Meet Molly Pop -- The Brand Attempting To Make Fruit Juice Healthy Again

Hello, everyone.

Welcome back to the Spartan Nash Food Solutions Expo.

This is Omnitok Retail.

I'm Anne Mazinga.

And I'm Chris Walton.

And we are coming to you live from the Simbi and Omnitok booth here at the show.

And our next guest is Molly laforest, who we're going to call the biggest brand champion of Molly Pop.

Molly, thank you so much for joining us.

We're really excited to hear your story today.

Thank you for having me.

This is such a great opportunity, and we're always happy to share our story.

Thank you.

Well, start at the beginning, because I asked you if this was your first time at the show, and you said you've been coming since you were 12, so why is that?

12 years old?

Yeah.

My dad's been in the produce industry for over 35 years.

Okay.

Has had a great relationship here with Spartan Ash.

He named a company after me when I was 12.

So Molly Sun Select.

It was a brand for premium grapes.

Okay.

I've walked the floor.

I've stood in the auction.

I've done it all.

And two years ago, we created Molly Pop.

So now we're coming in, launching big, bold flavors with Molly Pop.

And tell us what Molly Pop is.

Yeah.

So we really saw the opportunity to create a brand that was cohesive with candy grapes.

So a lot of consumers know cotton candy grapes.

Yeah.

There's so many other varieties.

Really?

Yeah.

There's candy snaps, there's grapes that taste like strawberries.

So many unique flavors.

And so we wanted to create a cohesive bag so that when you saw that pink bag, it was going to pop.

It was.

It was gonna be flavor and bold and something unique compared to your average grape.

How.

How do you make a grape taste like a strawberry?

Like, you can make?

Are you.

Are you, like, modifying the genetics of the grape?

Okay.

And so it's literally taking different seeds, and they'll just plant them in the ground and see what flavors come up.

So we have the privilege of being able to sample all these different things.

So it's really interesting.

Cause based on the consumer, the flavor profile you taste is such a unique experience, I suppose.

Right.

All of our taste buds are different.

Crazy.

Crazy.

Yeah.

That's pretty wild.

I had no idea.

I had no idea.

So what's the pop part then?

The pop part?

I mean, we're bold, we're bright.

You see me in the pink pantsuit.

If you see any of my co workers, they got the pink pants.

So it's really such a great brand because we stand out and what's really great is when you try the product, you fall in love with it because it pops with flavor and quality and boldness, and it's just something so unique to what the industry sees.

Okay, got it, got it, got it, got it.

So.

So health and wellness is always a big trend in this industry.

Is there any particular angle that you guys are playing into with the whole Molly Pop concept?

Oh, for sure.

And I think right now it's a great time to come in with this product because consumers are looking for something healthy, and they want that freshness.

And so coming in with the juice.

A lot of people will pick up a juice thinking that it's healthy, but when you look at those nutrition facts, it's actually a lot of added sugar, or it won't even use the actual juice itself.

It uses concentrate.

So we're coming in.

We already have the amazing grapes, and because my dad's been in the industry, we have so many connections with quality produce.

We're coming in with this cold pressed juice, and it is 100% just the grape produce.

There's no added sugars, no preservatives.

The sweetness you come with, our juices are the natural sugars that come from the produce.

And what is the downside of concentrate?

Because I don't actually understand that.

It's funny, I was actually thinking about this at my house two weeks ago.

What is the downside of that?

Relatively speaking, it's not real, it's not authentic.

So to get it, it's a lot of added sugars or preserves.

So they're putting added sugar in that most likely, too.

Okay, got it.

I can't do the full rundown of it, but I just know that a lot of people, to the consumers eye, people will brand them as healthy, and they're not always the healthiest thing.

And our big mission at Molly Pop is providing a healthier alternative to a lot of the artificial flavors we see here.

And what's really great is my family, as actually now in Las Vegas, they're in the farmer's market scene.

So like these shows, when you have consumers coming in and trying it, their eyes light up because they didn't realize that juice could taste like the actual fruit, Right?

And it's something refreshing.

And we'll have families come up and they're like, oh, my God, I have never had my kid want a vegetable, and they want this juice, which is amazing.

Yeah, that sounds amazing.

I've always wanted juices too, but I can't get over the added sugar impact.

So that's why I've stayed away from them.

But that's really interesting.

Okay, well, so tell us a little bit more, Molly, about what you're doing at this show.

Right now you're showcasing the product.

What else brings you here?

What do you get out of the show?

I mean, we get so much.

It's so great.

We have had so much support from Sparnash coming in as Molly pop, which is great, but being able to walk the floor, it's amazing because we'll have people come and sample just because they see the pink, they see the pop.

They want to know more about us, but then they love the product and they're coming and bringing back their friends or, oh, I know this person in retail.

And, and our, our pink speaks for itself, but so does the product.

