From keto mug cakes and lower-sugar kids' lemonade to pickled lupini beans, plant-based cheese crackers and instant miso soups, check out 15 emerging brands who took part in the second pitch event from Startup CPG, a new organization that promotes and supports startups, founded by Daniel Scharff.
Startup CPG's second virtual pitch event on Wednesday featured 15 startups who pitched in front of multiple investors and retail buyers representing e-commerce and bricks & mortar operations. Each pitched for two minutes before tuning into a media and retailer debrief session led by FoodNavigator-USA. If you’d like your brand in the box for the next quarterly pitch event, apply at startupcpg.com/pitch
Steep't Cocktail Co sells teabags containing fruits, herbs and spices enabling consumers to recreate a restaurant quality craft cocktail from the comfort of their own homes in two minutes (steep the bag in cold water, then add alcohol), said co-founder Alison Nathanson.
While you can make cocktails at home by other means, she said, "Most people lack the ingredients and the know-how, and they want instant gratification."
The line up includes Spicy Margarita; Skinny Spicy Margarita, and Old Fashioned in boxes of 10 for $30, with new flavors to come soon.
BRAMI lupini beans are cooked, marinated, and vacuum-packed, without the use of artificial preservatives, creating a moist - but not mushy - snack with a shelf-life of more than a year (once opened, the product will keep for two weeks in the fridge), said New York-based founder Aaron Gatti, who grew up eating pickled lupini beans in Italy.
"Just online in the last 12 months we've grown our subscription business over 600% to $500,000 in recurring revenue and have found that consumers are not just using the beans as a healthy snack, but also in daily meal prep as a plant protein topper for salads and stir fries.
"In May we launched BRAMI lupini hummus online, which is the first truly keto hummus with zero grams of net carbs.
"Our mission is to build a modern Mediterranean diet-inspired platform of products that are satisfying, delicious, and great for you and the planet... anything you can do with soy or chickpeas, you can do better with lupini."
Poppilu's 39% juice shelf-stable organic kids' lemonade line - available in Blueberry, Original Lemon, and Peach - contains 30 calories, 7g sugar (from the juice - there's no added sugar) and 100% of the DV for vitamin C, said founder Melanie Kahn, who said parents are looking for organic, no added sugar, but also low total sugar.
"Kids aged 6-12 are the highest indexing consumers of lemonade, but until now there's been no kids' lemonade brand."
The shelf-stable drinks - which come in an 8-count box (MSRP $3.99) are designed for the mainstream consumer - and feature organic apple juice concentrate as the #1 ingredient after water, followed by organic lemon juice concentrate, organic flavor, citric acid and ascorbic acid (Vit C), organic aronia juice concentrate, and monk fruit extract.
Launched at Walmart in the spring, Poppilu has also secured listings at Ahold, Albertsons, Kroger, and Target.
Made with four ingredients: fruit, date syrup, chia seeds, and lemon juice, fruit chia smash from Oswald Co contains just 2-3g sugar per serving (vs most jams, which contain 8-15g), said founder Anna Peck: "We're looking to shake up the outdated and sugar-filled jelly aisle and create super easy wins with big health impacts in daily diets."
But don't call it 'jam'... According to federal food labeling law, jam must contain at least 55% sugar by weight, noted Peck, who sells her wares in a number of specialty stores, select NYC Whole Foods stores, Thrive Market (coming soon), and direct to consumer.
Tsubi Soup is a freeze dried instant vegan soup cube (add 6oz boiling water and watch the ingredients come to life) designed to deliver an authentic Japanese miso soup in a convenient single serve pack, said founder Tsubi Nishitani: "We've combined traditional and modern Japanese ingredients to create a unique recipe of complex flavors and fresh textures that you normally wouldn't find in an instant soup."
The soups - which comes in packs of four individually-wrapped cubes - are sold in Whole Foods on the east coast, online (DTC, Amazon) and selected specialty stores.
