speaker-0: This is shelf space. We love talking about what's new on the shelf, but what about what's not there at all? This conversation is with Kaylee, who went from CBG founder to leading a new chapter at OddBunch, a food rescue business cutting waste and getting perfectly good food to more people. Their produce boxes have been one of the hottest things in direct-to-consumer grocery, and now they're taking on the pantry, saving consumers money and solving logistics headaches for manufacturers. Before we jump in, a galactic shout out to the partners who make shelf space possible TD Bank, Faskin, Benchmark Sixty, Pacific Coast Distribution, Rema, and Picnic Creative. Okay, here's my conversation with Kaylee. Kaylee, the stars have aligned. We've reconnected after all these years. I'm so glad we're able to have this conversation. And I do want to ask the big question off the top if you could imagine one innovation in the grocery store, what would it be? But before you answer that, I'm going to tell you the last few answers I've gotten. I've had valet parking. I've had only round wheels and not square wheels on shopping carts, you know, that they've maintained that. Yeah. I've heard Baskets that act like robots and just follow you around. I've heard a whole bunch of things. So innovation in the grocery store. What would you love to see?
speaker-1: Wow, well, those are better than anything I could come up with. But and also thanks. Hi, thanks for having me. Okay, innovation in the grocery store. I would say an opportunity, a real opportunity for smaller players to get in there. And I'm not gonna say like big business penalties, but almost like listing fees and MCBs and quarterly promos and like paying for your spot on the shelf was like. tiered like taxes, but more intensely, you know, like the big brands have to pay the big prices because they're big and they can. And small brands, you don't have to pay listing fees. Wouldn't that be nice? I just think that would introduce just so many opportunities for smaller growing building food brands out there because a lot of it I feel like it gets blocked from from that.
speaker-0: That's a very pro CPG comment from you, by the way. That's that you went deep right away, right into the infrastructure of the industry. That's ⁓ there's no valet parking or or lollipops at the at the checkout counter there. That was that was talked with a founder, a food founder. ⁓ this would have been four years ago.
speaker-1: Serious person, so
speaker-0: She was in South Carolina, and she got a national or mostly national listing with a large US retailer. And they had a program, and it was like female entrepreneurs, you're in this program, and there was no listing fees, and there was just little, I'm not going to say red carpet, but there was like some concessions that were not normal. And she really felt like it was a game changer. And she wanted everything that she could do to give back to that retailer to show them that their faith will be rewarded. And It wasn't charity. It was like, thank you. And I'm gonna work extra hard for you, Mr. Retailer, to show you that I belong on that shelf. And it was a really neat sort of nod to that type of program that you mentioned. I rail against local programs a lot. I don't mean to re rail against them because I think they're important and I want to see more of them. So I don't I'm not trying to be a glass half empty guy, but sometimes those local programs, they're the little bastard child shelf off in the corner behind the Hot Wheels cars and the ping pong balls, and you're like, No one's gonna buy, you know, grandma's hot sauce from there because it's doesn't belong there. It's weird there. But hopefully more and more retailers are picking up what consumers are putting down. And they're like, we want local, we want craft, we want more of the stuff that people are making in our communities.
speaker-1: Yeah. And at an affordable price, which requires the brands to get economies of scale. And so it's kind of a a vegan way of saying chicken or egg. But yeah, it has to s grow together. Their capacity has to grow. There's scale and economy of scale. If they can afford to sell it at a price that people are willing to pay, then that's that's a big win.
speaker-0: normally this first question is the lighthearted and we just dove into the deep end and that's fine. And one of the reasons why we're talking is that can I call you a a retired CPG founder or a in-process exit? Like I know that ⁓ when we first met, you were leading your own CPG brand. You had been leading it for a while and now you're sort of transitioning out of that. Someone else is owning and operating it. And now you're doing something else, which we'll get to in a moment. But when you look back at all those years, Running and owning the blood, sweat, and tears of being a CPG founder, what do you think it taught you?
speaker-1: You know, I often say I feel like I walked out of those thirteen years. Thirteen years? Yeah, thirteen years with like an MBA because I went to school for theater studies. Okay. So I was this little theater kid, just like, I can fake it till I make it. I can pretend to be big business. And I was twenty four when I started my business. So yeah, young and and just was a kind of throw my hat over the fence and then figure out how to go get it kind of person. Which was fine. You know, I did state a before I had any business being there. I shook hands with Whole Foods before I had a real copacker. I was still just cooking in the basement of a restaurant. So a lot of those really early wins happened because I was a little risky, I guess. And I think one thing I learned is that as I grew the company, I started being less risky when other people got involved and they were like, well, you shouldn't do that. Don't grow too fast. Don't do this. Don't do that. And in some s ways, that was amazing advice. In some ways, that's the exact advice I give people now when they come to chat with me about their business growth. But I think certain opportunities, I wish I had followed my gut a little bit more on some things, but then also put extra thought into things like US exports. and making sure I had enough financial runway and things like that. I sort of like a contradicting answer, contradictory answer there. I'm like, follow your gut more, but also think more.
speaker-0: The best experts with their MBAs are the ones that have some of those hard knocks and real world experience. So yeah, I'll send you a plaque for your wall. I promise.
