How to Get Your Product Into Stores Like Kroger’s and Publix; Angela Flatland Discusses Working as a Non-Foods Supplier to Grocery Retailers

hi everyone and welcome to the inventors
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Launchpad Network
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I am carmine danesco your host for
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today's show of the inventors Launchpad
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and today I have an awesome guest on she
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has been around the grocery and shoe
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store business I want to say or
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enterprises since she was 15 years old I
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mean she's been working on the accounts
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and putting products and stores and
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talking to buyers and probably everyone
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from the stock guys all the way up to
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the CEOs her name is Angela flatland and
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I have her on the line hey Angela over
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there I'm here hey Hayden very good you
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made it onto the show I know you you're
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out of the Chicago area I'm glad that's
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warming up for you over there this is
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crazy winter we've been having but
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hopefully you're gonna be able to get
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out and mingle around the great Chicago
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area soon yeah
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45 degrees it's practically swimsuit
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weather here yeah you know I noticed
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that too when I moved down to Tampa I
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thought that 40 degrees and 50 degrees
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was warm I'd be driving around say to
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top down to my car I'd be bicycling now
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when it's 40 or 50 degrees I think it's
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freezing cold out so again thanks we
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were talking a little bit before we
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started the show and it's amazing to me
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that you've been around the grocery the
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actual industry itself you know products
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and and putting products and stores any
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accounting for so long how did you get
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started in and how do you get started
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that young well start out by saying it
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definitely wasn't by choice no I love
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the stories of these young kids that
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develop you know a lollipop product and
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they are so driven by age Chenin that
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really wasn't me I was brought into it
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by a family business so my dad had
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worked in distribution magazine and book
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distribution for about 30 years before
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starting his own distribution company
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and I really grew up in the business
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with him because he grew up a farmer
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with farmers mentality that your
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children work with you
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and so I was able to I mean I really
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start at like age 10 which is probably
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not legal for me to say but you know I
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was I started in the back room just
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stick cream product that needed to have
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stickers on it and it was a licensed
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sports product business so I worked with
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non-food buyers and we had anything from
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like NFL product to NBA NASCAR FIFA you
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know if you walked into a grocery store
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and you saw that product on there there
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was someone from possibly interstate
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promotions that was delivering it so I
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started out you know just stickering
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product and then I worked my way up to
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doing it in paperwork and working with
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vendors middle school I spend my summers
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working in the back room packing boxes
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so I was able to understand how that
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sided distribution model works where
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it's really pick and pack based on some
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of the stores we were working with we
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did two-week replenish wins with
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companies like Kroger and Meijer and
