As part of its Q&A series with makers, SFA News Daily spoke with Cindy Convery, CEO and founder of Pure Wild Co., about her experiences during the pandemic. The company's PureWild Marine Collagen beverages combine cold water marine collagen that’s sustainably sourced with organic juices, filtered water, and adaptogen botanicals.
What new product or innovation did you introduce during the pandemic?
I introduced PureWild Marine Collagen beverages, the only non-GMO certified, kosher marine collagen drink on the market, in two retail markets in November 2019 with plans to expand during Winter 2020. COVID hit and my production run was delayed until May 2020. PureWild drinks went out to more stores in SoCal in May 2020.
What challenges and/or opportunities presented themselves during the pandemic and how did you respond to them?
There were certainly more opportunities during the beginning of COVID. Mainly grocery retailers are looking for healthy products to stock due to increased shopping and less dining out. Consumers are now more interested in healthy products because of the virus.
For instance, I submitted PureWild to Erewhon Market via its website and had a request for samples three hours later. PureWild is now stocked in all Erewhon Markets in the Los Angeles area. Other markets have been quick to respond, with a 90 percent acceptance rate for PureWild.
UNFI Next accepted PureWild after a cold email from a LinkedIn connection. The executive said it is because PureWild is a brand for a very new market, collagen products, but more so because of the non-GMO and Kosher certifications, clean ingredients, and clean label. Consumers are really going for the cleanest, healthiest products more than ever with COVID in the world.
A challenge has been that everyone in the food business is super busy and backed up with working at home challenges. It has taken longer to onboard with UNFI and that is holding up delivery.
In lieu of in-store demos, I made mini bottles of product to give to shoppers so it has been more expensive to connect to new customers since samples cost more and it’s hard to gauge ROI because I can't have personal engagement.
How are sales?
Sales are fantastic in spite of the challenges. Our average velocity across retail outlets is 3+ bottles per day (1 per each of PureWild's 3 SKUs). This is with no advertising budget, just product on the shelf with a clean, attractive label. Retailers are stocking PureWild at a very high acceptance rate and reordering product on a regular basis. 2020-2021 looks on track to be profitable.
Related: Rice, Pasta Shortage Opened Door for West African Grain; Pandemic Speeds Up Snack Maker's Timeline.
Photo: Pure Wild Co.
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