Advertise on podcast: Shelf Help: The Tactical CPG Podcast

On this episode, we're joined by Jackson Jones, Founder & CEO of Farm to Pet - the Chicago-made single-ingredient treat brand behind the 100% chicken breast Chicken Chip.  Before Farm to Pet, Jackson spent years in operations and supply chain inside Berkshire Hathaway's Marmon Group and Duracell, among others. Jackson walks through how the Chicken Chip started in his basement during COVID, and why every co-manufacturer he visited either passed on an unproven startup or wanted to add fillers and preservatives. We get into what it actually takes to maintain a one-ingredient treat: testing, kill steps, moisture control and a two-year shelf life. A big part of the conversation focuses on vertical integration. Jackson breaks down why he built his own facility, how in-house margins have nearly closed the gap with a co-man, why CapEx is the real constraint, and the bird flu chicken spike he absorbed without raising prices. We dig into Amazon, why the second order is now the team's biggest LTV lever, how 1,000+ independent retailers found Farm to Pet with no distributors, and why he chose StartEngine crowdfunding over institutional money. --------------- Episode Highlights: 🐔 The basement origin of the Chicken Chip 🏢 Corporate supply chain playbooks vs startup reality 🏭 Why co-manufacturers passed (and what they wanted to add) 🧪 Kill steps, moisture and a two-year shelf life 🎨 The Grey Barn: putting his grandparents' barn on the bag 🔧 Why Farm to Pet owns its manufacturing 💰 In-house vs co-man margins (CapEx is the hard part) ♻️ Turning crushed chips into a cat line and toppers 🐦 Absorbing a 50% bird flu spike in chicken costs 🛒 Subscribe & Save, keyword bids and the Amazon Creator program 🔁 Why the second order is the real LTV lever 🎃 Halloween snack packs and 1,000+ independent retailers 🚀 Why he chose crowdfunding on StartEngine --------------- Table of Contents: 00:00 – Intro 00:46 – Origin story: the Chicken Chip 02:02 – Corporate ops lessons vs startup reality 04:59 – Going all in and buying the first factory 06:56 – Stripping it down: R&D and food safety 09:24 – Brand identity and the Grey Barn 11:09 – Why vertically integrate 14:18 – In-house vs co-man margin math 15:19 – When a co-packer could make sense 16:05 – Bird flu, beef prices and concentrated risk 19:25 – Subscribe & Save on Amazon 20:16 – Winning on Amazon ads 21:33 – The Amazon Creator program 22:36 – Listing pitfalls and Amazon partners 24:32 – What drives LTV: the second order 27:02 – How 1,000+ independents found Farm to Pet 29:11 – Seasonal retail and the next five years 31:16 – Why crowdfunding on StartEngine --------------- Links: Farm to Pet – https://farmtopettreats.com/ Farm to Pet on StartEngine – https://www.startengine.com/offering/farm-to-pet Follow Jackson on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacksonajones/ Follow me on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-martin-steinberg/ For help with CPG production design - packaging and label design, product renders, POS assets, retail media assets, quick-turn sales and marketing assets and all the other work that bogs down creative teams - check out https://www.kitprint.co/ Shout out to my friends over at Glimpse, the go-to partner for automating retail-related back-office operations and unlocking margin trapped in invalid fees and manual processes. Are you in the market for a new flexible packaging partner? Check out HD Packaging. Third-generation, family-owned and built for the needs of category leaders like Newman’s Own and A Dozen Cousins. Faster launches, lower costs, and no artwork fees.  Looking to dominate the cognitive health space? Upgrade your formula with Cognizin. It’s the branded, clinically backed citicoline trusted by top innovators in supplements, foods, and beverages. Differentiate your brand today at Cognizin.com.

On this episode, we're joined by Hudson Davis-Ross, Co-founder and CEO of Plant People - the functional wellness brand behind Wonder Gummies, the line of zero-sugar, vegan mushroom and botanical gummies sold at Whole Foods, Sprouts, Erewhon, Target, and more.  Before Plant People, Hudson was on the founding team of Rise Brewing Co. and helped build Aloha. Hudson walks through the origin story: two co-founders recovering from spinal surgery, a bootstrapped launch that did $4.5M in its first 18 months, and a COVID collapse that wiped out 90% of their independent retail accounts. We dig into the survival playbook that followed, including a line-by-line P&L purge, agency payment plans, and the two decisions that saved the business: moving from glass jars to pouches (packaging went from $1.50 to about 20 cents a unit and DTC shipping from $8.95 to $4.95) and shutting down in-house fulfillment for a 3PL. We also get into the move to gummies, why adherence beats potency, how they priced the launch at $34.99, and the rebrand from clinical to colorful. Hudson breaks down how customer demos and surveys shape new SKUs, how he thinks about Grüns, AG1 and Lemme crowding the category, what really happened after landing 800+ Target doors, and why they raised a Series A while already profitable. --------------- Episode Highlights: 🌿 How two spinal surgeries led to an herbal supplement brand 💵 Bootstrapping to $4.5M in 18 months with two part-time employees 🚧 Losing 90% of retailers when COVID shut down independents 🍬 Why gummies beat capsules on adherence (and where they lose on potency) 🏷️ Pricing at $34.99 and anchoring a new category ✂️ Going line by line through the P&L to survive 📦 Glass jars to pouches ($1.50 to about 20 cents per unit) 🚚 Shutting down in-house fulfillment for a 3PL 🎨 Rebranding from clinical to colorful with the Wonder line 🥊 Competing as Grüns, AG1 and Lemme flood the gummy aisle 🧪 How customer demos and surveys shape new SKUs 🎯 Saying no to Target, then landing 800+ doors 💸 Raising a Series A while profitable --------------- Table of Contents: 00:00 – Intro 00:59 – Origin story and bootstrapping to $4.5M 02:20 – COVID and losing 90% of retailers 03:01 – Launching the Wonder gummy line 05:03 – Gummy adherence vs. potency 07:57 – Pricing the launch at $34.99 09:57 – Hardest decisions coming out of COVID 12:12 – Glass jars to plastic pouches 14:52 – Pouch economics and shipping savings 16:53 – Moving from in-house fulfillment to a 3PL 18:59 – Early brand identity on a lean budget 21:23 – Rebranding from clinical to colorful 23:15 – Defending share in a crowded gummy category 28:16 – How new SKUs get greenlit 32:08 – Breaking into Target 35:47 – Operational lessons from the Target launch 39:12 – Raising a Series A while profitable 42:08 – Where to follow Hudson and Plant People --------------- Links: Plant People – https://www.plantpeople.co/ Follow Hudson on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/hudsongr/ Follow me on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-martin-steinberg/ For help with CPG production design - packaging and label design, product renders, POS assets, retail media assets, quick-turn sales and marketing assets and all the other work that bogs down creative teams - check out https://www.kitprint.co/ Shout out to my friends over at Glimpse, the go-to partner for automating retail-related back-office operations and unlocking margin trapped in invalid fees and manual processes. Are you in the market for a new flexible packaging partner? Check out HD Packaging. Third-generation, family-owned and built for the needs of category leaders like Newman’s Own and A Dozen Cousins. Faster launches, lower costs, and no artwork fees.  Looking to dominate the cognitive health space? Upgrade your formula with Cognizin. It’s the branded, clinically backed citicoline trusted by top innovators in supplements, foods, and beverages. Differentiate your brand today at Cognizin.com.