And so it's really great just because we're launching the juice here for the first time.

Okay.

To have people come in and be like, where can I get this?

Like, we want it now.

What's, what's the response like?

Because I feel like that that product makes sense to put in a mass retailer that's national.

What's a response like from some of the independent grocers here who are just kind of starting to expand, expand their health and wellness or their produce departments in new ways?

It's only been positive feedback.

We've actually had the best conversations with some of those independents or the smaller.

Because as much as we want to, we want to grow big.

I think starting with that first step, working with them has actually been so great.

And I, like I said, I'm here born and raised from Saline, Michigan, and it's really cool coming in to where my one grocery store was, Bush's.

So then we have people coming from Bush's and being like, we love your product, we love to see it and we really want to put our best foot forward.

So working with these smaller companies, I think you can make it more intimate.

We can really sales and create the pitch in something that's unique.

Yeah.

And so because we come in with the grapes and this juice, it's really a cross selling opportunity for these stores.

We've seen that if you put the grapes on the side and you have the juice centers, it only increases the grape sales because it's the brand association and that's what we want to create.

When you see that pink, you know what to expect.

It's a pop of flavor.

You can always trust that we're going to have the quality produce that you're going to be consuming.

Right.

So Molly, talk about that more in practice.

Because it's funny that you mentioned that, because earlier this morning, the folks from Spartan Ash came over and they ran over, they said, you got to interview Molly.

You got to interview Molly.

She's got these really interesting ideas and takes on cross merchandising in a new way, which as a former merchant, always gets my interest peaked.

You know, I'm like, okay, what is she saying?

So talk to us more about that.

Like, how do you actually envision the tactical things that need to happen across merchandise in a grocery store the way you're ultimately envisioning it?

Yeah, for sure.

I mean, let's be honest.

The produce industry has had generational ways to grow, so that be a disruptive product is already so unique.

And so when we first started coming with Molly pop two years ago, it was just for that candy grapes.

Like, we wanted to create that cohesive branding.

So when we would come to all these shows, we would bring juice and gelato and ice cream all made with just fresh fruits and vegetables.

Right.

And it was a thing where people were like, oh my God, this is so good.

Where can I get it in stores?

The juice specifically was one where they're like, no, we would buy this.

So it's just the fact we have the premium produce.

You can Molly Pop anything.

So that's the fun, exciting thing.

We're starting with this juice and we've gotten such great feedback.

But in terms of cross merchandising, it's an untapped market when it comes to produce, especially to consumer, where if you see red or green grapes, oh, you prefer one of them.

But to have brand association is something that's really new to this industry.

And that's where we want to be innovated and to disrupt.

When you go to grocery, are there any operational dynamics you have to think about with the cross merchandising, like refrigeration or cooling?

Like, how does that work?

Yeah, for sure.

I think that right now, as the cold pressed juice industry grows, a lot of grocery stores are trying to figure that out, so.

So luckily it plays in our favor where most grocery stores, you have your produce and you already have the cold pressed juice section right there.

Right.

To anyone here in the industry, it makes sense that even though it's a juice, it goes into the produce section.

It's now getting the consumers to realize that.

Right.

Because it won't be with your normal juices or over by the dairy, it won't be by the produce.

Right.

And I have that set up in Our local grocery store, too.

We do it.

It's important, too.

Like we were talking about earlier and on our podcast with A and M consumer and retail group, where we were talking about thinking about space allocation for these new categories and how you're going to set your stores up for what the future products that might look like, including Molly Pop, which.

Let's get.

Let's get down to brass tacks here, Molly.

I have to know, we haven't tried it yet.

So what flavor, what varietal of Molly Pop should we go over and test?

I mean, all of them.

They're great.

I think the biggest, I always start with, do you guys like beets?

Beets.

Beets.

Yeah.

I love beets.

Okay.

So if you love beets, that's been the fan favorite.

Okay.

Because it's.

We worked really hard to curate four drinks that have balanced flavors.

So some people, they either don't like beets or they're like, oh, this is really earthy.

We created a balance that it.

You still taste the beets for sure.

Yeah.

By adding that cucumber kind of created.

Creates more of a tone level.

So it's really interesting when people will try the grape cider.

And some people taste more apple, some people taste more grape.

It's really unique, depending on your palate, but we really created it where you can taste everything.

And that's not always the case when you have juices because it's all the additives or whatever.

And so it's a really complex flight, but there's something for everyone, depending on what type of juice drinker you are.

Wow.

All right, well, you heard it here first, folks.

There's no beating Molly Pop's beet juice, and I can't wait to try it.

That's definitely the one I'm going to try first.

All right, well, Molly, thanks for joining us today.

It's really cool to hear your story and what you're trying to do.

Thanks to Simbi and Spartan Nash for sponsoring our coverage at the conference.

And until next time, Anne, be careful out there.