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then from there about 15 years old my
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dad started taking me the trade shows
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and I was attending trade show so I was
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working with a lot of the vendors and
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then I started working with some of our
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buyers and then started really attending
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meetings with buyers when I was about 16
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17 and then when I started college at 17
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I took over as the main account manager
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for Publix supermarkets in the south
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southeast we loved Publix and also I
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worked with Walgreens and CVS at the
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time when they had decentralized buying
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so yeah that's what I was doing
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throughout college and it's it was a
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great launch pad for my career Wow I
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mean you say it I mean I know that you
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know it was it was over a span amount of
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time but the amount of information that
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you just gave I mean from when you
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started when you were
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that young up until now or up until when
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you were in college I mean you were
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working with some pretty big grocery
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chains I mean you know these are these
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are chains that are huge in the area are
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in the u.s. now and it must have been
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amazing now that you look back at having
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that much responsibility it's it's
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pretty it is it's amazing that you were
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doing that thank you
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yeah I mean it's you know when you're
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doing something especially when it's
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kind of the second nature to you and
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your I was young and I didn't really
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understand the importance of it or I
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didn't really understand the fact that I
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was you know 18 years old walking into
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meetings where everyone was three or
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four times my age maybe not four times
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my age but you know I was just doing
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what felt natural and I was you know
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building relationships with my clients
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so yeah that's cool does it seem like
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even now and we'll talk kind of talk
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about what you're doing now earlier in
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your career when you were doing that go
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go through high school and then go into
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college you know a lot of a lot of kids
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don't have that much responsibilities in
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what they're doing and like you said it
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was kind of natural
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was it fun what you were doing or did
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you say man I want to be out with my
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friends and you know or was a kind of a
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balance of both you liked having the
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responsibility and working environment
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but also you know you also wanted to be
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out you know cuz in high school and
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things I mean you were working all
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through that right yeah I was but I
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didn't really think it was not normal
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that I was working I mean I grew up in
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Wisconsin so pretty much everyone I knew
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had a job or you know their parents got
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them a job during the summers and in
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college you know I was making money and
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that was awesome I could go and work
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during the entire summer and make money
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but also I could see the impact I was
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having because I could walk into my
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local Publix and be like whoa this 30
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foot planogram is something like I built
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out and I created and I helped put into
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this store and it was
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really rewarding so I was going to