On this episode, we're joined by Matt Price, President & CEO of Teton Valley Brands - the Idaho chip company behind Real Idaho Potato Chips and Tallow & Stone. Matt took the CEO seat in 2024 after working alongside founder Kyle Nehring as a consultant. We dig into why Matt thinks so many brands raise money the wrong way, when venture is actually the right tool, and his case for building the company first and letting the brand follow. Matt breaks down the decision to go vertical and build out an in-house manufacturing facility, using co-packing as a profit engine that funds the brands, and bringing in Cranney Farms, the potato grower that's also the company's largest cash investor. He's candid about what broke first, from unpredictable retail orders to standing up a manufacturing team that runs nothing like a startup. We also get into the Trojan horse play: using the easy yes of Snake River Farms to open doors with retailers, distributors and brokers, then loading Tallow & Stone in right behind it. Matt walks through branding Idaho the way Napa brands wine, how an Alaska Airlines six-month trial turned into three and a half years and the real operational cost of cooking in tallow. --------------- Episode Highlights: 🥔 From rebagging chips in a basement to an Idaho potato chip plant 💸 Where brands go wrong on fundraising, and when venture is the right tool 🏭 The decision to go vertical instead of staying asset light 💰 Co-packing as the profit engine that underwrites the brands 🌾 Bringing in a potato farmer as lead investor (equity and debt) ⚠️ What broke first: forecasting orders for startup brands 👷 Building a manufacturing team that can't cut corners 🐴 The Trojan horse strategy with Snake River Farms 🍷 Branding Idaho the way Napa brands wine ✈️ Alaska Airlines: a six-month trial now three and a half years in 🥩 The real cost of cooking in tallow (cleaning, kosher tradeoffs) 🌮 Pricing Tallow & Stone for conventional grocery ($6.99-$7.99) 👀 Brands Matt's watching (Bawi Agua Fresca, Ithaca Hummus) --------------- Table of Contents: 00:00 – Intro 00:50 – Origin story 02:38 – Where brands go wrong on fundraising 04:22 – Co-packing as the profit engine 05:09 – When venture is the right tool 06:02 – Build the company and the brand follows 07:57 – The decision to go vertical 10:41 – What broke first when ramping up 11:43 – Financing with a farmer partner 13:09 – Building a manufacturing team 14:59 – One culture across corporate and production 16:00 – The Trojan horse strategy 17:27 – Positioning Real Idaho Potato Chips 19:39 – Equipment upgrades and Alaska Airlines 20:41 – Tallow vs seed oils 21:45 – Building Tallow & Stone price-first 24:17 – Multi-brand go-to-market and velocity 26:27 – Brands Matt's watching --------------- Links: Teton Valley Brands – https://www.tetonvalleybrands.com/ Follow Teton Valley Brands on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/teton-valley-brands/ Follow Matt on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattyprice12/ Follow me on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-martin-steinberg/ For help with CPG production design - packaging and label design, product renders, POS assets, retail media assets, quick-turn sales and marketing assets and all the other work that bogs down creative teams - check out https://www.kitprint.co/ Shout out to my friends over at Glimpse, the go-to partner for automating retail-related back-office operations and unlocking margin trapped in invalid fees and manual processes. Are you in the market for a new flexible packaging partner? Check out HD Packaging. Third-generation, family-owned and built for the needs of category leaders like Newman’s Own and A Dozen Cousins. Faster launches, lower costs, and no artwork fees.  Looking to dominate the cognitive health space? Upgrade your formula with Cognizin. It’s the branded, clinically backed citicoline trusted by top innovators in supplements, foods, and beverages. Differentiate your brand today at Cognizin.com.