speaker-1: Thank you. And I I think recovering CPG ⁓ CEO is maybe the name. No, I like retired. Retired feels like I hang my sauce bot boss hat and it's yeah, it's there. It's part of me. But definitely excited to have other folks carrying the saucy baton forward and yeah, getting into my new my new gig.
speaker-0: Your entrepreneurial mojo has led you to an odd bunch. And one of the reasons why I get excited about what you're up to is that I mean they're relatively quickly, fast growing entity. It's serving, and we'll get into it. But bring someone like you in. There's not a lot of businesses that are looking for, hey, let's go find a scrappy entrepreneur and put them in this role. Here's a job description, do this role. A lot of entrepreneurs. don't fit well with job descriptions and roles. But obviously the organization is built in such a way that the fit has been great. I know you're relatively new in the role, but sounds like you're hitting the the ground running. So why don't you walk listeners through what it is that you're doing over at BodBunch.
speaker-1: Yeah, I'm so, so grateful for this opportunity to I feel like I'm sort of an intrapreneur. Like I'm still it's a role that soaks my entrepreneurial flame, scratches my entrepreneurial itch. I don't know. One of those probably makes sense, but
speaker-0: The itching burns. This got weird medical in a hurry.
speaker-1: The soundbite of this episode. See, we I knew we'd get to light stuff. Here we go. Yeah. As soon as I saw the job description for this, I just was so excited. I was rapid fired. Like I didn't edit it. I was like, this is me. I love this. I want to be this. And it's just been great. So OddBunch, for folks who don't know, is Canada's largest food rescue box, subscription box. And so up until now, they've primarily focus on produce, you know, the odd, ugly, funky little fruit and veg that gets rejected from retail for any reason. Carrots are kind of crooked, lemons are too sweet, you know, apples are a little too small, but perfect snack size. So silly cosmetic reasons. And we work directly with the farmers to make sure they get money and we're diverting that food waste and providing it to Canadians for 30 to 50% off retail. So Super cool company. I was familiar with it before, and they were looking for someone to start a new box, a pantry box. And it was, they wanted someone with CPG experience, etc. And it's funny because I was kind of percolating on a potential new business idea, actually. I don't know if you know grocery outlet in California. They have one in Ontario too. I think it's a separate entity. But anyway, the concept, I was like, I think we need like a grocery outlet because. As CPG founders, sometimes we're stuck with overstock or labels are slightly askew, or there's a retiring skew or old packaging or a holiday leftovers, et cetera. There's all these reasons, right? Why you end up with excess stock or somebody cancels a PO, which is like the worst one, obviously. But I didn't find a very easy route for that stuff here in Canada. And I was thinking about somehow creating that. So when I saw the job description, I was like, ⁓ perfect. Someone else is already thinking about it. I can just like hop in here and hit the ground running, like you say, because I had all these ideas and all this energy and and so many amazing contacts that I wanted to get the idea out with first.
speaker-0: So pantry box. Now I'm curious when ⁓ you guys look at your consumer base, you look at people that have been buying the odd bunch for a while. How eager are they for a second delivery, an extra delivery, this value add, something that, you know, has nothing to do with fruits and vegetables? Obviously, there's some early insights that show you guys that leaning into this new, new offering, it obviously must make a lot of sense.
speaker-1: For sure. Yeah, honestly, I was shocked when I joined, I sent out a survey to the current odd bunchers. And we got like close to 13,000 responses. And to me, my nonna familia was wonderful, very engaged, but like I would never get 13,000 responses on a survey. So that really showed me the level of of interest and Curiosity and engagement and commitment from the odd bunchers. It's a really, really cool community of, I'd say a mix of people who are in it for in the environmental impact or the mission, folks who want to save money on their groceries, which pretty much everybody right now. Yeah. So there's like a mix of of people in the community, but a lot of them were. curious and they really wanted to support Canadian brands and they liked the discovery aspect because you know when you're going through the grocery store there's a bajillion things and they're all fighting for your visual attention. And and I think folks like the idea of this curated box where we've done the taste test and we've vetted all the products and and we're leaning heavy Canadian as much as possible. And so yeah I'm fairly certain we're gonna have good response. It launches the first week of September. It's a new product. So all that said, I know it might take a little while to to ramp up to the level of the produce boxes because those have a very high volume. But I think people are hungry for it for a lame pun.
speaker-0: From the manufacturing side, you know, maybe this is just my lens on it, but I look at it as a fantastic marketing opportunity. Yes, of course, if you can offload product that's, you know, weird best before some of these anomalies and scenarios they talk about. I mean, you're solving sort of a logistics problem and maybe a little bit of an inventory or cash flow problem. But for the brand managers and marketers and the salespeople, we're like, you know, you always want to be able to get people trying. Your brand. You always want to get it into people's mouths and get people enjoying it. And ideally, that experience being connected to a moment where people have some amount of delight or enjoyment from. And I think that when they receive it and it's paired with other fruits and vegetables and sort of like it's this grocery delivery that's become becoming even more valuable. I think there's a great opportunity there to gain trial and to really delight people that might not know your brand or have kind of forgotten about it. And ⁓ here they are. They've got, you know, something in their box, in their pantry box from them. So I think there's an opportunity for brands and manufacturers on a few different levels and a few different departments to find their way into a pantry box and and really lean on it as a strategic move.
