Bob Burke is an author, advisor, keynote speaker, board member for dozens of natural product brands, and one of the country’s leading experts and thought leaders in natural and organic products. He's helped hundreds of companies and brands bring natural and specialty products to market, and was named one of the "Top 25 Business Builders of the Natural Products Industry for the last 25 years" by Natural Foods Merchandiser Magazine. In this episode we discuss: · How to succeed in the natural, organic, “better-for-you” space · Consumer demand for natural products · What does innovation look like ..read more

The Peppered Podcast brings seasoned talk for food and beverage marketing and brand professionals. Whether you are a new emerging food or beverage brand or a well-established brand, this podcast will deliver useful, tangible, practical information and insights to you—game changing knowledge, that you can immediately be put into practice in the day-to-day marketing and management of your food or beverage brand. If you’re looking for resources to grow your brand—subscribe to this podcast. Follow Jamie Allebach on Twitter at @jamieallebach ..read more

How Appetite Appeal Can Help Grow Your Brand On this episode of the Peppered Podcast, we will be discussing Appetite Appeal. Not only is this one of my favorite topics in food and beverage marketing, but it’s a critical component in growing brands. The LOVE of FOOD is one of the strongest human emotions. Food fantasies—anticipating that special moment. How our imaginations can just run wild. It doesn’t just happen. Appetite appeal has two fundamental driving forces: Science and Art. The Science: Our metabolic need to eat. We need food and liquids to fuel our bodies. Humans have powerful mood-a ..read more

Tara-Ann Dugan is the Director of Consumer and Marketplace Insights for the National Pork Board and has more than 12 years of food marketing and research experience, spanning across McDonald’s Corporation, Nielsen, IRI, and Hammacher Schlemmer. She has some great insight not only in the protein category but eating occasions in general. On today’s show we will be taking a deep dive into the wonderful world of pork, meat, and protein. Join us as we discuss: - Changing consumer needs - 9 dinner occasions identified in the new Dinner at Home in America research - Do Millennials and GenZ know how t ..read more

Krishna Kaliannan is the founder of Catalina Crunch, a better-for-you cereal brand that could be equated to “healthy version” Cocoa Puffs. Hailed as a breakthrough in cereal science, Catalina Crunch has that same “light and crunchy” texture and delicious sweet taste that we all grew to love in our favorite childhood cereals—but, with none of the bad ingredients—and it’s low in carbs. In addition to an exciting brand, Krishna also has an incredible story behind his product, including his health journey with Type 1 Diabetes. On this episode of the podcast, we’ll be discussing: - The story behind ..read more

This episode of the Peppered Podcast is with Loren Brill, founder of Sweet Loren’s. Sweet Loren’s is a fast-emerging brand of refrigerated cookie dough—self-described as a clean food company transforming what it means to be convenient and delicious. I love the fact that Sweet Loren’s is extremely indulgent, deliciously sweet —and made with clean, simple ingredients. But more importantly, I love the story behind the brand. When founder, Loren Brill, was diagnosed with Stage 2 Hodgkin’s lymphoma, along with her treatments, she also knew that she needed to change her eating habits. But the one th ..read more

This episode of the Peppered Podcast is with Dan Follese, executive chef and founder of both Follese Consulting and the Food Trend Translator. In the food and beverage biz, innovation is a powerful influence with consumers and can be a strong driving force for brands. And, most innovation is driven by consumer trends. Knowing what the current trends are and hitting them at the right time, can make or break a food or beverage brand. On this episode of the Peppered Podcast, we’re going to dig deep into food trends, discussing: • The differences between Macro & Micro trends • Translating tren ..read more

This episode of the Peppered Podcast focuses exclusively on digital marketing and features Nate Bachynski. It seems like everyone today is an “expert” in digital marketing. So many of the food and beverage brands that I come in contact with simply don’t have their digital and social strategies buttoned-up. If you want to learn the basic framework for a digital strategy, on how to grow your brand, tune in to this episode where we discuss: • Consumer Acquisition—the path to purchase • Reach & Frequency • Consumer Targeting • Geographic • Lifestyle • Category • Micro-Targeting • Retargeting ..read more

My guest on this episode of the Peppered Podcast is Jeff Metzger, President of Best-Met Publishing and publisher for Food World, Food Trade News, and the Mid-Atlantic Grocery Industry Directory. Jeff has been a “go-to guy” for decades for manufacturers, brands, retail executives, buyers, brokers, or anyone who needs to be in the “know” for the grocery biz. If you want to know what’s going on in food and beverage retail, tune in to this episode, where we discuss: Adapting to how and what consumers are eating Where they are purchasing The new role of e-commerce Meal kits and their impact on bran ..read more

In this episode of the Peppered Podcast, I’m having a conversation with Jim Low. Jim is the Executive Vice President of Sales & Marketing at Schuman Cheese. He’s also worked at Enjoy Life Foods, a popular better-for-you snack brand and global food giant, Mondelez, where he worked on the Ritz Crackers, Wheat Thins, and Trident Gum brands. On this episode we discuss: • Working with a 4th generation family brand • Innovation within a mature category • Why creativity is so important for brands • The benefits of distinctive packaging • Gaining distribution for new products • Driving trial with ..read more