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While nutritional supplements are not evaluated by the FDA, there are plenty of regulations around these products that impact their sales at retail. Buyers and brands discussed these regs during a roundtable at ECRM's Vitamin, Weight Management & Sports Nutrition Session moderated by Heather Weidt of WholeFoods Magazine. In this interview with ECRM's Joseph Tarnowski, Heather recaps some key points of discussion from roundtable participants. Here are some of takeaways: Age restrictions: Some states mandate that you must be 18 or over to purchase sports nutrition and weight management supplements, which can hurt sales as it adds another step in the purchasing process -- such as the need for a parent to purchase the supplements for a teen athlete, for example, or having to verify age online before purchasing. Mandatory Ingredient Listing: Supplement manufacturers must provide detailed info on the ingredients on the packaging, which can be very expensive for brands. These include a Supplement Facts panel, Other Ingredients list, and Allergen declarations. FSAs/HSAs: Currently Congress is trying to get a bill passed that would enable supplements to be included in FSAs and HSAs. This can be helpful for driving increased sales of some products. For example, a retail pharmacy that fills a GLP-1 prescription could also make recommendations for complementary supplements that are covered by these flexible spending accounts. Watch the full video interview below! Next year's GLP-1, Weight Management, Vitamin & Nutrition Session will be held February 11-13 in Rosemont, Ill. Click the link in the comments for more information and to register! #supplements #wellness #weightmanagement #ecrmrangeme Judy A. Sarah Davidson Craig C.

Check out the latest findings on what foods consumers are eating and how they are eating them in Joseph Tarnowski's recent interview with Datassential's Renee Lee Wege: https://lnkd.in/eHHFKnAs The interview covers a range of topics from Datassential's Midyear Trends Report, including: - Post-pandemic dining-out - The impact of wellness on consumer food choices - How consumers are eating differently in the face of rising costs and inflation - Trending diets, foods & flavors The blog also includes the full video interview with Renee! Don't forget - ECRM's Foodservice Sessions are happening later this month. To register, click on the link in the comments! #food #dining #foodservice #retail #ecrmrangeme -

While GLP-1s are all the buzz among consumers, shoppers at Florida's Nutrition Smart stores are seeking natural alternatives that can deliver similar weight loss results -- without the risk of side effects, according to Category Manager Joe Geier, who spoke with Joseph Tarnowski at ECRM's recent Vitamin, Weight Management & Sports Nutrition Session. Nutrition Smart offers natural foods and supplements and caters to a market of wellness oriented 40- to 65-year-olds, primarily women, as well as some younger gym crowds. In addition to avoiding potential side effects, many of these shoppers are looking to avoid prescriptions altogether, preferring to find clean and natural solutions. For weight loss, these include glucose-control supplements like berberine and sucontrol, along with specific dietary changes they address on the food side of the store. Most are looking for cleaner ingredients as well. Geier notes that social media has had a huge impact on shoppers' purchasing decisions, and many will come to him with screenshots from wellness influencers posts or podcasts that discuss specific nutritional supplements, and he tries to follow many of these influencers to try and stay ahead of the trends. Check out the video interview below to learn more about what Geier is seeing among his shoppers, as well as some interesting finds he discovered at the session! ECRM's GLP-1, Weight Management, Nutrition, and Vitamin Session will be held February 11-13, 2025, in Rosemont, Ill., and will have a big focus on GLP-1s. For more information or to register, click the link in the comments below or contact Judy A.! #vitamins #supplements #wellness #retail #ecrmrangeme Sarah Davidson Craig C. Andrea K.

We've covered a lot of unique brand origin stories here at ECRM, but this is the first time we're come across a brand that was conceived around a dining room table at a safe house in a war zone. Sam Lerman comes from a military background. After serving in the Air Force in Afghanistan, he continued to work in the defense industry working military acquisitions for some U.S. programs. When Russia invaded Ukraine, he wanted to help the Ukranian people and worked with a small team as a volunteer advisor in 2022 to help bring in much-needed supplies. Over time he fell in love with the country, its culture, its people. He lived in a safe house, and in the evenings, they would sit together at the large dining room table and drink some wine and vodka that some of the local team members would bring in. He fell in those with those, too, but couldn't find them in the U.S. So, he and one of the Ukrainian team members decided to launch an importing business to make that happen. SpyrtWorldwide was born. Among the wines they import is the Shabo brand, which was founded in 1822 by Swiss settlers in te Ukraine. It's served all over the world, and the premium versions can be found in Michelin-starred restaurants. Hetman is one of the vodka brands they are importing. and is from the historic vodka-producing area of Lviv, where the art of distilling has thrived since 1782. Proceeds from sales of all the products go to Invictus Global Response, a nonprofit that sends U.S. explosive ordinance veterans to the Ukraine to remove land mines from liberated towns, as well as train Ukrainian troops on mine removal (Ukraine us the most heavily mined country in the world, according to Sam). In this video interview with Joseph Tarnowski at ECRM's On & Off Premise Adult Beverage Session, Sam shares details about the origin and walks us through the brands he was showcasing at the session. Already he's landed distributors for two states and is in discussions with several major retail establishments about getting on the shelves in their stores! #wine #spirits #adultbeverage #ukraine #imports #ecrmrangeme Amanda Tomsik Sarah Davidson

East Coast Port closures causing supply chain issues for your retail operation? ECRM's category-specific Sessions can help you fill your bench with suppliers you can tap into when disruptions like this occur!

