Welcome to the Community Call Podcast.
I am Melissa Travers, Director of Community here at BevNET & NOSH, here with my co-host Jackie Brugliera and Mike Schneider.
If you're enjoying the show, please follow and review us on Apple Podcasts or your listening platform of choice.
Mike and Jackie, we truly have flipped roles.
Now I'm all by myself in Newton, and the two of you are together in the West Coast.
All by myself.
I know it's weird.
I'm looking at you, Melissa, and I keep forgetting Mike's in real life right here.
I know Jackie's huggable at the moment.
It's pretty awesome.
I'm enjoying the change, but I definitely am singing all by myself a little bit.
The Taste Radio Meetup is about to happen.
By the time this airs, it will have already happened.
Any predictions for the...
Jackie wants to manifest a few things.
Go for it.
Well, I know for sure that Ray's going to be interviewing Jeff Church from Suja, so I think that's an easy manifestation.
I do see lots of samples in our future, so I think that might happen.
Some pizza, delicious pizza, some networking.
I mean, do you have any manifestations, Mike?
I think I'm going to eat some Bruin Kitchen, I hope.
Maybe drink some Bon Buzz.
Yeah, I might be having some bitchin sauce and everything.
Ooh, bitchin sauce, yeah.
Maybe eat some Chubby's Peanut Butter and Jelly.
I can't wait.
Yeah, my future stomach is happy with me.
Future stomach.
That is a crystal ball that is definitely worth looking into.
I hope that it's a fantastic meetup, and I can't wait to hear all about it.
And Jackie, you just finished an incredible quest yourself.
You climbed Mount Whitney.
I did.
I feel like I'm still recovering.
Like I had a stomach bug.
I'm recovering with like sleeping all day.
It was a journey.
This is just like when you went to Machu Picchu.
I know.
I guess I'm not made for hiking, but I keep doing it.
She keeps doing it.
Yeah, my body keeps malfunctioning, but it's totally worth it.
I don't know.
I saw the pictures.
You look like you're made for hiking to me.
One of our favorite people ever, Jessica Fagan, who is Eat Well, Live Wild on Instagram, and our former colleague.
She's like a hiking machine and she made Jackie think it would be a lot of fun.
She did.
She was like, I've always wanted to do this.
I'm going to put in some permits.
You should come with me.
It's going to be a great time.
22 miles, no big deal.
Meanwhile, she's been training like an animal.
Jess has been hiking all the time.
Every second she gets when she's using it, she's making great content along the way.
And she's going to all these beautiful places and she's never showing the whole, she doesn't show you all of the agony of the training.
No, not at all.
So I'm seeing this and I'm like, oh, it looks so much fun.
I'm not doing the same level of training, but I'm doing it via her.
And yeah, so I just kind of raw dogged it a little bit.
Meanwhile, Jackie is a well-trained athlete, and it just shows what specific training can do for you, right?
You've been training your whole life for this.
And so this is a hike so intense, you need a permit for it.
Is that the idea?
Yeah, you need a permit and it only lasts for 24 hours.
So we actually started hiking at 10:30 p.m.
the night before, and then finished at like five o'clock in the afternoon.
Jackie's like the best friend you could ask for because you know, you just, she doesn't even think about a permit, that's serious.
She's just like, your friend's like, hey Jackie, come do this with me.
Jackie's like, yeah, I'm in.
I'm all about experiences.
Sometimes I say yes too many times, but I always have a good story from it.
Well, you definitely won't have the regret of saying no to many things.
Yeah, you know, sometimes I just regret saying yes, but you know, it's worth it.
Except for that tattoo you got that says no R-A-G-R-E-T-S, no regrets.
That might happen.
And did you sleep in between if you started at 10.30 at night?
No, we just were hiking the entire time.
So we were hiking in the dark for about eight hours.
And then when we hit the top is when the sun started to rise.
That was like the best part of the hike.
It was beautiful.
You timed it perfectly?
Yeah, we just happened to time it perfectly.
We just happened to.
It just happened to time it perfectly.
Jessica timed it.
Yeah, she had it down to the minute.
And I was just along for the ride.
And she planned it perfectly.
This is a lot of hiking.
It's overnight.
Very strenuous.
I mean, 22 miles.
I'm still sort of trying to get past 22 miles.
So how did you fuel your hike?
What were you eating and drinking?
We were eating a lot leading up to it.
And we didn't want to bring too many things because we were packing light.
So I ate a lot of like dehydrated food and a lot of things that came in cans.
So I tried, there was a new line of backpacking food called Po and Co folk foods.
And you literally just put in some hot water, you let it sit there for like 15 minutes and then you have a meal.
Does it come with a banjo?
It sounds so folky.
I know it should.
Is this something that you get at like an REI or do you get it in the grocery store?
Yeah, so I actually don't think they're sold in stores yet, but they are sold on EECOM.
But there is a bunch of options at REI, which I also found there.
Sure, but Jessica probably got it.
Yeah, she definitely brought those along.
But I had a dozen cousins from REI and Whole Foods picked up Hay Day Canning and their new chili, which I had on the campsite.
And then in my pack, I brought like Maya Kamal's doll.
So some of those like food packs that you say you need to heat in the microwave, once you're hiking for a couple hours, because it's pretty warm.
So you just rip it open and eat it.
Lots of beans there, Jackie.
No wonder you had a little stock issue.
Where are you storing these pouches if they're warm?
I mean, in my backpack, which is by that point really sweaty and warm.
My body heat is warming up.
Yeah, Jackie was cooking in her backpack.
Yes, I was.
I'm sure after like the 18th mile, just about anything would taste good, but certainly you brought along a really bunch of tasty things.
Yeah, I mean, when you're hiking, it's like you want to make sure you're eating something enjoyable or else you're not going to eat and you sometimes lose your appetite with altitude.
