoon, I was working a lot with whey proteins and different proteins and sourcing. um so I had like a good understanding of that market um and then kind of throughout this process with scoops knew maybe more selfishly like wanted to work a little bit easier not not manage a super hard supply chain so that's kind of where the idea of like sourcing and looking for different forms of protein came from um but yeah I was at I was at Magic Spoon for four years I was at a few different uh CPG supplement food brands and and kind of at the very beginning I I was the first U.S. ops hire at Huel.

6:15So going farther back. Yeah. So I've come from like lots of years of operations experience in this space, which obviously helps. Which is incredible background to be coming from. But what made you want to put on the founder hat? Because you had the behind the scenes look of all the hard work, like you said, complicated supply chains, startups of building a CPG brand. And what made you want to say, wait, I actually want to be a founder of a CPG brand now? Yeah, I think it's a good question because there was a part of me that's like, you know, this is so much work. But I think because I've always joined startups so early on, I'm so involved in the growing phase.

6:59And that's actually the part I really love. Yes. And so I knew I always wanted to start my own thing, but it needed to really make sense. And it needs to be the right product and something that I loved. Uh, so it was really just about figuring that out. And I think there were so many great years of experience at magic spoon. Um, and they did so many things, right. But it was such a good way to kind of like gather all of that knowledge and experience to put it towards something new. Um, so that I think leaving magic spoon, that was really the kicker. I was like, okay, I think, I think now's the time if the idea is right.

7:31Uh, and then everything just kind of came together with the supplier and this ingredient and kind of the placement. So it just, it all felt like the right time. That's really cool to hear. Cause I know so many people who are on that cusp of, I know I have like an idea and I want to become a founder, but things haven't aligned yet. Totally. So it sounds like you were really open to seeing what made the most sense operationally, which totally aligns with your background, but also something you could be really passionate about and pour yourself into. It sounds like, well, I think that's it. It's like that, that combination of, I mean, I, I was, it would be kind of a joke.

8:14I would walk around the magic spoon office with like the tub of the peanut butter pretzels, like, and just devour the entire thing. And so it, it all the mix of, yeah, that just finding something that you love and you, it's going to be a lot of work, but, but if your heart is in it and you're already kind of in this space. It just made sense. I'm really though empathetic to people who are just have an idea and aren't in this space because there's so much to learn. There's so much, there's so many little pieces that if you haven't done it before, it's really hard. I think, um, it made it so much easier, obviously like with for Huel, for example, and a lot of the other brands I worked for, I knew I had a list of manufacturers I could work for, work with on this, um, I knew all the suppliers.

8:56So there was a lot less like initial back end work that had to be done to make this happen, which is why I was able to do it in such a short period of time, which would be really challenging for somebody who is really just like getting into this for the first time. Yeah, no, it's a great story of how you're leveraging your learnings into your own brand. And that leads me to my next question, which is so major that you launched in Target. Was it this month or last month? this month. Yeah. Incredible. So how did you get in front of target buyers? Yeah. So that was the same broker I'd worked with for, with a few brands, a few of the startups and a few others that I was consulting with.

9:40So, um, he, they're a great team and kind of went to them with this idea and this deck and said, the branding's done. We have samples. Like, is this something that we can pitch? And he was like, definitely. So, um, I think, in a lot of ways, it was good validation that this was, this idea was, was kind of where it needed to be because Target took the meeting. They, they liked the deck. They took the meeting, which is probably like one of the hardest pieces, which is a huge piece of it just to get their attention. Right. Totally. Um, and then, you know, when we had the call with the buyer, she, it was, it was really exciting because she was, she was very interested immediately.

10:18And I remember our broker was originally like, you know, don't get too disheartened if she doesn't ask for samples right away. It's still like, they don't always do that. And immediately she was like, can I get samples? Can I see the packaging? Can I kind of just like totally review the product? So it was, there was a lot of momentum from the beginning, which felt, um, yeah, it was very validating. It felt really good. It's like, okay, this wasn't just something in my head. That was a good idea. It's like, okay, this is, we're getting some feedback that it's kind of like the right thing. Um, and then it takes a while to get the actual award.

10:48So it takes a few months. Uh, so found out kind of mid-December. And originally, for as many doors as we got, it ended up doubling. So it was really exciting. And again, just like additional kind of validations, like, okay, this is the right product at the right time. What caught their attention about the product? I think it was a combination of a very clear differentiator from the competitors. Also, there were not a lot of options in that space. And so I think Target's push has been a lot of like newness and emerging brands. And so in that space, there weren't really any. And so I think it was a combination of consumers are protein isn't going anywhere.