speaker-1: Hundred percent yes. ⁓ because how many times have have we sat in retail stores or stood or danced in my case because I was always in the fridge section trying to stay warm, but at an in-store sampling and it's like four hours and you're standing there trying to get people to sample and some days are great and it really works and it's effective and some days you get like two people in because it's raining or it's too sunny, like it has to be like this kind of perfect day to get that store traffic and I used to find in-store demos like very fun and energizing when they were good, but just so draining and not cost effective and not a good ROI when I was paying other people to do them. And there was just slow foot traffic that day. And that's just that's the reality of in-store sampling. And I think that's so many food brands, like one of their main marketing strategies, which makes sense. But like you're saying, this is guaranteed taste test to thousands, five thousand doors across Canada. And they've paid for the box. It's now sitting on their table. So they will most likely try it. And like you're saying, pair it with delicious fruits and veggies. And we're going to be sending out recipe ideas and sharing founder stories and getting everybody really excited about what's coming.
speaker-0: And the D2C world, I feel like this is maybe like version two or version three of sort of like the pantry box idea or subscription box ideas. I I know that obviously the produce side's working, but in times past, there's been plenty of offerings around grocery boxes of some variety. Many of them have failed. Why do you think those others failed so dramatically?
speaker-1: I mean, I think with pantry, I'll start with produce. With produce, there's a level of I'm okay with whatever fruit and veggie I get. I don't have a super strong preference either way. We do have a substitution form. So like for me, I'm anaphylactically allergic to celery. I know it's very strange. But anytime celery is coming in my box, I have to go in and I have to substitute it out. And that's fine. My hypothesis is that we're going to get far more requests for substitutions on the pantry box because people have food intolerances or sensitivities or brand preferences or the kids won't eat anything that's green. I don't know. So I'm expecting that we might have a little bit more of that. And I'm wondering if prior food subscription boxes didn't really account for any customization, perhaps. I also think building up the volume of customers that we have at Odd Bunch and getting them into the weekly delivery habit before launching the pantry box is I think is a really smart move by by Divi, the CEO and and the whole team. Because now folks are used to getting that that box. And for a lot of people, it covers all their fruit and veggie needs for that week. Some people get it biweekly or monthly or whatever. And some people are like, ⁓ you know, I still have to go get bananas, but Who cares? I cut down my grocery trip by like so much money and so much time. And they have more capacity for other things in their lives. So I think getting them into the habit and enjoying the benefits from that, they're primed. I feel like different audience. They're primed and ready for the next iteration to add on to that, hopefully.
speaker-0: Hopefully, I agree. I feel like customer service is also a bit of a game where there's a lot of subscription centers that we're all involved with in our personal lives and professionally too, where when you need to make an adjustment, either change your plan or you need to skip a delivery or you need to whatever. And if it's not easy and seamless, it's frustrating. It knocks down the value of the subscription suddenly kind of goes, Well, now it's irritating. Now it's frustrating. Now it's inconvenient. Now it's Whatever. And so the fact that because organizationally you've kind of worked your way through all of that and all of that's been refined and people are being well taken care of. Yeah, adding this box, it it it makes sense. It'll be interesting to see what the customer service needs, you know, how they vary between the produce box and the pantry box. So good luck. Are you are you in charge of that part?
speaker-1: Well, I'm the general manager of the pantry vertical altogether. So for now it's me. The team is incredible. The marketing team is they're brilliant. The ops are genius. Like they're so great. So obviously I work with them as well, but essentially right now it's mostly me on pantry. So I definitely, you know, there's a lot that goes into the box creation and all of that. I'm excited for September, but I'm also definitely nervous because it's gonna be about okay, box economics. What eight items are gonna have me hit my cost so that we have a little margin, but I don't wanna like be out there undercutting small brands. Like I don't wanna be that kind of buyer. We're like the cheap but kind buyer. And then we offer the marketing support, like you were saying. So Yeah, the menu creation and like, okay, we're sending up pasta. Do I need a sauce this week too? But we're not trying to be Chef's Plate or HelloFresh. But there's gonna be a lot once we're running that I'm gonna have to learn on the fly, which luckily I'm pretty comfortable with because I did it with Nona Vegan for thirteen years. So
speaker-0: And you're flying pretty fast right now. You're actually recruiting CPG brands, manufacturers to join the pantry box program. Who are you looking for? What categories do you feel like are gonna be a great fit early on? What kind of things are on your radar?
