Megan Rooney
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Spill & Dish: An SFA Podcast
- Spill & Dish: An SFA Podcast, Episodes
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- Spill & Dish: An SFA Podcast, Episode Reviews
Learning Center
Posts posted by Megan Rooney
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Thursday, December 8 at 1pm ET
In this insightful webinar, Rachel Saul, Co-Founder and Chief Strategist of the award-winning agency Chelsea & Rachel Co, will share five of the most common pitfalls food brands encounter when starting a direct to consumer business. Rachel will share tactics, strategies, and real success stories from brands that have increased DTC revenue up to 25x and “nom-nomed” their competition.
Questions for Rachel? Leave them below!
Register here!
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In this introductory session, Felice Thorpe, a consulting sales director with deep experience in specialty foods, will get you ready to sell. You’ll learn how to set goals through SWOT analysis and KPI’s, build a sales funnel, understand sales channels, and craft an elevator pitch, talking points and point-of-sale materials. If you have a question for Felice, please leave it below for her to answer live on Thursday, December 15 at 1pm ET.
Register here today!
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Buckle up for the road trip that is launching your brand on Amazon! The most successful brands do extraordinary preparation before ever arriving at Amazon’s door. Have you invested the time and resources required to understand the selling platform, unit economics, content needs, optimal product and pack configurations, and other best practices that are fundamental to winning on Amazon? This masterclass led by Betsy McGinn, Founder of McGinn eComm, will guide you through the components of your Amazon strategy in order to chart a smart course and avoid bumps in the road for a successful journey!
Bring your questions or leave them below and join us on Thursday, November 17 at 1pm ET.
Register for the webinar here.
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When you sell through retailers, you will likely pay them to promote your products to their customers – that’s trade spend. In this webinar, expert John Maggiore will discuss why trade spend is important, what components to consider, and how to spend your allocated dollars in the most effective ways.
Questions for John? Please leave them below and he'll be sure to answer live Thursday, November 10 at 1pm ET!
Register for the webinar here.
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Thursday, October 20 at 1pm ET
Understanding costs and pricing in this business is fundamental to profitability, success, and fluency in customer discussions. Jonathan Milo Leal, a 20-year manufacturer still working in the trenches on a daily basis, and a long-time teacher of this class for the SFA, will walk you through the numbers from start to finish, and share real-world information and advice. You’ll learn how pricing works, the generally accepted standards for margins, and how to create practical, effective price sheets for wholesale, distributors, and more. Come prepared for some hands-on math!
Questions for Jonathan? Please leave them below, and he'll be sure to answer live!
Register here today!
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Thursday, October 27 at 1pm ET
How effectively does your packaging fight for that essential first glance? And once it's got a grip on those eyeballs, how efficiently does it deliver a knockout pitch? To prime your packaging for peak performance, Victoria Ho of Sherpa CPG will dive into strategic principles, market data, real-life case studies, and industry best practices to empower you with an actionable, innovative toolbox that you can customize to your brand’s current growth stage in anticipation of the next.
Whether you’re just breaking ground on design concepts, focused on strengthening your brand messaging, or building stamina for a milestone brand refresh, she’ll discuss how to optimize your packaging as the secret sauce behind your brand.
Leave any questions you may have for Victoria below. We'll make sure she answers them live!
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Thursday, September 29 at 1pm ET
Silicon Valley-based Mattson Chief Innovation Officer Barb Stuckey will share some of the secrets of their 44+ years of success in developing and commercializing new products. From conceptual alignment to commercial plant trials, you'll better understand and be able to anticipate the challenges along the path from idea to market.
More about our speaker:
Barb has been at Mattson since 1997 and is currently Chief Innovation &
Marketing Officer at North America’s most successful independent developer of
foods and beverages for the retail food and chain restaurant industries. Barb is
known as a taste, food trend, innovation, consumer insights, and product
development expert.
As part of Barb’s role in the innovation projects that make up her daily job, she is
required to taste food and figure out how to make it better. After more than 2
decades doing this, she’s honed her tasting skills and ability to help others make
food taste better. She shared this insight with the world in 2012 when her book
Taste What You’re Missing (Taste) was published.
Barb was instrumental in helping The San Francisco Cooking School integrate
the science of taste into their curriculum. She now teaches the Fundamentals of
Taste to each entering class. Barb is also a contributor to Forbes.com where she
writes about the food industry.
Barb lives with her hypertaster husband, two artisan cats, and splits her time
between San Francisco and Healdsburg, in the heart of Sonona wine country.If you have questions for Barb, please leave them below and we will ask her to answer them live!
