S01 E41 - From Farm to Freezer: Reinventing Hydration with Real Ingredients, with April Glavine

In this episode of SKUFood Recipes for Success, we explore how a new generation of brands is rethinking hydration through ingredient integrity, format innovation, and clear positioning. As the electrolyte category continues to evolve, standing out requires more than functionality, it demands a differentiated product and a brand consumers can trust.

We dive into what it takes to build a real ingredient electrolyte product, from sourcing directly with farmers to formulation and creating a clean label offering without added sugars, dyes, or artificial flavours. This conversation also unpacks the strategic decision to innovate beyond traditional formats, introducing a freezer based approach that challenges how and where consumers engage with hydration. By combining fruit first ingredients with functional electrolytes, this model highlights how format can become a powerful lever for differentiation in a crowded market, while navigating the real trials and tribulations of building a business from the ground up.

We also explore how brands can scale while staying true to their core product and positioning, particularly outside of traditional beverage aisles. From maintaining quality and consistency to making thoughtful, detail driven decisions at every stage of growth, this episode highlights the discipline required to build something new in an emerging format. It’s a look at how strong foundations and attention to detail can support long term success in a highly competitive category.

Website: https://sumgood.ca/ 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sumgoodfreezies 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sumgood_electrolytes/ 

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peter@skufood.com or  susan@skufood.com

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Transcript

Welcome to SKUFood: Recipes for Success. Your host, Peter Chapman, understands the food and beverage industry. He is committed to helping producers and processors get their products on the shelf and into the shopping cart. Peter has considerable experience, from developing products, building relationships with suppliers throughout the supply chain, to retail merchandising.

Peter worked for 19 years with Canada's largest food retailer, Loblaws. After leaving Loblaw, he started Skew Food to help producers and processors understand retailers better and sell more. He's also the author of A La Carte: A Supplier's Guide to Retailers' Priorities. Peter has provided retail insights to The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star, Canada AM, Maclean's magazine, and he writes a monthly column in The Grower.

Please welcome your host of SKUFood: Recipes for Success, Peter Chapman Welcome to Skú Food Recipes for Success, where we talk about our food and beverage industry. Every episode, we're excited to share the story of products that you might find in your local store, or other components of our food and beverage value chain.

In this episode, I'm really excited to have the opportunity to talk to April Glavine, the founder of Some Good. I've heard April share her story, and, you know, one of the things that we might say to people in the food and beverage industry is that you need to have perseverance to get a product developed and on the shelf, and staying on the shelf.

And, uh, I would say that, uh, from my perspective, that the story of Some Good is definitely one of perseverance. And, uh, April, we're excited to have you here, and, uh, welcome to Skú Food Recipes for Success. Thank you so much for the invitation, Peter. Excited to be here. All right. My name's Peter Chapman. I'm the host of Skú Food Recipes for Success.

We help food and beverage products get their products on the shelf and into the shopping cart. And, uh, what we're gonna talk about today is a, a story about a really interesting product that has some really unique attributes, but also has to compete with some very big players. And, uh, so it's interesting for me to hear from April how she's developed the product, maybe why she's developed the product, how she's developed it, and then what she's doing to stay on the shelf and, and get into the shopping cart.

So April, your product, and, and I think probably it's good to maybe describe a little bit about the product off the top just so people know what it is, because I think it is unique in the market, and then maybe sort of how you got to this point. Okay, excellent. So I guess the best place to start is to think about Pedialyte and, uh, Pedialyte Freezy, um, 'cause that format is really parallel to what we do at Some Good.

And the reason why we picked that format is because when we were looking at creating an electrolyte product, there was a lot happening in the beverage space. There was also equally a lot happening in the powder space. So that was starting to feel a bit saturated and a lot of risk. But when you look at Freezies, there wasn't a- anything happening with regards to where we were going.

So there was definitely electrolyte Freezies and definitely fruit first Freezies, but nothing that blended the two. So when we started to create the guardrails about how are we going to make Some Good and how will it be different, is we started with freshly pressing apples from our local farmers. So 86% of our ingredient is apple cider, which is really easy on the stomach.

