The Startup CPG Podcast #90 Buyer Series: Earth Fare with Mitch Orland
This is the first episode in our new buyers series and today we’re joined by Mitch Orland, VP of Merchandising and Procurement at Earth Fare. Earth Fare is a health and wellness supermarket with 20 locations in 8 states in the Southeast US. Mitch has deep food industry experience including being a restaurant owner and former Executive Chef at Earth Fare, and he now manages a 15 person merchandising team at Earth Fare.
Listen in as Mitch shares about:
- How Earth Fare’s product submission process including category reviews
- Best practices for engaging with buyers from email content to timing follow up
- How brokers add value for buyers
- Different models of distributing to Earth Fare from self-service to local distributors to UNFI
- Best practices for promoting with Earth Fare, educating employees, and in-store demos
- How and when a brand’s on-shelf performance is evaluated by the Earth Fare team
- Industry trends
- And more!
And stay tuned at the end for a story from Startup CPG founder Daniel Scharff about recently getting into Earth Fare with Machu Picchu - and thanks for Mitch for that great idea - he wanted you all to also hear from a brand that recently worked with Earth Fare, which I found really helpful. Now let’s hear from Mitch!
Episode Links:
- Earth Fare website
- Mitch’s LinkedIn
- Brands mentioned: Hickory Nut Gap, Sunburst Trout Farms, JAMBAR, Upcycled Food Association, Force of Nature
Social Nature Links:
- Social Nature website
- Social Nature team email: marketing@socialnature.com
- Learn from & get to know the Social Nature team:
- Episode #87 How Natural Shoppers are Responding to Inflation with Social Nature's Jessica Malach
- Episode #50 The Data Behind the Modern Wellness Consumer with Social Nature's Jessica Malach
- Overview of Digital Sampling with Social Nature founder Annalea Krebs
- Episodes that mention Social Nature campaigns:
- Episode #66 Sharing is Caring: How Alison Cayne & Haven's Kitchen share cooking confidence and industry knowledge (Social Nature discussed at 41:15)
- Episode #86 From Target Buyer to Nationally Launching Upcycled Pet Brand Shameless Pets with James Bello (Social Nature discussed at 37:33)
Promomash/Crisp Links:
- Try Promomash + Crisp free for 30 days here
- Webinar recording: Promomash + Crisp Present: The Next Big Thing in WFM Demo Analytics
- Webinar recording: Distributor Data 101: 5 Things Brands Should Be Tracking and Why
IFT Links:
Show Links:
- Join the Startup CPG Slack community (12K+ members and growing!)
- Follow @startupcpg
- Visit host Jessi's Linkedin or website
- Questions or comments about the episode? Email Jessi at podcast@startupcpg.com
- Episode music by Super Fantastics