speaker-1: So we're launching two boxes initially. On the produce side, we have eight SKUs. We have organic, small, large, fruit only, all those different options. But on the produce, I mean on the pantry line, sorry, we're gonna start with two. So the pantry box and then the pantry box, plant-based and gluten-free. So hoping that's gonna be a nice catch for a lot of the allergens that folks have right off the bat. So right now, I wanna have a good balance of Pantry staples like rice. And funnily enough, I really need a pasta sauce. You'd think that the former sauce boss would have better pasta sauce connections. But anyway, pasta sauce, canned tomatoes, canned beans. We're working with the cool people for that already. I got my bean people unlocked, got my rice people unlocked, lentils. I'd like some lentils. Got some, got some pasta hammered down too. So all of those sort of staples. Bread is gonna be the most challenging, but not one that I want to skip because it's it'll be the one that most closely mimics the produce cycle because of the expiration date. The sweet and salty snacks, like that's the most fun, obviously, but also I think it's more difficult to get the price that we need with those because I I mean, I know as a former maker myself, ⁓ everything that goes into a product with pitching and all the ingredients and the labor and so. The snack foods, yeah, I'm gonna try to have like one salty and one sweet snack in each box because everyone likes snacks, and then the rest will be more geared towards staples. So honestly, looking for brands small to big, it's and it's a bit of a different conversation with with each, right? The big brands, they have their aging inventory people, like they have a team that already ha is looking for ways to route this aging inventory or excess inventory. So that's That's that conversation. But with smaller brands, sometimes it's aging or excess inventory. And sometimes it's just like, hey, you're doing a really super cool thing with your brand. We'd love to like profile you and elevate you on our marketing efforts. Is there a like direct with you? We'll pick it up kind of thing, price that we can consider that that works for everybody that consider this a bit of a marketing cost. And so those conversations are also really fun. It's just With some in the middle, it's been a bit of both. It's been like here's an opportunistic buy and here's a regular buy and it ends up working for both on both routes.
speaker-0: Well, if you were taking feedback from my wife, you would get requests for a shortbread cookie box, a box delivered of all the different kinds of shortbreads out there. That's that's that's a go-to for her. Okay, so my marketing brain, it kind of goes down this like, well, what would happen? You said opportunistic, and I know you probably meant that more on the logistics side, but what about on the marketing side where you're
speaker-1: Okay, noted.
speaker-0: A a box for Super Bowl or a box for holiday hosting or a box for, you know, like occasion-based stuff where you might only be able to hit that once or twice a year, but pretending ⁓ pretending? I just made up a word. I don't even know what the word was supposed to be. But is there an opportunity for pantry program to work like that? Or is that just is the one off scenario just way too complicated?
speaker-1: Definitely somewhere my brain has gone as well, for sure. I could see that being a potential offshoot or one-off, even things like you know, a snack box only or like a baker box where it's got the flour, sugar, vanilla, whatever other baking items. So getting more specific could be down the road. I think for now, just going with what we know, which is the subscription model and just really creating those two boxes and trying to Again, I know I can't please everybody as much as I want everybody to try it and love it on their first time, but I want to get a lot of customer feedback on the first few boxes and see where the customers want us to go. Right. Our community, the odd bunchers are vocal. And I think they'll I think they'll give me the feedback that may lead to something like that. I think it I think that's a fun idea. I'd love to do like, yeah, themed boxes. I mean, I'm I could with my curation like lean a little themey on, you know, certain ones, but we'll have to see. But thanks for that.
speaker-0: Find it's it's hosting. And I, you know, I don't know, these last few years don't seem to host as much as I I used to, but I love having really unique things for guests. I love serving something that is like, hey, have you tried this? This is cool, and I've just discovered it. And this I I love being able to spark up conversations about the stuff that's being served. And sometimes, and you said it earlier about discovery. I think creating new interesting ways for consumers to discover brands and products that, you know, that aren't familiar to them, I think is a remarkable opportunity. And I think it can stick in people's heads, especially again if it's attached to a memory or experience. And hosting is one of those experiences that we typically associate with hopefully good feelings. Sometimes the ⁓ gathering doesn't go as well as you'd hope, but so maybe I'm wrong there. But ⁓ I love the idea of a of a pantry box sort of helping lean into that. But ⁓ okay, I'll I'll calm down, we'll s let
speaker-1: No, no, that ⁓ you just got me thinking now I wanna like write our marketing team 'cause I want a an a really cool ad would be like be the most interesting person in the room when you host. Like you're on the inside scoop of all these cool local brands and like I love that. Thanks for saying that. That got me jazzed.
speaker-0: Go. My my my advice is free. Except you have to except you have to talk to me with a red record light flashing in your face. Gladly. The way it goes. Yeah. So all right. I have one final question for you. And it's it well, it should, it should be an easy one though. Maybe you're gonna take it down some dark place. I don't know. Favorite grocery shopping experience anywhere in the world? Where was it?
speaker-1: Wow, they're gonna take it somewhere. I don't think okay. My first thought was Madrid and like this really cool open air market and like getting little dates stuffed with nuts and just being like solo backpacking when I was 21 and being like, I love life. But I think on the regs, I love grocery outlet in the States. I really do. I have so much fun. They have so much plant-based and gluten-free stuff there. They always play the best music. My fiance and I are always like dancing in the halls at grocery outlets. So that's that's a pretty good time. I gave you a light answer there. We'll we'll end happy.
speaker-0: Yeah. All right. Good job. There you go. Little a little hint to some youthful travel and then like a straight up regular grocery experience. That's solid. Good deal. I love that we had this chat. I'm excited for Odd Bunches Pantry Box and any brands and manufacturers that come to mind. I'm just gonna introduce I'm just gonna be hey, talk to her. Like just go, just explore it. And I love the fact that you're hunting in the Canadian market for as many strategic partners possible. I love that you guys are positioning this to be really helpful to the brands as well as to connect them to their consumers and address food waste as well, which we need more of that across the value chain. This is sort of like near the end of the value chain, right? It's just one of the many touch points we need to have addressed. And I think the Canadian consumer represents a person that wants to be a part of that. So I love that you guys are leaning into it. And I see nothing but ⁓ blue skies ahead for you guys.
