#241 - Breaking Into Misfits Market: What the Buying Team Actually Wants
The Startup CPG Podcast
Startup CPG
4.9 • 642 Ratings
🗓️ 24 March 2026
⏱️ 53 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Think Misfits Market is just a place to offload short-coded inventory? Think again. In this episode, Daniel Scharff sits down with the Misfits Market buying team — Steve Edelman, Jessie Kimsey, and Emma Dineen — to pull back the curtain on the "new" Misfits Market and what it really takes to get your brand into their curated assortment.
From the treasure hunt experience they've built for subscribers to the live brand pitching session at the end, this one is packed with insight for any emerging CPG brand looking to crack e-commerce.
You will learn:
- How Misfits evolved from rescued produce to a tightly curated grocery destination of ~1,100 SKUs
- The three pathways to get on their platform: opportunity buys, LTOs, and replenishment
- What a winning pitch email actually looks like (hint: know their assortment before you reach out)
- Why transparency about your pricing, MOQs, and operations matters more than a perfect margin
- What categories they're actively looking to fill right now: dairy, frozen, charcuterie, and more
- Why some brands that underperform elsewhere absolutely soar on Misfits — and the "1 in 1,100" advantage
- Live brand pitches from the audience — and which ones made the Misfits team's eyes go wide
Episode Links:
Brands who pitched:
- Vital Halva — Brooklyn sesame bar, 19g fiber, 12g protein: https://vitalhalva.com/
- Veggie Vice — Freeze-dried veggie chips (zucchini & salt, broccoli sour cream & onion), viral on TikTok: https://www.veggievice.com/
- Nout — Macadamia nut butter with black sesame and matcha: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nout
- Aveyo — Avocado mayo made from actual avocados, 75% less fat/calories than oil-based mayo: https://www.aveyolife.com/
- Little Gourmets — Fresh, veggie-rich, globally inspired baby food: https://lilgourmets.com
- Ptashka — Fully cooked frozen sweet & savory crepes: https://www.ptashkacrepes.com
- Pezzy Pets — Pet treats made from invasive species sourced from fishermen and hunters: https://pezzypets.com/
- SAYSO — Stick pack cocktail/mocktail mixes, dehydrated, low sugar: https://drinksayso.com/
- Reclamation Foods — Upcycled Korean-style bone broth, shelf stable, jiggles in fridge: https://reclamationfoods.com/
- Pantry Gems — Single-tablespoon tomato paste portions: https://pantrygems.co/
- OH MY! — Spoonable dessert butter in jars and squeeze pouches, gluten/dairy free: https://eatohmy.com/collections/dessert-butters
- Hot Girl Sauce— Squeezable chili oil bridging chili crisp and hot sauce categories: https://thehotgirlsauce.com
Reach the Misfits buying team directly: 📧 procurement@misfitsmarket.com
Connect with the guests:
- Misfits Market Website: https://www.misfitsmarket.com/
- Stephen Edelman, Sr. Director Category Management, Misfits Market
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenedelman/ - Jessie Kimsey, Associate Director Vendor Strategy & Category Innovation, Misfits Market
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessie-kimsey-80023266/ - Emma Dineen, Category Manager, Misfits Market
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmadineen/ - Shop Misfits Market: https://www.misfitsmarket.com/hp58
Don't forget to leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify if you enjoyed this episode. For potential sponsorship opportunities or to join the Startup CPG community, visit http://www.startupcpg.com.
Show Links:
- Transcripts of each episode are available on the Transistor platform that hosts our podcast here (click on the episode and toggle to “Transcript” at the top)
- Join the Startup CPG Slack community (35K+ members and growing!)
- Follow @startupcpg
- Visit host Daniel's Linkedin
- Questions or comments about the episode? Email Daniel at podcast@startupcpg.com
- Episode music by Super Fantastics
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hey friends, today I get to tell you about another amazing brand from our community that's in the Redwood Capital Partners Consumer Fund. They're called Sunny. Let's be honest, we all still have a soft spot for those nostalgic snacks from our childhood. We want that same convenience, but we're done with the junk. That's exactly why Sunny exists. |
| 0:25.4 | Sunny is bringing convenience and nutrition together for busy families and snacking adults. |
| 0:27.8 | We want products that are truly cleaned up. |
| 0:31.7 | We're talking seed oil-free, gluten-free, and totally free of refined sugars. |
| 0:36.5 | Get your hands on Sunny's sea salt or cheddar crackers or maybe one of their snack packs. |
| 0:41.4 | You could go for the sunflower butter and strawberry jam or maybe the margarita pizza snack. |
| 0:46.7 | You can shop Sunny at Target, Full Foods Market, and their crackers just launched at Select Sprouts Farmers Market locations. |
| 0:48.3 | You can check out their website at sunny snacks.com. |
| 0:51.2 | That's S-U-N-N-N-I-E snacks.com. That's s, you N-N-N-I-E-Snacks.com. |
| 1:17.2 | The earlier stages of Misfitspits, we had a lot more of those close-out opportunities that came in there. |
| 1:23.7 | That's been part of that evolution where there's a facet of that that still exists within our site that's part of the opportunistic side. |
| 1:26.6 | A larger part of our assortments actually moved away from that. |
| 1:27.7 | And that's where when we talk about bringing in working with brands, if you want to bring in a close-out opportunity, |
| 1:32.2 | we will 100% take that opportunity to discuss it with you, decide if it's the right fit for our |
| 1:36.5 | customer. But I want you to think about us as more than that now. |
| 1:42.4 | Hello, friends. Are you ready to learn about the new misfits market? We recently got to do a |
| 1:47.3 | webinar with their buying team and oh my gosh, was it good? We got to learn all about what goes |
| 1:52.0 | in their boxes, how do they look for brands, what are the opportunities out there that you can |
| 1:55.7 | apply for and what is it like to work with them. Although this was originally done as a webinar, |
| 1:59.9 | it's going to work great as a podcast. And even at the end, we have some brands live pitching them, so look |
| 2:04.9 | forward to that. All right, here we go. Hello, everybody. I'm Daniel, the founder of startup |
| 2:16.0 | CPG, and I'm so excited to be here with our friends from Misfits Market today. |
... |
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