Big CPG to Broker Life: Scott Nemec’s Retail Pivot

A lot of people say they understand Walmart and Sam’s Club. Scott Nemec has lived the food side for decades, then walked into the agency world and realized how much more there is to learn. We talk about that career shift, why “broker” earned a bad reputation, and what it takes to reshape the narrative with real capability across analytics, item management, replenishment, and customer-ready selling. 

We also dig into the biggest force reshaping shelves right now: private label and premium private brand growth. From Bettergoods to broader private brand tiering across retail, we break down why good product matters, how trust gets built one great experience at a time, and why packaging and a sharp reason-to-buy often decide whether a product wins or quietly disappears. Scott shares how strong partners stay proactive, track food trends, place smart bets, and avoid the trap of “me too” innovation that only sounds differentiated inside the building. 

Then we zoom out to the shopper reality: inflation pressure, the emotional bond people have with favorite foods, and why snacking keeps expanding even when budgets are tight and meal routines are changing. If you’re a founder or brand leader aiming for Bentonville, we offer practical advice on timing, persistence, getting honest feedback, and building a story that earns a yes. Subscribe for more real-world retail strategy, share this with a teammate, and leave a review with the one private brand item you think is truly best-in-class.

Transcript

Welcome And Guest Introduction

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Hello and welcome to the Retail Journey Podcast. I'm Charles Greenhouse, one of your hosts. And I am James Harris, and today we're talking to Scott Nemick. Nimek? Nimek.

SPEAKER_02 0:19

It's Nimik.

Scott’s Midwest Roots And Family

SPEAKER_00 0:21

I'm James Harris. Uh, and today we're talking to Scott Nimek, uh a new addition to our team here at High Impact. And uh been looking forward to this. Thanks for joining us. Appreciate it. Thanks for the opportunity. Happy to be here. So um tell us about Scott. Where are you from?

SPEAKER_01 0:37

Yeah. Kids. So family. Yeah, grew up in Wisconsin, originally a northerner. Uh, made my way down to Bentonville 10 years ago. How deep into Wisconsin are we talking? Like more than halfway. More than half. Okay. Yeah. Closer to Canada than Illinois, I think would be to put it. Um, yeah, and so my my journey really started at UW Eau Claire, and Hormel Foods recruited heavily there. And they had a presence on campus, and they came and they made a pitch. And so I thought it seemed like a great spot to work. I like that they could kind of send you out across the country and they had offices everywhere, but there's always the opportunity to kind of come back to the mid rest Midwest routes and just kind of like resettle there. So that was where my professional career began. And I started in Des Moines, Iowa, and then over the course of about 20 years, bounced around to um New Jersey, worked out of Pennsylvania for a little while, went to Minnesota, went out west to California, came back to Wisconsin and worked in the Milwaukee area, back to Minnesota again, and then about 10 years ago made the move down here in Bentonville and finally put some roots in the ground. So I had a good 20-year run with kind of a traditional CPG meat and yeah, meat and food company. And uh was fortunate I got married halfway along the way there and was able to bring my wife along with me for a good chunk of that journey. And then we had uh our first child was born in Milwaukee, had a son, and then as we moved to Minnesota, my daughter was born there. So we've got two kids who now, as we fast forward, they're 15 and 13, respectively. That's crazy. And uh man, we're just happy to be in this market, be in this area, and it's just been a tremendous place to raise our kids. So a two-year stint in Bettonville 10 years ago, is that yeah, exactly. Yeah, it's it's the classic, like, you know, you come in, you come in kicking and screaming, and then you go out kicking and screaming if you go out at all. Yeah, yeah. So it would be what, 12 years ago? 10, just over 10 years ago that you moved.

Two Decades In Traditional CPG

SPEAKER_00 2:34

You landed here. Very cool. Yep. Yeah. And it happens so much, it's a cliche now. Yeah, I didn't want to come. Now I'm not leaving.

SPEAKER_01 2:41

Yeah. And look, I'm I'm extremely grateful that Hormel gave me the opportunity to come down here. Um, you know, the the majority of my time here was with them, and I led the category team there for eight years servicing Walmart, and we had, I think, 11 different advisorships. And then I kind of took a career pivot and bang the mic. Uh, I took a career pivot and moved to an ingredient company. And so that gave me an opportunity to really hone in on kind of the backside of food, and and a lot of the emphasis really was focused around private brands. And so all of my meetings were at the Culinary Innovation Center. Yeah. And it was dealing with the PDs in the food spaces. So you would sell to the protein company who would sell the finished product to the retailer. And our goal ultimately, right, would be to sell in solutions to Walmart, get Walmart's spec approval, right? And then that solution will be pushed out to whomever the supplier may be. So it was rare that we were supplier of record. Right. You know, um, certainly a few instances, but usually it would be forming the partnership. We called it the triangle sale, right? We'd form the partnership with Walmart, and then they'd have their partnership with existing suppliers, or we would bring a supplier partner that we had to the table.

SPEAKER_00 3:50

There's a handful of categories that kind of operate like that. They're not very many, but a few where you've kind of got a triangle. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:57

How many categories did you work across? A carry? Yeah. More than I can count. I mean everything food. Yeah. Everything food, everything OTC. Yeah, it was it was broad to say the least. Yeah. Yeah.

Sabbatical And Joining High Impact

SPEAKER_00 4:08

Yeah. And uh then high impact.