On this episode, we're joined by Matt Gallira, Founder & CEO of Big Mozz - the premium mozzarella stick brand that started as a stadium and restaurant food service business before eventually landing in the freezer aisle. We get into how Matt went from handmade pasta sauces to a Brooklyn pop-up tent, the in-store sauce demo where he watched a cheesemaker stretch mozzarella and he asked to work for free. Matt breaks down the original recipe and why fresh garlic one thing he won't let a co-man swap for a dehydrated version. Matt touches on why Big Mozz launched food service first: a COVID pivot, operator-first selling to restaurants and stadiums, pitching Sysco category managers who already carry 10 mozzarella sticks, and why food service now supports the whole business. We also dig into the jump to retail, from Wakefern to Whole Foods nationwide, reformulating for home ovens, how too many TPRs trained shoppers to wait for a yellow tag, the new packaging built to read through a frosty freezer door, and innovating around usage occasions instead of flavors alone. --------------- Episode Highlights: 🍝 From handmade pasta sauce to a Smorgasburg pop-up stand 🚐 A van with 375,000 miles and a 150-person catering operation 🧀 Learning to stretch mozzarella from a North Jersey deli 🧄 Why fresh garlic is the one ingredient Matt won't compromise on 🏭 Getting co-man machines to do things they weren't built for ⏱️ The COVID pivot and the line trial that saved the company 🏟️ Launching food service first through stadium connections 🍽️ Operator-first selling and the Sysco "why do we need another one?" pitch 💰 Food service as the funding engine and top of the retail funnel 🏷️ Why too many yellow tags trained shoppers to wait 📦 Packaging built to read through a frosty freezer door 🍷 Innovating by occasion (one mozz stick and a glass of wine) 👀 Frozen brands Matt is watching (Jesse & Ben's) --------------- Table of Contents: 00:00 – Intro 00:51 – Origin story: from pasta sauce to Smorgasburg 02:56 – Growing a pop-up into a 150-person catering company 04:52 – The sauce demo that sparked Big Mozz 07:34 – Asking a North Jersey deli to work for free 08:30 – R&D and the original recipe 10:12 – Holding the line on fresh ingredients at scale 12:56 – Getting machines to do what they weren't built for 13:47 – Why Big Mozz launched food service first 14:48 – The COVID pivot and a lucky line trial 16:54 – Operator-first selling and the Sysco pitch 19:06 – Food service as the top of the retail funnel 21:29 – Food service vs. retail margins and the ground game 24:58 – The food service to retail brand flywheel 28:52 – Launching retail and reformulating for home ovens 32:54 – Driving velocity: promos, Instacart and packaging 38:44 – Innovating by occasion: nuggets, Flamin' and ranch 41:38 – Frozen brands Matt is watching --------------- Links: Big Mozz – https://bigmozz.com/ Big Mozz on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/big-mozz/ Follow Matt on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-gallira-22646529/ Follow me on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-martin-steinberg/ For help with CPG production design - packaging and label design, product renders, POS assets, retail media assets, quick-turn sales and marketing assets and all the other work that bogs down creative teams - check out https://www.kitprint.co/ Shout out to my friends over at Glimpse, the go-to partner for automating retail-related back-office operations and unlocking margin trapped in invalid fees and manual processes. Are you in the market for a new flexible packaging partner? Check out HD Packaging. Third-generation, family-owned and built for the needs of category leaders like Newman’s Own and A Dozen Cousins. Faster launches, lower costs, and no artwork fees.  Looking to dominate the cognitive health space? Upgrade your formula with Cognizin. It’s the branded, clinically backed citicoline trusted by top innovators in supplements, foods, and beverages. Differentiate your brand today at Cognizin.com.

On this episode, we're joined by Adam Brown, Founder & President of Sircle Media - the go-to social media agency for CPG brands. Adam has been in and around digital since 1999, starting Sircle in 2012 after a decade running sales and marketing in the mortgage industry. Adam walks through what it takes for social to impact retail velocity. One brand told him: move 10,000 units at Walmart and I do not care what it costs. He breaks down how his team proves that lift with control regions, geofencing and hyperlocal creator support, and why the Costco parking lot video every creative director hates keeps beating the polished stuff. He also shares the seeding math most founders never hear, one or two posts out of ten when you gift cold, and the college campus playbook he would run instead. --------------- Episode Highlights: 💡 The light bulb moment behind Sircle Media 💸 Pricing an agency at the cost of one hire ⚠️ The messy middle and the toughest year in CPG in 14 years ✂️ Why a 10% haircut beats cutting a partner 🔀 Social as a horizontal, not a vertical 📱 Two primary platforms, two secondary 🛒 What it takes for social to move retail velocity 📸 Scrappy UGC versus studio content 🎓 The college campus playbook for seeding 💳 The hot take that it is all paid now 🛍️ TikTok Shop and who it actually fits 💬 Community management as the most common miss 🔮 Trends: a return to fundamentals --------------- Table of Contents: 00:00 – Intro 01:05 – The light bulb moment behind Sircle Media 03:19 – Pricing an agency at the cost of one hire 04:54 – When a brand is ready for an agency 06:19 – The messy middle and the toughest year in CPG 07:47 – The 10% haircut across partners 09:37 – Social as a horizontal, not a vertical 11:59 – Two primary platforms, two secondary 14:56 – Making social drive retail velocity 18:34 – UGC versus studio when money is tight 20:00 – The college campus playbook 22:42 – Building for constant algorithm change 25:26 – The hot take that it is all paid 27:56 – TikTok Shop and who it actually fits 31:23 – Vetting influencers and creators 34:53 – Why most seeding programs flop 37:52 – Community management as table stakes 39:56 – Trends: a return to fundamentals --------------- Links: Sircle Media – https://www.sircle.me/ Follow Adam Brown on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamjbrown23/ Follow me on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-martin-steinberg/ For help with CPG production design - packaging and label design, product renders, POS assets, retail media assets, quick-turn sales and marketing assets and all the other work that bogs down creative teams - check out https://www.kitprint.co/ Shout out to my friends over at Glimpse, the go-to partner for automating retail-related back-office operations and unlocking margin trapped in invalid fees and manual processes. Are you in the market for a new flexible packaging partner? Check out HD Packaging. Third-generation, family-owned and built for the needs of category leaders like Newman’s Own and A Dozen Cousins. Faster launches, lower costs, and no artwork fees.  Looking to dominate the cognitive health space? Upgrade your formula with Cognizin. It’s the branded, clinically backed citicoline trusted by top innovators in supplements, foods, and beverages. Differentiate your brand today at Cognizin.com.

