Chicago Grocery Run with Norman Distribution - April 2026

Chicago Grocery Run with Norman Distribution - April 2026

ByStartup CPG Community Events
0 followers529 events6y hosting89.7k total attendees
Part of the IRL Events collection
Norman Distribution IncDes Plaines, IL
Thursday, April 16  •  4 PM - 6 PM
Overview

Grocery Run is a national event series connecting relevant retailers to emerging brands. Join us to meet buyers, sample, and network!

Chicago: join us for a Grocery Run with Norman Distribution!

We’ll have brand samplings (apply below, tables are granted by application only), networking with your favorite CPG community, and VIP guests from Norman Distribution, Fresh Thyme Market, and Whole Foods Market.

Join us for buyer introductions and networking while enjoying samples and refreshments. Even if you aren’t sampling, bring product with you to show buyers! Sample packets/trial sizes and backpack sampling highly encouraged.


Come meet these featured guests:


Here are the amazing brands sampling at this event:

Beverage:

  • Amu Nutrition provides premium wild-harvested herbal teas designed to support your health and help you feel better naturally.
  • AVAL Cider is an all-natural cider produced from 100% fresh-pressed apple juice.
  • Journée is a wellness focused and all-natural functional energy drink crafted with real fruit, natural caffeine, and powerful adaptogens to deliver a bright, uplifting boost for both mind and body.
  • The Lucky Ox crafts culturally rooted beverages that go beyond refreshment, serving as a gateway to authentic flavors and timeless stories.
  • Mmmm...Enjoy. believes life's greatest luxury is being fully present and enjoying the moment...and we're here to help you savor every one of them.
  • NA Beverage Co. is on a mission to redefine the way we drink, connect, and celebrate through functional beverages for social moments - powered by adaptogens and nootropics - for winding down, turning up, and everything in between.
  • Nouvie is a woman-owned non-alcoholic wine brand redefining celebration with award-winning, low-sugar premium wines that offer inclusive, elevated experiences without alcohol or compromise.
  • Once Upon A Coconut is known for its clean, refreshing coconut water with bright, natural flavor that tastes like it came straight from the shell.
  • Petit Too Good to Be Fruit.
  • Pricklee is a natural hydration beverage packed with antioxidants, electrolytes, and vitamin C from real prickly pears.
  • Pura brings simplicity back to soda, just 4 ingredients and real cane sugar.
  • Quincy is building brand love for the other half of the glass by redefining mixers and garnishes for the modern consumer.
  • RINGA creates consciously crafted, plant powered products inspired by one of natures most nutrient dense and climate friendly plants - Moringa.
  • RIVR is a functional mushroom-infused tea brand proudly owned by the Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians and born from over 1,000 years of ancestral wisdom.
  • Skinergy offers skin-loving energy drinks that boost focus and supports skin + joints from the inside out.
  • Steepers Only is a Black and Woman Owned tea company. We produce antioxidant and fiber rich tea blends in Non-GMO sugar cane teabags.
  • Walker Brothers / Forest Water brews great-tasting kombucha and other fermented beverages using organic ingredients.

Snacks:

  • Act Bar is an upcycled protein bar fighting food waste and helping feed communities by donating ½ pound of fresh produce with every bar sold.
  • Alchemy of Food by The Flavorsmith is a clean-label food brand crafting bold, globally inspired flavors with real ingredients—because real ingredients create real magic.
  • Caruso Provisions is an elevated Giardiniera Pepper Company.
  • ChiChi Foods is revolutionizing breakfast with chickpeas.
  • ChickyDough makes gluten-free cookie mixes with 100% chickpea flour!
  • drybox provides completely clean, real-fruit snacks that make healthy choices effortless—no added sugar, no preservatives, no mystery ingredients. Just fruit, at its peak, crafted for modern snacking.
  • Evie's Snacks offers irresistible Texas pecans inspired by beloved recipes from Evie's childhood - brought to life with a modern spin. With 1/3 the sugar and all pecans sourced from family farms in South Texas.
  • Garrett's creates Chicago's True Original Gourmet Popcorn.
  • Good Journey empowers people to be happy and healthy by making decadent low sugar, high fiber donuts and cookies.
  • Hey Snaxy is a premium snack brand offering 100% natural, vacuum-cooked (not freeze dried or deep fried) fruit and vegetable chips that deliver real crunch, real flavour, and guilt-free goodness for all ages.
  • Huwa is selling olive oil straight from our village in Palestine!
  • Keya's Snacks are built on flavor, backed by culture. Leveraging heritage on beloved American snacks!
  • Krack'd Snacks makes low-sugar, keto-friendly, plant-based candy bars with real taste and texture, crafted from clean ingredients for everyday indulgence without compromise.
  • Kruda brings authentic Argentine-style empanadas to the U.S. with clean-label, frozen-ready convenience—crafted for real flavor, simple ingredients, and effortless sharing anytime.
  • Nokki Farm crafts 100% real, no-added-sugar freeze-dried tropical fruit snacks—bringing sunshine-filled flavors from small Vietnamese farms to families across America.
  • OH MY! is disrupting the dessert aisle with clean, craveable baking mixes and mini crunchy cookies that prove indulgence doesn’t need junk. Our products are grain-free, refined sugar-free, and retail-ready, built for today’s modern shopper who wants it all: clean ingredients, full flavor, no compromise.
  • Paktli produces a puffed ancient grain snack made with puffed amaranth plus puffed quinoa and millet with organic chocolates and dried fruits and nuts.
  • Pirucream is a cream filled rolled wafer in 3 delicious flavors, Chocolate Hazelnut, Double Chocolate and Coconut Creme.
  • Ramen Bae makes protein ramen & real-ingredient toppings that easily turn instant noodles into a flavorful, nutritious, & satisfying meal.
  • Realm makes chef-crafted savory veggie crisps with bold flavor, craveable crunch, and real ingredients that add some much-needed personality to the snack aisle.
  • Simply Sheep Dairy farmers milking sheep and creating indulgence in a glass pot.
  • Slim Kim popcorn is better for you, woman owned, 30 calorie a cup heart healthy, low calorie and delicious!
  • Some Honey makes SOME Raw, Unfiltered and All-Natural Honey - just as the Queen Bee intended.
  • Sprout Living creates real food–based nutrition made with organic, thoughtfully sourced ingredients—no gums, fillers, or artificial flavors—so people can fuel their everyday routines with products that taste good, digest well and fit seamlessly into real life.
  • Stellar Granola is a chef-crafted, allergen friendly granola redefining what "healthy" tastes like.
  • Sunday Supper is a better-for-you, modern comfort food brand reimagining Italian favorites across craveable appetizers and wholesome entrées—crafted for today’s conscious consumer and built to scale Italian flavor now, with the rest of the world coming next.
  • The Cumin Club makes clean, better-for-you, flavorful Indian food for the modern consumer.
  • Tierra Negra creates premium Mexican Salsas with all natural ingredients cooked in olive oil.
  • Unbothered Foods is a premium, dietitian-crafted sourdough cracker brand made for better digestion and bold sourdough flavor.
  • WHIMS is the modern chocolate company, selling nostalgic chocolates in a better-for-you, sweet treat.

Wellness:

  • Klar Labs offers a nootropic-powered energy and hydration drink mix designed to deliver clean focus and sustained energy without the crash.
  • Stimmie is modernizing how we pick our teeth on the go.
  • Victory Lap is premium prebiotic fiber positioned as performance nutrition because your gut is an athlete, formulated with smooth drinkability for wellness-focused millennials and Gen X.
  • Vitaminis makes tasty, no-sugar juice shots packed with nutrients - convenient and travel-ready.

Want to sample at this event? Apply here!

Space is limited! You must apply to sample with a table. A ticket to the event does NOT grant you a sampling table. You can still bring samples in a bag though.

Please note: this event is open to founders, co-founders, and C-Suite equivalent employees of CPG brands only – no sales reps, brokers, or anyone else is permitted.


Sponsors:


About Belmark

Belmark works with hundreds of small- to medium-sized CPGs, and are a great fit whether you're finding your first pouch or looking to upgrade your current packaging. Belmark doesn't just work as a packaging supplier for your label, flexible packaging, folding carton, or prototype needs, but as a partner that grows with you. Belmark is committed to helping small brands and will 100% hop on a call with you to guide you through your packaging journey.


About NielsenIQ

NIQ is a global leader in retail data solutions and has the most comprehensive and up-to-date retail and shopper panel data on the market. The data used by Fortune 500 brands can now be used by small or emerging brands to grow market share thanks to the Byzzer™ platform.

Byzzer™ levels the playing field by making reliable data and insights accessible to emerging brands that don’t have the personnel or resources to match larger competitors. From actionable smart reports to weekly data alerts to an AI-power presentation creator, we have everything you need to succeed at a price you can afford.


About Orderful

Orderful is the fastest way to trade EDI with your network. Our unified EDI platform is built to support teams of every size, from emerging brands to global retailers. Connect once to Orderful, automate your order to cash, and trade with thousands of partners through our modern, scalable network.


Interested in sponsorship opportunities? Email partnerships@startupcpg.com


About Startup CPG

Startup CPG is the biggest community in the world for emerging brands. We have 33k+ Slack members, produce the #1 podcast in CPG, host 100+ events per year, and are the #1 education hub for brands trying to improve our CPG ecosystem. It’s free — join today!