SPEAKER_01 4:11

Yeah. So then I took uh summer sabbatical, gave myself a summer break for the first time in 20 something years and just spent time with the family, kind of re-re-centered, reconnected, had uh uh off chance to reconnect with Charles.

SPEAKER_00 4:24

You were on a run and I I caught up to you, I think.

SPEAKER_01 4:27

You might assume? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. No, you hopped on one of those e-bikes that we got out there. See if I'm on an e-bike, maybe. Um, but yeah, Charles and I, I mean, I think I had met you originally near the inception of my time in Bentonville. I mean, I think we probably go back 10 years. Yeah, but just tell the people seven-year gap in.

SPEAKER_00 4:43

Tell the people how we met, because I'm actually quite proud that I used to do this. Yeah, we were in a group fitness class at the community center at 5 a.m.

SPEAKER_01 4:50

That was my first introduction to Charles. Yeah. And then I think just periodically we crossed paths over time, whether it was at the coffee shop and uh in a store at a restaurant or whatever. Yeah. And so at 5 a.m.

SPEAKER_00 5:01

I don't know. I just wanted more credit for that. Everything that gets me out of bed that early is fishing. Yeah. That works too. It was uh be a four 4 15, 4 30 wake up and go show up at the gym. It was a great. I don't do that. Yeah, but we were yeah, what happened?

SPEAKER_01 5:16

I don't know. Life got in the way. Yeah. But yeah, so anyway, Charles and I had a kind of a chance encounter, and I I saw something that you had posted on social media, and it spoke to me. I thought, hey, I want to just connect and understand a little bit of your story and the journey that led you to where you were. And then I guess kind of fast forward seven months later, and here we are, six months into my career with high impact, which has been great. Yeah. Yeah.

Brokers, Biases, And Surprises

SPEAKER_00 5:43

Thrilled you're here. Um, as a you know, client growth leader, helping people through the journey and helping them make better decisions. You you were at Hormel for almost 20 years. This very established, very kind of different than uh in this space, this broker space. You you tend to get a wide variety of experience, absolutely, expectation, initial decision ideas to like, well, here's what might work best at not just retail, but Walmart, yeah, Sam's Club. I'd love to hear a little bit of your you know initial entry to this space, some of the things that maybe big CPG prepared you for or other thoughts you've had.

SPEAKER_01 6:27

Yeah, I mean it's interesting, right? So great question or great comment anyway. Um brokers were a dirty word. Right. Right? I mean, like you you everybody knew a broker, but they knew them all for the wrong reason. Right. And it was like it would be very rare that you'd go out and encounter somebody in the wild and they'd want to tell you a great story about the broker support that they had or this tremendous broker relationship how long ago that they had. I mean, this is really like the duration, right? Okay, yeah. And so I mean, there was always this kind of negative connotation that I put out there in terms of like brokers and and the agency side of things, right? Well, you weren't alone, yeah. Yeah, and I'm sure that's like a it it exists for a reason, right? There's certainly things that have led to that mindset or people to think that way. Um, so there were some barriers to overcome there just on my own accord, right? Of like, is this the space I want to be in? And how do I break the mold? How do I help kind of like reshape that narrative that exists, right? Yeah. Um, I I felt like I knew what I was getting into based on the conversation Charles and I had had, based on the opportunity to come in and meet with a lot of the team members and really get into the weeds on what the job looks like. Yeah. I had no idea. Yeah. And I would say it's like a pleasant surprise. Um, my eight years in market prior to coming here, I think had kind of built up in me a lot of ego. And I think I was very confident that I had mastered the universe. And I would tell you, it wasn't until I got here that I fully realized how much I still didn't know. And, you know, one of the luxuries we have is a very diverse group of people with tremendous backgrounds and expertise. And so, like, just having all of those resources at my disposal, it was a relief, right? Because I knew like there's a lot more that I can't do than I thought. But just having the people here and having the network and the support in place to be able to like overcome that and kind of connect all the dots has been a tremendous relief. And I think that that's probably something that a lot of agencies are lacking in, where they may be solid on the sales side of things, right? But they may not have the back end. Right. They may not be as dialed on the replen side of things. Yeah, they certainly aren't going to have like item expertise. In fact, I know you know certain colleagues of mine that like they're still doing all their own item management despite having broker support on some of these bigger customers, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:52

Well, it's something that I'm probably most proud of from a cultural standpoint is I never wanted this place to be a pla where I've got information, so I'm important. Yeah. You know, if you need to get something from somebody else that has that information, we really do have a team that's just willing to help. Yeah. No matter what.

