Newtopia Now: What 5 conscious exhibitors experienced at the novel natural products event

Now that Newtopia Now is in the books, we checked in with the founders and leaders of several emerging conscious CPG brands who exhibited at the show to get their perspectives on the first-time trade show and conference. 

With a re-imagined concept that incorporated high visibility standardized booth designs, tabletop pavilions, educational session right on the show floor, interactive meeting lounges, and an intimate floor layout that evened out the playing field, emerging and early-stage brands received significant buyer attention at the inaugural Newtopia Now. 

More than 7,000 attendees registered for the event and 560 brands exhibited at the show. Many were first-time exhibitors, coming from diverse backgrounds. Yet, these entrepreneurs all shared that gathering with buyers, influencers, business leaders, industry experts and others was of great value in building relationships, learning about the natural retail market and growing their businesses and brands.

Oodaaloly — Hernan Lauber

“Newtopia Now was a great networking event for us,” said Hernan Lauber, founder and CEO of Oodaalolly, a Bay Area-based premium chocolate bar company inspired by Swiss chocolate craftsmanship, global flavors and Hernan’s Filipino roots. “We met a few great retailers at the show. Fresh Market’s buyer was able to sample all our products, and there were some flavors that really intrigued her because they are unlike anything else they currently offer. We also met several retailers, such as the Berkeley Bowl, where we’ve been trying to get their attention because they are in our backyard, but we’d not been able to break through. Newtopia Now offered an opportunity to get to know someone in real life instead of trying to hunt them down virtually.” 

Related:10 Conscious CPG Voices: Emerging brands take a stand at Newtopia Now

Hernan added, “We also met with several brokers who are industry veterans particularly in the confectionery space, and we are going to start working with one or more of them. We got to interact with media leaders, a representative from distributor KeHE, plus investment and marketing folks from the Naturally Network. We met with several other buyers from leading retailers such as Earth Fare, Whole Foods Market’s foraging team, Walmart Marketplace and others who visited our booth. We are having continuing conversations with all of these people. From that perspective, Newtopia Now was a great opportunity. I left with a good stack of business cards and since CPG is still a relatively new space for our team, any opportunity to meet industry veterans and successful scaling brands is one we are grateful for.”

Funky Mello — DeLisa Harper

One of only four Newtopia Now exhibitors chosen as a finalist in the 2025 NEXTY Awards, which will be presented at Natural Products Expo West in March, husband and wife Delisa and Zach Harper’s Funky Mello brand of vegan marshmallow crème made with aquafaba had a warm reception at the Denver event. “At Newtopia Now, we connected with major retailers like Target, Walmart and Sprouts, as well as regional ones like Earth Fare. We also saw interest from online retailers such as Thrive Market and DashMart, and food service partners,” Delisa said. 

“Since the show, we've sent out product samples and introduced our latest innovations, focusing on building relationships for future opportunities. We've seen a boost in traffic to our website and social media engagement post-show, which has been great for awareness. We're directing this interest toward our existing retail partners and monitoring sales closely. While results are still coming in, the initial response looks promising. We’re thrilled that Funky Mello was selected as a 2025 NEXTY finalist, and with the showcase at Expo West, we plan to attend, if not exhibit. Next year, we'd love to return to Newtopia Now as speakers to share insights that could benefit fellow brands,” Delisa added.

HeyBamboo — Joslyn Faust

“Our goal with Newtopia Now (our first trade show ever!) was to get an introduction to the retail landscape and figure out how to approach it. From that perspective, it was a big success,” said Joslyn Faust, founder and CEO of HeyBamboo, the maker of plastic-free, 100% bamboo, unbleached toilet paper and paper towels. “We met with a lot of impressive national retailers, including Whole Foods Market, Walmart and Earth Fare and also with some great regional buyers. Given all the discussions we had, we decided to spend time to get ourselves super ready for retail, with the help of the Market Ready program with Presence Marketing, which we heard about through Newtopia Now connections. Afterward, we plan to reach back out to interested retailers, with a solid retail offering.”

 Joslyn noted that the brand received a “huge bump” in Instagram followers during the Newtopia Now event. “Our followers shot up by 30%! Also, we saw a bump in our online purchases and email subscribers during that time. We definitely weren't expecting that, but it was amazing to see. We had such a great time and so much success at Newtopia Now, that we're planning to be at Expo West as well as Newtopia Now in 2025. The connections and exposure were really great for us, and we can't wait to build on that success,” she said.

Mesa de Vida — Kirsten Sandoval

A former performance and recovery chef to professional athletes, Mesa de Vida founder and CEO Kirsten Sandoval brought her globally inspired cooking sauces to Newtopia Now, showing them for the first time on a national stage after achieving numerous accolades and local success in the San Diego, California, market. A woman-owned business, Mesa de Vida was featured in the Represent Neighborhood at Newtopia Now. 

“We had several independent retailers come through that will be bringing us on shelf soon, and I had conversations with another major retailer that will be expanding our presence after trying our products for themselves and discovering how amazing they are! Further, I was able to introduce several retailers to the new labels we've been working on to gauge their interest versus our current labels and get a general opinion from anyone I could get to look at them. The reactions were a resounding ‘love them!’ and I had a few suggestions for even more improvements. One major retailer told me to reach out the moment I have the new batch of product with the new labels ready to go. Newtopia Now was a great place to get expert opinions and retailer suggestions before I make that investment,” Sandoval said.

Levelle Nutrition — Linda Alvarez

For specialty nutrition company Levelle Nutrition, which offers products for female athletes, Newtopia Now presented an opportunity to have constructive conversations with online retailers including Amazon onboarding, university researchers, social media influencers and more. “We had nice traction from service providers and other connections, too,” said company co-founder and CEO Linda Alvarez. “We expect to see an impact on awareness and sales but expect it to come a little further out and are looking toward the 2025 buying cycle. To prepare for this, we are currently finalizing our retail boxes, and so are actively working on converting leads from the show into sales.” In related news, Alvarez is scheduled to speak on Oct. 28  at Supply Side West in Las Vegas, Nevada, as part of a deep dive into food innovation and active nutrition.

Commenting from a retail buyer’s perspective, Jonathan Lawrence, VP of Center Store for Fresh Thyme Market, with 70 stores in the Midwest, shared this observation while attending the inaugural Newtopia Now: “I think we had no idea what to expect. It’s been so new and different from what we’ve done in the past. Everything changed, but in a great way. The show size is great, so we can cover the floor. I saw a lot of people who were excited, and they see the opportunity for what Newtopia Now will become.”

The next Newtopia Now is scheduled for Aug. 20-22, 2025, in Denver, Colorado.