And then we added in a unique electrolyte blend, going high in potassium and low in sodium. The reason why we did this is because 70% of us under consume potassium, and it's really the hydration hero, 'cause it's connected to cognitive function and repair of the muscles. A lot of us over consume sodium, and sodium actually can hinder and fog our brain cognitive function.

So we wanted to take what was happening in the market, not just in the freezer electrolyte space, but in the electrolyte space as a whole. How can we take some of those interesting things that are happening and apply them again to our Some Good electrolytes, which we started off calling them freezies, but they're really electrolyte shots because the majority of our customers take this little 60-millilitre shot, they snap it back before a game, before they go to work, into a shift, alpine skiing, on the airplane, you name it.

It's really versatile, it's easy, it's ambient, and it doesn't never need to go into the fridge or the freezer. And that was another thing when we were looking about how to create this product and really have some versatility in the market space about where we could go on shelf, was it was critical to us that we were shelf stable and at minimum for a year And the reason being for that is to build and grow a business in Atlantic Canada is hard, right?

I think it's very hard. It's very hard. Geographically, it's difficult. Density, it's difficult. So we know and knew that we had to go outside of these four walls of Atlantic Canada to build and grow a successful business and consumer packaged good, 'cause it's a volume business. So that was one of the other things that was really important to us when we were looking at, what are we gonna do in the electrolyte space?

How can we be different? Format, right? Let's be single serve, ready to drink, snap and go. So not attacking beverage, not attacking or going with, um, powder. And then within that, how can we stay really unique in our packaging? So no added dyes, no sugar alcohols, single serving, and again, real easy on the stomach because it's 86% apple cider.

One of the words that, you know, and when I hear you talk about the product and what it is, and is the whole electrolyte thing for me. You know, I think that consumers sometimes, um, we see these words on packaging or in, you know, advertising, and we're, we're bombarded with, you know, some big companies like Pepsi talking about electrolytes, and Gatorade, and that kinda thing.

What does it do, electrolytes? Like, what's sort of the why? Why do I need it? Why do my kids need it? Great question. So hydration, of course, is what we're talking about here when we think about electrolytes, and on average, again, most of us do not consume enough water. And with the increase in climate change and superbugs, cold and flu, and also with the surplus, what's happening with elite athletes in that space, we need to supplement our electrolytes to allow our water to absorb faster.

So when we sweat, we lose salt. We already know that we're not getting enough potassium on average. That's also really important, again, as I mentioned, for muscle repair and recovery, and cognitive function. So you're going out and you're trying to be at your absolute best, but if your tank is empty in that space- You're not getting to your peak performance.

And it's not equally just about performance, it's, you know, going to work, right? Like, if we're starting our workday depleted in potassium, and it's directly correlated to cognitive function, it all adds up. So why are we feeling foggy and groggy and ick, right? Like that, it really helps us, again, to absorb the water that's in our body and to replenish, you know, what it is that we're depleting through our day.

When we sleep, we sweat. When we travel in elevation, we, um, deplete faster a lot of our electrolytes. Of course, sports, those types of things. Stress, right? So I should put some SumGood into my golf bag that's guaranteed to, uh, to help me get a little bit better performance out on the golf course. Is that right?

Absolutely. Okay. Snap one back before you swing. It- Yeah ... it digests really fast, and then away you go. Equally, if you get on that plane to go to Toronto, we see a lot of people now, you know, you get the little 100 or 1,000 millilitre bags or one litre bags. Put a couple of SumGood in there, so then when you show up, we don't realize the impact of travel has on our system, so that will help, again, just help you arrive a little more fresh.

Mm. And one of the things about your product and, and so you saw this opportunity, and I think it originally was sort of maybe born out of, uh, sort of y- you know, with your kids, right? That you saw an opportunity there. But now it sounds like as you've worked through the development of the product, that it's not really kids who may be your primary target market.