On this episode, we're joined by Eric Schnell, Founder of BeyondBrands - the 40-plus partner operating group that works as a fractional management team for early stage CPG brands. Eric co-founded Steaz in 2002 and has since co-founded or helped launch Good Catch, GoodSAM, Cool Beans, and Free Bird. Eric breaks down the Quintuple Bottom Line model the firm runs on and the one test every brand they co-found has to pass: can it sit in front of any buyer and credibly claim it will be a category captain? We get into the Good Catch story, from the seafood thesis they wrote with the Good Food Institute to extrusion R&D with help from friends at Beyond Meat, a Whole Foods launch, roughly $6 million in revenue, and a full exit inside three and a half years. Eric also walks through GoodSAM, where the team built direct trade relationships with regenerative organic farmers in Colombia and brought Thrive Market onto the cap table weeks before COVID shut down retail. We also spend time talking about why most brands die from running out of capital rather than product fit, what a believable five-year plan shows an investor, the 17 seconds a shopper spends scanning a cooler door, and how freight and geography quietly eat a P&L. --------------- Episode Highlights: 🫖 Selling $30 vitamins before selling $4 organic tea 🤝 The lawyer question that turned a favor into a firm 🌱 The Quintuple Bottom Line: passion, purpose, people, planet, prosperity 🐟 Why seafood, not meat, was the plant-based white space 🏆 The category captain test every new brand has to pass 🌎 Direct trade vs fair trade with farmers in Colombia 🛒 Putting Thrive Market on the cap table right before COVID 💸 Why most brands die in year one (it is capital, not product) ⏱️ The 17-second shelf window and the rainbow effect 📦 Why packaging gets fixed two or three times in year one 📈 56 equity positions and the ESOP model behind them 🧮 What a fundable five-year plan actually shows 🚚 Freight and geography, the black hole in the middle of the P&L --------------- Table of Contents: 00:00 – Intro 01:06 – From $30 vitamins to $4 organic tea 02:19 – Exiting Steaz and choosing the next chapter 03:32 – The lawyer question that created BeyondBrands 04:45 – Backing pre-revenue founders nobody else would touch 06:34 – The Quintuple Bottom Line business model 08:22 – How BeyondBrands decides what to co-found 09:11 – The plant-based seafood thesis behind Good Catch 10:23 – Building flaky plant-based tuna from legumes 11:35 – Whole Foods, $6M, and a fast exit 12:48 – The category captain test 14:49 – GoodSAM, regenerative organic, and direct trade 18:38 – Thrive Market on the cap table before COVID 20:53 – Why most early brands run out of capital 24:35 – The 17-second shelf window and the rainbow effect 26:53 – 56 equity positions and the ESOP model 30:55 – What a fundable five-year plan looks like 34:37 – Freight, geography, and the P&L black hole --------------- Links: BeyondBrands – https://beyondbrands.org/ Follow Eric on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-schnell-b133a425/ BeyondBrands on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/beyondbrands/ Follow me on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-martin-steinberg/ For help with CPG production design - packaging and label design, product renders, POS assets, retail media assets, quick-turn sales and marketing assets and all the other work that bogs down creative teams - check out https://www.kitprint.co/ Shout out to my friends over at Glimpse, the go-to partner for automating retail-related back-office operations and unlocking margin trapped in invalid fees and manual processes. Are you in the market for a new flexible packaging partner? Check out HD Packaging. Third-generation, family-owned and built for the needs of category leaders like Newman’s Own and A Dozen Cousins. Faster launches, lower costs, and no artwork fees.  Looking to dominate the cognitive health space? Upgrade your formula with Cognizin. It’s the branded, clinically backed citicoline trusted by top innovators in supplements, foods, and beverages. Differentiate your brand today at Cognizin.com.

On this episode, we're joined by Keith Bearden, CEO of Alter Eco, No Cow and Good Karma - the Trek One Capital portfolio spanning organic Swiss-made chocolate, plant-based protein bars and flax milk. Keith previously led Yogi Tea's international division, served as CEO of Lifebrands US and American Botanicals, and spent 15 years at Dow Chemical. Keith walks through how he went from Alter Eco board member to buyer, flying to Houston to pitch his path-to-profitability plan to Trek One Capital and closing on December 22, 2023. He breaks down the three levers behind a profitable first quarter of 2024: cutting headcount and outsourcing, moving the warehouse from Oakland to Columbus, Ohio (saving over $1M a year and roughly 20 days of lead time), and cutting trade spend from about 25% of sales to 19%. We get into managing a cocoa market that more than tripled after the deal closed, a 39% tariff on Swiss imports, and Keith's bet to take a 12% price increase while competitors took 30 to 40%. We also dig into SKU rationalization without losing shelf space and why Alter Eco doesn't chase trends. Keith also shares how a moment on a granola production floor in Canada became Oat Clusters, why his CMO pushed "delicious" over "organic" and moved "Made in Switzerland" to the front of pack, and how Alter Eco hit 1,400 Publix doors on day one by putting inventory on a plane. --------------- Episode Highlights: 🍫 Alter Eco's origin and "taste is the price of admission" 🤝 From board seat to buyer: the Houston lunch that closed the deal ✂️ Turnaround lever one: headcount, outsourced QA and back office 🚚 Moving the warehouse from Oakland to Columbus, Ohio 💸 Cutting trade spend on truffles that saw no incremental lift 🔄 SKU rationalization and proactive swaps to protect shelf space 🌱 Pre-bought beans and loyal farmers through the cocoa spike 🧾 Eating a 39% tariff on Swiss-made chocolate in 2025 🏷️ The 12% price increase bet when competitors took 30 to 40% ✈️ From granola production floor to airport shelves: Oat Clusters 🇨🇭 Why "delicious" beat "organic" and put a Swiss logo on the front of pack 🛒 Landing 1,400 Publix doors on day one (and air-freighting inventory to do it) 🔮 GLP-1 tailwinds and why No Cow is built for that shopper --------------- Table of Contents: 00:00 – Intro 01:04 – Alter Eco's origin and three core principles 03:36 – Running three brands as one CEO 06:30 – From board member to buyer 08:54 – Turnaround lever one: headcount and outsourcing 10:20 – Moving the warehouse to Columbus, Ohio 11:20 – Cutting trade spend that wasn't driving lift 12:36 – SKU rationalization without losing shelf space 14:16 – Hedging against cocoa's price spike 16:25 – Absorbing a 39% tariff on Swiss imports 19:56 – The 12% price increase bet 22:25 – From natural into conventional grocery 23:33 – Product roadmap and not chasing trends 26:44 – Granola and the Oat Clusters origin story 29:50 – The say-do gap and why "delicious" won 32:18 – Practical Magic 2 and brand collaborations 33:27 – Scaling doors and landing 1,400 at Publix 36:02 – No Cow, GLP-1 and what Keith's watching --------------- Links: Alter Eco - https://www.alterecofoods.com/ No Cow - https://www.nocow.com/ Good Karma - https://www.goodkarmafoods.com/ Follow Keith on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/keith-bearden-736821/ Follow me on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-martin-steinberg/ For help with CPG production design - packaging and label design, product renders, POS assets, retail media assets, quick-turn sales and marketing assets and all the other work that bogs down creative teams - check out https://www.kitprint.co/ Shout out to my friends over at Glimpse, the go-to partner for automating retail-related back-office operations and unlocking margin trapped in invalid fees and manual processes. Are you in the market for a new flexible packaging partner? Check out HD Packaging. Third-generation, family-owned and built for the needs of category leaders like Newman’s Own and A Dozen Cousins. Faster launches, lower costs, and no artwork fees.  Looking to dominate the cognitive health space? Upgrade your formula with Cognizin. It’s the branded, clinically backed citicoline trusted by top innovators in supplements, foods, and beverages. Differentiate your brand today at Cognizin.com.