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Thursday, September 8 at 1pm ET
Whether you are a manufacturer, co-packer, or company working with these service providers, understanding the intellectual property protections and motivations of each party can illuminate the best practices to follow. This presentation will provide you with the knowledge behind patenting and trade secrets. You’ll learn the answers to the questions: Are both forms of intellectual property protection possible? Is one preferred over the other? And how can each be balanced to allow for the best strategic partnerships for all those involved?
Some info about our speaker:
David Postolski, a senior partner at Gearhart Law, is a registered patent attorney and Intellectual property (IP) attorney. David specializes in assisting inventors, creators, artists, start-ups, entrepreneurs, early-stage companies, and emerging companies with their U.S and international IP strategy, protection, enforcement, and monetization.
Questions for our speaker? Please leave them below for David to answer live!
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Thursday, July 28 at 1pm ET
For the last few years, Facebook marketing has been the easiest and fastest way to attract new followers, fans, and sales. That is, until recently. Join Jeff Fierberg of SORA Digital to learn proven strategies, new techniques, and fast ways to quickly start to diversify your content strategies, including Instagram reels, videos, story posts and more…
Leave your questions for Jeff below to answer live!
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Wednesday, August 24 at 1pm ET
Sarah Masoni has spent most of her career working with food entrepreneurs helping them to understand the essentials of food science and technology. With a little bit of science you can get off to a great start with the new food product you have been dreaming about. Whether you are a seasoned veteran or just getting started, you’ll learn the fundamentals you’ll need from this session.
Questions for Sara? Leave them below!
Register here.
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Thursday, August 11 at 1pm ET
A technical review is a key step in your co-packer search process where you have an interested co-packer and now you need to communicate the intricacies of your product to see if your product is a fit for their manufacturing capabilities. It’s not just technical matchmaking; the co-packer is also evaluating your brand and whether they want to take on your project.
In this webinar, we’ll walk through the four main topics to cover so that you can quickly and effectively communicate your product needs to prospective contract manufacturers.
Register here now. Also, if you are interested in the first webinar of this series, check out Understand your Production Options and Choose your Path July 14 at 1pm!
Questions for our speaker, David Boyle, Co-packing and Commercialization Consultant of Boyle Brands, Inc? Leave them below.
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Thursday, July 14 at 1pm ET
When you’re just getting started with a food business idea, there are lots of decisions to make! In this webinar, we’ll will walk you through the four production options that you should consider and help you understand which option is best for you and your business. You’ll also learn about the factors to consider if you choose to partner with a copacker.
Bring your questions or leave them here for Ashley Sutterfield, Founder and Director of Sage!
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Hi Elizabeth,
You can access the recording under Manage Purchases in the Learning Center after you register!
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On Thursday, May 26 at 1pm, MaryAnne Howland will speak about the medium, the message, and the marketing. In today’s complex brandscape, the business of being creative and cost-efficient when selling your product and the brand has never been more critical.
Marketing technology moves at lightning speed and distributing messaging to niche audiences has never been easier, or so it would seem. Marketers are facing new platforms, devices, and consumers with sophisticated appetites across a mosaic marketplace.
The need for dedicated efforts around multicultural marketing is essential for startups at the onset of building your customer base. Learn how to connect with increasingly more ethnically and culturally diverse consumers with proven strategies for short and long-term success that can push your brand through the clutter, reach new audiences the first time – and keep them.
Learn more about MaryAnne below and please post your questions for her to answer live here!
MaryAnne Howland is a marketing and communications specialist and serves a portfolio of clients in pursuit of transformation from corporate social responsibility to corporate social significance. Through her global network, she uses movement platforms to fan the mission of justice equity, dignity, inclusion (JEDI) and sustainability. They include her own enterprises, Ibis Communications, Global Diversity Leadership Exchange, and THIS!, new fashion for people with disabilities. MaryAnne is also co-founder of the J.E.D.I Collaborative, an initiative for justice, equity, diversity and inclusion in the natural products industry.
As founder and owner of Ibis Communications, a full-service, award-winning advertising agency MaryAnne's role as writer, producer, creative director, and rainmaker, yielded year-to-year business growth from 1995 -2005 totaling over $50 million in revenues and garnered more than 100 awards in direct to consumer marketing and communications. 2006 marked a transition to become a social impact enterprise where she leads a team of consultants and creative professionals who work together to create brand evangelists through creating stories that reflect human value and build brand evangelism through the integration of inclusive messaging and communications to deliver authentic social impact.