So I made sure I brought tasty treats.
Any special, any like tasty sweet treats like chocolate or dates or anything like that?
I always have honey stingers before a soccer game.
I like the stroopwafels.
Okay.
Yeah.
Sometimes the gummies, but I still have gummy PTSD, so I don't have as many of those.
I'm just so scared.
I did bring a couple packs of Cliff energy chews.
Those are solid too.
They have 50 milligrams of caffeine per one, so you can pace it out.
I also like to bring powdered electrolytes too, with me to spritz up the water too.
And it seems to work.
So yeah, most recently I was, I think I had Element Last and...
Oh no, last thing I had was Instant Hydration.
That's one of the latest powders I've been drinking.
But I'm always going for Cure Hydration.
I like that one a lot.
And Mizzu Labs is really good too.
Those are good.
Yeah, there's some really good ones out there.
Mike, you turned me on to Mizzu Labs.
And all summer long, I was enjoying those.
The Lychee flavor I think is my favorite.
They're so cool.
They could be fun on a community call, Melissa, to find out how they've been growing that brand.
Because it seems like they've been using a lot of, I don't know how they've gotten such a strong network of micro influencers to talk about what they're doing, but it might be an interesting convo.
Mizzu Labs, if you're listening, I'm going to reach out and get in touch.
And for everybody else, you should certainly join our Slack community, slack.bevnet.com, to reach all of us at NOSH and BevNET.
And if you have an idea for a community caller, you just want to reach out and tell me what you're up to, always looking to connect with more folks at slack.bevnet.com.
See how easy it is?
We just had a meeting in the middle of a podcast recording.
I know.
Really amazing, Jackie.
That is a feat of human excellence.
And I am just so impressed.
My feet are still numb.
Jackie, you are our favorite superhero.
For sure.
While Jackie was climbing Mount Whitney, I was drinking espresso martinis.
Shocking.
Ray actually gave me this Mission Crafts cocktails, espresso martinis, so it's a premixed cocktail.
And I have to say, I've tried a number of these, and it's easy to get wrong.
But just like every other premade cocktail that Mission Crafts cocktails makes, this was absolutely terrific.
I've had Mission Crafts stuff.
If I'm going to have a cocktail, I would consider that one.
I'm too much of a control freak though, because so caffeine and alcohol together, I don't really like that combination a lot.
I'm like, I want one guilty pleasure or whatever it is, or substance at a time.
So I'm not going to be that guy who's like, hey, let's have some THC and some mezcal, you know?
It's kind of like drinking a Four Loko.
You don't know what's going to happen.
Oh, shit.
I want all the guilty pleasures at the same time.
I'm not sure what this says exactly.
Yeah, stack them, rack them up and what is it?
Stack them up and knock them down, something like that.
Rack them and stack them, yeah.
Yeah, so racking them and stacking them with espresso martinis.
I looked into-
Oh, we're talking rack them and crack them, I think is what you mean for pool.
You're definitely racking them and cracking them.
I mean, but this is how I stay up until like 10 o'clock at night, you know?
But I was looking into where espresso martinis came from.
Apparently, I mean, they're like a bunch of stories like every other urban legend, whatever.
But the most popular version is that it was created by a bartender named Dick Bradsell in the late 80s.
When a young woman and the story varies, is it Naomi Campbell, is it Kate Moss, some model, asked for something to wake me up, then f**k me up.
It first appeared on a menu in 97 apparently, and then it declined and then came back sort of just recently.
You know, I feel like I started seeing them on that Bravo show.
And this is another, let's just rack up all my guilty pleasures below deck.
Oh my goodness, it's my favorite.
Jackie, you love the look.
I was watching it last night, yes.
I watch it with my boys.
It's the only thing they watch that has a storyline and it's kind of inappropriate, but I feel like it really is the only thing that has a storyline.
Apparently, Taylor Foxman-
Just bringing families together below deck.
The show that brings families together below deck.
Who knew?
I heard on Ray's interview with Taylor Foxman on Taste Radio that she was a big below deck fan.
It sounds like she might be sort of trailing off on the below deck, but that was the first place that I saw the espresso martinis.
Yeah, they're always making them.
I mean, all of those people are looking to wake up and get f***ed up.
So it makes sense.
Right, right.
After all that work on below deck, you have to go out and get yourself going before you're ready to party.
Well, I'm really glad we cleared all of that up.
And Jackie, I'm really glad to know that we are both big below deck fans.
In this community call, we discussed Walmart's open call program for emerging brands looking to launch at Walmart.
Our guests included Scott Gutche, Senior Director of US.
Manufacturing and Sourcing at Walmart, Molly Blakely, Founder of Molly B's Cookies, and Yasmin Curtis, Founder and CEO of Two Fish Foods.
Shana Golden, our beloved reporter at NOSH and BevNET, also joined this conversation.
This community call was a companion piece to an article that Shana wrote that you should absolutely go check out on nosh.com.
And please enjoy this episode.
Today's community call is all about Walmart's open call, a program designed to support emerging brands aiming to sell their products at Walmart.
We're joined by Scott Gutche, Senior Director of US.
Manufacturing and Sourcing at Walmart, as well as Molly Blakely, Founder of Molly B's Cookies and Yasmin Curtis, Founder and CEO of Two Fish Foods.
Both Molly B's and Two Fish Foods participated in the, in the open call program and they will share their experiences and insights.
We are also thrilled to have Shana Golden in the studio today.
Shana is a reporter at NOSH and BevNET.
This community call is a companion piece to her article, which you should absolutely go and read on nosh.com.
First of all, thank you so much for joining us, Molly, Scott, Yasmin, Shana.
It's such a pleasure to have you here and to dig into this program, which I'm sure that so many of the brands in our audience are curious about.