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business classes while I was doing this
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and learning so much more working than I
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ever would have and just sitting in
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class wow that is really cool I mean
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being able to see what you're working on
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and and you know there's people now when
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you mentioned planning Graham or putting
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parts into stores
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they just they're you know they're they
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don't know what you're talking about and
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you were doing that when you were
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younger and in your beginning your
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career which is really cool
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now the the groceries and C stores that
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you were working with where were you you
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were working with certain types of
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products or were you able to get other
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products or is it kind of just what your
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what your family said hey visit aprox
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that we're putting in or where people
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send you things to look at so it was
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licensed sports products which really
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was I know I said earlier it was NFL and
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CFL a NASCAR FIFA NBA MLB and there are
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tons of new products developed by really
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kind of like Mon pawn shops I mean
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there's most of the products maybe like
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80% of the products in that industry are
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made by five companies and then the rest
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of them are really cool innovative
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products not to say that these larger
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companies don't make innovative products
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but you have I mean I remember when in
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college there was this really small
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company this one guy and he had his
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license soaps made and so we put that in
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stores and then you know there was like
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glitter tattoos that came out I mean it
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there's there was a little smaller
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companies that were able to kind of get
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into the mix and they would come to us
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as a distributor that already had those
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built in relationships with retailers to
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get their products into stores that's I
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think it's kind of an easy route because
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when you're working with whether it's a
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distributor or a brokerage firm they've
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got the relationships and so it's way
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faster for them to get you set up you're
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not you don't have to set up a whole new
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account as a new vendor
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you can go through them and then they
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just set you up with a new item code and
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you can get right into a retailer it's a
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little bit faster but of course you're
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losing a little bit more of your margins
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doing so but yeah we we sourced product
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a lot of product was sent to us and then
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of course every few months my buyers
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were looking for okay what is some of
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the new products that you have
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we probably presented about a hundred
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new products each year wow that's a lot
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of products I mean free for you to do
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that and the thing that I think is
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really cool is that you know you have
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the ability to look at those products
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and and and take those on and then show
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them to the buyers but it's a lot of
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responsibility right I mean you're
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you're taking somebody's idea and then
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you're now did you also do the
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manufacturing or you know you kind of
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outsource that nope all the
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manufacturing was done by our vendors so
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our vendors were manufacturers and then
