When it comes to RangeMe, the more effort you put into the platform, the more you get out of it, and Teresa Ging, Founder of Chicago-based Sugar Bliss, is a perfect example of this. Since signing on as a Premium subscriber in 2022 to showcase the brand’s gourmet cookies, she’s submitted products to 15 limited time retail campaigns, and has made more than 50 direct submissions to retailers.
The results of her efforts speak for themselves; Sugar Bliss has already onboarded with Compass for distribution at 500 foodservice operations nationwide, and her products are now at every KeHE distribution center around the country (she was one of the Golden Ticket winners from KeHE’s TRENDfinder initiative last year).
In addition, she’s had more than a dozen recent face to face meetings – many via ECRM Connect – with national and large regional retail chains from introductions that began with one of these RangeMe submissions.
And Ging continues to submit products every opportunity she gets, because she knows that when it comes to getting onto retail shelves, the process is a marathon, not a sprint, and consistency over the long term wins.
From Wall Street to Main Street
While Sugar Bliss may sound like an overnight success, having launched into CPG just two years ago, the brand was actually years in the making. Ging has been in the food business for the better part of the past two decades, and it’s this history, and her willingness to pivot on a dime, that has slowly built the foundation for her current success as a CPG Founder.
Prior to getting into the food business, Ging was in finance for six years at various Wall Street firms covering food and retail stocks. One day she was visiting a friend who started sifting some powdered sugar to do some baking. “It looked so therapeutic that I asked her if I could try it,” says Ging. “I was hooked. I ended up quitting the corporate world, entered into Le Cordon Bleu Patisserie program in Paris and earned my pastry certificate.”
In 2009, she opened up a retail bakery in Chicago, originally offering just cupcakes. Over the course of 10 years she grew to two locations and expanded her selection to more than 200 products including cake pops, brownies, cookies and French macaroons, with both gluten-free and vegan options.
The pivot to CPG founder
In 2020, when most of the country shut down, Ging decided to consolidate her two stores to just one location. During this time, her retail customers – reluctant to make too many excursions outside – were asking if she had delivery options or if her products were available at other retail chains where they were already shopping. This drove Ging’s decision to launch a line of shelf-stable products that she could get onto the shelves of other retailers.
She learned about RangeMe in 2021, from a presentation given by SVP Vir Satyan to her cohort in Top Shelf, a program for CPG Founders organized by the Women’s Business Development Council, with Walgreens as one of its sponsors (Walgreens carries her products in select Chicago stores). During that time, she was in the process of taking her three top cookies from her retail store and making them shelf-stable: Sea Salt Chocolate Chunk, Rainbow Sugar, and her very aptly named OMG Cookie, which has potato chips, cereal, pretzels, chocolate chips, oats, and a hint of coffee (yes, you read that right!).
As soon as her products and packaging were retail-ready in 2022, she jumped onto RangeMe with a Premium subscription. “I was very interested in the ability for Premium subscribers to make direct submissions to retailers,” says Ging. “Also, there are a ton of limited-time retail discovery campaigns we’d have access to for our category as well as around some specific themes for which we qualify, like supplier diversity and local.”
Some of the 15 limited-time campaigns for which Ging submitted products included the KeHE TRENDfinder, CVS Supplier Diversity Summit, Hy-Vee, Inc Best of Brands Local Summit, Kroger Go Fresh & Local Summit, Compass Retail Incubator Review, Southeastern Grocers Own Brand Forum, and Harris Teeter Diversity Summit.
While Ging is in discussions with many of these retailers as a result of her submissions, two that have already come to fruition include KeHE and Compass Group. But Ging is quick to point out that success at retail does not come easy, or quick, but patience and persistence eventually win out.
KeHE, Compass and the value of persistence
Sugar Bliss’ win with KeHE is a case-in-point. In 2022, Ging submitted her products via RangeMe to KeHE’s TRENDfinder event – which gives brands the opportunity to join KeHE’s product portfolio and gain exposure to over 30,000 retail locations. KeHE’s trend & innovation experts review the submissions and then pick the top brands to meet for the chance to receive a “Golden Ticket,” enabling the brand to move to the next step of KeHE’s onboarding process.
That year she wasn’t selected, but it didn’t stop her from submitting again. “You have to be very active in making your submissions, and if you don’t get in the first time, keep submitting,” says Ging. “This past October, I submitted it again, and when I met with the buyer they told me I was a Golden Ticket winner, which got us into all 18 of their distribution centers across the country.”
With Compass Group, which distributes to foodservice operations such as college campuses, corporate dining rooms, ballparks and airport lounges, the entire process took roughly a year and a half from the time she made her RangeMe submission to its Retail Incubator Review to the moment she shipped out her products to its warehouses.
Originally the Compass buyers gave Ging the green light for her 5-ounce retail sized package, but they were very interested in a smaller grab-and-go option. “At the time I wasn’t really looking to expand into foodservice, but then I thought that a grab-and-go size would really differentiate the brand in the marketplace, since there are not a lot of premium shelf-stable cookies out there,” says Ging.
Originally the plan was to launch in November 2023 with the 5-ounce packages regionally in Chicago. But based on the buyer’s input, Ging started developing a smaller option for foodservice. Four months into her planning with Compass, she let the buyer know they were almost ready with the 2-ounce grab-and-go size. The buyer liked that even better.
“She decided to distribute us nationally,” says Ging. “We ended up having to wait an additional five months, but it was worth it. Instead of being regional in about 30 outlets, we ended up nationally in about 500, and the first shipment was about 50,000 cookies. On top of it, it launched in May, which is AAPI month – a big promotional month for us as an AAPI-owned business.”
Squeezing every ounce of value out of RangeMe
Most successful brands on RangeMe, like Sugar Bliss, share one thing in common. They are very active on the platform and take advantage of every opportunity it has available (and there are plenty!). Following are some of the things Ging does that have resulted in her getting a steady flow of buyer engagement for Sugar Bliss:
- Participates in all relevant immediate opportunity campaigns. These limited-time campaigns are available to all Starter and Premium subscribers, and are typically category-specific or else around a particular theme, such as supplier diversity, local sourcing, or product discovery events like Walmart’s Open Call or KeHE’ TRENDfinder. RanngeMe is set to host more than 350 of these campaigns this year and next year will host even more!
- Makes one-time submissions to retailers and foodservice operators. This feature is available to Premium and Pro subscribers, and enables users to submit products to participating retailers once each year.
- Keeps her profile fresh and up to date. Whether you submit to a limited-time campaign or make a one-time submission, or if a buyer discovers you via search, it’s the strength of your profile page that will get them to act. Ging makes sure that the Sugar Bliss profile page has all the relevant information about the brand, and features a great header image that features the products and her two certifications (Women-Owned and NMSDC) front and center. She also notes that Sugar Bliss uses sustainable packaging, and that a portion of the proceeds go to help women and minority entrepreneurs start businesses – which is very attractive to buyers and consumers alike.
- Is RangeMe Verified. RangeMe Premium subscribers have the opportunity to get Verified, which shows buyers that you are ready to do business and enhances your visibility during searches.
- Keeps notifications turned on. This way if someone requests a sample or sends her a message, she can jump in right away and respond.
Outside of RangeMe, Ging emphasizes the importance of patience. Getting onto retail shelves is a long term process, with a lot of steps along the way. Aside from having your RangeMe profile and pitch squared away, it’s a numbers game.
And the equation is simple: The more products you submit, the more meetings you have, the better your chances of getting those wins over time.
Editor’s Note: You can find more RangeMe customer success stories and RangeMe reviews here.