So thanks again for joining us and telling us your stories so that other folks can learn.
Why don't we start off today, Shana, with you.
Can you explain the premise of your story about Walmart?
I know you've been working on this for a while now.
What have you uncovered about this program and programs like it?
I'm currently doing a feature story about opportunities for emerging brands looking to gain access to major retailers through sourcing events from 7-Eleven, Target, and of course, Walmart's Open Call.
Just seeing how it benefits both the retailer and the emerging brands themselves.
I think the biggest thing that I've learned talking to all different kinds of programs, Walmart included, is above all else, even if you don't get shelf placement, that you definitely get the exposure and more eyes on your brand.
Well, these programs are so helpful for brands to not only get exposure with the retailer, but also understand how to be successful at the retailer themselves.
Let's start off with you, Yasmin.
Yasmin Curtis of Two Fish Foods.
Two Fish Foods is a restaurant.
It's a famous crab jack in Chicago, and you have a CPG line as well.
Authentic southern style seafood boil bags featuring shrimp and snow crab.
I need to order some of these immediately.
My mouth was watering when I was checking out your website.
You bring the flavors of the restaurant straight to consumers' homes.
Certainly, it's not easy launching a CPG line while you're also running a restaurant.
And in general, it's kind of a difficult process as well.
What's your journey been like and why are you doing this crazy thing?
Well, Two Fish started out as a restaurant.
That is how we started.
And actually, just a very like it was a very small restaurant that I just wanted to make sure that I put a community-based restaurant in the in the Bronzeville community in Chicago, but it gained a lot of traction, wildly successful.
And then, of course, those years of 2021, they kind of nobody really remembers.
Two Fish, you remember that time?
I'm trying not to.
What happened was, because in Chicago, we were under a lot of different guidelines and stipulations with the government, we weren't able to open, and all of the traction and all of the success that Two Fish had had was going to like probably fall by the wayside, because we were uncertain of, those were some very difficult times.
What I decided to do was, I was like, okay, I want people to be able to still experience Two Fish despite whatever is happening.
I decided that I was going to package our product up cold and with our famous sauce, like a three to shy with the sauce, so that our customers can just grab it and go.
And I initially wanted to just have an option for the carryout side for the restaurant.
Because at that time, nobody was trusting anything anybody said, right?
So, or most people, you just didn't know.
And I was like, okay, they can get it for one and one or two minutes, just go home and cook it yourself, right?
So, we get invited to an open, not an open call, but to like a local vendor for Mariano's.
Like, okay, local vendors are here and you can sell your product.
So I said, well, I'm going to go ahead and take our product.
I'm going to run an ice cream machine.
I'm going to take this frozen seafood and I'm going to sell it outside of the grocery store because we are a local vendor.
So that's exactly what I did.
And we sold out in like 20 minutes.
And when we sold out of everything that we had in those 20 minutes, the store manager and the seafood manager came out like, what product are you guys selling?
Like, we want to know what this is.
And when they came, I told them what it was.
The regional manager for seafood came to the restaurant the next day.
We were open.
So they came to the restaurant the next day.
I was like, hey, you know, like, is there any way that we can get your product in stores?
And that's how it all started.
I had no idea this is something that I even wanted to do.
I just wanted to make sure that our customers were actually being served.
I promise you that.
And from the first weekend, we went into the CPG products.
And I thought like maybe I'll get like one order a month or one or like, I had no idea it was going to turn into what it has turned into now.
So I thought that that's not what happened.
They first started testing us in five stores through the Mariano's brand.
And then they said, we can expand you guys to 144 stores through that brand.
And once I realized that this was a product that had been tested inside with the consumers, I was like, okay, great, we can expand it.
And I knew like there was a niche market.
Nobody was really selling seafood boils like that in a lot of different markets.
So we were, you know, we were headed there.
That's a great story.
When you have a delicious product, it's hard to keep up with demand.
And tell us a little bit about the Open Call Program itself.
How did you become aware of it?
What was the submission process like?
So with the Open Call process, this is a really interesting story.
So as our business was continuously growing, it was great.
So I was at a bump in a row where it said, I had hired an operations manager, and Walmart was scouting local vendors in Chicago.
I think it was like July of 2023.
And I knew that they were here.
And I was like, you know what?
I'm going to take our product over to those local vendors.
I mean, to those category managers and see if we can actually get in.
And my operations manager was like, Yasmin, you need to get ahead.
You cannot do that right now.
You're not about to do that because I was confident that Walmart was taking Two Fish, even without just going to be in front of them.
I said, okay, well, that's fine.
So I decided, she said, don't do that.
I said, okay, I'm not going to do it.
But what I'll do is I'll apply online through RangeMe.
And it was a long shot in the dark.
I had, again, no idea that Walmart would pick up our product and say, congratulations, you have made it to Open Call.
And that is exactly what happened.
I just applied online and was hopeful, not even hopeful, just was like, I mean, I'm pretty sure it's like 30,000 people that's going to apply.
And I might not even get.
And I got the email to say, congratulations, you have been invited to Open Call.
I was super excited.
So after that, you have to kind of document your process in terms of like going through Open Call.
We kind of did some stuff like that, posted on social media because that's what they add.
We even hired like a consulting firm to make sure that we had a great pitch or make sure that we had our numbers right.
We even went through processes of making sure that we could, you know, if we were to get like a huge contract with Walmart, what our capacity would be, all of those sorts of things in order to just get ready for the pitch.
So it took us at least a month to just get ready for the pitch, because we wanted to be ready for the questions that they ask.
And we were ready.
We were ready for the questions that they asked.
We also were able to cook up the product for them so that they can taste the product and understand the quality of the product that we were using.
We were able to do that.
And once we did it, the category managers and the seafood was like, this is a really good product.
They liked it.
I did not get the golden ticket at the meeting, but I did get a yes.