Instagram: @startupcpg


Grocery Run is a national event series connecting relevant retailers to emerging brands. Join us to meet buyers, sample, and network!

Chicago: join us for a Grocery Run with Norman Distribution!

We’ll have brand samplings (apply below, tables are granted by application only), networking with your favorite CPG community, and VIP guests from Norman Distribution, Fresh Thyme Market, and Whole Foods Market.

Join us for buyer introductions and networking while enjoying samples and refreshments. Even if you aren’t sampling, bring product with you to show buyers! Sample packets/trial sizes and backpack sampling highly encouraged.


Come meet these featured guests:


Here are the amazing brands sampling at this event:

Beverage:

  • Amu Nutrition provides premium wild-harvested herbal teas designed to support your health and help you feel better naturally.
  • AVAL Cider is an all-natural cider produced from 100% fresh-pressed apple juice.
  • Journée is a wellness focused and all-natural functional energy drink crafted with real fruit, natural caffeine, and powerful adaptogens to deliver a bright, uplifting boost for both mind and body.
  • The Lucky Ox crafts culturally rooted beverages that go beyond refreshment, serving as a gateway to authentic flavors and timeless stories.
  • Mmmm...Enjoy. believes life's greatest luxury is being fully present and enjoying the moment...and we're here to help you savor every one of them.
  • NA Beverage Co. is on a mission to redefine the way we drink, connect, and celebrate through functional beverages for social moments - powered by adaptogens and nootropics - for winding down, turning up, and everything in between.
  • Nouvie is a woman-owned non-alcoholic wine brand redefining celebration with award-winning, low-sugar premium wines that offer inclusive, elevated experiences without alcohol or compromise.
  • Once Upon A Coconut is known for its clean, refreshing coconut water with bright, natural flavor that tastes like it came straight from the shell.
  • Petit Too Good to Be Fruit.
  • Pricklee is a natural hydration beverage packed with antioxidants, electrolytes, and vitamin C from real prickly pears.
  • Pura brings simplicity back to soda, just 4 ingredients and real cane sugar.
  • Quincy is building brand love for the other half of the glass by redefining mixers and garnishes for the modern consumer.
  • RINGA creates consciously crafted, plant powered products inspired by one of natures most nutrient dense and climate friendly plants - Moringa.
  • RIVR is a functional mushroom-infused tea brand proudly owned by the Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians and born from over 1,000 years of ancestral wisdom.
  • Skinergy offers skin-loving energy drinks that boost focus and supports skin + joints from the inside out.
  • Steepers Only is a Black and Woman Owned tea company. We produce antioxidant and fiber rich tea blends in Non-GMO sugar cane teabags.
  • Walker Brothers / Forest Water brews great-tasting kombucha and other fermented beverages using organic ingredients.

Snacks:

