Specialty Food Association

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. 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 in 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 an industry expert on the show who has probably some of the coolest jobs I've seen on resumes and media bios, Holly Long.

1:40She is the Director of Community Engagement at Specialty Food Association. And Holly, I'm so excited to talk all things emerging brands with you today.

1:51Holly Long:Thanks for having me on, Kelly. I'm super excited to talk with you. Amazing. So before we go into your background, which, like I said, I really admire the work you've done and are doing, I would love to first give people a sense of specialty food association, the community, your role, just to help give some context to emerging brand founders primarily listen to this podcast. And I always love putting really great opportunities for them to get their brand out there and network and get into the industry. And I feel like what you do is such a critical piece of that. So could you walk us through SFA and also your role?

2:40Holly Long:Absolutely. So to start off, I would say SFA has been around since 1951. So if you're doing the math, you're turning 75 years old this year. Incredible. So it's super exciting. And we've been uniting artisans, importers, distributors, retailers, basically anybody in that world of specialty food since then. We're most well known for the two food shows that we put on, the Winter Fancy Fair and the Summer Fancy Food Show. So if Specialty Food Association doesn't ring a bell, I'm sure that one of the shows does. But we're more than just the shows. We're also a membership organization and we offer a wealth of benefits to all of our members from tons of educational opportunities.

3:30Holly Long:We offer nine press releases for free each year to any of our members. Wait, that's amazing just in itself. Yeah. And a lot of people don't always know about it. I highly suggest people get onto our website at specialtyfood.com and really dig into what your benefits are as a member. There's opportunities for mentorships. We have our prestigious awards with the Sophie Awards, as well as our leadership awards. There's opportunities for networking both at the shows, but also throughout the year. And that's part of what my role now is with the Specialty Food Association. We actually had our first regional networking event last night in Boston, and we had a turnout considering the two to three feet of snow that we got between Sunday and Monday.

4:16So it was great.

4:18Holly Long:That's incredible, Holly. Yeah, I would say the last benefit that I think I'm most excited about right now is a fairly new one. It's with a premier provider called Pola Marketing and members have access to have their product professionally photographed by Pola Marketing just for being an SFA member. So there's signups each month. We had signups available at the Winter Fancy Fair. Pola had their own booth there and we're doing professional photographs for brands that they can use, you know, whether it's for their websites, for their sell sheets, It's essentially anything that they need those professional photos for.

4:54Holly Long:We opened up the slots. There's a certain amount of slots each month, and we opened them up from March. They sold out in an hour. Wow. So a great new benefit that was just added. That's a very cool benefit. And to get into your background, because I think that also helps give context of the power of community and also your point of view and how you show up for brands. you were at Whole Foods for two decades. Did I read that right? Yes. Don't do the math on Whole Foods. No, I won't do the math either there. But how incredible. And you worked with local and emerging brands there. Could you give us a little bit of your background when you were at Whole Foods as well?

5:40Holly Long:Sure. So like you mentioned, I was there for 22 years. I recently just joined the SFA in August. so prior to that the majority of my work was with local and emerging brands my role as a forager at Whole Foods Market allowed me the opportunity to meet and help so many brands along the way that are near and dear to my heart it's it's I always used to tell people it's a dream job and I feel like I'm lucky enough that I just went from like one dream job to the next dream job so super excited about my new role as well. Incredible. And I remember when we were talking a few months ago, you were saying that when you were at Whole Foods, people would come to you with products in a little baggie and say, I have this idea.

6:31Holly Long:And then you would be like, okay, cool. But come back to me when these things are lined up. So I would love to hear from you over the years just seeing so many brands come to market especially for emerging brands what are you seeing as far as like this new wave because now in your new role you're also working with emerging brands but you also are working with more established brands too I'm assuming right um bit of both so I would love to see just like the overall feel and vibe of what you're seeing with emerging brands, but also just in the industry. You have such a cool perspective. Yeah, I mean, I think that there's new and amazing products popping up literally every day.