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we were really just kind of the third
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party I mean it was I'm not sure if
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you're familiar with the term category
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management but because the buyers I was
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working with were non-food buyers they
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had you know all different categories
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under just non-food products and really
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the sports side of it needs its own
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category manager so essentially that's
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what we did so we built out displays and
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we built out planogram sets for the
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retailers so it wasn't something they
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had to add on to their plate Wow Wow
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it's awesome I mean it's a it sounds
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like I mean it's a lot of work to get
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all that set up and say this is gonna
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work I mean to me there's a there's a
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lot of preparation involved in something
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like that lots of details and lots of
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data yeah okay yeah Wow unbelievable you
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know just we get a lot invented here we
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get a lot of product sent to us and for
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some reason and and sports and seem like
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a big topic but I don't think they
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realize a lot of the inventors even
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before they start the invention
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that it's so much easier and I agree
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with you a hundred percent is to find
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someone who's already doing it because
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having those one-hit wonders is nice and
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to say but it's very hard for a single
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product to break into the market or is
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it almost impossible to get a licensing
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deal with sports oh yeah licensing is I
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mean to be honest it can be an absolute
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nightmare especially when you're dealing
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with collegiate but yeah you're right if
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you've got a single product unless that
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single product is really strong like
11:34
redbull for example I mean and you're
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gonna hit the market strong with
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marketing and that one product and you
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know it's gonna go out to the masses but
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if you've got like one t-shirt design or
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like one hat design it's probably best
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to start with someone that already has a
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connection but there's no harm and
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trying to hit the pavement and go into
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mediums on your own in fact we've had
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with some of the buyers that I've worked
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with they have actually sent us they've
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sent us some products and they've
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introduced us to companies that they
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said okay we might want to be interested
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in carrying this product in our store
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but we'd like to have you work with them
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because you know that way we don't have
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to set them up for just one or two items
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yeah I mean to me and again I love
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making money and I'm sure your inventors
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or product developers did but sometimes
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it would be easier for somebody like
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yourself you know the in and out you
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know and without saying that you know
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the tips the tricks how to get things
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moving a lot faster I might not make all
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the money but to me it's so much easier
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to have somebody like you handle it all
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yeah absolutely
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especially when it comes to logistics
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and when it comes to the actual sales
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part of it
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I mean sales is such an important part
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when you're building a company you
12:58
really I always say like marketing is
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really important but like more important
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that is like you have to have a good