So I am still looking for the golden ticket, but we will be launching in the fall mod of October 9th for Walmart.
Yasmin, can you explain what the golden ticket is?
It is a fascinating process throughout the entire Walmart experience.
The golden ticket says like, yes, we will accept your product, but contingent on what it is that you have presented to us.
And at that moment, you are excited in that very moment to hold it.
They take your picture, you know, all of those things and it's very festive.
And it's, you know, it's meant to be very festive.
And that is what the golden ticket is.
And that's, you know, that's how that happened.
Although I did get in, I'm going to say that 10 more times, okay?
So I want to see if Scott can find, somebody could give me one.
So.
Next time you're in town, you need to look.
But no, we are going to, so we, even without the golden ticket, like it is a great experience just to go through the entire, just to be recognized by the number one CPG holder throughout the world.
Everything is a win, just to be invited.
It was a win.
So what happened after the interview?
So once, once after the interview, then, then the real work happens.
So it's fun, it's great, you're getting excited.
However, then after the interview, it is Walmart's regulatory team.
Let's make sure that you are in compliance with our standards.
That's what happens after the interview.
Let's make sure that we can verify what it is that you have put before us that you can actually deliver on, which is good due diligence.
So now they're doing their due diligence.
And a part of our due diligence is our food safety certification.
Because we are a seafood vendor, there are a lot of different certifications that we have to provide to Walmart regulatory and meat and seafood department before we are actually cut a PO or before there is transportation, logistics or anything that happens before that.
So we went into regulatory guideline process and actually food auditing process before we could actually get the, you're going to get a PO on this date and you're going to be in this mod.
And are you waiting to launch in stores or are you already in any stores?
No, we're not in any stores.
We launched October the 9th.
So we had to have our product to the location by September the 22nd.
And we asked for only a regional, which was about 500 stores in our region, because we want to make sure that we can scale when needed.
So we did not say give us 2000 stores or 3000 stores, just give us a small amount of stores so that we can scale as needed.
I have a question for you from Kimmy from Soberish.
She says that they are an online marketplace for non-alcoholic alternatives, but they also have one product they've developed that's selling very well direct to consumer.
She wants to know from you, Yasmin, how did you know which questions they were gonna ask or what to prepare for?
Actually, Walmart, once you're invited to open call, and I guess I missed this process, you are invited to weekly calls about open call.
So you are invited to a weekly Zoom to get you prepared in terms of the type of questions that they ask.
They bring on, I don't know if Scott, do you host those calls?
I would have to ask that.
But you're invited to all of those calls.
I think you're invited to those calls and they'll tell you what questions they're gonna ask.
Yeah, we bring on past open call success suppliers such as Yasmin, Molly to share their experience just like we're doing here on this call.
They give you the dos and the don'ts from what their learnings were.
We also bring in merchants and the merchants tell and share what they're looking for, what their expectations are.
So it's pretty clear.
There's a series of four webinars that Yasmin noted that we go through everything from the culture of the company and why we do the event to the importance of knowing your customer, to how do you set up your pricing and packaging, and your logistics for that conversation.
So we get into the details so that when you're in that 30-minute meeting because that's all it is, is you come and prepare and you feel confident with a game plan.
It's always changeable and flexible, but at least it gets you set up with you having a general idea where the merchant is going to take it.
Yasmin, thank you so much for that account.
It sounds like a very exciting and maybe sometimes harrowing process.
Molly Blakely, we would love to hear from you and Molly B's Cookies.
You are a cereal entrepreneur in the great state of Alaska.
Molly B's Cookies are jumbo premium gooey cookies with fun, fun, unique flavors.
I saw the one called Hot Mess.
It has hot Cheetos sprinkled on top of it and mango and white chocolate.
That sounds amazing, but also, of course, all of your old standard favorites as well.
Molly, please tell us a little bit about yourself and Molly B's Cookies.
Sure.
Thank you so much for having me.
This is such an honor to be here and be able to share my story with everyone.
I am in Alaska and I actually used to live in a rural town of just 3,000 people.
And I found myself down to my last $150.
And I didn't know what I was going to do because I had to feed my son.
I was a single mom.
And so I started making really weird gourmet cookies.
And they just sort of took off.
I was doing like 20 boxes a week and that was decent.
But then after about the third month, BuzzFeed had heard about me through whatever resource.
And they ended up doing a big write up on my stuff.
And I ended up doing 45 boxes a day.
And then from there went to another 45 boxes a day.
So I took the entire like hand mixing at home and moved into a church kitchen.
And I got my son out of school who was 10.
I'm like, you got to help me cook cookies.
He was working his rear end off and said, I just want to go back to school.
It was part of work, but we just continued to grow.
And then we started doing like little local grocery stores and coffee shops.
And then I realized that I needed to move to Anchorage.
So we moved to the big city Anchorage, which is a metropolis in Alaska.
So I got there and I actually found a bakery that helped me start baking my cookies.
And we went into a big box store there in Alaska and we sold out in 24 hours.
And so then they doubled the order.
We sold out again in 24 hours.
And it just went from there.
And I went from one bakery to two to three to four.
And finally, I started Googling like cookie factories and found out about Copackers.
And so I got a lot of no's.
I got a hundred no's on Copackers and I would just cold call them every day.
And no one was doing Fruity Pebbles on Cookies.
I was the first of the party for that.
And people thought I was absolutely crazy.
But I'm persistent.
And finally, someone said yes after the third time I called them back.
And they said, fine, we'll try.
And so I launched 2021 nationally with Molly B's.
And then things just started going crazy.
We ended up in the Emmy bags, the Grammy bags, the Oscar bags.
I just did the Super Bowl Suite this last year.
I was invited to the VMAs next month, all with Cookies.
We've been on the Wheel of Fortune.
