Q&A with Emily Schildt, Pop Up Grocer

Q&A WITH EMILY SCHILDT OF POP UP GROCER

Startup CPG: WHAT IS POP UP GROCER, AND HOW DID IT COME ABOUT?

Emily Schildt: Pop Up Grocer came about all by accident. I was a brand marketer, who got my start very early on at a tiny little yogurt company that is now the behemoth you know as Chobani. I was a Jane of all trades there, but really specialized in building the brand. This was an amazing experience which led me to become a consultant for emerging food companies and bring their products to market.

Through that work, I realized that there wasn’t an ideal retail environment to launch products. You could only be so lucky to have one SKU among 500 in a grocery aisle. And this isn’t that exciting, beautiful experience that I felt new CPG products warranted. A lightbulb went off; I decided to create that ideal launch environment for a few of my clients. Once I understood the appetite and excitement for it, we grew very quickly into something much bigger. We opened our first pop up location in April 2019 and had around 120 brands featured.

SCPG: HOW DOES A PRODUCT GET ON YOUR SHELVES?

ES: Sourcing new brands is my personal favorite activity and it’s truly at the core of what we do. It’s where we spend the most of our time. A brand that qualifies to be a part of Pop Up Grocer meets three key criteria. The first and most important is that the brand or founder is doing something truly novel, innovative and compelling, whether that be their founding story, a sustainability component, or a new approach to ingredients. We also look for founders who are underrepresented or under-resourced. Next, we look for a level of responsibility and thoughtfulness in the selection of ingredients and nutrition. And finally, we look for an aesthetically pleasing packaging to take to our shelves.

SCPG: WHAT DOES A PARTNERSHIP LOOK LIKE FOR YOU?

ES: Mass retailers charge small brands exponential fees, from slotting fees to marketing fees, it can be exceptionally costly to get into a grocery store. It also can be really difficult to get through the door. If you don’t have relationships with distributors, brokers, or salespeople, the system is highly competitive.

Our model eliminates all of that difficulty. We work directly with brands. They ship directly to us, so we don’t require that the brand have a distribution network established. We don’t even require them to have UPC codes. We’re a really efficient path to market. We charge a flat advertising fee in exchange for the visibility we offer, and the brands in our space make 80% of the revenue from the sales of their product at their established price.

SCPG: WHAT ARE SOME TRENDS YOU’RE SEEING RIGHT NOW?

ES: We’re coming off of a year that completely changed our habits, and that’s not insignificantly related to food. We’re all cooking at home, and as a result we’ve see baking mixes and bold flavors in the form of spices and condiments emerge. We’re also seeing a lot of non-alcoholic beverages, which has really exploded as a result of people drinking more at home this past year and wanting to find opportunities to decrease consumption.

And of course, were seeing a ton of adaptogenic fill-in-the-blank. Adaptogens are being infused in everything, which goes along with this trend of “chilling out” or “calming” in response to what has been a very tumultuous period for all of us.

SCPG: WHAT’S NEXT FOR POP UP GROCER?

ES: In Q4 of this year, we will be opening our first permanent space in New York, where we will rotate inventory on a quarterly basis. We’ll also continue to pop up, so you can expect three more locations from us next year. We open in Chicago at the end of this month!

If anyone is interested in getting involved, they can reach out to hi@popupgrocer.co. We review brands on a rolling basis and slot them in according to their market of interest. We love connecting with founders, and encourage anyone who might be interested in exploring working together to reach out.

Emily Schildt, founder and brand marketer, is a four-time entrepreneur. Prior to Pop Up Grocer, Emily created and operated brand consultancy Sourdough, where she brought new products to market and collaborated with brands like KIND, Lavva, Ugly, and Seedible. She also co-founded the event series Thing of Wonder and the food conference Bitten. Emily founded Pop Up Grocer in early 2019 by combining her love of marketing, branding and her network to build the ideal retail environment for new product discovery. are underrepresented or under-resourced. Next, we look for a level of responsibility and thoughtfulness in the selection of ingredients and nutrition. And finally, we look for an aesthetically pleasing packaging to take to our shelves.