Culture As Actions Not Posters

SPEAKER_01 9:12

Um yeah. And it sounds like lip service, right? But like it's just it's the most collaborative environment I've been a part of. And I think in in part, what resonates with me is, you know, we've kind of, as an organization, we've made a decision to say we don't want to compete against ourselves. And we're not going to battle against one another within categories. Right. Now that's just a microcosm, but what that represents to me is like just this broader mentality of like everybody is in it for the greater good. Oh, and it's a team sports guy. Joint success. Yeah, we can all win. But it's the team that uh wins or loses. Exactly right. And so there isn't this dog eat dog, and it's not like being on Wall Street where like I only win if you lose or if I outsell you, that's how I get ahead. It's like, you know, the rising tide lift here. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, rising tide will lift all boats or all around. Right. So and then you you brought up the word culture, James, and that's something I want to just touch on for a minute. And I want to stop short of you know, painting myself a psychophant, but culture is not words. Everybody has words, culture is actions, it's behaviors, right? And that's what drives and determines a culture. And that's something else that I would say is unique to this place relative to my experiences prior at the other organizations I've been a part of. Like, yeah, we've got the words on the wall as well, but it's not really about that. It's how people behave, it's how they treat one another, it's how like we act as individuals within the organization. And I've never seen it so lived out as I do here. Just the spirit of service, um, the the way that everyone is embraced. And I'm sure that like even the causes that we get behind. I'm sure there are things that are very important to you, but you're not pushing that on the group, like, hey, I want to go out and do environmental work today because that's what matters to me, right? And and maybe it's fostering panic. I want to come in. Yeah. Everybody's able to kind of pursue their own passions, right? And there's a way to kind of fit that in. And it's like, whether it's you know, fostering or whether it's homelessness, or maybe it's, you know, helping battle addiction, whatever it might be, right? Like, there's just so many different avenues where we're not saying, hey, this is the flag in the ground, this is what we support, this is what we're built on. But it's like, hey, what's important to you? Let's find what matters. And then on an individual level, what that represents to me is like family is really important to me. And one of the opportunities I've been afforded with this role has been to drop my daughter and her friend off at school every day. That's great. They happen to, you know, go to school about half a mile from here. Yeah. And it just aligns well with the schedule. That's never something I've been able to do, but it also isn't something I pursued. Right. But I think about it now, and it's like, I wouldn't give that up for anything. Yeah. Right. And that's what's so important to me. Now, other people, it may be pets, it may be personal interests, it may be, you know, car, whatever they're into, but it's like pursue your passions and fit it into your life. It doesn't have to be exclusive of what you only do outside of this building, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 12:06

I mean, especially men, we like to think we're compartmentalizing everything, but life's just kind of one big loop. Absolutely right. Yeah. And you've got to work and you've got to sleep, you've got to eat, and you, but you also have to do the things that are, you know, what a legacy is, which is your kids, your friends, your spouse, your partner. I appreciate that females don't pretend like we actually can compartmentalize things. Like, no, it's actually it's all connected and you know, a balanced life, or maybe active rebalancing. Because you know, there's there's times you know, we've we've traveled together, you go on a work trip and you get back home. There's some you gotta make some deposits back into the family bucket because we were just gone for a couple days. And yeah, yeah. I think that uh I think it matters a lot. Um sad, I was at a funeral last night, and you know, it's hard to go to to funerals, you never really want to, but being you know forced to recognize that you know life is fragile. Absolutely. Um it it matters, you know, both who you're gonna spend it with, what you're gonna do, and kind of the impact that you have as you go. So well, from a family perspective, right?

SPEAKER_01 13:14

I mean, we've kind of got three varying stages here. You know, you've got on the precipice of launch and kind of like that part of adulthood. And I'm kind of stuck in these odd teenage sort of years. And Charles, you're kind of ushering your way into that, right? So it's like, yeah, you kind of get to see all the various phases, but yeah, time is fleeting, right? When you start thinking about like in our perspective, it's like, well, we got five or six more years with kids in the house. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:39

It's we got the daddy-daughter dance in uh February, and they play that stinking song that Cinderella one, and it's like, guys, come on. You're killing me. I wasn't trying to cry tonight. You know, what are you doing? And then you at the same time, you look back at those pictures. Oh, it's awesome. And and like, you know, with me now, yeah. I've got you know, 17, 18, almost 18-year-old twins and 15-year-old boy. Um, and you look back at those pictures and you're like, Yeah, we did do that. I was there. That was fun. Like, yeah, um, you know, yeah, while you're going through at the time, yeah. You've got the you got the proof you've made the investment. Um so what uh you know, what what are you uh what are you looking to build here at uh high impact? I mean, we're we're an entrepreneurial company, uh, you're in the sales group. Most people that uh you know want to go into sales, it's kind of a form of entrepreneurship, right? Uh you can create your destiny. So uh what's Scott building here at High Impact?

SPEAKER_01 14:39

Yeah, I think I I'll approach it two two separate ways. From a personal perspective, I want to keep rounding out my own skill set. You know, I made the comment earlier that I didn't realize how much I didn't know. And so as I stop and take kind of my own periodic moments of reflection and look back at the progress I've made, how much I've grown just in terms of my knowledge base in these six months, that's definitely an area I need to continue investing in. And I'm fortunate to be surrounded by the resources we have here to support that growth, right? Um and it's just working one-on-one. It's leaning on, you know, our analytics partners that we have on the business and just kind of almost osmosis, right? Just acquiring knowledge and experience from them. Um, from a business perspective, I'd really like to see us be able to put more of a flag in the ground with food. And obviously, my background certainly lends itself well to that. So, how can I better support our growth in that space? Yeah. Where I would say, by and large, we're underdeveloped relative to some other categories. And so I've got a unique offering and some, you know, tenure in that space that I think I can bring value to the table. Just a matter of finding the right partners and then kind of making those connections and bringing them into the fold.