7:19Holly Long:Even at the event that we held last night, I had folks coming up to me with their samples to kind of check things out and give them a try and give them some feedback. It seems as if once they hear the background, a lot of brands' goals are that golden ticket into Whole Foods Market. So being able to give them feedback from that perspective, I think, is incredibly valuable. And I can bring that, whether it's to an emerging brand or a more established brand that's kind of looking to get their foot in the door. For you, what do you look for that really makes you pause and say, okay, this is something of just being in the trenches for so many years.

7:57And again, in your new role, working with brands across the board, what catches your attention personally?

8:05Holly Long:It comes down to a couple of things. You know, taste is always going to be the paramount. Most important thing is whatever it is, it's got to taste good. But beyond that, from my work at Whole Foods, it was always looking at what the story is behind the founder. You know, like what, where did this product come from? What's the story behind the founder? That was always something that was really important to me. I have more knowledge in my head and tell more stories to my friends when they go to bite into something than anybody should probably know. I am that friend in the group too. I'm like, oh, I interviewed this founder and here's their story.

8:40Yeah, no, I am that friend also.

8:42Holly Long:Yeah, that's literally one of my favorite things is just to share knowledge about like, do you realize where that product came from? Do you know that the founder did this and this and this? And so that's one of my favorite things is, you know, a product having a really great founder story. And then just having a need, you know, Like making sure that whatever that product is, there's a consumer need for it. I know a lot of times in my work at Whole Foods, brands would come to me and they'd say, I have the best chocolate chip cookie, the best ketchup, the best hot sauce. But making sure that you're looking in a category, especially if you're looking in one that's really highly saturated like condiments, for example, making sure that you have really clear, standout things to say about your product to make it different and to warrant it having some of that space on the shelf.

9:38Thank you for saying that because what I do professionally and when I'm not podcasting is brand strategy for pre-launch CPG food and beverage brands. And that is essentially the thing we dive into day one when I'm building a brand strategy of what makes this product different. And especially in those competitive categories that you just mentioned, you need to have very clear differentiators. To your point, too, founders will come to me and I'm curious about working with me and I'll say, OK, what makes this different? They say, well, it's the best chocolate chip cookie. And I love that for them.

10:20But I'm like, that's not going to that's not going to get you. We need more than that. We need more. And so I feel like you have such a great point of view of seeing what it really takes to get on shelf, then to get off of shelf. Right. and to really then scale a brand. Are there any things that you have seen over the years and now in your new role, more from a community point of view that founders are doing really well, that's working in the year 2026? I'm sure it's evolved over the last 20 plus years that you see founders really tapping into that is giving them an edge to really stand out in an ever-growing competitive category.

11:04Yeah, I mean, one thing that I think is incredibly important is networking, you know, founders that are getting out there and finding folks in their community that are either going through the same thing that they're going through, or maybe have already gone through it, and they can

11:19Holly Long:reach out to them for advice, I think is huge. yeah you know being a being a founder is stressful you know and can be lonely so being able to have that network of folks to be able to reach out to when you have a question or you just need to vent maybe you're just having a rough day um I've seen a lot more than that more of that recently um I'm also on the board at Naturally New England so being able to attend Naturally New England events and always at our specialty food events. There's just, it seems like there's an uptick in folks wanting to take that time out of their personal day to get out there and network with other industry folks.

11:59That's a really good point. And I feel like social media has definitely probably influenced that. But I think it's also going back to the basics at the same time too, that you can't just be behind your computer sending out cold emails. You really need to be meeting people, shaking hands, building relationships. And that is something I really genuinely love about CPG, how there really is like that old school community sense and feel to it, where a lot of industries that's gotten lost over the years, where this industry in particular, it's so crucial. It's so crucial.

12:42Holly Long:It really is. And I think building relationships is such an important part of the process. You know, I mean, there are brands that I can think back to that, you know, I ran into at a particular event that I was out doing some networking at. And a year later, lo and behold, they submit to Whole Foods Market. And it's like, wait a minute, I met them. I remember their story. I remember everything about this. I'm really excited. And having that kind of come full circle, I think is great. That is a great example, too, of you never know who you're talking to and you never know how a friend of a friend or just that one random event that maybe you were lagging and you have a super long to-do list, but you had this feeling that you should go.

