Since its launch in 2020, St. Louis startup Kitchen Stickin’ LLC has sold its innovative tape dispenser online, but at only a single brick-and-mortar retail location. It now has a chance to expand to the nation’s largest retail chain.
This week, Kitchen Stickin’ will participate in Walmart Inc.’s annual Open Call event. The event, which takes place Tuesday and Wednesday, involves about 1,200 U.S. businesses pitching their products to the Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer (NYSE: WMT).
For Kitchen Stickin’, inking a deal with Walmart to sell its products on store shelves would mark a major milestone.
“This would represent my first major leap into retail, should I be so fortunate to secure a deal,” said Emmanuel Martirez, founder of Kitchen Stickin’.
Martirez’s firm is one of at least two St. Louis startups pitching in Walmart’s Open Call this week. Hungry Planet, the local startup that sells an array of plant-based meats, has announced it also was chosen for the event. Walmart did not immediately respond to a request for a full list of St. Louis-area companies participating in this week’s Open Call.
Companies selected for the Open Call, which Walmart says is its "largest sourcing event," have the opportunity to participate either virtually or in person. Kitchen Stickin’ has opted for a virtual meeting while Hungry Planet co-founder and CEO Todd Boyman said his company plans to be in person in Bentonville for the event. Walmart said the roughly 1,200 companies picked for its Open Call were chosen from a pool of more than 4,500 applicants, with the selected firms having the ability to meet with buyers from Walmart and/or Sam’s Club, Walmart’s warehouse retail brand.
Martirez created the Kitchen Stickin’ tape dispenser specifically for kitchen use, seeking to help families reduce food waste by making it easier to label leftover meals. Its tape dispenser can mount damage-free on refrigerators and walls and holds a roll of tape and a permanent marker. While initially conceptualized for home use, Martirez says the product has also garnered sales from companies that use tape and labels, including restaurants, bakeries, and information and technology companies. It’s that range of customers that has led Martirez to use the upcoming Open Call event to pitch his product to Sam’s Club.
“They also have a lot of small businesses, restaurants and things like that in their customer base,” he said.
Securing a deal with Sam’s Club would expand Martirez's company’s relationship with Walmart. Kitchen Stickin’ currently sells its product through Walmart’s e-commerce platform.
“It’s a whole different ballgame to go and get into their brick-and-mortar retail locations,” he said.
Placement on Sam’s Club shelves could be a key accelerator for Kitchen Stickin', Martirez said, spurring increases in production and distribution, while also expanding the company's geographic reach.
“With the kind of footprint Sam’s Club has nationwide, it would really be amazing and open all kinds of doors to us and give us the green light with some other plans we have been working on and waiting in the wings for a place later when our business has scaled to a larger point,” he said. "It would help us get to that point."