On this episode, we're joined by Akash Raju, Co-founder & CEO of Glimpse - the AI platform that automates deductions, revenue recovery, and cash application for CPG brands selling into retail.  Akash and his two Purdue classmates started Glimpse in 2020 as an Airbnb product placement business before hard pivoting into retail finance in 2024. Akash breaks down the split between trade and non-trade, why brands hand back 20 to 30 percent of their margin to retailers, and why one to two percent of top line revenue gets written off as invalid whether you are doing $10 million or a billion. We get into what actually breaks scaling from $20 million to $200 million, and what a finance leader should triage in their first 90 days. Akash explains why the industry missed the last decade of enterprise software entirely, why so many brands are stuck in pilot purgatory, and why he thinks real transformation starts at the data layer rather than the workflow layer. --------------- Episode Highlights: 🏠 Placing CPG products inside luxury Airbnbs 🔄 Walking away from a seven-figure business to hard pivot 🗣️ 500 brand conversations across 15 months of pivot hell 📉 Why 20 to 30 percent of margin goes to retail deductions ⚖️ Trade vs non-trade and where invalid claims hide 🏪 Why mass retailers and distributors break differently 🧾 A finance leader's first 90 days on a messy deduction book 🎯 The 4x ROI pilot and the crawl, walk, run approach 🖥️ Why CPG missed the last decade of enterprise software 🤖 Getting out of pilot purgatory with measurable ROI 🧱 Why AI transformation starts at the data layer 📦 The shipping shortage dispute, line by line 🔍 Brands he's watching (BERO, Leisure Hydration, Create) --------------- Table of Contents: 00:00 – Intro 01:10 – Purdue, Airbnbs, and the first business 03:01 – The hard pivot and 15 months in pivot hell 05:03 – Why deductions became the wedge 05:59 – The power imbalance between brands and retailers 08:42 – How the deduction profile changes as brands scale 09:30 – Trade vs non-trade deductions 11:42 – Concentrated retailers or death by a thousand cuts 13:44 – A finance leader's first 90 days 16:01 – The 4x ROI pilot and crawl, walk, run 17:23 – Why CPG missed the last enterprise software wave 21:04 – Getting out of pilot purgatory 24:56 – What AI transformation actually requires 27:43 – What breaks between $20M and $200M 30:15 – The shipping shortage deduction, line by line 34:52 – Trustworthy AI, human in the loop, build vs buy 37:33 – Faster, better, cheaper and the $40 deduction 39:45 – Brands he's watching and Martha Stewart's old test kitchen --------------- Links: Glimpse – https://www.tryglimpse.com/ Follow Akash on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/akash-raju/ Follow me on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-martin-steinberg/ For help with CPG production design - packaging and label design, product renders, POS assets, retail media assets, quick-turn sales and marketing assets and all the other work that bogs down creative teams - check out https://www.kitprint.co/ Shout out to my friends over at Glimpse, the go-to partner for automating retail-related back-office operations and unlocking margin trapped in invalid fees and manual processes. Are you in the market for a new flexible packaging partner? Check out HD Packaging. Third-generation, family-owned and built for the needs of category leaders like Newman’s Own and A Dozen Cousins. Faster launches, lower costs, and no artwork fees.  Looking to dominate the cognitive health space? Upgrade your formula with Cognizin. It’s the branded, clinically backed citicoline trusted by top innovators in supplements, foods, and beverages. Differentiate your brand today at Cognizin.com.

On this episode, we're joined by Simon Solis-Cohen, Founder of Huxley - the Minneapolis-based plant-powered energy refresher made with real fruit juice and caffeine from upcycled cascara superfruit. Simon is a chef by training who ran a wine marketing agency for years before selling it and going all in on Huxley. We dive into the pivots that got the brand here, starting with the fact that Huxley launched as a coffee company. Simon breaks down why he left the coffee behind when Huxley debuted at Expo West, and how the team went from idea to a finished can in 130 days. A big part of the conversation focuses on cascara, the upcycled coffee cherry husk that supplies Huxley's 90 milligrams of caffeine. Simon walks through why synthetic caffeine tastes bitter, why that bitterness pushes most energy brands into heavy sugar or sucralose, and why real fruit juice had to be the second ingredient in every can. We also get into the packaging story. A conventional buyer told Simon his award-winning national parks illustrations would cap Huxley at hobby scale, and he rebranded a year in rather than wait. Simon shares what that unlocked at Sprouts, where Huxley now ranks number three in velocity among nationwide energy brands, plus the new Kroger natural and organic end cap and the AI tools he built to kill hours of distributor accounting every week. --------------- Episode Highlights: ☕ Starting as a coffee company and killing it fast ⏱️ Idea to finished can in 130 days 🍒 Why cascara superfruit beats synthetic caffeine ♻️ The landfill math behind coffee cherry waste 🧪 How bitterness forces energy brands into sugar ⚡ Dosing at 90 milligrams and why that number 🥭 Making real fruit juice the second ingredient 🎨 The national parks cans and the alliteration 🛒 The buyer who said the design capped them at hobby scale 📦 Rebranding at year one instead of waiting it out 💸 Seed strapping and saying no to retailers 📈 Hitting number three velocity at Sprouts 🤖 Automating distributor remittances with AI --------------- Table of Contents: 00:00 – Intro 00:52 – Why Huxley is an energy refresher, not an energy drink 03:31 – Idea to finished can in 130 days 05:02 – The pivot away from coffee 06:58 – Dropping the coffee line at Expo West 08:34 – Choosing cascara over synthetic caffeine 09:45 – What Bai proved about coffee fruit 12:11 – The landfill problem cascara solves 15:03 – Why bitter caffeine forces brands into sugar 16:59 – Dosing at 90 milligrams 17:56 – Real fruit juice as the second ingredient 20:39 – Building the V1 brand identity 24:07 – The buyer who rejected the packaging 26:52 – Why rebrand at year one instead of waiting 29:45 – Seed strapping and saying no to retailers 32:01 – Going nationwide with Sprouts 35:48 – The Kroger natural and organic end cap 38:10 – Automating distributor remittances with AI --------------- Links: Huxley – https://drinkhuxley.com/ Follow Simon on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-solis-cohen/ Follow me on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-martin-steinberg/ For help with CPG production design - packaging and label design, product renders, POS assets, retail media assets, quick-turn sales and marketing assets and all the other work that bogs down creative teams - check out https://www.kitprint.co/ Shout out to my friends over at Glimpse, the go-to partner for automating retail-related back-office operations and unlocking margin trapped in invalid fees and manual processes. Are you in the market for a new flexible packaging partner? Check out HD Packaging. Third-generation, family-owned and built for the needs of category leaders like Newman’s Own and A Dozen Cousins. Faster launches, lower costs, and no artwork fees.