MaryAnne has been inclusive branding and marketing consultant to well-known brands such as HCA Healthcare Corporation, Hartford Insurance Co., Pitney Bowes, Toyota, N.A., and Vanderbilt University. Ibis has worked alongside the cable and telecommunications industry for nearly twenty years with leading networks, MSOs and organizations such as TV One, Scripps Networks, Black Entertainment Television (BET), National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC), and the Walter Kaitz Foundation. She is a member of the NAMIC Multicultural Marketing Committee and a judge for the cable industry’s annual Excellence in Multicultural Marketing Awards (EMMA). MaryAnne also represented the cable industry as a member of the People to People Cable and Telecommunications Marketing Delegation to India.
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Starting late May, we will be offering a webinar series on Marketing/PR. We currently have the second webinar in the series open for registration! Check back often for updates with information about the other session speakers and topics.
Igniting an Integrated Paid and Earned Online Media Program to Support Your E-Commerce Business
Thursday, June 30 at 1pm ETThe increase in direct to consumer and online store-based sales for food and beverage brands hasn’t slowed down, despite a slow return to “normal”. How do you stand out in a noisy landscape? Rachel Kay, Founder + President at RKPR will discuss cost effective ways to make your earned media strategy power your e-commerce goals, plus the newest media tools and trends to accelerate your product sales.
Also, feel free to chat everything Marketing/PR here, and submit your questions for our experts to answer live!
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Ready for the final webinar of our Food Safety Webinar Bundle?
Kantha Shelke of Corvus Blue LLC will be with us to speak about:
- Concept-to-commerce pathway
- Generating new product ideas
- Improving existing products
- Testing to enhance quality/extend shelf-life
- Conforming to marketing and label claims such as non-GMO and organic
- Developing go-to-market strategies like concept testing, market opportunity, product testing, and shopper experience analysis
Plus, you can now enter your questions for Kantha here in this thread. Register for this Maker Prep webinar today!
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Are you ready to start selling to multi store chains and supermarkets? Scott Zoeller, Director of Deli for Uncle Giuseppe’s Marketplace, is with us Thursday, April 28 at 1pm ET to help you learn:
- How to know whether you’re ready
- The best ways to reach supermarket buyers
- How to make the pitch
- How to maintain the relationship once you're selling
Have a question for Scott? Submit it here, and we'll be sure he answers it live!
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Evolving consumer demand for specialty foods and beverages has elevated the stakes for small-scale processors. On Thursday, April 14 at 1pm ET, Kantha Shelke, Ph.D., CFS, Senior Lecturer at Johns Hopkins University and Principal of Corvus Blue LLC, will present on the concept-to-commerce pathway, including: the implications of product- and marketing-related regulations; how certifications are licenses to market opportunities; ensuring that unique categories of foods are compliant with regulations, and more.
Please post any questions for Kantha here, and feel free to continue the conversation with fellow attendees in this thread!
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Where can I find the webinar recording and slides?
You may access your download here or look under the Manage Purchases section of the Learning Center.
When are webinar recordings posted?
Webinar recordings are typically posted by end of day, the day the webinar airs.
Where can I find out about upcoming webinars?
You can find out about future webinars on the calendar or announcements sections in the Community Hub, or under the monthly categories of the Learning Center. In addition, reminder emails are sent out the day before each webinar.
What is the difference between the Learning Center and Community Hub?
In the Community Hub, you can explore, ask questions, and connect with others in the specialty food industry. Our Learning Center is where you'll find resources, directories, white papers, recorded webinars, and more to help you build your business.
How can I register for webinars free of charge?
SFA members have access to free and discounted resources as well as members-only discussions. Interested in SFA membership? Visit here.
Where can I ask a question about something I need help with?
In the Community Hub, our Forums section is the perfect place to ask your questions for industry experts and members to chime in on.
Questions about using the Community Hub and Learning Center? Ask it here and we'll add it to the list!
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Makers, do any of the trends you learned of in this webinar apply to your current products or do you plan to incorporate these trends into future products?
[MAKER PREP WEBINAR] How to Make Your Online Marketing More Lovable & Profitable
in Maker Prep
Posted
Thursday, January 26 at 1pm ET
Are you a maker brand with limited time, resources, and money? This webinar is for you. You’ll learn how to segment your audience and personalize communication via better Customer Relationship Management to organize and engage via helpful, human, and holistic online marketing. You’ll also learn how to improve online sales and audience reach with nano- and micro-influencers.
Have a question for our speaker, Louis Nicolaides of Ludwig Marketing and Sales? Leave them below for him to answer live!