speaker-1: Love that. Thank you so much. Good forecast. I'll take it.
speaker-0: Thanks for listening to this episode of Shelf Space. If you like what you hear, I would be eternally grateful for a five-star rating and a quick share on social. Your support means the world to me and our partners: TD, Faskin, REMA, Pacific Coast Distribution, Picnic Creative, and Benchmark 60. For bonus content and resources from our sponsors, go to ShelfSpacePodcast.com. I'm Corbin Hebert. I'm glad we're on this rocket ship together. I'll see you in the future.
speaker-1: Wow, well, those are better than anything I could come up with. But and also thanks. Hi, thanks for having me. Okay, innovation in the grocery store. I would say an opportunity, a real opportunity for smaller players to get in there. And I'm not gonna say like big business penalties, but almost like listing fees and MCBs and quarterly promos and like paying for your spot on the shelf was like. tiered like taxes, but more intensely, you know, like the big brands have to pay the big prices because they're big and they can. And small brands, you don't have to pay listing fees. Wouldn't that be nice? I just think that would introduce just so many opportunities for smaller growing building food brands out there because a lot of it I feel like it gets blocked from from that.
speaker-0: That's a very pro CPG comment from you, by the way. That's that you went deep right away, right into the infrastructure of the industry. That's ⁓ there's no valet parking or or lollipops at the at the checkout counter there. That was that was talked with a founder, a food founder. ⁓ this would have been four years ago.
speaker-1: Serious person, so
speaker-0: She was in South Carolina, and she got a national or mostly national listing with a large US retailer. And they had a program, and it was like female entrepreneurs, you're in this program, and there was no listing fees, and there was just little, I'm not going to say red carpet, but there was like some concessions that were not normal. And she really felt like it was a game changer. And she wanted everything that she could do to give back to that retailer to show them that their faith will be rewarded. And It wasn't charity. It was like, thank you. And I'm gonna work extra hard for you, Mr. Retailer, to show you that I belong on that shelf. And it was a really neat sort of nod to that type of program that you mentioned. I rail against local programs a lot. I don't mean to re rail against them because I think they're important and I want to see more of them. So I don't I'm not trying to be a glass half empty guy, but sometimes those local programs, they're the little bastard child shelf off in the corner behind the Hot Wheels cars and the ping pong balls, and you're like, No one's gonna buy, you know, grandma's hot sauce from there because it's doesn't belong there. It's weird there. But hopefully more and more retailers are picking up what consumers are putting down. And they're like, we want local, we want craft, we want more of the stuff that people are making in our communities.
speaker-1: Yeah. And at an affordable price, which requires the brands to get economies of scale. And so it's kind of a a vegan way of saying chicken or egg. But yeah, it has to s grow together. Their capacity has to grow. There's scale and economy of scale. If they can afford to sell it at a price that people are willing to pay, then that's that's a big win.
speaker-0: normally this first question is the lighthearted and we just dove into the deep end and that's fine. And one of the reasons why we're talking is that can I call you a a retired CPG founder or a in-process exit? Like I know that ⁓ when we first met, you were leading your own CPG brand. You had been leading it for a while and now you're sort of transitioning out of that. Someone else is owning and operating it. And now you're doing something else, which we'll get to in a moment. But when you look back at all those years, Running and owning the blood, sweat, and tears of being a CPG founder, what do you think it taught you?
speaker-1: You know, I often say I feel like I walked out of those thirteen years. Thirteen years? Yeah, thirteen years with like an MBA because I went to school for theater studies. Okay. So I was this little theater kid, just like, I can fake it till I make it. I can pretend to be big business. And I was twenty four when I started my business. So yeah, young and and just was a kind of throw my hat over the fence and then figure out how to go get it kind of person. Which was fine. You know, I did state a before I had any business being there. I shook hands with Whole Foods before I had a real copacker. I was still just cooking in the basement of a restaurant. So a lot of those really early wins happened because I was a little risky, I guess. And I think one thing I learned is that as I grew the company, I started being less risky when other people got involved and they were like, well, you shouldn't do that. Don't grow too fast. Don't do this. Don't do that. And in some s ways, that was amazing advice. In some ways, that's the exact advice I give people now when they come to chat with me about their business growth. But I think certain opportunities, I wish I had followed my gut a little bit more on some things, but then also put extra thought into things like US exports. and making sure I had enough financial runway and things like that. I sort of like a contradicting answer, contradictory answer there. I'm like, follow your gut more, but also think more.
speaker-0: The best experts with their MBAs are the ones that have some of those hard knocks and real world experience. So yeah, I'll send you a plaque for your wall. I promise.
speaker-1: Thank you. And I I think recovering CPG ⁓ CEO is maybe the name. No, I like retired. Retired feels like I hang my sauce bot boss hat and it's yeah, it's there. It's part of me. But definitely excited to have other folks carrying the saucy baton forward and yeah, getting into my new my new gig.
speaker-0: Your entrepreneurial mojo has led you to an odd bunch. And one of the reasons why I get excited about what you're up to is that I mean they're relatively quickly, fast growing entity. It's serving, and we'll get into it. But bring someone like you in. There's not a lot of businesses that are looking for, hey, let's go find a scrappy entrepreneur and put them in this role. Here's a job description, do this role. A lot of entrepreneurs. don't fit well with job descriptions and roles. But obviously the organization is built in such a way that the fit has been great. I know you're relatively new in the role, but sounds like you're hitting the the ground running. So why don't you walk listeners through what it is that you're doing over at BodBunch.