SPEAKER_00 15:59

I think that's probably so much new that's emerging in food. Uh, whether you know, whether talking about like freeze dried, right? Yep. That's everywhere now. It's dog food, it's pet food. It's a you know, that wasn't really that much of a thing not very long ago. Sure. A lot of things happen in that way, but then also a lot of innovation around store brands. Yeah. Um, you know, where everybody's used to great value and equate where it's nationally equivalent. Um, Better Goods is not national equivalent. It in some cases is the best product on the shelf. Yeah. Um, but there it's just it's an exciting time, I think, to be in food.

What Great Walmart Partners Do

SPEAKER_01 16:34

Yeah, I completely agree. And and so as I kind of hark back to those times with Carrie, that was kind of a fun ride to be in. So that was sort of at the inception of the Better Goods introduction, right? And just kind of seeing like how quickly that spread and how many categories it went across. And then yeah, and even products and and subcats that you would never expect to see a premium private brand, there's a push there and it's and it's happening, right? And so that is that has been certainly one big piece of the puzzle there with the inception of that.

SPEAKER_00 17:08

Yeah. When you think about a like a great supplier brand uh to to Walmart in the food space, like what separates the good from the great when it comes to a a thriving food business?

SPEAKER_01 17:23

Oh, I want to try to avoid being cliche, right? I mean, I think that's easy to fall into, but it's um reactive versus proactive. Like I think the the best partners, the ones that come to mind are are people like a General Mills or like uh PepsiCo Fritole to just kind of give some context. They're always looking out ahead, like what's coming. Um, one of the things they've done with the Lay's brand is kind of these like LTOs, yeah, right. And it's just a great opportunity to keep some freshness in the set and kind of cycle through flavors, see what sticks. And then obviously, if you hit a home run, then you kind of roll that into your everyday offering. But those types of things are just kind of always like continuing to push things forward to push the envelope, as opposed to I think you're good, are the people who are like, hey, we're gonna do whatever you need us to do. You tell us, you know, to jump and we're gonna ask you how high. You tell us where you want to go, and we will come alongside of you. But who's leading the conversation, right? Who are those people who are on the cutting edge saying, like, no, you need to do this and you need to do it now?

SPEAKER_00 18:25

Do you have to be a multi-billion dollar brand to be able to lead? Yeah. Tell talk to me about some of your experience and finding ways to lead from what I'll call it the pack as opposed to the biggest.

SPEAKER_01 18:38

Yeah, I think a big part of it is just being aware of what are those key industry trends. Yeah. And there's so many sources that you can glean some of that information from, whether it's Mintel, Data Essentials, you know, a lot of times in food, what'll happen is these ideas and concepts that infiltrate CPG really started at the restaurant and food service level. Yeah. So it's kind of monitoring that as kind of the future ground, if you will, of like what are those key flavor profiles? What are the flavor trends that we see coming? And then how do you cling on to that? Sometimes it takes a little hedging, right? Like you don't always know what's going to hit. You're not going to bat a thousand, right? You're going to get a couple of whiffs. Yeah. But I think that's certainly a big part of it, right? Is like identifying those outlets that can kind of give you that broader scope, broader spectrum, and then keying in and making your bets accordingly.

SPEAKER_00 19:25

Like, but so at the same time, you know, there like I think about walking Expo West, right? And now you'll see some like legit innovation. Like, oh, that's a great idea. Yeah, then the whole rest of the aisle is oh, here's some more yogurt with me twos. Yeah, it's just one after another. Yeah. Um, I think the trick is like find that first thing, yeah, but find it based on your understanding of the shopper and their needs and their wants. Sure. Then you can innovate around that, and you're not just a one-hit wonder or um copycat.

SPEAKER_01 19:58

Yes, exactly right. Nobody wants a Me Too. Right. And like I I don't know, I've looked, I haven't seen a better mousetrap yet, right? Like it works, it's tried and true. Like, play the hits. Um, I think what happens a lot of times is people get in their own heads and they convince themselves that they're differentiated enough. Like, no, no, no. It's this is not just yogurt and oatmeal. We also have flax in there. It's like, okay, but I can pick up flax and sprinkle some over the top, or whatever, maybe, right? Yeah. So I think that's that's a good point that you raised.

Bettergoods And Private Brand Tiering

SPEAKER_00 20:30

I mean, I yeah, I've seen that with different companies I've either been a part of or just been around where they're they're talking to themselves. Yeah, and yeah, they have an industry knowledge that their shopper doesn't have, but if that's the thing that keeps the shopper from buying your product because they're not in your industry, you probably haven't yeah, you probably haven't worked it all the way through yet. It's great. Yes, well said. Happens a lot in the package. You know, I mean it's what's the what's the reason to buy, what's important about it, what's the differentiation? And you look at the pack and it's just not compelling. Yeah, it's not actually a part of what you're telling the customer itself.

SPEAKER_01 21:05

Yeah. Um well it I want to go back to the better goods example for a minute. I I think that's interesting. Just like the the tenets that exist for that brand, right? There's kind of three pillars to better goods, and it's like plant-based, and then it's like better for you. Then they kind of have that third pillar that's like culinary creations. But that's basically like kind of all inclusive, right? So I mean it's it, I guess, credit to the private brands team to at least say, like, hey, we want to kind of have this reservoir over here where we can kind of fit the all other. It may not be plant-based, it may not be better for you, or it may not, you know, it may not be free of all the right never ennies. Yeah, but like it's just an awesome concept and yeah, this profile, like whether it's a chip or whatever.

