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:

• Exhibit at IFT FIRST
• Attend IFT FIRST
• IFT website

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