11:27It hasn't for a very long time. This is essentially like a new type of protein where it's mostly whey, soy and pea, and obviously all of those have challenges. So it's a new type of protein that Target will be the first to have. So I think it was a combination of all of those things. I think it was also that them, I've launched a few brands into Target and there's a lot of supply chain difficulties right now. So I think they felt like there was some safety in that as well. So yeah, kind of a combination of all those things. And how did it look like getting the buzz with consumers? Because you got the buy-in from a major retailer, which is incredible, but then it's also like, okay, we got on the shelves, how we're going to get off the shelves.

12:11So I would love to hear your perspective on that? Yeah. And I mean, honestly, that's kind of the phase that we're in now because it just launched. And so much of this was like the energy and effort was like, okay, let's get this product to market. And so yeah, our, our, our kind of strategy and I have a friend helping me with all the affiliate influencer strategy, but that is the biggest kind of push is getting this product into as many people's hands as possible. Working with some bigger influencers, working with micro influencers. Next phase is kind of working with other brands and doing a lot of partnerships and doing a lot of collabs.

12:47I could totally see you doing such good collabs with other brands. Yeah, it'd be really fun. Yeah. With the influencers, what is your approach there? Because CPG, Food and Bev in particular, it's a little tricky with influencers in the sense that people don't necessarily shop a one-off product that they could do with fashion or jewelry or an accessories. I would love to hear your approach and how you see scoops working with influencers. Yeah. It's a good question also, because like we don't have any DTC at the moment. We will be setting up Amazon, um, which is going to be the, you know, probably the most immediate DTC and then like a little bit on website, but now it's mostly target.

13:28So it is, it is kind of like, how do we get everybody to go to Target and where this lives? So a lot of it has been like focus on some bigger, like recipe influencers to build a lot of recipe using Scoop. So I think right now it's just brand awareness is the goal. So getting as much visibility as possible. We have an exciting collab coming with one of like the OG like influencers. And she loves the product. And so we're working on like a longer term partnership with her. So it's not just a one off post, we're going to just like work with her continuously. And she has a few million followers. And I think like over time, just getting people constantly seeing the product is ultimately the goal right now.

14:11Once we're on Amazon and TikTok shop, I think then we can get more strategic in terms of building content and that actually drives sales. And we can we can track revenue that way. but at the moment yeah the focus is just getting this like as visible as possible to as many people as possible that totally makes sense and also to your point of it's not just about one post and it sounds like you're building more long-term relationships with influencers and creators which I think is a big pivot with a lot of brands and I'm happy to see that pivot because that's genuinely how you do build that awareness so I think that's really cool what you're doing Yeah, exactly.

14:51And I think it's interesting because when we sent this to like a few of these influencers that we really wanted to work with, their initial response was, well, I have to try it before I agree to anything like bigger, even a one-off post. Most of them don't just kind of take whatever anymore. Right. And so when we spoke to them and they were like, I'm really looking for a long-term partnership here. They also wanted that kind of relationship. Right. So it was nice that it was pretty aligned from the beginning. I love that. And so are you doing any in-store demoing or promos as well? Not with Target right now.

15:26I think maybe in the future we'll start to do that because it's a peanut and there's an allergen aspect to it. There's so many stricture regulation. Like we've been looking into club and different things. So like Costco, for example, you can't sample peanuts. So there's more kind of like intricacies there. But I think at some point for sure. Very cool. Very cool. And I know that you are now looking at expanding more doors as well. We are. Yeah. We don't have the exact door count yet, but Target let us know that they are planning to expand us to additional stores in fall. So very quickly in September.

16:04So only been on shelf for a few weeks and they love the product and they want to bring it out essentially like fully national, which is really exciting. That's so incredible. And where is it living on shelf in Target? Yeah. So it's what I've seen across the country is it's really living like above the peanut butter. It's in a stand-up house, so it's a bit taller. So it lives on the top shelf, kind of at the edge of the aisle in the kind of like new peanut butter section, but just above it. Okay, cool. I'll definitely keep an eye out for it. And I really wanted to also hear your advice because you come from such a wealth of knowledge in CPG, now in the trenches of building your own brand.