13:31And that's the time that you end up sitting next to someone that helped open up a door. Like there really truly is that part of business that could get lost that I really love how you're really honing in on that too with being the director of community engagement. I'm assuming this is something that you really genuinely believe in because it really does. It helps you cut through in, again, such a competitive industry.

14:01Holly Long:I mean, buyers, category merchants, everyone's sitting behind screens, right? And they're going through hundreds and hundreds of applications of new products. But if they come through yours and they have that connection and they're like, wait, why do I know this name? And they quickly look it up and they're like, wait a minute, I met that founder at that event last year. Or I was at the fancy food show and walked by that booth. I remember that. Right. It's building those relationships that's going to be incredibly important for some of these brands. I would love if you could also break down community engagement from the point of view of attending a trade show like Fancy Fair, Fancy Food, and then also keeping that relationship going.

14:48Do you have any advice or strategy that you would share with an emerging brand or a brand that's been out a little bit longer, too, of just how to best utilize that in-person time at a trade show?

15:03Holly Long:Yeah, I mean, there's so many opportunities for connection at trade shows. It's almost like there's too many things to pick from when you get there. there's so many different ones but making sure you know you mentioned social media and social media is like such a huge part of it making sure that you're on LinkedIn making sure that you have like an up-to-date profile on LinkedIn you're going to be able to learn you know different folks that are coming to Expo West that might not necessarily be tabling they might not have you know a table at a fancy food show or at an Expo West but they might just be going as an attendee and maybe that's someone that you were looking to build a relationship with maybe it's a distributor or a particular retailer, or it could even just be a service provider that you really need help in this one particular area.

15:49Holly Long:And you know that you want to try to find those folks and connect with them. That's a great piece of advice. And you mentioned LinkedIn. I would love if you could share a little bit more of why LinkedIn in particular. I think LinkedIn is a really important one because it kind of dulls out all the noise, You know, sometimes with social media or on the Facebooks, the Instagrams, you know, all the other different outlets that we have to use, it can get really busy, right? And really noisy. But on LinkedIn, I feel like it's more thoughtful information that you're hearing about. There's usually a lot of opportunities.

16:22Holly Long:I know that I share a lot when it comes to LinkedIn about any upcoming events that we're hosting for the Specialty Food Association. I'll be sending one out on LinkedIn today for an event that we're doing next month down in the D.C. area. Um, so to me, it's, it's a really important one to make sure that you're involved in, that you're active on and that you're engaged with. Are there certain things of updates that founders are sharing or just how they're building that you think is a good way of approaching it? Because I feel like on LinkedIn, sometimes founders overthink it because maybe TikTok, Instagram feels a little bit more off the cuff or, you know, just like, what's the, not unhinged in a negative way, but like, you know, a little less edited where LinkedIn can feel a little bit more polished.

17:11But is there anything that you notice that founders do on LinkedIn that you think are catching attention? It sounds professional, but it also feels open that they're building relationships, right? It's not like showing up and needing to have everything perfect because that's not reality either. I would just love to hear what you would think to share with someone there too?

17:35Holly Long:Sure. I mean, some of my favorite posts on LinkedIn are the like incredibly authentic ones where founders are like really opening up about, you know, something that they just went through that was tough, you know, and being, I think, you know, on my end of the business or even being another founder, like just being able to like personally relate to someone that's going through something tough. We're all going through something at any point in time, right? It doesn't necessarily have to be work related. It could be personal, but knowing and being able to have like that just human connection to say, wow, you don't have to be perfect.

18:10Holly Long:You know, even though this brand is incredibly successful and out there and they're killing it in the industry, they're having rough days too. And I think that those are the types of posts that I feel like I love the most because it just humanizes us all. I think that's a really good way. level playing field. Yeah, humanizing. I think that's a really well said phrase as far as being engaging, building community, showing up as yourself, but also having that human element that I think we're all looking for more and more these days. I would love to ask, how does someone join the Specialty Food Association and become a member?