SPEAKER_00 21:47

Anything from that brand that wasn't good that didn't hit, yeah. The pizza, the bubbly, or yeah, uh the like chocolate covered almonds, even that's a definitely good. Um they've really done a great job. Good product matters. I agree. Uh yeah, food doesn't taste good. Well, and you you have one or two good experiences. They've got 600 items, right? So now you're gonna be more willing as a consumer to purchase across the store from that from that brand because they they won you over with a good product that was less than the thing next to it.

SPEAKER_01 22:19

And I know we live in a Walmart world here, right? Walmart and Sam's driven environment, but you see the same sort of thing occurring really across the landscape. Like Aldi has simply nature. And I know that's not quite the same concept in terms of like unique offer, but it's it's the cleaner, it's the better for you. Target has a number of brands under their umbrella as well, right? With Good and Gather and Favorite Day. And so you see a lot more of this kind of tearing. Absolute machine. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Kroomer does the same thing with the private selection. And yeah, it's just you're really seeing a lot more of this tiering that's that's occurring because everybody's trying to elevate private brands. And I think we all recognize there was a point in time where like your private brand was your OPP, it was your prize fighter. Just get something out there as cheap as can be. Yep. You know, one example that I always like to use that people aren't even like aware of how you can kind of what's the word I want to use? Like devalue a product or brand. But like, yeah, I love mountain mix. Great value mountain mix is like it's on our shopping list every trip. I eat that stuff, like it, it's my lifeblood, right? Well, one of the things that they do in there is it's very difficult. You'll never find a whole cashew. If you're lucky, you'll find a half cashew, but then you'll find a lot of parts, yeah, right, or broken pieces. Yeah, it's just a way to add value. You still have cashews, you're still including the key component, but you're doing it as value. Standalone because they're broke, yeah. Yeah. So just little things like that, right? I mean, the same thing happens with like rice.

SPEAKER_00 23:50

I think you just ruined mountain mix for me because I felt like they were probably those old when I got the bag, and yeah, I must have broke it. Good luck ever eating that again without thinking about the cash.

SPEAKER_01 23:59

Now I'm gonna be constantly staring at my half a cashew. Yeah, funny. But you will be happy to know they moved away from MMs for a short time. I didn't say anything about it. Somebody must have, because now they're back. They're back. Yeah. Yeah, I figured it was you, but okay. I know. Safe assumption was not in this case. I want to put that on record.

Competing With Private Label Under Inflation

SPEAKER_00 24:16

Yeah. Yeah. They just they taste better. Yeah. MMs. But yeah, so okay, so into 26, yeah, private brands do seem like a very significant pillar of growth. Sure. Expanding faster than national brands for 15 years. Yeah. In a in a yeah. So using data to not just say seems like it is a huge pillar of growth. What what as a brand should we be thinking about it? Like what should the brands out there be considering as private brand becomes a faster uh aspect of growth?

SPEAKER_01 24:54

Yeah, I mean, I'm gonna tie it back to I think you have to be prepared to fail quickly. Try and try and fail and learn and adapt because that's what that's what they're doing in that space, right? They're not afraid to give it a shot and then you know, so be it, you hit reset. Now, the luxury as a private brand, you're not putting as much at stake in terms of your brand integrity because there's certain expectations of like an OPP if you're in a great value or whatever, right? Whereas if um, I don't know what a good example would be, but uh lint lint chocolates or whatever, right? Like there's there's a prestige, kind of a premium component that goes that. So you want to be a little bit careful about devaluing your brand to a point, right? So I think brands have to be a little bit careful about that, but I still think that you just don't try stuff that's too weird, right? Right, yeah. Stay in your wheelhouse, but take some shots. Yeah, like it's it's worth a risk. And you know, there are ways to get that feedbackly, right? Maybe it's a a test. You do a few hundred stores or whatever. I mean, there's paths to kind of get that feedback before you have to make the full commitment and put, you know, millions of dollars at risk.

SPEAKER_00 26:04

You know, and I I worked uh years before I started this, I worked at Unilever on the food side. Um, and you you really uh I got to see a lot of research that showed just how emotional um the people's connection with their favorite foods are. And now we're in this situation where we've had basically kind of really out of control inflation. Yeah, uh, it's gotten better now. I think the most recent number is 2.4, but that's on top of the 11% and the 13% that we had in previous years. So things have cost are costing more and wages haven't caught up with it. Uh, and you see, like at Thanksgiving or with Thanksgiving or Christmas, Walmart put out a$40 meal kit. And it was a very adequate meal because people, whether they're struggling financially or not, like they want to be able to put that on for their kids and grandkids, have those memories, take those pictures, but it was quite a bit less food than it had been past previous years. And I think that the that's that's a big opportunity right now is how do we how do we make products that let people have the dignity of eating and sharing what they want to, yeah, but for less.