16:45And as I was sharing earlier, I work with early stage founders who maybe most of them are brand new to CPG. And I would love to hear your perspective of advice that you would put on someone's radar in the early days if they really want to build a CPG food and beverage brand. Yeah. So I would almost say like, don't do what I'm doing. Like you don't need to go to Target. You don't need to go to a national and a big retailer out of the gate. I think if you have an idea, I think looking at the like going into the aisles and seeing maybe where it could live. That's a little bit outside of the traditional space.

17:27But then doing some like D to C online testing, really validating the product, because I think the hardest part is which makes this not doable for a lot of people is the funding. Like you, you have such a short turnaround time. If you're waiting to fundraise, if you're waiting on a verdict from a retailer, there's very little time to actually raise money and get this thing going. So I would say, yeah, if you have an idea, try and test it DTC, you know, explore like maybe spaces that are a little stagnant or haven't had a lot of innovation. But I said this to another friend is like, just I would start reaching out to people.

18:04Um, I find that there are a lot of people who want to help. There are a lot of people in this space who have been through the trenches who are happy to give advice and can like connect you to a manufacturer, connect you to someone who can help. And I think starting there and trying to reach out to as many people as possible. And, um, if a handful of them can, can at least have a call and give you some advice, like that's knowledge that those people probably have from years of working in this space or trying to gather as much of that as possible. Um, because yeah, again, like we spoke about really, really hard if you're just, if you're just entering this space and like, what is the first step that you do?

18:41And so I think, um, I think there are a lot of people who, who are happy to help. Do you have a best practice on the operational side with starting a CPG brand? I'm asking just because of your really lasered experience, any piece of advice there too? Um, so this is like very specific, but I always pick a system. Like it doesn't matter what size you are, if you're not turnkey, or even if you are in some ways, I always pick a system. I work with Sim7 all the time, but I think that is like the initial place to keep all of your operations pieces together. Because when you're talking to so many different suppliers, you're trying to figure out your costs.

19:20You're trying to manage inventory, which is one of the hardest parts of operation, especially as you scale, really getting a good, affordable, easy to use system that like anybody who's new to this could, could understand quickly is super important. Um, and yeah, I think just trying to, however it is that you stay organized, just trying to do that very, like at the very beginning, uh, because it's a great piece of advice. Yeah. What was that system? Yeah, it's called sin seven. Um, it's a really, like, uh, it's a really user-friendly, I wouldn't call it an ERP because it's not a full ERP, but it's an inventory management system.

19:56Okay. Um, and any start, everyone I would consult for, I would always set it up as like a step one because it just helps you keep costing. It helps integrate with like all your financials. It helps you keep track of inventory. And I just find that it's really user-friendly. So I would say as a, if you, if you're like kind of getting going, that would be step one on the upside. I love that. Thank you so much. And this is exactly to your point of talking to people who've done it, who are in the trenches of it, who have something really insightful to share. that's exactly why I started this podcast so I really appreciate you sharing that and being so transparent too of what really helps in the very early days definitely yeah yeah I'm always I like love talking to founders and people who are like it's it's it's it requires a lot of courage to just jump in and do this so I really like yeah it really does is there any other piece some advice too for having that courage to take the leap?

21:00That, I mean, that is a kind of it is like, don't, I think there's so much fear around asking for help or not getting a response. And I think you just kind of got to get rid of that as much as possible is don't be afraid to ask questions. Don't be afraid to reach out to people. Um, the worst thing is they don't get back, but the best, the best case is that they do when you get a bunch of usable information. So I would say, I try and be less intimidated by the process because I think things can look really shiny and that can be really intimidating. And you're reaching out to someone who you're like, oh, they're not going to talk to me.

21:34But there's no idea what's actually going on behind the scenes and people are people. So I would say just go for it. That's a great piece of advice. Well, I know I have to let you go as you're building your scoops empire. But last question for people who want to try scoops, should we send them to Target? Yes. Yeah. So we're kind of spread all over the nation right now and a little over like 1 ,100 doors. But you should be able to find us in most states that you're in. So yes, the peanut butter aisle at Target. Amazing. Well, Liz, congratulations. Thank you again for sharing the behind the scenes of how your brand is hitting shelves.

22:15and I will definitely keep an eye out for it in Target and just congratulations in your first month hitting retail shelves with such a bang. That's such a great story. Thank you so much. And thank you so much for having me on. This is great. Awesome. Well, thank you everyone for listening and I'll 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. Founders 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.

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24:03With 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. Thank 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.

24:56And 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.