Posted in: Collectibles | Tagged: boxlunch, d23, disney

BoxLunch Talks About Feeding America and Next 10 Year Goals at D23

During our visit at D23, we were able to speak with BoxLunch about their creativity and future here is what they had to say.

BoxLunch continues to grow not only with new licenses and new products but also by raising awareness of bigger issues like food insecurity. BoxLunch donates directly to their local food banks, and even with prices rising, they continue to fulfill their goal of helping the community. At D23, Bleeding Cool was able to talk with Rick Vargas, Senior VP GMM of Merchandising & Marketing at BoxLunch, about what the future holds for the company and their continued goal to grow toward a hunger-free America. With their 10-year anniversary coming next year, BoxLunch hopes to expand overseas and continue to fight for food insecurity with the idea of their own brand of toys arriving in the future.

What does the next 10 years of BoxLunch looking like? Where do you want to be 10 years from now?

"We want to be everywhere the fan is. Do you want to have options for everybody nationwide, even in Puerto Rico, maybe even internationally down the road to support their fandom. We wanna be there for them; we want to meet them where they are. We want to be able to create an environment where they can come in, find like-minded fans and really bond over the fandom and, in the meantime, buy some product."

"I think one of the things that we're looking forward to is growing our relationship with Feeding America. We have a great relationship with them, and we've been able to really help them combat food insecurity, and we look forward to that growing over the next 10 years. You know there's an opportunity for all of us, every fan to help our communities for those that are food insecure. You don't have to buy anything from us but we're here to educate as well. We want to make sure that people understand that you can go out, give your time, volunteer, and help your community in any way that you see as an option."

With the cost of everything going up in the last couple of years, with inflation, has it been hard to try to keep prices reasonable while also being able to give to Feeding America and for BoxLunch to still do what they set out to do?

"You know, it's in our name; we wanna make sure we get back to the community first. We're gonna work with our vendor base to get the best cost we can, so we're not passing all of that onto our customers. It's a little bit tough when it's an inflationary period, but we have a great relationship with a lot of our vendor partners. Gives us a little more leverage to help our costs and really not pass all that along to our customers. So, I think from that perspective, we did a great job. You know, we're never going to shy from what we do with Feeding America; we're always going to give to them and nurture that relationship, so that is always first and foremost on our mind."

Is there a specific new type of product that you guys are going to be launching anytime soon?

"You know, there's always a fresh perspective on apparel, so we follow that trend a lot. There's always an option for us to kind of expand our horizons, so to speak, when it comes to apparel; you'll see today we have racing jackets, moto jackets, that is a trend, and it is right for us; F1 is a big opportunity, so we are kind of leaning into that a little bit."

"When you look at some of the things we've done in bags, we're changing the silhouettes. We're always updating based on trends, whether it's full-size backpacks, mini backpacks, handbags, cross bodies, and things like that. There's always something new to explore, and there's some new opportunities in toys; you know, there are a lot of great figures out there to be had for the collector, and we're kind of on the front line of that to develop new products with some of our vendor partners as well as explore opportunities with some of our older vendor partners to kind of push the limits on what's available."

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