  • Act Bar is an upcycled protein bar fighting food waste and helping feed communities by donating ½ pound of fresh produce with every bar sold.
  • Alchemy of Food by The Flavorsmith is a clean-label food brand crafting bold, globally inspired flavors with real ingredients—because real ingredients create real magic.
  • Caruso Provisions is an elevated Giardiniera Pepper Company.
  • ChiChi Foods is revolutionizing breakfast with chickpeas.
  • ChickyDough makes gluten-free cookie mixes with 100% chickpea flour!
  • drybox provides completely clean, real-fruit snacks that make healthy choices effortless—no added sugar, no preservatives, no mystery ingredients. Just fruit, at its peak, crafted for modern snacking.
  • Evie's Snacks offers irresistible Texas pecans inspired by beloved recipes from Evie's childhood - brought to life with a modern spin. With 1/3 the sugar and all pecans sourced from family farms in South Texas.
  • Garrett's creates Chicago's True Original Gourmet Popcorn.
  • Good Journey empowers people to be happy and healthy by making decadent low sugar, high fiber donuts and cookies.
  • Hey Snaxy is a premium snack brand offering 100% natural, vacuum-cooked (not freeze dried or deep fried) fruit and vegetable chips that deliver real crunch, real flavour, and guilt-free goodness for all ages.
  • Huwa is selling olive oil straight from our village in Palestine!
  • Keya's Snacks are built on flavor, backed by culture. Leveraging heritage on beloved American snacks!
  • Krack'd Snacks makes low-sugar, keto-friendly, plant-based candy bars with real taste and texture, crafted from clean ingredients for everyday indulgence without compromise.
  • Kruda brings authentic Argentine-style empanadas to the U.S. with clean-label, frozen-ready convenience—crafted for real flavor, simple ingredients, and effortless sharing anytime.
  • Nokki Farm crafts 100% real, no-added-sugar freeze-dried tropical fruit snacks—bringing sunshine-filled flavors from small Vietnamese farms to families across America.
  • OH MY! is disrupting the dessert aisle with clean, craveable baking mixes and mini crunchy cookies that prove indulgence doesn’t need junk. Our products are grain-free, refined sugar-free, and retail-ready, built for today’s modern shopper who wants it all: clean ingredients, full flavor, no compromise.
  • Paktli produces a puffed ancient grain snack made with puffed amaranth plus puffed quinoa and millet with organic chocolates and dried fruits and nuts.
  • Pirucream is a cream filled rolled wafer in 3 delicious flavors, Chocolate Hazelnut, Double Chocolate and Coconut Creme.
  • Ramen Bae makes protein ramen & real-ingredient toppings that easily turn instant noodles into a flavorful, nutritious, & satisfying meal.
  • Realm makes chef-crafted savory veggie crisps with bold flavor, craveable crunch, and real ingredients that add some much-needed personality to the snack aisle.
  • Simply Sheep Dairy farmers milking sheep and creating indulgence in a glass pot.
  • Slim Kim popcorn is better for you, woman owned, 30 calorie a cup heart healthy, low calorie and delicious!
  • Some Honey makes SOME Raw, Unfiltered and All-Natural Honey - just as the Queen Bee intended.
  • Sprout Living creates real food–based nutrition made with organic, thoughtfully sourced ingredients—no gums, fillers, or artificial flavors—so people can fuel their everyday routines with products that taste good, digest well and fit seamlessly into real life.
  • Stellar Granola is a chef-crafted, allergen friendly granola redefining what "healthy" tastes like.
  • Sunday Supper is a better-for-you, modern comfort food brand reimagining Italian favorites across craveable appetizers and wholesome entrées—crafted for today’s conscious consumer and built to scale Italian flavor now, with the rest of the world coming next.
  • The Cumin Club makes clean, better-for-you, flavorful Indian food for the modern consumer.
  • Tierra Negra creates premium Mexican Salsas with all natural ingredients cooked in olive oil.
  • Unbothered Foods is a premium, dietitian-crafted sourdough cracker brand made for better digestion and bold sourdough flavor.
  • WHIMS is the modern chocolate company, selling nostalgic chocolates in a better-for-you, sweet treat.

Wellness:

  • Klar Labs offers a nootropic-powered energy and hydration drink mix designed to deliver clean focus and sustained energy without the crash.
  • Stimmie is modernizing how we pick our teeth on the go.
  • Victory Lap is premium prebiotic fiber positioned as performance nutrition because your gut is an athlete, formulated with smooth drinkability for wellness-focused millennials and Gen X.
  • Vitaminis makes tasty, no-sugar juice shots packed with nutrients - convenient and travel-ready.

Want to sample at this event? Apply here!

Space is limited! You must apply to sample with a table. A ticket to the event does NOT grant you a sampling table. You can still bring samples in a bag though.

Please note: this event is open to founders, co-founders, and C-Suite equivalent employees of CPG brands only – no sales reps, brokers, or anyone else is permitted.


Sponsors:


About Belmark

Belmark works with hundreds of small- to medium-sized CPGs, and are a great fit whether you're finding your first pouch or looking to upgrade your current packaging. Belmark doesn't just work as a packaging supplier for your label, flexible packaging, folding carton, or prototype needs, but as a partner that grows with you. Belmark is committed to helping small brands and will 100% hop on a call with you to guide you through your packaging journey.


About NielsenIQ

NIQ is a global leader in retail data solutions and has the most comprehensive and up-to-date retail and shopper panel data on the market. The data used by Fortune 500 brands can now be used by small or emerging brands to grow market share thanks to the Byzzer™ platform.

Byzzer™ levels the playing field by making reliable data and insights accessible to emerging brands that don’t have the personnel or resources to match larger competitors. From actionable smart reports to weekly data alerts to an AI-power presentation creator, we have everything you need to succeed at a price you can afford.


About Orderful

Orderful is the fastest way to trade EDI with your network. Our unified EDI platform is built to support teams of every size, from emerging brands to global retailers. Connect once to Orderful, automate your order to cash, and trade with thousands of partners through our modern, scalable network.


Interested in sponsorship opportunities? Email partnerships@startupcpg.com


About Startup CPG

Startup CPG is the biggest community in the world for emerging brands. We have 33k+ Slack members, produce the #1 podcast in CPG, host 100+ events per year, and are the #1 education hub for brands trying to improve our CPG ecosystem. It’s free — join today!

Instagram: @startupcpg


Good to know

Highlights

  • 2 hours
  • In person

Refund Policy

No refunds

Highlights

  • 2 hours
  • In person

Refund Policy

No refunds

Location

Norman Distribution Inc

2200 South Mount Prospect Road

Des Plaines, IL 60018

How do you want to get there?

Map
Organized by
Startup CPG Community Events
Followers--
Events529
Hosting6 years
Report this event
Related