speaker-1: Yeah, I'm so, so grateful for this opportunity to I feel like I'm sort of an intrapreneur. Like I'm still it's a role that soaks my entrepreneurial flame, scratches my entrepreneurial itch. I don't know. One of those probably makes sense, but
speaker-0: The itching burns. This got weird medical in a hurry.
speaker-1: The soundbite of this episode. See, we I knew we'd get to light stuff. Here we go. Yeah. As soon as I saw the job description for this, I just was so excited. I was rapid fired. Like I didn't edit it. I was like, this is me. I love this. I want to be this. And it's just been great. So OddBunch, for folks who don't know, is Canada's largest food rescue box, subscription box. And so up until now, they've primarily focus on produce, you know, the odd, ugly, funky little fruit and veg that gets rejected from retail for any reason. Carrots are kind of crooked, lemons are too sweet, you know, apples are a little too small, but perfect snack size. So silly cosmetic reasons. And we work directly with the farmers to make sure they get money and we're diverting that food waste and providing it to Canadians for 30 to 50% off retail. So Super cool company. I was familiar with it before, and they were looking for someone to start a new box, a pantry box. And it was, they wanted someone with CPG experience, etc. And it's funny because I was kind of percolating on a potential new business idea, actually. I don't know if you know grocery outlet in California. They have one in Ontario too. I think it's a separate entity. But anyway, the concept, I was like, I think we need like a grocery outlet because. As CPG founders, sometimes we're stuck with overstock or labels are slightly askew, or there's a retiring skew or old packaging or a holiday leftovers, et cetera. There's all these reasons, right? Why you end up with excess stock or somebody cancels a PO, which is like the worst one, obviously. But I didn't find a very easy route for that stuff here in Canada. And I was thinking about somehow creating that. So when I saw the job description, I was like, ⁓ perfect. Someone else is already thinking about it. I can just like hop in here and hit the ground running, like you say, because I had all these ideas and all this energy and and so many amazing contacts that I wanted to get the idea out with first.
speaker-0: So pantry box. Now I'm curious when ⁓ you guys look at your consumer base, you look at people that have been buying the odd bunch for a while. How eager are they for a second delivery, an extra delivery, this value add, something that, you know, has nothing to do with fruits and vegetables? Obviously, there's some early insights that show you guys that leaning into this new, new offering, it obviously must make a lot of sense.
speaker-1: For sure. Yeah, honestly, I was shocked when I joined, I sent out a survey to the current odd bunchers. And we got like close to 13,000 responses. And to me, my nonna familia was wonderful, very engaged, but like I would never get 13,000 responses on a survey. So that really showed me the level of of interest and Curiosity and engagement and commitment from the odd bunchers. It's a really, really cool community of, I'd say a mix of people who are in it for in the environmental impact or the mission, folks who want to save money on their groceries, which pretty much everybody right now. Yeah. So there's like a mix of of people in the community, but a lot of them were. curious and they really wanted to support Canadian brands and they liked the discovery aspect because you know when you're going through the grocery store there's a bajillion things and they're all fighting for your visual attention. And and I think folks like the idea of this curated box where we've done the taste test and we've vetted all the products and and we're leaning heavy Canadian as much as possible. And so yeah I'm fairly certain we're gonna have good response. It launches the first week of September. It's a new product. So all that said, I know it might take a little while to to ramp up to the level of the produce boxes because those have a very high volume. But I think people are hungry for it for a lame pun.
speaker-0: From the manufacturing side, you know, maybe this is just my lens on it, but I look at it as a fantastic marketing opportunity. Yes, of course, if you can offload product that's, you know, weird best before some of these anomalies and scenarios they talk about. I mean, you're solving sort of a logistics problem and maybe a little bit of an inventory or cash flow problem. But for the brand managers and marketers and the salespeople, we're like, you know, you always want to be able to get people trying. Your brand. You always want to get it into people's mouths and get people enjoying it. And ideally, that experience being connected to a moment where people have some amount of delight or enjoyment from. And I think that when they receive it and it's paired with other fruits and vegetables and sort of like it's this grocery delivery that's become becoming even more valuable. I think there's a great opportunity there to gain trial and to really delight people that might not know your brand or have kind of forgotten about it. And ⁓ here they are. They've got, you know, something in their box, in their pantry box from them. So I think there's an opportunity for brands and manufacturers on a few different levels and a few different departments to find their way into a pantry box and and really lean on it as a strategic move.
speaker-1: Hundred percent yes. ⁓ because how many times have have we sat in retail stores or stood or danced in my case because I was always in the fridge section trying to stay warm, but at an in-store sampling and it's like four hours and you're standing there trying to get people to sample and some days are great and it really works and it's effective and some days you get like two people in because it's raining or it's too sunny, like it has to be like this kind of perfect day to get that store traffic and I used to find in-store demos like very fun and energizing when they were good, but just so draining and not cost effective and not a good ROI when I was paying other people to do them. And there was just slow foot traffic that day. And that's just that's the reality of in-store sampling. And I think that's so many food brands, like one of their main marketing strategies, which makes sense. But like you're saying, this is guaranteed taste test to thousands, five thousand doors across Canada. And they've paid for the box. It's now sitting on their table. So they will most likely try it. And like you're saying, pair it with delicious fruits and veggies. And we're going to be sending out recipe ideas and sharing founder stories and getting everybody really excited about what's coming.
