PBFA's First Member Roundtable Showcases Plant-Based Retail Companies' Collaborative Spirit

Written by: Annie Taranshansky

This past week, impassioned members from all corners of our industry convened and held a dynamic and strategic roundtable discussion on the topic of navigating the retail sector – specifically, how companies in our industry can obtain new placements and retain shelf space in a sometimes tricky marketplace. Hosted by Sara McGoun, Senior Manager of Member Relations, moderated by Sadrah Schadel, CEO of No Evil Foods and member of the PBFA Board of Directors, with additional insight from PBFA Associate Director of Marketplace Development Nikki Smith, call participants dove into topics that also hold space on PBFA’s Retail Best Practices Advisory Council, including marketing, messaging and innovation, sales, promotions, and retailer relationships, consumer and customer segmentation. The roundtable served as an extension to the council’s work centering around a shared vision to build the know-how needed to navigate this complex marketplace with confidence.

There is Hope: Finding Solutions Through Collaboration

The call began with an acknowledgement of the challenges food manufacturers currently face in the retail marketplace. The discussion of present obstacles quickly gave way to action-oriented solutions. The members assembled on the call were a diverse group of industry leaders fully equipt to discuss solutions in this collective setting.

Across the food industry, retailers are cutting back on total category SKUs, plant-based brands being held to high-velocity sales expectations and metrics created for established mainstream brands, and marketing requirements exceeding what nascent brands can spend. Once the headwinds were acknowledged, the group of PBFA members separated into three focus groups to address their experiences and share ideas.After a smaller group discussion, the larger group assembled again to share the following takeaways that can help plant-based brands succeed in the current environment:

Marketing, Messaging, and Innovation:

• Be open to making packaging changes based on retailer feedback. Aesthetic changes to packaging can make a big difference to help right-size valuable shelf space.
• Be thoughtful about the retailers you engage with. Doing research on retailers to understand their primary interest/focus will help your brand connect and get grounded in expectations.
• Explore and use Instacart where plant-based foods perform well. Looking to e-commerce can be a strong starting place for brands looking to stand out. Online platforms don’t have the same limited shelf space and searchability makes it easier for consumers to find the products they’re looking for.
• Take advantage of consumer testing panels: It’s important to get consumer perspective and feedback before launching in retail. This step helps ensure you have the right product, positioning, and are delivering the desired taste, texture, flavors consumers want.

Sales, Promotion, Retailer/Distributor Relationship

• Advocate for a longer review cycle and suggest a “fair” amount of time for building a customer base. Retailers reset swiftly–especially for new brands in an emerging category. Putting sales graphs in pitch and review decks can help ensure retailers can see the ratio of sales build over time.
• Acknowledge that it’s tough for retailers as well: Margins are low for both brands and retailers. Ensuring you position your ask within this frame work lets the retailer know you’re on their side too.
• Arm yourself with data and insights: Data convinces retailers to make strategic decisions. Insights can help retailers measure plant-based brands through new metrics.

Consumer & Customer Segmentation

• Do your research: Look at retailers current brands to see if there are similar customer attributes that resonate with your brand.
• Hire a national broker. Brokers are able to leverage their client base to have in-depth insights on consumers like yours
• Tap into PBFA’s data and consumer analyst, Linette Kwon: PBFA members can schedule time to meet with Linette to review consumer trends, brand positioning across social listening, and more. These insights will help you better understand your target audience and refine your impact.
• Invest in knowing your customer: Don’t just focus on demographics–keep behavioral, psychographic, and technographic segmentation in mind.
• Over-emphasize your mission to appeal to a broader consumer base. Focus on flexitarians who are plant-curious and care about missions like yours.

After discussing these solutions, the group connected further by allowing each attendee to make an ask for the group. This deepened the group's collaborative spirit by giving others a chance to impart knowledge, make connections, and feel the support of the PBFA community. By the end of the call, it was clear, PBFA members shared a vision of a fair marketplace for plant-based products.Through this roundtable and PBFA’s Retail Advisory Council that taps into the experts within our organization, it’s clear that a culture of collaboration will lead our industry down the path to success.

Why Member Roundtables

This call was the debut of the Member Roundtable format launched at the top of this year, a format whose goal is aimed at the heart of what has brought our industry success thus far: the spirit of collaboration. This first roundtable was undoubtedly a success, and much of the information exchanged was invaluable and crucial to the sustained growth of our sector. Our member community is diverse, innovative, united in vision, and brings together a wealth of knowledge and expertise derived from ample experience in the trenches of our sector. And while our organization has hosted a wide variety of webinars and virtual learning sessions over the years, member roundtables are a new way to bring our rich, member-led community to the front of the conversation.

So, what can we expect from these calls in the future? More roundtable discussions will be scheduled in the coming weeks and months, bringing forward new and diverse topics that we hope will intrigue members whose interests, perspectives, and challenges are dispersed across our industry. Member roundtables are free to join for PBFA members, and if you’re not a member but would like to join these insightful conversations, consider signing up for membership today. We are excited to continue to provide our members a space to inspire, learn, forge connections, and problem-solve in an industry that, historically, has always found success in the spirit of partnership and collaboration – a spirit that is second-nature to the collective that is our member community.

If you are interested in headlining this series as a sponsor or have any questions you’d like answered, please feel free to contact PBFA’s Senior Manager of Member Relations, Sara McGoun at sara.mcgoun@plantbasedfoods.org. Stay up-to-date on future events, including upcoming member roundtables and in-person member socials on our events calendar!