And now we've done a Walmart Open Call.
Also other retailers.
It's been incredible.
But it's just like, I feel like I make it up when I say it.
But it's a lot of fun.
I'm having a good time.
Well, the story is as incredible as I'm sure the Cookies themselves are.
The Open Call program itself, how did you find the submission process?
Was there anything that you had to figure out along the way that you weren't clear on?
Is there anything that you did particularly that brought you to success?
Well, with the Open Call, I did it through RangeMe.
The first time, the first year in 2000, what was it, 2022, I didn't get accepted.
And so I actually didn't apply for it in 2023, but my assistant did and didn't tell me.
And so I just got an email that said, congratulations, you've been accepted to Walmart Open Call.
I'm like, what is going on right now?
And so I messaged Tiffany, my assistant, I'm like, did you do this?
And she goes, we got here.
And then she was so excited.
And so from that process, it was just planning, like, what are we going to do?
How are we going to make sure it's the right submission?
And because with the gourmet cookies, you want to hit it right.
You don't want to do too weird, but you also want to keep it a little weird.
So we just really practice on everything.
And I had a really big pitch deck that I put together with all of the story and everything.
And as you can tell, I'm a talker.
My family's all auctioneers, so we talk fast.
And with that said, I went to all the Zooms and everything and learned that you've got to get a golden ticket, you got to get a golden ticket.
And it was just like embezzled in my head.
Like, I got to get a golden ticket, I got to get a golden ticket.
So I was really like wanting a golden ticket.
And so when we got to Open Call there in Bentonville, it was exciting, you know, you get there and you see the Walmart home offices and you're like, this is real.
And then they have like Sam Walton's truck out front, you know, and you're like, oh my gosh, I think my dad drove an old Ford like that, you know?
And so that was cool and nostalgic.
And then you walk in and everyone's so excited, like, and there's just so excited that you're there, the buyers are excited, everyone's excited.
So that just like, there's so much energy and fun with all of it.
And they have like a row of food trucks and you get for free food.
I mean, you have me sold there.
Like, you didn't have to do more for me that day.
I was excited about that.
But you get to, I met a lot of really cool people and I'm still friends with them.
And it was just a really exciting thing for us.
Such a great story.
Thanks for sharing that with us.
Scott, we have a question from the audience from Kim.
Is the open call program online or in person?
What does the sampling process look like?
We heard these two amazing and effusive stories from Two Fish Foods and Molly B's Cookies.
But can you walk us through the nuts and bolts of the program itself?
Yeah, absolutely.
It's a great question.
Because since COVID, we all learned how to use Zoom, right?
Just like this call.
And before COVID, it was an in-person only event.
And so we've learned going through COVID and still doing this event, which was 100 percent virtual during COVID.
We learned how to expand the event, so that now we can include virtual as well as in-person.
So super excited to have that learning come out because it really exploded the access to folks who were travel or the expense of traveling into Bentonville, which isn't the cheapest place to travel, or the easiest place to travel really opens that up.
So it is available in both online or in-person.
We love it when you come in-person because the experience, as you heard Molly and Yasmin talk about, is a one-of-a-kind event that really gets you sucked in, which is what the event is really all about, is about the culture of entrepreneurism.
Mr.
Sam was an entrepreneur, and that spirit lives within us.
I'm sure Yasmin and Molly, you can confirm you felt that, not only with the volunteer staff and everybody, but the buyers themselves, they're all entrepreneur like as well in the desk they sit in.
So we love it when everybody comes in-person.
But if you can, the virtual option does still allow you the 30-minute meeting with the merchant, just like if you were in-person.
You still have access to all the trainings.
You still have access to all the resources and everything that is shared during that event.
You just miss out on the in-person fun and the food trucks, Molly.
So the virtual event is better than not coming at all for sure, because it still gives you the opportunity.
There's no disadvantage of going virtual.
Merchants are very used to handling and managing the process for buying products virtually.
Then there is a sample process set up, especially for the virtual meetings.
If you're in person, we have you bring your sample with you.
But if you're virtual, we have a process set up that you can actually ship it in.
If I'm a small brand, I would of course need to apply within the correct submission window.
Do you have the next year's submission window set yet, or is that still yet to come?
Yeah, that's yet to come.
Internally working through the date for next year.
We do like to have our top executives present.
So we're working through that process right now.
That does take some time.
So the window will probably open up and be announced in the spring.
It'll be being planned for October.
We just don't know what date yet.
So generally gets going around July.
The process itself.
RangeMe is our partner, our selected partner for the platform.
So the application will go through them.
So if you are a RangeMe member, you will get an email invite or announcement, I should say, not an invite to apply.
If you're not, you can go to rangeme.com and sign up for their free service.
You do not have to be a premium member for it.
And then you'll be added to that list.
Also, you can go to the corporate, walmart.com corporate site, and the announcement will be placed there as well.
If you're familiar with going to the corporate part of our walmart.com site, the announcements will be made there as well.
Terrific.
Yeah, they would apply, Melissa, and then what would happen is my team will get all those submissions through RangeMe, and then we vet every single one hands-on, look at various factors in there.
It's about 150 question type survey questionnaire.
We look for how ready is the supplier?
So being able to demonstrate what that looks like, what their capabilities are.
Yasmin brought that up in her preparation.
That's key.
We don't want to have you fly out here in expense and take everybody's time including your own, to find out that you can't make enough for 25 stores.
Then we look for emerging brand momentum, evidenced by market relevancy.
So what are you doing in your area or to drive your brand, whether it's social, whether it's store to store, whether it's placement, whether it's a B2B marketplace, whether it all depends.
So what we're looking for momentum in how your brand is growing through that.
And we look for, if possible, ideally you'd have scaled at least once.
And that doesn't mean scale to mass retail.