13:02
sales team or you have to be a good
13:04
salesperson yourself and you know it's
13:07
about believing in your product but it's
13:09
if you're not out there showing everyone
13:13
your products showing what you have
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you you got to work with these kind of
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third-party companies that can do so and
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brokerage firms are fantastic at you
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know helping you get into the door and
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there's also times and there's the
13:31
ability once you get into the door
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through brokerage firm doesn't mean that
13:34
you always have to stay with them you
13:36
can develop your own relationship with a
13:37
retailer later on and then sell direct
13:40
depending on if you're building out your
13:42
company in your products or depending on
13:45
if your sales are just off out the roof
13:48
with your one product then maybe the
13:50
retailer will want to go direct with you
13:52
so yeah there's always possibilities for
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change but there's there's a whole
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there's so many different ways to get
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into a retailer and that's just one of
14:03
the avenues well and again it's it's one
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of those things where everyone is so
14:09
starved for time everyone's busy
14:10
especially in in the retailers and in
14:12
and the grocer is that you know having
14:15
somebody like yourself looking at
14:17
products and and really deciding you
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know this is something I need because a
14:21
buyer the buyer is when their take a
14:23
product on you know they want to make
14:25
sure obviously it's gonna it's gonna
14:27
sell something I mean there's got to be
14:29
some kind of quota when it when a buyer
14:30
brings a product on right yeah I mean
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they're gonna look I they want to really
14:36
know what they're mean they look at what
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your retail is they look at I mean you
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should definitely know your own numbers
14:45
they they want to know that they you
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understand if you're gonna be making a
14:50
profit on this at least good buyers that
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I have worked with and with newer
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companies they tend to ask these
14:57
questions like do you know your numbers
14:59
but they want to know their margins
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they're gonna take a look at your your
15:03
suggested retail price they might want
15:06
to change your suggested retail price
15:08
they're gonna give you notes whenever
15:11
you present a new product or you either
15:13
gonna say no or this packaging needs to
15:16
be changed or you need to get this this
15:20
and this certifications on your product
15:23
but what's awesome about what's happened
15:27
and retail over the past few years is
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that localization is is kind of taken
15:32
over and it's not just for like the
15:34
montage shops anymore you've got major
15:38
supermarket chains all trying to build
15:41
out at their local sections and trying
15:43
to have something more local and unique
15:47
to you know the area of what some of
15:50
their stores and so even if they're not
15:52
taking you in every single store they
15:54
can test out and maybe 10 20 100 stores
15:58
depending on the retailer yeah it seems
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and me we can get into law it seems like
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grocery stores and see stores are going
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through a transition where they're
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trying to be more localized to to the to
16:09
the markets that they're in in the
16:11
pounds it's what it seems like to me
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anyway yep absolutely Wow so so I know
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you've been working in this industry for
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a while
16:21
what you know what it woody what did you
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have you transitioned into are you still
16:25
working in that I know you you're doing
16:27
some other stuff what so what's going on
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with you now so my dad is somewhere on a
16:33
boat right now he retired and I'm so
16:36
happy for him I wanted to pursue some of
16:40
my other passions I wanted to learn a
16:42
lot more about the industry outside of
16:45
just distribution so I spent two years
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working at a data analytics start-up so
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working with basket level data and
16:53
understanding more about how to use that
16:55
basket data for category management and
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so I got the opportunity to work with
17:03
some large C store retailers as well as
17:06
grocery retailers and in partnership
17:10
with companies like anheuser-busch and
17:12
coca-cola and Kraft Heinz and Hershey's
17:16
so I got to be on the food side the food
17:20
and beverage side which was I mean a
17:23
whole different scale of things it was
17:27
fantastic to be able to work with the
17:30
amount of data that they had and I mean
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it's really limitless the amount of
17:37
solutions that been can be created now
17:39
with technology
17:40
available to us I was building
17:43
planograms off Excel spreadsheets and
17:45
now there's ten different technologies
17:49
that can really automate that process
17:51
and to someone who knows how to you know
17:54
build out a planogram or create category
17:57
management you know it's it's like all
17:59
the things you need is right in front of
18:01
you with technology to be able to create
18:04
something best-in-class for consumers
18:07
coming into the store yeah it's it's
18:11
funny because as you started talking
18:13
about the data it sounded like you like
18:15
you lit up more like you love talking
18:17
about data I'm such a nerd for data it's
18:21