SPEAKER_01 27:15

Yeah. You know, and let's just focus on like one specific trend, right? Snacking as a whole. In a vacuum, you look at the the state of you know, the financial situation circumstances that people are feeling, logically, it would make sense like we're gonna cut out some of those in-between meal meals, right? Like that's one way to cut back is we're not gonna pack the pantry with packages of fruit snacks or cheez-its or whatever. Right. But in fact, what you're seeing is like there's kind of like a continued proliferation of snacking almost at the expense of the meal, meal time, right? And so it's like it, those are the types of things that you have to identify those trends and then get on board and make sure that you're swift in your response to them, right? Like, because if if you're just like, nope, we're we're a meal company, that's what we do is meals, you're gonna lose your audience, right? Like meal time is fading. Do you have single serves? Do you have convenient packaging to take to go, right? Is it shelf stable that they can have it in an office desk drawer or you know, sitting on their on their workstation or whatever? Like little nuances like that, I think, are important to kind of key into and ensure that you're kind of positioned accordingly for that.

SPEAKER_00 28:26

And it's like we say the you know, our kind of mantra, if you want to call it that, for high impact for 2026 is what got us here, ain't getting us there. Yeah. Um, and I think you have to live with that mindset in food. Um, you especially when you look at some of these legacy brands. I read a really fascinating thing a week or two ago about how Kraft owned um um mac and cheese. Yeah, right. Um, but then for whatever reason, company acquired new partner merged with Heinz, et cetera. They've essentially lost, I can't remember exactly what it was, but about 30 margin points, or not marginal points, share points, share points, yeah. Uh from just you know, the better for you, the you know, license things. Yeah, um, they just take an eye off the ball. Yeah. It's like, wow, that was that was a billion dollar cash cow. Yeah. That obviously there was innovation on the table because other people did it. Um and they just they blinked and missed it. Yeah. Um I think it is harder for the bigger companies to to stay relevant.

SPEAKER_01 29:28

Yeah, I think part of the way to do that, right, is like through acquisitions of those types of brands. So, like the example that I would use, tying right into what you just said, James, um, Annie's, right? Annie's has taken a good chunk of that share, right? And I think that's General Mills, if I'm not mistaken. Like they weren't in that space, right? But had an opportunity, saw the opportunity. I'm gonna give them credit. I wasn't a part of that decision, but I'm gonna say I think they identified, like, hey, this is where the puck is going. Yeah. Like, let's let's get in and make this investment now. And I think that's one it's fair to say that's paid off for them, at least at a micro level, anyway, right? But those are, yeah, those are the types of things where if you can't get there and if you can't innovate and commercialize, then go acquire.

SPEAKER_00 30:11

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I appreciate the the you know, deep Wisconsin reference of skating to where the puck is going.

SPEAKER_01 30:17

Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Do we need to elaborate on that?

Expo West Reality Checks And Persistence

SPEAKER_00 30:21

I just wanted to make sure I think that's the the puck. This is hockey. This is a hockey reference. Thank you. Um, yeah. So, you know, we talked to Expo West briefly earlier, and this is sort of the land of emerging trends, many, many, many emerging brands for those that are in that kind of space, hoping to get into the show, um, you know, major grocery in the US, clearly Walmart, um, Sam's Club. What have you seen be the most successful um in either timing trends or just like recognizing what it takes to compete with these you know major corporations? Oh, that's a good question.

SPEAKER_01 31:00

Um regardless of what's at the root, I think timing and a little bit of luck go a long way. And unfortunately, you can't strategize around that. But you know, one of the items that kind of keeps coming to mind to me as we have some of these conversations is uh I don't want to do the brand a disservice. I think it's is it botchman's the Japanese barbecue sauce? It's like the clear bottle with the red lid on it. Oh, yeah. And it's like the stuff is just some of the other yeah, and it's just it's everywhere. And it's uh talk about staple foods. That's another one of those things. It's always in our refrigerator door, and the kids are putting it on any Asian-inspired food or any recipe that we have that includes rice and meat. It's like it's getting smothered. Yum yum sauce. That's what uh people drink in my exactly. Yeah, another good example, right? So I think there's there's those types of things where it's like sometimes you just catch lightning in a bottle, and there is no special formula, there is no magic recipe. Um, for the others, Walmart is always paying attention to what's going on. Yeah, and I know as much as you'd love Walmart to be your point of entry, you know, go shoot straight for the top, right? Like have that be your home run swing. I think it's important to recognize that building a business and kind of having the story to bring to a Walmart, if they're not recognizing you, it's okay. It doesn't mean that what you're doing doesn't matter. It's just creating the story and and perhaps you got to kind of hit a couple of singles to still score some of those runs, you know.

SPEAKER_00 32:26

Yeah, I was thinking like you're allowed to you're allowed to strike out once in a while. Yeah. But if it's a nine-game streak, yeah, you know, you burn that bridge. Yeah, and it's tough to re-enter. Absolutely. There's a lot of institutional memory in in companies and every retailer I've ever worked with. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:43

Well, I think there's also the unfortunate circumstance of people surrounding themselves with very supportive friends and family who are going to tell them all the things they want to hear, but maybe hesitant to want to give them some hard truths. Yeah. And sometimes you need the hard truths, like yeah, it's just not as good as you think it is. Or it doesn't fit for these reasons, and nobody's told you that yet. So I'll be the bad guy. Yeah. Like sometimes that's just the reality, right? You gotta hit some hard truths.

