When Ori left his previous VC funded tech startup, he was determined that his next company would be bootstrapped so he could control his own destiny. Ori co-founded Burlap & Barrel with Ethan Frisch, a single-origin spice company. They made sure the company was profitable from day 1 (without paying themselves). Initially they put all the money back into the company, doing consulting on the side and by year 3 they were able to start paying themselves completely from the company. Listen to our...
May 20, 2024•28 min•Season 1Ep. 169
Building a CPG brand can be a winding road. Often times the product you start out creating ends up changing as you learn and iterate with your customers. Now, changing from your original idea can be hard, but ultimately you’ll create a better product if you align your core vision with customer feedback. Shibani Baluja knows this journey well. She’s a long time friend and founder of Lil gourmet’s, a line of baby and toddler food for adventurous eaters. I invited her on to share her journey of bui...
May 16, 2024•21 min•Season 1Ep. 168
Will Nitze created IQ Bar, a protein bar to increase mental health and cognition, and now runs a multi-million dollar brand selling bars, hydration sticks, and mushroom coffees. Learn his strategy for growing a brand to a projected $55 million including fundraising, channel strategy, and mindset. Startup to Scale is a podcast by Foodbevy , an online community to connect emerging food, beverage, and CPG founders to great resources and partners to grow their business. Visit us at Foodbevy.com to l...
May 13, 2024•25 min•Season 1Ep. 167
As a CPG founder, it’s necessary to understand where you want to go in your business in order to get there. Financial Modeling, Forecasting, Budgeting are crucial steps to turning your strategic vision into actionable steps. Join me for a conversation with Brad Ebenhoeh, CEO of Accountfully as we break down how to do each of these for your business. Need help with your finances? Accountfully specializes in working with CPG brands. Explore how they can help: Accountfully.com Startup to Scale is a...
May 06, 2024•21 min•Season 1Ep. 166
Kaitlin Mogentale founded Pulp Pantry in 2019 to reduce food waste and increase nutrition using upcycled veggie pulp. She had great initial traction getting accepted into Target’s Accelerator, airing on Shark Tank, and launching in major retailers. She found that while consumers say they are interested in sustainable messaging, labeling her product as “pulp” and “upcycled” was turning away potential customers who thought they would taste bad. So in 2024 Kaitlin listened to her customers and rebr...
Apr 29, 2024•21 min•Season 1Ep. 165
As you launch in retail most brands will start by taking orders manually via email, phone call, or even text. But once you start working with larger retailers, they’ll usually require you to process orders via EDI. In this episode I break down: What is EDI? When do you need it? How does it implement for a brand? How to choose an EDI provider? How long does it take to set up? How much should I expect to pay? CRSTL is a new modern EDI provider priced for emerging brands that works with any retaile...
Apr 22, 2024•22 min•Season 1Ep. 164
If you find yourself constantly putting out fires, this episode is for you. I talk with Katie Armistead about how to build strong relationships and processes across your supply chain so you don’t have to solve every issue that comes up. We discuss building SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) and how to improve those with your partners. I am excited to announce our friends at JPG Resources are celebrating their 15th anniversary with the launch of Founder Cohorts! Cohorts is a B-School course app...
Apr 15, 2024•23 min•Season 1Ep. 163
Tia Lupita Foods pitched on Shark Tank in April 2023 and made a deal with Kevin O’Leary. So what’s new? I invited on Jose Carrillo, Tia Lupita’s Head of Marketing and Strategy to discuss. We get into how Shark Tank affected their brand awareness, channel strategy, and a packaging rebrand to better communicate to consumers. Listen in! Startup to Scale is a podcast by Foodbevy , an online community to connect emerging food, beverage, and CPG founders to great resources and partners to grow their b...
Apr 12, 2024•18 min•Season 1Ep. 162
Launching a new CPG business is tough at any time, but launching one in 2024? Let’s find out. I invited on Brian Bethke, founder of Bear Maple, a new Ginseng Maple Water. Brian first came up with the idea in 2020 when looking at Maple Trees outside of his window. Fast forward a few years, he officially launched the brand at Expo West 2024 to much fanfare, winning the KeHE Trendfinder “Golden Ticket”, designed to help fast track young, leading edge brands. Listen in to Brian’s exciting story to h...
Apr 08, 2024•18 min•Season 1Ep. 161
As a CPG brand, understanding your business financials is imperative to building a successful company. You first need to understand your business goals to get where you want to go. I’ve invited on Brad Ebenhoeh from Accountfully to talk through how to build a strong financial foundation for your business. We discuss: The difference between Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Finance Choosing between Profitability and Growth at a Loss Calculating your product margin and more. If you need help with under...
