When a new food brand is ready to launch commercially, there are some common pitfalls that Meagen Arensdorff with consumer brands agency C.A. Fortune often sees.
The first is packaging. Second is positioning of the brand. The third is pricing.
That's part of the reason C.A. Fortune began its Build Tank accelerator in 2021. Arensdorff heads the program, which gives emerging food brands a chance to hear from experts about what they can and should be doing differently moving forward. Brands are scored on their packaging, their pitch and product innovation.
"Whether it's the type of packaging that the product is in or just the branding or labeling on a packaging, we get a lot of feedback on that," she told Chicago Inno.
The locally based agency's accelerator culminates in a "Shark Tank"-style pitch event, held in Chicago last week, that gives new food brands critical feedback from some of the biggest retailers in the industry.
The third annual Build Tank saw eight C.A. Fortune brands pitch to a panel of buyers from Kroger, Safeway, Sprouts Farmers Market and Whole Foods Market, along with other high-powered retail buyers.
The participating brands ranged in size and category across food and beverage, and included Top Fox Snacks, Whole Moon, Chum Fruit Bites, Uncorked, Collective Arts, Milliways, Porta and Unbound Snacks.
Although the companies didn’t walk away from the Build Tank event with an investment in exchange for equity, each received valuable insight into their brand from a table full of food veterans that have been there before.
"There was a brand last year that received some challenging or constructive criticism about the taste of their product, so they went back to the drawing board," Arensdorff said. "One of the retailers that gave them that constructive feedback was Sprouts. Because they went back and fixed the taste of their products, Sprouts was really impressed and they've brought them in."
Arensdorff has seen it go the other way as well, with companies not taking the feedback they receive to heart.
"Another brand got some critical feedback about packaging of their product and the brand didn't want to make those adjustments. Ultimately, the brand folded because they couldn't win distribution," she added. "It shows how critical feedback can be for young brands."
At the end of the pitch day, which saw each brand get 12 minutes to present, Milliways was named most innovative, Collective Arts received best packaging, Whole Moon won best pitch and Unbound Snacks was named the best overall Build Tank brand.
"Our Build Tank is designed for brands to hear directly from the retailers and the retailers to give them feedback — whether that’s the packaging, pitching strategy, their messaging and positioning about the brand, and whether or not they think it will resonate with the consumer," Arensdorff said.