That just means, like Molly, not doing it in her kitchen anymore.
Her scale up was, oh my God, I got to find somewhere to make more.
And so you go through that learning process, scaling.
Yasmin hired operations manager.
She's gone through that first step of scaling.
And so it doesn't have to be mass scale, just where you've learned the process of knowing when you have to scale, how you go about it, where you look, that kind of thing.
So we ideally look for somebody who's scaled at least once.
And then we really get into the story.
So in that application, it's tell us your story.
And we do that because we want to see your grit.
We want to see your perseverance, your determination.
And so understanding your story, where you're coming from and why you're doing what you're doing helps us also.
So when you look at all of those factors through those 150 questions, the secret sauce basically comes down to a team of four people going through thousands of applications, looking for those cues in those applications, and just kind of the cream rises to the top.
And that's how folks get invited.
Thanks for that, Shauna.
You, that was something that you noted as well, that the brands needing to have scaled already is something, a key part of the entrance process.
Definitely.
Yeah.
You answered the question that I didn't even ask.
So we, we have a question from Mariam Behabani.
She says that her pitch deck is in printed form and she's a little bit nervous about it being too small.
Are there any recommendations on how to print a deck of 50 pages?
And she will be in person.
Sure.
So I had a pitch deck already and I decided to go old school.
So when I went in there, I really decided that I wanted to just have a personable conversation with these buyers and not have them focused on the pitch deck.
But focused on me and what I was doing and my product.
And you could have like one or two slides or paper.
You could hand them pieces of paper, whatever that has like how many products per case and that sort of thing with the logistics of what you're doing there.
But we just went old school.
I really wanted to be super personable with everybody that was there.
I think we had four buyers in the meeting and we didn't know we were going to have that many.
So, and by the way, I forgot to mention, I got two golden tickets.
How did you get two golden tickets?
Because I had two meetings.
I had one with the cookie and cracker aisle and I had one with the golden, the grab and go location.
So we had two different meetings, which people do.
And so one golden ticket was the first one and then the second one was a grab and go and then the second one was a cookie and cracker aisle.
So we got one for each of them.
Well, your strategy certainly seems to have paid off.
I just, I like, you know, I love to talk, so I wanted to visit with them.
Yasmin, how about you?
Did you have a deck?
Did you just talk to the buyers?
Yes, I had a deck.
However, it was not 50 pages long.
So I would, I totally would recommend that you probably make that about three to four pages.
And you'll, it's electronics there.
So you'll be able to make sure if you wanted to put it on the screen.
But I would also recommend what Molly said, like you have to be very personable about your story and product and be very confident about your product and what it is that you are marketing or trying to put on the shelves of Walmart and the story that can be told from the product.
What I like to tell people is the buyer will not be impressed with the deck.
They'll be impressed with your eye contact, your confidence, the way you're presenting it, your story.
It's a 30-minute meeting.
Think about that, 30 minutes.
So how much time can you give per page in a 30-minute meeting?
And you spend the first 10 minutes hopefully introducing yourself and talking about your company's background, stuff like that.
So it's great advice from you both.
But talk about your company, talk about the customer, talk about the solution your product provides, and then talk about your capabilities.
And you have 30 minutes to do that.
And the more you can do that with direct eye contact and inflection and establishing a relationship, the better your odds are of continuing that conversation.
I would also, if I can add here, I would also say, Melissa, success for the day, ultimately, yeah, golden ticket would be amazing, right?
Two examples right here.
Well, kind of for Yasmin.
But success is just getting there, first of all, because you're up against thousands of others, and you're there and you've got that connection now.
And so success for me that what I try to share with everybody every year is success is having that buyer wanting to stay in touch.
Because it's tough for that buyer in 30 minutes to meet you, decide to fire somebody to put you in their place.
That's really hard to do in 30 minutes.
So you've got to make an impression that they want to continue the conversation to learn more and to get to know you better.
Because most buyers won't make that decision in a quick 30-minute meeting.
It happens.
There's hundreds every year that it happens.
So it does certainly happen and it is super exciting when it does.
But think about it that way.
Go in there and make sure that you've struck a position with that merchant where they want to keep in touch with you.
We were told they want to give out a golden ticket, so I just asked.
I was like, does that mean I get a golden ticket?
And they're like, yeah, so just ask, I would.
The worst thing they can say is no.
That's great advice for so many things in life.
We have a question from Sonia Patel who wants to know how the open call process differs from being a part of the online marketplace.
Is open call only for in-store, only online, a mix of the two?
How does that work?
Yeah.
So open call is for opening up relationship with Walmart, period.
You can go to marketplace and through that relationship, you don't need to meet with somebody.
That can be an electronic interchange because you can run that business on your own.
So you don't need a buyer to make a decision on getting into marketplace.
So we recommend everybody start there, regardless of whether you're coming to open call or not.
If you are coming to open call, definitely get up on there before you're meeting so that you can demonstrate to the merchant your determination to get in the stores by already being on market.
And then if the buyer wants to buy your product and put it in the warehouse, you know, then that's part of the golden ticket decision where they say, okay, I want to control the price of your product and put you in my assortment online.
Then it kind of shifts from a marketplace conversation to a walmartcontrolled.com item.
And so Walmart Marketplace is for everybody, regardless of open call and regardless of how your meeting goes with the open call merchant.
Because you can set that up in a third party manner and just electronically manage your business like you would, you know, running your own website, so to speak.
So hopefully that clears it up a little bit.
You're not pitching to get on the marketplace, you're pitching to get into stores or into the walmart.com DCs, where we're buying product from you, you've palletized and then shipping it out.
We have a question from Elijah Davis.
He says, good morning.
Do you anticipate Walmart moving towards low-dose hemp derived functional beverages with the updates that the 2018 Farm Bill has brought us in the growing market?