Mar 11, 2024•21 min•Season 1Ep. 160
Telling your brand story comes naturally for some, but challenging for others. In this episode I invite you to learn how to build a compelling story for your brand so you can influence how customers thing about you. I invite on Jake Ahles to walk though his F.E.E.E.D. Method to story telling. F.E.E.E.D. stands for: Facts Emotion Education Engagement Differentiation Startup to Scale is a podcast by Foodbevy , an online community to connect emerging food, beverage, and CPG founders to great resour...
Mar 06, 2024•18 min•Season 1Ep. 159
Business insurance is one of those things that most founders think about once, and never thing about again. That is, until a major problem happens and they’re desperately trying to figure out if insurance will cover it. As your brand grows, you should be reviewing your insurance needs annually to make sure you’re covered in all the ways you need, incase something goes wrong. To talk about all the things that can go wrong, I’ve invited on Russ Taylor, Head of Business development for Secure CPG t...
Mar 04, 2024•22 min•Season 1Ep. 158
Every CPG brand I’ve talked to over the past year has been laser focused on expanding into retail. While the initial order volumes can look promising, growth takes significant investment in managing those relations and driving sales. So how do you keep track of what’s going on once you’re in in thousands of stores? My guest today is Will Salcido, founder of Bedrock Analytics who’s here to discuss what CPG brands can do in 2024 to drive success in retail. Access 3 Free Reports from NielsenIQ’s By...
Feb 26, 2024•20 min•Season 1Ep. 157
Growing in retail means managing orders in multiple formats. Email, EDI, it can get overwhelming. Join me for a conversation with Ian Leaman, founder of Pantry as we breakdown some of the common challenges founders face and how proper order management, forecasting, and AI can overcome them. Learn more about Pantry here: Pantry.ai Startup to Scale is a podcast by Foodbevy , an online community to connect emerging food, beverage, and CPG founders to great resources and partners to grow their busin...
Feb 19, 2024•19 min•Season 1Ep. 156
The past year has been excruciating for emerging CPG brands. The lack of capital, rise in expenses, and sales challenges have been really tough. This year looks like more of the same, but the good news is that you can position your business to not just survive, but thrive this year. So today, I want to share some strategies on how to build a resilient CPG brand and invited on Jeff Grogg, CEO of JPG Resources. Jeff helps founders across the entire business process from manufacturing to sales. Lea...
Feb 12, 2024•20 min•Season 1Ep. 154
The foodservice channel is one of my favorite channels for CPG Brands, but it’s gone through some change over the past few years. I’ve invited on Kristi McGill VP of Sales at Rooted Food Sales to talk through foodservice trends for 2024 and how to build a strategy for your brand. Startup to Scale is a podcast by Foodbevy , an online community to connect emerging food, beverage, and CPG founders to great resources and partners to grow their business. Visit us at Foodbevy.com to learn about becomi...
Feb 12, 2024•22 min•Season 1Ep. 155
Amazon is an amazing platform for CPG brands to reach your customers where they want to buy. As a seller, there are a ton of tools on Amazon, and you may be wondering what are the most impactful ones to grow your sales. There’s a lot of talk recently about Premium A+ Content, and the impact it can make for you. I’ve invited on Daniela Bolzmann, founder of Mindful Goods for this episode, as she and her team help brands create high performing Amazon listings. Listen to learn how A+ content can inc...
Jan 29, 2024•15 min•Season 1Ep. 153
Fundraising for CPG brands in this environment is extremely challenging, especially for emerging brands. My guest today, Jimmy Semrick is the founder of Brella and has managed to raise $650 thousand dollars in the past 2 years and is using that money to expand distribution with MolsonCoors + Anheuser-Busch while extending their manufacturing space. Listen to learn how he built investor relationships and what stood out about his business to close the deal. Startup to Scale is a podcast by Foodbev...
Jan 22, 2024•17 min•Season 1Ep. 152
What does it take to build a successful CPG business in 2024? In this episode I invite on a panel to talk through industry trends, founder survival, and finding the support you need to grow your business. My guests are: - Christine Couvelier - Sachi Kittur - Tricia Ryan From foodbizmentoring.com Startup to Scale is a podcast by Foodbevy , an online community to connect emerging food, beverage, and CPG founders to great resources and partners to grow their business. Visit us at Foodbevy.com to le...
Jan 10, 2024•23 min•Season 1Ep. 151
As you launch into new retailers, what tools do you have to drive sales and velocity outside of the store? Retail E-commerce is a new marketing category that’s recently grown, which can help you make all your digital marketing shoppable. I talk with Louis Condon at Pear Commerce on exactly how to utilize it to: Driving Trial and Discovery Velocity and increasing sell through Key sales boosts at launch and for category reviews Increasing volume to move inventory Visit Pear Commerce Link to Previo...
