8 Track Foods hits many of the hot buttons that excite retail buyers. It’s a woman-owned brand. Its products are locally-grown, organic, and have a minimal impact on the environment – in fact, they make the environment better (we’ll get to that shortly). Plus, with all of the buzz about the importance of our microbiomes for health, you will find few foods that are better for the gut.
The Chicago-based brand sells beans that are grown on U.S. farms and packaged in recyclable steel cans. Call them “magic beans,” if you will, because buyers from retailers like Whole Foods Market, Meijer, Food Lion and independent grocers have been eagerly scooping them up after connecting with Founder Maggie Sadowsky via RangeMe and ECRM, and can now be found in more than 2,000 stores nationwide (watch my full video interview with Maggie below!).
From food scientist to entrepreneur
For someone marketing simple, single-ingredient products, you’d be surprised to learn that Maggie’s background is in food science. Her career began with product development at Morningstar Farms, creating products like plant-based chicken nuggets and Buffalo Chicken wings. This experience fueled her passion for natural and plant-based foods, leading her to develop hundreds of products for various companies, including Fortune 500 brands.
When she announced her decision to launch a canned bean company, many people were surprised. “People thought I was joking,” says Sadowsky. “Everyone was expecting something really over-engineered, something that has not yet been done in the plant-based arena. But I wanted to rewind the clock a little bit and go back to the roots of what I know.”
Why beans? According to Sadowsky, beans are probably the most under-celebrated products anywhere, and have been treated for the most part like a cheap commodity and exported from all over the world. She wants to change that image, however.
Sadowsky believes that beans have tremendous potential – both for people and the planet. “Beans are hyper sustainable,” says Sadowsky. “They give nitrogen to the soil; they’re nitrogen fixers rather than depleting it and requiring other chemicals to put it back in. And as far as our diets, they really are this super food that is on trend with a lot of diets that are coming forth today. So I wanted something that was organic, non-GMO Project Verified, gluten-free, that has simple and clean ingredients. And, of course, it needed to taste awesome.”
8 Track Foods offers four varieties of canned beans: Organic Dark Kidney Beans, Organic Classic Black Beans, Organic Blonde Chickpeas and Organic White Cannellini Beans, and has more than a dozen menus on the brand’s website to spur on creative menu ideas. But, as I have experienced firsthand with the black beans, they taste amazing on their own as well!
Sustainable packaging and local sourcing
The brand is deeply committed to sustainability, and Sadowsky incorporates as many environmentally-friendly aspects into her business and processes as possible. “Our brand was built around this concept of an infinite loop of sustainability,” says Sadowsky. “Everything from how we grow the product to how we can it, to how we distribute it has to touch on sustainability.”
In addition to the nitrogen-fixing aspects of legumes, which give back to the soil, the beans are packaged in steel cans, which is very unique among canned food products. “Steel is infinitely recyclable,” says Sadowsky. “It gets picked up in almost any waste stream. Even if you throw it in your trash bag, it will still get collected because there’s such a need for steel. Plus, as with all canned products, there is a long shelf life which reduces food waste.”
Local sourcing is another critical aspect of 8 Track Foods’ sustainability efforts. Most of her beans are grown in the Midwest Michigan region, and the chickpeas are grown in the Pacific Northwest. This not only supports local farmers but also reduces transportation emissions, contributing to a smaller carbon footprint overall as she grows her distribution among U.S. retailers.
Successes with RangeMe & ECRM
Indeed, much of this growth has come from leveraging RangeMe and ECRM to gain exposure and access to retail buyers. 8 Track Foods is a RangeMe Premium subscriber, and Sadowsky is very active on the platform. She makes sure that her brand profile is complete and up-to-date, and that it features all of the relevant certifications and keywords that would help her stand out in buyer searches. Many of the independent grocers she works with like Indianapolis-based Rose Market – have discovered her in this way. (If you check out the Groceries section of the Rose Market website, you’ll actually see 8 Track’s White Cannellini Beans prominently featured.)
Sadowsky is also very active in participating in as many relevant retailer campaigns as she can, something she recommends to all brands as a way to get exposure to buyers who are actively looking for products like theirs. Many of her large retail accounts have come from participation in these focused retailer campaigns and summits, many of which include face-to-face meetings facilitated by ECRM.
“RangeMe has been a really great partner,” says Sadowsky. “We’ve had success with Whole Foods Market, several independents, and also Meijer. A lot of people think that it’s a one-stop shop and they will get a bunch of buyers coming to them right away. That’s part of it, but it’s really more of a tool to access buyers. There are these active campaigns that come through, such as buyers looking for women-owned or locally-grown brands, and those are very powerful. The Meijer deal, for example, came from a submission we made via RangeMe to the Meijer Localization Summit, which got us into 250 stores.”
ECRM Sessions also secured 8 Track Foods a big win: Food Lion. This came from a face-to-face meeting she had with the retailer’s buyers during ECRM’s Canned, Dry & Boxed Foods Session in 2023.
“Through ECRM we are able to directly engage with lots of different buyers,” says Sadowsky. “This has been a great way to start the process of building relationships.”
Sadowsky is a big believer in building long-term relationships, and for this reason, she feels that it’s important in face-to-face meetings with buyers to dedicate a lot of time to discussion. As she participated in 10 minute meetings, she honed her pitch down to three minutes and left the rest of the time for back and forth conversations.
“My pitch was quick, just getting down to the nitty gritty, and then having that real discussion with the buyer as to what the next steps would be, or if they are not interested to learn why,” she says. “In addition to the Food Lion success, we are also in conversations with numerous other buyers.”
Sadowsky recommends that brands are fully transparent when meeting with buyers, and honest about their capabilities, which builds trust. “I think sometimes people oversell themselves or promise too much, but it’s important to be honest with the buyer so you can secure that long-term relationship. It shouldn’t be a ‘one and done’ kind of situation.”
Looking Ahead
As 8 Track Foods continues to grow, innovation remains a core focus. While Sadowsky is eager to expand her product lineup, she emphasizes the importance of solidifying her core business first. “I have a whole pantry full of ideas,” she says. “But really, we’ve got to make sure that our base business is solid before I get too trigger-happy with innovation.”
Still, when the time comes to try out new things, Sadowsky’s background as a food scientist will come in handy, as she is well-versed in the iterative process of experimentation and failure. “Being a trained scientist made me really comfortable with failure,” she explains. “I know how to accept that failure, then reiterate and remove it, and make it better. That’s probably been the reason behind the success of the brand.”