Shelf Love on Track to Surpass $1 Million in 2026 Revenue, Growing From One Brand Ambassador in Nashville to More Than 80 Nationwide

The women-owned field marketing company now operates in 25 major U.S. cities and has completed more than 3,500 demos and 50 events so far in 2026, all while staying focused on better-for-you, purpose-driven brands.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — When Meghan Sumser started Shelf Love in July 2023, she was the company’s only brand ambassador. She spent her days visiting stores around Nashville, talking with shoppers and introducing them to natural, better-for-you brands she genuinely loved.

Three years later, Shelf Love is on track to surpass $1 million in annual revenue in 2026.

The company has grown from Sumser working demos herself in Nashville to a team of more than 80 brand ambassadors across 25 major U.S. cities. So far in 2026, Shelf Love has completed more than 3,500 in-store demos and 50 events for growing CPG brands across the country.

“It’s honestly a little surreal to look at where we started and where we are now,” said Sumser, Founder and CEO of Shelf Love. “I started Shelf Love because I genuinely loved being a brand ambassador and wanted to create more consistency for people like me while helping really great brands grow. Three years later, that’s still at the heart of what we’re doing — there’s just a lot more of us now.”

Growing alongside the brands we represent

Shelf Love’s financial growth has accelerated alongside its national expansion.

The company generated approximately $10,000 during its first six months in business in 2023. Revenue grew to approximately $36,000 in 2024 and surpassed $100,000 in 2025. In 2026, Shelf Love is now on track to exceed $1 million in annual revenue.

That growth has happened largely by growing alongside its brand partners.

As emerging CPG brands gain distribution and enter new markets, they face a new challenge: getting people to actually notice and understand their products once they’re on the shelf.

Shelf Love helps bridge that gap by building local teams that can represent brands through in-store demos, events and experiential marketing.

“Getting onto the shelf is such a huge win for an emerging brand, but then the work really starts,” Sumser said. “You’re suddenly in hundreds of stores, sometimes across the country, and you need people who can tell your story when you can’t physically be there. We want our teams to feel like an extension of the brands we represent.”

Shelf Love now supports brands appearing in retailers including Whole Foods Market, Sprouts Farmers Market, Erewhon and other national, regional and independent retailers.

Staying true to the brands Shelf Love was built to support

Even as the company has grown, Sumser has remained intentional about the types of brands Shelf Love represents.

The company works exclusively with brands that fit its core ethos: products that are better for our bodies, better for the planet, or both.

Shelf Love has turned down potential partnerships when products haven’t aligned with those values. Today, more than half of the brands the company represents are also women-owned.

For Sumser, that selectivity goes back to why she enjoyed being a brand ambassador in the first place.

“I used to joke that I couldn’t believe I was getting paid to socialize,” Sumser said. “I was spending my day talking to my neighbors in Nashville and introducing them to these really cool brands that cared about sustainability, wellness and creating better options. I loved it. I felt like I was helping people discover something good while also helping a small brand win.”

That experience became the foundation for Shelf Love.

Sumser believed there were other people who shared that same excitement for health, wellness, sustainability and emerging brands — and that those people could become powerful advocates if they were given consistent opportunities to do the work.

“I wanted to create consistency for people like me — people who are deeply passionate about better-for-you products and genuinely want to see these brands succeed,” Sumser said. “That authenticity is really important to us. It’s hard to enthusiastically sell something you don’t believe in, which is why we’re careful about who we represent.”

More than 3,500 opportunities to connect with consumers

As Shelf Love’s footprint has expanded, so has the scale of its work.

The company has completed more than 3,500 in-store demos and 50 events so far in 2026.

While those activations help brands drive awareness and product trial, Sumser believes one of the most valuable parts of field marketing is something much simpler: conversation.

Every demo gives a brand an opportunity to hear directly from the person standing in front of its product.

What made them stop? What do they care about? What confused them? Was the price a concern? What made them ultimately decide to buy?

“Our team gets to have thousands of conversations that brands otherwise might never hear,” Sumser said. “We’re right there where the brand, retailer and consumer meet. I think there’s something really special about that.”

Shelf Love’s brand ambassadors are trained on the products, stories and missions behind the companies they represent so they can have genuine conversations with shoppers rather than simply hand out samples.

It’s an approach Sumser hopes Shelf Love can maintain even as the company continues to scale.

Building a company that supports a life outside of work

The company’s growth is also allowing Shelf Love to think bigger about the experience it can provide its own team.

One of Sumser’s priorities from the beginning has been creating a culture built around what she calls “life-work balance — in that order.”

Shelf Love’s team includes people with passions and careers in fitness, acting, writing and many other areas. Sumser sees those pursuits as something to support rather than something that should compete with work.

“We have people on our team doing really cool things, and I love that,” Sumser said. “Shelf Love doesn’t need to be someone’s entire life for them to be an incredible part of our company. I want people to have the flexibility to pursue acting, teach fitness, write, raise a family, travel or build something of their own — and still have a place here.”

As the company continues to grow, Sumser hopes to expand how Shelf Love can support its team, including more robust parental leave options and additional benefits and resources.

“I don’t want growth to just mean bigger revenue numbers,” Sumser said. “I want it to mean we’re able to create better opportunities for our team, take even better care of our brand partners and keep building a company that people genuinely enjoy being part of.”

For Sumser, reaching the $1 million milestone is exciting. But she says the bigger accomplishment is seeing an idea that started with one person doing demos around Nashville turn into a community of people across the country who believe in the same mission.

“We’ve grown a lot in three years, but the reason we’re doing it really hasn’t changed,” Sumser said. “We want to help better brands win, give really great people meaningful and flexible work, and hopefully make the grocery shelf a little better along the way.”