Once again, ECRM & Food and Beverage Magazine hosted the Grand Tasting at the On & Off Premise Adult Beverage Session! During the reception, participants sampled beer, wine and spirits from dozens of brands and cast their votes for their favorites in each category -- while having a ton of fun in the process, as you'll see in the video below! The winners were: BEST BEER: Alaska Craft Distributing BEST WINE: Franzese Wines BEST SPIRIT: ROKiT Drinks MOST INNOVATIVE: MAD TASTY You'll learn more about each winner in an upcoming issue of Food& Beverage Magazine! #beer #wine #spirits #cocktails #foodservice #retail #ecrmrangeme Amanda Tomsik Sarah Davidson Samvel Hakobyan Michael Franzese Johanna DeJoria Michael Politz Lauren Kane

How does a brand or retailer find the right co-manufacturing partner? This was the topic of one of the roundtable discussions at ECRM's recent Vitamin, Weight Management & Sports Nutrition Session, which was moderated by Cole Wooten of Eagle Labs, Inc. In this video, ECRM's Joseph Tarnowski speaks with Cole about some key takeaways from the buyers and brands that participated in the discussion. Following are some of the key areas participants said were important when it comes to determining if a co-man is right for you: - Ownership alignment: Make sure that the ownership of the co-man is aligned with the vision of the brand and has the knowledge and capabilities to take the brand forward. You should have a direct line to the ownership, and make sure that they have a strong background in the CPG space. - Certifications: Some certifications are must-haves for today's co-mans. This includes UL Solutions, NSF and Informed Choice. Others, like sustainability certifications, are not must-haves yet, but are important nonetheless and may become must-haves in a few years. Increasingly, consumers are looking for products that also have clinical studies to back them up. - Quality assurance: It's important to meet the quality assurance team and discuss your products with them. Ensure that expectations are set and will be met. Overall, transparency is a key factor in any co-man relationship. They must be honest about their capabilities, and if something can't be done, they must be upfront about it. "Saying 'no' is better than saying yes to something that's impossible," says Cole. Learn more insights from the discussion in the video below! And thanks again, Eagle Labs, for sponsoring the Golf Tournament! #contractmanufacturing #manufacturing #coman #cpg #retail #ecrmrangeme Sarah Davidson Craig C. Judy A. Wayne Bennett

In the past, many restaurants and bars wouldn't think of selling RTD adult beverages. Now we can find them everywhere -- both on and off premise -- and they account for 10 percent of beverage alcohol sales, according to NielsenIQ's Kaleigh Theriault, who spoke at ECRM's On & Off Premise Adult Beverage Session earlier this month. Hard seltzer RTDs really took off during the pandemic, but they have reached their maturity and sales of the segment are starting to decline as consumers shift to RTD spirits-based cocktails. Convenience is a big factor for this. Off premise, these RTD cocktails free up consumers from the tasks of mixology and enable them to have a variety of flavors with a simple trip to the grocery store. On premise they help provide faster service to guests and free up bartenders to spend their time unique signature creations. Even big brands that have traditionally not been in the Bev Al space are trying to get in the game, such as Dunkin' Spiked tea, Ocean Spray Cranberries' collaboration with Absolut, and Minute Maid Spiked wine cocktails. However, with so many new products launching, consumers are starting to experience flavor fatigue. Because of this, we can expect to see some of the newer innovations with hot, sweet and savory flavors taking off as consumers look for alternatives to the fruity flavors that have been the mainstay of RTD cocktails for years. Check out Kaleigh's video interview with ECRM's Joseph Tarnowski below for more insights on RTDs! Next year's On & Off Premise Adult Beverage Session will be held August 24-26. Click the link in the comments below for more details and to register! #beer #wine #spirits #rtd #retail #foodservice #ecrmrangeme Alessandra Andrade Balerini Marc S Santos Meg Major Amanda Tomsik Sarah Davidson

Consumers are increasingly turning to self-care for the treatment of various ailments and seek products with clean ingredients to do so. And as OrganiCare, LLC has demonstrated, natural products can also pack a solid punch when it comes to efficacy. The brand creates effective natural products for women's health and oral care, providing relief for bacterial vaginosis, yeast infections and genital herpes -- all backed by clinical studies. And it does this without antibiotics or harsh chemicals. OrganiCare products have a formula based on an Italian university discovery which identified a unique process for combining the antimicrobial, healing effects of pure olive oil with life-giving oxygen to create a highly effective, natural solution. In this interview with ECRM's Joseph Tarnowski, recorded at ECRM's Personal Care Session, OrganiCare CEO Caroline Goodner discusses the trend toward self-care and walks us through some of the FemiClear products, shares her successes with ECRM and gives some advice to other brands preparing for buyer meetings at ECRM Sessions. #wellness #femininecare #personalcare #healthcare #ecrmrangeme Janet Carter Smith