Is that, is that true or not true? Like, I'm interested in that because I, I always feel we should start with who the consumer is. And, uh- And for you has, instead of me trying to answer it, I'll just ask you, who is the primary target market, and has it changed? Yes, so it's, because our product is so unique, it's one of the areas that can be very difficult to have that lane that's just that lane, 'cause we don't fit in just one lane.

We have many lanes, but we have to pick one that we're really gonna hyper-focus on, and perhaps have two others that we lean into from time to time. But it's families that have a need for clean food, right? So that's mom and dad going to work, and that's what can I put into their school snacks and into our brown bag lunch and stuff as well.

So I'm heading to work, I'm a physician, I'm running in and out of my appointments, I can snack pack a SumGood. I'm on the road, I'm traveling, a SumGood's in the car. So I think about, like, somebody that were to go out and buy Pur Gum. Pur Gum is a better-for-you gum. They removed the aspartame. That's a family purchase, right?

Or if you were to go out and buy SweetSmart. You want better-for-you confectionary candy. It's not just for the kids. It's a little bit, it's a family purchase. Or Poppi is another one for soda. And then also Annie's versus KD. So that's our target market. But within that, what's been really interesting is where we're hearing in- back from our consumers, such as athletes.

You know, a lot of athletes now, even, um, U18 major, for all of the hockey teams, SumGood is in the dressing room, and that's part of their lace-up, right? As they're getting their gear on, they're having a SumGood and/or two, depending on their body needs, before they hit the ice, because potassium is that pre-game fuel, right?

To get that cognitive function up there, and then you replace your sweat, um, needs with a different product at the end of the day for salt. Okay. So you had this idea, you've worked on it in terms of, you know, sort of the product development side of it, and, you know, you referenced the ingredients and, and that kind of thing, and sort of identified the target market.

So I'm gonna say it hasn't just been a very straight, easy journey to get from sort of what the concept was to getting something on the shelf, right? There's been a few different zigs and zags along the way. Yes. I, I think to be expected for anybody that's going to enter consumer packaged goods or a startup of any nature to it, you know, that's part of the journey, and we've had our fair share of zigs and zags.

It started with, you know, our production itself before we're able to scale was very manual. We had to single pour into every little tube. Each tube one at a time. Each tube one at a time. We would be there till 2:00, 3:00 in the morning at times just trying to fill this tiny little order for local retail.

So you would mix up a batch, and then you would fill an order. You would have to fill the... It's a, a sleeve kind of that it goes in, and then you would have to heat seal it, and then pack whatever, 8 in a box or 12 or something in a box. You couldn't get that far ahead of yourself because they would- Oh

leak sometimes. So you'd have to- Oh, they leak too. Oh, yeah. They leak. They leak too. So you have to lay them down. I call them my sweeties. I'd lay my sweeties down and go and check on them in the morning and see which ones leaked and which ones didn't leak, and a ton of rework. So that was step one of, like, just even trying to fulfill little retail locations, and then now it was like, okay, we're getting knocks on our door from larger retailers to do some distribution across Atlantic Canada scale.

So we purchased our first machine sight unseen from Alibaba. Okay. Yeah, yeah. And, uh, when it showed up, it legit acted like a cartoon character. I thought the buttons were gonna pop off, like, the hopper was gonna blow. And so we brought in a food safety inspector. Yeah. And they're just, "This is not the code, like, not even, not even a little bit."

So we had to hire an engineer, bring them in, get everything back up to code. And the reason why we purchased our first vertical fill machine versus going into co-packing was there was only one location in Atlantic Canada that offered vertical fill, and their product on paper can look very similar to Some Good because they go into a vertical fill single package, and their first ingredient was fruit.

So being a rookie in this space, and very green to looking to find a co-packer for vertical fill, it just seemed a bit scary. They were too close to you. You were worried that they might look at what you're doing and say, "Oh, I could do that," or, or something like that. It's, it is hard to find the right co-packer, for sure.

Yes, like nervous about infringement, and you just, you just didn't know, right? You don't know until you know. So I'm very protective because it's the baby, right? It's a startup, so you're really, really protective of it. And so we purchased that first machine, and when it... We brought that... Once we got it up to code, we brought it into a co-packing facility and had it lean in on its line, and we hit the green button to say, "Okay, we can fulfill now for distribution across Atlantic Canada."