SPEAKER_00 33:15

I did that the other day. I was talking to a founder, and when she first gave me the pitch, that sounded great. And then we we talked for another 15, 20 minutes, and I was able to pull out like the real benefits, the real things people love about this product and the real whatever. And I was like, okay, like what do you what would you rank your pitch? Uh you know, probably seven out of ten. And I was like, Well, uh I think we're at like two. I think we're two out of ten. She's like, obviously, a little bit shocked. But it's like, well, you just mentioned this benefit that wasn't in there. You mentioned this, and they're not actually wanting that part, they're wanting to solve this other thing that you talked about, which was your inspiration from the get-go. Yeah, like that needs to be the first thing. Yeah, because it's the why. It was just kind of like, oh my gosh. Yeah. Like, I think, oh no. Yeah, but it's hard because you just have had friends be like, yeah, it's great. Oh, we love it. You know, and they they're still buying the product because yeah, they are loving it. But you know, some entrepreneurs are great salespeople, but not all of them. Some great idea people just totally need to be across the table from a buyer. Yep. And I've seen the best product in the category fail because the package didn't tell the customer exactly why they wanted to buy it. Um, yep. It's tough, it's a tough reality. So yeah, and to jump back to your your question.

SPEAKER_01 34:34

So Scott's not your friend, he'll tell you the truth. Well, uh, yeah, whether it's me or someone, right? I just you have to have those, you know, voices of reason in your life that aren't just going to placate you, but we'll hit you with some of them. You have to be humble enough to take it.

SPEAKER_00 34:46

Yeah, I love cliche. Sharpening irons, you know, there's heat and there's spark and there's friction involved.

SPEAKER_01 34:51

It's not just patting each other on the back, but that's right. Um, I there I love cliche. So there's there's another one that says, Um, you know, uh a friend may stab you in the back, but a real friend will stab you in the front, right? And it's like sometimes you just need that person that's like, this is not right and this is why. But I do want to speak back. I feel like that's kind of dodging your question. That's taking the antagonist approach to your question.

SPEAKER_02 35:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:13

Um, the other message that I would give to people is if you're looking to break into this ecosystem and this being, you know, Walmart and Sam's, like a lot of people have done it, and a lot of people have done it successfully. Like, find them. Yeah. Right? Surround yourselves with those people, whether it's other founders, yeah, whether it's agencies who have blazed some of those trails or people who have internal experience at Walmart to help navigate some of the complications. Like, find those people. And then the last piece that I would say is like, you're gonna have disappointment. There's gonna be discouragement, right? You may not get the yes right away. That doesn't mean that it's not right, it just means it's not right now. Yeah, right. And I think the other part of it too is persistence matters. Absolutely right, absolutely right. And then just so go prove that story elsewhere, right? It's definitely an endurance sport. Absolutely right. It's a retail.

Early Career Advice Across Categories

SPEAKER_00 36:03

Yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, that's incredible advice. Fair segue to my next uh question, which is if you were to go back to you know, Scott brand new to CPG, what advice would you give to uh you know, first five years in this CPG retail business? What what advice do you have for Scott?

SPEAKER_01 36:25

Um I wouldn't I wouldn't change the experiences that I had, right? Like given the chance to go back, I don't I don't have regrets. Advice that I would give moving forward to somebody else would be find a great organization that's going to equip you to be successful, that's going to support you along that journey and make some solid connections there, but don't let that prevent you from expanding your horizons and exploring other areas of the store. So I was predominantly in food, loved it, wouldn't trade it. I love that I feel like I have some level of expertise within food, right? But now as I get into this role and we're touching other categories and we're into apparel and we're into home and we're into OTC, it's so much more valuable having that broad exposure because there's nuance into how all those other categories operate. And the it's the same shoppers. It is same customers, same store.

SPEAKER_00 37:23

They're buying the store. Yes. Um, that's an interesting thing. Maybe you're maybe your your grocery trips, you're primarily shopping grocery. Yeah. But it's the same consumers that are, you know, buying mainstays bedding for their kids.

SPEAKER_01 37:35

Right. I made the comment when I when I started earlier, right? As part of the interview process, like I came in with a little bit of ego, like, guys, I've done food. I can do anything. And where my mindset with that was is like cold chain is is a big part of it. Like, we're dealing with code dates, we're dealing with short shelf life, we're dealing with you know, food safety, all of these things, right? If I can handle that, yeah, OTC is no problem. A bottle of ibuprofen can sit on a shelf for a year, you don't got to do anything with it. Right. Ignorance on my part, because again, there's just added layers of complexity in other spaces, right? Maybe it's not supply chain, but regulatory and compliance and claims, like all those things come into the place.

SPEAKER_00 38:19

Right. Yeah, fair point. Yeah, like so you're gonna take two of these little things, maybe three times a month, yeah, or like all every day every day. It's bizarre to be valid point.

Lightning Round Listening Habits

SPEAKER_01 38:31

But yeah, so I guess that in in in short, right, just recap that part of it is like I will I wish I would have broadened my experiences a little bit earlier, even if it's within the same entity, just maybe explore other pieces of the business that would have given me a different yeah, you know, whether it's procurement or whatever. Yeah, I'll just kind of round out my experience in that respect.

SPEAKER_00 38:50

Yeah, well, we like to hit you with our lightning round as we uh we wrap things up. Yeah. Um you're a reader, podcast listener. Uh what are you what are you consuming right now? I do not read. I am I am opposed to reading.