speaker-0: And the D2C world, I feel like this is maybe like version two or version three of sort of like the pantry box idea or subscription box ideas. I I know that obviously the produce side's working, but in times past, there's been plenty of offerings around grocery boxes of some variety. Many of them have failed. Why do you think those others failed so dramatically?
speaker-1: I mean, I think with pantry, I'll start with produce. With produce, there's a level of I'm okay with whatever fruit and veggie I get. I don't have a super strong preference either way. We do have a substitution form. So like for me, I'm anaphylactically allergic to celery. I know it's very strange. But anytime celery is coming in my box, I have to go in and I have to substitute it out. And that's fine. My hypothesis is that we're going to get far more requests for substitutions on the pantry box because people have food intolerances or sensitivities or brand preferences or the kids won't eat anything that's green. I don't know. So I'm expecting that we might have a little bit more of that. And I'm wondering if prior food subscription boxes didn't really account for any customization, perhaps. I also think building up the volume of customers that we have at Odd Bunch and getting them into the weekly delivery habit before launching the pantry box is I think is a really smart move by by Divi, the CEO and and the whole team. Because now folks are used to getting that that box. And for a lot of people, it covers all their fruit and veggie needs for that week. Some people get it biweekly or monthly or whatever. And some people are like, ⁓ you know, I still have to go get bananas, but Who cares? I cut down my grocery trip by like so much money and so much time. And they have more capacity for other things in their lives. So I think getting them into the habit and enjoying the benefits from that, they're primed. I feel like different audience. They're primed and ready for the next iteration to add on to that, hopefully.
speaker-0: Hopefully, I agree. I feel like customer service is also a bit of a game where there's a lot of subscription centers that we're all involved with in our personal lives and professionally too, where when you need to make an adjustment, either change your plan or you need to skip a delivery or you need to whatever. And if it's not easy and seamless, it's frustrating. It knocks down the value of the subscription suddenly kind of goes, Well, now it's irritating. Now it's frustrating. Now it's inconvenient. Now it's Whatever. And so the fact that because organizationally you've kind of worked your way through all of that and all of that's been refined and people are being well taken care of. Yeah, adding this box, it it it makes sense. It'll be interesting to see what the customer service needs, you know, how they vary between the produce box and the pantry box. So good luck. Are you are you in charge of that part?
speaker-1: Well, I'm the general manager of the pantry vertical altogether. So for now it's me. The team is incredible. The marketing team is they're brilliant. The ops are genius. Like they're so great. So obviously I work with them as well, but essentially right now it's mostly me on pantry. So I definitely, you know, there's a lot that goes into the box creation and all of that. I'm excited for September, but I'm also definitely nervous because it's gonna be about okay, box economics. What eight items are gonna have me hit my cost so that we have a little margin, but I don't wanna like be out there undercutting small brands. Like I don't wanna be that kind of buyer. We're like the cheap but kind buyer. And then we offer the marketing support, like you were saying. So Yeah, the menu creation and like, okay, we're sending up pasta. Do I need a sauce this week too? But we're not trying to be Chef's Plate or HelloFresh. But there's gonna be a lot once we're running that I'm gonna have to learn on the fly, which luckily I'm pretty comfortable with because I did it with Nona Vegan for thirteen years. So
speaker-0: And you're flying pretty fast right now. You're actually recruiting CPG brands, manufacturers to join the pantry box program. Who are you looking for? What categories do you feel like are gonna be a great fit early on? What kind of things are on your radar?
speaker-1: So we're launching two boxes initially. On the produce side, we have eight SKUs. We have organic, small, large, fruit only, all those different options. But on the produce, I mean on the pantry line, sorry, we're gonna start with two. So the pantry box and then the pantry box, plant-based and gluten-free. So hoping that's gonna be a nice catch for a lot of the allergens that folks have right off the bat. So right now, I wanna have a good balance of Pantry staples like rice. And funnily enough, I really need a pasta sauce. You'd think that the former sauce boss would have better pasta sauce connections. But anyway, pasta sauce, canned tomatoes, canned beans. We're working with the cool people for that already. I got my bean people unlocked, got my rice people unlocked, lentils. I'd like some lentils. Got some, got some pasta hammered down too. So all of those sort of staples. Bread is gonna be the most challenging, but not one that I want to skip because it's it'll be the one that most closely mimics the produce cycle because of the expiration date. The sweet and salty snacks, like that's the most fun, obviously, but also I think it's more difficult to get the price that we need with those because I I mean, I know as a former maker myself, ⁓ everything that goes into a product with pitching and all the ingredients and the labor and so. The snack foods, yeah, I'm gonna try to have like one salty and one sweet snack in each box because everyone likes snacks, and then the rest will be more geared towards staples. So honestly, looking for brands small to big, it's and it's a bit of a different conversation with with each, right? The big brands, they have their aging inventory people, like they have a team that already ha is looking for ways to route this aging inventory or excess inventory. So that's That's that conversation. But with smaller brands, sometimes it's aging or excess inventory. And sometimes it's just like, hey, you're doing a really super cool thing with your brand. We'd love to like profile you and elevate you on our marketing efforts. Is there a like direct with you? We'll pick it up kind of thing, price that we can consider that that works for everybody that consider this a bit of a marketing cost. And so those conversations are also really fun. It's just With some in the middle, it's been a bit of both. It's been like here's an opportunistic buy and here's a regular buy and it ends up working for both on both routes.