Brought out our pallets. Very exciting when you get pallets now. And now you're getting phone calls from all of these stores with leakers. Oh, really? Oh, yes. Oh. Luckily, I'm from Newfoundland, and my husband's from PEI, and went to university in Nova Scotia, and now reside in New Brunswick, that we have a lot of friends and family that could go and find all of the, quote-unquote, "bad apples" and- Uh-huh

take them off the shelves. Oh. So you had to go into the stores and probably buy them. You couldn't just go in and take them. Oh, yes. We had to go buy them full retail price. Oh, no. And what percentage, like roughly? Was it, like, 10%, like one in 10 or? 30%. It was a lot. Oh, a third. Oh, wow. Okay. Because what was happening was our packaging that we were using was very dense, and that was helping with our shelf stability, but the jaws, when it was sealing, there was a pinhole leak, so you wouldn't know, even if you laid them down for a day, that there was something kind of oozing out there drip by drip, just enough, right, to have one bad apple in that entire box to ruin the shelf.

Like, it was such a mess. Had to pull from the warehouse. Obviously, our co-packer is, you know, really frustrated with this machine. Our vendor is frustrated with the product that's on shelf, and it does not make a good story for, you know- A local product. Um, so then we go out and we purchase another machine, this time in Canada.

So before you get to the other machine, I'm cur- How was the conversation with your customers, with the retailers? I mean, you, you had to pick up the phone and say, "Listen, we have an issue"? Yes, and just, like, really apologetic and, you know, "We will get out and remove product. If we can't get there, can you remove for us?

Let us know it's there in inventory, and we will take care of it immediately." You know, just be humble. It's not like it's intentional. We didn't try to make these errors, and really hard to catch. We also laid our product down for a day or two to see if we could find leakage. Because they are so microscopic, you just didn't know until, like, some time had passed and/or pressure if it wasn't handled properly.

Like, there were some different things that were kinda, like, bubbling up with time. Um, so yeah, it was a lot of just really honest, humble, apologetic conversations. And if you keep it real and, you know, you own your mistakes, most people will meet you in the middle and- Yeah, and I think that's the key is keeping it humble, own your mistakes, and, and call them before they hear about it from their store so that they hear about it from you, not, you know, the store in such and such a market, and they go, "Oh, my word, we got a big problem," and all the rest of it.

So definitely. Exactly. So then you found another piece of equipment that worked better? Well, we took some, a lot of our key learnings, of course, from this first piece of equipment, our, our little tin can, and had one made in Mississauga so we could go sightseeing, but we had another thing that we didn't do correctly.

When we did our test run, we didn't test run an entire 1,000 litre tote. We only did a test run that was a fifth of that, so we actually didn't fully understand our efficiencies. So when the machine did show up back to that co-packing facility, we were ecstatic. We were like, "Okay, we are gonna be able to hit the ground running."

We had plans to go national with, like, Whole Foods and Metro and some other locations that were kind of waiting, and unfortunately we ran into the exact same issues. Oh, again? Again. And so now we're thinking, "Is this a user issue?" Because where we went, we brought in the vertical fill. We know manufacturing's very cantankerous from product to product to product.

So now we're thinking maybe it is a user issue, and we decided to move co-packing facilities, and that's when we moved into the one that we were afraid of at the very beginning of time, also the experts in vertical fill. Right. So going back to the people who had the, the expertise on the, the manufacturing side that you could work with, and, and not your area of expertise, right?

You were trying to figure it out. But these people have been doing it for a period of time and, and had probably gone through some of the same trials and tribulations that you had and, and figured out the solution. So, so that was a, a good move for you. An excellent move for us because when we got there and they started working with our machine, the first thing they identified was this machine was never made for liquid.

Uh-huh. It's actually made for powder. So it's a very expensive piece of equipment that's now part of our graveyard of equipment, and, um, which we hope won't... We can salvage some things. One of those assets on your balance sheet, right? Oh, yes, it's lovely. So it's, it's, uh, that one stings. And the benefit of being there is we could pivot, and pivot onto their machine, and have all of...