SPEAKER_01 39:05

I appreciate it. I don't just I don't just not read. I actively don't read. Um I don't know how how broad our reach is gonna be, but I had a a good friend that gave me a book for Christmas. Yeah, I returned it and took the store credits. All right, friend. That book's not getting read. So what are you listening to? Yeah. Um primarily runs. Yeah. So I'm I'm a morning run guy. I like the exercise in the mornings. To me, it's it's a lot of mindless content. So it's sports primarily. I'm still coming off a very rough end to the NFL season for my beloved Green Bay Packers. Yeah, so I'm I'm consuming as much as Vitrial as possible. A lot of vitriol from the the faithful up there. So I'm I'm soaking up every minute of that. Um, there's a couple of clowns that are part of a Barstool sports podcast. And so it's just the perfect balance of humor and comedy into obnoxious takes that they throw out there. So for me, it's like whatever can take my mind off the pain of running. Yeah, that's kind of where I find myself going. And then um, you know, the longer road trips, uh, things like Theo Vaughn, the guy's just a character. Yeah, he's funny. He's very inquisitive. So I think what I find myself gravitating towards are the people who have just kind of a natural curiosity. Yeah, I like to ask dumb questions. I find myself gravitating towards those people who also ask dumb questions but are doing so not to trip you up and not because it's gotcha journalism, but it's like they legitimately just want to learn.

Biggest Retail Blunder In Excel

SPEAKER_00 40:34

Love a different angle, not just the typical. Yeah. Speaking of gotcha journalism, second question biggest retail blunder. Oh, my biggest retail blunder in your career.

SPEAKER_01 40:45

Um, how much time do we have? Just one? Do I do I only have to talk about one? Um, yeah. I I got this one readily queued up. I'll go back. This is years ago. Uh, I was calling on roundies and we had before they were Kroger, yeah, back when they stood alone. And uh we had a Delhi accrual program with them where we would commit to setting aside trade funds, right? And then reinvest those trade funds in the business. Um, but I was tested with tracking and managing that accrual myself via Excel. And so when you have a formula error in one cell of Excel, no, but it translates across you know 18 other cells and in six other tabs and everything else. So we had an issue where nightmare. Yeah, I mean, look, we over-accrued. So from a customer perspective, it was phenomenal, but in essence, we had to kind of find a way on the company's behalf to recoup you know, a uh hefty, it was five figure costs which we were able to do so many promotions this year.

SPEAKER_00 41:50

I don't know what's going on. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 41:51

So it got to five figures at a roundies back in the back. That's exactly right. Yeah, that's that's exactly like the the uh relativity matters there. So we basically had to kind of you know fire sale and just blow the doors off with a couple of things to kind of recoup all these funds that we had given them on account of my single keystroke error that did not go on.

2026 Motivation And Finding Winners

SPEAKER_00 42:12

I can't remember the circumstances, but I had a very similar thing running a company with the word analytics in it. And uh I got I got busted once with something that was you know broken link or whatever. And yeah, but that that's what forced me then to I developed these macros where uh to to basically before I'd send it off. I'm like, is this good? Is there are there mistakes? And without making the mistake, I probably never would have done that. Yeah, and how many future mistakes did I prevent? Yeah, yeah. I think I was on uh like my last vitamins was so big the line review dock got to be like a hundred something megabytes, but it was like I think it was version 87, was the actual one that I presented because it was like make enough changes, save new version. Because like I'm not yeah taking this whole thing down because I've had to recreate an entire line review spreadsheet with smart moves. The way that I did it was there's a lot of data going on. Sure. Okay, well done. Last question What do you what are you motivated for in uh 2026? What am I motivated for in 2026?

SPEAKER_01 43:23

Uh I'm excited to keep building the book, hopefully, like do a little business development. So one of the things that we didn't touch on, but I think was important to address is a lot of agencies, you you know, you eat what you kill is what they say, right? And and I know that we subscribe to the same mentality here, but I felt very fortunate to be sort of gifted a desk, right? Gifted a book of business where it wasn't just go out and see what you can find. And I didn't have to rattle every tree and tap into every piece of the network. Um, so that helped me get my feet under me and kind of like plug the dam a little bit so I could address other. Deficiencies that I felt like I may have had, right? So looking ahead now, I'm I'm not there yet, but I'm catching stride. I feel like I'm getting comfortable. So I want to be able to help grow our overall. I'm looking forward to walking an expo and fancy foods with you this year. I think that's a great way to start. Yeah. Yeah. I'm looking forward to that. And find those next hits. And you know, everybody wants the the diamond and the rough, and everybody wants the next big thing. And you know, you can do a lot of like takes and puts on essentially like lottery tickets on who's going to break through. But I think just finding these brands that have kind of hustled and done it at the street level, going door to door, and at least establish like a base business that's poised for the the springboard. I think that's maybe the sweet spot. Of course, that's what anybody would say. And I don't know exactly how you find them, but that's where I want to put some focus and energy is less around what might be the next big thing and more around like what is already sort of on the climb that we can kind of intercept on the way up and just you know pour some gas on it for them. Yeah.

Where To Find More Podcasts

SPEAKER_00 45:02

Well, thank you, Scott, for joining us. Um well had I'd be remiss without saying I think you're the funniest person in the building. Is that immeasurable? Is that quantifiable? I don't remeasure it. Okay, perfect. Uh you've been an awesome addition to the team and uh appreciate you spending time with us today. And as always, thank you for joining us today on the retail journey. You can check out any of our podcasts on our website, highimpactanalytics.com, or wherever you download your podcasts. Thanks.