like you know especially in sales and
18:25
you know you want to anything you want
18:27
to know about how to make your product
18:29
better it's all in the data and you want
18:35
to personalize how you mark it you want
18:37
to personalize your own products and and
18:40
what you're doing in stores and it's all
18:43
there it's just sometimes it's not
18:46
easily accessible but things are
18:49
changing so it's been really cool in the
18:53
past few years to go from like working
18:55
with Excel spreadsheets and basic sales
18:57
year-over-year data to working with
19:00
knowing what products are selling with
19:04
what other products today like lat the
19:07
last few hours so it's been a cool
19:11
change and an experience with my career
19:14
and so I spent two years doing that and
19:17
now I'm on the trade publishing side so
19:21
I work at a publication called
19:22
progressive grocer and I now get this I
19:28
want to say like a 30,000 foot view of
19:31
the industry which is just incredible I
19:34
can see what trends are happening new
19:37
products everything before it starts
19:39
hitting the retail stores and our
19:41
audience are these buyers and category
19:44
managers and CEOs of major grocery
19:46
chains and down to kind of small mom pop
19:49
stores so I trans
19:53
into this position so I could learn more
19:56
about the trade side of it and I've been
19:59
loving it so far
20:00
wow you know it just a little touch on
20:03
the data that I I think that the data is
20:06
cool but I think a lot of people would
20:08
be so in awe you know to realize they
20:12
don't I guess they just don't realize
20:13
how much data is actually collected on
20:16
shoppers and their and their habits and
20:18
what they do and to me I'm a big tech
20:21
guy too so I think that people would be
20:23
so surprised if they really knew how
20:25
much data was collected yeah exactly
20:28
check your cell phones if you've got
20:30
your location data on you got your
20:32
microphone on there collecting that data
20:34
so unbelievable I mean I love it I think
20:37
it's being used for good it can really
20:40
like you said target each customer's
20:42
specific you know wants and needs and I
20:44
just can't wait for the future on how
20:47
it's going to be but but going back to
20:49
what you were just talking about you
20:51
know you know transitioning into what
20:53
you're doing now while you're walking in
20:57
the old in the industry I know you go to
20:59
shows and you you're probably talking to
21:01
so many people within the industry are
21:03
they surprised by how much knowledge and
21:06
experience you really have uh I don't
21:11
mean it in a bad way doing this for so
21:14
long and you're so and you're young and
21:17
you've been doing this for so long that
21:18
it's just to me you had the information
21:21
you have so much background I would
21:24
think that they're just surprised like
21:25
wow you know you have so much knowledge
21:27
in this you know I feel like everyone's
21:30
their own mini expert everyone is very
21:32
much an expert in their own field so I
21:38
don't like to think of myself as an
21:40
expert cuz there's so much to learn and
21:42
so much to know and I I don't know if
21:45
anyone's like truly surprised with my
21:49
knowledge I think people are probably
21:50
more surprised that I was like managing
21:54
when I was like 15 years old but yeah I
22:00
don't I don't really know I think people
22:03
are surprised more about how crazy
22:05
passionate
22:06
about it well again it probably just
22:10
goes back to as you said you've been you
22:11
know your background and you've been
22:13
working and you know it so well and
22:14
obviously you like the industry or you
22:17
wouldn't have stayed in it for this long
22:19
because you so young and which is really
22:22
cool
22:23
now progressive grocer they've been
22:25
around a long time too right what what
22:27
do you what you can't what do you like
22:30
about working there and is it's just
22:31
something that tests your test your
22:33
abilities or you get to talk to everyone
22:35
in the industry is it is it something
22:37
specific or kind of the overall yeah so
22:41
right now for progressive grocer and a
22:43
couple of other publications that are
22:45
sister publications I manage the Midwest
22:49
territory for sales so I am working with
22:52
you know all these CPG distribution
22:56
companies food manufacturers beverage
22:59
manufacturers non food manufacturers and
23:01
this takes anyone who really sells or it
23:04
wants to sell into grocery chains who
23:08
all work with them and I want to hear
23:10
you know what
23:11
what are they focused on for the year do
23:13
they have new products you know what
23:16
what are their priorities and I gotta
23:18
see the trends and I gotta see what
23:21
they're really looking forward to in
23:24
2018 2019 2020 and it's I mean that's my
23:29
favorite part is that I get to work with
23:31
people who are really excited about
23:33
their products especially some of these
23:34
brand new food companies out there on
23:37
the market I mean there's I live in
23:40
Chicago and Chicago is such a base for
23:44
food technology and as well as just like
23:48
food innovation and so you've got big
23:51
companies like our X bar that have just
23:55
been sold to Kellogg's for six hundred
23:58
million dollars and you see it companies
24:00:00
like that they after five years that's
24:02:00
from going from like making their
24:05:00
product and I think it was like their
24:07:00
basement our garage to selling into that
24:09:00
amount and a lot of smaller companies
24:13:00
like t-squares and simple Mills which is
24:16:00
growing to be a massive company as well
24:19:00
and then you've got you know Konig or
24:21:00
Kraft Heinz there there's there's a lot
24:26:00
of really cool unique shifts that are
24:29:00
happening and in the food industry so
24:32:00
that's been my most rewarding thing
24:34:00
about being a progressive grocer is
24:36:00
being able to see that and also help
24:39:00
help some of these small guys you know
24:41:00
they they deserve to be on the Shelf as
24:45:00
well and they just need help getting the
24:47:00
product out there so that's very
24:48:00
rewarding for me yeah yeah well I mean I
24:52:00
think it's a it's a perfect transition
24:53:00
for somebody like yourself your your
24:55:00
passion about the industry now having
24:57:00
your finger on all the happenings and
24:59:00
knowing what's going on it's probably
25:01:00
pretty exciting because you're you know
25:03:00
and you mentioned something that is that
25:04:00
I don't think a lot of product
25:07:00
developers or inventors realize is that
25:09:00
these things take time so even if you
25:12:00
have a product that grocer or somebody
25:15:00
wants to put it on their shelves I mean