Like, all of a sudden, like, everything was locked in. It was so dialed in, and it wasn't at fault to anybody else other than the fact they know this so well. And again, manufacturing is so cantankerous. I mean, McCain's, Pepsi, everybody in this space will talk about all the trials and tribulations to get a very low slippage rate, and we got it, and it's- Great

yeah. So now we have the production constraints behind us. We're, we could turn on the, the faucet again and welcome on some new customers. Turn on the sales machine. Yes. So we're, uh, we're so happy to have April Levigne from Summ Food with us on SKUFood Recipes for Success. It's been so interesting to learn the story of, of the product and sort of how it, you know, how it came to be and, and some of the trials and tribulations to, to get to the point where you have the confidence in the manufacturing.

And when we come back, we'll talk about where things are going with the product and, uh, what April sees on the horizon.

Presented by FCC. If you produce it, process it, pack it, or move it, FCC can finance it

Welcome back to SKUFood Recipes for Success. We've been learning, uh, some of the challenges of being an entrepreneur with, uh, April Glavine from, uh, Sum Good. And, uh, I commend you for your perseverance to stick with it because I'm sure when you were going and pulling, you know, packages where you'd had leaking pouches off the shelf and paying full retail, you might have, you might have thought, "Why am I doing this?"

But, uh, but I think you have that entrepreneurial spirit and probably said, "Okay, we're gonna figure it out and, and fix it." So, uh, so you found this co-packer now who you have the confidence in that what you're gonna put out into the market is, uh, is gonna hold up and perform. So, so now that you had that and you've gone back to your Sum customers probably twice now and had to sort of go through this issue, so what was sort of the strategy?

You must have had to do some things to... You know, I remember when we had Loblaws, when we had stores that were closed for a strike, we'd put bananas on sale for 19 cents to try to get people back in. So, so what did you do to, to gain that confidence again and, and get the traction going on the shelf? One of the things was our partnership and collaboration with, with the community, and I mean that from like wherever we could get product in hand and create an emotional connection to the brand We know that from when the consumer behavior is they need to see your product three times to consider it a product that they know, and so consumers purchase products that they know.

And so now they have products, bad experiences perhaps with us more than once, and we would try to be kind of cheeky and funny, like, "You know, don't get upset about the bad apple. Like, there's 11 great apples in there and there was one bad, and, you know, we all have that bad apple in our bag. It's okay." And but at the same time was staying out, like Canada Day festivals, events, sporting events, you name it.

Wherever we could have that emotional connection where we could put the product in the hand, speak to the customer, share some of our, like, real-life stories about what happened to that leaky box that they received and/or if anybody were to go as far as email us, call us, or share, we were quick to send them a new box and say, "Thank you," because you clearly care a lot about our product to take that amount of time out of your day and to share their story.

So, you know, we also really appreciated that, and, uh, we're very thankful for that piece. The other thing I think that really gave us a ton of hope as we were going through, um, all the, uh, challenges was we actually started an applied nutrition study with Mount Saint Vincent University, 'cause we knew that our product was superior, but how superior?

And so we were getting back some really interesting and remarkable data, and we're just like, "We can't stop. Like, this product is really, really good. We just have to persevere, and we'll get there." I was thinking when you were talking you, that you could say the product is some good, right? If you're from Newfoundland, that might be how you say it, right?

That's right, and I am from Newfoundland, which is the tie back to the name is- Yeah ... yes. So you, you've, uh, you know, worked hard to regain the confidence and, uh, and continue to expand. So now the product is out there and, and you are on the shelf in how many stores now, would you say? A little over 500. Yeah, I would say.

Yeah, probably even nearing 700 at this point in time. We often have, like, which seems so interesting, we would always open with the next five and 10 or, or 100, 200, but it's just kinda like a, yeah, it's a, it's the momentum is there. We have a groundswell, so yeah. So with that many stores, you must be outside Atlantic Canada now.