Infused almonds from Recipe 33 (strapline: 'no mess, just flavor') are packed with sophisticated flavors (black truffle, smoky serrano, garlic dill, lemon rosemary, cinnamon vanilla) that stays in the nuts, not on your hands, said founder Dan Smith: "We marinate them, and then we've got a proprietary drying process that pulls the moisture o8t so you get none of the junk on your hands."
Target groups are foodies, who pair the nuts with wine, cheese and charcuterie; and health-conscious consumers looking for better-for-you snacks, said Smith.
amäzi jackfruit chews use jackfruit sourced directly from farmers in Uganda, and come in three flavors (chili + lime; ginger + lime; ginger + turmeric), said founder Renee Dunn. "We're offering a bold twist on dried fruit, a kind of grown-up fruit roll up, and we're one of the only brands out there using jackfruit as a sweet fruit as opposed to a meat replacement."
Its plantain chips are not dried and roasted instead of fried, and have "a hearty crunch and none of that greasy texture."
Brooklyn-based Green Mustache makes organic vegan and gluten-free plant-based 'cheese' crackers made with chickpea, tapioca, and rice flour, said founder VanTrang Manges: "More and more consumers have dietary restrictions out of necessity but also out of choice."
GO BITES protein-packed energy balls from UK-based brand Kate Percy's (first customer: Google) come in portion-controlled packs of two and are made from mixed dried fruits, oats, and nuts.
Allergy-friendly Paradise snax packs from Emily's Foods are free of the 'big 8' allergens, and come in two varieties: Grain free pretzels with plant-based chocolate dip (6g protein per serving); and grain free pretzels with dairy-free caramel sea salt vanilla dip, said founder Emily Edwards: "They're sweet creamy and decadent."
dalci grain-free, dairy-free, but decadent brownies are made with almond flour, coconut sugar, egg, avocado oil, cocoa, vanilla, and salt, said founder Najwa Kahn: "We're available online nationwide, and we've recently expanded into specialty retail."
Coconut Whisk allergen-friendly vegan and baking mixes (consumers add water and oil) are gluten-free, nut free, dairy free, soy free, egg free, and preservatives free, said founder Bella (Nhi) Lam.
Keto-friendly decadent mug cake mixes from Sweet Logic are dairy- and gluten-free, deploying almond and coconut flour, and allulose, a fast-growing sweetener with fewer than 0.4 calories per gram (regular sugar has 4 cals/gram), that is almost as sweet as regular sugar (it has 70% of the sweetness of sucrose) and does not raise blood glucose or insulin levels.
gr8nola is a low-sugar granola featuring intriguing flavors including activated charcoal with chia and coconut; Matcha Vibes; Cinnamon Chair; and Golden Spice, said founder Erica Liu Williams. "I launched at the farmer's market and then got into hundreds of tech companies and retail stores in the natural channel."
While COVID-19 has forced tech workers to work from home, many have sought out the gr8nola online after first experiencing it at work, she claimed.
"We're super excited to be doubling down on direct to consumer."
With 25-35 calories per bottle and flavor combinations such as turmeric pear and guava rose, Wild Wonder organic sparkling functional beverages contain prebiotic fiber (from chicory root), probiotics, and herbs such as turmeric, matcha and spirulina, and don't have the sour, fermented taste of kombucha, said founder Rosa Li.
In a debrief session immediately after the event chaired by FoodNavigator-USA editor Elaine Watson, Sarah Nathan, category manager at National Co+op Grocers (NCG), said she expected brands to do their homework before making an approach, get to know what NCG is looking for and how it operates, to understand that each retailer has individual wants and needs. “Hone your pitch and do your research ahead of time.”
Ben Zifkin, founder and CEO at Hubba, an online platform connecting independent retailers with innovative CPG brands, said having some kind of social mission was moving up the priority list as a purchase driver for buyers on the platform. "Instead of saying I'm looking for a keto energy bar, they're saying I want high-margin pantry essentials that are socially conscious and have high re-order rates."