On this episode, we're joined by Belle Robinson, Founder of ROXII Supercube - the functional wellness brand putting superfoods, collagen and electrolytes into nutrient-infused ice cubes that melt into whatever you're drinking.  Belle is a certified nutritional therapist who spent years freezing superfoods into her own water before turning that habit into a four SKU lineup now sitting in Sprouts and Wegmans. We dive into why frozen was the right format for a functional product and what it cost to get there. Belle breaks down the realities of a cold chain business, why ROXII went straight to retail instead of building a D2C audience first, and what that decision took away in consumer learning. Belle walks through the formulation process across nutrition, taste and format, and why narrowing to four functions was the hardest part of development. We get into pricing at just under $3 a cube in Sprouts against $5 immunity shots, everyday low price at Wegmans, and the question every single buyer asks in every pitch about where a functional ice cube actually belongs in the store. We also cover Expo West, how Belle turns skeptical buyers into believers, the brand ambassador and pop-up program driving trial around Sprouts stores, and what it takes to run a US brand from London while staying bootstrapped. --------------- Episode Highlights: 🧊 Turning a messy powder routine into a frozen cube ❄️ Why frozen locks in nutrients better than fresh 🚫 The D2C learning curve ROXII skipped by going straight to retail 🧪 Formulating across nutrition, taste and format 📦 The Expo West buyer who thought it was a smoothie cube ✏️ Where the ROXII name came from (on the rocks) 💸 Pricing a cube against $5 immunity shots 🛒 Finding a home in the frozen wellness set 🤝 Turning skeptical buyers into believers 🧭 Merchandising frozen around occasions instead of formats 📈 Landing Sprouts and Wegmans nationally 🚶 Brand ambassadors and pop-ups driving trial 🔮 Brands and trends Belle is watching --------------- Table of Contents: 00:00 – Intro 00:48 – Origin story 01:41 – Why frozen and what it does for nutrients 03:10 – The trade-offs of frozen and skipping D2C 04:11 – Advice for launching a new product format 05:38 – Formulation and R&D 07:47 – Building the brand identity 08:53 – The Expo West buyer who thought it was a smoothie cube 09:30 – Where the ROXII name came from 10:48 – Pricing against shots, powders and RTDs 11:46 – Where ROXII sits in the frozen set 13:30 – Turning skeptical buyers into believers 15:39 – Redesigning the frozen aisle around occasions 16:43 – Landing Sprouts and Wegmans 18:05 – Driving velocity with ambassadors and pop-ups 19:26 – Running a US brand from London 20:58 – Bootstrapping and the fundraising question 21:31 – Brands and trends Belle is watching --------------- Links: ROXII Supercube – https://roxiisupercube.com/ Follow Belle on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/belle-robinson-672a59261/ Follow me on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-martin-steinberg/ For help with CPG production design - packaging and label design, product renders, POS assets, retail media assets, quick-turn sales and marketing assets and all the other work that bogs down creative teams - check out https://www.kitprint.co/ Shout out to my friends over at Glimpse, the go-to partner for automating retail-related back-office operations and unlocking margin trapped in invalid fees and manual processes. Are you in the market for a new flexible packaging partner? Check out HD Packaging. Third-generation, family-owned and built for the needs of category leaders like Newman’s Own and A Dozen Cousins. Faster launches, lower costs, and no artwork fees.

On this episode, we're joined by Jasen Urena, Vice President at NestFresh, the humane egg brand that just became the first national brand in the US to move its entire retail lineup to in-ovo sexed Humanely Hatched eggs.  Jasen has spent 20 years with the company across marketing, sales, and operations. He breaks down what in-ovo sexing actually is, why only about 10% of Americans know what happens to male chicks at the hatchery, and how NestFresh brought AAT's Cheggy technology over from Europe and scaled it with Hy-Line North America. Accuracy is now running above 97% in live production, and NestFresh did not raise a single retailer price to pay for the transition. We get into the economics, the certification stack behind the claims, and why Jasen refuses to chase the easiest certifier. He also walks through the terminology problem in the egg aisle, why radical transparency beats polished marketing, and how NestFresh moves velocity with packaging, shelf tags, carton inserts, and TPRs when most retailers will not let you touch the set. We also dig into the 2024 packaging redesign, the six-month social teaser campaign that brought shoppers along with it, and the unusual asset-only structure behind the New Barn Organics acquisition. --------------- Episode Highlights: 🥚 The 1976 founding story and 50 years of the business 🐥 What in-ovo sexing actually is and why it matters 🌍 Bringing Cheggy over from Europe and scaling it for the US 📈 Accuracy above 97% in live production 🤝 The partner stack: AAT, Hy-Line, HFAC, ASPCA, Innovate Animal Ag 💸 Why NestFresh held retailer pricing flat through the transition 🔁 Why in-ovo sexing follows the cage-free playbook 🏷️ The terminology problem in the egg aisle 🔍 Radical transparency as an education strategy ✅ Not all certifiers are equal (and why ROA took 18 months) 🛒 In-store levers when retailers will not let you touch the set 🎨 The 2024 redesign and the six-month social teaser rollout 🔭 Brands and trends Jasen is watching --------------- Table of Contents: 00:00 – Intro 00:54 – NestFresh origin story and the 1976 founding 03:19 – Consolidation and the small family farm model 04:29 – What in-ovo sexing actually is 06:03 – Why male chicks get culled on day one 07:23 – The hardest part of scaling the technology 09:02 – The surprise: accuracy above 97% 09:44 – AAT, Cheggy, and Hy-Line North America 10:30 – The economics of in-ovo sexing 11:59 – The first domino and the cage-free parallel 13:15 – Why retailer prices did not go up 14:26 – Consumer confusion in the egg aisle 17:29 – Radical transparency as an education strategy 18:57 – Choosing certifiers and the Humanely Hatched trademark 23:32 – In-store strategy and shelf levers 26:00 – Promoting without eroding premium 27:00 – The 2024 packaging redesign 31:51 – Inside the New Barn Organics acquisition 36:14 – Brands and trends worth watching --------------- Links: NestFresh – https://nestfresh.com/ Follow Jasen on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasen-urena-27179013/ Follow me on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-martin-steinberg/ For help with CPG production design - packaging and label design, product renders, POS assets, retail media assets, quick-turn sales and marketing assets and all the other work that bogs down creative teams - check out https://www.kitprint.co/ Shout out to my friends over at Glimpse, the go-to partner for automating retail-related back-office operations and unlocking margin trapped in invalid fees and manual processes. Are you in the market for a new flexible packaging partner? Check out HD Packaging. Third-generation, family-owned and built for the needs of category leaders like Newman’s Own and A Dozen Cousins. Faster launches, lower costs, and no artwork fees.