So I don't know the details of the bill, but what the merchants, what merchant leadership has shared with us, because every year we ask, before we get applications in, what is our stance on hemp, TBD type products, et cetera.
And the answer is still, there's too much variance by state.
So once the local and state regulations even out more than it is today, to where it's easy to do business in a national way, then you'll probably see more categories go.
I don't have any more detail than that, but it's just a little bit too complicated at this point.
We will buy some product one-on-one, meeting with a merchant, but to invite a bunch of folks to come to Bentonville, and only to find out that we won't, we didn't want to have people expense a trip here and get a pitch for something we're not able to do yet.
We have another question from Jake DeLeon.
Hi Jake, from Phil and Manila.
He wants to know, prior to the merchant meetings at OpenCall, are the merchants already familiar with the vendor's brand and products from the OpenCall application?
Or would that meeting be the first time the merchant learns about the brand and the products?
That will depend on the merchant.
The merchant does see and does agree to meet with you prior to us awarding you the meeting.
So they have the ability to pull up your application and look at it.
I'm not sure they all do that.
Some of them may just accept the planners that we send them and they don't dig into it, but a lot of them do look at it.
And some of them even reach out to you ahead of time.
This is another great question.
When I had myself, Yasmin, you said that you're launching in October.
Do you know how many stores you'll be launching in?
Yes, we'll be launching in 500 stores in October.
And I looked at the question, it is definitely based on your capability.
So I always tell people to be very honest about that in terms of like scaling.
And while we were on this call, because when you're scaling a business, it almost seems like you're going to fail like scaling, like because you're at a very pivotal point.
So you want to make sure that you are able to scale the correct way and take your time.
So we only asked for 500 stores and that's something that we're capable of doing.
We did not want to tell Walmart to put us in a thousand stores because if you tell them that and you come up with a plan and say that you can do it and you're verifying it, then you have to make good on that.
The size and scale varies greatly.
We can set the program for 15 stores.
So it doesn't have to be hundreds of stores either.
So it just depends on the product category and the level of localized purchasing that individual buyer cares to do.
So it doesn't even have to be 500.
It can be 15, 20 stores.
That question was from Perrin D.
Were you able to choose the geographical location at AllYasmin?
I would think that folks who are in your neighborhood know your product and know the brand and you'd probably have strong sales there.
Was that a factor?
Right.
So we did have some discussion on what stores would be like the best stores for us.
So we are going to start in Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana region first.
Makes perfect sense.
And that is our region.
Molly, how about you?
When will you be launching?
I've already launched.
So we did the Cookie & Cracker Isle in the beginning of July and we launched last week in the Grab and Go.
And how many stores did you launch in?
It's a total of 865, I think.
Yeah, it was the same sort of thing.
Like we didn't want to over-promise and under-deliver.
And you have to be prepared.
Like acts of God happened.
We were in the middle of getting, selling, putting our stuff into our tour distributors for our DCs and there was a hurricane that happened and it made us a week late.
And so you got to be prepared for that sort of thing and hope that they give you grace and mercy on it, you know, because these buyers have to hit their mods too.
And it makes them look bad if you as a brand are making them late.
And so the whole thing could be could be a little messy.
So you have to really plan ahead of time.
And in Alaska, we don't have hurricanes.
So I didn't even know that would be a thing that I would ever have to worry about.
But turns out that was a thing.
So, yeah, just be prepared for anything.
You know, I never thought about that.
That never occurred to me.
And how did you how did you decide which stores and which skews you would launch with?
We because we have been in other stores, too.
We we know that there are some that like certain flavors over other flavors.
So when they chose, they chose, they chose two flavors that were skews already had.
And then they asked me if I would create one specially for Walmart.
So I did that, too.
And with those flavors, we decided to start East Coast.
But they kind of they've kind of like sprinkled me everywhere.
I am in one Alaska store and I got to find it.
I don't know which Alaska store I'm in, but everybody I have a big following here in Alaska, obviously, because, you know, I'm from here and they're like, where are they?
And I don't even know.
So I got to locate which Alaska stores.
Yeah, so it's kind of a little bit of everywhere, but I think mostly East Coast to start.
Scott, we have another question from Kim, who wants to know about skews.
Is there a sweet spot Walmart has for, for example, how many brand, how many skews a brand has?
Do you want to see a certain kind of range?
We want to see your absolute best seller.
So if there's seven of those, bring seven.
You know, whatever you can get covered in 30 minutes, you know, ultimately.
And whatever you can carry in samples.
But only, only your absolute best seller.
Personally, doing this for a decade, I wouldn't bring more than three skews, give you enough time to get deep enough into any of them.
You can always share with the merchant that you've got.
These are available in 35 colors and flavors and whatever the options are there, but I would limit it to just a few.
And I have one last question for you, Scott.
Certainly, Walmart has many, many stores across the United States, and so many of the brands who are in our ecosystem are highly differentiated, emerging.
How do brands know whether or not their product is a fit for the wide array of people who shop at Walmart?
I mean, I know that's probably a long answer, but how can you figure that out?
That's my most common answer.
That depends.
I think the easiest answer just comes down to you got to know the market and the placement of where your brand is, where you're attempting to position the brand and then become a student of the market and where Walmart fits into that.
You know, we have, I like to say every American, you know, goes through Walmart.
You know, when you're talking a couple hundred million, you know, a week that are going through your store, we have them all in our store.
We may not be known, you know, for carrying a particular brand or price point as a whole, but there are market niches across 4,000 stores to where your product could fit.
But you're the one, you know, you're the brand owner that has to explain to us why and where that will fit.
So the merchant may be aware of your emerging brand, but may think that we're not ready for it yet based on current assortment, current price moves, things like that, or where the customer is at as a whole.
But through data, and again, online is the biggest answer here.