We are. So we're national, we're coast to coast. Um, so we're Whole Foods nationally, um, Metro Ontario, BC Choices, and then in areas like Saskatchewan, we have, um, like almost like a Simply for Life there. Great. And so, uh, one of the things which, uh, is interesting to me is, is distribution for a product like yours.

So are you targeting trying to get into retailers' warehouses, or do you work with a distributor? How are you getting the product into the market from your co-packer, which is located on one end of this vast country? That's right. Right? It's, uh, it's quite a challenging, um, series of events to get product on the shelf.

So we are, like our co-packer is in PEI, and then from there we send our pallets to a distributor in, uh, Nova Scotia who manages all of Atlantic Canada, so Maritime Good Foods. They manage every single retailer that we, um, work with. And then from there, we also ship to Ontario and work with Raw Elements, and they manage all of our other, um, retail locations, basically from Quebec to British Columbia.

And I think that's a, a model that people need to consider. Sometimes people wanna be with a national distributor, and, and there's reasons to do that in terms of, uh, you know, their reach and that kinda thing. But sometimes the, the right solution can be to have different distributors in different geographies, and if they've got that expertise, it's, it's finding that right fit, so.

Absolutely, 'cause it feels a little more wholesome, you know? To have Maritime Good Foods, they're here, they know the geography very well. Those relationships, especially in the East Coast, really matter. And, um, yeah, so we were asked by Purity and Tree of Life and some other large distributors to take on Some Good, and it just seems like, again, the amount of control that we were gonna lose in this, um, process from going from production to shelf was too much, um, for my comfort level at this point in time based on the size of the company.

Needed to have it be a little more micromanaged within that ecosystem. Mm-hmm. No, it's, uh, it's so important to find the right distributor and, and if you're gonna work with a broker, the, to find the right broker that, uh... Uh, the way I sometimes describe it to people, it's like trying to find a spouse. You need to find somebody who's got similar values to you and who sort of approaches the, the industry the same way, and, and finding that fit is, is very important because, uh, sometimes being with the biggest, you're not one of their biggest, you know, principals, and you don't get as much attention and that kinda thing.

So it's finding the, where you have enough influence that you're important to them, uh, but they also have to be big enough to service the market that you need to service. So it's work to find the right distributor. That's right. It's like finding that sweet spot, you know? Mm-hmm. Every single one of the, everybody that I work with that's in our supply chain, I can pick them up without notification that I'm gonna give them a call, right?

That's important to me. The small business, I, I do s- like to have, um, yeah, that relationship piece is, is really important to me. And so once you have, you know, have the confidence with the co-packer that, uh, the product you're putting out in the market is gonna perform, you have the distribution network built, so the sales side of the business, are you doing that yourself?

Are you dealing with the Sobeys and the Loblaws and the Choices of the world? Is that your, part of your role, or do you have, or do you work with a broker, or how are you doing that? Yeah, so actually based on the size of our distributors, they do wear a bit of a, a broker hat as well, so they manage that piece, and I'm there.

I'll go in and help with, um, you know, any sort of new launches or, um, you know, our sales cycles and those, those things. But having the conversation, it's often managed by our distributor. I'm gonna pitch at Costco coming up. That will be managed by myself. So again, where I feel it's of value for me to be there, I will.

Other times if there's a duplication in resources and we're equally, like, the right person, then we'll, yeah, just kind of divide and conquer. And how have you found the switch? And I, I think s- you know, for people with food and beverage brands as they sort of do the work to develop, and you have the sort of product development, R&D stage where, you know, there's highs and lows in that, for sure, in terms of, you know, you mix up a batch and, and you go, "Oh, this, this works.

This is great," or, "This one doesn't." And, and, uh, and your product obviously has some science that needs to be included and, and you have that part of R&D. Then you went through the whole production thing where you were working through figuring out and finding the right solution, but now you really have to focus on the sales side.

Like, you have to get this product turning, and that's how you're gonna stay on the shelf. So how have you found that transition going from sort of the all-in development, production, and, and now switching to almost, like, a different role in, with your business? Most definitely. A completely different role.