25:16:00
there's a certain amount of time that it
25:18:00
takes right to happen overnight no it
25:23:00
doesn't and that having the patience for
25:27:00
that and having the stamina to just keep
25:30:00
going can be difficult I know just from
25:35:00
some of the companies I've I've worked
25:37:00
with and who have reached out to me in
25:39:00
the past year you know they they kind of
25:42:00
go through ups and downs where you know
25:45:00
do you get the high where they say okay
25:47:00
we're gonna carry your product and then
25:49:00
three months later they'll take your
25:51:00
product off the shelf and so really it's
25:55:00
about knocking on as many doors as you
25:58:00
can and taking feedback
26:00:00
I mean buyers if they say they're you're
26:03:00
gonna take it product ask them why I
26:04:00
mean take as much feedback as you can
26:07:00
and build continue to build out your
26:12:00
products using that feedback and there's
26:16:00
a timely shift as well so I mean 30
26:20:00
years ago like vegan mayonnaise not
26:23:00
really a big thing right it mean it was
26:25:00
like basically probably a mom paw
26:28:00
somewhere like making it and then like
26:29:00
selling it to their local corner store
26:33:00
now huge huge market for vegan
26:37:00
mayonnaise so I mean it's about being
26:39:00
timely and you've got companies like
26:41:00
follow your heart who have been working
26:43:00
on that for 30 years and you know the
26:46:00
past few years have really hit I mean
26:49:00
hit it big because they've waited in the
26:52:00
market kind of in the need for it caught
26:55:00
up with them so those are a couple of
26:58:00
things that I always tell any new
27:02:00
product companies to consider Wow
27:05:00
yeah I mean that's you know that's great
27:08:00
advice because I mean it's so true you
27:10:00
don't really think about timing is so
27:12:00
important and it seems like as you said
27:14:00
there's a lot of little brands popping
27:18:00
up that are specialty type brands and
27:20:00
you wonder how are they gonna make it
27:22:00
but they seem like they catch on
27:23:00
sometimes yeah I mean a lot of these
27:28:00
larger food manufacturers they're
27:31:00
watching their going to shows like Expo
27:35:00
East and Expo West which are natural
27:37:00
product shows that I hear have a three
27:41:00
year waiting list to just yet to have a
27:45:00
booth so they go to these shows and they
27:49:00
go to all the different trade shows and
27:50:00
they're they're keeping in touch with
27:52:00
trade marketing companies like
27:54:00
progressive grocer and they're tracking
27:59:00
to see you know what products are
28:01:00
starting to pick up even just small
28:03:00
local products and they're not afraid to
28:07:00
to buy out a company when it's a little
28:09:00
bit smaller so they're I mean there's
28:14:00
definitely opportunity there but I'm
28:19:00
just I'm just seeing a little bit more
28:23:00
that larger manufacturers are instead of
28:29:00
trying to innovate their own product or
28:33:00
just buying companies that have it
28:36:00
already built out Wow yeah probably
28:39:00
easier for them because it's catching on
28:41:00
and they're probably like you said
28:42:00
they're probably starting to see the
28:43:00
trend and they're wondering what's
28:44:00
happening to their market share so
28:46:00
they're like we
28:46:00
we better do something about this so
28:49:00
they're starting to realize that they
28:51:00
just can't sit back no and they want to
28:55:00
they want to buy companies that have a
28:57:00
brand loyalty with it and with how
29:02:00
consumer marketing has changed over the
29:04:00
past years the social it's it's you know
29:08:00
way easier to build that brand loyalty
29:11:00
and that brands following through social
29:13:00
media now and I don't know it's a lot of
29:17:00
food brands coming out the market are
29:22:00
developing that are focusing on not
29:24:00
enough because that's something that you
29:28:00
know investors are looking at yeah
29:31:00
sometimes they're just real you're just
29:33:00
so big they just sat back and they they
29:35:00
lived on what they were doing well and
29:37:00
they just haven't changed and then when
29:39:00
they start seeing this trend going the
29:41:00
wrong way there's a little bit behind
29:43:00
probably right yeah and it's I mean you
29:48:00
think about it it's it's easier to buy a
29:52:00
company that already has something
29:54:00
already set up than to start a brand new
29:56:00
yourself so it kind of just makes sense
30:01:00
for them to do that and a lot of these
30:03:00
companies they think Kellogg's learned a
30:07:00
lesson with Kashi a couple years back
30:09:00
when they tried to buy out caution now
30:12:00
they're letting Kashi do its own thing
30:14:00
completely separate and has its own
30:17:00
brand power so that way it can kind of
30:21:00
live as its own identity but still under
30:23:00
the Kellogg's brand yeah yeah that's
30:26:00
great it's you know things like that you
30:28:00
don't realise you mean you be in
30:30:00
industry just giving that little bit of
30:32:00
inside information or just bringing it
30:34:00
to light you know it really helps put it
30:36:00
into perspective we're running a little
30:39:00
bit low on time and I think we spoke a
30:41:00
little bit about this for an inventor or
30:43:00
somebody who has a product that is
30:45:00
thinks that their product would be good
30:47:00
for you know maybe it's not a food
30:50:00
product but it still can go into a
30:51:00
grocer or a C store what do you think
30:55:00
that inventors first step should be if
30:57:00
they're trying to trying to get it into
30:59:00
the store
31:00:00
I would always the first thing to do is
31:03:00
always research what's already out there
31:06:00
you know pay attention to trade really
31:12:00
for grocery there I mean I'm always
31:16:00
gonna plug like my own publication but
31:18:00
progressive grocer is a great resource
31:21:00
you can check out the website and
31:24:00
there's the newsletters it'll always
31:25:00
tell you about what's happening in the
31:27:00
industry you have questions you know ask
31:30:00
you can always ask around
31:34:00
I mean LinkedIn is such a fantastic
31:36:00
source that you can see if someone's
31:38:00
doing consulting and you can you know
31:40:00
ask to bring on a consultant and/or
31:45:00
bring on it an advisor to help you out
31:48:00
but really it's research and then we get
31:52:00
a progressive grocer we all sorts of new
31:54:00
products and and sometimes they're
31:57:00
really not ready for the market but
31:58:00
people send us their products anyways
32:00:00
and most of time like our editorial team
32:03:00
will give feedback on that and you know
32:07:00
and sometimes they get published which
