Budget Note:
As we put together our 2026 budgets, there was an opportunity to redistribute implementation (wages, benefits, insurance, etc.) and travel to better reflect our retail and foodservice cost centers. In addition to new hires within the retail and foodservice teams, we also had a couple folks previously included move to other departments. - The program lines within Tradeshows saw a slight increase to cover the cost of doing business, while the implementation and travel lines moved to Foodservice. - The increase needed for Tradeshows programs was covered by Retail as a one-time infusion. Aside from this, Retail saw a small decline in the overall budget across program lines and decrease in implementation to account for folks moving to other departments (outside of what’s represented). - Foodservice’s program lines remain flat year over year, with the overall increase solely coming from moving implementation and travel from Tradeshows to Foodservice.
Department
2025
2026
Total Change
US Retail
$6,665,000
$6,227,500
-$437,000 (-7%)
US Foodservice
$2,505,000
$3,302,500
+$797,500 (+32%)
Tradeshows
$1,759,000
$1,325,000
-$434,000 (-25%)
TOTAL
$10,929,000
$10,855,000
-$74,000 (-1%)
It’s also worth noting that the US Retail budget includes a few things outside of our funding for new distribution support, broader market promotions, shopper marketing programs, e-commerce activations, etc. - Since its inception, we’ve included ~$1MM every year that goes towards our Excelerator efforts. This includes the prize money deployed, the cost of the event itself, and management fees from Venture Fuel. Most of the brands included to date have focused on the retail channel for distribution. This remains flat for 2026. - Additionally, this department funds our website product locator that’s focused on what retail products are available at shelf or online, as well as the broader organizations Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool Salesforce. This tool is our central database for contacts, projects, and connecting relationships within our respective areas. The includes the cost of licensing and development for all of our teams needs.
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