speaker-0: Well, if you were taking feedback from my wife, you would get requests for a shortbread cookie box, a box delivered of all the different kinds of shortbreads out there. That's that's that's a go-to for her. Okay, so my marketing brain, it kind of goes down this like, well, what would happen? You said opportunistic, and I know you probably meant that more on the logistics side, but what about on the marketing side where you're
speaker-1: Okay, noted.
speaker-0: A a box for Super Bowl or a box for holiday hosting or a box for, you know, like occasion-based stuff where you might only be able to hit that once or twice a year, but pretending ⁓ pretending? I just made up a word. I don't even know what the word was supposed to be. But is there an opportunity for pantry program to work like that? Or is that just is the one off scenario just way too complicated?
speaker-1: Definitely somewhere my brain has gone as well, for sure. I could see that being a potential offshoot or one-off, even things like you know, a snack box only or like a baker box where it's got the flour, sugar, vanilla, whatever other baking items. So getting more specific could be down the road. I think for now, just going with what we know, which is the subscription model and just really creating those two boxes and trying to Again, I know I can't please everybody as much as I want everybody to try it and love it on their first time, but I want to get a lot of customer feedback on the first few boxes and see where the customers want us to go. Right. Our community, the odd bunchers are vocal. And I think they'll I think they'll give me the feedback that may lead to something like that. I think it I think that's a fun idea. I'd love to do like, yeah, themed boxes. I mean, I'm I could with my curation like lean a little themey on, you know, certain ones, but we'll have to see. But thanks for that.
speaker-0: Find it's it's hosting. And I, you know, I don't know, these last few years don't seem to host as much as I I used to, but I love having really unique things for guests. I love serving something that is like, hey, have you tried this? This is cool, and I've just discovered it. And this I I love being able to spark up conversations about the stuff that's being served. And sometimes, and you said it earlier about discovery. I think creating new interesting ways for consumers to discover brands and products that, you know, that aren't familiar to them, I think is a remarkable opportunity. And I think it can stick in people's heads, especially again if it's attached to a memory or experience. And hosting is one of those experiences that we typically associate with hopefully good feelings. Sometimes the ⁓ gathering doesn't go as well as you'd hope, but so maybe I'm wrong there. But ⁓ I love the idea of a of a pantry box sort of helping lean into that. But ⁓ okay, I'll I'll calm down, we'll s let
speaker-1: No, no, that ⁓ you just got me thinking now I wanna like write our marketing team 'cause I want a an a really cool ad would be like be the most interesting person in the room when you host. Like you're on the inside scoop of all these cool local brands and like I love that. Thanks for saying that. That got me jazzed.
speaker-0: Go. My my my advice is free. Except you have to except you have to talk to me with a red record light flashing in your face. Gladly. The way it goes. Yeah. So all right. I have one final question for you. And it's it well, it should, it should be an easy one though. Maybe you're gonna take it down some dark place. I don't know. Favorite grocery shopping experience anywhere in the world? Where was it?
speaker-1: Wow, they're gonna take it somewhere. I don't think okay. My first thought was Madrid and like this really cool open air market and like getting little dates stuffed with nuts and just being like solo backpacking when I was 21 and being like, I love life. But I think on the regs, I love grocery outlet in the States. I really do. I have so much fun. They have so much plant-based and gluten-free stuff there. They always play the best music. My fiance and I are always like dancing in the halls at grocery outlets. So that's that's a pretty good time. I gave you a light answer there. We'll we'll end happy.
speaker-0: Yeah. All right. Good job. There you go. Little a little hint to some youthful travel and then like a straight up regular grocery experience. That's solid. Good deal. I love that we had this chat. I'm excited for Odd Bunches Pantry Box and any brands and manufacturers that come to mind. I'm just gonna introduce I'm just gonna be hey, talk to her. Like just go, just explore it. And I love the fact that you're hunting in the Canadian market for as many strategic partners possible. I love that you guys are positioning this to be really helpful to the brands as well as to connect them to their consumers and address food waste as well, which we need more of that across the value chain. This is sort of like near the end of the value chain, right? It's just one of the many touch points we need to have addressed. And I think the Canadian consumer represents a person that wants to be a part of that. So I love that you guys are leaning into it. And I see nothing but ⁓ blue skies ahead for you guys.
speaker-1: Love that. Thank you so much. Good forecast. I'll take it.
speaker-0: Thanks for listening to this episode of Shelf Space. If you like what you hear, I would be eternally grateful for a five-star rating and a quick share on social. Your support means the world to me and our partners: TD, Faskin, REMA, Pacific Coast Distribution, Picnic Creative, and Benchmark 60. For bonus content and resources from our sponsors, go to ShelfSpacePodcast.com. I'm Corbin Hebert. I'm glad we're on this rocket ship together. I'll see you in the future.
