Welcome to the Startup CPG podcast. I'm your host, Jennifer Yuppes-Blendell.

Startup CPG is a community dedicated to helping young CPG brands succeed by offering opportunities to shine, highlighting

those who've done it before, and connections to key decision makers.

On today's episode, Melanie Kahn, founder of Poppy Lou Lemonade, tells us how she's been able

to land on the shelves of top retailers like Walmart and soon-to-be Target, and how going

bold on product innovation is paying off.

Melanie, welcome to the startup CPG podcast.

Thanks so much for having me.

Appreciate it.

Tell us a little bit about your product.

So poppy-loo lemonade is a healthy take on a classic.

We have high citrus. We say bold on citrus, not on sugar,

so reduced sugar, high vitamin C, and just really nice mouth puckering tart and tangy flavored

lemonade. We launched initially in 2017 with a single serve bottle, and we had that in market

for several years. And during

2020, we launched a kids' shelf stable pouch nationally at Walmart, and it is taking off,

and we're super excited to focus our efforts on that side of the business. Now, you participated in Start startup CPG's virtual pitch event this past year, where we sent over

a dozen brand samples to media, investors, and buyers.

What was your experience with that?

Oh, it was so fun.

In fact, I encourage some other brands to participate and made sure they sent their

samples into they could be, uh, considered for the next round. Um, it would, no, it was, it was,

...