UGLY TALK: HOW SMART BRANDS WIN IN A CROWDED AISLE

Food and beverage is crowded. Everyone says the category is saturated. Everyone says customer acquisition is too expensive. Everyone says you need a huge budget to break through. That is not always true. A crowded market does not kill a brand. Weak positioning does. Lazy go-to-market does. So does spending like a big company before you have earned the right. This room is about food and beverage founders who found a sharper way in. Better angles. Better storytelling. Better distribution choices. Better reads on what customers actually wanted. If you are building in a packed category, this is the real question. How do you stand out without burning cash like an idiot. 🎯 Why You Should Attend Learn how food and beverage brands break through when the category already feels full. Get sharper on go-to-market moves that do not require a giant budget. Hear what actually helped founders earn attention, trial, and repeat customers. Understand the difference between expensive marketing and smart distribution. See how strong brands find a clear angle instead of trying to outspend bigger players. 🙋 Who's Getting In This Room Food and beverage founders building in crowded categories. Early-stage consumer brands trying to find product pull without wasting money. Operators, buyers, and investors looking at what actually helps a brand break through. People who want the truth about traction, distribution, and brand strategy. Not polished founder theater. 🎤 Who’s Taking the Stage Jack Parker. Co-founder of Lambert’s Beer. Jack is building a mid-strength lager with 2.5% alcohol for the U.S. market. Mid-strength beer is established in Australia. In the U.S., it is still a white-space bet. Lambert’s is built around flavor, ritual, and social drinking without the next-day hangover. Eric Gonzalez. Founder and CEO of Tranquila Coffee. Eric is reworking decaf for how people actually drink coffee now. Tranquila Coffee is already the top drink at Pop Up Grocer and is proving that even a familiar category can feel new with the right format, taste, and positioning. Third speaker to be announced. Another founder who has taken a familiar category and found a sharper way in. Moderator: Glenn Johnson - Marketing Consultant at Fractional CMO Glenn Johnson works with small brands, startups, and founders to address their marketing needs. “Everyone needs something different, I craft a plan to help you address what you need, and a strategy to get it done.” A former VP/Creative Director at a Madison Avenue agency specializing in luxury and bespoke audiences, he brings expertise across multiple verticals. As a category-agnostic brand storyteller, he helps founders define their mission, vision and develop their brand business. 💬 What We Do Not Sugarcoat The shelf is crowded, and most food and beverage brands do not get a second look. Great taste is not enough if the positioning is weak. Paid ads, sampling, and retail pushes can burn cash fast when the angle is not clear. Getting into stores is not the same as building demand. A product people try once is not the same as a brand people come back for. In food and beverage, small mistakes in pricing, packaging, and channel strategy get expensive fast. 🤝 Who's Backing This The Yard - Private offices & coworking spaces for individuals and teams. GREY Journal – Media partner spotlighting modern entrepreneurs (featured on Apple News + Google News). ⭐ About Ugly Talk: Started in 2019, Ugly Talk has been transforming business setbacks into breakthrough “aha!” moments by hosting unfiltered, no-nonsense events where battle-tested entrepreneurs share their raw lessons and insights. With a growing presence in cities like New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Miami, we’ve built a vibrant community of thousands of founders and industry leaders making a profound impact on the entrepreneurial landscape. 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