If you have proof of what is selling on Walmart Marketplace, our own customers, you know, and it's selling in these zip codes and at these price points, it's much easier selling to that Walmart merchant to say, imagine what would happen if this was in your local store.
So start with Marketplace, you know, get as much market data as you can through that business model.
And that'll either prove your case or disprove your case, one way or the other.
The answer isn't always what you want it to be.
But ultimately, the buyer is trying to do the best they can to support what the customer is looking for.
They do a pretty good job keeping their personal tastes out of it.
You know, and they want to use data as much as possible.
So the more data you can bring to the conversation, the better.
I think we have time for one last question from the audience, from Michael Pan.
Did you all present velocity data?
And did you discuss velocity expectations at the meetings?
And did you present how you were planning on supporting velocity?
With the velocity data and stuff, I really focused on my brand data and like cookie data, because that's what I was doing.
As far as velocity, you know, the buyers focus more on how much more they're going to plan for you to do.
So what I did is I just follow whatever the food trends for mine, because I'm a cookie company, and I gave them that information.
So like indulgent foods are up 60% over the last year.
People are saying they're keto and everything, but they're cheating on their diets and that's where I come in.
And then also, you know, cookies are up 25% year over year, and that's due to a lot of, you know, crumble cookies on the brick and mortars and stuff.
So I knew that kind of information and that's what I brought to the party.
Thank you for that.
Well, in closing, Shauna, I'd love to hear from you again.
You've been researching Walmart's Open Call Program, as well as a number of other retailer programs.
What's some of your best advice for brands who are looking to get into a retailer using this sort of portal?
So I would say one of the biggest things that I've heard from brands across a bunch of different programs is, make sure, we were sort of talking about this a little earlier, but make sure your brand is right fit, and don't try and force it into a narrative that you think maybe is what the retailer is looking for, because then that's just going to backfire against you.
Also, just go into the process above all else.
Yes, you want to land on store shelf, but above all else, use it as a learning experience and to gain exposure.
Like Scott had said, you have all these new buyer eyes on the brand.
You might not walk away with the deal then, but you might be able to work something else out later on.
Above all else, they're great for visibility, but there's no guarantee of sales.
Excellent.
I'll ask the same question of the three of you before we head out.
Yasmin, let's start with you.
Any parting words of advice for brands who are listening, who are going to apply for the next round?
Yeah.
I think that one, what happens is once when you apply, definitely apply with a level of confidence in your brand.
When you are there, and if you do get to Bentonville and get with the open call, definitely that part is a celebration.
And you should commend yourself just if you get a meeting or commend yourself for even applying, because that does take additional courage to do.
When you decide that you want to apply to go into a marketplace such as Walmart, that is a different level of confidence, that is a different level of courage.
So anytime you do that, just commend yourself for doing that, no matter what happens.
I love it.
Molly, how about you?
What do you think?
I'd say the number one thing is be ready to pivot.
Like if you have your skew is too big and they say, well, that's kind of too many or that's too much or whatever, just immediately say, well, we can make it smaller.
This is Walmart.
So you want to be able to do what they need done.
So if they say it's too big or too small or whatever, then say, well, we have that option that we can make that and how many ounces you think would be good for this flavor or whatever it might be.
I think that was a really big thing for us in our second meeting.
We pivoted really quick and we got the second golden ticket.
The other thing I do want to mention is that I'm coming.
I will be there.
I'm going to have a booth out in the area.
I'm going to be giving out cookies for free.
I am there to help everybody with their pitches.
So come and visit me.
I'll be in a tent across the street from the open call area.
And right next to the food trucks, of course.
So you can find me there.
And then come pitch to me and I'll give you my opinion because I love to help everybody.
So please come say hi.
If anything, we'll take a selfie and tag each other on our brands on social media and have a good time.
What a great invitation.
Scott, in closing, any final words of advice?
Couple things.
First of all, be flexible in the meeting itself.
So don't come in with one plan and make one pitch and cross your fingers that that pitch happens.
Go in with flexible thoughts, whether it's, let's take it down one level granular.
Melissa, if you come in with a six-pack for a certain dollar amount, but it's also available in the 12-pack or a four-pack.
Go in with some flexible options because you're not sure where your pricing will come in in the buyer's mindset.
Before you get to the meeting, get into a store and imagine your item in the aisle.
Where does it go?
And be able to sell that to the merchant when you're in your meeting.
I think that the closer you can get the merchant to think, like the customer in the aisle, the better the decision point will be, the quicker it will be for that buyer to trust you.
And the last thing is have fun.
You come to the event, it is about the experience.
Like I said, you're successful for being invited to begin with.
Take advantage of everything that's there, including, I think there's 14 suppliers up with Molly who've done it.
And so take advantage of those folks.
Network with them, get their contact, stay in touch and learn from each other.
We're all in this together, this entrepreneur world.
It's a lonely world.
And so it is nice to have friends and so make some while you're there.
And so just have a good time.
Thank you so much for that.
Scott Gutche, Senior Director of US.
Manufacturing and Sourcing at Walmart.
Thank you for joining us.
Molly Blakely of Molly B's Cookies, Yasmin Curtis of Two Fish Foods.
You make hard work look like an awful lot of fun.
So thank you so much for joining us.
Shana Golden, thank you.
We did have a number of questions we didn't get to in the call.
I will post those in our Slack community, slack.bevnet.com.
You can watch a recording of this call at bevnet.com/communitycall.
You can sign up for future calls there as well.
That concludes another episode of the Community Call Podcast.
If you've enjoyed this show, please give us a review and follow us on Apple Podcasts or your listening platform of choice.
To join Community Call live on Zoom, go to bevnet.com/communitycall to see what's coming up and register for upcoming shows.
And don't forget to join our BevNET, NOSH and Brew Bound Slack Community at slack.bevnet.com.