On this episode, we're joined by Jesse Arntson, Director of Sales, Mass & Club at SLATE Milk - the high protein, lactose-free shake and iced coffee brand. Jesse has spent close to two decades on the commercial side of beverage, with stops at Red Bull, ZOA Energy, Fever-Tree and Bobo's before landing at Slate. Jesse breaks down what actually separates mass from club, and why the two get lumped together far more often than they should. Mass is broad distribution, assortment strategy and item productivity across thousands of doors. Club is fewer items, bigger packs, bigger bets and almost no margin for error. We get into what a buyer actually needs to see instead of a 50-page deck, and the short list of questions Jesse answers before he walks into a meeting. He walks through the Bobo's PB&J bar that caught lightning in a bottle at Costco, what happens when a great headline number hides softening velocity, and why past success makes teams slow to act. --------------- Episode Highlights: 🥛 What Slate sells and where it can live on shelf 🏬 Mass vs club: complexity beats you, velocity beats you 🧭 Picking your first big channel (and what a win costs) 🎤 What a buyer needs instead of a 50-slide deck 🍫 Bobo's at Costco: lightning in a bottle, then the slide 🔁 When to save a SKU and when to let it rotate out 🧪 Innovation has to solve a commercial problem 📦 Never selling ahead of what operations can ship 🎯 Dollars per club, base velocity, and reorder patterns 🛒 Strike zone placement, demos, and promo discipline 📱 Retail media and in-store as one plan, not two 🤝 When you need a broker and when to go direct 💸 The equity questions nobody asks --------------- Table of Contents: 00:00 – Intro 00:58 – What Slate is and the protein lineup 02:18 – Mass vs club: two different games 03:49 – Which is harder to enter, and harder to hold 05:04 – Choosing your first big channel 06:50 – What a buyer actually needs to see 09:45 – Bobo's, Costco, and lightning in a bottle 11:54 – When to save a SKU and when to kill it 13:32 – Three things to watch on a hot club item 15:00 – Innovation that solves a commercial problem 18:23 – The Slate playbook for mass and club 20:25 – Never sell ahead of the operation 22:12 – Picking which SKUs earn the pitch 23:41 – Velocity levers: placement, demos, promo 25:22 – Retail media, in-store, and asking "so what" 27:47 – Brokers, going direct, and owning the account 32:22 – The equity questions nobody asks 33:54 – Protein, functional beverage, and GLP-1s --------------- Links: SLATE Milk – https://slatemilk.com/ Follow Jesse on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/jesse-arntson/ SLATE Milk on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/slate-milk/ Follow me on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-martin-steinberg/ For help with CPG production design - packaging and label design, product renders, POS assets, retail media assets, quick-turn sales and marketing assets and all the other work that bogs down creative teams - check out https://www.kitprint.co/ Shout out to my friends over at Glimpse, the go-to partner for automating retail-related back-office operations and unlocking margin trapped in invalid fees and manual processes. Are you in the market for a new flexible packaging partner? Check out HD Packaging. Third-generation, family-owned and built for the needs of category leaders like Newman’s Own and A Dozen Cousins. Faster launches, lower costs, and no artwork fees.

On this episode, we're joined by Aviv and Michelle Schor, Co-Founders of HUNDY! - the frozen fruit pop brand made from a single ingredient: 100% organic whole fruit. We dig into the R&D reality of a one-ingredient product, sourcing organic tropical fruit through brokers and growers across Latin America, and commercialization (they searched for months and could not find a co-packer anywhere with the right equipment, so they spent about a year building their own machinery.) We dive into the recent rebrand, going deep with independents like Nugget Markets for a full year of learning before scaling, plus landing Costco off a first Expo West booth that cost $800. They also share the Shark Tank story, including pitching two and a half weeks after having their daughter and walking out without a deal. --------------- Episode Highlights: 🧊 Reformatting the frozen pop aisle with one ingredient 💼 Building a business with your spouse (and the dinner rule) 🧪 Why one-ingredient R&D is harder than it sounds 🍍 Brix, pH, and which fruits actually freeze well 🌎 Sourcing organic tropical fruit through brokers and growers 💸 The hidden COGS lines: packaging and frozen storage 🏭 No co-packer had the equipment, so they built their own ✍️ How the HUNDY! name got validated by a five-year-old 📦 The rebrand: merchandising complaints and unclear shelf messaging 🛒 Going deep with independents before going wide 🎯 Landing Costco off an $800 Expo West booth 📺 Shark Tank two and a half weeks postpartum 🔮 The brands and trends they're watching --------------- Table of Contents: 00:00 – Intro 00:59 – Origin story and the agency years 02:47 – Building a business with your spouse 05:24 – Who owns what between the two of them 06:34 – One-ingredient formulation and R&D 07:52 – Hand-made R&D in Mexico and the first Expo West 09:48 – Sourcing and consistency across seasons 11:55 – Why they lean tropical, and the sustainability angle 12:59 – No co-packer had the equipment 14:35 – What really drives COGS 15:44 – Locking fruit contracts and rates 16:22 – Building the original brand identity 17:29 – How the name got validated 18:21 – The why behind the rebrand 21:56 – Managing old and new packaging on shelf 23:18 – First pitches: Costco and Nugget Markets 24:51 – Pricing strategy and right-sizing the tube 30:58 – Driving velocity, and the Shark Tank story --------------- Links: HUNDY! – https://hundy.com/ Follow Aviv on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/avivschor/ Follow Michelle on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelleschor/ Follow me on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-martin-steinberg/ For help with CPG production design - packaging and label design, product renders, POS assets, retail media assets, quick-turn sales and marketing assets and all the other work that bogs down creative teams - check out https://www.kitprint.co/ Shout out to my friends over at Glimpse, the go-to partner for automating retail-related back-office operations and unlocking margin trapped in invalid fees and manual processes. Are you in the market for a new flexible packaging partner? Check out HD Packaging. Third-generation, family-owned and built for the needs of category leaders like Newman’s Own and A Dozen Cousins. Faster launches, lower costs, and no artwork fees.

