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#29 - South-Asian Savory Pancakes, Verifying Sustainability, & 1st RegenifiedTM Vineyard

#29 - South-Asian Savory Pancakes, Verifying Sustainability, & 1st RegenifiedTM Vineyard

August 15, 2023

Weekly episodes, news, and insights from the world of regenerative CPG

Brought to you by The ReGen Brands Podcast

This Week’s Episode:

Highlights:

🥞 Ojaswe’s pantry staples made with regen chickpeas
🤯 Moving from India to Arkansas
☕ Working in big CPG and turning down sustainability roles
👏 Empowering everyday eaters through regen CPG
💯 Why food is emotional and there is no “one right answer”
🔥 How smaller brands are paving the way in regenerative
🎯 Building products based on the needs of farmers
🙏 Ash’s experience as a queer, BIPOC, & immigrant founder
👉 The biggest (certification) problem facing all regen brands
🤠 How brand collaboration and retailer support gets regen to scale

“The thing we kept hearing over and over again was, 'This is great, but what does this mean when I go back up to my kitchen? What can I do to support regenerative agriculture (there)?' And that became the impetus for me: How do you make it easy for everyday people to make choices that are better for the environment? And how do you create culturally relevant food that’s climate-friendly on a rapidly warming planet?”

Ash Glover-Ganapathiraju

Recap:

Don’t have time for the full episode? 😵‍💫
Check out the recap! 🙃
Everything you need to know in less than 5 minutes. 🥳

ReGen Brands Recap #43

South Asian-Inspired, Regenerative Chickpea Pancakes

ReGen Brand Deals:

🔥 White Oak Pastures is raising $1.19M on Steward!

This loan will refinance existing debt secured by the company’s processing facility and help White Oak double down on their branded, DTC business.
👉 Check it out here!

Credit: White Oak Pastures

Brands 🤝 Verifying Sustainability Outcomes:

✅ How Regenerative Brands Can Verify Their Sustainability

🥳 Meri Mullins authors our 7th guest blog!
👉 How can brands verify that their sustainability programs are working? How can they help farmers AND share hard data with consumers about regenerative practice adoption?

What You’ll Learn:

Why verified outcomes are necessary to fight consumer skepticism
The proof for sustainable / regenerative programs is in the soil
What is BeCrop® Rate and how can it help brands, farmers, and consumers

How Regenerative Brands Can Verify Their Sustainability

🙋‍♂️ We are hoping to feature a guest blog post every week.

📧 Drop me a line if you have something to share at the intersection of regenerative agriculture and CPG.

ReGen Brands Insights (ICYMI):

🏴‍☠️ What Liquid Death Can Teach Regenerative CPG Brands

“Liquid Death was not educating people about why water in cans is better for the planet. They were entertaining them. And in the process, they were shifting consumer behavior, likely without people even thinking much about the change they had just made.”

What (super smart) people are saying about this blog ⬇️

ReGen Brand News:

🍷 Union Grove Farm and Vineyard is the 1st U.S. Vineyard to be Certified by Regenified™

Union Grove Farm & Vineyard is located in Chapel Hill, NC
They are also developing a Center for Regenerative Agriculture on-site to “encourage and teach others how to transition from conventional farming to regenerative practices.”

Credit: Union Grove Farm

🏃‍♂️ Quick Hits:

🧀 Cheddies products are now available at 2,500+ retail locations

🏛️ Civil Eats shares their 10 most important marker bills for creating real change in the next Farm Bill

🕺 AC’s Insights

Two headlines with a similar theme caught my eye this week:

1) 📈 Walmart continues to grow organic assortment with help from emerging brands

Why does Walmart want to carry more organic products?

🤑 Walmart wants to steal more affluent bargain hunters from the likes of Costco and other club retailers (ever wonder why Costco does a great job on certain organic items with their Kirkland Signature label?) - both retailers know that wealthy shoppers have heightened expectations for a small set of key items then make more price-driven decisions in the rest of their “basket.”

🤰 The main target for many of these initiatives is attracting Millenial & Gen-Z mothers who are more health and eco-conscious. Plus, this group will continue to grow their income and spend more money on groceries over time.

🗯️ “The second piece is carrying more organic and natural products from newer brands that appeal to younger shoppers – including the next generation of moms. These two goals tend to overlap.”

This is an opportunity for regen brands if they can find a way to make the economics work and support the massive machine that is Walmart.

2) 📦 Amazon launches nationwide delivery of Whole Foods’ 365 products

Why does Amazon want to sell Whole Foods’ private label products to more of their customer base?

📱 Like Walmart, I think this is also a play to increase assortment for and traffic from the next generation of moms making grocery purchases. I also think Amazon sees better-for-you e-commerce players like Thrive Market, Good Eggs, Imperfect Foods, etc. as a threat to their businesses. The market share of these competitors is small now, but they are still taking foot traffic and revenue from Whole Foods both online and in-person.

🤔 Not to mention, Amazon likes to do anything strategically that meets these criteria: increases assortment, reduces prices, and promotes their own brand. Private-label grocery is a huuuuuge white space for Amazon to grow their business in a GIANT category where most of their Prime members are shopping elsewhere right now.

🔥 Thrive Market does the best job for any sort of “regenerative private label program” based on what I’ve seen. I think this is a smart strategic decision for Thrive, and I believe others will follow suit.

Private label remains an opportunity for regen brands, but it’s probably most advantageous for those with vertically-integrated supply chains. It could be a nice revenue opportunity with a better cash-flow profile if it does not cannibalize their branded business.