Jan 08, 2024•18 min•Season 1Ep. 150
Branding is more than just your logo or packaging design. Branding is how you and your company show up in the world, and how people view your actions, your values, your products, your mission, and your vision. Your visual identity just becomes a shorthand for customers to easily identify all the other more meaningful things. Join me for one of my favorite recent conversations with Leonard Grape, founder of The Vineyard, a branding firm for CPG brands to share his insights. *For content creation ...
Dec 04, 2023•36 min•Season 1Ep. 149
As CPG founders, we spend a lot of our days reacting to the world around us and not enough time strategizing and planning for the future. It can leave you feeling unbalanced and constantly behind. One of the best things you can strategize is your sales and inventory planning, so that everyone on your team can be on the same page. Today I’ve invited on Yuval Selik, CEO of Promomash to talk about how to planning process so you can make more informed decisions. Startup to Scale is a podcast by Food...
Nov 27, 2023•19 min•Season 1Ep. 148
Having a Social Media presence for your brand is a given for businesses today, but how do you actually build a strategy that provides value to your brand? I talk with so many founds who spend hours a week sharing photos and posting reels, just to feel like it’s not actually doing anything meaningful. So today I’ve invited on Elle de Freitas, founder and CEO of Wonderkind to discuss How to begin building your social media strategy as a small brand. Learn more about Wonderkind . Startup to Scale i...
Nov 20, 2023•28 min•Season 1Ep. 147
My guest today is David Delcourt, founder of Grown As* Foods and Seed Ranch Flavor Co. If you’re on Linkedin, you’ve likely seen David on your feed in a bright yellow jump suit talking about his plant-based Mac and Cheese. We break down how David built a profitable brand and is raising an equity crowdfunding round to fund the next phase of the business. If you're interested in supporting his venture and being a part of this exciting journey, check out the crowdfunding campaign . Startup to Scale...
Nov 13, 2023•20 min•Season 1Ep. 146
Today’s guest is Jasmine Neveles, co-founder and CEO of Uncharted Coffee , a Black-woman-owned ethical coffee roaster with rare and limited-edition coffee bean drops produced by multi-generational coffee farmers across the globe. Starting as a way of connecting with their ancestral roots and mother – Jasmine learned more about the disparities amongst coffee farming communities and the negative impacts of the primarily white-dominated industry. To reclaim the BIPOC narrative around coffee, Unchar...
Oct 30, 2023•19 min•Season 1Ep. 145
Let’s be honest, most businesses will fail and every business will go through challenging times. How do you maintain resiliency through your entrepreneurial journey? Just because your business fails, doesn’t make you a failure. I’m joined by Keith Kohler and Kristoffer Quiaoit as we each share our story of shutting down a business and reinventing ourselves afterward. Startup to Scale is a podcast by Foodbevy , an online community to connect emerging food, beverage, and CPG founders to great reso...
Oct 23, 2023•42 min•Season 1Ep. 144
The Holidays are quickly approaching, and you’ve definitely seen the specific holiday displays in store from Halloween to Thanksgiving, Hanukkah to Christmas. But should you participate in these in-store merchandising displays as an emerging brand? I’ve invited on George Tzafis, who works with emerging brands at Trax to discuss how to build a holiday merchandising plan. We discuss: Which holiday merchandising tactics perform best? Is it too late to plan for holiday merchandising? What are the to...
Oct 16, 2023•19 min•Season 1Ep. 143
Join us in this insightful podcast as we dive into the world of data-driven decision-making in the retail industry. Discover how emerging CPG brands can leverage data not just to measure success but to inform and drive growth strategies. Learn from experts like Patrick Dougherty from Nielsen IQ as we explore the importance of understanding market dynamics, measuring incrementality, setting meaningful benchmarks, and integrating data across the organization. Whether you're a small CPG brand or an...
Oct 09, 2023•39 min•Season 1Ep. 142
We all know that getting on shelf is hard, but selling off the shelf is even harder. On this episode I’m joined by Andy Segal, Senior Sales Manager at Honey Mama’s to share how he manages sales and promotions. He breaks down how he creates a strategy for the year using tools like Promomash and Crisp , and then uses them to evaluate the success of the various promotions. If you need help managing sales strategy, trade spend and deductions, try Promomash and Crisp yourself. Foodbevy members get a ...
Oct 02, 2023•18 min•Season 1Ep. 141
Building a CPG brand is like playing a game of which came first, the chicken or the egg. You need inventory to feel confident making sales, but you need sales to have the money to pay for inventory. This is especially true with products that have a short shelf life. What’s the answer? Utilizing proper forecasting tools to know how much product you should make. I’ve invited on Ian Leaman, co-founder and CEO of Pantry AI to discuss how to improve your forecasting. Startup to Scale is a podcast by ...
Sep 25, 2023•19 min•Season 1Ep. 140