It's a 180, and the hardest role. It is so hard, right? It's easy to be tinkering, I would say, with ingredients and, um, material, uh, packaging material and creative boards and... But getting your product off the shelf, that is a beast. You know, you're walking into a very busy environment when you're... as a consumer, and let's be honest, who is browsing?

Very few, and if then at all, how long are you staring at the category that I'm in? Are you just gonna, that's the category you're gonna browse in today? How do I disrupt that and end up in your cart? So it's constantly, as myself, understanding consumer behavior, occasions, how do we become part of that daily need for your family, and that it's often at- landing in your cart.

So making sure, again, going back to those events that I talked about, being out there and creating those emotional connections, there's so much value in that to me. As many times as I can demo my product or have my product in your hand, from there we know the ROI and the repeat customer. So it's leaning in to as many of those opportunities as possible, right?

Because the cost there is the cost of your goods, so let's take advantage of that and get that into hands. Right. So you've really sort of flipped your focus to the sales and marketing role, you know, developing relationships with consumers and customers and, and doing that. One thing you mentioned when you were talking about that was the category you're in, and I wanted to ask you about that because, you know, I think it's, uh...

What is the category you're in? You know, you're not a... Again, I'm, I'm not gonna try to answer the question, I, I'm gonna ask you. What is the category you're in, and if you came into my office, if I was back in my old job at Loblaw, where would you wanna be in the store? Next to the hydration products. When you think about anybody that's going into that category, they're looking to supplement their electrolytes.

May be because of cold and flu, um, they might be going through something medically that they need to, um, increase their electrolytes, and/or from an athlete's perspective. But in a supplemented electrolyte hydration category, it's definitely where we would want to be first and foremost, and then if we could be skewed again in the natural product section, we could be skewed again in pharmacy.

Oh, now you wanna be everywhere. I do. I would like four places in your store please, Peter. Okay. And if you could, I got another spot. I'd like to be in the freezer too for convenience for those that would like to enjoy our product frozen. Primary is the hydration category. Okay, so that's job one, is to get on the shelf there, and then you start asking for more spaces.

And are there many stores who put you in the freezer? I was curious about that because, I mean, that's kind of the, you know, when you started your... I think when you started sort of the development of Some Good, that, that was sort of the original idea that this would be consumed as a frozen product, and then it sort of evolved.

And I don't know, you probably know the math of what percentage are consumed frozen versus ambient, but so they do put it in the freezer still, though, that you find it there? Yes, especially, like, our specialty stores. Our specialty stores will definitely have us skewed twice in the freezer and, and then also on shelf.

But you're right, our consumer behaviour is 70% ambient and then only 30% frozen. So frozen we see often if nausea, so you slow sip. You're really having a hard time maybe after treatment or something that you can't fully swallow back, and you just need a little bit of food. And then the other one would be, uh, just straight up a treat, you know, a cold, refreshing treat, and if you need to cool the body temperature, so coming off of, like, a tennis match or, um, soccer, bas- baseball, anything that's out, um, you know, of course, in those extreme temperatures from an athletic standpoint.

But an example would be, um, that ambient that I found really interesting that we just learnt about not too long ago is search and rescue. Search and rescue put us in their packs because using powders, they had to use then the water that they're carrying for themselves. But if they find, if they're successful in their rescue mission, now they're sharing their water with the rescuee, and it's, you know, now they're depleted.

So now they can offer us Some Good, their water, they, they can still have it for other needs if needed. And there's no mixing required, especially if they're in extreme conditions, and so it's just fast. It's quick, and it's easy to, easy to digest. And there's no dyes and those types of things 'cause that can be an issue for some patients and- Definitely.

Wow. Hmm. Yeah, a lot of different applications and, uh, and that sometimes can be a challenge when you have all these different applications is where do you focus, and, and how do you, uh, you know, sort of zero in on the biggest opportunity? And not that you don't wanna sell it to other people, but, but you wanna focus on the biggest opportunity, so- Wow, what a journey and, uh, but the journey's not over.