32:09:00
is great because I've seen a new new
32:13:00
proximate thing but there was like a
32:14:00
brownie brownie brittle a couple years
32:18:00
back and they were republished and and
32:21:00
in our publication and then picked up by
32:24:00
over a thousand locations after that so
32:26:00
it does work trade trade marketing
32:30:00
definitely does work and then I would go
32:36:00
to a local local buyer some local store
32:39:00
and ask ask them ask to meet with the
32:44:00
the buyer set up try to set up a meeting
32:46:00
with them and and pick their brain see
32:49:00
what they think have them sample your
32:51:00
product if it's a food or beverage or I
32:56:00
mean really it's about putting in the
32:59:00
hustle and knocking on as many doors as
33:01:00
possible yeah I think just as you said
33:05:00
they're looking they're always looking
33:06:00
for new products or new idea just
33:09:00
getting in front of them being ready I
33:10:00
like what you said they need to be ready
33:12:00
because you don't want to show it to
33:13:00
them and they
33:14:00
say they want it and you go wait a
33:16:00
minute I don't have really have it I
33:17:00
mean it would be kind of a waste but if
33:20:00
the people are doing that I can see that
33:21:00
happening but they should really be
33:22:00
ready so I'll I like that you gave that
33:24:00
bit of information you know you don't
33:27:00
want to waste anybody's time you want to
33:29:00
make sure you're ready yeah don't don't
33:31:00
walk in with a ziploc bag can you you
33:34:00
know your mom's oatmeal cookies he want
33:37:00
to make sure you've got packaging but
33:39:00
also you have the detail you know what
33:42:00
is the retail price that you want to
33:44:00
sell it for you know what are the
33:46:00
possible margins I mean even if you
33:48:00
don't have those details concrete you
33:50:00
need to make sure you understand like oh
33:52:00
this is gonna be a pack of 12 what is my
33:56:00
service if you need to have all of the
33:58:00
nutrition label in whatever
33:59:00
certifications you need to get that down
34:01:00
before you go into a bigger I want to
34:07:00
say a bigger supermarket chain but
34:09:00
really people are so nice in the
34:12:00
industry they truly are if you ask
34:14:00
around people will give you their advice
34:17:00
and most the time they'll probably give
34:19:00
it to you for free
34:21:00
and if anyone has any questions they can
34:24:00
reach out to me as well on LinkedIn or
34:26:00
on my Twitter and I'm happy to answer
34:28:00
any specific questions or sample your
34:32:00
food send it on over good I mean that
34:40:00
brings me into contact on LinkedIn
34:43:00
Twitter can you give out that info we're
34:44:00
gonna start wrapping up but it'd be
34:45:00
great if you could give that in for
34:47:00
awhile
34:47:00
yep if you just search for me on
34:49:00
LinkedIn its Angela flatlands and on
34:53:00
Twitter
34:55:00
I am grocer geek ah I love it I love it
35:00:00
and you're not kidding you love this
35:02:00
stuff
35:02:00
I am absolutely a geek for grocery money
35:07:00
well very good Angela thank you so much
35:11:00
for being on the show today I mean if
35:13:00
our viewers or our listeners are really
35:16:00
tuning you and they're gonna get some
35:17:00
good information being able to contact
35:18:00
you if they have some questions can
35:20:00
really help and I think that you gave
35:22:00
some great information out some real
35:24:00
deal you know industry-specific
35:27:00
with
35:28:00
very important for some of these
35:29:00
inventors because a lot of them come
35:30:00
into this thinking they know or they
35:32:00
don't know and being able to get that
35:34:00
little bit of information can can really
35:36:00
help a move their product along so I
35:38:00
really appreciate it yeah and as I said
35:41:00
I just wanna reiterate if anyone has any
35:43:00
questions about it I'm always happy to
35:46:00
be that resource if you have specific
35:49:00
package packaging questions questions
35:52:00
about retailers or any questions about
35:57:00
your product happy to answer anything
36:01:00
you have I live for this stuff it makes
36:04:00
makes my life being able to help out
36:06:00
anyone so happy happy to be here and you
36:10:00
know I'm glad you mentioned that and you
36:12:00
know I have 20 more questions you just
36:14:00
have so much more time maybe we can get
36:16:00
you back on the show but packaging
36:17:00
anyone packaging is so important and
36:20:00
you'll write I mean get in touch with
36:22:00
Angela or throw further design to or let
36:25:00
her see it right Angela in packaging is
36:26:00
so important yeah definitely there's a
36:29:00
lot of third-party companies that are
36:31:00
great that do a fantastic job with
36:33:00
packaging but I mean we all we all get
36:37:00
our suckers too walking past like a new
36:40:00
cookie on the shelf and you're like oh
36:43:00
look at that it's like a bright blue
36:44:00
beautiful package I gotta try this out
36:47:00
you know it's yeah it's it's it's
36:51:00
important but more important is probably
36:53:00
the flavor of your product or the
36:55:00
quality sender the samples is what you
36:59:00
say alright Angela thank you so much and
37:06:00
like I said maybe we can get you back on
37:08:00
the show we'll get some questions if I
37:09:00
get any questions here in Venice
37:10:00
launchpad I will certainly forward them
37:12:00
over to you I appreciate you being on
37:14:00
the show today and and lending a hand to
37:16:00
our inventors yes
37:17:00
I hope at least one thing I said helped
37:21:00
some of your food and beverage are non
37:23:00
foods anyone trying to get into grocery
37:25:00
or cease or I hope hope you took away
37:28:00
something nice gonna help there's no
37:31:00
doubt about it help me get a better idea
37:32:00
of of the best way to approach you know
37:36:00
a grocery store buyer it's very
37:37:00
important you only get one shot at this
37:39:00
so any bit of information
37:41:00
really really helps there's no doubt
37:43:00
about it okay alright everyone well
37:46:00
thank you for listening today I am
carmine Dennis co your host with Angela
37:51:00
flatland she helped us out today and if
37:53:00
you can please get a chance contact her
37:55:00
you could say banks just get a header on
37:57:00
on Twitter or get her on LinkedIn and
38:00:00
send her a message if you can and if
38:02:00
possible please go out to Google Play or
38:04:00
iTunes leave us a message
38:06:00
leave us a ranking let us know how we're
38:08:00
doing with our show and an honest
38:10:00
message or review will help us do a
38:13:00
better job and we appreciate you guys
38:14:00
listening in and we'll catch you next
38:16:00
time on inventors launchpad network
38:18:00
y'all take care