On this episode, we're joined by Beau Bergman, Executive Director of SKU - the CPG accelerator that has put more than 150 consumer brands through its program over the past 15 years, including Siete Foods, DUDE Wipes and EPIC.  Before SKU, Beau spent several years at VentureFuel building corporate backed accelerators for Comcast, NBCUniversal, Dick's Sporting Goods and the California Milk Advisory Board. We dive into how the SKU program works: a 12 week track, eight companies per cohort, and the revenue band where Beau says SKU drives the most value, roughly $300,000 to $2.5 million.  We get into what founders get wrong once they are in the room, why fundraising strategy and hands on financial modeling are the most consistent knowledge gaps, and the value of mentors. We also cover what corporate strategics look for in emerging brands, why chasing retail doors can be the kiss of death, and why a successful raise can make problems more complex instead of fewer. --------------- Episode Highlights: 🚀 SKU's origin in Austin and 15 years of CPG alumni 📈 The revenue range where the program drives the most value 🧭 What a coachable founder actually looks like on day one 🔍 Diligence questions to ask before applying to any accelerator 🤝 How 800+ mentors get matched to eight companies 🗳️ The two rounds of mentor voting behind every cohort ⚠️ The fastest way to waste a mentor team 📊 Fundraising strategy and financial modeling as the recurring gap 🏭 Founders who switched co-packers mid-program 🥤 A beverage brand that moved from NA to RTD in 12 weeks 🏢 What corporate strategics screen for in emerging brands 💸 Why a successful raise can make problems more complex 🔭 TikTok Shop, protein, pet hydration and gut health --------------- Table of Contents: 00:00 – Intro 01:06 – SKU's origin story and 15 years in Austin 02:10 – 150+ alumni brands and where they landed 02:42 – The revenue range SKU looks for 03:26 – What breakout founders look like on day one 05:09 – Diligence questions to ask any accelerator 07:39 – The mentor network and why it is the secret sauce 08:32 – Inside the mentor matching process 11:06 – How founders waste their mentorship 12:19 – Biggest knowledge gaps, from modeling to co-packers 14:27 – A beverage brand pivot from NA to RTD 15:35 – What corporate strategics actually look for 19:53 – What is broken in the accelerator model 21:35 – Where SKU grows next and the pet opportunity 24:24 – Know your numbers before anything else 26:18 – Which brands are VC fit and which never will be 28:53 – Alternative financing beyond equity 29:56 – The biggest opportunities in CPG right now --------------- Links: SKU – https://sku.is/ Follow Beau on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/beaubergman/ Follow me on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-martin-steinberg/ For help with CPG production design - packaging and label design, product renders, POS assets, retail media assets, quick-turn sales and marketing assets and all the other work that bogs down creative teams - check out https://www.kitprint.co/ Shout out to my friends over at Glimpse, the go-to partner for automating retail-related back-office operations and unlocking margin trapped in invalid fees and manual processes. Are you in the market for a new flexible packaging partner? Check out HD Packaging. Third-generation, family-owned and built for the needs of category leaders like Newman’s Own and A Dozen Cousins. Faster launches, lower costs, and no artwork fees.

On this episode, we're joined by Melaina Balbo, Founder & CEO of Bis - the frozen Italian sauce brand selling handmade Pomodoro al Basilico and Pesto Genovese in two ounce pucks.  Melaina was deep in a PhD in Italian literature and cinema before she traded the library for the kitchen. We dive into the origin of the brand, starting with the frozen care packages her parents shipped on dry ice when she was a graduate student, and why Melaina became convinced that processing for shelf stability is what makes a jarred sauce taste like it came off a shelf. A big part of the conversation focuses on packaging. Melaina shares what it took to find an individually sealable portion cup, roughly 15 versions in, and how hard it was to get large packaging suppliers to call a small brand back. She breaks down what the new labels finally communicate on shelf, with the hero ingredient front and center. We also get into the accidental first order at her local co-op, why specialty and gourmet stores fit a product nobody expects to find in the freezer aisle, and the buyer feedback that frozen pasta sales lift when Bis sits next to them. Melaina closes with the advice she would give a founder a year behind her. --------------- Episode Highlights: 🇮🇹 What Bis means and why the name works ❄️ The dry ice care packages that started everything 🥗 Why processing for shelf stability changes the flavor 🍝 Two ounce pucks built for cooking for one or two 📦 Testing 15 portion cups before landing on recyclable PET 🍳 Three years in an incubator kitchen 80 miles from home 🏭 The co-man matrix: frozen, format, and state lines 🎨 Why the old packaging was capping the brand 🛒 The sample drop that turned into a first order 📞 Getting large packaging suppliers to call a small brand back 🏷️ Hero ingredients front and center on the label 🧊 Frozen pasta sales lifting next to the pucks 🔮 Home shopping, 3PL, and national distribution ahead --------------- Table of Contents: 00:00 – Intro 00:59 – What Bis means and the why behind the brand 02:55 – Care packages on dry ice and the frozen insight 04:29 – Portioning the sauce into two ounce pucks 05:42 – The long search for the right portion cup 07:58 – Chef Space and the 80 mile drive to an incubator kitchen 10:41 – What to look for in a co-manufacturing partner 12:21 – The packaging that was holding the brand back 13:01 – The accidental first order at the co-op 14:22 – Getting packaging suppliers to take a small brand seriously 16:06 – What the new labels communicate on shelf 18:23 – Not reinventing the wheel 21:36 – Specialty markets, demos, and local visibility 22:48 – DTC, 3PL, and the cost of shipping frozen 23:39 – Winning shoppers away from the shelf stable jar 24:57 – Why frozen is making a resurgence 25:40 – Hardest lessons as a first time founder 28:35 – Home shopping, national distribution, and what is next --------------- Links: Bis – https://eatbis.com/ Follow Melaina on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/melaina-balbo/ Follow me on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-martin-steinberg/ For help with CPG production design - packaging and label design, product renders, POS assets, retail media assets, quick-turn sales and marketing assets and all the other work that bogs down creative teams - check out https://www.kitprint.co/ Shout out to my friends over at Glimpse, the go-to partner for automating retail-related back-office operations and unlocking margin trapped in invalid fees and manual processes. Are you in the market for a new flexible packaging partner? Check out HD Packaging. Third-generation, family-owned and built for the needs of category leaders like Newman’s Own and A Dozen Cousins. Faster launches, lower costs, and no artwork fees.