What's on the horizon for Some Good? What's, uh, what do you look at as you look into the future? What, what's next? What's next is, um, we actually have two SKUs, um, that are kind of in the background right now to expand our product line and- So that development entrepreneurial side of you did not 100% go away.

You're tinkering- Oh my gosh ... with some new SKUs then, full disclosure. Full disclosure, yes. Actually, the other night my daughter was just like, "Wow, mom," like- ... yes, the kitchen table was full of stuff and, you know, measuring by the .00 of a gram and yes, absolutely. That creative piece still has to get a little bit of my time.

And then, you know, next is, um, for us, we've really spent a lot of time, of course, in retail, and we picked retail not by design. Retail was our second area of where we really wanted to grow and expand the business. But first and foremost was healthcare, especially everything that we learned from our applied nutrition study.

We know that we add so much value in that space. I've received hugs from customers after presentations or if they've seen me out, they do not know, just s- sharing that we really had an impact on their journey. So when I called Toronto SickKids, when we first started this product, they said to me, "I really like what you are doing, but you have to prove yourself in retail first."

And an example they gave us was Bubly. So that's why we're in the retail lane. But what I will consider success is when I can be on a meal tray for somebody that's in acute care paediatrics- Palate of care, like we bring so much value into that space, and there's no question marks about dyes and ingredients and- Mm

sugar alcohols. When you were talking about it, I remember when my daughter had her tonsils out, and, uh, you know, the first thing is when you get back into the recovery is a popsicle. And, uh, probably, you know, I think th- well, not probably, no doubt that your product would certainly be better than an orange popsicle that's just water and dye, right?

And sugar. That's right. Right. So that's an area where I spend a lot of my time, is really building those relationships there and that trust there to hopefully find, or not hopefully, at one day we will find, um, yeah, some good in that space. Mm-hmm. Definitely. Definitely. Yes. Exciting. So lots of work still to, uh, for you to do, and, uh, and you, you also have to work all the time to stay on the shelf in retail too, so.

Yes. So one of the questions that we ask everybody who joins us on Ski Food Recipes for Success is, uh, you know, what are the ingredients in your recipe for success? And, uh, you know, as you've built this business and, and got from sort of, you know, concept to stores across the country and, and looking at different channels, what are those ingredients that you rely on to, to make it all happen?

My ingredient's a tricky one, I guess to f- it's not something that you can just go grab and buy. It's my first world experience gained from my first enterprise, Lean Machine Healthy Vending Company. I learnt a lot in that space, and to be able to apply the good, the bad, the ugly, and take that into how to build and grow a successful business, um, with Some Good, it's...

Yeah, that's really allowed us to propel, and to propel in such a way that the foundation is so strong, right? We did our validation studies. We did our shelf life studies. We've done our applied nutrition studies, all at the f- front end of building the business. And so it's that. It's taking those learnings from my first enterprise.

That's the recipe to success on this one. Awesome. And I'm sure when you were going through that, when you were building the healthy vending business that, and it didn't pan out exactly the way you had hoped it would, whether, you know, that you probably didn't understand at the time that that might be such a valuable thing for you to go through to do this another time and lean into the, the experience that you have.

So a very valuable, uh, ingredient in that recipe for success, to have that experience and have been- done some of these things before. Most definitely. I call it the, the Goldilocks theory, right? So too big, too small, just right. And yeah, no, that's a big part of it. Interesting. Okay. Well, April, thank you so much for sharing the story of Some Good with us on, uh, Skew Food Recipes for Success.

And, uh, we will continue to watch and, and see, and, uh, you know, I think it's, uh... There's no slam dunks in this industry, but you, you gotta believe that healthcare makes total sense for your business as a, another channel. So I look forward to hearing about when it's, uh, when you've got it in there, and then also, you know, where else you take the business.

Most definitely. Thank you so much, Peter. This was such a lovely conversation, and I appreciate your curiosity on the journey. Mm. Well, I've enjoyed it, and, uh, we will keep watching. Awesome. Thank you. 

Thanks for listening to SKUFood Recipes for Success. At SKUFood, we are committed to helping producers and processors get their products on the shelf and into the shopping cart.

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