18:52You mentioned all the great benefits. Um, and also when is a good time to join if someone's just launching or they're already out in the market, I would love if you could break that down just so someone really understands how to, to take that next step.

19:09Holly Long:Sure. I mean, I don't think there's any wrong time to start there. I feel like our members are comprised of so many different levels of, of being in the business. Um, we have folks that join as part of our maker prep program, which is like an educational a virtual educational program that we offer. It's a, it's a six month virtual course that brands go through. These brands are usually like almost ready to launch or like just getting ready to launch earlier stage, maybe haven't hit any of the retailers yet. Um, but it's, it's great. It's a great educational opportunity for them. And their graduation is always at one of the shows.

19:46Holly Long:So how cool. Yeah. It gives these folks the opportunity to get up on stage and grab their certificate for graduating the maker prep program and also gives them the opportunity to be able to tabletop at the show. So they're getting ready for launch. They're almost ready to find like that retailer that's really gonna, you know, commit to them. And now they can get out there and they can tabletop and they can get feedback from, you know, the 30 ,000 people that are attending a fancy food show. That is really cool, Holly. I love that. Yeah. And then, you know, that's, that's kind of like the beginning stage of like maybe thinking about joining.

20:24Holly Long:And then like I mentioned before, there's so many other benefits that we offer for more established brands. We just recently launched a maker growth summit. So it's almost like maker prep 2.0. This one's an in-person three-day summit includes both education and networking. I don't know if you've ever, if you know, Bob Burke, but Bob Burke is a veteran in the natural and organic and specialty food space. Okay. He's been holding seminars in Boston for the last 20 years, this three-day seminar. You may have heard of it. Yes, I was just reading on LinkedIn a founder's post about attending one of his retreats.

21:08Holly Long:Yeah. Okay. We actually just acquired those seminars that we've recently renamed the Maker Growth Summit. And so we're partnering with Bob and a couple of other folks on these seminars. So we did the one with them in Boston in December, and we'll repeat that every year. It's been going for 20 years strong, and we're not going to change that. But we're also taking the show on the road. So we're about to open up registration for the West Coast in San Francisco for May 5th to the 7th. And again, it's a it's a three day educational and networking is networking at breakfast, lunch. We do an after hours networking on two of the three days.

21:46Holly Long:So a great opportunity for those brands that maybe did just get out there into the stores, but are looking for like, OK, now how do I maintain? How do I how do I keep moving the needle forward? How do I look at, you know, growth potential and that sort of thing? So we're cool. Kind of expanding it to the other end. And then we have our mentorship program for the brands that are really well off that have been doing it, you know, for the last 20 years, there's opportunity for them to share their knowledge through our mentorship program. And those actually, those applications open up tomorrow, right?

22:20Holly Long:Yeah, tomorrow. Great. So this will be open. Mentor and mentees tomorrow can start applying for our mentorship program. We usually do 50 pairs per session and those applications should be open tomorrow on our website. Amazing. So that will be open when this goes live. So this is perfect timing. Yeah, that's perfect timing. Also too, I would love if you could give us a little sneak peek of what's happening this summer? Sure. So summer registration is opening up by the second week of March. So just a couple of weeks away now. We are really excited for this summer. We're on par so far. We had 2 ,400 exhibitors last year and we're pretty much on par for kind of repeating that.

23:09Holly Long:One really important thing that I want to call out is that if anybody has not compared calendars of other things going on in the social circle this summer, the World Cup is coming to New York City at the same time as the Summer Fancy Food Show. Oh, I did not realize that. Hotels are going to be a little crazy. So the hotel block is open now. And I highly suggest people going in there and just getting your hotel, you know, saved and blocked so that you have your room even before registration opens. Just a really good lot of energy in New York City during that time. Okay, I'm going to be traveling from Europe right before the show to get there on time.

23:53So that's a good tip. I'll go in with knowing that mindset. Holly, thank you so much for everything that you do and how you've been championing emerging brands, local brands, community, networking. I really admire the work you've done and continue to do. And I just really appreciate you sharing so generously today because I know this is going to be so helpful for up and coming brands that listen to the podcast.